Is anyone here a Yard Sale Junky?

I love going to yard/garage sales (we call them garage sales here in FL because most people stay in them to keep out of the sun)! I have one of my own twice a year to purge stuff. When we are on the hunt for something specific it's a fun thing to do... we did it a lot more when my oldest was a baby. I've stopped going to so many this year because it was just cluttering up my house with stuff I couldn't pass up. :p

Some of my favorite finds: vintage board games for $1 each that we sold on Ebay for $30 each. A Coach purse for $25. Baby gear like exersaucer, high chair for gramma's house, and tons of great books.

The thing with South Florida yard sales is that we don't have basements or attics, so people are typically selling their JUNK and trinkets... stuff they should really be tossing out. We could drive around for 3 hours and not find a single thing. Another thing is the Palm Beach snobs have a hard time selling things for a steal. They try to sell used clothes for 1/2 retail value. If you try to talk them down they'll say: "but that's Juicy Couture! I paid $60 for it!" LOL!!! :D
 
I did my first two weekends in April. I set out to find a 7 piece dinning table...hopefully in good condition. After two weekends and about six hours or more in the car I found one in great condition! Not only was it in great condition I love the look of it. It would be a set that if I went to the furniture store to buy one new that I would pick out. The color is even what I wanted. To top it off I got it for $60!! I had tears in my eyes that's for sure! I'm still so happy and cant wait to buy our house in the next two weeks so we can get it out of storage!
 
We got to a sale when they were getting tired, I guess, lol. They told us we could fill a bag for $2. I got this purse and then stuffed the bag with movies, etc.
Yes, I totally patted myself on the back!
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Truthfully, I did a lot of garage sales when my son was little and money was extremely tight. Not so much any more. My mom loves garage sales though so she is always bringing home stuff that I quietly purge later. lol
 
Loriebug66 said:
Truthfully, I did a lot of garage sales when my son was little and money was extremely tight. Not so much any more. My mom loves garage sales though so she is always bringing home stuff that I quietly purge later. lol
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Yeah, my mom does this, too! She is constantly buying me things I don't need. I know it's her way of showing me she loves me. :hugs:
 
YepBrook said:
Yeah, my mom does this, too! She is constantly buying me things I don't need. I know it's her way of showing me she loves me. :hugs:
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LOL Brook. I am sure that is why my mom does it too, but sometimes it feels more like it is to drive me crazy. She knows I hate clutter. :)
 
I love to garage sale! I don't usually buy much - esp. since I am now a non-decorator/displayer since we had the fire 7 years ago. After doing all the cleaning and wiping down of pictures, wall decor, and general display type knick-knacks, I can honestly say that I can't stand clutter (except my hybrid stuff which is NOT clutter, it's organizationally challenged!) and.... I have no photos or anything on my walls. it's the after effect of the house fire.

but I do love stopping and nebbing at what people are selling!!!
 
MamaBee said:
ooh... I'm giddy over the Coach bags, ladies! hahaha...

Some say garage sale around here too... always reminds me of a local group from Northern Michigan called Da Yoopers and there skit called Garage Sale...

http://grooveshark.com/#!/s/Garage+Sale/sv56?src=5
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Oh my gosh, don't be making fun of my state! Just kidding!!!!

Yes, it is called Garage Sales here in MI. I always think it's funny when people call them Yard SAles (even put the yard sale sign in their yard) but have the sales in their garage. LOL!

I recently found a whole binder full of Reminice (sp?) and Country magazines for $1. My husband's grandmother is in a nursing home and she loves to look at magazines with lots of pictures in them. It will keep her entertained for hours!
 
What a pity it is not a custom to make such sales here where I live... however, I need to compensate it by eBay, LOL!
 
I used to like them a lot more. Now I don't really care either way. We go to some now and then. I don't set out to find something specific because, truth be told, in our area most sales are CRAP. I don't need your old stained clothes, thanks, I have enough of my own at home. ;) That's about what we find. We have found a few good deals but mostly its just clutter. Right now my house is pretty full of clutter on its own without adding someone else's clutter to the mix.

However, I am a big fan of thrift store shopping and our local 'treasure' store (basically a big consignment/antiques type place with boths). I find some amazing things both places. At the thrift store everything is practically free. The other day I got a lamp, a brand new in package picture frame set (looks like several frames made in to a collage but its all one piece), another cute picture frame collage, a pair of shorts for myself and a nice office chair (oh and each of my kids got toys, DD picked up 3 toys and DS picked up 2). I paid $10 for everything. They asked me for $5. I threw in the extra as a donation because I felt the stuff was worth more. I would have paid $10 just for the shorts at a retail store (probably more). The office chair is a bit old school but super heavy duty and will last a long time. I'd easily have paid $20 for it at a yard sale given the quality of it.
 
We've gotten the garage sale finds from our neighbours who have an annual sale. We picked up 2 bikes for about 1/10 the cost of new. This year we did the same with skateboards, paid about 1/6 the cost of new. Also picked up a bucket of fuse beads (11,000?) for $2 plus a huge bag of pegboards for $1. We've been playing with those all weekend.


We also bought our neighbours bball net, new is around $350, we paid $50 and that included 3 very good basketballs. And they moved it from their driveway to ours. Nice service! Their kids are in their early 20s now and don't play anymore, and ours have played almost every day since we got it 4 weeks ago!
 
I just had one myself this past weekend! My storage closet looks bare now :D I haven't ever gotten rid of any toys the girls have EVER had, except ones that broke. And I still had every bit of clothing they've worn since they were 3. So, got rid of it all this weekend, what didn't sell, I put on craigslist for free, with the exception of a large collection of strawberry shortcake toys which I hope to sell on cl.

I've never really found anything awesome at others sales, though... I'm super jealous of coach purse finds!!!
 
My sister in law is obsessed with garage sales and finds great deals but I've never found much. Last weekend I decided to give it another try, explained to the kids what a garage sale was and packed up the kids and very crabby hubby who thinks we need to purge our own crap instead of buying others. When we were leaving home my 3 year old DS asked if we were going to the "garbage" sale now. It made his father's day!
 
I never find anything! So I've stopped going. A friend of mine always finds really cool stuff- old movie reels, vintage signs. Not me. lol
 
i hope to go once i get back into a suburban life. but I've hit up the brooklyn flea market a few times. always leave happy. there are a few other random flea markets around also. those have been satisfying my needs. :)
 
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