Do you have a lot of clutter lying around your house? Need a little extra cash? Why not have a yard sale? Late spring is a great time to hold a yard sale. It’s a great time for several reasons. Spring is when you do your spring-cleaning. At that time, start collecting all the unused, unwanted clutter you have lying around your house. Many people are out to look for cheap summer fashions. These people are hitting the yard sales. You can get your stuff together and be among some of your neighbors out to make a buck or two. Actually with the right planning you can make a nice amount of money.Â
A lot of preparation goes into planning a successful yard sale. At first you will need to go through your home, from top to bottom. Find all the stuff that you want to sell. Make a yard sale pile and start piling up the goods. Get your kids involved. This is a great time to have them go through their drawers and toys. Make them aware that this is a moneymaking project and they will be willing to give up something. When planning do not forget to plan on needing several tables to display your stuff. I have used my husband’s wood horses and a piece of plywood to make a temporary table.
You can gather your friend or family to join you in the sale if you’d like. It’s always helpful to have the extra helping hand. You can divide the cost of advertising. Just remember to have stickers with names and prices. This will make it easier to divide up the sales. A pen and a notebook will be needed to track who sold what.Â
Start saving those plastic bags from the grocery store. You will need plenty of them. Have a change box with a wide variety of change. Especially quarters, ones and five dollar bills. The best days to hold a yard sale are on Friday and Saturday. Some people even carry them over until Sunday. Around the first of the month is the best time financially for a large amount of people. Many people rely on checks that are sent out by the first of the month.
Advertising is the big key in a successful yard sale. Advertise in all the local newspapers. Hang ads outside of stores on brightly colored paper to catch everyone’s attention. When making signs use bright fluorescent poster board. Also use a thick black permanent marker. When hanging the signs display them in heavy traffic areas. The drivers will be able to read them while stopped at a traffic light. Display them at both ends of your street and another as you approach your house. The more signs you use the better your chances are for a great turn out. Please do not forget to take down these signs.
Pricing your items is important. The purpose of a yard sale is to clean out your unwanted items. Remember what you do not sell will have to be lugged back in or lugged to a donation center. Either way this stuff needs to go! Price your items simply. Don’t price something for $1.99.Â
Encourage people to buy more with your prices. For example, if you marked paperback books for .25 cents each or 5 books for a $1.00. You will get rid of more this way. Always be flexible. If your items do not seem to be moving then reduce them. If you have a lot of clothing items offer them at a single item price or price for a bag. For example, offer .25 cents per item of clothing or $3.00 a bag. This will get more off your hands. Also have batteries on hand to test out battery-operated items.
Always be prompt with opening. You will always have that one early bird that is there a half hour before you expected to open (opening early depends on you), but opening at the time advertised is expected.Â
Just remember that the guide to a successful yard sale is three simple steps: advertising, pricing, and weather. We cannot control the weather so when advertising also put an alternate rain date to hold your yard sale.
