Day in the Life

Yard Sales

I am the undisputed Queen of Yard Sales. I had my first sale at 14 and was immediately hooked. My mom was in disbelief at the success of that sale. She wasn’t surprised that my items would sell, but was astounded as I counted out my earnings. I knew the value of what I was selling and I SOLD it to the customers. My mom declared then, and continued over the years to repeat, “Sherrie, you are a natural born salesman.” In a recent newsletter, I shared how I spent one summer doing numerous yard sales to build up funds for a downpayment for the purchase of my Gorham home. My neighbors might not have been pleased with all the traffic that I brought to the street, but nonetheless were the first to check out each sale for new treasures. I recently held a large garage sale that was months in the making. It was an exhausting but exhilarating day and just another day in my life. 

Whether you call them garage sales, yard sales, or tag sales, having a sale is a fun way to clean house, get rid of clutter, and has the bonus of earning you extra cash. I’ve been spending the summer cleaning out my basement, closets, and cupboards and boxing up unused, unwanted and outgrown items for the sale. I have also been upgrading my inventory for my staging business, Maine Home Refresh, and adding the replaced inventory of furnishings to the sale. With items cleaned and priced, signs strategically placed, and a cash box full with bills to make change, I was ready for my sale. 

It is hard work to put together a sale, but here are a few of my tips to make for a successful event: 

1. Be sure to remove items not for sale away from your sale area, lest you accidentally sell your kid’s toys, your garden equipment, or your spouse’s tools. Oops, might have done that a couple of times. 

2. Advertise your sale!!! You can post free classified ads on many marketplace websites, let your friends know in social media posts, place ads in your local paper, and post signs, signs, signs everywhere. Honestly I have never paid for an ad as my signs are placed in highly trafficked areas. 

3. Let’s talk about signs. Make them bold, clearly visible from the road, and with legible writing. Mine states “Yard Sale Today” with the address. I don’t bother with hours because that won’t stop customers from coming early and I don’t have the actual date noted to be able to re-use my signs, again and again. It’s so funny when I see signs that read the sale begins at 9:00am and specifically states “No Early Birds.” I typically have made several hundred dollars before 9:00am. Those “early birds” are usually my best customers, buying in bulk, and they never pay attention to any early bird warning. 

4. Whatever you are selling should be visually appealing. Dust knickknacks and furniture. It also goes without saying, there should be no broken items, merchandise with holes, tears, or missing parts and all items should be clean. 

5. Cash Box - be sure to have at least $75 in dollar bills with ones and fives to make change. Folks always seem to have fresh-from-the-ATM-machine $20 bills. If someone is buying a $1 item first thing in the morning and pays with a $50 bill, I direct them to the nearest location to get change. I am not a bank. Also, nothing at my sale is under $1. Not dealing with coins or making change. 

6. I also use color dots to show prices with a poster indicating the color dots and respective prices. Yellow is $1, Blue is $2, Red is $3 and Green is $4. Most of my merchandise will be in these price ranges. Anything at a higher price will be individually marked. Using the color dots speeds up the time needed for pricing. 

7. At the end of the day, most of what is left of my sale will go to Goodwill or another charity as donations. 

If possible, and contingent upon good weather conditions, I try to set up as much as I can the night before with all my tables in place, and unpacking and displaying my sale items. I then use inexpensive plastic tablecloths from the dollar store to cover the tables and wares from evening dew and condensation. When you have the amount of goods I have, I generally need several hours for this process that I wouldn’t be able to do first thing in the morning with the onslaught of those “early bird” customers. 

From a real estate perspective, having a yard sale to rid your home of unwanted treasures is a great way to make a home look more appealing when selling. Decluttering your decor boosts curb appeal. An added bonus is that a reduction in household items sold at the lawn sale can reduce your moving costs by lightening your moving load with professional movers. Finally, if your signs say “Moving Sale” it’s a great way to attract potential buyers. They will be asking questions and waiting for the “For Sale” sign. 

On the day of my sale the weather was perfect. We finally had two consecutive days of no rain to allow for the actual sale and the pre-sale set up. It went well. Lots of customers, sold lots of stuff, and made good money. The only negative about the day was when I found out that someone had stolen one of my signs that had been placed in a very strategic location. There were at least 6 other sales going on that same day (again because we finally had a day of no rain), and I would hate to think that any of my competitors would have removed my sign. Even though the sun was shining, the theft of my sign dampened the mood of the day. Oh well, I still have my other signs and more to sell …. I’m envisioning another yard sale in September. Afterall, I am the Queen of Yard Sales.