Yard sales are a time-honored neighborhood tradition. You see yard sale signs and banners up and down the block every weekend. Not only can you clear out all the clutter in your home, but you can make a little money too. Yard sales are a great way to teach your kids about money and commerce. Fire up your child’s spirit of entrepreneurship with these tips for running a successful garage sale.

Enlist Help For Your Yard Sale

The first thing you’re going to need is people to help you. If you’ve got kids they’re great helpers. Of course, you can have your kids ask their friends to help too. Most of them will be happy to help, especially if you offer pizza and drinks. There’s a lot that goes into putting on a yard sale, and you’ll be happy to have the help. Your helpers can put up and take down yard signs, organize your sale items, and help with customers.

Advertise Your Yard Sale

The most important part of a successful yard sale is making sure people know about it. You can take an ad out in your local newspaper, and spread the word to family and friends in your community. Ultimately, yard signs and posters on telephone poles will get the most attention. People often make their own signs, but if you’re going to have yard sales more than once, it might end up being cheaper to use an online banner printing company to make long lasting eye-catching yard signs and coroplast signs.

A durable yard sign can be used multiple times, instead of being discarded at the end of the day. In addition to lasting longer, a professional looking banner will draw more eyes, and make it easier to get people into your driveway. Whether you’re making your signs at home or going with yard sign printing, remember that less is more. When you’re designing your sign, you don’t want to distract from the information. Be sure that “yard sale” or “garage sale” is the first thing people see (and don’t forget to give directions!).

Decide on a Layout

If you really want to move your items, don’t ignore presentation. Your children and other helpers can help you organize all your items by category, and create a layout that makes it easy to move from section to section. Visitors are a lot more likely to look through your items and find something they like if it’s easy to find. If you’re selling books, line them up on a bookshelf spine out so people can see the titles easily.

For clothes, you can skip the piles of unorganized clothing by hanging items on an old shower rod arranged by size and type of garment. Likewise, you’ll see more of your clothing sell if people can easily see what you have. If you’ve got items you know people will want, place them toward the front of your yard sale to bring customers in. The more people there are looking, the more people will want to look.

Create an Environment

Putting your shop in your front yard shouldn’t keep you from making it a fun scene, or feel like a classy boutique store. Break up the silence by playing some family-friendly music in the background. If your child is really feeling the business vibe, help them set up a lemonade stand to run themselves. If you make your place fun to be, people will stick around longer – the more people you have, the more people you get.

Put Thought into How You Manage Checkout

While it’s common to just keep a tin or a box with money, there are easier ways to keep track of your money and make change. If your children are old enough, you can all put on your favorite aprons to keep cash on you while you wander. Be sure you carry lots of small bills in all sizes because you’re going to make change. Finally, keep a ledger of what you’ve sold and how much you’ve made.

Bonus Tips

• Use round numbers when pricing to make it easier to make change.
• Keep batteries on hand so people can try out electronic items.
• Run an electrical outlet to the driveway, so people can test out things like appliances or lights.
• Find product ads or amazon printouts of the items you’re selling, with the original price
• Use larger price signs on larger items like couches or dressers.
• Place yard signs in your yard so shoppers know they’ve arrived.
• Park your car at the entrance to your street with a final sign pointing your shoppers in the right direction.

Follow these tips, and you’ll be a yard sale master in no time. Bigger Better Banner offers yard signs in many shapes and sizes to serve your needs.