Rummage sales are a constant during the milder months here in Chicago and this past weekend six of my girlfriends and I got in on the action with one of our own. None of us had enough to sell solo and the group sale was a great way to get together, drink boatloads of coffee, and make a little pocket money while cutting down on the clutter in our apartments. Here are some things we learned along the way.

Gather your stuff way ahead of time.
Don't sort through all of your earthly possessions the night before your sale like I did. Give yourself some time and decide carefully on what to sell. Launder items that aren't so fresh. Wash out your dishes, plant vessels, etc. Grab some boxes and pack your stuff up to make it easier to transport outside on the day of the sale.

Do it on a Saturday!
Do NOT hold your sale on a Sunday. We've all had serious rummage sellers tell us not to hold Sunday sales. I thought we could get away with it and I was wrong. Foot traffic was a quarter of what it would have been on Saturday and we found most of our buyers were folks who found out about it beforehand. Picking up the walk-ins would have been great.

Signs.
Make, print, or buy lots and lots of signs. I thought twenty would be plenty but only made it about three blocks before I ran out and had to reprint the next day. If you live in a heavily trafficked urban area, I would start with at least forty. Walk with a marker so you can add directions at each location: two blocks north, turn right, just down the alley, etc. Put them up at least two days before your sale and retrace your steps with more signs before the big day; chances are that a lot of them will be missing. Be a good neighbor and take down your signs when the sale is over so they don't end up in the gutter.

Get the word out 2010 style.
Use the internet it all of its shining glory. Put it on Craigslist. Add your sale to the Garage Sale Tracker iPhone app. Tweet about it. Tell your friends to put it on their Facebook. Make a Facebook event page. Find out who blogs about yard sales in your city and shoot them an email with some photos they can use for a post. Chicago has two amazing sale resources: Chicago Garage Sale Warrior and BackGarage. Your city probably has yard sale mavens, too.

 

Stand out from the crowd.
I made the paint chip garlands I blogged about here last week and got balloons for the tree in front of my building. When the sale got slow, we grabbed Sharpies and note cards, scribbled funny statements on them, and taped tons of them to the tree. Who could pass up a sign that said "Free lemonade—you know you're thirsty" on a ninety-degree day?

Have a place for your stuff.
Large tables are great but if you don't have any, lay a sheet or blanket down and place your wares atop. We had a rolling clothing rack and utilized the fence in the backyard for the overflow. Make sure you have enough hangers. Metal ones are best in case someone prefers to take a hanger home with them.

Pricing.
Price everything. We used stickers but I read about a woman who used blue painters tape and a marker. The tape comes off of everything with no fuss and she kept it on hand throughout the sale for prices that fell off or that she missed the first go around.

Add some flavor.
We picked up a few cans of frozen lemonade and used vintage pitchers to pour from. Along with our 70s soul rummage sale playlist, the lemonade added a festive mood to the backyard.

A few more randoms: get proper change, be prepared for early birds, make sure you have a chair to rest on, wear proper clothing, and have fun! This was my first attempt at holding a yard sale and I'm addicted. I'm sure I missed some things, or maybe you have tips different than mine? Leave 'em in the comments!

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