How To Turn Your Junk Into Cash!

Spring is almost here and it's the perfect time to start thinking about turning some stuff you have laying around your house into cash.

Spring is on its way, and not only is it the time for flowers to start blooming again it is also the start of yard sale season. If you have a lot of stuff laying around your house that you don't use, it's a good time to clean out and turn your junk into cash. With the economy still tight and so many people out of work and looking for a job, having a yard sale can be a way to earn some money and help other people save some.

The key to getting the most money out of your stuff is planning. If you want to get the biggest crowd and the best dollar out of your yard sale, here are some tips to help you make your yard sale a success:

• Join forces with your neighbors or friends – When you first start planning your yard sale, tell you friends and neighbors. This will either drum up interest or you may find that they have some things they would like to sell as well. Having them join in your yard sale is a win-win proposition because it would give you help running things and larger yard sales attract more customers.
  
  
• Location, location, location – If you live in an out-of-the-way area, think about having your yard sale in another location. Sometimes churches and school will allow you to use their parking lot for a small donation. Depending on what your options are, it may be worth the rental fee to have your sale in a place where you will get more traffic.
  
  
• Advertise – There are several online yard sale locators you can use, and you should post your yard sale information in your local newspaper and also on Craigslist and Oodle.com. About a week ahead of time, you should post the time and date along with a short list of what sort of items are going to be included in the sale. Also, you should make some signs to post around your neighborhood to advertise, as well as one to put in front of your location. This way, a casual passer-by won't mistake your yard sale for spring cleaning.
  
  
• Rock bottom pricing – The biggest mistake people make when having yard sales is pricing items way too high. Yard sales are places to buy things super cheap so make sure your pricing reflects that. There have been many times that I have stopped by a yard sale, checked out a few outrageous price tags and promptly left because it was clear that the person having the sale was delusional about what yard sale pricing should look like. For example, old kitchen appliances should be priced at $3 and under. I don't care if you only used it rarely and it still has years of life left in it. Let it go and grab the couple bucks. Sometimes people just throw similar items in a box and give a price for anything in the box, like $1/toy.
  
  
• Plan out the details – There are some things you want to make sure you plan ahead for. Have a rain contingency plan and an idea of where customers should park. You also want to have a lock box for the money, or better yet, an apron with pockets. You will want to get about $50-$100 in change ahead of time, because you don't want to lose a sale just because the customer only has a twenty. Another good idea is to bring out an extension cord with a power strip, so customers can test out electronics and appliances before they buy them.
  
  
• Look for other money making opportunities – You can get the kids into the action by letting them run a water and bake sale. Buy some cases of bottled water, throw them in a cooler of ice and let the kids sell them for $1 apiece. It can be a great fun for the kids and even make a few bucks.
  
  
• Be safe – If you are hosting the yard sale at your house, be sure to lock all of the doors and don't let anyone inside for any reason. Also, make sure that you don't get distracted and take your eyes off of your money box. You can assign someone to hold the money box at all times and be the designated “cashier”, or buy an apron to keep the money in so you have it with you when you are moving around.

Having a yard sale can be a lot of fun. And, with some planning, it can be profitable too. So, when you start your spring cleaning, look for things that you can turn into cash.

What is your best yard sale tip? Let me know in the comments.

By Melissa Kennedy- Melissa is a 9 year blog veteran and a freelance writer for PhillyJobsBlog, along with helping others find the job of their dreams, she enjoys computer geekery, raising a teenager, supporting her local library, writing about herself in the third person and working on her next novel.