Go Green with a Yard Sale

There are always two good reasons to go green:
1. Use energy more efficiently and spend less on energy bills
2. Reduce your carbon footprint and make less of an impact on the environment

Something that often gets brought up during discussions about switching to more energy efficient appliances and electronics is that the upfront overhead makes switching less appealing. Often, even though energy efficient appliances cost less to use in the long run, they can be more expensive to purchase than less efficient options. In addition, while items like lightbulbs need to be replaced at some point anyway, things like power strips don’t need to be replaced regularly.

Our recommendation to facilitate turning over a new leaf and going green this spring is to have a yard sale!

Out with the old and in with the new

Many of us do our fair share of spring cleaning in an attempt to clear up storage space and decrease clutter. This time, do it with a purpose! As you do your spring cleaning, set aside items that you could sell at your yard sale, keeping an eye out for items you could replace with more energy efficient options. Power strips are a good example. Decide that whatever money you make off of your yard sale, you are going to invest back into your home and appliances. It may not be much, but it could offset the cost of replacing your old incandescent bulbs with CFL’s, replacing your old water heater with a tankless or solar water heater, or even installing a solar tube. If you’re able to sell any of your power strips, extra multi-plug adapters, or unused extension cords, use any money you get back to invest in smart strips. You may even want to include some neighbors in your sale- not everybody has enough stuff to get rid of to actually host a full sized yard sale on their own, but by grouping together, the idea becomes a lot more feasible.

Ideas for things to sell:

• Old kids toys, games, clothes
• Kitchen appliances
• Dishware, utensils, place mats
• Tools
• Gardening supplies and tools
• Jewelry
• Books
• Decorative items and trinkets
• Curtains and table linens
• Gently used bath towels, beach towels, washcloths, and kitchen hand towels
• Sports equipment
• Arts and crafts supplies and tools
• Assorted glass bottles and jars
• Old game consoles and games
• Assorted phone chargers
• Cables and adapters

Leading up to your yard sale, start saving up some grocery bags, or if you have a stash like many people, keep these around to bag up people’s purchases. Make sure all of the items for sale are clean, and put things that are hard to put a sticker or tag on into ziplock bags (for example, toys with lots of little pieces). Figure out how you’re going to put all of the items on display. Start making signs, and figuring out where in the neighborhood you’re going to place them. To decide how much to sell your items for, do some online research- a site like this Garage Sales Tracker is a good place to start, and you can also post your garage sale online so regular yard sale hunters will know about it. A good tip for pricing your items is to use colored stickers with a large sign that explains what each color means.

Good luck!