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I also love to have garage sales. it’s a great way to clean out that excess “stuff”, and let your “trash” become someone else’s “treasure”.

Plus, that extra cash in your pocket,feels pretty good too.

Today I was at a yard sale that had Japanese Maple trees for $5. The guy’s yard was beautiful and he would prune his plants and sell them once they had gotten more mature. We bought some plants from him for our yard.

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We’re a little late getting started this morning, but we’re getting ready to head out to a few in our neighborhood today.

I’ve gotten two cool retro 50′s lamps, my 2 dressers for beside my bed, my small couch and my desk chairs, and my espresso machine all for a donation – I think I spent a total of $35 on the lot. Plus I got tons of cool books from there too which will soon make their way to an online site to make some more money for me!

Depending on what you are looking for you want to go to different kinds of sales: yard sale, contents-of-house sales, estate sales, auctions, etc. Realize that different socio-economic neighborhoods are going to have different kinds of goods for sale.

Persistence and patience are the most important. It is well known that if you are looking for a bicycle you will not find one. The moment you go out and buy one, every sale you visit will have great bicycles. Don’t be discouraged. Buy ahead of your needs when you see something at 95% off retail.

Just in the past year, I have scored:
$150 for $2000 worth of telescope
$1 for $100 worth of camera equipment
$20 for $150 worth of headlamp / flashlight

My kids room is stocked with all the wacky lighting, lava lamps, and tchotckes of a Spencer’s store and all together it could not have cost more than $15.

She also has boxes and boxes of stickers, pens, art supplies, etc which we purchased for no more than $5 total. Most art supplies we got were still new and sealed in packaging.

Personally, I’ve had the best luck at a ‘contents of house’ sale. The primary goal at this kind of sale is to clear out a dead person’s stuff. Everytime you buy something, you are doing them a favor. The dumpster is coming on Monday morning. Market prices are probably posted for the twenty-odd ‘big items’ the seller ‘thinks are worth something’. Everything else in the house can be had for a song.

Remember: the first person to say money loses. Ask what they want for something and haggle down from there. One time I had a large box filled with tools and equipment and glassware. I was going to offer $35 which I figured was 90% off what I could sell it for on eBay. I asked the woman how much and she said “$3″. Done and done.

My daughter has spent an HOUR trying to find the best way to max her utils; only problem is, yard sale operators often just GIVE her stuff, which a)potentially teaches a bad lesson, and b)is more “stuff” to deal with later…

Another source of free stuff online is http://www.freecycling.com

One thing about yard sales, though, is that you have to drive all morning. A different way to get stuff for cheap is estate auctions, which most local auction houses have on the same day every week, or every other week. They sometimes sell the individual items people want off the table full of stuff and then sell everything else– dozens of pieces– as a lot. (Once I bought the entire table of glassware for $2.50 to get a Lalique ashtray among them. Sold the ashtray on eBay and am still using the other glasses.) True, you have to drive to the auction, and compete with other people, but for ordinary household stuff there isn’t much competition, these days.

And if you ever find an LEGO Bricks at a yard sale, buy them and ship them to me.