I love Spring, the temperatures are just right, everything is in bloom and it’s when garage sale season starts! I am a garage sale addict and have my own garage saling strategy, it’s OK, go ahead and laugh!
I thought I’d share with you a few of the tips/things I do to get the most out of garage sales.
Plan your attack – I sit down with the newspaper (or online version) and circle the garage sale ads that intrigue me. Then I take a quick look craigslist.org to see what’s listed there. Next I jump on Google Maps and plot my journey. Mapping out which ones you’re going to can save you a lot of time and gas so you’re not heading from one side of town to the next.
Community Garage Sales – Community and neighborhood garage sales are the best because you can hit multiple garage sales in a short period of time.
Stay focused – There are so many good deals at garage sales that it’s very easy to get distracted and come home with items you really don’t need. This is something that I struggle with and I have two strategies to combat this.
- Make a garage sale list. I store the list in the memo function of my cell phone and list the things we need (clothes for the kids, dresser, etc) and those we want (cast iron skillet, items to decorate my daughter’s bed room, etc).
- Put on the blinders. This can be hard. For me it’s walking into a garage sale with tons of adorable toddler girl clothes, toys & books. I just have to look away!
The early bird catches the worm but the last one in catches the best deal - For best selection or to get a hot item like a swing set you better get to the sale early. However, the best deals are found the last day of the sale in the last hours. Let’s face it, who wants to pack that stuff back up!
Don’t be afraid to make an offer - I’m not a very aggressive or assertive person so this one took me awhile to be comfortable with. It never hurts to make an offer, the worst they can do is say no.
Take small bills & lots of change – Don’t walk into a garage sale with a $50 bill unless you’re buying $50 worth of items! Most people have change but usually not enough to break a large bill or even a 20 when you’re only buying a $0.50 item.
Please feel free to share any of your tips or great garage sale finds below!
