July 2009 - Posts
Summertime is yard sale season, and the granddaddy of all sales, the World’s Longest Yard Sale, is just around the corner!
On August 6-9, this famous sale will wind its way 650 miles from Alabama to Ohio. Lifetime’s resident organizational expert and Home & Garden Guru, Donna Smallin, is stopping by the heart of the sale—Jamestown, Tenn.—to offer a few yard sale ideas to participants and collect tips from the best sellers to share with us on Lifetime.com.
If you can’t make it to the sale, don’t fret; below are a few of Donna’s tips for your own garage sale. Looking for the perfect sale date? August 10 is National Garage Sale Day!
Donna's Yard Sale/Garage Sale Tips
- Collect Your Inventory—Yard sales are a great way to get rid of clutter and make a few bucks, but it can be difficult to decide what to part with. As a general rule, if you don’t love it or use it, lose it. With this mantra in mind, walk through your home with packing boxes in hand and decide what goes. Get kids involved by letting them keep whatever they earn from selling their old toys and clothes, or plan a fun family activity with the total proceeds.
- Spread the Word—Three days before the sale, place a classified advertisement in your newspaper and post listings on local websites. Mention big-ticket and “hot” items such as toys and sporting goods in your ads to stir up interest. Also, place a “Yard Sale” sign at the nearest major intersection to capture drive-by traffic and post additional signs with arrows to point the way home. To get your sign noticed, write in black letters on brightly colored card stock.
- Price to Move—If you’re not sure what to charge for items, take your cue from other yard sales or the Salvation Army Donation Value Guide. Then, use black marker on blue painter’s tape (which is easily removable) to price everything. If you’ve got a large collection of like items, such as books or CDs, place them together in a bin and hang one price tag on the container (e.g. paperbacks 25 cents). Toss odds and ends and anything not worth selling into a box with a “Free” sign. Once the sale starts, remember, it’s better to sell low than not sell at all, so if people are walking away without buying, lower your prices.
- Organization is Key—The more easily people can navigate your sale and test out items, the more they’ll buy. Hang and sort all clothing by type (men’s, women’s, or shirts/pants), have a mirror handy if you’re selling accessories and plug in a power cord to test electrical devices. Most importantly, have enough space to display things properly. I recommend setting up on a few folding tables from Lifetime Products—they can easily support heavier items and are UV-protected so the yard sale heat and sun won’t hurt them. (They come in handy for other events, too.) Consider setting up an extra table for selling home-baked goods and/or lemonade.
- Move your Stock—Have enough coins and bills to make change for at least three $20 notes, and carry money, along with a calculator, in a fanny pack or apron for quick sales. Also keep a stack of newspaper on hand for wrapping fragile items. When business starts to slow, close up shop and drive all remaining items to the nearest donation place. Take down your signs on your way.
- Combine Efforts—Don’t have enough stuff for your own yard sale? Set a date one to two months out and hand-deliver flyers inviting neighbors to participate in the sale. Split the cost of placing an advertisement for a “Neighborhood Yard Sale” in the newspaper and have all participants post signs in front of their house or tie balloons to their mailboxes on the day of the sale.
Ready to get started? Get $10 off yard sale tables by entering WLYS09 when you purchase a 6-Foot Fold-in-Half Table or 6-Foot Adjustable-Height Table at www.buylifetime.com.
Spring Yard Cleaning
After the cold gray months of winter, you’re more than anxious to get out and do some yard work when spring finally rolls around! With the sun on your face and the bright green grass under your feet, the spring temperatures are perfect for getting a jump start on your yard work.
At Lifetime we have the equipment you need to get the job done: wheelbarrows, yard carts, composters, and utility trailers. It’s time to rake up all the dead leaves out of the flowerbeds and collect the debris the winter winds have blown into every nook and cranny. Gusty gales may have also scattered limbs and twigs around your yard—but no problem! Spring Fever has your adrenaline pumping and you’re ready to tackle it all!
Checklist of Equipment and Supplies
Utilize Your Resources
If you don’t have a composter, check with your city office to see if they provide a shredding service if you haul your limbs to their facility. You may also be able to rent mulching machines from an equipment rental company, if you’d rather do the mulching on site. You can then use the shredded bark in your composter or spread around flowerbeds and newly planted trees to keep in the moisture.
When it comes to lawn care and gardening there are lots of free resources you can turn to like your local library and online web sites, but one good source of information that you may not be aware of is your own county extension offices. Your county extension offices will be happy to mail you some helpful brochures about gardening and lawn care that are specific to your area, like:
- When should I apply fertilizer to my lawn?
- When should I plant my vegetable garden?
- What kinds of trees and flowers do well in this area?
Get to Work
With the right equipment from Lifetime, the education you’ve gleaned from information resources, and the inspiration of a beautiful spring day, you’re ready to roll up your sleeves and get to work! Before you know it, you will be sipping iced tea on the porch rocker, enjoying the satisfaction of a job well done. While you’re taking in the view, you may envision a new flowerbed here or a flowering shrub over there. Now that the cleaning is done, you can add your artistic touches with some spring potting or planting. Oh, the possibilities!
Make a kite and let your spirit soar!
After the long, cold winter, the warm weather welcomes us outdoors with sunshine and gentle breezes—perfect weather for kite flying! Kite flying is a relaxing way to fill a couple of quiet hours in the park, at the beach, or an open meadow. Learning the technique of kite flying is a satisfying experience. But if you’re a do-it-yourselfer, you will find a special satisfaction in actually making your own kite!
Kites come in all shapes and sizes—some of them truly magnificent feats of engineering! But if you’re a first time do-it-yourself kite maker, you’ll probably want to start with a simple design. This is an enlarged model of the "20 minute kite for kids" from the Big Wind Kite Factory in Hawaii. http://www.molokai.com/kites/20kidskites.html
Checklist
- Craft Table
- Lifetime folding chairs
- 1 sheet of brightly colored paper 25.5 inches wide x 30 inches long
- 1 25 inch wooden dowel for horizontal support
- 1 30 inch wooden dowel for additional vertical support if necessary
- 1 roll 1/2 inch wide tape
- 1 roll of string, 6 - 10ft. long
- 1 inch x 3 inch piece of cardboard or an empty bathroom tissue roll on which to wind the string.
- Scissors
- Hole punch (optional)
Steps
- Fold paper in half to 25.5 x 15
- Mark point 1/2 inch from the fold at the top
- Mark another point 3 inches from the fold at the bottom
- Draw a diagonal line between these points
- Fold paper back along this dotted line and tape down the new fold line
- Then tape down 25 inch wooden dowel between top corner points
- Tape down 30 inch wooden dowel on the vertical fold for additional structural support
- Attach 10 feet of ribbon to the bottom of the kite with tape
- Flip kite over and bend the flap back and forth until it stands straight up
- Tape a small piece of tape 1/3 of the way down from the top of that flap and punch a hole through it.
- Tie one end of the string through the hole and wind the rest of the string onto the cardboard or toilet paper roll
Safety Tips
- Never fly your kite around power lines, telephone lines, overhead electrical wires.
- In order to avoid attracting electricity, do not use metal parts in the construction of your kite.
- Do not use fishing line or wire for your kite string.It will cut your hands.
Do not fly your kite close to streets where it could distract drivers.
- Be aware of your surroundings. Since you will have your eye on the sky, don’t fly near ditches, steep hills, or obstacles that you may trip over.
- Avoid flying too close to trees and other kite flyers.
Instructions Diagram