by Joyce Thompson

Created on: November 17, 2008   Last Updated: November 25, 2008

It's very expensive to advertise a yard sale in the local newspaper in my town. I think it might cost more money than some people actually MAKE at their yard sale! For that one reason alone it is much more profitable to hold a "town wide" yard sale. But there are other reasons why a town wide yard sale can be advantageous for both the selling and the buying parties.

Everyone's heard the old adage, many hands make light work, and while having a town wide yard sale does not mean that little elves are going to show up and clean out your basement or garage, it will mean higher profits and better attendance at your sale, which means getting rid of more stuff, which in most cases is the basic goal of holding a yard sale.

Think about it. The entire town decides to have a yard sale on a given Saturday. Everyone who wants to hold a sale chips in a few bucks. This money will be pooled to run several ads, rather than one person running one expensive ad. There may even be funds left over to make up flyers to pass out in local stores and post on community bulletin boards.

Having more people involved means more volunteers to help make the flyers, call to place the ads, and the other preparation work that needs to be done to have a successful yard sale. Someone in the group may even volunteer to make a map of the town, depicting which houses will be hosting yard sales.

In one town, people actually created a map of the town, and when families decided to hold a yard sale they could pay a small fee to be placed on the map. The fees collected would be used to make copies of the map. The maps were distributed around the town, at local convenience stores, places of business and community centers.

Handing out maps for the sales is a huge bonus that shoppers enjoy because they won't have to drive around the town aimlessly, they can look at the map and discover where the most sales are, and where there may be clusters of houses holding sales. This helps the shoppers save gas and TIME. Time is the crucial element when hunting for bargains at yard sales. Bargain hunters are out in full force looking for that one of a kind hidden treasure and the trick to finding valuables is getting there first!

Holding a town yard sale is advantageous to both the sellers and the buyers. And, making it an annual event can make it even more worthwhile. People who want to sell their items and take part in the sale can save their stuff to put out for sale on a certain date, and shoppers can make plans to spend this particular set date on a scavenger hunt of sorts. It's a win-win situation for all parties involved.

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