Saturday, June 20, 2009

I struggle to get out of bed early. I'm not a morning person. Except this morning for some reason. I was up at 4am organizing and backing up digital photos. That was a freak thing.

But Saturdays? Saturdays are the easiest day to get up early. Well, I should really be more specific. Saturdays in the spring and summer....and sometimes the early part of fall.

Why?

'Cause it's garage sale season people!

The last two weekends, with 5 week & 2 year old in tow, Britton and I have been up and at 'em on Saturday morning. Hunting the items on our lists and finding other unexpected treasures along the way.

We're pretty good at it. We get good deals. And I will now share with you some of our clever and near 100% effective tactics.

1. You must start the hunt with a healthy breakfast.

Donut shops usually have newspapers, so you can grab one of those if you need to.

2. You should develop a plan.

Since I was up at 4am on the computer, I went ahead and printed the list of garage sales from the classifieds page. If you can manage to do this, it saves you 50 cents that can later be used to purchase a garage sale treasure.

Also, if necessary, you can also print out maps to get you to the garage sale locations.

And if you're really commited, you'll put the sales in order according to geographic location so you can hit as many as possible. Believe it or not, there are tools available to help you accomplish this.

http://www.yardsaletreasuremap.com

3. You must identify the item you want and decide what you're willing to spend.

Britton set his sights on a Craftsman jig saw for $10 early in the morning. It was old, but in excellent condition. $10 was a little steep for him for some reason. So he hopped back in the car and said "we'll come back later and see if it's still here".

TIP: This is a good move on a morning when there are TONS of garage sales in the paper. Folks are spread to thin. Your chances are best that it will still be there on days like this.

Also, you should keep in mind that it's much more gratifying to get what you want for what you are willing to spend. Be patient and stick to your budget. If this one doesn't work out, there will be more!

4. You have to remember to go back.

I'm serious. Like I said. The 2 year and 5 week old munchkins were in the car. Sometimes screaming, sometimes not. I totally forgot about the jigsaw. But Britton remembered. AND he remembered WHERE that particular garage sale was located. This is another important aspect of the hunt since we had not flagged it as a "go back" on our paper.

5. Send in the person who is most equipped to get the good deal.

If you are garage sale-ing alone, you can't do this very well. But if you're part of a team, select which person will be most likely to get the "deal".

This particular sale was operated by an elderly gentleman. He was nice, but firm when Britton asked about the price of the jigsaw. We thought it best for me to go try to bat my eyelashes and work some mojo on the situation.

This is me. Cruizin' around the sale pretending to be interested in everything they have. Even though we all know I'm only there to get the jigsaw for $5. That was all Britton gave me when I got out of the car. That way I wouldn't be tempted to spend more.

TIP: Have a $1 bill pocket, a $5 bill pocket and a larger bill pocket. That way you're always ready to pull out what you need and say "will you take $X?". This has worked well for me over the years.

I opened the box, looked it over, played dumb. Asked the man if I could plug it in to make sure it worked. Told him my husband "sure would like it".

TIP: See how I used "old man speak"? Good tip.

Boom! $5

I could go on and on with tips. But the ankle biters are awake and need attention, so I must move on. This should get you going. It can be so fun.

Case in point:

In July 2004, my mom and I drove a trailer to Arkansas for the 130 miles of garage sales from Ft. Smith to Conway. (Yep, 130 miles. & I think it's bigger now.)

I purchased this for $5 and I've always loved the splash of color it bring to the kitchen.

See?

What a cutie.

Yesterday morning, on my way home from the bank, a garage sale called out to me from the side of the road. The kids had dozed off, so I pulled the car over and stopped.

5 years, and a million garage sales later, Mr. Sunflower-Tin-Box......

Meet your family.

Isn't it cute? Wait, there's more...

Yea! Wait, more still...

Don't worry you cute little tiny tin. I'll put flowers or eating utensils in you since you don't have your lid.

And so the story continues. Maybe I'll find a little yellow lid somewhere down the line....