Holding a yard sale is an excellent way to make some cash from your clutter. If you have clutter in your basement, garage, closet, or attic you can generate some fast money by putting it up for sale. What you need to understand is that the stuff you are selling is no longer of any value to you.
The money you receive for your clutter should be considered as bonus money and do not expect to get what you originally paid for each item. It just would not be realistic to expect to do so. With these concepts, you are prepared to proceed and make a success of your yard sale.
The following steps will help you hold a successful yard sale:
Gather Everything Together
If you are going to have a sale, then make sure you have a lot of items available for sale. The more items you have on your driveway or lawn, the more they will attract a crowd. With that logic, you may want to check with your neighbor to see if they want to join your yard sale on the same day. The more people and items the merrier!
Pick a Suitable Day and Date
Obviously, the prime day to have a yard sale is Saturday but do not disregard Sundays. One thing that you may want to avoid is holding the sale on a holiday weekend. Most people will already have plans for a holiday weekend and will not have time to spend looking around yard sales. It will also be a good idea to plan ahead with regard to the weather forecast. If there’s any chance of rain you should consider rescheduling.
Have Plenty of Change Available
Yard sales are cash-based. You will need to be prepared as there’s always someone that wants to pay for a dollar item with a fifty-dollar bill. Make sure you have enough cash available and keep it secure in a cash box. If you do not have someone working with you as your cashier, then you need to carry that cash box around with you at all times.
Advertise Your Yard Sale
No, we do not mean creating a TV commercial for your yard sale. Rather, use the internet to take care of the marketing work for you. Websites such as Yard Sale Search or Craigslist are excellent places to advertise your sale. It will only take a few minutes but you will discover many yard sale shoppers use these websites to organize their plans for the weekend.
Advertising also requires making your own signs to display around the local neighborhood. Foam board will work better than using poster board. And make sure the signs are clear and simple to read from a distance. Also, any signs you display need to be removed once your sale is over.
End Sale
Lastly, be ready to have items left unsold at the end. Towards the end of the sale, you can label items as “free” but there’s still no guarantee it will be snatched up. Once the sale is over you have the choice of either trashing the items that did not sell or donating them to a local thrift store. The one thing you do not want to do is take them back into the house. That would defeat the purpose of your yard sale!
