Yard Sale: Part III

guest post by, my mom

So, we're at the "final thoughts" for the yard sale (albeit, a month late). Here are my brief takeaways:

*Know your competition - I think one of our biggest hinderances was that we didn't realize until the week before that there was a huge children's consignment sale going on that weekend. I think, had we had the sale on a different weekend, we may have had more traffic for the baby items.

*Be willing to barter - I'll be honest, I didn't want to barter. I felt like I had already priced my items CHEAP and, let's be honest, if someone can pony up 25 cents, is is really that big of a deal to cough up another quarter and pay the full amount? After about the first 30 minutes, I was telling myself the exact same advice...only in reverse. Is it that big of a deal to accept 25 cents instead of the full 50 cents if it means I don't have to haul it away myself? Be flexible.

*Have a Plan B - Because the sale lined up with the same date as a huge consignment sale, we had quite a bit of stuff that was left over after the sale. We agreed in advance that nothing was coming back into the house, so as soon as we closed up from the yard sale, everything got loaded into a truck and hauled off to Goodwill. The idea was to find a home for the items we couldn't use. Not keep them just because we couldn't get money for them.

*Have a good time - Easily the best part of this day was the time spent with friends and family. We were relaxed, had a good time, great weather and enjoyed a few meals together. Don't let yourself get so bent out of shape over making money that you can't enjoy the process. If it's going to stress you out a ton, consider just donating the items to begin with, take the tax deduction (if you need it) and save yourself the stress and hassle.