Yard Sales — A How-to Guide
Yard Sales are a great way to make a little money while lightening your load in preparation for your move. Do you really want to take that huge old couch with you? Your plants need new homes. And what about all those clothes you never wear? Don't throw them away! You'd be surprised at what people will buy, especially if they can get a deal on it.
With a little advance planning and the help of a few friends, a Yard Sale can be both fun and rewarding. Here's our advice on how to pull one off.
First, you'll need to go through your things and decide what you want to get rid of. If you're undecided about something, you can always price it on the high side and see if you have any takers. Things that don't sell you can give to charity and take a tax deduction. See Taxes for more information about this.
We suggest you get the following supplies:
- Small labels and stickers - COLORed dots are quick and easy to use for pricing things into general categories (i.e. red = $1, blue = $2, yellow = $5, white = priced as marked)
- Markers for pricing
- Duct tape and heavy paper or cardboard for signs
- Plastic and paper bags
- A change box with lots of quarters, $1 dollar and $5 dollar bills
- Plastic tarps, folding tables and boxes to display merchandise
- Friends to help out (bribe them with beer and pizza)
Saturdays are generally the best days for Yard Sales, especially when the weather is good. Whatever doesn't sell Saturday you can always haul back out on Sunday morning.
A couple days before the sale, go around the neighborhood and post signs and flyers on lampposts and at key intersections. By the way, masking tape doesn't stick very well to lampposts, so use duct tape to post signs.
Get an early start! If you're serious about selling as much as you can, place a classified ad in your local paper; most have a listing of weekend sales. There are yard sale pros who read these weekly, who will show up early to cart away the best bargains.
Be prepared to accept a fraction of what you paid for things, especially clothing. Yard sale shoppers generally won't pay above the $1 - $10 range for clothes, no matter how much you paid. If you have several high-ticket items to sell, consider bringing it to a consignment store where you'll get more than just a couple of bucks for each item. You can look for Consignment stores in your local Yellow Pages.
The same holds true for books. Expect to get $.25 - $1 for paperbacks and $2 - $5 for hardcover books.
To get a better feel for what sells and how to price, check out a couple of yard sales in your neighborhood ahead of time.
And after the big event, remember to remove and dispose of your signs and flyers. Don't leave the neighborhood in a trail of clutter. Have fun!
|
