Having a yard sale can be torture of the worst imaginable kind, or a relatively easy way to declutter your home and make some extra cash. Unless you think of the Marquis de Sade as the kindly uncle type, your goal is to have the latter. The key to having a successful yard sale is organization.
Set the Date
- Estimate how much time you think it will take to get your sale ready. Now triple that, and set your sale date for a convenient weekend afterward.
- Conventional small-town wisdom, where your buyer pool is limited, is to plan your yard sale for the first weekend of a month. Buyers on fixed incomes will be the most flush at that time. It doesn't seem to matter as much in a larger city.
- Once you've set the date, go ahead and get a permit if your city requires it. You might forget once you get busy preparing for the sale.
