Yard Sales

We had our yard sale this past weekend and it was a fabulous success.  The weather was perfect, we couldn’t have asked for better!  We ran it on Friday and Saturday from 8am to 2pm which was the right amount of time.  Today I will attempt to recover.  Yard sales are a lot of work! 

Our plans for our yard sale began when we were purging and preparing to move.  Even though we are no longer moving we decided we definitely wanted to go ahead with the yard sale anyway.  My parents took a queue from me and decided to do some purging of their own and cleared out a lot of stuff as if they were planning to move themselves.  They said it helped them a lot with the decision making. 

If you are planning a yard sale in the not too distant future I have some tips for you to make it a great one.  I did a little research and found these tips are right on the money – no pun intended. 

Price Your Items while You Purge – this tip I found extremely helpful because I wasn’t overwhelmed with pricing items for the sale. 

Price Your Items To Sell/Be Willing To Accept Offers – this was a great tip too.  It helped us to set low prices when we decided whatever didn’t sell was going to be donated to the thrift store.  We were definitely willing to wheel and deal in the final hours. 

Be Organized – this is a really good tip.  We set up “stations” on our drive way.  We had one for toys, one for books, one housewares, one for tools, one for Christmas stuff, one for home décor, and one for miscellaneous. 

Set Clear Dates And Hours – be open when you say you will be open.  Don’t close up early if you posted specific hours.  I watched my neighbors close up early on theirs a couple weeks ago and there were a few unhappy customers.  Some were pretty vocal about it. 

Advertise – I posted our yard sale on Craigslist on Thursday.  I also highlighted some of the items in the ad that would draw customers like furniture, tools, a stereo, houseware items, etc.  I add a line about our excellent prices.  Also, I put in directions so they could find us easily. 

Post Signs That Point The Way – especially if you are a little off the beaten path like we are.  I put up signs at the entrance of our subdivision facing both directions of traffic and then additional signs pointing the way to our house within our subdivision. 

Consider A Free Box – we set up one of these and people really seemed to like it.  We stuck all kinds of odds and ends inside of it.  Kids really liked it too. 

Be Able To Make Change – apparently this is something a lot of people forget about and I almost did too.  I was so wrapped up in all the other details I almost overlooked this one.  We managed to scrounge up enough loose change and dollar bills to set one up in a plastic divided container with a lid. 

Accept Cash Only & Keep It Secure – we didn’t accept checks at ours and we kept ours tucked out of the way inside the garage. 

Engage Your Customers & Say Thank You – saying thank you seemed obvious to me but it was a tip I read over and over so apparently it is worth stating.  I did welcome people that came by and asked how they were doing when they arrived and I hope I thanked everyone.  I certainly intended to. 

When all was said and done we loaded up the leftovers after inviting one of my neighbors to come over and pick through and take whatever she wanted for free.  Then we headed to the thrift store and gave them all of our remaining treasures.  They were really happy to get what we had left and we made sure we didn’t give them any junk.  No point in donating something they would just have to throw away. 

It was a lot of work and a lot of fun.  We met a lot of neat people and some real characters too. 

My personal tip is to Stay Hydrated.  You don’t realize how much you are moving around and on a warm day you forget to stop and drink water until all of a sudden you don’t feel so great.  Drink lots and lots of water. 

If you are planning a yard sale this summer I hope it is a great success and that you have a lot of fun with it as well.