Setting up a yard sale when you’ve got a ridiculous amount of items to sell is up there on the list of top 10 frustrating acts in life. You’ve got a lot that you need to get rid of, but have you got the time to set it all up? “The Couponing Stockpile Garage Sale: A How to Guide” by Jenny Dean is a great book if you’re really struggling with the stress of a yard sale. It is specifically aimed at those of us who coupon frequently to the point of acquiring quite a bit of items at cheap prices for reselling later. Regardless of whether this is the reason you’re having a yard sale or not, the book contains a lot of ideas for how to organize your yard sale, as well as other tips. For this post, we’ll focus on some of Jenny Dean’s advice for organizing your yard sale in particular.
- Group similar items in boxes when you are going through all of your stuff. This will make it easier to set them up and also easier for customers to look through. You can get cardboard boxes for this purpose for free from most local businesses. Grocery stores tend to have a lot of them, so approach a manager at one of these stores and inquire about them.
- Use tables to set up all of your items. This will allow customers to see all of your goods on display without having to sift through a bunch of stuff they aren’t interested in. Folding tables are the best for this because they are the easiest to collapse and take down. Any old table will do though, especially if you want to avoid buying things for your yard sale.
- Don’t forget to use lots of signs. You can use signs to tell customers where your yard sale is, as well as to inform them what particular groupings of items are. Say you have a table full of shampoo and conditioner bottles, body wash, and lotions. Set up a sign to tape to the table that says “Bath and Body Items.”
- Price your items. You don’t have to price each individually either. If you have a bunch of a particular item, just use one sign to tell customers how much each costs. You can also try using colored stickers and displaying a sign that will tell everyone what price each color represents.
For more tips, you can purchase Jenny Dean’s book in paperback or for Kindle on Amazon.com.
