With another round of decluttering sweeping through our house, we’re reflecting on our last yard sale: the odd trick that helped everything sell fast and the small oversight that almost turned it into a disaster. We also talk about selling both of our homes without a realtor and share five key things to consider if you’re thinking of going For Sale By Owner — including a major mistake we made when first listing our home. You’ll hear why we’ve stopped trying to make one area of the yard look pretty (we went all-in on function instead), and Sherry reveals her new favorite footwear.
You can download the episode from Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, Overcast, and TuneIn Radio — or listen below. Use this page for any links, notes, or photos referenced in the episode. Note: if you’re reading in a feed reader, you may need to click through to the post to see the player.
What’s New
- Above are two photos we used in our yard sale listing a few years ago when we were clearing out a storage room before finishing our bonus room. Most items were unused décor or leftover projects from our book, so we styled a tidy arrangement and used the good camera.
- If you missed our earlier episode about dramatically reducing our kids’ toys (and the surprising effect it had), you can listen to Episode #45 in the player above.
- For more yard sale tips and stories, check our write-ups on our first yard sale and on keeping a sale low-key and stress-free.
Can We Just Talk About
- That image shows our under-counter microwave (you can read more about our kitchen renovation in the linked notes). In past kitchens we’ve hidden microwaves in a pantry, tucked one in an upper cabinet, and built an above-range microwave into a different spot.
- If you have our second book, Lovable Livable Home, there’s a discussion on page 114 about microwave placements, including another variation on the under-counter option.
What’s Not
- We also shared Lonny’s roundup of interior design trends that sound good in theory but don’t always work out in practice.
Listener Question
- We’ve posted more details about how we sold our second house by owner and a precise timeline of how that process unfolded.
- We also wrote about lessons learned from selling our first house by owner and how we handled — and sometimes mishandled — showings with potential buyers.
We’re Digging
- We finally tamed our garden hose with a hose reel and repurposed the old hose pot as a planter for a fern.
- I considered a box-style hose storage but knew I’d be constantly cleaning leaves and spiders out of it — so I stuck with the reel. Rule #1 in hose-wrangling: know thyself.
- Down the line I might upgrade to a wall-mounted reel to avoid leaves collecting around the base of the cart-style model, but for now the reel’s rewind function is great.
- Sherry’s current favorite sandals are Havaianas’ Freedom Sandal and Flash Urban Sandal — they look like sandals but feel like flip-flops.
If you’re trying to find something we mentioned in a past episode but don’t remember which show notes to check, we keep a master list of everything we’ve been digging from past episodes.
And a big thank-you to The Annie Selke Companies for sponsoring this episode. Visit AnnieSelke.com/YHL to shop bedding, furniture, rugs (including indoor/outdoor options like the one shown), and more. Be sure to use code YHL15 to get 15% off any Annie Selke order.
Thanks for listening!
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