Time for a Country Yard Sale!
Every year I gear up for a yard sale; something I’ve done regularly for about my entire life. I grew up doing yard sales with my grandmother, and let me tell ya… I learned from the best!
She knew exactly how to fold, place and sell everything that was there. I took that knowledge and applied it to my current life and, in this article, I will certainly share that information with you!
Every community is different, but there are a few tips that certainly hold true everywhere. You may have to check the rules within your local community to find out if there are any additional ladders you have to climb.
9 Tips to Make Your Yard Sale Awesome
1 – Choose the right date!
Deciding when to host your yard sale is a big deal. You want to catch people when they have money in their pockets, typically the weekend after the first of the month or even the mid-month paycheck. Some people opt for yard sales that last the whole weekend and some like to get it all done in one day.
2 – Get it out there!
Advertising is key. Putting a listing in a local classified paper is a great way to do it if that’s where people in your community are used to looking for sales. However, these days just about every community has a Facebook page (or 10) that does a fantastic job of Yard Sale advertising. This is a great way to get the word out and you can even add pictures!
3 – Be a merchandiser!
You really have to set up those great pieces so that they sell. They have to be seen in a way that will bring attention to them. If you are selling furniture pieces that you have had in storage for a while, clean them up. Put your large pieces out front so that they can be eye-catchers.
4 – Have enough tables set up to separate and organize.
There’s nothing that makes me leave a yard sale more quickly than seeing tables piled up with unfolded or unseparated clothes. There could be something really great there, but I’m not filtering through it!
At my yard sales, I always employ separate tables for boy’s, girl’s, women’s and men’s clothing and I even go further than that and separate them by size. It is much more inviting to look through clothing if you know they are in the size you need.
5 – Price your stuff!
No one wants to ask how much everything is. While I am yard-saling, I might possibly ask for a price on a large item, but there is no way I am asking the price of everything! If things aren’t priced, I move on to the next sale.
6 – Use Posters!
Signs with advertising/merchandising information will help you. For instance… “All small toys .25 cents” or even “buy 3 pair of pants, get a shirt for free”. Just think of what you might say…and write it down!
7 – Be friendly and sell your stuff.
I remember watching my grandmother, in complete astonishment, as she would ask people their size and start gathering things up in that size, bring it to them and tell them how much they needed those things!
I thought she was crazy back then, but she generally sold it all! The moral of this story is you know your stuff, so you are the best person to tell someone how great it is! Sell Sell Sell!
8 – Point the way!
Your ad should give your address, but if you are in the country, you more than likely you are gonna need to lead the way from a main road. Good signage is a must. …and write REALLY BIG! This is important because from the car, most signs are simply unreadable.
Plus, your signs set the tone for your sale. I put a great deal of time and effort into my yard sale signs. I use full-size foam core board, and big fat markers and I write up cute and funny sayings with huge arrows pointing the way. I believe it lets people know that I put a lot of effort into my yard sale and that means there might be something really great there!
9 – You can even get the kiddos involved and have a lemonade stand!
Having a lemonade stand is a great experience for kids and who doesn’t want an ice-cold glass of lemonade on a hot summer day?
Being lucky enough to live your life out in the country is no reason not to have a yard sale. It may be a little longer drive to get there, but if you do it right, it will be worth it for everyone! So, clean out your house and find all those treasures that the rest of us treasure hunters are lookin’ for!
God Bless and good luck! See ya next time!
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