Now that the warmer weather is officially here and baseball is in full swing, it definitely feels like spring. With this season come cleaning and decluttering, which we are in the middle of now in my home because I have three small children and we accumulate a lot of junk, so we’re ALWAYS in the midst of decluttering, it seems! In fact, we find ourselves having a yard sale usually once every three months and it feels so satisfying when we do. We are able to get rid of the ever-growing piles of junk that inevitably have been taking up our garage.
We started doing something different a while ago, something I can’t take full credit for. I saw it online one day and thought, “That’s a genius idea!” It’s a “pay what you want/pay what you can” yard sale. The premise is simple: you put everything out and people literally pay whatever they can or choose to give for your stuff.
Here’s why I love this “Pay What You Want” yard sale strategy:
1. We don’t have to price ANYTHING: Gone are the days of going around with a sticker writing $1.00 or $2.00 on all your items and then seeing those tiny little stickers fall off and end up everywhere for people to end up asking “How much is this?”
2. We don’t have to be home for it: The absolute worst part of a yard sale is sitting around all day waiting for people to come by. Honestly, who has the time? With this type of yard sale, you’re free to enjoy your weekend without having to worry about carving out specific time to literally sit in your driveway. 
The downsides to this type of yard sale:
1. Sometimes, people just want a price: It doesn’t happen often, but sometimes people genuinely get weirded out when we tell them to just “pay what they can.” They want us to name a price and we end up sitting there in a cycle of, “whatever you think” and “no, you tell me a price.” It can get uncomfortable until we just throw out a random number.
2. Some people don’t want to just leave cash or want to pay via Venmo: We usually leave a cash jar outside and signs saying our Venmo names so people can leave their payment. Honestly, if they don’t pay, we really don’t care, we’re just happy that they take our stuff. However, when people don’t see someone physically sitting there taking up money or they see the signs that say “Pay what you want,” sometimes they don’t stop because they are unfamiliar with the concept.
Overall, it’s been so nice doing these types of yard sales and we typically get rid of so much more stuff than we would’ve with pricing out items. What does not sell, we usually donate or save for the next yard sale. We actually end up making more money than we would’ve otherwise because most people are very fair when it comes to this type of transaction (which is definitely not why we have these kinds of yard sales, but it’s also a nice perk).
If you’re looking to declutter your home this spring and summer, and want to try out the “Pay what you want/pay what you can” method, I’d definitely recommend it. You might just not go back!
