Yard Sale

Ginlyn and I had our yard sale this past wekend and even though it rained hard on saturday we sold a little less than $400.00. This is absolutely my last yard sale.

This lady was our first customer on friday and on saturday morning there were two cars waiting for us to open the door.

Hi sgtdot,
why is it your last?

I have NEVER had a yard sale - so I have 20 years of stuff to sell. I am going to start maybe this weekend - and see how it goes. I am abit concerned as I am afraid people will steal - not that what I am selling is of great value - but I still don't want to deal with theft atempts. And I am sure they will try.

Any tips for a beginner... ?

I love yard sales!!!! We are planning to have another one soon. :o)

Squeaky, I have had several yard sales. When we move I get rid of a lot of stuff and then seem to accumulate more.
I put too much effort in my sale, We price everything and put things together, kitchen things together, linens,etc together and we had a table and chairs this time and we put place mats and flowers on the table. Everyone seems to remember when our address is advertised and we always have a good turn out. You need two people one to take the money and one to help customers. You might want to wear a carpenters apron to keep your money in. Have lots of paper money and change as sometines they pay with a $20.00 bill and may only get a few dollars worth of things.
Good luck. We have never had anyone steal things. We also give things away to children and some times to adults.

When I was a kid my mother would DRAG me and my sister along on the great america yard sale hunt EVERY Saturday monring... I absolutely hated it when I was young. Now as I look back it is one of my fondest memories. My mom was a nut and we always had a good time finding treasures.

I know once I start having yard sales - I may not stop. The extra money would be very helpful right now.
Thanks for the tips and I look forward to 'giving away' certain things. For example I have this Teddy Bear - I found him at GoodWill for $10. Now mind you I was 35+ when Ibought him - but I could not resist. He probably cost $100 brand new - and when I bought him he looked brand new. It would give me more joy to hand this over to a little kid than sell it for a profit. Of course the stepkids might not agree.. LOL

Did you advertise in the newspaper? I plan not to - because I hear that people will show up 2 hours before the start of the sale and knock on your door. I live close enough to a well traveled street - that one or two well placed signs will get people coming.

Did you sell evertything you wanted to sell? And did you sell that old school desk? What's the history behind it?

The desk did not sell, I had $35.00 on and did not want it to go for less. My sister gave me the desk, she had painted it red. I started toi refinish it but never got around to it. The seat I bought at an antique store all ready finished.
We did put an ad in the paper, however the messed it up. We wanted friday and saturday and they put saturday and sunday We had good signs out on friday and got most of our sales that day because it rained hard on saturday but we still had a lot of diehard yard sellers. The only thing the paper did for us was to let people know the address and the recognized our address and knew that we had good clean articles. The teddy bear in the childs seat was made by my sister and I gave it to one of the little neighborhood girl. The boys got a white fuzzy bunny rabbit and a white cat. The small little boys got little cars, etc. I love children.
I have a 16 year old granddaughter and 14 year old grandson and I miss little ones.

That is me in the chair and Ginlyn on the stool.

Squeaky.... the key to a really successful yard sale is to advertise, advertise, advertise. Put signs at intersections coming from both directions to your house, as well as on your street corner. Use the bright neon color signs and use BOLD writing. So many people put up small signs at the intersections and you can't read them even if traffic is stopped.

If possible, you should put it in the paper where others can see it, as they might not be travelling your direction otherwise.

If you're having it at 8:00, try to have everything ready by 7:30

Never ever , let anyone in your house. I've heard of people asking to use the bathroom,then trashing it once they're inside.

As for stealing...I don't think that's ever happened to us...(at least it wasn't noticed)

Make sure you price everything,as it's so frustrating to have to ask, " how much is this" on everything you want.

Hey, I need that exersaucer!! Why don't you live in my neighborhood? LOL I'd be thrilled to death with a $400 haul! They are a lot of work though, huh?

HI, Had one-the problem was the lady, who came before the sale time, when I was still setting up and walked off with the many $$ hose connectors for the porous drip hose!!! Lot of ads here, state : No early sales!
Ditto, for those Big Signs!! with stuff that does not flap in the breeze. It is helpful if others in the area are also having sales..I will look around in one area rather than travel all over town. I cannot peer at tiny signs and drive at the
at the same time. If you don't have much, try to combine with family /friend (tag with initials and then just transfer to an envelope. I love the ones with lots of stuff to browse through..buy Much more stuff that way.
I was at one this past week-end. The shoes, clothes etc. that were out; were in such bad shape that I skipped the pile of books--not wanting to add any problems to my collection (smell or worse). I buy and trade lots of used stuff
and am not a snob--but this stuff was dirty! They would have had more chance for sales (maybe) if they had just brushed the dirt and cobwebs off the stuff. Just from my point of view. Maybe I can cruise to MD-love that raindeer!

If you can get a couple of your neighbors interested, you can split the advertising, and run the ad as 1200 block of First Street. Then they don't know which house to knock on the door of. Have everything ready and then put your signs out. Neighbors also give extra people to help watch.

I've never had anyone steal anything, but you never know. They just arrested a woman here who went to open houses and while she talked to the agent, she had her 12 year old son steal things!

I love sales that have everything priced. I hate having to ask the price of everything. It really is a pain to do, but I've found I make more money that way.