Successful Yard Sale

[LisaInNc]

We had a yard sale last Friday and Saturday. It was the hottest day we have had all summer. ICK! It was so hot and it was more work than I could describe but successful....it rocked. We made 3,200 in 2 days. We ggot to totally pay off a large bill that we had that was looming and it allowed up to order a Gazebo for the new house.

We are moving from a large 4 bedroom home to a small 2 bedroom so lots of stuff had to be purged.

We rented and borrowed tables we had 12 in all plus my dining room table, kitchen table and a playtable.

Everything was priced we had lots of boxes and bags for people to haul away their stuff.

We advertised in the newspaper and put up signs.

We wanted to have it rain or shine so most of the tables were inside the house. That was a lifesaver in the heat. We are moving so we cleaned out my formal living room and dining room and lined it with tables. I also have a large carport so the other tables went there. At one time we had so many people we could not walk in the house or under the carport. My neighbors said that the street was completely blocked for about half an hour.

When we started to put everything out we realized that we could not sell it all in one weekend so we planned to do it in 2. Yup....another 2 days this weekend.

Friday after we got semi cleaned out I spent a few hours restocking the tables with more stuff so we had repeat customers Saturday because we posted a sign telling people that we would be adding more stuff as table space allowed.

We also layed things out in zones. I had the kids toys on the playtable, all my craft and scrapbook stuff together on 3 tables, one for kitchen items, etc.

Once the first weekend was over I packed up some boxes for donation of things that were never really looked at all weekend, I knew they were just taking up valuable table space.

Things that sold...my shoes, I was shocked at how many people wanted shoes. Barbies did not sell at all...these were the ones still in the boxes. My antique china didn't sell. I am going to do better to bring it to some consignment stores that specialize in that sort of thing.

So this week has been spent getting ready for YS#2 I am tired, sore but determined to do it again.

I hope for another 3,000 but I will be happy with 1,500.

Lisa

 

[benolathe]

Wow - sounds like you had a lot of stuff to purge. I thought only the sales on Clean House were able to net that much profit. Hope your second weekend goes well too.

 

[taylorcpa]

That is AWESOME!!!

 

[weluvdizne]

Congrats! That is a major accomplishment! I know it's a lot of work now, but think how much work it would have been to move all that extra stuff, and now you have all that extra money!!! Good for you!

 

[MousekaMaddi]

GREAT decision, congrats!!

 

[gwiz5kids]

-great job!

 

[LisaInNc]

I kept thinking of the great disney vacation I could have with that money but I am being responsible and paying bills and putting some into my emergency fund.

I have had one return customer that just spent another 150.00...so I am adding that to this weeks total.

Weather looks good and off we go. I kind of shudder at the thought of going through all of that again but at the same time I know that I have to do it.

Lisa

 

[tadamom]

That's awesome! Hope you do just as well this weekend!

 

[jennyf2]

WOW--that is great!!! My sister & I had one last month & made $1500 --DISNEY $$

 

[LisaInNc]

We just finished the second one 2 weekends back to back. We had a lot of return customers and we sold a LOT. We made another 3,100 so the rand total for 2 weekends was 6,300!!! Ahhh the bills we get to pay and I am getting a new kitchen set for the house!

I am having a blow out sale in my studio tomorrow. 20.00 for a liquor box you stuff whaever you can find into it. I hope to make another couple of hundred dollars doing that.

It was a huge amount of work but it feels so good now that it's over!

Lisa

 

[Local_Girl]

Wow, good for you! That's a very successful sale (or 2! lol).

I'd love to have that kind of success at a garage sale. We have a ton of stuff that we *could* sell, but I can't get my gang to part with most of it. So, we have boxes of stuff that sit until someone (might) needs it. Sigh.

 

[SandrA9810]

After my first yard sale at my aunt's house, I could not move myself the next day to get out early enough. The following weekend was a little better, and actually held it for 3 days, making the most money on Friday. Even being under a cover, it really does take the energy right out of ya.

 

[leebee]

We just finished the second one 2 weekends back to back. We had a lot of return customers and we sold a LOT. We made another 3,100 so the rand total for 2 weekends was 6,300!!!

WOW!! You must have had some really great stuff to sell! You made 1/2 my annual income in two weekends of garage sales! YOU are the MASTER

 

[JDX4]

You did great. Thanks for all the super tips.

 

[LisaInNc]

Wow, good for you! That's a very successful sale (or 2! lol).

I'd love to have that kind of success at a garage sale. We have a ton of stuff that we *could* sell, but I can't get my gang to part with most of it. So, we have boxes of stuff that sit until someone (might) needs it. Sigh.

We started like that too but moving to a smaller house forced us. My poor DD would get up each morning come down and grab a few things off the table she wasn't ready to part with.

I am going to have another one once we get settled. I know there is still more stuff to purge!

We also set a goal of some new furniture which helped us stay motivated.

Lisa

 

[LisaInNc]

I want to share some of the funny stories. We had some interestin people at this sale.

My favorite was a woman that picked up 2 items for .50 each. It was a wine bottle stopper and a finger peeler. They got stuck together. She asked my DBF for a price and he said 1.00 seeing that it was 2 items. When ahs cahsed out with me I told her that it was 2 items stuck together, she didn't seem to understand so I started to tell her what each thing was. She said "I don't care what it is I just want it."

The woman that spent 19.00 and had a 20.00 so she said "I will find one more thing" (I had a pocket full of 1.00 I could have eaily made change). She was frantically looking around and ended up grabbing the half used box of ziplock bags I was using to group some sale items and tried to buy that. In retrospect I should have sold it to her.

After that first day we were so tired and hurgry we just moved the outside tables together and parked my DBFs truck in the drive way to kind of hide it. We went to get dinner. While we were gone a woman stopped and shopped even though no one was there. Picked out over $100 worth of stuff and went next door to my neihbor and tried to pay her. She ended up leaving me a note with her phone number. She came back, paid for her stuff and took it away. She could have easily just left with it.

I made 2 new friends with Moms that had kids my DDs age.
Lisa