By Stephanie Vozza

In today’s economy, we all are looking to earn a little extra cash. One of the best ways to do this is by organizing a yard sale. Family yard sales can provide lessons on organization, priorities, teamwork and small business. Yard sales are also a great way to teach kids about setting goals – goals for sales, goals for getting rid of the clutter, and goals for what you would like to do with the proceeds.

Finding Goods to Sell

The first step starts in the house and often in your closets and cupboards. Have your children go through their toys and clothing to find items they have outgrown or are ready to part with. As a family, go through rooms such as the family room, playroom and kitchen to find items to sell. As you collect items, put them in boxes. It will help later if you group like items into one box.

Some children will want to keep just about everything they own. In this case, parents will have to step in and try to understand the reasons behind their feelings. Ask your child why they want to keep it? When was the last time they used the item? And could they think of reasons why it would be good to sell the item (to see someone else enjoy the item or to make money to put toward a goal.)

Pricing

Pricing can be difficult, especially for children. Go through your items together to determine an acceptable price. It always helps to get an objective opinion. Your son might put a high dollar value on a beloved teddy bear while you know that the market value is much less. If you still don’t know a fair price, take a weekend visiting other garage sales to see the trends in your area.

Before you hold the sale, determine if you are pooling the proceeds towards a family goal or dividing individual sales to let children to earn their own money. If you are dividing sales, be sure to use different colored price stickers for each family member or write initials on the tag. Collecting the stickers can sometimes be difficult, so it’s best to keep track of sales on a pad of paper.

Have your children help put the priced items in your garage or yard. Display items in a visually pleasing way that will attract customers. Group like items together, much like a store does. Clean items will sell quicker and for a higher amount, so it’s worth it to invest elbow grease.

Be Prepared With Cash

Don’t forget to go to the bank and get change for your cash box. Explain to the kids how to make change and demonstrate how to handle a transaction. Older children can collect payment for items and make change for customers. This is a great way to inject math skills into summer.

Keep Children Busy

Children who don’t have items to sell can participate by selling drinks or snacks.  Set up a small table with a cooler full sodas and ice, or a pitcher of lemonade or ice tea. 

Get Traffic

The more the merrier rings especially true with garage sales. If you have friends with children (and lots of toys) nearby, join forces and hold the yard sale at the house that has the most foot traffic. Kids and parents can take turns working. And you can hold a presale for the participants where kids swap toys.

Pick the Date

When choosing a date, pick a weekend that doesn’t coincide with holidays, so you get more shoppers. Have everyone in the family make signs to put up in your neighborhood. Signs with few words and arrows are most effective. Check your city’s sign ordinance so your hard work doesn’t go to waste when the codes officer removes the sign. You may also need a permit from your city. It helps to advertise your sale in the newspaper. Be sure to give directions and list any hot selling items.

Be Safe

Be sure to keep your money in a secure place or, better yet, on your person. Have a phone handy if possible. Don’t let anyone inside your home.  If you have a pet, please make sure it's on a leash or inside your house. While making change, always keep the money handed to you in plain view. This prevents anyone from claiming they gave you an amount they didn't. If you are selling baby items, check www.cpsc.gov for recalls.

Clean Up

After the sale, have all of your family members count the earnings. If children sold snacks or drinks, show them how to determine profit by subtracting cost from earnings.

Finally, at our house we have a rule: Anything that goes into the garage doesn’t come back into the house. Either load up the leftovers and deliver them to a local charity or arrange for a pick up on Monday. In addition to organizations such as Salvation Army and Goodwill, some animal shelters and nursing homes take donations.

Best selling garage sale items:
Antiques
Furniture
Baby items
Children’s clothing, especially better labels
Toys
Dishes
Appliances
Books
Linens
Tools
Lawn and garden equipment

Not so great sellers:
Exercise equipment
Window treatments
Old computers
Broken electronics

Thanks, Stephanie!

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