Yard sales can be fun. You’ve experienced that relaxed weekend frame of mind as a yard-sale goer, picking between a neighbour’s old bathroom faucet and box of old bottle caps, looking for a hidden treasure that will take your breath away. Since the first cup of coffee of your lazy Saturday hadn’t kicked in yet, you had no idea what that hidden treasure was– yet. You knew it might or might not be shining or shimmering, but it would certainly be splendid. Just the fact that “it” was lurking somewhere close, perhaps beneath surface, like jewels in the safe of the Titanic, gave you the will to carry on hunting. You knew that when you found it, it will be love at first sight, or maybe second or third—after a bit of haggling.
We suspect a lot of treasures discovered and hauled home from at yard and garage sales don’t actually “do” anything at all. They sit there, looking pretty, or not, and wait for you to decide what to do with them— sometimes as their beauty and appeal quickly fades. You start to wonder why you bought the “thing” in the first place. It’s like an old romantic flame, into whose eyes you could gaze for what seemed like eternity, wondering what the future would hold. Well, it turned out the future didn’t hold much. You flame went cold when you realized that he or she didn’t do much of anything, and worse, you had little in common.
What possessed you to show an interest in someone was so… well, uninteresting? And worse, someone who became an old piece of furniture to you– unsightly and hard to move. Just like that yard sale treasure you bought just a few months ago. Remember? The one that turned out to be nothing more an old love seat, looking pitiably lonely after the love had gone. Just a minute, I feel a song coming on, and it’s a lot more pleasant than a neglected old love seat.
To think for that old love seat you haggled, when your better instincts (and your back) said, “walk away.” You gave no thought (or at least suppressed it) that in just 8 months you’d be planning a move from your outgrown abode. But outgrown as it might be, and even if you weren’t picking up an extra thousand square feet of condo living in your move up, you can’t imagine how you’d find even a hundred thousand square foot castle would “agree” to take in your second hand loveseat.
So, now it’s your turn to host a yard sale. And that’s an altogether different game than the casual devil-may-care weekend buying affairs you’ve enjoyed around your soon-to-be-old neighbourhood. Now the pressure is on. So many details, so little time! The bargain hunter is about to become the hunted.
Holding a yard sale isn’t a walk in the park. Heck, even a walk in the park isn’t a walk in the park sometimes. Like when the bottom of your shoe and your nostrils suddenly discover that a dog walker has failed to “scoop the poop.” We’re not digressing here. This applies to the condition of your yard on sale day.
Tidy up the sale area, with attention to the grass. Your lawn should be cut short, but a few days before the sale, rather than the day before, to keep clumps of wet grass from sticking to buyers’ shoes. This may seem a minor thing, but the devil is in the details, as they say. More accurately, the devil is made manifest in your lack of attention to details– like clearly priced items and good readable signs– both at the sale and in your neighbourhood, directing people to your yard. Read our page on yard sale advertising and signage.
Remember, on the day of a yard sale, you’re in the yard sale business. And as a business person, you’ll find that happy customers are good for business. Kary Movers knows this from their many years of experience in moving. Moving people and families from one place to another needs to be handled with businesslike and friendly professionalism. Your yard sale needs to be handled that way, too– whether it’s your first one or twentieth.
Organizing your yard sale is at least half the battle, starting with what you want to sell, when you want to sell it, and how you’re going to sell. Kary Movers is happy to pack and move even your small stuff but we encourage you to give careful consideration to what you really want to sell and what you want to keep. It’s a subjective thing, of course, but you don’t want to make decisions you’ll regret later. If only life was like that– full of unregrettable decisions! You might ask yourself a simple, “when did I last use that item?” question to help you to decide whether or not to put an individual item up for sale.
Even after careful planning, don’t expect perfection. There is absolutely no such thing as a perfect yard or garage sale. But you can make the experience easier on yourself, as well as profitable. Again, Kary Movers will be happy to move that old love seat. They’ve had literally tons of experience with that. But as you survey your belongings, remember that cash it your pocket weighs less that most of them. Cash also offers more possibilities than an old sofa. You will, however, need a little cash to get the word out about your sale.
Kary Movers will help you plan your upcoming move with the expertise and experience you wished you had at the beginning of your yard sale. Call us at 1-877-687-1746, email us at info@karymovers.com or, you can make an online enquiry.