So you are a hoarder. So am I. Last October I had a really successful yard sale. Successful to the point where we did not have to take one thing to the Thrift Store for donation. (And I made a bunch of $$, which is always a bonus!) So here are my tips on how to have a garage sale your neighbors will envy.
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I am super lucky because we are the last house on a partially developed road so I had TONS of space to spread out.
Also remember the rule here at VR. DON’T YOU JUDGE ME. (Also, my hoarding has been better controlled lately)
After 3.5 hours it looked like this:
And then 30 minutes later it looked like this:
And by the time I made it back out to take a picture EVERYTHING was gone. Even the free sign.
So do you want to have a killer yard sale?!
Here are my tips:
1. Stand out from the 100’s of others going on that day.
I did not advertise as a yard sale. I advertised as a Hoard Sale because A) its way funnier and B) that’s what it was! The ads from Craigslist were so awesome that people came from 2 hours away just to see what a Hoard Sale was. Here are a sampling of the ads:
HUMONGO hoard sale this Saturday! (October 8) According to my husband I am a freakin hoarder, and he is mad at me. Which means that I have to get rid of a ton of my treasures to save my marriage. Starts at 8 on the dot. No early birds, I will call the cops. Just kidding I wont. But really don’t come early. This is a DIYers paradise! Need a dining room chair or 21? Good cause we have those! See you there! Also I like cookies if you want to bring me some.
There are only a few days until the Hoard sale on Saturday!! Are you EXCITED!?!? I am selling tons of amazing crap! 8 o’clock is when it opens. Only awesome people are invited.
The first annual Vintage Revivals Hoard Sale is tomorrow Saturday oct 8. The ribbon cutting ceremony starts at 8 am exactly. 99% of the sale is furniture and home decor!! Follow the pink signs and balloons. It’s going to be AMAZING!! This is like the Black Friday of yard sales people.
I mean SERIOUSLY. Who wouldn’t want to go to a yard sale like that?!
2. Make Your Signs Uniform and CLEAR.
I hate when you see a yard sale sign and you start driving and then you don’t see another one. We used bright pink poster board and balloons on EVERY sign so they knew which one they were supposed to follow. Also they were funny. (sorry for the not awesome cell phone pics)
We also had arrow signs to tell people to keep going in one direction. When they see the sign you’ve hooked them, when they see the easy guides you are totally reeling them in.
3. Have great prices.
If you are selling something super valuable then of course you should charge more for it, BUT people yard sale so they get crap at a great price. Don’t be disillusioned by thinking your used stuff is better than everyone elses. Most of my chairs I sold for $10 each. Could I have sold them for more? Probably, but it was more important to me to have them gone.
See this hutch? It was a 1/2 finished project that I decided I didn’t have space for anymore. It sat this way for almost a year. So instead of holding on to something I knew I wouldn’t use, I sold it for $40. It would have been cute finished huh?
4. Team up with your friends.
My BFF Hailee and my SIL brought their crap over to sell too. When you can advertise as a multi family sale it draws more people. How many times have you not even gotten out of your car because something seemed really picked over? The more stuff you have the longer you can draw people in.
5. HAVE FUN!
I mean it is early on Saturday morning, the weather is probably beautiful so enjoy it!
This is April and Summer. They are the Vintage Revivals Super Fans. I love these cute girls and their mountains of support.
And this happy face was the best part of all.
Love Your Guts, Mandi
Make sure you check out the sale I had 6 months later. I tried to stop hoarding, I really did…
Well done…I mean, incredible job! Makes a yard sale much more fun for the buyers and the sellers. Thank you!
Best yard sale ever! Love the advertising!
I so wish you weren’t so far away…looks amazing
Ha! My hubby is the hoarder in our house. He hoards tools! Even if he already has five of something, he’ll bring home more of it anyways. It really doesn’t help that he works in a hardware store and every time they have a recalled item or something was returned damaged, he drags it home. It’s taken over half our garage.
I am laughing soooo hard right now. You are so freakin funny. BTW, my husband is renting a dumpster this summer and making me get rid of my DYI pile that is ever growing…our poor families that have to deal with our hoarding issues.PS, I don’t live in Utah but I swear I know the girl in your picture from HS, is she from Chino, Ca??
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Great post… no doubt “Hoarder Sales” will be everywhere this spring. Thanks for the tips!!
I would have loved to have come to your yard sale. Seriously, the ad would have gotten me there. As a HUGE garage sale shopper my biggest pet peeve is when the people write their address on the sign and that’s it. No arrows, no direction. Seriously people! Your signs were awesome. I”m sure I could have found my way from Seattle if I wanted to.
You’ve got some great tips that I’ll be sure to take note of for my next sale. My biggest tip is to give the leftovers away at the end. We actually pass out a flyer with each purchase that says at 1pm everything is free. You should see the hoards of people there at closing time. We usually only have a small box of items left after they’ve picked the place clean!
Great ideas! I hope your not offended if I ever re-use your ad pretty much word for word. HAH. 🙂
This is the CUTEST yard sale ad I’ve ever seen! I feel like you and me could totally be buddies coz I literally bonded with you while reading your ideas! Crazy, right?! Lol! My hubby has been bugging me about doing a yard sale because we just moved into a new house and still have tons of hoarder crap at the old house! NOW….I WANNA GET MY GIRLS TOGETHER FOR A FUN SHIN DIG LIKE THIS! Super duper excited! Thanks for your awesome tips homie! Char Ross – Reno, NV
I’m pretty much the anti-hoarder, but this post made me want to have a yard sale so bad I’m considering becoming a hoarder.
OMG, I want to come to your hoard sale!! I’d have to fly there, so getting all those goodies home would be a problem. And the hubby probably wouldn’t like it. He’s traveling right now and called last night asking if “our house still looked like hoarders lived there.” Uh oh, better get on that! 🙂
You are too funny!
OMG I MISSED IT!!!!!!!!!! Too funny, thanks so much for the laughs. I would so have gone to that sale (if I lived anywhere near you that is!)
Thanks for the tips, my hoarder sale is a couple of months away…
xox
ps I pinned this, let’s see how many hits you get!
I too have Hoarder tendencies but I am getting better. It’s just about “certain things.” I love how you talked about letting things go for cheap! HELLO! This is a yard sale – you will not get your money’s worth or even close to it. Have the sale to get rid of stuff NOT make money. Your lack of money is not their problem. Can you tell I’m slightly peeved over people who do this?
I agree about the pricing. Growing up we would have garage sales and my dad would accept just about any price someone would name for things. Needless to say the sales were over pretty quickly. When I go to a sale and I see a crappy table for $50, I don’t bother looking at anything else, I leave. I could find the same table on someone’s trash heap for free, know what I mean? Good ideas!
Great post, I love the last pic of your hubby. The reflection from the car window looks like it’s coming from his teeth making him look even happier! LOL
You are a RIOT!!! I’m totally using your ideas this spring for my first ever yard sale. Love you and your style and your hilarious personality! Keep it up! xxx
You have to be the queen of all yard sales. No doubt the really fun ads and signage brought in the crowds. I love the pic of your hubs, too! Thanks for sharing.
I will not be content until I have an Old Navy Item of the Week sign.
hahaha, that was hilarious. Thanks for sharing.
BEST POST EVER! I love the fun and surprises! AWESOME WORK! Happy St. Patty’s Day… thanks for sharing and hope you have a lovely weekend! Jalon
Well, it does help that you have killer stuff!
yes I love having a garage sale and visiting them also ! It looks like you had a super sale !
wow! you had some really great crap! 🙂
loved all those chairs!
gail
And THAT is how you pull off an awesome yard sale, lol! I love it. I’d have gone fo sho.
Great job! Love the hoarder reference and signs. You would have had my attention from go. Then again, I am a fellow hoarder and love the 127sale!
~Heather
Gosh, you’re so smart. The signs and ads were bitchin! Your hub’s face said it all….LOL
They saw that hoarding can be heredity. My dad is El Pack Rato and I am La Pack Rata. I have written a yard sale ad in my head and I have thought that I should mentioned the fact that a pack rat is having a sale. Great minds think alike.
The same color signs and LOTS of them is a real smart key; people won’t give up.
I need, need, need to have a sale.
Brilliant! Good marketing goes a long way in determining the success of a garage sale. You know what brought the masses to mine? The ad that simply
said “G.R.O.J. Sale–(Get Rid Of Junk)”
So funny! Love your ads and your signs. I would have been in heaven if I had pulled up to this sale! Your hoarder pile would have become the newest addition to my hoarder pile. : )
Smiles!
Sammy ~ Renew Redo
Great job! Making it fun and with great directions had to be great for customers.
Pat
Wish I could have been at your hoarder sale! Also, I love that pic of your hubby…it looks like that sun spot off the car is actually on his teeth! Could be a toothpaste ad. 🙂 Great advice, I am gearing up for an astronomical yard sale as well. 🙂
This is so great – I wish I could have attended the hoarding sale! Will this become an annual event?! 🙂
I am dying over here! I’m planning for a big yard sale this year and I’m stealing some of your tips! Thanks so much for sharing!
Love your ideas – especially the uniqueness one. To make my mom’s garage sales stand out she ties a giant stuffed animal at each of her signs.
GREAT tips! Especially #3. I once went to a ridiculously overpriced garage sale (think used shoes for $30) and found the owners asking $300 for an old, stained arm chair and I was thinking “REALLY?!? Would YOU pay that much for it?”
Looks like you had some great finds, wish I could’ve been there 🙂
This is great advice and your ad’s are hysterical! Seriously you should copyright them (before I ‘borrow’ them for my next sale!).
Barbara @chase-thestar.blogspot.com
I love the idea of your hoarder sale and the signs and your post was hilarious.Such a shame we dont have yard sales in England 🙁
Weather too unpredictable i guess! did tho f I lived in US i would so love to go to one like yours.
Now you have to hoard up for the next one 🙂
Oh my heavens, the timing of your post is fate! I am up late now getting ready for a “flash” yard sale of all that I have (ahem) hoarded over the years! On impulse, I just decided to have it yesterday..! This will be only my second yard sale ever because my husband has been the reluctant one, even though we are drowning in (my) accumulation. During my last one 15 years ago, two women literally got in a shoving match over a stuffed animal and some guy tried to sneak into the house (“to use the bathroom…”), so he’s been a bit reluctant. This time I have plenty of help! I was just angsting over what to say on CL without sounding boring and unworthy of a drive-by when I came across your post. I hope you don’t mind terribly if I “borrow” (read: wantonly plagarize) some of your marketing ideas… True brilliance, IMHO! Thanks for the inspiration. I so enjoyed exploring your blog. I will be back for more!
I Love this!!!!!
door251.com
Serious question: Did people bring you cookies? Love the tips!
You crack me up! Love the advertising! We’re you in marketing before VR?
I love your hilarious ads. Sadly, looking at all your awesome hoard, I realize that I fit in that category too. I guess I’ve been in denial. I’m not quite ready to chuck it all though. I have a sneaking suspicion that I will be given the choice “Junk or me” very soon though. 😀
this is absolutely awesome. I am having a yard sale on Saturday and searched “yard sale” on pinterest and this is where I found you. So using some of your ideas!! Thank you!!
Dear Mandi:
First I am just going to get all gushy here and tell you how much I LOVE your blog!! I found it a few months ago because I needed inspiration to build a fake fireplace for my lovely kitschy old fashioned electric log set and you had just the thing squirreled away in your Project Graveyard.
(Okay, truth be told, months have gone by and I still don’t have the fireplace but I am gathering the supplies and the malepower to build it…so….I’m getting closer all the time.)
Anyway, anytime I get one of your posts it becomes the cause for much discussion amongst the ladies in the office. However, when I got your post, “5 Tips for a Killer Garage Sale,” that was just HUGE because Joy Fleming, my friend and Youtube partner in mischief, had signed up for her community sale. There and then we decided to put your ideas to work and the results were absolutely AWESOME! We were just covered up with people for most of the day! In fact, we thought there were gonna be at least a couple of wrecks in front of the house because cars could not get up and down the street!
All these folks coming to look at our FABULOUS CRAP! Imagine!
We are giving you bunches of credit for our success and we hope that you get a big laugh out of this short video of our sale:
http://www.youtube.com/foreverfabulousshow
Like I say in the video: We love you, Mandi! MMMMMM-WAHHHHH!
Cheers!
Julie James & Joy Fleming
Mandi. I need to do this. Thank you for inspiring me, because it just needs to happen. I am so over my crap! UGH. Thanks! ;}
I don’t have enough awesome crap to call ours a hoard sale – so how do I still make it funny?
I don’t have enough awesome crap to call ours a hoard sale. How can I still make my ad funny and memorable?
You are pretty awesome…
I work at Old Navy and unfortunately, they don’t make those signs anymore friends!!
That was a fun read….thanks! I am supposed to be outside doing yard work but I snuck into the house to get a drink and then wandered over to the computer to check out Pinterest, oops. Somehow I found you. Yeah! Thanks for the chuckle AND the great ideas. You are so smart to cut loose some of your treasures to save your marriage. And hey, now you can go out and look for more “happy crap” !!
Great Ideas. I love doing yardsales, my friends think I’m crazy. But I have fun, cold beer for me, music. Having one this weekend would love to find a blue flashing light, for blue light special, I did get a speaker & microphone going to auction some stuff off. JUST HAVE FUN.
Your advertisements made me laugh right out loud. I am so stealing these for my sale next week – thanks for the giggle and the great tips
Kim
Oh, so very awesome! Begs the question though….did anyone bring you cookies????
I wish I lived closer…up here on the Sunshine Coast of BC…not going to happen. I guess I’ll have to create my own little niche of awesomeness…lol. Thanks for the ideas..gonna copy them word for word…..:D
I happened upon your blog via Pinterest. I’m having a hoard sale next Saturday and I’m not even kidding when I say that I just might totally C&P your exact words for my ads. LOL
We cleaned out my in-laws 70+ years worth of hoarding (seriously) before demolishing their old farm house. This is going to be one heck of a sale. I’m already tired.
I am a professional garage saler and I think you have some great tips!!! 😉 hehe! Love your sign tips! Those are the kind of signs I like!
We are taking your awesome advice. And we are also adding this picture to the ad. https://bit.ly/OEm0ZZ
OMG! I would die to go to your yard sale! lol looks amazing!!
totally stole some of your words for our craigslist post. our sale is saturday—we’ll let you know how it goes!! thanks for the advice!!!
I’m curious if anyone brought you cookies? 🙂
This is awesome! Thank you for sharing…I found this article via Pinterest. Today I mentioned it and linked to it from my own blog, where I’m running a mini series on yard sales. So a giant Thanks Again for the great tips!!
Amy
Congrats on your great sale. I think someone in my area read your blog, because they used your ad word for word even the line about loving cookies. You looked like you had cool stuff at your sale, but they did not. Everything they had was literally trash! I know, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. But this stuff was beyond help. They also advertised multi family but they only had a small amount of stuff. Because of that sale and the way the ad was written, in my area at least, people don’t go to those sales because they believe they are a waste of time, just because of that one sale! They post bad comments on CraigsList whenever an ad comes up like that. There are so many other sales in my area on any given Friday or Saturday that ads written like that are dismissed. Sad but true. To be clear, I am not bashing your ad or your idea, I think they are great, but just telling what happened in my area with your ad.
lol hope you end up reading this, i know its been since last Sept but I was doing a search on yard sales and came across this post, my last name is “Hoard” lol I could use some of this lingo…. but, realy dont want to advertise my name, most wouldent get it anyway. Thanks for your cute ideas and humor.
Love the wit. Felt like a friend across from me in the living room.
Love your blog! You have such great tips, I get all my tips and even find tons of yard sales on this site: https://www.yardsalesearch.com/garage-sales-utah.html (it’s pretty awesome!) 🙂
Great post! Been reading a lot about selling my stuff. Thanks for sharing this!
Such great ideas! Wish you lived in my neighborhood.
i love this! and inspired to do our rummage sale in a similar way. Thank you very much for the fun ideas!!!