How to Make the Big Bucks at Your Family's Yard Sale

If you were to lose your job tomorrow, how would you support your family? How would you pay for the roof over your head? The food on your table? The shirt on your back? In this rough economy, many people are being forced to answer those questions too late.

In these times of economic hardship, every American has the obligation to prepare for the worst. If you wait until after tragedy strikes, it may be too late.

One of the most important things to do is to buy yourself some time before things get completely out of control, and in order to do this, you'll need access to some quick cash. Ideally, you'll have some savings to draw from. But what about when the savings runs dry?

That's when you can remember these easy ways to make a quick buck by having a family Yard Sale.

The yard sale is a time-tested way of making quick cash. However, most families find that no matter how many old trinkets they sell, they only make a few dollars, and often earn far less than they feel they should, thanks to haggling down the price on that old TV set from $50 to "ten bucks if you throw in the love seat, too."

That's why, when you have your yard sale, you'll do it right. Every item you sell must be unique, storied, and extremely valuable. Instead of selling your sofa for a couple bucks, bring out the boxes of old toys and trinkets that have no value whatsoever. If you have no trinkets, you can buy some at second hand stores for a few cents each.

Then, display them all on the lawn, and pretend that you're pretending that there's nothing special about them. When someone asks about the small wooden horse toy, say that that's just some old doo-dad you found in your great-great-grandfather's house, along with a note that said 'enjoy this toy horse, I carved it myself,' signed Abraham Linc-something-or-other. Then, watch it sell for hundreds, if not thousands of dollars.

Or, if you have things that obviously aren't old enough to have been carved by Lincoln, feel free to tie them to other historical figures. For example, "here's a box of casette tapes my old neighbor Richard Nixon asked me to hold on to for him - I've never listened to them, because I assume they're just mix tapes of hits from the 70s," or "Here's an old gun I found tossed away on a grassy knoll in Texas."

Before you know it, you'll have collectors kicking down the door to buy your stuff.

Also, if you have any old monkeys paws lying around, you can get a few more bucks for those by saying they grant wishes at a terrible cost.

If your customers are too smart to fall for these tricks, there's one last fool-proof money making scheme: whenever the customers are distracted by your wares, steal their wallet. In case they then try to buy something, you can use the line "no, that's not for sale - that's far too valuable," which will drive up prices even further. Win-win. Actually, I guess that's win-lose, but you're the one who wins, so no prob.

Happy Yard Saling!