Tips on Having a Successful Yard Sale

Summer will quickly be upon us. That means yard sales! I have had my fair share of yard sales. Although at this point I vow to never have another one. They can be a successful venture with some organization and careful planning. It does take a lot of hard work. Hard work is necessary if you want it to profitable and successful.

One tip I want to stress is to try not to do it all alone. Enlist family and friends to go in on the yard sale with you. They can help you price items and set everything out. Plus, it is always more fun having a friend there with you.

Another great tip I would suggest is to give yourself plenty of time to get everything ready. If you plan for a yard sale months in advance you can start going through storage boxes and rooms to get things for the yard sale. If you have to hurry you will more than likely skip over things you would normally have put in the yard sale. You don't want to be rushed.

Advertise! Advertise! Advertise! Advertise! You want to get the word out as much as possible. You can put an ad in your local paper, put up signs at different offices (if allowed), put signs on community bulletin boards, put signs out by your street (if allowed) and even advertise on the internet! Start spreading the word early. You can even email all of your friends and put a note on your MySpace or Facebook page. One tip I have learned the hard way is to make your signs by the road readable. I have thought before they were until I saw them by the road. Put the info on bright colored paper with big letters.

Another piece of advice spoken from experience is to make sure you have plenty of change on hand. I have made this mistake and have had to run and get more change. Most people will give you $1's and $5's, but you will occasionally run into the $10's and 20's. You need to have enough change on hand to give change for any amount. Plenty of coin change is a necessity as well. Here's a freebie for you: have plenty of bags on hand to bag your yard sale customers items.

I would suggest to price each item individually. I know it is more time consuming to do this but it is much better on you and the customers. I have done a yard sale before where I had bins marked 25c, 50c and so on. It became very confusing because I couldn't remember what I had marked for 25c or 50c. Pricing everything individually will help you avoid this.

This next tip may seem like common sense but I have actually seen this too many times. If you have pets it is best to put them up the day of the yard sale. Even if your pet is the calmest nicest pet around it is best to put them up. The customers who come to your yard sale won't know that Fido is calm and won't bite them.

A nice touch to a yard sale, especially in hot summer months, is to have the kids have a lemonade stand. My kids really enjoy this. They usually make more money then me! I have seen where most people will give them money and not even buy lemonade. If you don't have kids or they are not interested in a lemonade stand then you could sell canned drinks.

When it comes to clothing I would hang up your best clothes. It is no fun to have to rummage through a pile of clothes that are different styles and sizes. Having everything organized and in order makes is so much easier to look through. Hanging up your best items make them easier to sell.

When the yard sale is good and done do not bring the junk, I mean stuff, back into your home. Immediately pack everything up and take to a charity such as Goodwill or the Salvation Army.

Your Yard Sale can be successful. It just takes time, effort and some hard work.