One of the highlights of my stay in Colorado was participating and shopping in a small community of neighbors who had organized yard sales. They had one yard sale per season for years: summer, fall, spring. When I lived in California, neighbors had their yard sales year-round sometimes every weekend. My experiences were great meeting everyone!
How I was approached the first time in Colorado about a yard sale was via a flier on my door informing me of the neighborhood committee planning to have an upcoming yard sale sometime in the spring and would I and my family like to participate. Then another flier that listed dates which were from an upcoming Friday to Sunday in June soon followed weeks later. So for three days we set up in the morning and closed around 2 p.m. During this time, we visited one another's front yards and garages. We exchanged information about ourselves and met other family members and pets. One of my sons started sign twirling in costume to increase traffic to our community. While other sons saw what he he had been doing and offered assistance, so they took turns after 30 minutes or so twirling with face masks--they were hilarious! There was music playing as people shopped, stopping at each driveway or front yard. There was a little dancing which raised the mood even more. Also, good food and drinks were available for a small fee.
In California, I was a shopper, but I got to see how some of the neighbors organized their yard sales. They simply posted an ad and signage well enough in advance to let everyone in the community and surrounding areas know that they would be having a yard sale. The turnout was impressive! I recall neighbors moved their cars elsewhere so that driveways could be used. When other special events come to a neighborhood, home owners will rent out their driveways making it easy for vistors to walk to nearby entertainment. In Colorado, a church that was having a local event, partnered with a business not too far away, to have organizers park in their parking lot so that visitors had somehwhere to park.
The cost to organize a small community yard sale is not expensive. Display your event old school style on a large posterboard for twirling or posting in the front yard. Hang fliers up around the neighborhood. Drop off fliers at your neighbor's doors and request on the flier that they make copies. Keep cost low by printing in black and white and don't use your printer at home since the cartridges are sometimes more expensive than just taking your digital file to an office supply store or anywhere that prints copies. The food and drink that was served was also offered for a reasonable fee to visitors. The neighbors, who set up tables and chairs and sat out their wares for sell, enlisted the help of relatives.
My sons who were under the age of 10 at the time, earned well over $200 at the time in sales that isn't including what I and their brother made. They sold toy figures, games, clothing, etc. I had houseware and decor. Their brother had a little bit of everything including his own gaming console with controllers that he could have sold for higher than he had, but I digress.
So if you are bored and looking for something fun to do, consider organizing a yard sale in your community and if they are unresponsive to your first inquiry, there is always a meet up for those who are interested in the local flea market or swap meet.
So let's do a quick recap: take the time to communicate your intentions of organizing a community yard sale and you can do that by sharing a flier with your neighborhood. Next, follow up with a date and time when the yard sales will be occurring in your specific community. If there are issues or concerns, meet in-person to go over things like parking. Consider getting the word out both on and offline to the broader community about your community yard sales and enlist the help of others to generate interest and to help with set up.
Happy selling!
Nicholl McGuire is the author of What Else Can I do on the Internet?
