Thursday, March 22, 2007

Yard Sale Tips: Get the Most for Your Money

Anyone who has ever gone around to yard sales knows that if you look in the right places, you can find some unbeatable deals. Whether you find an antique for a few dollars or a collection of classic books for a few cents, it is possible to get some amazing items at extremely low prices. All you need is some basic yard sale techniques to not only find the best items around, but also get an even lower price on them. By following these tips, you’ll come home at the end of the day with all sorts of nice things, and just a little bit of money missing from your wallet.

First and foremost, you should remember that most people holding yard sales are not looking to make a huge amount of money. Most are simply looking to get rid of the junk that has cluttered their house for years. Therefore, they will generally lower the price far below what they have marked. This is especially true if you offer to buy a large amount of items. If they are offering a box of 100 books for 50 cents each, you can probably get away with going up to them and saying “I’ll give you 15 dollars for this box of books”. It would have been 50 dollars, but by relieving them of such a large amount of stuff, you have worked your way down to a lower price.

In order to find the best items at yard sales, you should get there as soon as everything is out. You may have to get up earlier than you are used to, but you will be able to get to the yard sales before all the good items have been snatched up by eager bargain shoppers. If you have a list of yard sale locations and times, you can even plan a route that will allow you to arrive to each yard sale around the exact time that they are opening.

No matter what effort it takes, you should not give up in your quest for bargain items from yard sales. You can find some of the best deals possible when shopping at yard sales, and if you wake up too late or move to slow, you’ll miss them.

Using Yard Sale Signs to Get Customers

By strategically placing yard sale signs on the day of your yard sale, you can successfully direct many people to your yard sale who may not have gone there before. There are different techniques involved in placing the signs, and if you follow them then you will be able to increase your sales monumentally. The goal of a yard sale is to get rid of as much of your stuff as possible, and yard sales signs will definitely help. So, here are some of the tried and true ways that you should approach placing yard sale signs, along with tips based on personal experiences.

You should never try to arrange signs so that they lead visitors to your house through a maze of arrows. This is not a very good idea, since if just one arrow is taken out of service, the entire thing will become completely pointless. Therefore, you should place signs that have directions on how potential customers can get to your house from any point in the neighborhood. Usually just an address will do, and perhaps the name of your neighborhood so they know where to start looking. Then you’re free to place these signs all over town.

It is important to have the signs stay where they are so that people will be able to see that you are having a sale. Use a strong adhesive to fix your signs in place. It is a good idea to use duct tape or some sort of packing tape, since they are designed to be able to hold strong at all times. You should put the signs out a few days in advance so that people can start to learn about when and where your yard sale will be occurring. If there is a particularly windy or rainy day, drive back around and check on the signs. Replace any that have disappeared.

A yard sale sign is a great way to inform people about your sale, but at the same time it may pose problems. You have to be careful where you hang them up, since some areas do not react friendly to having yard sale advertisements hung up. Just find out where you can go to hang up yard sales signs, and what the best way is to attract people to your sale.

Have Lots of Junk? Hold a Yard Sale!

Over the years, it is easy to accumulate a large collection of items that you will probably never use again. If you have a room, or even a basement, in your house devoted to storing old rejected things that you no longer want, then you should consider holding a yard sale. They are quick, painless, and may even give you a decent amount of money. All you have to do is haul all your stuff outside for a weekend, and have strangers peruse through it and find anything they may like to purchase. Once you’re done, you don’t even need to bring it back inside – you can just bring the leftovers to a thrift store.

In order to get rid of as much stuff as possible, you need to attract lots of people to your yard sale as well as have low prices that will encourage them to buy things that you no longer want. Therefore, it’s a good idea to price things for as low as you can part for them with. When it comes to attracting customers, you can use the age-old method that has been around for nearly as long as yard sales have. Make a few cardboard signs and tape them up in various places around your neighborhood, pointing people in the direction of your driveway.

If you are planning to throw a really big sale, you can even consider taking out an ad in the newspaper. You will be able to write a short blurb about what sort of items you will be offering, as well as directions and possibly a phone number. If you use a combination of these tactics to get people browsing your stuff, you will be sure to make more sales than if you just lay it all out and hope for people to come. To set up the yard sale, you should do the best you can to show everything you have to offer. Group similar items together, and put signs up to direct people around.

Having a yard sale is a great way to get rid of some stuff while getting it to people who could use it more than you. So look into setting one up today, and get rid of that stuff that clutters up your house.

The Benefits of Thrift Shops

Thrift shops are very valuable resources for any community. Almost every town has at least one, and this is because of the sheer genius of them. They are very popular with those who have discovered the true potential behind them. They contribute to a town in three different distinct ways, and two of those ways can be taken advantage of by you. In fact, the more you take advantage of them, the more the community is benefited. So here I will explain how exactly thrift shops work, and how you can use them to your own personal benefit.

If you enjoy wearing older clothes or you are into antique furniture, then thrift shops can be of great value to you. Entire estates are often dropped off there with no attention paid to the content. The thrift store employees slap a price tag on it and set it out for sale. It doesn’t happen often, but if you watch their inventory enough then you are likely to find a really good deal on something you would like to have. Whether it’s a hundred-year-old table or an amazing sweater, you will only end up paying a fraction of its true value.

Thrift stores usually donate their profits to some sort of charity. That in itself is another reason to give them your business. Rather than give your money to a huge corporation that already makes billions, why not buy some nice stuff and donate to a good cause at the same time? It would seem that it is a win-win situation, especially if you track down something in a thrift store that is rare and not available in other places for such a good price.

If you have lots of stuff that doesn’t quite deserve to go in the garbage, you can give it a second home at your local thrift store. No matter if you are donating to the thrift store or buying from it, you can feel better about yourself since you are helping a good cause. So if you have never given any business to your local thrift store, go there today and see what kinds of things they have. You may be able to find something that you’ve always wanted.

Flea Markets: Finding Nice Things amongst the Junk

When you enter a flea market, it an almost seem as though a sensory overload could be in order. The bustling centers are home to many different vendors, each with a large stand selling his or her goods. There are so many people and so many items that it can be hard to know where to start. Flea markets are usually home to a ridiculous amount of junk items, but if you look hard enough hen you will be able to find some great deals on nice things. So all you need is some patience, along with the following tips in order to find good deals in a flea market.

First, you should prepare yourself for a long day of shopping. When you go to a flea market, you are most likely going to spend the entire day walking up and down the enormous rows of vendors, looking at interesting things and hopefully buying a few things. Dress comfortable for the occasion, and bring water and cash with you. Always be prepared to haggle the prices down. Act like you’re stopping by with just a little cash left, and offer a lower amount of money than they are asking. Get their price down as low as possible before you actually pay for the item.

Almost immediately, you are going to encounter interesting things that you would like to buy. If there is something that you came for specifically, you should wait until you find that to buy anything else. Then, knock yourself out. If you can find stuff that you would like to have, then by all means purchase it. You are not likely to find it at a lower price than that of the flea market. You may even purchase some items and then turn around and sell them right back on the internet. This is a great way to make a little profit, and maybe earn your other flea market items for free after you calculate it.

The flea market is a great place to get some cheap stuff and have a good time while you’re at it. It’s also a place where you can easily get ripped off and overpay for something that you don’t really want. So shop with caution, and make sure that you really want the things that you buy.