Yard Sale Finds in California!

We were out of town visiting family this weekend in Southern California, where it was freezing cold & raining! What the heck? I don't think the So Cal meteorologists got the memo that it's almost June! My little sister and I went out and hunted down a few great yard sales.

Here's what we found:

1.00 Dress (worn once!)

.50 Children's Place Hats

.50 Old Navy Sweater

.50 I Spy Book

2.00 Closet Organizer

I am so excited about this! My daughter's pants are in piles on a closet shelf, but the piles always get mixed together. This will keep them seperate and organized! (This is my super cute little sister modeling the organizer!)

Get excited ... this is the most amazing find ever!

1.00 Antique Coupon Organizer FULL of Coupons with No Expiration Dates!

Look at these old, yellowed coupons! Some of them are so old, they don't even have bar codes at all! Wow. I wonder if the redemption addresses are still valid.

You know me. Coupons are my passion. I saw this little treasure sitting on a driveway for $2. I couldn't believe my eyes! I felt like Al from Al's Toy Barn (Toy Story 2) when he found Woody at the yard sale. As I was looking through all the coupons in speechless amazement, the yard sale woman said she would take a dollar for it! GAH! Is this woman crazy? She clearly had no idea what she had here! Well, I whipped out that dollar and tucked this little treasure under my arm. I can't wait to really take an inventory of what I have so I can start putting these to use. I just couldn't wait to post this because I knew all my couponing friends would share in my delight!

What have you found at yard sales recently?

Yard Sale Report!

A yard sale is A LOT of work!

Here are a couple of quick pictures after the first big rush early this morning. The first couple of customers bought about half the cleaners I was selling! I guess I need to price those higher next time.

My best sellers were:

• 
  
  1.00 toothpaste - I had 12 tubes and they went fast. I even brought out 6 more & those were gone almost immediately.
• 
  
  1.00 cleaners - After almost getting wiped out on cleaners 30 minutes into the yard sale, I moved them over to the $2 table where they sat untouched for a few hours. I moved them back to the $1 table an hour before closing time and got rid of all of them.

My non-sellers were:

• 
  
  2.00 Glucose Monitors - I don't think I could have GIVEN those away.
• 
  
  .25 Joint Juice - These are occupying valuable real estate in my pantry and I was ready to send these packing. No such luck.

I was happy to also de-clutter my house of a ton of junk accumulated over the years. I sold a lot of clothing, old picture frames, a stereo, and I made some guy's day by selling him a surfboard shaped rug for a quarter. You know the saying... one person's trash is another person's treasure!

Here's what worked:

• 
  
  Having price point tables reduced organization time for me and confusion by shoppers.
• 
  
  Using neon green signs with arrows to advertise. I printed them off my computer, taped them to the side of cardboard boxes, and weighted the boxes down with rocks inside. Instant free advertising!
• 
  
  Providing shopping bags for customers. Once they had a few items in their hands, I offered them a bag. They all seemed to continue filling up their bags, so I think it was a good sales tactic.

Here's what didn't work:

• 
  
  Selling doughnuts instead of just handing them out. A few people bought them, but they mostly dried out and melted in the sun until we started giving them out for free. Then, they were a total hit.
• 
  
  I need more tables. I already knew this, but next time I will plan better and make sure I have at least 3 or 4.

This whole experience was a great learning tool for me. I had no idea how to price anything because the people in our area are so diverse. I didn't get a TON of traffic, but it seems like most people who stopped bought something. Next time, I will have a much better idea on pricing and traffic.

Final profit = $123.47

Yard Sale Time!

You've probably noticed I haven't been shopping much this week. I'm pushing all my shopping off until early next week because I am having a yard sale tomorrow morning!

I have SO MUCH STUFF and I hope I can get rid of all of it!

Here are some of my ideas of things I've seen other yard salers do:

• Sell clothing by the shopping bag instead of per piece. I'm thinking $1 per bag.
• Sell water bottles, sodas, & breakfast snacks (doughnuts, muffins)
• Keep money and change in an empty wipes container. Heaven knows I have PLENTY of those!

Here are a few really helpful sites to help with planning, pricing, and carrying out the best yard sale possible:

• Yard Sale Queen
• Suddenly Frugal's "Scenes From A Yard Sale"
• Mint.com's "How to run your garage sale like a business"

Alright all of you frugal, talented readers ... what are your tips and tricks? What do you do to make your yard sales successful and profitable?