Sellin' my wares.

This past Saturday marked my first real life adult attempt at a yard sale.  I talked previously about some of my goals for the sale here.  I was planning on holding the sale later in the month, but I spotted a huge community sale just down the road for Saturday.  I decided to jump on the bandwagon, and hopefully glean some traffic my way.

(I believe in clever signs.)

I placed an ad on Craigslist and tried to be as detailed and concise as possible.  There were tons of others to check out, so I could see what others were listing and saying about their sales.

We didn't have a ton of hot ticket items, mostly baby clothes, a few toys, adult clothes, home goods, books, and DVDs.  We made about $57 after the sale - not too shabby!  A neighbor advised me to check out a used bookstore that had recently opened around the corner to sell our fiction titles.  My husband carted them over and scored another $15.  Everything else went to Goodwill, so I am free - FREE! Goodbye clutter.

(dollar, dollar, who's got a dollar?)

I was literally scouring our house for anything I could toss/sell/donate.  I think I made a pretty hefty dent.  At least in my closet and bookshelf.  I feel about 10 pounds lighter...really.

Here are a couple of tidbits I learned from the sale:

• Get large, clear signs up earlier than later around the neighborhood
• Piggy-back off another nearby sale
• Gather several families to host a multi-family sale
• Have at least a few larger pieces to draw in customers 
• Use a money belt or *gasp* fanny-pack to hold your money
• Price fairly, but be prepared to let some items go for less

It ended up being a really beautiful morning, and I had a dear friend come over to "help" me with all my "customers".  We had coffee and warded off early-morning mosquitos with a leftover citronella candle.  Not a bad way to start the day.

Do you have any suggestions for how to run a successful yard sale?