A great way to get to know more of your South Bay neighbors is by pulling resources and having a block or neighborhood yard sale.
Growing up one of the fun neighborhood activities was the BIG annual yard sale. The neighbors would all get together divvy up tasks and have a lot of fun mingling and make money from unused items (many times everyone just bought each other’s stuff). Now that summer is here, a neighborhood yard sale would be a great way to hang out with old and new neighbors. Heck, you could even have a neighborhood BBQ to celebrate all your big sales. Whether you have your own or partner with your neighbors, it’s a great way to clean out and make a little money.
So you might be thinking, “A yard sales sounds great!” But now I have to go through everything and organize it, ugh – that’s the overwhelming part.
Here is a list of tips that may help to get you organized, and hopefully make some money!
Group Your Stuff
So you’ve got all this stuff around your house that you would like to sell. If space is limited, this can be a challenge – but remember, it’s temporary. Choose an area of your home to organize items into groups. Separate them into themes, like Kitchen, Home Decor, Toys, Adult Clothes, Kid Clothes, Books, etc. While you’re doing this, keep a bottle of spray cleaner and a few rags handy so you can clean up the items as you sort them. This prevents you having to run to the sink to clean items during your organization.
Organize Your Setup
If you go with tables, figure out how you’ll set them up and where you’ll acquire them. You can make tables easily with sheets of plywood set on cinderblocks, bricks, paint cans, or even books. You can also use blankets and sheets spread out on the ground.
No Yard, No Worries
Some homes in the South Bay don’t have the optimal area for this type of activity, so what do you do? Find out if you can hold your sale somewhere else. For a percentage of the proceeds, see if your neighbor will donate her yard or driveway. Or contact the owner of a local store and see if you can use the parking lot, or find out if your place of worship will let you use their basement or lawn.
How to Price Items
Now that you have your categorized items, a location, and a set-up in mind, you’ll need to price your items. One of the easiest ways is to group items by price – “Everything on this table/blanket: $1.” You can put individual prices on larger single items. Be willing to come down on prices if people offer you something reasonable, especially if the sale is about to end.
Dollars and Cents
Be prepared with lots of small bills and coins on the day of the sale. Someone will inevitably hand you a $20 bill for a $1 item, and if you don’t have the correct change, you may just have to lower the price (they may not have $1 but they’ll probably have a quarter).
Leftover Items
Part of organizing is to have a plan for items that don’t sell. You can give them away to a second-hand store or haul them to the dump. The point is to have a plan so you aren’t putting all your items back into your house at the end of the day. Borrow a truck if you need to, and have bags handy for unsold items, so they’re ready for their next home.
Have you organized a successful yard sale for yourself or your South Bay neighbors? We’d love to hear some of your tips!
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