Garage sale season is just ahead. Die-hard bargain shoppers like me may have ventured their toe out in the cold on an occasional Saturday morning throughout the winter, but the bulk of the great buys will start rolling out once the weather warms up and the azaleas bloom. That's not long, folks, so let's brush up on some key strategies to find just the right treasures for just the right price!
1) Organize your garage sales. Time is of the essence on a yard sale morning. The more sales you can shop as close to their opening time as possible, the better your selection will be. First, use your local paper and a map. Our map is laminated which allows for us to mark each sale the night before. We mark each sale's start time with different symbols. For example, the 6am sales are marked with a red triangle, the 7am sales a blue circle and so on. By marking the sales in this way, we can map out the most efficient route through our maze of sales.
Most newspapers offer an online classified section. You can go through the ads, select the ones that interest you and the computer will map your selected sales for you. Check and see if you paper offers this convenient service!
A few other things that make for a successful yard sale morning are small bills and change, water and some snacks, your notebook (see below), and an empty car trunk or truck bed!
2) Do your research. A handy tool to have if you are a regular yard sale shopper is a notebook filled with items that you need and correct sizes. If you daughter needs a new pair of Easter shoes in a size 2 and your son needs some batting gloves of a particular brand, having these things recorded in a notebook will keep them fresh on your mind as you shop and will prevent duplicate purchases.
The notebook is also a place to write down items that your friends or family may need. Networking among your yard sale shopping friends and family is a great way to find the things you need as well!
Don't forget the research the retail prices of items. That Bowflex may seem like a steal at $350.00 but Sears may be running a closeout special of $250.00 this week. You can't know for sure if a price is a great deal if you don't know the item's retail value.
3) Negotiate! The price is never the price. You can always ask for a lower price and you will usually get it. I usually do some quick mental math on my items and then offer less. Almost every time, the seller will accept my offer. Bargaining is an art! Cultivate it!
Shopping garage sales is a fabulous hobby which will generate beautiful brand name items for pennies on the dollar! And, in this economy, who can argue with that? It works for me!
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4 comments:
How funny....I just posted on having successful garage sales. I need to hit more garage sales this year. Thanks for posting these tips.
I can't wait for garage sale season to get into gear! Thanks for the tips!
Goodness! That's a garage sale guide that I've never heard of before. I have always just stopped at sales if I happen to go by them LOL
I used to do auctions like that though - schedule them out on the weekends and send my husband to one while I was at one.
That is a really great tip though - efficient!
My greatest tip is about Vitamin E
Have a great day!
Kristin
Excellent tips! When I was a kid my mom was a yard sale junky. She'd have all the good listings attached to a slip of paper in the order in which we were going to hit them. And she rarely needed a map because she knew just about every street in town.
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