Tips for a Great Yard Sale

With summer approaching there are lots of beautiful days. Vacation time is right around the corner. Why not have a yard sale? Make that extra spending money for your vacation. When having a yard sale the more people having one the better the sale. Talk to your neighbors or family members and have a multi-community or multi-family yard sale. This will bring more people, and the more items you have for sale the more money you will make.

Get prepared the first step in a yard sale is to get your supplies together. The most important supplies are:

Labels- these are a must have, they are inexpensive and really convenient. If you are having a 2 or more person yard sale you can take the sticker off and place it on a notepad. At the end of the day add each persons sticker and prices to give each person their share of the earnings. This way is much simpler than everyone trying to keep track of what they have sold.

Money box - Make sure to have one of these stocked with some change. I would suggest getting 20 dollars worth of paper money and 5.00 worth of various change. That way you are sure to have the exact change when a purchase is made.

Tables- A person would rather shop on a table than on the ground. Neatly place your items on the table and arrange them to look appealing and neat. The same principle applies in the stores. Would you want to shop at a store that just had items thrown about everywhere? Do not put your clothes on the table it creates too much problem, and work for yourself. If you can hang everything up, this allows a person to effortlessly browse throughout all the clothing without feeling like they have to fold every item back on the table.

Bags- these are great to have and I feel like a person will buy more if they have a convenient way to get the purchases to the car. A happy customer likes to spend money. Towards the end of the day I always make a sign that reads 3.00 a bag clothing. I hand out the plastic grocery bags that I have been saving all year long and tell the customer to fill it full with clothing and they get it for 3.00. People love this and they buy stuff even if they had not intended to because it seems like such a great deal. Then after that sign for the clothing I create another one that reads 1/2 all items other than clothing. That way I can get rid of the other items that I have left. When I have a yard sale my goal is to rid myself of all things in the yard sale. That way I have a whole other year to accumulate things for my next yard sale.

Advertise, Advertise, Advertise- This is the best way to ensure you have a lot of people coming to your yard sale. Word of mouth only goes so far. You can advertise cheaply and sometimes for free. We have an bulletin that allows people to advertise for free. If you have a local paper and can afford the fee make sure you advertise there too. This is good for multi- person sales because you can split the cost of the advertisement. Signs and balloons are your next step these draw peoples attention and gives directions to your yard sale. When advertising make sure to mention everything. Do not just say furniture for sale, get explicit and break it down like a oak computer desk, a red rocking recliner, and a baby bed. The more specific that you are the more customers you will have. Do not just advertise in your town extend it to surrounding towns. People will drive the extra mile for good bargains.

Location- Now unless you live way out in the boondocks you should be able to successfully have a yard sale in your own yard, but if you do live in an out of the way location maybe your best bet would be renting a community center or borrowing a family members front yard. If the yard sale is near a main road people will drive by and see the sale and stop just to look. This follows the same principle as the items for sale in the check out aisle. If it catches your eye you will consider buying it even if you do not need it.