I grew up going to garage sales in the small towns of Michigan. Whenever I go back there I try to stop by a few. They still believe in selling things for a dime or a quarter or a dollar. I’ve picked up some treasures that turned around nicely on eBay.
But I live in Los Angeles now and it’s a whole different story. People still have garage sales, but you’re not going to get away with buying anything for a quarter. All of the prices are way higher for junk than in Michigan.
But there’s more of a turnaround market so you can get the higher prices. When we had our sale a few buyers took all of the clothes (mid-range labels) at the $5-$10 per posted prices. They were taking it to sell at the swap meets.
On the other hand, if you check out the right neighborhoods you can find some really fine stuff for really good prices. There are a lot of people with wealth who aren’t afraid to haul their nice stuff out to their yard and sell it. Back where I’m from, we just didn’t have rich people around like that.
Never. I ALWAYS tell myself I’m going to as I will inevitably be the one to find that deceased husband’s 499 golf club on sale for $5 but I never do it. You gotta get up REALLY early around here though. We used to start our’s around 8AM and there’d already be people waiting around when we setup at 7:30.
I know this is so true. They used to have sales in Winnetka (a wealthy suburb of Chicago) and it was outrageous. You’d find Brooks Brother suits, arrow jackets and a lot of shirts and clothes never removed from the original wrapping. All cheap.
Lynn, obsession is a better word. I can’t go into a thrift store without buying most, if not all of the owl statues in there. My friends all get me owl things. I’ve got shirts, paintings, macrame, pet clothes, pot holders, air fresheners, an throw rug…you name it, I have it with an owl on it.
I haven’t been in quite a while. The ones I drive past, they seem to have little stupid things like jelly jars, old stuffed animals slobbered on by god knows who, giant wooden fork n’ spoon, and stacks of shabby old clothes from mom’s closet. They are, however, an excellent source for lots of lightly used baby and toddler clothes and baby strollers (in case you need a spare). One garage sale I went to years ago, I made out like a bandit - there were stacks and stacks and stacks of brand new li’l duds. Old Italian gramps running the thing kept making a point of telling me his grandbaby got so much stuff because “she was premature”. (note: they weren’t selling stuff because the baby died! she was right there at the garage sale.)… When I became pregnant at an advanced age, my brain wasn’t working right. I was thoroughly convinced that we not only couldn’t afford a baby, but since it was coming anyway, I had to go out and buy as much stuff for it as I could. So I would hit every garage sale every weekend and came home with strollers, clothes, toys, car seats, baby baths, walkers, swings, sippy cups, bottles. I put it all in a spare room, and it was stacked three feet high with ‘stuff’…Finally, one day while I was out, my mother in law and husband attacked my ever growing stash - sorted out some useful stuff , bagged up the rest and took it to the thrift store. I was bent out of shape, but they assured me that I could make a list of stuff and I would probably get a lot of it at, duh, my baby shower.
My girlfriend always looks for costume jewelry, which is surprisingly hard to find at a garage sale. An ugly little ring that was mixed in with a bunch of junk turned out to be genuine platinum and diamonds! She wanted to return it to the seller immediately, but had no idea where she bought it, and she fretted about it for months afterwards…
About baby stuff- it’s true that a very old crib might no longer meet safety standards WRT the amount of space between the bars, and the plastic in car seats can begin to break down in sunlight, making it more brittle and less safe (or so I’ve heard).
But anything that can be sanitized/bleached? Hell yeah, throw it in the back of the car! I am one of those people who will be happy to sell you designer baby & kid clothes with the tags still on 'em for, like, a buck.
(note: they weren’t selling stuff because the baby died! she was right there at the garage sale.)… When I became pregnant at an advanced age, my brain wasn’t working right. I was thoroughly convinced that we not only couldn’t afford a baby, but since it was coming anyway, I had to go out and buy as much stuff for it as I could. So I would hit every garage sale every weekend and came home with strollers, clothes, toys, car seats, baby baths, walkers, swings, sippy cups, bottles. I put it all in a spare room, and it was stacked three feet high with ‘stuff’…Finally, one day while I was out, my mother in law and husband attacked my ever growing stash - sorted out some useful stuff , bagged up the rest and took it to the thrift store. I was bent out of shape, but they assured me that I could make a list of stuff and I would probably get a lot of it at, duh, my baby shower.
I am one of those people who will be happy to sell you designer baby & kid clothes with the tags still on 'em for, like, a buck.