9 BEST Tips To Have A Successful Yard Sale & What To Look For At Yard Sales

Wondering what to do in order to have a successful yard sale or garage sale? Read these 9 BEST tips on how to make money at a yard sale!

My entrepreneurial roots run deep friend.

Yes, as an adult I love the flexibility and scheduling freedoms that come with running my own business today. Actually, that right there is the greatest and most valuable currency I carry of owning my own business.

Ownership of my time.

But really?

Really I have been hooked on the hopeful math of,

“efforts in = results out”

of an entrepreneurial spirit since the age of EIGHT.

It all started for me when my Mom paid our local newspaper to take out a classified AD in the that read:

“Heather’s Yard Sale”

Just giving the advertisement that title, planted a BIG seed of work ethic and ownership in a little girl, all those years ago.

If I close my eyes, I can still picture our dining room, leading up to my big sale day, filled and staged with all of the toys and treasures I had deemed ready to part with.

For weeks, after I finished my real homework from school…I would excitedly do my yard sale homework of pricing all of the pretties to prepare for the big day. (Spoiler, I do not waste time pricing all the things today.)

With price stickers and sharpie in hand, my 8 year old hand would write down the price, after thoughtfully discerning what it would be worth, in order to part with each goodie.

My Mom was smart.

She listed several of my “Big Ticket” hot selling items in the classified ad to draw interest.

One item being a play kitchen set that she wound up fielding numerous phone calls about, to which she would simply explain, “Heather’s yard sale is a first come, first serve sale.”

And on the morning of “Heather’s Yard Sale?”

That kitchen set was GONE before 7 am.

I still remember that feeling of my first BIG WIN as a little seller.

And so?

That little 8 year old girl who planned and prepared for “Heather’s Yard Sale” still shows up every Spring.

In fact?

Shawn and I hosted our first yard sale together, the year after we moved into our current home.

After settling into our new nest in 2008, it was clear that we had acquired items that we didn’t need or want.

It was time to purge.

We filled the lawn with all the pieces of furniture and household items we didn’t want any longer.

And 4 hours later?

We had hundreds of dollars of cash in our hot little hands.

We promptly packed up the car with the few items that didn’t sell, dropped them off to Good Will and drove straight to Home Depot and spent our yard sale cash on new exterior light fixtures to replace the horrible ones that were hanging on the brick of our new home.

Getting rid of all that junk and being able to buy something new and gorgeous to make our home look and feel better all in the same day?

It was such a satisfying feeling!!

And so?

I have been hooked on having a yard sale every year since.

Fast forward time, to the days of now, where Shawn and I have the opportunity to offer the first tastes of entrepreneurial spirits to our young girls?

You can bet your crisp dollar bills and yard sale quarters I have been hosting a yard sale every Spring since these girls could crawl.

Here is a fun throwback of our daughter, Eve when she was 4, with our neighbor, they decided to kick things up a notch with their own lemonade and muffins to entice shoppers. 🙂

All that to say?

I have learned a lot of yard sale tips and tricks over the years about how to have a successful yard sale.

And also?

What NOT to do.

So friend, if you look around your home and feel the sudden creeping feeling that the walls around you are getting smaller?

It might be time to purge, have a yard sale and edit your way back to your walls and comfortable space living.

Honestly?

I always have this amazing feeling after our yard sale.

Yes, the cash we make is always a fun thrill.

But really?

The cleansing feeling of unloading all the STUFF we do not need…is the best and biggest win of all.

So, if you have never hosted a yard sale before and think you want to.

OR, if the yard sales you have had in the past have not been very successful?

This post is for you.

I am going to share a quick list of my best tips on how to have a successful yard sale and after that?

I will share a few items to put on your watch list for when everyone else is having their yard sale, to make you hit the yard sale breaks and pull over.

Because?

As you know, I am not too proud to shop a great yard sale or pick up discarded items from off of the side of the road and haul them home. For instance, when I found THIS and THIS and THIS, sitting on the side of the road, and now we enjoy them every day in our home as beautiful and free furniture.

Ok friend, buckle in and let’s run through my 9 BEST TIPS for having a successful yard or garage sale.

This first tip might shock you.

9 BEST Tips To Have A Successful Yard Sale & What To Look For At Yard Sales

1. Do NOT pay money and place a classified AD in your local paper.

In contrast to 1988, when my Mom thoughtfully placed her well written AD in our local paper.

This is not the way to go today.

In fact, I paid $35 every year for years when I first started having our yard sale and always had to factor that cost into my profit at the end of the day.

And then?

I got smart and got with the times.

I post the yard sale in multiple places online FOR FREE.

2. Pick Your Yard Sale Date & Advertise It ONLINE in multiple sites.

Craig’s List is the BEST place to post your yard sale and you can do it easily for free.

I would recommend also posting on:

gslar.com

garagesales.com

yardsales.net

Use key words in your online posts, listing popular items you may be selling.

In addition to posting on multiple free websites, I also create a Facebook event.

You can see my facebook event for my yard sale that is happening next Saturday, April 30th, HERE.

Creating an event on facebook is free, super easy and allows your friends to see your post.

Also, as the yard sale gets closer and I begin pulling items out to sell, I will post pictures on the FB event and update my Craig’s List post to show pictures of the “big ticket” items, similar to the lesson I learned from my Mom, when she shared my play kitchen set in the paper advertisement.

3. Invest In Yard Sale Signs That You Can Re-Use Every Year

This was something I learned over time.

Do NOT skip on posting LARGE Yard sale signs EVERYWHERE the day before your sale.

For years, we used too small and too few signs that we placed too late, to advertise our sale.

A few years ago, we invested in several garage sale signs like these from Target or these from Walmart.

The key here is to put the signs out early the day before your sale.

We always hold our yard sale on Saturday mornings from 8 am – 11 am, so we put out signs on every corner around our neighborhood and we never need to change what we wrote on the sign for the day or time, because it is always the same.

Also, if there is a great corner to place a sign but it is private property, do not be shy to knock on the door of the home owner and request to place a sign in their yard and reassure them that you will come by after 12 noon the next day to remove it. I have never had a home owner tell me No, after I ask them permission.

*Hot Tip: I always advertise a start time of 8 am. I have learned if you advertise 8 am, the serious shoppers show up at 7 am. So BE READY at 7 am, but advertise for 8 am so you can at least take a first sip of your coffee before it is GAME ON. One time I advertised 7 am and those cars started driving by slowly at 6 am and your girl was unprepared and under caffeinated. 🙂

4. Tell Your Neighbors You Are Having A Yard Sale!

Once I decide on the date that I am planning to have my yard sale, I email my neighborhood community to let them know and invite them to take part in it!

I typically decide when I am hosting a yard sale about 1 month to two weeks out before the sale. This isn’t a wedding, so we don’t need to have it blocked off on the calendar 6 months ahead of time.

These days, it comes down to our daughter’s sport schedules and picking the Saturday morning that has the least interference with games.

Once, I know that I share the date and time with our neighbors about ten days before the sale so that if they would like to participate they have enough time to gather items together and participate.

Every year, we have families email me back to thank us and let us know that they will also be putting items out for sale on their lawn.

This is BIG.

Why?

Because, this allows me to now advertise my yard sale as a “Multi-Family Yard Sale” and also use this key word in my online posts. A multi family yard sale is the love song language to serious sale shoppers and is more likely to have your sale make the list on their places to stop that Saturday.

5. Set Up The The Day Before

After I stake my yard sale signs in all of the places on Friday morning?

I get busy staging the sale items in my garage.

When my neighbors see my yard sale worker bee buzzing away in the garage preparing they love to joke and ask if they can “shop the pre-sale” 🙂

I use folding tables and place most of the house hold and home decor items on the tables, so that the next morning, all that I need to do is have one of my young helpers (feeding that entrepreneurial spirit) carry one end of the table out from the garage and down to the bottom of the sidewalk so that shoppers can easily shop the sale as soon as they pop out of their cars.

If you keep all of the tables near your home or front steps, it is more intimidating and less likely passer byers will pop out of their car to take a looksie.

6. Use A Garment Rack To Hang Clothing, Purses, Belts, Etc.

I like my yard sale to look pretty. 🙂

Shocking I know.

I can’t help it, but I do not care for the look of cardboard boxes with clothing stuffed inside it for shoppers to just dig through and dump out.

I have two garment racks that I use every year for our yard sale and they help shoppers to easily see the clothing I have to sell and keeps things looking orderly and pretty.

I have and use this foldable garment rack and this garment rack, both from Amazon and use them for our yard sales every year.

7. Use Waterproof Tarps To Lay On The Ground & Bulk Price Like Items

Often times, in the early morning of a yard sale set up, the grass is wet with morning dew.

We use multiple large tarps to lay down on the grass in our yard so that we can place soft items, like blankets, curtains, drapes, stuffed animals and shoes on the tarps for easy shopping.

This is a great waterproof tarp from Amazon that you will need and use every year.

I also display similar items together and bulk price items. Such as “All Christmas Ornaments 50 cents.”

HOT TIP: I do NOT waste my time pricing everything, only the BIG items and I bulk group price the rest.

8. Prep Your Cash Box With Single Dollar Bills & Quarters

I can’t take credit for this.

My Mom is always in charge of this one last thing that always seems to slip my mind.

Honestly, it’s an easy thing to forget but as soon as your first customer hands you a $10 bill and looks at you for change, you will realize it is a critical step.

Find an empty box with a lid and use it as your cash box.

Go to the bank the day before, maybe after you post your sale signs around your neighborhood, and get the cash and quarters you will need to be a prepared seller the next morning.

And if you want to be a little “extra” you could offer a cashless payment option, such as Venmo.

Hot tip: I also like to keep a small pad of paper and pen in the box so that I can keep track for the girls what they have sold, so that they can “earn” their yard sale profits with a sense of satisfaction at the end of the sale.

Which brings me to my next tip.

9. Get Your Kids Involved

Honestly.

Yes, sometimes it makes it more chaotic, but as you saw from the picture of Eve above with her lemonade and muffin table…it teaches them something.

Yes, it is early and they most likely want to sleep in.

And Yes, sometimes it is even chilly first thing in the morning, like the picture from our sale in 2019 above.

But?

I have found that as soon as the first string of cars passes by and does that slow drive and distant peer from the car window…and then?

Stops, parks and people get out?

The girls get excited.

It’s as if you can see the hope of a young person’s work ethic being seeded and watered.

That’s it friends!

OH! I almost forgot one of the BEST ideas!!!

This BLEW our daughters away!

ONE MORE BONUS TIP!

If you are like us…once the clock strikes 12?

We are about ready to call it quits.

After all, our online advertising marketed that the sale ended at 12 right?

Wrong.

Your Yard Sale is not over yet friends.

Even though, you are ready to go inside and pour yourself a nice tall glass of lemonade and count your cash. Or, if you are like me, and need to hop in the car to catch your daughter’s sports game.

This is what you do.

Are you ready?

You leave everything out on your lawn and leave or go inside.

But before you go inside?

You take a sharpie and scrawl down on a big piece of paper this sentence:

“EVERYTHING IS A QUARTER”

At our last yard sale, we were so busy and by the time I looked at my watch, I realized we needed to end the sale and get going to catch our daughter’s game.

There was only one problem.

There wasn’t even enough time to drag the remaining items inside to the garage, so I quickly grabbed an empty glass vase and left it on the tarp on our yard, next to a piece of paper that read: “Everything is a quarter.”

It was almost like a little “let’s see what happens” game.

Because honestly?

There was no way I was hauling the left over yard sale items back inside our home.

And?

My plan was to donate whatever remaining items were left anyway.

And so?

It couldn’t hurt to leave a simple sign, statinng that everything was a quarter.

The girls and I could not believe our eyes when we pulled back into our driveway after our daughter’s game.

That clear vase was OVERFLOWING with DOLLAR BILLS!

Not only did that fun little twist at the end of our yard sale prove to be well worth it.

It saved us from having anything left over to haul inside or drive to the local donation center.

And?

It restored our faith in humanity…the honor system is still alive and well believe it or not friends.

Ok…NOW, You are on your way to having a VERY successful yard sale!

Now, it’s time to make your kids purge their closets (you too) and toy bins.

Make your husband, purge his closet too!!

Men’s clothing ALWAYS does well at our sales, especially name brands like Under Armor zip ups and coats that Shawn doesn’t wear any longer.

One more thing!

Stock up on plastic bags to help shoppers collect their new found treasures, and pick up small price stickers at the Dollar Tree to use to only price your big ticket items.

Tell your neighbors, put out your sale signs the day before and prep your cash box and you are on your way to having your best yard sale ever!

Oh and in the case you pass one of those multi-family yard sale signs and you yourself do the slow drive by?

These are items to put on your yard sale watch list to make you hit the breaks.

Baskets

Vintage ANYTHING:

Vintage Stools

Vintage Mirrors

Vintage Pitchers

Vintage Books

Vintage Maps

You get the idea.

Oh and friend? If you’re reading this, there’s a good chance it is still Saturday morning.

Which means?

Grab your change purse filled with quarters and GO get your yard sale on.

Living on a prayer,

Heather

P.S. If your local, be sure to swing by my yard sale, happening next Saturday, April 30th, 8 am – 11 am in the Roland Place Community!

You can get the details HERE!.

P.S. This post topic was a “Reader Request,” if you have a topic you would love me to to write a blog post on, please comment below to share your blog post request with me!

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