Thrifty Thursday Tip for Yard Sales

'Tis the season to yard sale (or consignment sales)!!  It is the beginning of the summer months and the beginning of yard sale season.  This gives you a great opportunity to get things on the cheap and have a yard sale to sell some stuff you don't need anymore.

To Buy:  Make a list of the things that you might need around the house to start checking out yard sales and consignment sales.  It is easy to get carried away if you find different things at sale so put together your list of kids clothes sizes and other necessary information that you might need while you are out searching the sales.  Decisions need to be made quickly so make sure you are ready to make those decisions.

Look in the paper or online (Craigslist and other websites) to find where sales are being held.  It is important to have a map and/or GPS to get from one sale to the next, especially if you aren't familiar with the neighborhood. 

Make sure you have enough cash to get what you are looking for because yard sales aren't the place to use checks or credit :)  It is also a good idea to have smaller bills in order to bargain with someone.  The worst thing is to tell someone that you can't afford $5 for something and want to pay $3 and give them a $20 bill to make change.  Sometimes it is best to keep different amounts of money in different pockets so that you don't pull out more money then you need to get the deals you just worked out.  Bags are also something to bring in the day and age of reusable bags but many sales provide bags for you to take home your loot!!

To Sell:  The other great option is to sell things around the house that you aren't using anymore.  I went together with a friend of mine and had a yard sale at her house during her community yard sale. 

She put out the signs around the neighborhood the day before.  We put all of our stuff in her garage so that we were ready to go.  We made drinks to serve to our guests.  Even though we hadn't done this before and didn't have enough time to prepare, we figured that we were ready to go!

We thought we were totally prepared but weren't expecting the first family that came to visit us at 7:30 am when we were setting up.  The great thing is that they bought lots of stuff but it was a little hard to do while we were also trying to set everything up.  It was a great sale to start the beginning of the day for both of us though and we kept a steady stream of customers until near closing time.

We both got change at the bank to put in our money box to be prepared.  We kept a notebook of all of our sales with my friend's on one day and mine on the other.  I made a total of $145 and my friend made $100.  It was a great success with us getting rid of a lot of different things that we were not sure if they were going to sell.  Both of us are super excited to try to have another sale and try to be better prepared with everything that we are ready to get rid of.  I wish that I had more room to set aside things in my house to prepare for the yard sale earlier but I have so much stuff that we don't have an extra space.  A few more garage sales and I might get to the bottom of all my stuff in the basement and make a nice profit!!

Whether buying or selling, preparation is needed for yard sale day.  I hope that you check out some great sales and find something that you and your family really needed at a great bargain!!