So I Just Had My First Yard Sale...

I think it went really well. I made about 75$ (one day only) on miscellaneous household stuff. I didn't have any big ticket items or ex: fishing equipment or tools, that seem to be the top selling stuff, so I'm pretty impressed. Especially since most of the things I sold were under 2$. I had a few 5 to 10$ things, but of course with negotiation they turned into 3 to 7$ things and lots of stuff was 25 to 50 cents.
I did some research before going into this and was "warned" about the early birds and the aggressive negotiators. Thankfully, I only came across one aggressive buyer, who was kinda rude. But my prices must have been acceptable because everyone one else was very nice, even if they "negotiated" with me (usually because they were buying multiple items).
I have some stuff left, and we decided that we would have another one later in the summer (it's was a multi family yard sale). This will give me a chance to go thru my shed and tools to see what else I can find to get rid of. The other girl I had it with was also very pleased with the turnout, and we'll try to get more families involved next time as well.
So how about all of you? Do you host yard sales or like to shop at them? (I love them!) Do you have any tips for me for the next one?

I love them!! You did well! I bought a really nice farm table at a yard sale. some years ago for $10.00. A couple had to move quickly and they just wanted to get rid of their stuff and travel light.

My mother used to have them and she did pretty good. She also loved to shop at them and brought a lot of furniture. I don't care for them myself as I don't like to buy used things.

Mia6 said:

I bought a really nice farm table at a yard sale. some years ago for $10.00.

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Good find! I'm actually hoping to get into refinishing furniture at some point. I hope I come across good deals like that on my hunts!

We had a yard sale years ago, and I swore I’d never hold another, even though we did well in terms of dollars. Someone showed up more than an hour before the posted start time and was looking in our windows and knocking on our door trying to be the first. We held it in the driveway with stuff also in the garage behind us, and I caught someone trying to go into the house through the garage door. Another person tried to con me out of something by saying it was for her church and the church was poor and couldn’t afford whatever it was. I can’t remember what the item was but she was clearly lying. Ugh. I don’t mind the bargaining part; that’s part of the experience and to be expected. It’s the rude people, the cheats, and the liars I don’t want on my property. If you have it at your house, just be prepared!

Do you remember the guy who bought a picture at a garage sale only for the frame, and when he opened up the back it had one of the I believe four, of the remaining original Declaration of Independence documents? It was worth millions.

I’ve gotten a lot of toys for my boys from garage sales. Old school metal tonka trucks, ride on toys a play house.
I’d love to have a garage sale but I am at the end of a dead end road and have no parking or a big enough driveway so I can’t have one.

Michele doesn't much care for garage sales, but she likes to check out estate sales. Last year at one of them I got a like-new saber saw for $20 when in the stores they go for $70, and she has also found some good stuff for the house, but her main reason is she likes to check out the fancier houses for decorating ideas.

My mom and all the moms in the neighborhood used to have them when I was growing up. It was fun! Brought the neighborhood together, too. My mom had a few more while I was away at college and, unfortunately, she sold a lot of our (now vintage) toys, books and games.


I haven't been to a sale for years. I like looking for furniture and kitchen items but we really have all the furniture and kitchen stuff we want for now. I do know that it can be a great way to raise money. The rescue we adopted my cat Milly from takes donations year round of items to sell and they hold several garage sales a year to raise money for the cat rescue.

I have done yard sales in the past. A lot of work but great way to get rid of big bulky stuff that you don’t want to donate. I try very hard now though to not get to the point where I have a lot of unused stuff to get rid of of. My local thrift store gives you a 50% off one item coupon when you donate so that is usually what I do.

We had a couple yard sales: one when my aunt died and we needed to get rid of her things and another one when Mom and Dad downsized. We didn't do badly and most of the people were really nice. My sister and I did them together and then we divided the money in half for the one for my aunt; we gave all the money we earned from my parents' sale to my parents.

Rick and I would like to have a yard sale here, maybe next year, since we'll both be retired. There are a few things in the basement that we'd like to get rid of, but the things shouldn't be just thrown away. We've also thought about donating them to a women's shelter (basically those are some of my kitchen things that's I'm no longer using. I think a women's shelter would be happy to get them, but I'm not sure).

My mom used to have 2-3 huge yard sales a month during the summer. She and Dad would go to public sales, buy stuff really cheap, and then sell at their yard sales. She always made a small fortune. But there's a lot of work involved, too.

I prefer public sales or estate sales because the quality is often better. I'm always on the lookout for nice kitchen items. Fiesta dishes. But I won't go by a yard sale without stopping if things look nice.

One of my co-workers was at an "upscale" yard sale a couple years ago. He found a Le Creuset 3-piece set, brand spanking new, for $35. He scarfed that up quickly! One of my better deals was when I was out walking during lunch one afternoon and walked into a yard sale. They had all their cookbooks out. I asked for a price; he gave it to me and I was stunned. I looked at the guy and said, "Do NOT sell those books! I'm going back for my car!" Ran back for Clarence, got my money, went back and bought every single cookbook they had. Some of them I already had and I gave them to our library. It was worth it. To me, anyway.

I'm very personal about my space. So I really don't like the idea of having a bunch of people wander my yard/garage. Plus I like to sleep in on Saturdays. Occasionally the church has a yard sale to raise money for the kids programs so we've donated things to that.

DH will sometimes put one or two big things by the road with a sign. He once traded a canoe for a case of meat. Those were the tastiest steaks I've ever had! We definitely got the better deal.

A friend of mine has a yard sale every single weekend during the summer. I don't really get the draw. I did happily scoop up both her kid's old scooters when they outgrew them. DD had been asking for one.

DH has found several outdoor toy things for our kids at the curb by people's houses. Some were free (he asked) and some were cheap. Like a Cozy Coup and a little kids basketball hoop. Some 3 wheeler ride on toys. Things like that. I don't have a problem buying things used if I really like it and it's in good condition; I think I'm just too lazy. I have done some Craigslist/Facebook shopping though. I had hoped to find furniture for our kids rooms that way; but people were charing WAY too much and I'm not really interested in haggling.

I have a painting of a white cat my mom got me from a parish bazar when I was a kid. It's funny because I remember telling her I liked it and the "yeah I'm not buying you THAT" look she had on her face. But she did end up getting it and it's still hanging on my wall 30 years later.

A friend of mine used to go to flea markets and go through dumpsters to get stuff to sell at her yard sales and she did pretty good.

muffy said:

A friend of mine used to go to flea markets and go through dumpsters to get stuff to sell at her yard sales and she did pretty good.

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I have a few friends who have supplemented their incomes during some hard times by having garage sales. I've "donated" to them for that too.