Annual Yard Sale Fun!

Look at all that junk! It's almost time for our community's annual yard sale. Next Saturday is the big day. I love yard sales- both going to them and having yard sales. It's a great time to go through the house and declutter, get rid of thing I no longer need or use, weed out kid toys that my son has outgrown and make some extra money. Every year, I am always surprised how much money we make. I have a few tips that have worked for us:

-We use little labels and price everything. You'd be surprised how many people pass over items because they don't want to ask the price or assume it's too much.

-We make sure everything is CLEAN. The things you don't want anymore have probably collected dust while they were in the back of the closet. It may not matter to you but you'll have a much better shot at selling things if they aren't dirty. Sounds obvious, but we've all seen some scary looking things at yard sales.

-Set things out organized nicely. Again, sounds like a no-brainer, but when you have things displayed neatly and with similar items, they sell.

-Make sure you have plenty of change. That way you won't have to turn anyone away if they only have a ten dollar bill.

-If you have plastic grocery bags, a good way to re-use is to give them to your "customers" for their purchases. People in the past have really liked that we've done this since our whole neighborhood participates in the yard sale and it makes it convenient for people to walk from yard sale to yard sale with their things in a bag.

We also only have the yard sale from 8am to noon. I know most yard sales around here run longer, but in my experience, most people come early. Once noon hits, we post on Freecycle that we're having a "free for all" for the next hour. (I posted earlier about Freecycle here.) Anything that's left at the end of that hour gets packed up and taken to the Goodwill a few miles away.

I like yard sales because everyone benefits. People get your old stuff at cheap prices (or free), you make a little extra money, and old things don't end up in a landfill. It's also fun to spend the day outside with your family and visiting with neighbors. So I'll let you all know how we do next Saturday afternoon!