I go occasionally, but it’s no fun if you go alone. Sometimes when I go back up to NJ I go with my mom.
I usually find something good. You just have to develop an eye for what’s a good buy - paperbacks for a quarter or less, and so forth. So many people have yard sales and overprice everything because it was “special” at one point. If it was that special, they wouldn’t need to sell it (estate sales don’t count) …
So hey! If anyone in my area wants to yard sale occasionally, lemme know!
They got a new invention called a washing machine. You might wanna look into getting one. They work wonders. No more scrubbing on a rock!
I try to find old political books and pamphlets.
I have to amen that!
“someone else’s jiz”???
What a silly way to believe. Clothing washes.
First time on the internet? 
I buy just about anything from garage sales.
Kid’s clothes and shoes are my number one pick. I can outfit two kids for a school year or summer time wear for about $20-35 total.
Kid’s toys are my number two pick. Every toy in my basement that my kids play with every day has come from garage sales.
The crap…err…stuff given as gifts to them - you know-the stuff that has 9000 peices that instantly scatter the moment the container is open - is very rarely touched by said children. I have paid for the children possibly $100 total for a buttload of toys. And, the best part is, is when they are done with it, or it gets broken, getting rid of it is much easier if I only spent a dollar on it, rather than the $35 price tag.
Books are something I always give a gander at. Many a time I talk the seller down to say a $1 a bag of old romances or pop fiction as these things usually just do not sell. then i take them to a resale shop for credit.
My favorite scores as of late have been vases, but they didn’t start out their lives as such. Three are glass laboratory bottles that I got for a whopping seventy five cents total. ( value at antique stores of $11-20 per) and ( my personal favorite) a stainless steel femal urinal from the 10’s-20’s ( or older). It is such a nifty design, I use it at a vase. (And to compliment it, I found a glass male urinal that I use as a vase as well. (And, yes, to complete the set, I have a bed pan that I stuff flowers in as well. It’s fun to be me.
I am always on the look out for office furniture ( I want a four drawer metal cabinet for shoes in the garage). and I am always on the look out for ‘garden art’ of things I can put in the garden, and regular comfy furniture that I can try my hand at re uposltering. The problem is right now is that most people, because of the economy, have jacked up their prices.
I could go on and on. But, I don’t want to reduce the board to a coma.
No, I don’t mean the cool 70’s stuff… I mean the floral pink dresses with a skirt that has its own orbit with ruffles. Or the Neon green&blue graffiti pants that I saw… Or there was that slinky black dress with a florescent yellow flower on it with ruffles the size of an elephant. Is that 70’s? I might have my era’s mixed up… But there seems to be alot of ruffles, glitter, and poofy stuff. And gauze. lots of Gauze.
I Shudder to think of it…
Oh, and the pajamas? They were little kid pajamas… I doubt they would be jizzing on them. And besides, I have this lovely little thing called bleaxh that does wonders.
I look for tools. Granpa tools, the kind that have a light patina of rust to them and look like they’re good for another two, three centuries of use… not like what I see in hardware stores today.
I bought a complete homebrewing kit for $30 once, usually they’re about $100. Also bought several cases of empty champagne bottles for 5 cents apiece.
I bought my wife a 70 gallon aquarium at a garage sale for her birthday once; then I found what it would cost to fill the damn thing…
Books.
And more books. I am a biblioholic.
I do poke around the other sections just to see what’s there… several years ago I found a sculptured unicorn bowl that I loved at the time. (It has since gone to Goodwill, as I am trying to get rid of stuff.) I’m going to look for pots at the next garage sale, as I need at least one for some mint. (If you put mint in the ground, it will take over your yard. VERY invasive!)
EvaLuna, if you want a greater variety of culinary herbs than what’s in your current pots, put 'em in the strawberry pot! One stop shopping when you need fresh herbs for a recipe, and most herbs like full sun and similar soil & water.
In the last two weeks I have gotten the following at garage sales:
Nice oak Bunk bed $50 (convertible type too!)
19" RCA color tv with remote $8 (works great!)
5’x 8’ as new cream wool carpet and two accent rugs $5
Parker Sonnet 18K nib fountain pen 50 cents
Brooks B17 leather bike saddle in great condition 50 cents
Ansel Adams print prof. framed and matted $3
Baseball bat, Tball stand, Marlins (matches his LL team) batting helmet and nice Rawlings leather glove for my son $10
Well, I’ve already got a good ten different ones…the planters are big (about 18" across). They seem to be very happy so far; I think I’m planting flowers in the strawberry pot. We’ll see how ambitious I get this weekend.
I haven’t been to garage/yard sales in a long time. But I regularly did when I was in college.
When I moved from the furnished dorm to an unfurnished apartment, I eventually got all my furniture from garage sales, at a price that a college student could afford. (I actually still have one or two pieces from that time! I found some good, solid stuff.)
Other than that, throughout high school and college I regularly searched for used games, and for books. I would pick up board games and wargames that I wasn’t sure about - or even wargames that were out of print because the company that made them (like SPI) went out of the business. Got quite a few that way. Also, a lot of people would sell books for a dime or a quarter, and whether or not I liked them, I could pick out the ones in good condition for trading in at the used book stores. I got quite a few books this way, but I had a friend who was methodical about this, and easily generated $50-$100 of credit at the used book store every week (with $5 or $10 cash from his pocket), and had no room to store more books.
Definitely books. Nickels or dimes get you paperbacks, hardbacks usually don’t go for more than $0.50 or $1. I recently got “Catch Me If You Can” (great read, BTW) and Bill O’Reilly’s first book for $0.50 each.
Old cameras. I collect them, people are usually happy to get rid of them.
Basically anything old that catches my eye. Watches, alarm clocks, furniture, old glassware, etc.
I enjoy rummage sales a lot.
Another electronics/computer hunter. Recent finds: A PIII system (just needs a CDROM) that didn’t boot for $10. I hot-flashed the BIOS (kinda tricky) and it works. An excellent JVC VCR for $0. When I asked about the remote she just gave it to me (I already have a compat. JVC remote). Just needed a little new rubber part and TLC.
(I imagine a SDMB “Yard Sale” would scare the bejeesus out of the Mods.)
I once bought twin speakers, about two feet high, for 50 cents.
I saw a “50” on a price tag, and I’m thinking…“Oh, gotta be $50, way too much for me.” I ask, and it’s 50 cents. They are in perfect condition.
See, some people just plain don’t know!