A successful yard sale leaves your home with less clutter in your life and money in your pocket. Getting rid of extra clothes, toys, knick-knacks and other household items is a great feeling. Preparation and effort before the big day can make the difference between hauling everything back into your garage, and throwing empty boxes away.
1. Bigger is truly better. Talk to your neighbors. If at least one other family signs on, you can advertise as a multi-family yard sale. This will attract a lot more visitors, especially if you are off a main road. More people are willing to stop and browse when there are two, three or more yard sales they can walk to. The most successful yard sale we ever had while I was growing up, nearly every house in the neighborhood put out a bunch of tables. We became the place to browse that Saturday. 2. Advertise! Let people know in advance about your yard sale. Make sure to advertise in the local paper with your address and hours. Place a sign out by a main road one week prior to the yard sale Keep the sign simple! The words ‘yard sale’ your address and hours will attract most shoppers. You need to be able to read any sign from at least 30 feet away. Keep it big and bold. I try to put out at least three signs in addition to the one right at my house. 3. Keep pricing simple. It is easiest to price most things as solid dollars or by $0.25 increments. Dot stickers with simple prices are the best. Alternatively, you can label items in genera with prominent signs; “all glassware $0.25 each.” At my last yard sale, I had a pile of kid’s clothes labeled “0.25 each or 5 for $1″ by the end of the sale, it was nearly all gone! 4. Have lots of change. Have lots of small change ready. Lots of one dollar bills and quarters. A little bit of other change if you have non-quarter pricing. Start the day with a few five and ten dollar bills. If you are not prepared with change, your first customer will buy a dollar item with a twenty! I start off with about $50 worth of change, including at least one roll of quarters and $15 in ones. I subtract that amount from my total at the end of the day to see how much I made. 5. Start early, end late. Plan on starting your yard sale an hour before the advertised time. Early birds love to swoop in and make a lot of purchases in the early morning. Planning for this will reduce confusion at the start of your sale. Also, stay open until mid afternoon. This may be uncomfortable with heat during summer months, but can be worth it with extra sales. During the later part of the morning and early afternoon, some buyers will come in to want to purchase a bunch of your leftover items for just a few dollars. If you don’t want to pack it up, take the deal!
Most of all, try to have fun. Make lots of deals for people so they take home more stuff. It will be a tiring day, but worth it.