BellaOnline Forums Home and Garden Living Simply Garage Sales

here's a good one: why do you like garage sales? What kinds of things do you look for? And do you have a certain technique to your shopping, a method to your madness? Are you an old hand at bargianing, or do you meekly pay the asking price?

Ever buy any thing BIG? I just bought my new couch today, at a garage sale, from a woman who was liquidating everything that reminded her of her ex-husband - and I even made a new friend during the transaction!

Post your hints and tips and advice for garage sailing here, and I will include them in an upcoming article.

This is also a good forum for moving your garage sale items between each other. Have some old stuff cluttering up your home, attic and office? Need to find a lamp shaped like an elephant, a used but pretty dish set or slightly incomplete set of encyclopedias? Let's list stuff here for each other! Reuse, reduce and recycle! :love:

I like the idea of garage sales (even though I've never done one myself, so I can't really answer any of the questions), but I think e-Bay will soon replace that.


People will buy the weirdest [censored], yo. <img src="/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

You are soooo right, people buy the weirdest crud. The whole junk=treasure phenom.

What do you think is the weirdest thing for someone to buy, ever? Three weirdest things I've seen people buy were:

- old comic books (I'm not kidding you, a coworker of mine sold them on eBay, and he had considerable clientelle, I guess for collections)

- worn shoes (who does that? I'd rather buy cheaper shoes, but with nobody's fungus still in them, thankyouverymuch)

- antiques (that's just really bad, because a piece of the old owner is still in it, it's not good feng shui, at all)

Comic books are a HUGE market - I wish I'd saved all the old Mad Magazines I bought in my youth! I think Spiderman is still the top grossing movie opening weekend of all time. There's something in all of us I think that longs for a super-powerful hero sometimes ...

I agree that eBay is really great ... but on the other hand there are big things like a Green Machine carpet cleaner we have that would be a royal pain to ship somewhere. So I'd rather just have someone come here and grab it. We do a garage sale every few years for things like old sofas and other large items. There are definitely things we just don't use any more that other people are thrilled to get. It all depends on where you are in life I suppose. If we aren't doing archery right now, and someone else is just getting into the hobby, they'd be thrilled to get our good equipment for a bargain price <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I've noticed that if there is something I need, i can usually get it used, even if it means popping into Goodwill everyday for a few minutes on my way home from work. Saves us a lot of money, and it's like a treasure hunt for me, with the thrill of discovery! <img src="/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

okay, it's getting close to garage sale season. Anyone planning a sale? had a sale and know any secrets for the rest of us? I am planning a big one for the end of march/early april, as soon as it warms up reliably.

well, it's getting close to my big sale, my first ever garage sale of my onw - anyone have any hints for making big sales?

I was once a huge yard sale fan. I was so dissappointed in the sales in the area we moved to a few years ago!

I do love the thrift stores here so that sorta makes up for it.

It doesn't bother me to own something that once belonged to another. I actually prefer pieces with history, they have more character and sometimes offer a warm positive energy.

I have done several sales here but we don't make much at them even though items were priced fairly.