How to Make $1000 during your Yard Sales

So your husband got a job overseas and you have two months to move. You have a one bedroom overstuffed apartment with a mixture of his things and your things. You share a storage unit with his long lost bachelor furniture mixed with wedding gifts. You own 2 cars. You have to tell your friends. GO!

Where did I start. Pinterest. No seriously I had to Pinterest the sh*t out of this move. I wanted it to be cost effective, painless, and most of all I needed my marriage to survive... lol. It's better than ever, FYI. But only after 2 solid months of bickering... throw that away, don't pack that, etc.  I wouldn't have it any other way. Winky face. Love him.

Anyway, back to Pinterest where I made these boards which I found to be very helpful. I started with yard sales, and this is how I made $1000 bucks.

Spend Money To Make Money

You've heard of this age old concept, that you have to spend money to make money. When having a yard sell, yes it's all junk to you but it's someone else's treasure. So present your items in a presentable fashion. I purchased a clothing rack from target, that I ultimately returned in the end. But it was great to be able to present my more expensive clothing on a rack instead of laying them on the ground. Don't get me wrong, I had a beach blanket that had dollar items on the ground full of odd clothing, but that helped bring in the buyers. Which brings me to my next point....

Offer Deals

My first yard sale was nerve racking, I didn't know if I was pricing things too high or what?!? So I made sure I lured people in with signs that stated there was a free pile, a dollar section, and fun things like fill a bag for $5 after 1pm. This all helped with getting the buyers out of their cars and onto the curb. I strategically put these piles near expensive items, so that they would have to stroll past it to get to the free items, if you know what I mean. My favorite was offering bags, and allowing the buyers to pick anything they wanted that would fit in the bag for $5 after 1pm. Usually the crowd slows down around that time, and if you follow my rule of never bringing anything back in the house then you will get rid of the stuff and it's less you have to bring to goodwill.

Promote Your Items Online 

Yes the age old Craigslist is still a great way to get those professional yard sellers to drop by. The craigslist people tend to arrive right at doors open. So be ready.

During my second yard sale I noticed Facebook marketplace on my phone.  

I also used the Offer Up app, although there are many other apps, my mind could only handle those two during this massive move. 

Multiple Garage Sales

The biggest tip about doing multiple garage sales... never put everything out at once, and never bring what's on the curb back in your house. I would yard sale what I thought was crap and take that straight to goodwill. While my husband would man the fort for 30 mins selling everything for a $1. And then when I would come back to the house, I would load up my car with the remaining items. These items would sell next week paired with the other things I didn't get to de-clutter.

Tips To Remember

• Make signs
• Make it fun for friends by inviting them to sell stuff. Or bribe them with mimosa's, snacks, and good music.
• Use apps to get buyers to pick up during sales... they're apt to buy more.
• Move items around during dead times, to make it more appealing to buyers and make it look like people are buying.
• Put items on tables, racks, etc. Be presentable.
• The 1st and 15th is pay day so schedule your sales around these dates. 
• Think about the golden hour
• Know your customers in your neighborhood.  
• Saturday vs Sunday (Saturday's was a busy day on my street and Sundays were a bit slower due to people sleeping in, or going to church.)

Our takeaway:

With multiple yard sales, online sales resulting to me selling dvd's out the trunk of my car on my lunch break.... I was able to walk away with over $1,000. We also sold 2 cars which was close to $10k . Although it was a lot of hard work, we are happy to say that the money and time spent to sell our items was well worth it.