Along the lines of Recycling, many of us have yard sales. Now personally, I would rather have a root canal than have one of those babies, but sometimes when your home is overflowing with treasurers you JUST HAD TO HAVE, the only recourse is to have a yard sale.

Do any of you have them? If so, how do you feel about them?

Got any tips to help others have a great one?

Like maybe, how to organize the sale BEFORE you have it?

I'll give you a couple to start it.

1. Have someone there to help you. You may think you can do it all, but when crowds gather, and they do, you may need extra hands to not only help organize things, but to keep watch for "sticky" fingers, if you get my drift.

2. Make sure you advertise it. Unless you live on a freeway, advertising does two things...it gets the dealers there (and they come at the crack of dawn) and it tells "girlfriends" who organize their Saturdays around yard sales, where to go. Make your ad interesting. Don't just say, clothes. Say, designer clothes (if they are) or children's clothes in sizes bla..bla...bla. ALWAYS list antiques if you plan to have them. Only why would you at a yard sale? People don't buy antiques at a yard sale.

3. Have an apron, fanny pack, or some kind of MONEY carrier ON YOUR PERSON. Do not leave the money on a table. Yipes! No need for explanation here.

I've never done a yard sale...and actually none of my siblings have either. They all own homes. All of us are in our 40's with me at 50. I guess the yard sale gene/virus didn't reach us.

Great points, jawjaw. It would be nice to have the stuff sheltered with an awning or on the porch. Group stuff together thematically. Otherwise it looks less appealing from afar.

I had a yard sale once and never again. When I want to get rid of stuff, I either sell it on eBay or take it to a resale shop. The sale was awful: I had no idea people would be banging on the door at the crack of dawn, or that I'd have to referee a fight over a Barbie doll, or that people would bargain over something marked $1, or that they would *demand* that I sell them several things for $---, plus try to keep folks from nearly digging my plants up -- nothing is sacred.

For me, it was way too much work for way too little money. My time is worth something too, and for all the work I spent arranging stuff and minding the 'store,' I got almost nothing. Dropping stuff off at the resale store is quick, easy, and best of all -- it's out of my house.

Ellemm, I'm with you gal. Never again. I had one and had some really great stuff to sell. Hardly used books, great kid's clothes, toys and electronics that were gently used. I found people wanted you to give the stuff away. Instead of one shirt for two bucks, they wanted five. It was ridiculous. Too much work for too little money. Amen!

However, my sister just had one and made close to $300.00. Her trick was she had it when the neighborhood association advertised it as a neighborhood yard sale. She lives in a nice neighborhood where people have neat stuff so I guess that's why tons of people showed up and bought almost everything in sight. She was amazed with the turn-out and shocked by what they made.

They're gearing up to do it again when the neighborhood does it in the fall. She told me I could bring my stuff there, but no thanks. I don't have much stuff. I constantly give it to friends for their families, or to the people who call and ask me to set out a bag every now and then.

I'm saving a few things for an accessory swap my Girls Night Out group is doing. I'll let you know how that goes.

There are certain people who go around looking for valuable antiques sportin' low price tags. I know men who go from sale to sale looking for items being sold by uninformed owners. It's a common con game in these parts. So it's best to get professional estimates, if you're unsure of what your valuables may be worth.

I've never had a yard sale that I didn't make at least 300.00. But then again, I used to be a pack rat. I am like Dotsie now that I give stuff away lots of times. Especially around Christmas time. If I know of some THING that I have that maybe a friend has admired, I wrap it up and give it to them so they have it NOW, not when I'm gone. I try to include a handmade poem or something with it.

But yard sale, as "eat up" (old Southern saying meaning they are hated, or bad) as they are, sometimes they are handy for making quick cash...if needed. I live on a busy, busy road, so no problem getting noticed.

Wonder how much I could get for Dolly.

The most successful yard sales I know about are those in which the entire neighborhood is involved. With a lot of neighbors working together it becomes a festival and a big draw for a crowd. Even the kids get into the act selling lemonade.

My cellar is just full of stuff ready to get shipped to the local recycling center or to a yard sale. But I'm waiting for the local association... if they don't set a date I may just have to go door to door and suggest the event to my neighbors...

Not a yard sale but one large employer permitted their employees to informally sell used things here and there. When I worked for the organization, one could post via an internal database such stuff. I had a list of used books, which I sold off for $1 each over a period 2 wks. I ended up selling off 40 books this way. It was interesting because I met employees I never knew before and could see which ones were the bookworms.

Under those circumstances, one would not get employees in a workplace negotiating hard to bring pricing down.

Of course, I had to bike to work with the books that were ordered. But good exercise.

Posting For Sale items in the workplace is just begging for trouble. What if someone buys something that breaks too soon, or never works properly, can you just imagine the bad feelings, getting everyone involved. GEESH!!! The work place is for work and for nothing more.

Based on the work cultures I've been in, there would be more unspoken peer pressure not to rip off another employee, meaning a used item breaking apart shortly after purchase. (work cultures are government offices and professional services, where there is greater vigilance by employees not to be too sloppy in general). If the people all work in the same building, the word would get through the grapevine among several employees about the employee-jerk. The employee-jerk would have work with/face these people. Can't hide too much. So there's the peer pressure right there to sell a used item decently.

What would be riskier ..is renting an apartment or rm. That has more long-term risk.

It actually worked out ok, because people somtimes had movie or theatres they could not use up but purchased well advance. So they sold it off discounted.