So I thought it would be timely to share my tips for having a successful yard sale as well as my decluttering series so you'll have lots to sell.
Here's my
STEP by STEP Plan for having a Great Yard Sale:
(to read the original and full post, click HERE)
STEP 1. Gather your items
Realizing you have so much unwanted, unused, outgrown stuff that you could have a yard sale.
At the bottom of this post I'll have links about how to declutter so you'll have plenty of stuff to sell. Some people would rather donate their items than take the time to have a yard sale, and that's great. Whatever you do, just get rid of the unwanted stuff. For me, I had a very successful yard sale two years ago, but have donated or sold on craigslist since then.
STEP 2. Plan
Plan the day, time and location of your yard sale. A lot of sales around here are both Friday and Saturday sales. Most start at 7 or 8am and last till about noon. Spring and early fall are the most popular times to hold a yard sale since that is when people are switching out seasonal clothing. Also, it gets pretty hot in the summer and people go on vacation so there's not as much foot traffic for sales in July and August. If your neighborhood is having a neighborhood sale, join in. The more houses selling stuff, the more traffic you'll get. Likewise, if a neighborhood close to you is having a sale, you can piggyback off their traffic by having your sale the same day and time.
STEP 3. Advertise
There are 3 main ways to advertise a yard sale.
1. Put an ad in the local newspaper
2. Post an ad on craigslist or Facebook (free)
3. Put up signs and posters directing traffic to your neighborhood and to your specific house. Signs should be simple, large and boldly written on sturdy material such as card board. The words 'yard sale' along with the dates, times and an arrow are informative. Once in the neighborhood, signs with just an arrow leading to your home are all that is needed to get more traffic. Balloons at cross roads also draw attention and attract buyers.
STEP 4. Sort, Label, and Price.
A day or two before the yard sale, I like to sort, label and price my items.
The basement had become the dumping ground for our unwanted stuff so I drug everything upstairs. I sorted clothing by size and labeled each bin with the size and price. For example I had a bin of Girls 12 month clothing for .25 each piece. Other items such as household decor or cooking, I kept together in a bin with price stickers on each item. This would make it easier the day of the sale when it came time to set out my stuff.
STEP 5. Store your stuff till the day of the sale.
After you have everything sorted and labeled you need to store it (hopefully out of your living area) till the day of the sale. If you have room, you can put your ready to go bins and boxes in the garage so on the day of the sale you can open the garage and set out your things. And because everything is sorted and labeled you can quickly set up your sale and be ready to sell to all those early birds that come a half hour before your sale is supposed to start.
STEP 6. Setting up
I like to set my items up in the driveway leading up to my garage. I find that a lot of people do a 'drive by' and if they can't see what you have, they might not even take the time to stop. Colorful and large items can attract customers so be sure to have those prominently displayed. Fragile and expensive items were stored near or in the garage.
STEP 7. Selling
Be prepared for people to bargain and be willing to take less for your stuff. My goal was to get rid of my stuff so I was more than willing to take a lower offer. Sometimes I'd negotiate such as when someone offered $20 for an item I priced at $40. We met in the middle at $30. A couple of times I refused an offer (if it was for a higher priced item) knowing I could get more for it by selling it on craigslist. And often if someone didn't agree to buy it when they found out the price, I'd ask them to make an offer. Or when they'd ask how much, I'd say "I'm asking $25", so they'd know I am flexible on the price.
Other things to consider when having a yard sale: Have plenty of change on hand such as quarters and ones. I had to make change for a $20. when someone bought something for $2. Don't assume customers will have exact change. Keep track of how much money you started with so you know how much money you made. Have lots of bags for the customers to put their purchases in.
Now that you know how to have a successful yard sale, let's go back to Step 1: You need stuff to sell. That leads me to my series of posts about:
HOW TO DECLUTTER
This post gives you 3 REASONS TO GET ORGANIZED (Being organized saves you time, money and gives you peace of mind)
This post tells you WHY WE HOLD ONTO CLUTTER, the different types of clutter and how to overcome each type.
And this post tells you HOW TO GET AND STAY ORGANIZED.
