Yard Sale Savings

Saturday morning dawns – and I mean dawns – at 6:30 am. If my kids are “sleeping in” at this point, I hurriedly throw on yesterday’s clothes, brush over my teeth just enough to clear the fuzz, grab a cup of coffee and run out the door to hit the best yard sales in town. More often than not, they aren’t sleeping in.

The Journey

So, I embark on my yard sale journey, kids in tow, an hour later, which is usually fine because most modern-day yard sale hosts don’t relish waking before dawn to greet the early birds on their front lawn asking if they can come in and “just take a peek.”  These days, garage sales usually start around 8. I still like to get to my first stop a few minutes early to get the best shot at the good stuff.  You can map out your route the day before with the Yard Sale Treasure Map. You can add sales from their listings and/or input your own, which you can find in the classified section of your daily paper Thursday – Saturday and on Craig’s List.

The Savings

Everyone knows that a yard sale equals savings, but do you really know what great stuff you can get for a fraction of the in-store cost? I found an antique buffet ($200), multiple sets of China (the real stuff) for $20 or less, a marble lazy Susan ($3), brand new cookbooks (really good ones) for $5 each, and the majority of my kids’ stuff to name only a few lucky finds.

I probably wouldn’t have bought as much kid’s “stuff” if I didn’t have them along for the “adventure.” How can you ignore, “Mommy, mommy stop HERE – I see a purple princess chair! Get that!!” Despite the fact that the chair screamed “Disney – here I come” and had a touch of mildew on the seat, I proceeded to fork over $2 plus $6 more for an unbelievable amount of fancy dress up, ballet and regular cute clothes. My daughter already knows how to spot a good sale!

However, you will be glad to know that I didn’t cave to the requests of “Get the purple tent – PUHLEASE” screamed out the open car window as I perused the tables. I couldn’t bear to look out my back window to see Cinderella, Ariel and Sleeping Beauty all smiling coyly at me every day.

Heading Home

Occasionally, they get tired of sitting in the car and proceed to scream about more than what they want from someone's yard.  Just this weekend, a poor man sprinted down his driveway thinking his son had been hit by a car.  I assured him it was just my daughter saying she had had enough. 

I have to admit that the yard sales usually turn up a little more for my daughter than my son. My husband believes that’s because boys destroy their toys before they can be passed on.(Check out Once Upon a Child for great deals on kids toys and clothes!) 

Whether you have kids or not, I highly recommend garage sales! You save tons of money and you can add a check in your “greenie” column when you keep one more item out of a landfill.

TIP: Keep an open mind – looking for one thing in particular is like watching the proverbial pot of water boil.