Turn trash into treasure at the 2nd Annual CY Community Yard Sale

By Haynes Knight

On the last Saturday in April (Saturday, April 24th, this year) from 8 am–2 pm (rain or shine), the Cooper-Young Community Association is sponsoring the 2nd Annual Cooper-Young Community Yard Sale. There is no fee if you want to participate, but if you are a Cooper-Young Community Association member in good standing, you can “be on the map.” If you are not a Cooper-Young Community Association member, now is the time to sign up. It’s pretty simple. To participate in this year’s Cooper-Young Community Yard Sale, all you have to do is haul out all that stuff that has been in your way all winter long by 8 am on April 24th. Clean out your attic, de-clutter your garage, haul it out to your front yard, and turn your trash into someone else’s treasure…and put some much-needed cash into your pocket. There is power in numbers, and buyers will come from all over the city to see what we’re selling.

When I was first approached about helping to put this year’s Community Yard Sale together, I couldn’t very well refuse. After all, the way I purchased my house in Cooper-Young and pay the mortgage every month is by turning trash into treasure. I do it mainly on eBay (and have been joyfully making my living almost exclusively on eBay for more than 6 years now), but my annual yard sale helps. You may have been to one of my sales. If you purchased anything at all, you got a great deal and helped me clear out some of those never-will-get-around-to projects. I’ve been having yard sales for so long, it is second nature. At the same time, if you’ve had a yard sale, I’ve probably been picking through your yard sale items looking for stuff I couldn’t do without.

Look around at all the stuff that you really don’t care about anymore, the stuff that is squirreled away in an overflowing closet, stuffed into the attic, and piled in the garage. Somebody wants the stuff you don’t want. Use this opportunity for your spring cleaning and meet your neighbors. They might need that crock pot you haven’t used in years…and maybe you’ll get a great deal on that fondue set you’ve been wanting since ‘75.

The great thing about a community-wide yard sale is that you don’t have to worry about spending money on placing an ad in the paper, and, this year, the Cooper-Young Community Association will be putting up signs on Central and East Parkway, so you don’t have to. It can never hurt to put out signs on your own for a little added push, but all you really have to worry about is getting the stuff you don’t want any more out to your front yard…and giving me a great deal.