Garage sales are one of the things I love about summer — right up there with swimming, sweet corn and sandals.
If you're in the process of collecting supplies for your dorm room, or you're a recent college grad looking to outfit your first apartment, be sure to check out your local garage sales. While they may seem quaint in the days of eBay 
, Craigslist and Freecycle , I still think hunting for bargains at garage sales is tons of fun, if you do it right.
So, allow me to illuminate for you the Art of the Garage Sale in five simple steps:
- Keep a list of what you need. Know exactly what you're looking for at garage sales. Don't go shopping willy-nilly or you might be lulled into buying random stuff just because of its cheapness.
- Check out garage sale listings in your local paper's online classifieds. Plan to visit only those sales that list a category of stuff you need (like "household items"). My newspaper's website lets me automatically map the sale locations as well. Easy!
- Look over the merchandise carefully. Once you find something you want to buy, check it out carefully: plug it in, make sure it works, etc. I once bought a brand new little bike for my son at a garage sale. Still in the box! Cool, right? Well, I didn't take it out of the box until I got it home, and realized there were no handlebars. What a birthday bust that was!
- Don't overlook potential. Particularly if you're buying furniture, like dressers and tables, don't underestimate what a simple coat of paint or new hardware can do. If you need some inspiration, check out this DIY website. What this woman can do with spray paint completely blows me away.
- Bargain? Up to you. I usually pay the asking price for whatever I'm buying. Sometimes if I'm buying a whole bunch of stuff (like back when I would buy lots of baby gear) I might ask them to knock $5 off the total. I've definitely had people offer me a lower price without my even asking, but maybe that's just Iowans being nice. If you're good at bargaining, by all means, go for it.
Are you a secondhand bargain-hunter? Let us in on your strategy!
I am a garage sale lover also! I have learned many "strategies" over the years while garage saleing with my mom and sister.
(1) We don't waste our time on any sales that did not open that day. Things are too picked over by the time we get there.
(2) We use maps alot to try to hit sales in the same area of town so that we aren't driving all over town and wasting gas! One person is the navigator, and one is the driver. The new GPS devices would sure be nice now for finding those addresses!
(3) If there is a sale that is opening at 8 AM that we don't want to miss, we will sometimes show up a few minutes early just in case they decide to open early.
I can't leave out some of the funny stories from our days that will be ingrained in my memory forever:
(1) One time there was a lady who wanted to be the first one in the garage so bad, that as the door opened, she got down on the ground and rolled in before the door got high enough for the others to enter! Crazy!!
(2) One day my sister forgot her jacket at home and it was very cold out, so she told us to look for a cheap coat for her to wear that day while she waited in the car. We found a coat for $1. Later when she put the coat on, she reached in the pocket and found a $1! It so reminded us of that Seinfeld episode!
Anonymous -- great tips! I forgot about only going on the first day. You're right, things do get picked over quickly! You can also try hitting sales in the last hour of the last day -- maybe to get some 'last chance' deals.
Thanks for sharing your stories -- love the visual of the woman rolling under the garage door!