Fly Lady Thank you to all our members who submitted ideas on holding a great yard sale. They are terrific!

Me, I love yard sales, and we have held several during our own decluttering projects. Never forget the goal of your yard/garage sale: you want to get rid of the clutter! Don’t get side-tracked by the money part - if someone wants to buy one of your clutter things - let them (even if they are offering less than what you think it is worth). When the sale is done, take all the left-overs to Goodwill immediately. Then, sweep out your garage, take a hot bubble bath, and relax - you will have deserved it! Thanks again for all your tips! - Cindy

Pricing Ideas

The most important philosophy to keep in mind is that yard sales are NOT to recoup investments. You cannot expect to get anywhere near what you paid for the item. Mainly, yard sales are a way that people PAY YOU to TAKE AWAY your junk. It’s a great concept! Go into it with an attitude of loving charity and enjoy the delight on people’s faces when you offer a low price and they think they got a great bargain. You may very well be making a huge difference for a family that can’t afford to buy needed items at retail prices.

Helping a friend with her deceased MIL’s garage sale... we were reaching the end... a local historian had gotten a box of MIL’s records and such (she had been a GP). There were even some boxes of Kotex with safety pins...remember those!! Can’t imagine why no one had bought those...

Well, as I was saying, it was getting close to the end and we both realized the bedding was not moving. So, I suggested we sell it by the garbage bag and the More and Bigger the bag(s) purchased, the less the price, YES. So it was one dollar for a paper bag and fifty cents for a huge plastic garbage bag. It took a little explaining, but the first three people just about hauled away everything for three dollars.

Use one big sign for items like books and clothes unless you want to price them individually. For example, I usually charge $1 per item of clothing and $1 for all books. Most people will try to bargain if they think it is too high anyway. It will save a lot of pricing time. To save even more time, put together a .25 table, a .50 table, etc.

An alternative pricing scheme that could work well if most of the stuff is not too valuable is to just say everything is a quarter or 50 cents or whatever. No tags, no weighing, just one big sign. If a few items are more valuable, put them on a separate table with a different sign. When we have a yard sale, our primary goal is to move the stuff out - we love to fly!

Don’t expect to get consignment prices at a yard sale. You want the stuff to be gone, right? Price really cheap and enjoy the fact that you may be helping someone else clothe their child or themselves or provide Christmas gifts for their children. If you keep the attitude, as Flylady says, that your items will bless someone else it will be easier to let them go cheaply and then they are GONE!

We always tell people as they are leaving that we sell everything half-price at closing time. One year, it rained while everything was still sitting on tables, so we sold anything & everything for 10 cents!

Getting others involved

I am a Flybaby and have JUST had GREAT success with a yard sale. The neighborhood I live in decided to do the “27 Step Boogie - 27 times”. We got together and helped each other “boogie” our way into de-cluttered homes. While de-cluttering, we priced and boxed for each other. One BEAUTIFUL Saturday morning out came our treasures and our yard sale began; we sold enough “junk” to treat ourselves to a neighborhood “Fling”. Dinner was on us! We all got to know each other better and the additional support for cleaning out those “tough to get rid of” purchases was invaluable.......

Before the sale

Place an advertisement in the paper for Friday and Saturday.

Advertise with your local paper. The expense of the ad (usually around $25.00) is easily offset by the increased traffic. Many people make a habit of going from yard sale to yard sale on the weekends. Their first stop is the classified ads to find where the yard sales are.

Get Neon Posterboard (the smaller size) and using a black marker write: YARD SALE! Underneath write your address and the date and time. Write BIG! Place these on telephone poles in your neighborhood for all to see! (And don’t forget to take them down after the sale.)

The bigger the sign, the bigger the sale! (That’s what shoppers think, anyway.) Put up a sign at all major roads that lead to your home, and each intersection where the car must turn to get to you. Put the sign on the side of the road they should turn toward. (If they need to turn left to get to your house, put the sign on the left side of the road, even though they are driving on the right side.) Write your address on the signs and WRITE BIG!

The signs should all have arrows pointing them to the direction of the sale. Start with signs on all the major roads surrounding your home and then put them at every stop sign (where they have to make a decision about direction). Use duct tape to put them high up on street signs. Most municipalities won’t mind such signs so long as they are only up for a day or so and you make sure to go get them down when the sale is over.

Put a lot of empty boxes out by the curb so it looks like you have a lot of stuff you have been storing. Place items in the driveway instead of all in the garage. Some people drive around looking for certain items and won’t even get out of their car if they don’t see what they are looking for.

Hang clothes if possible. (Except kids clothes.) Most people won’t bother with picking up items to check style, size, condition, etc., they will just skip them. I was at a sale recently where the woman placed all the kids clothes on blankets in the yard and marked the blankets according to the size of the clothes. It was really easy to find the right sizes.

Make sure you have lots of small change and small bills. It is amazing how many people come to yard sales to buy a .25 item with a $20 bill.

Use a fanny pack to hold your money. It is safer and more convenient than a box or pouch.

If you have a garage, set all this up the day before the sale. Then, all you have to do is open the door and you’re in business!

Save grocery bags a few weeks ahead of time for those who make large purchases.

During the sale

Wear very comfortable clothes. Not sweats or fuzzy slippers though.

Have a thermos of a hot beverage available for yourself. You may need to take short breaks (if you have someone else to help the buyers) because yard sales can be very physically tiring.

Don’t deny buyers the pleasure of negotiating. A lot of people really enjoy haggling and they will do so no matter what you offer for your price. If you say ten cents, they will try to get you down to five. This is very satisfying to some people and it can be fun, so give it a good show, even if you don’t really care what you get for the item.

NEVER turn down ANY offer that someone makes, no matter how ridiculous!

When it is near time to end the sale, start throwing things in with purchases (2 for 1). It will make less for you to pack up to take to Goodwill.

After the sale

Pack up the things that don’t sell IMMEDIATELY! They are a lot easier to deal with right away. Otherwise they may hang out in the garage for days or weeks before they are dealt with.

Don’t forget to take down your signs!!! There is nothing worse than cluttering up our neighborhoods with sagging, faded signs - right Flylady?

When it is all over, box the leftovers up and put them right into the car/van. Drive straight to the Salvation Army, etc. and drop it all off. Get a Coke on the way home, you deserve it!

Don’t forget to get a receipt at Goodwill for the leftovers—that tax donation from the unwanted items can end up being more profitable than the yard sale.

Finally, go deposit your cash into the bank as soon as possible. It has been known to happen that thieves will break into homes the night after a yard sale because they think there will be a lot of cash on hand.