Yard sales remain one of the best options for junk removal and to earn you some cash. You won’t believe what some people buy that you’d consider worthless, such as empty perfume bottles. They might be empty, but their design will always be an eyecatcher. Believe it or not, there are still people who love to read a book the old-fashioned way. Last but not least, not everyone buys music online in an App store. Though it’s an easy option to avoid cluttering your home, having the actual CD is more valuable to some. However, a yard sale does come with some tasks. It’s a bit more than just setting up shop in your yard. For bigger items of your junk removal, you may want to consider hiring a team.
Start With Setting a Date
You’ll have to do quite some prep work for your yard sale. It’ll be a lot easier to organize if you have a date set. To make your yard sale a junk removal success, you should consider the following for choosing a date:
- Pick a Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. One of these days should at best be within the first week of the month when people got their paycheck. They’re more likely to spend on the first weekend than on the last when they’re short on cash. Not everyone works on Fridays. Saturdays are usually the best and you may extend into the Sunday. Though most people reserve Sundays for family time.
- Don’t have a yard sale on holidays or memorial day weekend. Chances are, most people are out of town with their families. There’ll be very few popping around to browse your yard sale.
- Keep the season in mind. The best seasons are usually spring and summer, though a hot summer day is not the best choice either. Late summer towards autumn might be alright if it’s still nice outside. People start looking for Christmas presents.
Consider Teaming Up
Maybe friends or neighbors have some decluttering, too, and could join you? The more you are, the easier it’ll be to organize. Not only will you have a larger sale aisle, but you can watch your yard sale in shifts. Should you be located in a quiet cul-de-sac you won’t have that many accidentally popping by. If you teamed up, you can take advantage of a better location for your friends or neighbors with more traffic popping by.
Do You Need a License?
Once you’ve chosen a date (and a location?) you should make sure to check if you need a license. In some areas, you don’t need one for holding a yard sale in others you do. You could face hefty fines for an unpermitted yard sale.
Decluttering & PR time
The longer ahead you can plan your yard sale, the better. During the weeks before your yard sale, you’ll be busy with two tasks at once. Depending on how much stuff you’ve accumulated, you may actually need a little more than just two weeks. Make your yard sale as worthwhile as possible and be done with your junk removal in one nice sweep.
A Serious Declutter is In Order
Check your entire home for stuff you don’t need or use anymore. It’s probably best to tackle one room after another as well as one cabinet after another. Start in one corner and prep three boxes: one for keep, one for sale items, one for donation items. Don’t forget to check your basement, attic, storage area under a set of stairs or your garage. Put everything into the sale box that you haven’t used within the last year and which is still functional. Anything with holes or appliances that don’t work anymore is a case for final junk removal. Be sure to also check your furniture or paintings. If you can’t look at a painting anymore, offer it at the yard sale. The same goes for furniture you don’t like anymore.
Advertise
Browse some other adverts of people on craigslist or in the classifieds to see how they advertise. Start advertising for your own yard sale about two weeks prior. Take advantage of social media platforms, but also Craigslist. If there’s a free weekend paper in your area, place an advert in the classifieds. It won’t cost that much but might be well worth it.
The Day Before the Yard Sale
Start prepping your yard sale site and put price tags onto your items. Don’t choose too high prices and hope for people to bargain. They usually won’t and will just move on. Keep it in the lower dollar range. You could prep some boxes with books and CDs or DVDs with bundle prices. Don’t forget to put up a rack for clothes and a huge table like a pasting table. But don’t put out anything that’s for sale yet.
Start Early
Yard sales are best started early at about 7 am. Get up an hour earlier to put up signs in your neighborhood with arrows. Mention your address on those signs and return to your site.
Put up your sale items in a decorative manner. Give them a sweep, no one wants to buy a dust bowl. You don’t have to put out everything you’re selling. Leave a laundry basket under the table with additional items. Once you’ve sold an item, fill up that spot with one of those.
Greet each potential buyer and let them browse your sale items. People feel easily annoyed if you keep on pointing out particular items. Just let them know you’re there if they have any questions.
Parting Words On Yard Sale As a Junk Removal
Hopefully, you’ve sold most of your items. However, you’ll often end up with some items you weren’t able to sell. Get the junk removal done within the same day and hire a team to collect everything you haven’t been able to sell. Junk removal services will take care of donations, too. Thus, you won’t have to buzz around for dropping off items to donate. You could also let them haul away the signs you made. Of course, they’ll happily take anything you meant to throw out without offering it for sale.
