When Sherry and I hosted our first yard sale over four years ago, we felt rushed getting everything outside, stressed about pricing, and constantly checking how much money we’d made. We were so excited to sell things we no longer loved (so we could buy things we did) that the whole day felt bigger and more overwhelming than expected.
Fast forward a few years — after a moving sale in 2010 — and we found ourselves hosting another clear-out yard sale in 2012. This time we set a much more relaxed tone. Here’s how we approached it:
- Our single goal was to get rid of stuff; any money we made was just a bonus.
- We sold a few higher-value items on Craigslist ahead of time to avoid stress during the sale and to make more for those pieces.
- Everything else was priced to sell. If someone wanted an item, we’d rather let it go cheaply than have it come back inside.
Moving to a new house and collecting props and supplies for blog and book projects had gradually turned rooms into storage — the playroom, the basement, even the sunroom were filling up. It was time to send many items to new homes where they’d get used, and to reclaim three rooms for everyday life.
We kept the sale low-key for safety and manageability. We didn’t publish our home address widely or haul everything to a distant venue — we used signs and a Craigslist ad without listing ourselves publicly. That kept things simple, inexpensive, and safe.
Preparing still took some planning. We did a deliberate purge the month before, sorting closets, cabinets, and full rooms. If an item hadn’t been used recently and we couldn’t name a clear future use, it went into the yard sale pile. That pile lived in the sunroom until early Saturday morning, when we moved everything into the driveway.
The inventory included our things and some from my sister. A few of the tables were display-only. We didn’t pre-price items; since our goal was purging, we set low prices on the spot so things would move. Many small items were a dollar or less, and larger pieces like chairs and bookcases went for more. Pricing low made it easy to sell a lot quickly — if someone left with something, that felt like a win.
We didn’t get many action shots since we stayed busy most of the time. The photos we did take were during lulls, after roughly 60% of our items had already sold.
Traffic was strong until around 10am. When things slowed, we cut prices drastically to move the remaining items. The goal of clearing out outweighed our desire to stay in the driveway all day. Kids’ clothes became five for fifty cents, pillows two for a dollar, and some larger leftovers even received “free” stickers.
Clara spent part of the morning with her Grammy and returned around 11am to add a little extra charm to the sale by drawing in the driveway.
By noon our inventory was mostly gone: a few large pieces remained along with about 30 small items that fit into two Goodwill boxes. We labeled the larger items “free” and posted a curb alert on Craigslist. Those items were gone within hours — curb alerts work well and you don’t have to be home to hand them off.
By day’s end we made roughly $350 at the sale, and with the Craigslist sales beforehand we were closer to $650 total. We also sold eight old dining room chairs and two extra new dining chairs to happy buyers — one buyer even sent a photo of the chairs on her porch.
The main takeaway: if we’d wanted to maximize profit, we could have listed more items on Craigslist. But photographing, listing, and coordinating pickups takes time. For our goal of clearing space quickly and efficiently, a big yard sale was the right choice. We were relieved to reclaim rooms and happy to give things new homes.
Have you hosted a yard sale recently? Any tips or memorable stories? We had a tense moment when Sherry accepted payment for an item I’d already set aside for someone else; neither buyer would back down, so we flipped a coin and let chance decide. Sometimes a little luck — and simplicity — is the best solution.