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Hello, and welcome back to the podcast. Today, we're going to talk about yard sales. So, yard sales are going to be picking up around here very, very soon. I'm so excited. I'm always excited. You know, thrifting is great. And going to thrift stores is always fun. But sometimes you just, you know, you just want to change pace, and you just want a different place to kind of shop. And so yard sales are going to be picking up here very soon. And so I'm excited to get heading out to some of them, it has definitely changed over the years. Over the last couple of years I hear anyway, I just feel like they're not there aren't as many. And so you know, after a couple of years of it being like that, I'm just hoping that this year, it's just going to be different, or we're just going to come out with a bang. And there's going to be a ton of sales. And it's just so crazy how different it has been over the last couple of years. So I'm excited for them to start. And just like with like I said with thrift stores, it's you know, you'll go to yard sales for a while and you're not finding anything or you're just hoping for a really good sale and you could be going to yard sales all day long. And you just need to hit that one good sale. And it's it like mates makes the entire day even if everything else was was a bust. So today, I want to go over some tips and things that I've learned over the years of shopping yard sales, how to shop yard sales effectively, to make sure that you're coming away with the best haul every time. And just these are things that I do now just it's just part of the yard sale routine. Matt does like to go with me, if you are new to the podcast or new to any of my content. I have a husband who I lucked out, I like hit the jackpot. Number one, he loves to do DIY projects, he loves to flip houses. And he loves to shop. i It's so funny when I say that. But he really does like he will go to a yard sale and auction he'll go to Target he'll go to the mall he'll go he just like he likes to shop. And so we do have a lot of fun together. And so when I was coming up with this post, I wrote a post all about this on my website that I'll link in this in the show notes here, but we were just kind of talking about our yard sale adventures. And he looks forward to them, you know, just as much as as I do when the season starts up again, here in Iowa. So this was just kind of a fun little topic to, to to talk about. So number one, definitely you want to plan ahead. And when Pete When I say plan ahead, it's not just you know, like, basically, you want to plan out your route. So wherever you find yard sales, and I do have a post about that as well that I can put in the show, show notes. I have to write myself a note here. So I do not forget to do this at the end. But okay, sorry, I'm just writing my note here. Um, but there are there are ways to find the best sale. So wherever you look for yard sales, you know, you know, is it Facebook marketplace? Do you look on Craigslist? Do you have a paper that comes, maybe it's just town wide sales, you go to whatever it is, plan ahead your route, like from your house, you get up at 6am. And this is the route that you're going to take and this is the area you're going to hit first, read the descriptions, if you have descriptions of the yard sales, you're going to read those descriptions so you can kind of plan out your route based on those descriptions. Now, you know, a side note to that is, you know, don't base the yard sale just on their description because a lot of people they don't know what they don't know. Right? So they may be saying that, you know, thinking that people like they have some baby stuff or something and they think okay, if we can just get all the baby crowd here, that'd be great. But yet they could you know, it could be grandma's vintage stuff too as well but they just don't think people are really interested in that. So it's it's really kind of a hit or miss. And you know, you can in some some descriptions and people that are you know, having yard sales know that people are out looking for certain items and vintage things are the things that you're looking for. And we'll put that in the description. So what I like to do when I'm kind of looking through all the sales is if those things it's kind of a two fold because sometimes I think oh my gosh, I'm going to be you know, having to fight a huge crowd for the same item. Sometimes I feel that way. So if I go the other way, and maybe hit some of these other sales I will find you know To find items that, you know, they don't think it's gonna be there. So it just, it just kind of depends on what you're feeling and but, you know, go by the description and then you know, if there are items that you're looking for that are in the description, maybe those are the ones you do hit first. And then you, you know, you put the other ones, you know, towards the end of the list, but I also, I don't want to be driving from one end of the town for one sale, then back over to the other than back over to the other. So you know, if I'm going to one sale, I find like the favorite sale or the one that sounds the best or is in like the best neighborhood, it's really important if you can learn the neighborhoods and things where you are going to yard sales that helps to that can just be if I find there are a couple neighborhoods around me, where it's like, if it's on that street on that block in that area, that is hands down the one I'm gonna go to first. And then I kind of base the rest of the route around that first one, right. So if there are a couple more over there, but they don't sound as good as some others, I'll still hit them really quick. And then head over to the other side of town. So you definitely want a plan. Just because it's it's going to save you time, and it's going to save you like gas money. And it's gonna help you get to the best sales first. So definitely plan ahead before you head out. And also, if you have you know, if there's certain items you're looking for, sometimes we just forget, especially if you're like me, and especially if you're at like a really good yard sale, and you're like, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, like and that's how I get, I get really excited. And I'm like everybody else, just please leave so I can have my time and I don't have to feel rushed. And I can go through all these things because I know it's gonna like have good stuff or like there's tons of things I want to go through. And so sometimes I get a little sidetracked right, by all the pretty shiny things. And so you know, if you have a list, and especially if you need like certain measurements of things, so maybe it's furniture, or it's art you're looking for but you need like a specific size, definitely plan ahead and kind of have those things written down. So you have them on you when you're looking at different things. So plan plan, plan ahead, which is going to make for a better time. Okay, the second one, and this is not so great for people that don't like to be up early, you have to be the early bird. If you want the cream of the crop the best pick the best, you know, whatever, you need to be the first one at the sales. So you definitely need to be there early. Sometimes I get so mad because I think I'm you know, you gotta know, too, is that sometimes make sure when you're reading the description, does it say no early birds, like make sure you look at that because sometimes if they don't say that you can kind of, you know, plug in a few sales before you get to the one where it says you know, you have to be here right at 8am. So you can get some of the other ones out of the way if it's on that route. But some people are sticklers about opening up the garage or you know, having people shop the yard where you don't depending on where it is. So if it says no early birds, you know, don't don't plan on going there to shop you can go and get in line and I know a lot of people that do that I'm not a big person for that, like I'm just not and so but I do know the earlier you know, the best items are gonna go first. So you definitely want to be there early and and just make it a fun day. Like, you know, if you plan ahead and you've got everything kind of set out in the morning, you know, get a cup of coffee, if that's what you drink in the morning. I drink tea, but you know, just like make it a fun morning and don't dread it because it really is so much fun. I wish I could get more and more people to hit up yard sales and go yard saleing because it's just, it's just so much fun. Okay, sidetrack here, okay, the next one is bring cash. So that was another thing I was gonna say. So when you're planning ahead, you definitely want to make sure that if you have to go to the ATM, you have to go to the bank, whatever it is, you want to make sure that you have enough cash on you for your yard sale day. In bringing cash it kind of helps you with negotiating a lot of yard sales now people have Venmo setup which is nice if you're spending more than you don't like you brought cash for some of them have PayPal, you know, that is sometimes an option option but don't go to a yard sale with thinking those two are going to be an option because I've only seen like if I went to 10 yard sales, maybe it's at one right now here around so I always have cash like that is the only way to go and bring smaller bills don't always bring 20s And hundreds bring smaller bills like less than $20 bills. Definitely make sure you have enough of those. So you know one thing you can do a little tip is throughout the entire year especially if you live in a place where yard sales are seasonally like for us here in Iowa. So like through the winter months like when they stop having when you stop having yard sales through the winter months. Keep all of your ones and fives that you have throughout all of winter. Keep them in a little jar somewhere. I just kind of tuck them away, you can't spend any ones or fives, like all winter long. And then you know, when yard sale season rolls around, then you've got that kind of little stash that you've made just for yard sales. So it's kind of a little tip. And then you've got like those smaller bills, like I was saying, but that it's just kind of a fun way to kind of stash away a little bit of yard sale or fun money for that kind of thing.
The next thing is to negotiate and plan on negotiating, it's a yard sale, most of these people are, they want to get rid of this stuff, right? Like, that's why they're doing this, you will come across those people that are like antique dealers. And you know, right away, you're like, Okay, this is an antique yard sale. And they're not their prices are just outrageous and, but most of the time, when you're going to a yard sale, it's a family or families that have come together to you know, they've got a bunch of stuff they're not using anymore. And so they definitely want to see it going out of their house, and you know, into yours, and the less they have to go and like take to the donation site, the better. And so plan on negotiating, if you're having a yard sale plan on people negotiating your prices, like that's just part that's part of the game, you're not hurting anybody's feelings, and try it. If you're nervous about doing that, try and get like a bundle of things together, try it, if it's your first time doing it, do it where maybe you've got a handful of items, and kind of as you're picking things up, kind of add them up in your head. And then you know, so like, if they're $25, you have these, this bundle of stuff, say would you take 20 for all of this. Try it that way. Because bundling it's always, I mean, we've had yard sales, tons of yard sales, and it's like, yes, yes, you can have all that take all of that with you. And yes, make the I'll make you a deal you, you know, offer me something, I'm always fine with that. So don't be afraid to negotiate. Another thing to do, make sure that you check for damage, it's a yard sale, there's no return policy, right? You're buying it as it is. So make sure that you're you know you inspect for no matter what your mind you know, close to, you know, like items, games, you know, whatever it is make sure that you're checking it for you know, damage or defects or if it's something electrical, ask them if they can plug it in, we you know, in our garage, we have plugs everywhere. So when we have yard sales and something needs to be plugged in, or they want to check it, we just show them where that's at, and they can plug it in and check it out. So definitely you want to check that because you don't want to buy something that's not going to work or it's got a big hole in it or whatever it is. Next, which you may not think about dress appropriately like wear comfortable clothes and shoes. My one of my well my probably all time favorite our church sales, but when we can go to like town wide sales where you park your car, and then you go to like 30 sales on the block or in a town it's like the best, right because you have so many to go to. So you want to be comfortable. You know where a like instead of a like a purse where or something where you have to like hold with a hand or something where a backpack or a crossbody bag or a fanny pack. So you have two hands that you can use at all times, carrying items picking up items at the sale, you just want your you want two hands to be open at all times. So try and bring a bag for your money and stuff that that doesn't have to you don't have to carry it if that makes sense with your hands. And then lastly, I just said bring a bag. So especially if you are at like a town wide where you're going to multiple sales. And you don't want to have to run to the car because you want to be the early bird at every sale. So you don't want to run to the car and have to drop things off bring a bag just like a you know, reusable grocery bag or whatever, something that you can put your items in. And then again, just throw it over your shoulder and then head to the next sale. Also inside my car, when I am going to a ton of sales or whatever, I may keep like a tote or I have Lin bags like lined up in the back so that I can kind of you know, everything's not just thrown in the back of the car. I kind of did not organize it but you know what I mean? Like I put smaller items in a tote. And then I can bag up other things and kind of keep them separated but yet they're going to be easy to move if I have to give a get a bigger item into my car. It's just kind of a way to do it strategically so that it's not you're not having to rush and then you bus something as you put it into your car or it just works all efficiently and so that you can get to the next sale. So those are all the tips I have for you today. I would love to hear from you. Do you like to go to yard sales? Email me I would love to hear your yard sale adventures your yard sale tips please tell me them all. They're just so much fun so you can always email me Lindsay at my creative days that comm you can reach out to me on Instagram at my creative days. If there's something else you want me to talk about on the podcast if there's have some questions you have about any of these topics I talked about, I get a lot of my topics from questions that you send in, or message me on Instagram. So any and all are always welcome. So do not hesitate to reach out to me. Either way, email or Instagram. I will put those two posts inside the show notes. So make sure to check those out. And happy yardsaling I hope you are hitting a ton of good sales this year. I would love to hear to your your best find what did what have you found recently? or what have you found in the past that still like your favorite find at a yard sale? Those are always fun to look at or hear about too. So reach out to me. I can't wait to hear from you. Until next time, have a great day. Hello, friends. Thank you so much for listening to the podcast. I am grateful that you tune in every week and that you share the show with your family and friends. I love having creative chit chats with you. And my hope is that this podcast will inspire you to try a new project started DIY that you've been putting off and decorate your home exactly how you want it. There are a few ways you can help us with the podcast. Follow the podcast so you don't miss an episode. And if you could take a few minutes to leave the podcast a review that would help us so so much. Again, thank you for being here and I look forward to our chat next week. Bye bye
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