Sell off — Tips on hosting a successful yard sale

If you are thinking of having a yard sale, William Athey says, "make sure you have a bread machine and an old computer monitor. Every yard sale I've been to has those items."

Athey is kidding, of course, but he knows a lot about garage sales. For the past five or six years, he and Amelia Graehl have been teaming up to go to the sales almost every weekend during the season.

The two recently held a workshop on how to put on a successful garage sale at the Salt Lake City Main Library, where Athey is an employee and Graehl works as a volunteer.

The first thing they stressed was planning ahead. You can't just get up one weekend and decide to have a sale and expect to do very well, they said. "Start planning several weeks or even months before," Graehl said.

Begin sorting out the things you want to get rid of well in advance. One idea is to keep boxes handy so you can put things into them as you decide you don't need them anymore. When one box gets full, move it out to the garage and start a new one. "And don't ever bring that stuff back in," she said.

Getting rid of the stuff that is in your way or no longer of use can be a wonderful feeling, she added. "There's something almost discernible, a lightening feeling."

That's the thing to remember about a yard sale, Athey added. The main purpose is to get rid of things, not necessarily to make money.

The two offered more suggestions on how to have a good sale:

Before the sale

• Check local zoning and housing regulations or with your homeowners association as to what you can or can't do. In Salt Lake City, you are allowed to have no more than two yard sales in one year, for example. For a one- or two-day private yard sale, you generally do not need a business license.

• Go check out some other garage sales before you have your own, Athey suggested. "Talk to the people about what is working or not working." Take notes of what you like and don't like.

• Visit your neighbors to see if they are interested in participating. "The more people involved, the bigger crowd you'll draw," Graehl said. Even if they don't want to be part of the sale, they will know that one is going on and may be more tolerant of crowds.

• Advertise. The more people that come to your sale, the more stuff they will take away. Don't rely just on day-of-sale signs.

Check with your local newspaper. A classified ad in the Salt Lake City newspapers, through MediaOne, will cost $31 for four lines, run on one day. A six-line ad with logo run on two days will cost $60.

If you don't have a lot of stuff to sell, that might not be economical, Athey said. But it will reach a wide audience, particularly those who check the classifieds specifically looking for yard sales.