The Lazy Genius Podcast - #66: The Lazy Genius Yard Sale

Episode Date: June 4, 2018

Yard sales sound good in theory, but the piles of stuff, mean hagglers, and rainy mornings ruin everything. Is it possible to have a yard sale and not hate the entire process? Definitely. In this episode, you'll be set up for yard sale success from organizing your stuff, signs, haggling, pricing, and everything in between. This podcast is hosted by Kendra Adachi and executive produced by Kendra Adachi, Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey everyone. This is the lazy genius podcast. I'm Kendra and I'm here to help you be a genius about the things that matter and lazy about the things that don't. Today is episode 66, the lazy genius yard sale. It's June and there's a chance one of your summer projects is to have a yard sale and get rid of all your stuff. There are lots of ways to do a yard sale right and even more ways to do it wrong or at least in a way that makes you a little crazy. So today we're going to map out the basics of a lazy genius yard sale so that if you do have one, you'll be glad you did. We're going to talk about your stuff, the setup, pricing, signs, haggling, and my most important yard sale tip. Let's jump in. All right. So first, let's talk about your stuff. And we're

going to talk about my most important yard sale. It's not really a tip. It's more of a rule, I guess. Here's the rule. If you put it out to sell it, it is not allowed back in your house. I am a big believer in choosing one exit strategy for all of your stuff. If you are in a pre-summer purge, you might have piles. physical or mental piles of stuff you'll sell on Craigslist, stuff you'll donate to your church, a pile for your sister to go through, stuff to sell in a yard sale. If you'd like to spend your mental energy doing it that way, I support you completely, but I choose not to do it that way. It sucks me dry to have multiple paths for my stuff. So I am a major proponent of one exit strategy and that one strategy is usually a yard sale. So if that's your choice too, your most important

rule is that nothing that exits your house is allowed back in. We get sentimental. We hate to part with something. We expect a lot of money for. And then we start thinking that maybe, just maybe, we'll use that accordion file folder we confidently put in a pile three days before. Nothing goes back in the house. I don't care how you're feeling about it. Nothing goes back. Okay. So if that's the case, if you're going to follow this rule, When you're thinking about what stuff to sell, you need to be okay that you never see it again, even if it doesn't sell and it gets donated in the end. Make sure you can cut clear ties or you'll lose your mind before the yard sale and after it's over.

Okay, so now let's talk about your stuff. What do you do with your stuff as you're purging when the yard sale isn't for another week or so? I put everything in one room, preferably a room with a door. you don't need to categorize too much unless the room is big enough to do that but the point is to clear stuff out put it all together in one place and then shut it off when you're not purging so that you're not driven mad by mountains of your stuff and the door it also helps if you have people in your house who struggle to say a final goodbye to their stuff because the rule applies to everyone nothing is allowed back in the number of times my kids have sat in our driveway playing with their own toys while i was trying to sell them

is hilarious. But if they're not going to love playing with them most days, playing with them on yard sale day isn't enough. So as you're purging, put it all in one place, you can sort it later and shut the door. Now let's talk about how to get people to come to your yard sale. Gone are the days of the newspaper ad, you guys. That used to be the only way to do it. Now you can skip the newspaper entirely if you want. Here is the exception of when you want a newspaper ad because people still totally use them. But if you live far away from major roads and kind of well-traveled areas where great signs aren't really going to help you, then you need to put it out in the paper. You'll want to do the other things I'm going to talk about too, but it's probably worth it to

pay for an ad for everyone else. Post on Craigslist on your Facebook page and make baller signs and we're going to get to that. Okay, so for Craigslist, for your ad, for your yard sale, not for selling stuff. You'll get more attention if you make the title something other than yard sale this Saturday, six to 12 or whatever it is. You want to capture attention and help people decide quickly if they want to click further into your ad, you know, because they're going to see the title and then they have to click to get the information, the address and what you're selling and all that kind of stuff. So use ad titles like saying goodbye to six years worth of baby gear or a great selection in Sherwood Commons or like some your neighborhood so that they kind of know like oh I know

where that is or um we're becoming minimal minimalists and we're selling a lot of stuff give your sale some kind of personality or be super specific about the neighborhood or what you're selling and you're going to get more traffic from your ad like actual human foot traffic um it's just really helpful and it makes people click through most likely adding you to their yard sale list I try personally, I try to make people laugh in the listing. And without question, at least a dozen people at every yard sale say they came because the ad was entertaining. I know it sounds like weird advice to stand out in the yard sale market, but it really does help. So use Craigslist, since it's free, and make sure you give your title and post info like the tiniest bit of personality and maybe even make a little bit funny.

If you keep it generic, you're not going to be met with crickets. Like people will come, but more people are likely to come if your title and post, if it's helpful and maybe even a little entertaining. And of course, if you're comfortable, you can post your yard sales to your personal Facebook page. You can include the address and the time and your friends will come go through your stuff. That's only weird if you make it weird. It can be a little weird to sell your stuff to your friends, but only weird if you make it weird. Okay, so now let's get to the real kicker that so many people do poorly.

it drives me bonkers, you guys. Signs. Okay, we as a society need to do a better job at making yardtale signs. We look at a piece of computer paper or the top of an Amazon box. We write several sentences of information and when we think it's fine. Like, remember, people are trying to read that sign from several car lengths away. Making and hanging signs, I get it, is kind of a drag, but most of your yard sale traffic will come from literal traffic for, from people driving by and seeing the sign. If you're going to do it, do it right. So, here are your sign rules.

Of course, I have your art cell sign rules. One, you need to make the sign enormous and easily noticed. Go for the neon poster board and use the entire piece for one sign. At the very least, cut in and half, but that's it. It needs to be loud and big. Rule two, make sure all of your signs are the same color. Target sells those packs of multicolored neon poster board for a little bit cheaper than the individual pieces. Don't fall for it. Your signs are designed to lead people directly to your door or your

driveway or whatever. And if you start getting cutesy with like different colors and handwritings, they're going to wonder if they're still going to the same yard sale. So one color. Rule number three, you need two types of signs. The first kind is the grabber. It's the sign on the main roads close to your house that say the words yard sale what else needs to be on that sign other than the giant words and thick black block letters like big old yard sale three things the date of your sale the time of your sale and then an arrow pointing in the direction the car should go the words yard sale should take up like six a solid 60% of your sign and then the arrow like another 25% of your sign. Like big old arrow, big old yard sale. And then the date and the time,

like in the final, whatever that number is. Most people when they see a yard sale sign while they're driving, they just start driving toward the sign. They don't look up the address or match it against their list or like might not have even had any intention of visiting a yard sale in the first place. But it's like a moth to a flame. Like when people see the sign yard sale, they just want to go. You need to speak in caveman language though when it comes to yard sale signs. Like yard sale this way. just love people follow the less you cram on the sign the better the only purpose of these main grabber signs is to grab people it's to get people to turn into your neighborhood so make as many of those signs as you need kind of based on like the main road situation around where you live okay

now what's the second kind of sign that you need you need arrows you need an arrow a bold humongous black arrow on the same color poster board you chose for the main signs. Nothing else on there, just an arrow. Every couple of blocks post an arrow. People often wonder if they're heading in the right direction when they're looking for a yard sale. And since you didn't put the address on the sign, they need reassurance that their search will pay off. This is true of even people who put their addresses and stuff. They're like, oh, people know where they're going. Not always, not if they're just following the signs. Like, moths do a flame, right? Okay. So what you need to do is like drive um like drive the route yourself and um every time you see like you think a driver might

think like am i going in the right direction put an arrow there okay again it's that caveman language it's like this way continue yourself this way so you can what you could do is you can drive um with the voice app on your phone open and you can record your words you know like as you're driving it's like an arrow at the intersection of Maple and Elm, an arrow at the fork pointing toward the left, that kind of thing. All of these signs are a breeze to make, especially if you invest in one of those giant sharping markers with the angled head. They're huge. They're massive markers. They cover so much surface area, and they're as bold as you can be. Please do not use your preschoolish craola black marker. You will burn your hair in anger. Okay. So we want bright, simple caveman signs.

lots of arrows and you just and you don't have to even the beauty of making arrows is you just make an arrow and then you hang it in whatever direction you need you don't even have to think like which direction are these pointing it's just all arrows and you hang them in the right pointy direction it's like so easy um okay so you want the caveman signs a lot really bright all the arrows and then you need consistent colors and handwriting okay it needs to look like they belong to the same yard sale because your point is just to get people there right the word yard sale is usually enough to convince someone and clear clean bright signs they show a commitment to the process i always feel like i'm in really good hands when i follow a yard sale sign

that had thought put into it not a sign that's like literally on the back of a quiz no sandwich paper do your signs well you guys if you are a patreon supporter and you heard the episode that my sister and i did on what were snobs about clearly i'm a snob about yard sale signs i have a lot of opinions about it but i tell you that make a big difference. Okay. So now you've gone through your stuff. You've pulled everything that will not go back in your house, right? You have listed your sale on Craigslist. You have made your signs. Now, how do you set up this stuff? First, let's talk about just real briefly kind of the timing of your guard sale before we get into that because they connect. Different parts of the country and like even different countries, I guess, might have kind of conflicting ways of

doing this. But for me, in the American South, we, We have yard sales on Saturday mornings for at least four hours. I am a big believer in the 7 to 11 a.m. time frame. I don't want to go into lunch at all. So I just don't. I also don't want to start at 6 a.m. because that means I have to really be ready by 5.30. There are always early birds. I like starting at 7 because it's still early, right? It's not 8 o'clock. But it's late enough to give me like a little space to set up and not have to get up like at super, super early hours. Okay. So now let's talk about setting up. Once you decide your timing, because that makes a big difference. difference of when you're going to get up. The night before, after my kids have gone to bed, I start pulling the big piles out of the one room with the door, right? Everything is in the one room with the door. So I start pulling everything out and then I categorize it like all throughout the living room and kitchen, like in the main living area. It's okay to pile stuff everywhere at this point because it's only going to be there for like 12 hours, right? So half of the living room is baby stuff. The other half is kids' toys. The kitchen table is covered in all the clothes.

the kitchen counter is stacked with all the houseware stuff. You know, you get the idea. So make kind of general groups of stuff in your house so that in the morning when you're half awake and you're kind of regretting this whole yard sale decision in the first place, you've sort of set yourself up for success already, right? Because you can just like grab piles and carry them out and everything is already kind of categorized. Okay, let's talk about tables for a quick second before we continue with our setup talk. I highly, highly encouraged tables. I know you. I know you. you might not have any, but you probably know people who do. A couple of weeks before your sale,

just put the word out to your friends and your coworkers and your neighbors and ask to borrow any folding tables they have. It's worth it every time. Some shoppers don't mind leaning down and like sifting through clothes laid out on a sheet in the grass, but a lot of shoppers do. They're just not going to spend their time squatting through your stuff. Make it easy for people at your sale by displaying your stuff in categories and on tables so that stuff is easy to see, right? I've set up tables the night before so that I could

just like start carrying stuff out as soon as I woke up. But the only thing with that is the dew. You guys, the tables are like almost always wet with due, which can be really annoying to deal with. So if you have the time and the manpower, the morning of the sale, set your tables up first thing and then take your stuff out. If you can't set them up the night before and just arm yourself with some paper towels before you start putting your stuff out there. Okay, so, and that leads us to the point just a second ago about categorizing in your house the night before, because this makes set up so incredibly easy. Set up your tables and then you just carry out piles of clothes to go on one table. You carry out all the housewares that are already together on the next table and so on and so forth.

When you see how much you have in each category, it's kind of easier to know how much table space to give it. And so that's another really helpful thing about categorizing beforehand. Pro tip, if you lean big items against like the sides of the table or even under the table, they will not be seen by 90% of the people at your sale. People tend to just look right in front of them, not down, around, not up. I learned, I learned from the Nestor when we, we were shopping at an antique market one time and she said, don't forget to look up because we all do. We all forget to look up, especially at yard sales. Aw, isn't something we need to travel for. It's something waiting for us in everyday life.

whether in a city street or a moment with a work of art. I'm Dr. Keltner, host of the Science of Happiness podcast. Join me for Cities of Aw, a special series on how our public spaces can spark awe, wonder, and enhance the quality of public life. You can find us wherever you listen to your podcasts. We just see what's on the tables. So remember that as you're setting up your stuff. If you got some high-ticket item, you need to make it, like, really visible and normal line of sight. Okay, so when you're carrying out your piles, can you believe I have this much to say about

yard sales? When you're carrying out your piles, don't stack items on top of each other if you can. They can certainly be like cozy and close together, but avoid making a potential buyer move lots of stuff to get to that one thing that they spot, right? So just make it really easy, easy to shop. Another thing to consider in setting up your step is putting your big stuff at the spot in the yard or the driveway closest to the road. But the popular big items on display, so the first thing seen, you have probably driven by yard sale and decided to stop or not to stop because, like, maybe it just looked like there was just a few boxes on the table of trinkets right there, right? You want to make it appealing. So, like, I mean, curb appeals are really, it's a real thing

when it comes to yard sales. So if you put your big stuff at the front, that really helps. Okay, but what if you're like, I don't have anything huge to sell? Or maybe that one thing that you have, that's really great that draws people in. It sells like right away and now you just have tables. Two things. Balloons on the mailbox is always a great deal to let people know that they have the right house. But also it just looks really inviting.

And the second tip, and this is a magical tip if you can do it. Recruit your kids or somebody else's kids if you don't have any to sell treats to people. I swear, I gave my seven-year-old a card table, a platter of brownie, and cookies and a chip jar and the kid I mean oh my word y'all he made like 60 bucks people they like a snack while they're shopping and for a lot of folks they like cute kids too now granted my son sam he's likely to be the mayor of a town by the time he's 20 but all kids have their own brand of cuteness and it gives your kids something to do a way to help without kind of being right underfoot it's a really sweet way to serve the folks shopping at your house um you can

can just tell people to pay like whatever if you want, which it usually gets you more money anyway. And then you kind of have a fixture at the end of the driveway, right? A draw at the front of your sale that's not going to go away until the sale is over. Like it's going to stay there. And here's a pro tip though on this. Make sure that a kid is always sitting by that tip jar or an adult has eyes on it. I've heard of folks who did this and their tip jar was stolen. So that's just a tiny word of warning. Okay. So one final word about. set up. Neatness matters. Have things on tables that really helps and not stacking stuff on top of each other. That also helps. But as time goes by, look at the tables and like spread out the

stuff, right? Fill in the gaps that have been made by people buying things. You can take that giant crock pot that you put under the table that no one's noticed yet and put it on the newly emptied spot on the table, right? So start out neat and try to keep the neatness going when you have a little bits of downtime. Okay, so let's finish out by talking about pricing and haggling. I like to wear one of those cheap utility belts. They sell at lows, you know, the kind that carpenter's wear that have like a few pockets and I keep my change in there. Of course, you need to start out with change more than you think and keep it on your body. Cash boxes are a little too hard to manage, I think, because like somebody might wave you to one spot of your yard while the money's just sitting there for somebody to take.

I really do believe in the goodness of people, but it's okay to be wise too. So keep your money on your body. That's what I think. Now, what about pricing? Do you price stuff? Do you not price stuff? If you have a lot of stuff, pricing everything individually feels like a terrible idea. But many yard sale experts say that pricing helps people buy more because they don't have

to haggle, which is stressful to some buyers. It is up to you. and it mostly depends on how much stuff you have and on your personality. If haggling makes you cringe and crawl in a hole, price everything. If haggling is part of the fun, feel no pressure to price anything. I can't land like somewhere in the middle. I usually price things that have greater value. Furniture, nice dishes, kids toys, like big kids toys.

But for things that really aren't huge money makers either way, I leave them be. Or I make a sign that lists prices for categories. So like books are a dollar, clothes are a dollar, toys that can fit in your hand or 50 cents, you know. You know how I said that you don't want to just like throw stuff together for people to have to sift through? When I said the thing about toys, it reminds me. The only exception is little kid toys. Little kids love to go through that stuff. They love to go through just a big box of random toys because they end up wanting it all, which is so adorable.

But it's like this fun little treasure hunt. Sometimes I will bundle a few similar toys and a place. plastic bag and label it one price. Some of those, like little tiny figurines, you know, like just kind of putting similar toys, like adjacent toys and little sandwich bags. That really can help and make it seem more appealing, you know, like you're getting a deal. But really, I usually just put a bunch of toys in a big cardboard box. I write 50 cents each on the front and then I let kids dig away because a lot of kids bring their own money to yard sales. So it's like such a fun treat. And you could honestly do that box idea for like all the random housework.

told things that aren't appealing on their own, but might, like, they might be appealing in a bargain box that only has things priced at a quarter. You know, like, it's, it's okay to have, like, one general price point for certain things. Some people really enjoy that. It's like a deal. Okay, so now remember, your goal, it shouldn't really, this is going to sound weird, your goal for a yard sale, it shouldn't really be to make the most money you can. It's to get rid of the most stuff you can, which usually leads to a lot of money anyway. If you are stubborn about your pricing, if you are precious with your stuff and you're going to get offended that somebody doesn't see the same value in that little kids art table that you do, you're going to have a long morning. It's not about how much you make, but about getting rid of it quickly.

When people pull up to a yard sale and they see other shoppers leaving with armloads of stuff, they're much more likely to feel compelled to buy to at least shop and stay because it seems worth it. I've watched it happen so many times. it is a weird supply and demand thing. So try not to be so hardcore in your prices that nobody buys anything and you still have all your stuff when it's over. Sell get rid of it, not to make money from it. You're still going to make money.

Okay. Okay, two more points. When it comes to haggling, be confident. If somebody comes to you with a pile of items and some are priced and some or not or however it goes and they say how much for all of this, you need to give them a price. You can be confident in that.

Don't ask them how much it's worth to them. Don't say, what do you want to give me for it? That turns people off really fast. As the host of the yard sale, confidently give a price. Don't take haggling personally and don't see it as a conflict. It's just part of the game. If somebody comes up to you with seven items and says, how much for all of this? Add up the items quickly in your head and offer that amount. Chances are the person will ask for it to be a couple of bucks lower because everybody likes a deal. if the price that comes to your head is like the absolute lowest you want to go, then say a price that's like $3 higher than that. It's your stuff that you're selling. You know, you get to decide, but if you need to kind of like couch it a little bit

so people feel like they're getting a deal because it's all arbitrary anyway, you're welcome to do that. But you do need to be confident in giving a price if asked for it. Okay. And like I said, I don't want you to be precious with your pricing because you do want to get rid of your stuff. But you are also allowed to be confident. and say your amount without feeling ashamed.

Like the worst that can happen is they put the stuff down and they walk away. But usually, there are a couple of steps between the price request and then abandoning stuff on a table. Okay. Just know it's okay to be confident and say a price without feeling like a garbage person. And you can also be helpful. That's another way to actually sell your stuff. If somebody is hesitant to buy a toaster because they wonder if it works,

have an extension cord ready for plugging it in. if it's a kitchen tool that's a little bit unusual show the person how it works if you see someone looking at the back cover of a book you you have actually read you can like walk by and casually be like hey that book reminds me of john grisham if you're into that genre and then just like keep walking and leave it alone right offering kind help along with confident pricing um it gives people a sense of safety in an environment that can feel a little overwhelming as a shopper nobody wants to hurt anyone else's feelings. So be the leader in saying the hard words first, but say them with kindness and a genuine desire to help if they're wondering whether they should buy something or not.

That's how a lazy genius haggles. And then one final thought. The later the time, the lower the price. Feel free to hold a little more firm on your prices in the first hour of your sale. And you can even tell people that like, it's just a little too early for me to offer discounts on me. This is a hard price for the next hour or something like that. But as the morning goes on, lower your bottom line because remember the goal is to get rid of everything that's why during last hour or so if people pull up and we like just have sort of picked over stuff left you know what i'm talking about i always say as people are walking up everything's a quarter and the response is always like everything and i'm like yeah everything you better believe that weird wooden box that isn't good

for anything will be sold for a quarter rather than be put in the trunk on my car and taking a goodwill hour later. If it's going to be donated anyway, get whatever you can from it. It doesn't matter. Plus, that idea of everything is a quarter, it sounds like such a good deal that people always buy more than they would have, like every time. Yard sale is like a deal. And anything for a quarter is a deal. Most yard sales that I have done, I made, like, I make like a solid 20 bucks from pure junk in the last hour just by doing this. And then it's less stuff to take to goodwill. Which is how. It's how. we're going to end this episode. When the time of your yard sale is up, you load every last piece into your car. If the tables are yours, put them away before you leave so you can come home and be done.

If they belong to other people and have to be returned, just leave them up. Now drive to Goodwill or wherever you're going to donate everything, drop off everything and on your way home, go pull down all the signs that you put up the night before. Once you get home, load up any tables that need returning if you do and either just go ahead and return them so you're finished or know that you're kind of ready to return them the next time you leave your house right you can put the tables in your car or whatever it is and then you're done you are all done come in get some lunch count your money take a shower enjoy your newly purged home that is how a lazy genius has a yard sale all right if you have any questions about this topic that I clearly have a lot of opinions about

I will be on Instagram this Thursday around 1215 Eastern to talk about all things yard sale. If you don't follow me on Instagram, I hope you do. I am at the lazy genius, so you can join me there. And that's it for today. Thanks for listening. Thanks for my strong opinions on yard sales. And good luck on yours. I hope that these tips help you.

Next week we're going to talk about shopping at the farmer's market, which I'm super excited about. So until then, be a genius about the things that matter and lazy about. the things that don't. I'm Kendra, and I'll see you next time. Have you ever felt like you were living just a B or B plus life? It's so dangerous to live that. More dangerous than a B minus or a C plus life? Because when you're living a B or B plus life, you don't change it. You think it's good enough. Is it? I'm Susie Welch. I host a podcast called Becoming You. People think, okay, an A plus life is not available to me, but there is a way. We are all in the process of becoming ourselves.

Listen to Becoming You wherever you get your podcasts.