A Blitz Sale for Emergency Cash

Find yourself in need of money right now? Who doesn't come up against that problem occasionally when the bear is at the door and you need some long green? I have a suggestion.

I'll warn you up front that it may only work once every few years because you'll be calling in favors and selling off stock you might use for a future yard sale while thoroughly exhausting yourself. But in an emergency, it can work, especially if you don't need enough to pay off the national debt.

Hold a yard sale.

I held a last minute yard sale once myself and successfully raised a few bucks that got me through. Had I been a little more organized about it, as I suggest here, perhaps I could've produced more. Luckily, I was able to do this on a weekend when yard salers were on the streets. You may not be able to pick the day you want if the emergency is that great, but it should still be workable.

We know you're already in need of money so we'll assume you can't spare the cost of a newspaper ad.

This being the situation,, you might as well have the sale tomorrow. It means setting a killing pace as you prepare, but it's doable. Start a check-list of things to do, but don't dawdle. The clock is running.

Stock Up

You need lots and lots of sale items. Motorists passing by will slow to see what you have. They'll speed up and leave if you have one table and a box sitting on the ground beside it. You need to entice them to stop.

Clean out your closets, go through the old clothes, fill a box with books and magazines, dig in the kitchen cabinets for old pots and pans, thumb through your CDs and videos for disposables, bring out the knick-knacks you have no need for. Consider just how badly you need all of your houseplants. (Heck, if you had time, you could have propagated some of them and created a tray of little houseplants that could go for 25 cents each, but that's for when you have time to prepare for a regular yard sale.)

Be brutal. This, as Captain Kirk would say, is a yellow alert.

Clean everything. You need to put pricetags on everything you can. People will discard an item without a price tag rather than ask.

Get More

Now, start working the phone. Get relatives, friends, and neighbors to donate castoffs. If necessary, offer to sell on a commission basis. Remember what I said: volume is important to appeal to the passing motorist. While you're at it, you might see if you can recruit some assistance.

Each time you talk to someone, tell them to tell others about the sale. Get a commitment from each of them. Let them know, this is an emergency and you need help.

Make the most of what advertising is available. Print up signs to post everywhere and guide people to the sale. Use cards on bulletin boards at college campuses, laundromats, etc.

If your radio station provides free plugs for yard sales, take advantage of it. Also take advantage of whatever online possibilities there are.

However, for the most part, you'll have to depend on traffic past your home. Location can be invaluable, but you can't do anything about that. You're either in a high-traffic location or your not. (Maybe Mom will let you have the sale in her front yard looking out on the state highway.)

In any case, as you brainstorm ways of getting the word out, don't stop with your primary task, getting everything ready to put out. However much stuff you have to set out, you need more.

Sale Day

Start setting out your tables, boxes, and everything else. Label everything with a price tag. Expect early arrivals. You'll get most of your business in the morning although if the day you need to hold your sale is on a day early in the week, you might get some business from people heading home after work. Which reminds me, be sure to have signs down the road preparing them to look over your sale as they approach by car.

Get the signs out around the neighborhood. You need to do this as early in the morning as you can. Tack them up. Attach a balloon to catch the eye, if available. Especially if it's a day of the week people aren't looking for yard sales.

Summary

Hopefully, you only need $20 or $30 to get groceries and gas to get you through a couple days to payday. You've got a good shot at getting that.

If it's an overdue rent or mortgage payment or a ransom payoff, you should at least be able to raise a little bread while you consider some other money-making options like giving blood.

Again, you won't be able to pull off a trick like this often, but on a one-time basis in a time of dire need, it can keep your head above water.