I love going to garage sales! I get excited at the prospect of what I might find and I’ll even get up at 7 a.m. on a Saturday just to hunt down goodies–I’m a Garage Sale Junkie!

I’ll get up early and grab a kit that includes a thermos full of coffee and some cold drinks, a map, a route list and off I go for the day. Not only can you save yourself a lot of money by purchasing used goods that you need around the house, but you can also have a lot of fun finding things for your hobbies or collections. You’d be amazed at what people collect! Everything from vintage hankies, tablecloths and bedding to kitschy kitchen items and yard art.

I’ve developed a system for myself that’s evolved over the years to help me get the most out of the the shopping day, here are my tips for best success. If you’re looking for tips on how to have your own successful garage sale, see my earlier post: Garage Sale Tips For Success - How To Guide (it’s packed full of info!).

Garage Sale Tips From A Garage Sale Junkie

Map Out A Plan Of Attack

The night before I’ll look through the newspaper to see where the garage sales will be the next day as well as check online classified sites for my area. I’ll make a list of the sales I want to go to, starting the list with the most promising garage sale then adding those that are held in the surrounding area. This helps save both gas and time, the more garage sales I can get to in the morning, the better luck I will have.

• Planning The Route: I have the best luck when I choose the areas of town that will be the most likely to have the kind of things I’m interested in. Since I love hunting for vintage items, I tend to pick areas of the city with an older community. If I was looking for kids toys or modern household goods, I’d choose an area that had a high amount of young families in the community.
• Mission Of The Day: Is to get to each garage sale as soon as possible to beat the crowds and to have first pick over the goods for sale. I don’t go much earlier than the advertised time, but I think it’s acceptable to be 5 or 10 minutes early–but not much more. After the first sale, it’s a race to get to the next ones on the list. The later you get to a garage sale, the more things have been sold before you get there.
• Unexpected Sales Along The Way: Plenty of times you’ll come across a garage sale that wasn’t advertised in the newspaper. Even though they’re not on my list, I’ll make sure to stop and check them out since chances are the pros haven’t gotten to it first (they didn’t know about it since it wasn’t advertised). I love these unadvertised surprises!

Be Prepared

• Much like the index card shopping master list, I have a list prepared just for shopping at Garage Sales. I’ll keep notes on measurements for things like floor and wall space (for standing cupboards, bookshelves, pictures). If I’m looking for decor or furniture items for a certain room, I’ll have a paint swatch. Basically my shopping master contains lists of everything I want to keep my eye out for, measurements and details. I like to review this list the night before since it reminds me of what I hope to find, sometimes I get so focused on finding a certain item that I overlook the rest and miss some good opportunities.
• I have two cardboard boxes in the back seat of my vehicle to hold the items I buy. One to keep breakables in, the other to hold the rest of the stuff. Also a small collection of plastic bags and newspaper to stuff around breakables or carry several items in. The boxes come in very handy once I’m done hitting the garage sales for the day, all the goodies are easily carried into the house (and they’re a bit organized too).
• Wear good walking shoes and comfortable clothing so you’ll be fresh and able to shop for as long as you like.

My Garage Sale Kit: Includes a map, hand wipes (your hands can get very dirty), a tape measure (to make sure an item is an appropriate size for what I need), beverages (coffee & cold drinks), a sweater (just in case it gets cool during the day). I wear a fanny pack (no purse or wallet to carry–big hassle!) and I’ll keep my budget for the day in small bills and some coins (easier for the garage sale owner to make change). Since I pack everything I need for the day (including refreshments), there is less time wasted going to buy something (and saves money too).

Garage Sale Spotting

• As I’m walking up to the yard sale, I scan table tops quickly to see if there’s a spot holding things I’m normally interested in, if so I head for it first.
• I pay attention to what’s under the tables, a lot of times there wasn’t enough room or time for the owner of the garage sale to set everything out.
• I’ll dig through boxes, look through heaps of stuff–you never know where something good is hiding.
• If it’s a large garage sale, I’m not shy about asking if they have what I’m looking for–the owner can quickly direct me instead of wasting time trying to find it.
• If there’s something I see that I might like to buy, I’ll pick it up and hold onto it while I shop around. This prevents someone else from scooping it up before I get a chance to buy it. I can always set it down if I change my mind.
• If someone’s carrying around an item I’m drooling over and would love to buy, I do hang back a bit to see if they’ll change their mind and put the item back on the table (it happens a lot!). Since I’m close by I can pick it up before someone else can. This might be considered garage sale stalking ;).

Wheeling & Dealing Tips

• My rule of thumb is that I’ll pay the marked price if it’s reasonable or low. I don’t need to haggle over everything I buy, I’m happy with the deal.
• If I buy more than two or three items, I’ll offer a reduced price for the bulk buy. This is a successful technique most of the time since the garage sale owner is happy to see a few things go at once.
• If something’s priced higher than I want to pay, I’ll offer a price I’m willing to pay. A smile goes a lot farther than a sneer does. If it’s a reasonable offer, I’m usually successful in getting the item at the price I want.
• If there’s no price marked, I ask the owner what he’d like for it. Never offer a price first since chances are you’ll get it cheaper than you thought.
• After 1 p.m. it’s time to start bartering with a passion. Time is running out for the garage sale owner to get rid of things, foot traffic is slowing down (high traffic times are in the morning so the best stuff is found first) and visions of hauling great amounts of “junk” back into the house are starting to surface. Although pickings can be slim later in the day, this is the time to find the best deals.

Getting The Goods Home

I like to remove prices then wash and clean the items before I put them away. Sometimes they’re pretty dirty, but even if they’re not–a lot of people may have been handling them. Garage sales aren’t fun for long if you have boxes waiting to be unpacked from a month ago. Display the items and put them to use right away, that’s the best part!

Most Important Tip:

No matter how good a deal something is, if you can’t use it — don’t buy it! Or you’ll have to have your own garage sale to get rid of all the clutter in your home ;).

   Subscribe to TipNut by Email or RSS
Add this page to del.icio.us

Print A Copy:  Print This Post

More tips you may find useful:

Posted in Frugal Living | ( 1 )