Garage/yard sales.

[Mrs-M]

What level of popularity do garage/yard sales hold in your home? Do you make a point of seeking out sale locations and attending? Have you noticed any changes in the way people hold garage/yard sales today as compared to yesteryear?

I love garage/yard sales! I don't go to as many as I'd like to, but the ones I do manage to visit give me a warm fuzzy feeling inside. I love the mystery and suspense tied to what I might find, and in many ways thumbing and snooping through the items and things tells so much about how the holders of the sale live. In many ways it's like an archeological dig. (Finding things from people's pasts then tying those things together with the class).

At any rate, the kids and I will be off (first thing in the morning) to check out a few garage sales. (Courtesy of our local papers garage sale list that's published each week). So handy that is! All sales are listed by address, so it makes it super easy to decide which ones to attend. And may I add, this is the first garage/yard sale visit for us this year! My kids (younger ones) get extra excited and giddy over yard and garage sales. Seems there's always a little something they happen upon that strikes their fancy and when all is said and done, we end up arriving back home again, everyone happy, and some with a few new (old) things. :)

Share your personal garage/yard sale tales with me!

[catherine]

I really used to love garage sales, but my own garage is packed, and so DH and I have sworn them off for a little while. That being said...

...I was just talking about how great garage sales are with my DS27--we were in the back yard and I was telling him how upset I was that 3 of my garage-sale outdoor placemats had blown away! I've had those things for years, they're bright and cheery, I never would have picked them out myself, but I really grew to love them, and they were only $2 for 8. Now if I need 8 placemats I'm going to have to buy them... at a STORE! God forbid!

BUT my BEST garage sale story: I once picked up a copy of "The Future of the American Negro" that was SIGNED by Booker T. Washington. I paid $10. I have to admit, that after it was appraised I felt that ethically I should tell the seller, who clearly didn't realize who Booker T. Washington was. But it was at a moving sale and I don't know where he is now. It was truly an "Antiques Roadshow" moment.

[IshbelRobertson]

I cannot abide them!

Toot 'n' Tatt as they are known in my family. I have family heirlooms and I buy new.. otherwise? Nope!

[goldensmom]

I love garage sales. Never had one myself but enjoy going to them. I started out garage saleing but now prefer church bag sales. For yearly city yard garage sales I look in the paper for addresses. There are several area churches that have yearly rummage/bag sales and I make a point of going to them. I need nothing but there are things I want if I find them at ridiculously low prices or part of a $2/bag sale. I’ve found new items for pennies. Best story, I got complimented a an outfit I wore to church one Sunday. I politely said thank you and thought to myself, the whole brand name outfit (skirt, top, jacket) cost 35 cents.

It’s the thrill of the possibility of finding a bargain that fuels my enthusiasm. My husband will say “It’s the eve of the St. Paul’s bag sale, think you can sleep?”

[sweetana3]

We used to use them to find books for our ebay business. But in our large city, they are fewer in quantity and quality. We have wrapped up the business and really dont need much so we have stopped going unless the advertisement shows an interesting item.

[Float On]

I don't go as much as I use to. There is one neighborhood that I love going to their yearly sale but even that one it's been 3 years since I've gone to it. Every now and then I'll stop at one on a Thursday or Friday. Sometimes I'll find something on my list, like I recently got a $50 roll of fence for $5. By Saturday morning all that is left is junky stuff.

[Mrs-M]

Well you guys, we had a great time! No purchases, but a fun time nevertheless. All sales we attended were close by, so we walked, which was really nice. Day started off grand, yet no sooner we arrived back home the sky turned all dark and grey, so looks like rain, again! Pooh! I was wanting to set out a line of washing today.

Catherine. What an awesome story/find! I watch the Antiques Roadshow when I can and love the stories where people buy things at secondhand stores and garage/yard sales for next to nothing, then have the items(s) appraised only to find that their penny purchases ended up being a prize purchases! Good on you!

Ishbel. Oh do I ever love the term "toot n tatt"! I have to remember that one!

Goldensmom. LOL! Way to go on the outfit! I was thinking as to how I would have handled the situation, and I think I would have started laughing! I'm terrible at containing myself over things like that. Very funny about your husband asking you if you think you can sleep.

Sweetana3. Right about the books you are. I've come across some great children's books at garage/yard sales over the years. Always bought them.

Float On. So many times I'll be making a quick run for something or another (in the car) and I'll pass a garage/yard sale and think, "should I", then I look at the clock and say, "darn it all anyway, I can't, the family is waiting", and I pass... One thing I'll never do is visit a garage/yard sale on it's second day. If I can't attend in the morning on the opening, I simply don't attend.

[frugal-one]

My DH and I go to the all the village wide sales in our area. We call it our "bonding" time. We wear pedometers and it is common to walk 14,000 steps in a morning (10,000 steps is about 5 miles). We sometimes go out to lunch before coming home with our "finds". I recently convinced my brother and his wife to go to sales in their area. He called and was so excited.... another convert! The thing that amazes me is the things that people sell. New items such as aluminum foil, shrink wrapped boxes of kleenex, dishwasher detergent... etc. There are some where people use rebates and sell the items that they get for free or nearly but many times people get rid of things that they could use up. A few times they said it was part of their parent's estate. What... you don't use aluminum foil??? huh??? Yesterday we bought unopened Pur filters for our water faucet (retail $15/ea.. paid $4 including the filter's housing), weed whacker and new line for $5 (retail $68 and $4 for line), bug spray, 2 gallons of windshield wash (why would you sell that????) plus a gallon of unopened canola oil. My thrill of the day was a book called "The Breadman's Healthy Bread Book" by George Burnett for 50⊄. It tells how to make more than 100 healthy breads in the bread machine using natural sugar (or none) and no salt. At Christmas everyone gets at least 3 gifts (one homemade, one purchased, one from yard/church sales). Oftentimes, the recipient asks which is from the yard sale. My response... if you can't tell, I 'm not telling. This is what is called... cheap entertainment! BTW we attended 50 sales in the area.

[Mrs-M]

Frugal-one. Yes, you are right, I too never fail to be amazed over what people sell- and for so cheap! Boy, do I ever like the sounds of the bread book you found! Neat-o! Your Christmas present giving idea is way cool! Judging by the number of sales you attend each year, looks like I'm going to have to pick up my socks! LMAO! The part about garage/yard sales that always gets me is, it's as if (for some) nothing means nothing. Easy come- easy go type thing. P.S. Love you and your husbands walking/bonding time.

[libby]

Mrs-M I never fail to be amazed at the junk that some people try to sell. Some of the garage sales I've been to have been nothing but dump material.

[Mrs-M]

Oh I hear you Libby. I dropped in at a yard sale a number of years ago, and talk about junk! By the box fulls! No kidding. I mean it looked as if the owner had quite literally thrown a little of this, along with a little of that, along with a little of something else into box after box, then brought everything outside to sell it. But even more shocking Libby, people were scooping up box after box and loading it up as fast they could, as if they had never seen such stuff for sale before!!! It was unbelievable. Almost embarrassing if you know what I mean.

[goldensmom]

I’m inspired by some of your stories. Here are a few more of my garage sale experiences. We often leave items at the end of the driveway for people to take for free. Several times I’ve seen my old stuff for sale at local garage sales. My most shocking garage sale experience was the time I came across a box of porn magazines and movies - should have been a warning. There is a local lady who buys at garage sales then marks up the prices and sells them at her own garage sales. And speaking of garage sales selling totally junk, my husband suggests we sneak in at night and change the sign to ‘garbage sale’. I’ll think of more.

[Mrs-M]

Goldensmom. Seeing/finding old stuff of yours at other garage sales, what a riot! People really do stop at nothing for an extra nickle, huh...

The garbage sale idea is bang on! If I were to add up all the sales I've ever been to, I'd have to say that a majority were nothing more than garbage/junk havens. People trying to take the easy way out and instead of taking the time and putting in the effort of loading the stuff up and disposing of it accordingly, they look at pawning it off on others for a few bucks. Laziness really... I look at it as one of those shameful things. (If you can't put on a proper garage/yard sale, then don't put one on at all). Junk is junk, get rid of it!