Image credit: sxc.hu

Timing. Weekends are best. Start early too. Why not time it on payday weekend as well?

Advertising. A week before your yard sale, distribute flyers to your neighbors. Post a notice on the village board. Put an ad in the paper. Post a sign outside your home. You may want to put a short list of the things you’re selling to pique buyers’ interests.

Pricing. Bundle small items, say, two or three bangles for a dollar. Make sure you have enough change for the day (in dollar increments). If buyers want to haggle, let them. Ask for an offer and who knows? They may give you a much higher price than you think. Towards the end of your sale, why not slash prices, say 50% off on all items?

Presentation. Group items into categories — all books in one corner, all bags in another, etc. Hang clothes in a rack for easier sorting. Place men’s items upfront. Place toys at the back of the garage, away from the street, for kids’ safety. Present buyers with a basket or bag as they enter the yard sale so they can place their items in the bag right away. It makes for easier handling.

Staffing. Assign one to be the cashier, and another to mill around if buyers have any questions. It would also help to have another person to act as security in case any theft happens.

Post from: Blisstree

Holding A Successful Yard Sale

IMG: Sxc.hu

Each day they went through their toys, clothes, etc to decide what was too small or something they no longer needed. This morning we took everything out and laid it nicely (spreading it out) on the driveway.

The first two hours only brought in a few people, but most just slowed down and looked and drove on. Suddenly SoccerBoy, age 12, says, “Mom last week we did better when you weren’t out. Could you go in and see if it works again?” It was hot so I granted the wish, bringing in the two youngest as we watched out the bedroom window to keep an eye. Sure enough within that half hour they got customers, in the end they sold $75 worth of stuff.

The neat thing is I left pricing up to the oldest, except for the DVDs that were boxed sets and I think I have a little business man on my hands. He wrote out the prices on several boxes, clothes were 3 for a buck, toys were 2 for a buck, bikes $3 and $5, etc. The neat thing was watching their customer service and seeing how they were pulling people in. They would wave at each car as they drove by and smile or yell “Good Morning.” Once out of the car my son would approach telling them the prices, asking if they needed anything in particular (sizes, etc) and saying thank you, sir or ma’am. Oh and they’ve already asked me if they can do this again next week.

Post from: Blisstree

Kids’ Garage Sale Success

My blogger friend Peggy is having the world’s weirdest little party over at her new blog Junk Creation though, and frankly, the party could use some real people. So far the only attendees have been some straw dispensers. I said it was weird.

Junk Creation is a b5media blog that Peggy took over about two days ago. It was already a cool blog, but since Peggy is my co-blogger at Tree Hugging Family, I can assure you that knowing Peggy, this blog will rock in a much more hard core way now.

In Peggy’s words, Junk Creation will be covering:

“J • Retail junk creations for you, your home and your yard or balcony

J • Junk toys for children, pets and wildlife

J • Junk book reviews. There’s an awesome scarecrow book I want to tell you about soon. Yard people aren’t just for autumn anymore.

J • Reuse that Junk! The only thing that belongs in the trash is used cat litter. Some people like the natural litter for mulch though.

J • Junk artists. Now, these people really know how to reveal the inner beauty of junk.

J • Junk projects. We’ll look a some doable, usable junk projects from around the web and also some from my head. Forgive me though, my table saw is in storage. (Seriously, it is since I live in an apartment).“

Yes sir, it’s your basic junk lovers party. Or right now, it’s your basic straw dispenser lovers party. In any case, Peggy is a great blogger, with a huge focus on green issues, and that’s to Junk Creation’s advantage. So visit her party, read the blog, and let her know what you think. Click this picture to shoot over…

Post from: Blisstree

You’re officially invited to a party…