For sale – online

The air is filled with the sweet smell of spring, not to mention all that musty stuff in your basement you've been yearning to unload for years. Your inner calendar tells you it's time to have that yard sale once and for all. But before you plaster every lamppost with hot pink posters and spend your well-earned salary on a classified ad in The Daily Bugle, why not save yourself the money and post your wares online for free?

Try using Canadian websites such as the recently launched livedeal.ca and Craigslist, the extremely popular site that is another city-specific bulletin board. To start, find your website of choice, click on or type in your city or town and set up an account. Here are a few helpful hints to drive in traffic of the virtual kind.

1. Write a catchy title for your ad. If you just use "garage sale" as your headline, you won't differentiate yourself from other sales. Instead throw to your best bait. For example: "Garage Sale: Includes antique quilts!"

2. Take a photograph and put it online. It may sound basic, but many forget to do it. Can words do justice to that lovely lacquer furniture set or your husband's pristine set of April Wine albums?

3. Put all your goods together in one ad. You just might attract a buyer who will finally take that rusty old coin collection and that gorgeous antique mirror that never fit in your living room.