Yard Sale 101: After the sale

* if you buy new things, you have to get rid of some of the old *
Unless you have a bare house and are starting from scratch. But, I have a sneaking suspicion that most of you {like me} have too much stuff already. If you start bringing home a bunch of treasures and add to your home without replacing items, pretty soon your house is going to look like an indoor yard sale. Get rid of things you may not love and replace them with things you do.

Remember these quotes from this post? Use them as a guideline in this area:

"Remove the clutter and then honor and respect those things that make your heart sing"

-Peter Walsh

"When we talk about saving money, the best way to save it is not to waste it. And it doesn't matter how much time or energy or money you put into a room, if you haven't edited and organized and decluttered and gotten it into a beautiful, functional state first, you've wasted the money." ~Candice Olsen

Awesome advice.

* ground yourself once in awhile *

If you get too many treasures that need makeovers, or things are piling up and you haven't gotten around to the "getting rid of" part, you need to put yourself in a yard sale/thrift store/flea market time out. I'm doing it to myself this weekend. No more treasures for this girl until her bathroom is finished.

And some random things I thought of...

* bringing kids along *

I actually think it's a great idea to bring your kids to yard sales once or twice a year to show what bang you can get for your buck and to help teach the value of a dollar. My mom and grandma loved to go and that's where my love started, because I could see what great things you could get for so much less. The kids will be in heaven, but the problem with this is what we talked about above. All the treasures they find will start accumulating in their rooms. If you do have to take kids, you can make it work, it just takes a little more planning, creativity, and lots of snacks.

* feeder sales *

this is what I call the sales that don't advertise, but "feed" off the people who did advertise whose sales you're on the way to.

Always stop at them. There can't be earlybirds, because no one knows about them. They're not trying to make up the money they spent in advertising in the paper, so they may be priced better. They don't know if they'll have much traffic because they didn't advertise, so they often just want it gone. I have had some awesome finds from sales I just happen upon.

*a few things you may want to keep in your car that will help you out*

*measurements if you're looking for a specific big item

* a tape measure to use at the sale see if it will fit in the space and in your vehicle

* a list of the sizes and items you are looking for for upcoming seasons for your kids

*a city map in case you get lost

*blankets to protect furniture when you haul it off.

*snacks and drinks for you! I love me a Snickers Almond.

That wraps it up for this week! I've had a ton of fun doing it and I have loved, loved your comments and tips as well. I'm thinking we need to do a 101 course on having a yard sale in April. What do you think??

Tomorrow, I'm taking Kimba's challenge and turning my computer off and keeping it off the whole day. Yikes! I'm a bit nervous to see just how addicted I am. Join us!


I'm planning on getting lots done. So, I'll see you back here next week~have a great weekend!