Yard Sale.....How to....or Not to

You may recall my mother's yard sale was last Saturday.  I am happy to report that the sale was a HUGE success!  The day was cool and clear, the people came in droves and a TON of stuff was sold.  I am feeling quite the expert on yard sales now so I am going to clue you in on some of the things we learned just in case you want to have a yard sale of your own this fall.

1.  One man's trash truly is another man's treasure.....when you begin collecting items to sell, remember that....NOTHING is too old or useless....just because you think it has breathed it's last doesn't make it so.

2.  If location location location is the real estate watch word, ADVERTISEMENT is the yard sale's best friend.  We ran an ad in the newspaper, on craig's list and put up loads of signs.  The local tv station reads some of the ads on the news early Saturday morning and several people heard that....People cannot attend your sale if they don't know about it.

3.  Pricing....we priced most things super super cheap.  We had all clothes for $1 per piece...a great idea...people were stuffing bags full of clothes...if we were ready to get rid of it, we priced our stuff to GO.  We also entertained all offers...people love to haggle....if you want rid of it, don't hold onto it hoping the next person will offer you $.25 more.

4.  Visual Merchandising....think neat.  DO NOT put a blanket on the ground and then cover it with clothes or books.  We used tables and saw horses with plyboard then covered them with plastic table covers my mother forgot were in the attic.  We also FOLDED all of the sweaters and things we did not hang and we RE-FOLDED them as they got messy.  This sounds silly but several people said how nice it was not to dig through boxes as they shopped.  If they can't see it, they won't buy it.

5.  Although Daddy had waaaaay to many tools to price, my long-suffering brother was on-hand THE WHOLE TIME to quote prices and take money on the spot so people did not have to hunt for someone to ask.

6.  Many hands make light work.  We worked for days getting things together then the day before the sale we were ready to just set things out and organize like items together....My LS brother, his organized wife, my nephew, mother and I were on hand to take things to people's cars, run errands, take money etc....not to mention the farmer and farm hands toting things out, running back and forth from the attic etc....

7.  Things will NOT sell if they are in the house because someone forgot to bring them outside to the sale....case in point...my mother's vacuum cleaner....we noticed it in the house about 15 minutes before the sale ended....oh well, she did sell the stereo.

8.  Have your sale in the spring or fall...summer and winter...not good....we lucked out, excellent cool weather.

9.  If you live in a neighborhood, encourage others to have a sale too.  There were several sales in my mother's neighborhood by coincidence and they sent people to us and we returned the favor...free advertising.

10.  NEATNESS counts.  Place like items with like items...Don't make people hunt for things...put them out front where they can be seen and make sure they are clean....don't sell dirty clothes, dusty glasses, filthy towels etc....some of the tools etc were grungy, but that is kind of expected with garage items...not so much with household things...and who wants dirty shoes or sweaters?

Now that it's over, I hope it's some time before we do it again, but we were THRILLED with the result.  Think about having a sale yourself...you'll be surprised at what you can get rid of! 

 Happy Weekend.