Ten Steps to a Successful Yard Sale
Last weekend I had a yard sale. Since I don’t ever shop at yard sales (I hate shopping of any sort), I asked my friends for advice – some good, some not so good. And now, I’m passing along to you what I learned at my one and only yard sale of my life.
1. Remember what success means:A. to get rid of your stuff.
B. to make a little money.
C. to have some fun.
2. Divide your stuff into categories by price. Place them in the yard in price circles. (everything over there is $3 and everything right here is $4)
3. Don’t, like many people told me to do, mark up the price. Few people haggled with me and I felt awful charging them $4 for the shoes I thought were worth $2. I felt even worse when people walked away because they thought my stuff was too expensive.
4. Greet everyone with a smile and make small talk. It makes the day much more enjoyable.
5. Have lots of small bills and change.
6. Have bags for people to take home lots of items.
7. Have a friend help you. Then you can take bathroom breaks.
8. Wear sunscreen.
9. Have boxes at the ready. When you are done for the day, box everything up and take it to a donation sight right away.
10. Be ready for the car loads of people who show up at the last minute. (Folks warned me that people would arrive early. I found the opposite to be true). Since I was going to take it to Goodwill anyway, I told them, “Everything is a quarter, just be fast with your shopping. I’m beat!”
Shari Storm worked at the debt counseling agency, Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Seattle for six years before coming to Verity Credit Union in 1998. Storm has her masters degree in business administration from Seattle University. She writes for Working Mother Magazine blog and MomLogic.
She is a mentor for Seattle University’s Albers School of Business graduate program and lectures at University of Washington’s Experimental College.
She is the author of Motherhood is the New MBA: Using Your Parenting Skills to be a Better Boss. She has three daughters.
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