Yard Sale Cash On Hand
When you’re having a yard sale, you need to have a way to make change whenever someone gives you a $1 dollar bill for a 25-cent item. (Or, a $20 dollar bill for a $1 item!)
In this article, I’m summarizing what I do to make sure I’m covered cash-wise during my yard sales — including:
- Garage Sale Cash Box Amount To Start With
- How To Track Yard Sale Earnings
- The Best Garage Sale Money Holder Ideas
- My Favorite Way To Organize Yard Sale Money & Change
How Much Money Should You Start With?
So you’re probably wondering how much cash do you need for a garage sale? You know… How much cash to START a garage sale so you’ll have the appropriate money to make change?
The day before the sale, I withdraw $40 from the bank. Ideally, you want:
- Four $5 dollar bills
- Fifteen $1 dollar bills
- $5 in loose change
If the bank is closed and I visit the ATM instead, then I just buy a pack of gum somewhere using one of the $20’s and ask for the change in all $1’s. Then (either at the same store or wherever I go to buy a soda), I ask the cashier for four $5’s in exchange for my other $20 dollar bill.
Prior to every yard sale, I also head to the nearest Coinstar to turn all of my loose change (mostly pennies, nickels & dimes) into dollar bills. When you cash out after using Coinstar, you can ask the clerk for any combination of dollars and coins that you want. (At my local Kroger store, I just hand the Coinstar receipt to the clerk at the customer service counter.)
TIP: Be sure to write down the total of all the loose change you’re starting your sale with. That way, you can accurately calculate how much money you’ve made at the end of the day!
What About Credit Cards, Debit Cards, And Venmo?
You should really consider using Venmo — a digital cashless payment service that is super secure and super popular. People use it for EVERYTHING these days. And it’s just starting to catch on at yard sales.
To use Venmo at your next yard sale, simply sign up for a free Venmo account. Then, whenever someone wants to pay with Venmo, grab your phone and show them your “Venmo me” QR code.
When they scan your Venmo me QR code with the camera on their phone, they’ll go straight to your Venmo profile page, choose an amount they want to send to your Venmo account, and wah-lah the transaction is done and the money immediately appears in your account!
If you have a smartphone or a tablet, you can accept credit and debit cards! And you should because it is (A) so much easier than dealing with cash and (B) such a great way to get people to spend more money. We used the Square reader, which Square will send to you for free (they do charge a 2.75% per swipe fee—we ended up having less than $10 in fees for the whole sale). You download the app to your phone and then swipe their card—they sign, and done! SO much easier than counting out change … Make sure you have a way to accept electronic payments, either through a Square or other card reader like mentioned above, or through a digital payment service like Venmo (or both). And make sure to have lots of signs telling everyone what types of payments you accept. There were lots of sales (especially of furniture) that were MADE by the fact that we accepted debit cards.
~ Cassie from Wholefully.com
Easy Way To Track Multi-Family Yard Sale Earnings
Here’s a smart yard sale invention that’s especially useful if you’re having a multi-family yard sale…
Garage Sale Checkout is an app that makes it easy to keep track of multi-family sales, have multiple cashiers at your yard sale, and track your yard sale totals.
You can keep track of up to 10 sellers (color-coded to match price sticker colors) — with a line-item view of each family’s sale history.
There are 8 customizable “quick keys” for your most common dollar amounts.
And it quickly calculates change owed to customers.
This app worked great. We did a 3 party garage sale the regular way (i.e. paper and pencil), and it was a nightmare to keep track of everyone’s money. My husband found this app and it was so easy to use. Just push the name of the person and the price. Common price points are pre-programmed ($.50, $1, $2, etc) and you can input them yourself. It was so easy and cut down our checkout time easily in half. The best part was at the end of the day, it took one button push to figure out how much each person sold. Previously, that took us 3 hours and 3 rounds of counting money by hand.
~Sarah E.
How To Keep Yard Sale Money Safe & Organized
Your most important issue with money during a yard sale is: How to make change quickly!
Without a doubt, it’s much easier to make change if you have your coins separated from your dollar bills.
And it’s even easier yet if you have your individual coins separated by denomination.
So it’s wise to have some system in place during your sale to at least keep the bills separated from the loose change.
Best of all is a way to keep all denominations of your garage sale cash separated.
4 Money Organizers That Work Great At Yard Sales
For garage sale money holders, you’ll want to choose one or two of these 4 methods to keep all of the cash safe and well-organized during your sale. (I’ve used them all at different times, and I’ll share my personal favorites with you at the end.)
- A cash box with individual coin sections and/or dollar bill trays. The old-school way to stay on top of your earnings and make change in an instant is to use a traditional money box with separated sections.
- A garage sale money apron with at least 2 separate “sections” (one for bills and one for coins) makes it easy to remain hands-free throughout your garage sale. I got a couple of tool aprons from Home Depot. The idea is to be able to make change quickly & easily, without having to hold onto or carry something in your hands all day long. (A standard fanny pack or cross-body purse would also work. I love the smart apron, too.)
- Individual money bags. You would need 2 money bags — one for the dollar bills only, and one for all your loose coins. (Otherwise, you’re likely to spill coins while you’re hastily trying to make change during a sale.) These could be super heavy-duty like bank bags or even waterproof ones with locks, but I’m not sure you really need that level of security. I just use regular zippered dark colored bags from Walmart. They’re called money bags, but there’s no lock or security features to them. To keep yourself hands-free, you might opt for a money bag with a wrist strap. (This one keeps the bills separate from the coins and would eliminate the need for 2 bags.)
- Zipper/slider plastic food storage bags. They’re not ideal, but they’ll work in a pinch. Zippered food storage bags are flimsy and somewhat clunky to work with. Plus, unless you hide them really well, everyone can see your stash of cash as you’re making change. One good thing is that you can see exactly what’s inside, so you’re sure to grab the right denomination of money each time. Be sure to use the ones for freezer storage — they’re thicker and more durable.
I’ve used each of the above methods in previous yard sales — here’s what I’ve learned:
- My all-time favorite way to keep the money organized is to use a garage sale cash box — because I like things neat & tidy and for everything to have a place. It’s easy to use, and it keeps you 100% organized all throughout your sale. It’s the best way to keep ALL of the money coming in from your sale neatly separated. (And the easiest way to quickly tally up how much you’ve made so far at any point during the sale.) Plus, if you have more than one person handling the cash at your sale, then a money box is probably the safest and most secure way to organize large amounts of money. (Trust me, you can tell — or hear — whenever someone is getting into that clunky money box!)
- My second favorite is the garage sale money apron. You don’t have to tote around — or carry — anything. It’s very convenient to always have change right at your fingertips. But it’s harder to “see” which denomination of coin or bill you’re grabbing. It’s also somewhat easy for some of the bills to slip out as you’re grabbing for the money inside your apron while trying to make change. (That’s why I always transfer any large bills I receive during a sale to the “secure” money holder — either a cash box or a money bag.)
- Third favorite is the heavy-duty solid color money bag. Compared to a money box, a money bag is easier to tuck away and “hide” from the shoppers during your sale. And even if you choose to use a garage sale money apron or fanny pack, you will still want a place to keep the large bills and wads of cash out of the way. A money bag is much easier to get in and out of quickly without causing a commotion — compared to a cash box.
- Fourth favorite is the zipper/slider food storage bags. This falls at the bottom of my list because it’s not a very secure method of organizing garage sale cash, there’s no way to separate denominations (unless you use individual bags), everyone can see all of the money you’ve got inside, and the plastic bags can sometimes be awkward to open and close, HOWEVER… I recently discovered reusable zipper food storage bags made of silicone. They’re much thicker, easier to handle, not all of them are see-thru, and they close much easier. I bought these made by Stasher — and they work great for yard sale money.
The Bottom Line
Like I said, I’ve used each of the 4 methods above at various garage sales and yard sales throughout the years.
I usually find myself gravitating to a single money bag AND a waist apron at my yard sales lately.
The money bag is less clunky (and easier to hide during the sale) than a cash box. The aprons are lightweight and super-handy for collecting money and making change during face-to-face sales with customers.
I’ve found that it’s best to keep the majority of the cash inside of a money bag — which is easy to tuck away and hide in a safe location throughout the sale. Any time I get a large bill ($10 or higher), I discreetly place it inside the money bag.
And I keep just enough money to make change with tucked into the apron around my waist. Trust me… being hands-free all during your garage sale is the absolute BEST!
