It’s consignment sale season.
For me, every Rhea Lana season starts the same way.
After the previous season, I swear to myself that I’ll stay on top of it until the next sale.
But here I am sitting among piles of clothes in the office chair beside me. More piles on the guest bed, children’s books and piles of shoes are completely covering my armoire, and bins are stacked in the hallway.
Apparently Past Jules had already solved this problem, because I remembered writing down my process a while back. So I went digging through old computer files.
After selling for years, I now know that the hardest part is nailing down a process that works and using it.
If you’re still deciding whether a consignment sale is the best option, I put together my complete guide to selling used children’s clothing without wasting your time, where I compare consignment sales, online marketplaces, and local options.
Instead of bouncing from one pile to another, I now use a simple assembly-line process that keeps everything moving. Whether you’re preparing 50 items or 250, this workflow makes the entire process faster and far less overwhelming.
The Biggest Mistake I See New Consignors Make
One of the biggest mistakes new consignors make is logging inventory into the seller portal before they’ve actually prepared their items.
I’ve tried it both ways, and I’ve found that entering inventory too early completely breaks my workflow.
Once an item is in the system, it feels finished. But sometimes when I am hanging and pinning the label on, I discover a stain I missed, realize the matching shoe is still hiding somewhere in the closet, find that the toy needs fresh batteries, or decide the item really belongs in the donate pile instead. Now I’m stopping to edit inventory, delete items, or reshuffle my bins instead of making steady progress.
Instead, I think of Rhea Lana prep like a factory assembly line.
A car gets touched by hundreds of people before it rolls off the line. The efficiency doesn’t come from only one person touching it—it comes from the fact that the car never goes backward.
That’s the goal with Rhea Lana prep.
A dress will be washed, hung, entered into inventory, tagged, inspected, and finally placed on the sales floor. Its crucial to make sure every touch moves that item one step closer to being sold. Once it’s washed, don’t throw it back into a random pile. Once it’s hung, don’t take it off the hanger again. Every step should move the item forward.
For me, that means waiting until everything is cleaned, repaired, and organized by category and size before I ever start entering inventory. When I do, I can work through each category in order, and my bins stay organized for inspection and drop-off. It makes the entire process feel calmer and much more efficient.
I think of Rhea Lana prep in seven stages:
- Gather everything.
- Sort it.
- Prep it.
- Organize it.
- Hang or package.
- Enter and tag.
- Pack for drop-off.
At this point, it is a great time to register for the sale, schedule your drop-off appointment, and take care of any paperwork. Just resist the temptation to start entering inventory until your items are truly ready.
If you also sell on platforms like Poshmark or Facebook Marketplace, now is a good time to decide how you’ll handle those listings. I usually put my Poshmark closet on vacation until after the sale. Sure, I might miss a few online sales, but it’s much easier than individually marking dozens of listings unavailable while those same items are sitting on the Rhea Lana sales floor.
Step 1: Gather Everything in One Place
Before making any decisions, collect potential sale items from throughout your home.
Check places like:
- Closets
- Dressers
- Toy bins
- Garage shelves
- Storage totes
- Bookshelves
Don’t worry about whether something will sell yet. Your goal is simply to create one staging area where you can see everything at once.
Step 2: Sort Into Simple Piles
Now it’s time to make decisions.
Create five piles:
- Sell
- Donate (anything still useful but not sale quality.)
- Trash
- Keep (maybe bathing suits or other items that can’t be sold at that seasons’ sale)
- Unsure
For your Sell pile, only keep items that meet Rhea Lana’s quality standards. Clothing should be freshly washed and free of stains, fading, excessive wear, or missing buttons. Toys should be clean, complete, and in working order. And the quicker you make each decision, the faster the process moves along.
Step 3: Prep Every Item Before You Ever Print a Tag
This is where you save yourself hours later.
Spend one prep session doing all of the cleaning at once.
That may include:
- Washing clothes
- Removing stains with stain remover
- Ironing or steaming wrinkles
- Using a fabric shaver or lint roller where needed
- Replacing batteries
- Wiping down toys
- Cleaning shoes
- Matching socks and shoes
- Finding missing pieces
- Putting accessories into clear bags
- Taping instruction manuals inside larger items
I try and get through this as fast as possible. If you aim for perfection, you may be spending too much time. Once this step is complete, you’re almost ready to tag.
Step 4: Organize by Category and Size
Before entering anything into the system, sort your inventory into manageable groups.
For example:
- Girls 2T
- Girls 3T
- Boys 6
- Shoes
- Books
- Puzzles
- Baby equipment
Working one category at a time dramatically speeds up the tagging process and the check-in process a few weeks later.
Step 5: Build a Simple Hanging and Tagging Station
This is usually the longest step in the entire process. In this step you will attach clothes to hangers (I pin everything on), zip tie shoes, group books, attach an Avery tag to each item. Later, your printed inventory label will be placed on this tag. There are detailed instructions on how to do each piece on Rhea Lana’s YouTube Channel .
Keeping a few inexpensive tools within reach will make a big difference here.
My station usually includes:
- Laptop
- Avery Tags (The sticky printed labels get attached to these later)
- Safety pins of all sizes (full disclosure, I splurge and use 2.2in pins on everything nowadays to save the frustration of trying to make smaller pins fit around bulky clothing)
- White plastic hangers
- Zip ties
- Masking tape or painter’s tape
- Sharpie
- Storage bins (ideally with wheels)
Having everything ready keeps your momentum going. If you are missing any items you can purchase at Rhea Lana’s Amazon Shop.
Personally, I always order labels mailed to me (vs. printing at home). I never want to take the risk of running out of ink in my printer cartridge. Plus it means I cannot wait until the last minute, as the deadline for mail order tags is around 10 days before drop off. Pro Tip: I pencil in the inventory number on each item so I don’t have to go hunting it down when labels arrive.
Ordering mailed tags also creates a built-in deadline. Once that order close date gets close, I know it’s time to stop procrastinating and finish prepping.
Step 6: Think Like an Assembly Line
Rather than completing random items from start to finish, batch similar tasks together.
For example:
- Enter all girls’ clothing, still sorted by size.
- Attach all tags.
- Hang all clothing.
- Package all toys.
Every item should move through the process once instead of being picked up over and over again.
Step 7: Pack for an Easy Drop-Off
As categories are finished, place them into clearly labeled bins (bonus points for bins with wheels), maintaining the order you entered items in. This way at drop-off inspection, if you are asked to lay out all items in order, this will be a breeze. Note: after you pass inspection, you will probably be required to take items to the sales floor. This will be much easier if sort order is maintained.
I also keep a few large Ikea tote bags around just in case. They fold up nicely and can be tucked in the bins.
A wise Rhea Lana Veteran taught me a trick – just before you close up your bin, make sure to drop in a dryer sheet so everything smells fresh for the sale.
Future You will be incredibly thankful on drop-off day.
Common Mistakes That Slow Down Rhea Lana Prep
I’ve made all of these myself over the years.
- Waiting until just before the deadline to start
- Trying to price while sorting
- Washing one load at a time instead of batching laundry
- Running out of hangers and pins and Avery label tags halfway through
- Looking up every item online for original price to price perfectly
- Trying to decide sentimental keepsakes during prep – ugh, those baby clothes are so hard to part with
- Not catching if a toy was broken or missing batteries
- Labeling at consigner check-in. One year, I paid for labels to be mailed to my house. I can’t remember if they were never mailed or if they mysteriously arrived several weeks after the sale, but in either case, I had to label everything at check-in. Do not recommend.
Conclusion
Rhea Lana prep feels overwhelming when you’re looking at piles of stuff.
It becomes manageable when every item follows the same path toward the sales floor.
Don’t lose site of the goal here: forward motion on home decluttering. Every item you finish is one less thing sitting in your house—and one step closer to putting money back in your family’s budget.
Progress beats perfection.
Lastly, can I just sneak in one last plug for minimalist shopping. As I browse the upcoming sale (as a shopper), I like to remind myself: If you don’t buy it in the first place, it never will have to enter the funnel to have to declutter and sell it.
Ready for the next step?
If you’re still deciding where to consign, compare Just Between Friends vs. Rhea Lana.
Or, if you’re trying to earn the most from decluttering your kids’ clothes, read my complete guide to selling used children’s clothing.
