How Much Change to Have at a Yard Sale

When Yard Sale season comes around there are many things you have to do to ensure you have a successful sale. One of these things is determining How Much Change to Have at a Yard Sale but don’t worry, after years of experience, I’ve learned EXACTLY how much change to carry and exactly how to carry it and I am sharing it with you!

Before I break down the amount of change to keep on hand, I want to help you further… when you’re done here, check out How to Have a Successful Yard Sale, How to Spring Clean with a Yard Sale in mind and my personal favorite, 50 Legit Side Hustles That Can Make You Money Now!

How Much Change to Have at a Yard Sale

How much change should you have at a Yard Sale?

Well, that depends. If you are the one our bargain shopping at yard sales, you want to have as much change on-hand if possible because remember, people are trying to make a sale and will go with the first person with the cash in hand.

On the contrary, if you are hosting the yard sale, I’ve found that carrying $100 in change is the absolute best amount of change to have.

Why $100 in change?

Well, as someone who has struggled with math their entire life, I decided that knowing I had exactly $100 to start at my Yard Sale, helped me easily determine how much money I made selling my items.

Let me break it down for you.

If you start the morning at 7 AM and you have $100 on hand and by the end of your yard sale, you have $900 on hand, how much PROFIT did you make?

If your answer was $800, you are correct.

So, what I typically do is go and withdrawal $100 from my bank account and put it into a fanny pack. I then know that anything beyond that $100 is pure profit from selling at my yard sale.

I know, I know, a fanny pack may seem outdated but trust me, it keeps the money safer than using a lock box on a table and the money is always with you.

By the way, I totally got this cute pink camo fanny pack and it is the exact one I use.

How to do you break down the $100 in change?

Again, this is something I’ve learned through experience. I’ve found that most people at yard sales carry mostly $1, $5 and $20 bills and of course, quarters. I’ve hardly ever found anyone that carried dimes. In fact, I try not to even price anything in my yard sale less than $0.25 but sometimes I have like a notebook and price it for $0.10.

So, here is the breakdown I do:

• (20) $1 Bills = $20
• (5) $5 Bills = $25
• (4) $10 Bills = $40
• 1 Roll of Quarters ($10)
• 1 Roll of Dimes ($5)

Total = $100.00

I also wanted to add that you might want to put up a sign that says “Cash Only” so you don’t have customers trying to pay with debit cards or checks.

I did have people want to pay via PayPal or Venmo which also acts as cash. Just make sure you receive the funds BEFORE allowing the customer to leave your yard sale.

And that’s it, it’s super simple and I hope this helps keep you organized and ready to go for your next yard sale.

To make things easy, I also created a printable for you below. Simply click on the image and then print it out for reference.