Yard Sale Tips

Choose a date 3 or 4 weeks in advance to allow yourself plenty of time to go through your things and decide what to sell.
Make sure to check in all the closets and nooks and crannies of your home. You might be surprised what you have tucked in a dark corner.
Find a staging area in your home, like a garage or guest bedroom, where you can sort things into categories.
Advertise your sale in local newspapers, websites (like craigslist and facebook) and by putting signs out in your neighborhood. Its usually a good idea to place signs out one day prior to the sale in hopes people will see them and make a mental note to come shop!
Use brightly colored price stickers and try to price all your items. This keeps people from having to ask you about every single item, which can be time consuming.
Place things like dishes or glasses in small cardboard boxes and put a price on the whole box.
Enlist help from family or friends. If you are the cashier you may be very busy; your helpers can assist shoppers with questions.
Get plenty of change. Ones and quarters tend to go quickly, so get plenty.
Be sure that things like board games and puzzles have all their parts and your items are clean and in good repair.
Borrow or buy tables to use. Also, tarps are great to lay out in the grass and place things like toys, rugs, books and unbreakables on.

Get up early. Veteran yard sale shoppers believe that the early bird gets the worm, so you may have shoppers even before your finish putting all your items out.
Make sure you put a sign in your yard or balloons on your mailbox to get people's attention.
Place like things together. Think like a department store merchandiser would.
Arrange to have plenty of water and snacks available and easily accessible for you and your helpers.
Be prepared to haggle. Lots of yard sale shoppers like to negotiate to get a better deal.
Have a plan for leftovers. Goodwill is a great place to donate clothes and household goods. There are also many other charities that would be happy to have things like baby clothes and gear or sports equipment.

-Written by Maggie Claprood-