Well, I am going forward with the yard sale.. I want to have it July 26th & 27th in my driveway here in Flagstaff. My mother has agreed to visit for the weekend and help us, yay! We will drink brandy all day and sit in the driveway trying to sell off our crap! Maybe we can even have the Nissan brought back up here for the yard sale so we can sell it that same day!
Oooo, maybe our doggies old owner could visit that weekend also! You see we got our Dixie on freecycle and we have always offered to let her old owners visit her except it has been so busy that it has yet to happen. Maybe yard sale weekend huh?
Yesterday I spent the morning out the the shed pulling boxes out, going through them, sorting and putting stuff back into the shed. Amazingly there is not as much crap in there as I thought, still plenty to get rid of but not as bad as I imagined! Here is a slide show of the project:
Now I need to tackle the inside crap, like our spare room- craft room. We had everything we didn’t plan on unpacking (since we only expected to be here 6 months) shoved into the walk in closet in that room. Over the weekend while we were looking for our Harkens souvenir cup we pulled everything out of there that we wanted to sort, consolidate and possibly get rid of… It is a mess, I took some photos just for you!
Now I need some advice about yard sales and moving, got any great pointers? I was thinking about putting an ad about the sale on Flagstaff, Craig’slist. How else can I advertise for the sale? How much cash do you think I will need for making change? Do people barter much at yard sales, if so how much do I charge/ markup stuff? Help me, share your knowledge…
Our town has a town-wide yard sale where they pick one day each spring and fall to hold one. Of course anyone can do it any other time as well, but if you do it during the town-wide sale you get more traffic, since some people get a map of all the yard sales that our town publishes in the free paper and they read what each person advertises that they are selling and they plan a trip to hit all the yard sales that sound of interest to them. I usually participate in this at least once a year in whichever season we are less busy. We usually get $100 worth in smaller bills for making change. And yes, people definitely try to barter and talk you down. I tend to put more sentimental value on things and value them more than TGH does so we usually compromise on pricing. His thinking is that it is stuff we want to get rid of so it’s worth letting it go for a little less than we hoped rather than have to drag it back inside when the sale is over. He is right about that in most cases. But things I know I could get more for on E-bay or in consignment will likely stay out of the yard sale and I’ll try my luck on those avenues first, if they don’t sell, into the yard sale they go. It all depends on how much time you have to get rid of things.
Hey T :-)… thanks for the link. I think you mean that we are the previous owners… had to have a good chuckle that we are the old owners! lol! I AM old!
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Advertise ahead of time! Put up flyers, and at the end, you can freecycle what is left.
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I usually start with change for $40-$50. People who frequent garage sales are looking for stuff cheap and will certainly try and haggle prices. Most people are looking to spend anywhere from $0.50 cents- $10. And if they end up buying multiple things, they’ll want to knock off even more of the price. When we had a garage sale, I sold most things for $1-$5 because I just wanted them sold. It was better to get $5 for something I didn’t need, than nothing and have to deal with getting it delivered to charity.
I advertised ahead of time on Craigslist, and put of local flyers on signs the day before. I also tied up a balloon to some as well to direct attention.
good luck!
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I’m a yard sale buyer more than a yard sale haver, and I definitely want to bargain. Especially along the lines of “I’ll buy this and that for the asking price if you’ll throw in whatever.”
Like someone else mentioned, do you want to drag it back inside and have to deliver it to charity? That’s actually costing you (gas money, time, etc.)
I’ve just sold some stuff on Craigslist and I’d go that way before ebay in a heartbeat. I don’t like ebay’s high fees now.
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i bet you could mark everything up at least 10% since it has now been featured on the internet!!! (good luck and don’t forget the overpriced lemonade stand!)
I think it will be fun. I’ll make sure to have lots of lemonade and iced tea on hand to sell too!
I’ve found that most people like to try to negotiate lower prices when they want something. I would get around $50 for change…the vast majority of that being rolled coin, especially quarters, and tons of $1’s. You should place signs around your city, but mostly in a location close to you. Have music playing and just have fun with the whole day:)
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I second everything Teeni says!
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