Master Yard Sale Hostess

This week has been very busy. I have been overdoing things daily and am truly amazed that I’m still moving! Our Yard Sale is going full swing.  Our last day is tomorrow until noon. Then we’ll be packing everything up and donating it to Goodwill.

I’m so glad it’s almost over. Yard sales are seriously hard work!  Everything from sorting it all, to setting it up, and walking around talking to people takes its toll on my poor Fibromyalgia ridden body.

This is the first yard sale we’ve done in years, so we actually had quite a lot of junk, err treasures, to sell.  We stuck to free (and really inexpensive) means of advertising including Craigslist and printing out yard sale signs and then coloring them with markers (the kids loved doing this part) to hang all over the neighborhood.  Then we texted all of our friends and posted on Facebook (well my husband did).  

We made sure to put the signs up near other yard sales in the neighborhood, so we actually had a lot of traffic on Saturday.  Today (Sunday) was way slower in terms of the number of people stopping by, but we still made a few sales. 

Tomorrow, I expect it to be somewhat slow until noon, which is when I told all the neighborhood kids they could come and get kids clothes, toys, stuffed animals, and books for free (as long as it’s ok with their parents).  This way we won’t have as much stuff to bring to Goodwill and the kids will all end up with some great treasures!

Once we get everything put away, then we’ll need to drive around and take down the signs.  I’m eagerly anticipating the end of the sale, but I also already feel great about having less stuff around the house and emptying the shed.

I thought it would be fun to share some helpful tips I learned with this yard sale.

Yard Sale Tips:
1.      Organize things by table or box so people can glance quickly and move to the table that interests them most.  We have a childrens book table, an adult books table, a kitchen utensils and pots/pans, etc. table, a breakable dishes table, a playpen filled with stuffed animals, boxes of toys, electronic stuff table, clothes tables sorted by items (one for shirts, one for pajamas and swim suits, one for shorts, skirts, and pants) and so forth. We also hung all dresses, jackets, hoodies, and fancier shirts so they could be seen easily.

2.     Have lots of change, especially if you’re pricing a lot of things to be 25 or 50 cents!  We started out giving a few extra special bargains, because I didn’t have enough quarters and would rather ask for less money than more.

3.     Offering the option to fill a bag of clothes for a dollar works really well. This is the first yard sale, where we’ve done this and we sold a lot more clothes than at any other yard sale we've ever had.

4.     Everyone says NOT to have a yard sale on holiday weekends, but having this one on Labor Day Weekend, just before school starts up again ended up working out really well.  A lot of parents picked up clothes and books for the children.

5.     Early birds are NOT a problem if you don’t post an ad in the newspaper.  People started showing up about ½ hour after we started (which is when all of the stuff was in place).  In the past, we had issues where early birds would show up hours early, so we had to pay extra to put a “early birds will be charged double” line in the newspaper for our last yard sale.  This time, it was a lot less expensive just posting in Craigslist, letting our friends know about it, and putting up signs.

6.     I have always been told that people expect prices to be on everything, but for this yard sale the goal was to get rid of things so we just let people know this up front and explained that other than a few select larger items, things are under a dollar and most things are 25 cents a piece or 4 or more items that fit in a small grocery bag for $1.  (This was for the clothes, books, toys, and stuffed animals)

        Our sales have been a lot larger at this yard sale than any other and my children love making deals for everyone!  I actually wanted to price everything and always have before, but my body was screaming at me the night before so I opted not to and it ended up working out surprisingly well.

7.     We set out old golf clubs, paint ball guns, and tools where they could be seen as people drove by and ended up having a lot more men stop by to look at them, while the women and children with them ended up buying more stuff. 

8.     My ten year old decided to sell water bottles and soda from a cooler for 50 cents a piece and has made a lot more money than I expected. It’s been a beautiful, sunny, hot weekend and people have bought cold drinks even if they don’t buy anything else at the sale.

9.     I thought we had a ton of bags to use, but we started running out and a neighbor sent more for us to use (we didn't even ask, they were just being helpful and kind).  We have some great neighbors here. A good helpful tip would be to have double the bags you think you will need.

10.    Allow your children to help, they can do a lot more than you’d expect. My ten year old helped put everything up, has sold water and soda, helps make change (and does it well-people are getting a kick out of it), helps greet people, and will be helping to take everything down to donate at the end.  My 16 year old niece has also been helping a lot, her big job will be tomorrow when we do the clean-up. 

I knew it was going to be hard work and that I needed to be careful to not end up with a Fibro Flare at the end of this, so I’ve been getting help from friends all week with the initial sorting and allowing my children to do a lot more than I have in the past. So far, this yard sale has been fun and successful.

In short, I’m beyond delighted to be nearly done and am still a little stunned that we managed to pull it together and have it at all.  This has been one of our most successful yard sales so far and I’m really excited to have a house with much less clutter!

Even though I’m not an expert yard sale person by any stretch of the imagination, I am giving myself the title of “Master Yard Sale Hostess,” because I learned so much, managed to get it done, and am really happy with the results with only half a day to go!

Hopefully, the Fibro Fairy will keep sprinkling magic dust on me so my body can keep going. It's really a miracle that I've been able to do so much and am doing so well comparatively. I'm in more pain, but I'm still functional for the moment!  

I'm trying really hard to not overdo too much, but with the yard sale preparation and sale itself, and the extra school shopping and the school registrations and tours all occurring this last week, I'm pushing the limits of my body, but staying positive!

May you all have the ability to do a little more than expected this week and the magic dust of the fairies guide you! :-)