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South Jordan Journal

5 Tips For Hosting A Spectacular Yard Sale

Jun 26, 2015 09:29AM ● By Joani Taylor
It’s summertime and that means yard sales. For some this means hitting the road looking for great bargains, for those on the other side of the coin, hosting a sale is the fun. I’ve hosted many great yard sales, my last one bagged me over $1,000. Here’s some tips I’ve learned along the way for making your sale a success.

#1 Make a plan

A great yard sale doesn’t happen overnight. It takes careful pre-planning and organizing. A few weeks before your sale scour the house from top to bottom and clear out the clutter. Decide if you will be selling any large furniture items and price them. Plan to take a couple of vacation days to price and organize your items. It’s also a great idea to team up with other neighbors, family or friends. It makes your sale more fun and allows you to have more items.

#2 Store up your clutter throughout the year

Create a corner of the house where you can store your yard sale goods. When I find items I think are worth selling, I stash them away in a guest room closet, under the stairs or in a corner of the garage also works. Price the items as you put them in boxes. By the time yard sale weather hits, you’ll have a lot of your stuff ready to go.

#3 Advertise 

Spreading the word about your sale is likely going to be the number-one factor in how well your sale does. I have never had a successful yard sale that I did not advertise somewhere in the media. Most successful for me has been in the newspaper. Craigslist is also a great resource. It’s free to advertise and you can post a preview of items you have. The evening before or the morning of your sale,  put out brightly colored signs along the main roads that lead into your neighborhood pointing the way. Make sure to take them down when finished.

#4 - Set up your shop and price things to sell

Make sure you have enough tables and blankets to display your items. Set up shop as organized as you can. Don’t make up prices on the spot. Instead invest a couple of dollars for some stickers or use blue painter’s tape and price things clearly. 

When pricing your items, price them to sell cheap. It’s better to under- price than to not sell items because you expected to get too much. People want to know how much you want without asking. Some people may be too shy to ask for a price or you may be busy helping someone else. Having clear prices makes it less likely you’ll lose a sale and get a few more nickels for each item with less haggling and walkaways.

Mark items down on the last day or the last few hours. You might say everything is 50% off just before you’re ready to call it quits. We’ve also left any unsold items that we planned to haul away out and marked as free for any stragglers.

#5 - Remember the lemonade and treats

This is a great time to teach the kids some life skills and give them a way to earn some money too. Have them set up a refreshment stand with soda and candy or cookies and lemonade.

With a little work and preplanning you can earn some extra money to use for some summer fun. For more money saving tips visit www.Coupons4Utah.com.