Summer’s not over yet, which means this is still the prime season to organize and hold a yard sale. Or garage sale. Or estate sale. Or rummage sale. Or whatever happens to be the term of choice in your neck of the woods. Whatever you call it, yard sales are not only a good way to deal with excessive clutter, but you can rake in a few extra bucks in the process. Not a bad deal.
But putting together a successful sale requires a little bit of planning and up-front legwork. You can’t just throw your belongings out into the driveway and expect the world to beat a path to your doorway. We’ve put together just a few suggestions for helping you get the most out of your next clutter liquidation.
Depending on where you live, some homeowners’ associations forbid garage sales within their communities, so check with your HOA before you invest any further time or effort. If that’s not an issue, take care of other details like making sure you have plenty of coins and bills to make change with, and take the time to thoroughly purge your home of unwanted items. Yard sale customers like to stop at places with lots or merch and lots of choices, so the more you can set out for sale, the better.
Many people get paid at the beginning or the end of the month, so those weekends are a strategic time to plan your yard sale. If you can tie it into a larger community sale event, all the better. Schedule your sale for early in the day, when it’s cooler, and the early birds are out in search of great deals. You can usually wrap things up by noon or early afternoon.
You don’t want to give your things away, but if you overprice them, they’ll go begging, as we say in the South. Try to estimate what you think would be a fair price to pay if you were a shopper. And be sure to put a price tag on everything. Shoppers usually won’t pick up an item if it’s not priced. Also, consider offering a discount for multiple items of the same type. For example: one book for 25 cents or six for a dollar.
Group like items together, and have an extension cord handy so folks can test electronic merchandise. Maybe even set up a full-length mirror where customers can try on clothing items. And of course, you’ll want to promote your yard sale. You can place an ad in a local paper or take advantage of free online platforms like craigslist and Facebook. If you have time, put up signs in the neighborhood directing customers to your house. So clean out that mini storage space and make room for what you really want to store.