An
Actionable
Guide for the
Newbie
or The
Seasoned
Veteran
Donna
( The GARAGE SALE DIVA) Presents…..
Garage
Sale In A Nutshell
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to be reproduced in any way
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OK,
Now that all that is over with Lets get started….
Table
of Contents
Chapter
Page.
Introduction
4
-
Why So Many Sales 6
-
How to Find The Sales 15
-
When To Go 20
-
What To Bring 26
-
How To Shop 29
-
Get It For Cheaper 32
-
You Bought It. Now What 36
-
Having a Sale 40
-
When To Have Your Sale 42
-
Where to have the Sale 46
-
The Setup 50
-
Dealing with People 53
-
Its Over, Now What 56
-
The Human Element 57
Garage
Sale-Yard Sale In a nutshell
Intro:
I
am sure that you are wondering why I wrote this book or why you
bought it. And rightfully so. You see, I am just like you. I once had
this bad stigma of what this whole Garage sales Yard sales hysteria
was all about & why should I even go. (I wasn’t even
planning
on going) Until one day that all changed, which I will get to in a
moment.
I
had friends and family members constantly asking me to spend my
Saturday mornings with them at a Garage Sale. As far as I was
concerned I was scrounging through the unwanted trash of someone who
is just to lazy to throw it away. I really did not feel like spending
my Saturday mornings doing this…I thought I had better
things to
do!
Now
here we are some 20 something years later and I spend almost every
weekend at these sales & I am even writing this book. Talk
about
an eye opening experience.
So
what changed you asked?
Simple:
I was a single mother raising two young boys who was on a very tight
limited budget like most people these days. When I say tight and
limited I mean tight and limited. (More on this later)
One
day I eventually ventured out to this mysterious land of garage
sales. Ok. Maybe not mysterious, but it was new to an adventure and
me.
Do
you want to know what I quickly discovered?
Let
me tell you. These “garage sales” or
“yard sales” were not
anything like the stigma and misconception I had in my head. Many of
them had nice items, barely used or even brand new that they were
practically giving away…
And
If I didn’t buy it or someone like me didn’t buy
these items,
then they were going to throw it away!
This
is what I quickly learned and it drastically changed my life forever.
Literally it did. Since going to these sales I was able to buy my
children clothes and toys I would not be able to afford otherwise,
bought designer purses, furnished my home, and made lots of money
from others people’s trash.
Many
times the Items I bought, or even buy today, still have the tags on
them.
I
could go on and on. And I will throughout the rest of this book. I
just want everyone to understand that garage sales are an absolute
gold mine of savings and money making potential.
This
book is written for people like us, ones who want to save money, make
money and recycle others trash to our treasure. Now you can take
advantage of my 20 plus years of garage sale experience (hey, they
don’t call me the garage sale diva for nothing)
If
you have ever wondered how or why millions of people share in the
adventure, money making and money saving opportunities that garage
sales offer, than you will want to pay close attention because I am
about to reveal and give you my closely guarded secrets of:
Where
to find the best sales
When
to go to them (this is crucial)
What
to take with you (don’t leave home without this)
How
to get things that are not even for sale
The
art of the Haggle (I use this technique and it has literally saved me
$1000’s
How
to quickly find the best sales
How
to profit from others sales
Having
a garage sale, what not to do (this scam can cost you)
And
much much more…
When
you keep reading you are going to find out all my incredible finds,
see how I furnished my home, and what I look for.
Click
Here To Read The Entire Book
Chapter
1
Why
so many types of sales?
I
know that you are ready to just jump in and save lots of money or
even make some.
But
first we need to lay some of the ground work and discuss the
different types of sales so that you know where to go, where not to
go and where you can find the greatest bargains.
There
are basically 4 types of sales.
Rummage
Sale
Estate
Sale
Moving
Sale
Garage
Sale/Yard Sale (these two are one in the same but for simplicity sake
I am just going to use the term Garage sale through out the book.)
Rummage
Sale:
I
am starting off with the Rummage sale first even though it is not my
favorite. I want to make sure that you know about them and what you
can expect so that you aren’t taken by surprise when you
arrive
These
sales are generally used for fundraising by churches or local
charities. What is the goal of churches and charities having these
sales? You guessed it! Make Money! They generally aren’t in
the
business of giving the super good discounts or even finding diamonds
in the rough here at these.
That
being said, they are for charity and if it is a charity you like,
then by all means purchase something because it is going to a good
cause. You may even over pay at times.
If
it’s a charity or church organization that you love and
support,
than by all means support it.
Estate
Sales:
Just
like Rummage sales, Estate sales are not my favorite. But
that’s
not saying don’t go.
Generally,
Estate Sales are put on by either a family or a company hired by the
family to sell the possessions of a loved one who has passed away or
moved to a nursing home or in with family.
You
may end up spending a little bit more money at these sales because
the family wants to profit from it but if you are really into
antiques these sales generally have lots of them. I for one am not
really interested in antiques so I generally pass these by.
However
I must tell you this story.
One
day around noon (the reason I tell you the time is to let you know
that most of the professional garage sale shoppers have already gone
to most of the sales and bought most of the good items) Anyway, I was
on my way to visit my parent’s and I noticed an estate sale.
I
started to just drive by, but then I thought
“What’s the harm”,
so I stopped!
One
of my favorite things to do at any type of sale is to look for
jewelry. At this sale I noticed this small box of jewelry & I
started to rummage through it till I noticed a broach lying upside
down.
I
picked it up to examine it. First thing I noticed is that it had a
stone missing and I thought it was costume jewelry and placed it back
down in the box.
For
some odd reason I decided to pick it up again and re-examine it. As I
looked it over I noticed it said 18k and also said
“MC” on it.
Everything in the box was 50cents. I bought it because I knew at the
very least I could sell it for scrap (which I will go into more
detail later in this book)
There
was also a pair of hoop earrings with a stone in each one and what
looked like 14k inscribed on it. But I couldn’t really tell
because
they were dirty.
I
bought both the earrings and the broach. It only cost me $1. So I
took my items and continued to my parent’s house.
After
I visited my parents for a while I got back into my car and began to
examine the broach again. It was shaped like a horseshoe with 45
stones on the front with one missing.
I
began to think to myself that I really had a great find. On the way
home I stopped at two different jewelers. I was shocked to hear what
they told me.
Both
of the jewelers told me that the broach was over 100 years old. What
an antique. But that’s not the best part. They said that is
was
made of gold and platinum and the stones turned out to be real
diamonds.
I
was so excited at this point. What they told me next was incredible.
They
both valued the broach somewhere between $4,200-$4,500!! Wow!
I
couldn’t believe it. I only paid 50cents. At that point in
time I
decided that I was going to keep the broach. I never wore it though.
It was horseshoe shaped and I am not a real big fan of horseshoes.
Now
I was in the mindset of wanting to sell it. The only problem is that
I at the time did not know whom I could sell it to. (fyi, This was
long before I became aware of ebay or craigslist)
Anyway,
I took the broach to an appraiser and he told me the best way for me
to sell it would be to find someone who really loved horses.
Really?
I
mean come on; this wasn’t what I wanted to hear. I
didn’t even
like horseshoe shaped jewelry that much.
I
don’t even really know of anyone who is such a horse fanatic
that I
could say “hey found something for you, now give me
$4,000.” Sure
wish I knew about Ebay back then.
Now
I was only out 50cents so, I wasn’t in such a huge rush to
sell it
or anything. I was eventually referred to a guy from a pawnshop
dealer I know.
By
the way I will go into more detail later on how I use Pawn Shops!!
Back
to the story…
I
meet this gentleman and he told me upfront that he was not going to
be able to give me what it is worth. And of course I understood this.
What
he didn’t know was that I was only out 50 cents.
We
stood there and haggled for a few minutes. He wanted to give me $400
dollars. Finally I got him up to $500.
I
told him that I really wanted more. So I stood up to leave, but as I
was leaving I kept thinking about all the remodeling we were doing in
my home and how much $500 could help.
Really
I was going to make a profit of $499.50!!
I
eventually turned back around and collected my $500. I left with a
smile on my face still because I knew that I had a great find and
made a great deal of money.
…But
maybe next time I’ll try Ebay out first!
As
you can see Estate sales are not my favorite, but I did come across
one of my favorite finds there.
Moving
Sales
These
sales may quite possibly be my favorite sale to go to.
Even
though I do not understand the concept behind why some people will
practically give all their possessions away and then have to buy all
new furniture when they get to their new home.
I
guess I shouldn’t try to question it and just appreciate the
savings it has given me!
These
sales are pretty much a win-win situation. I get to buy things that I
want for really cheap and the seller doesn’t have to go
through the
burden of moving all their stuff.
Now
that I think about it moving isn’t fun at all. Maybe if I
ever move
I’ll just sale all my stuff to avoid moving it. (And make my
husband buy me all new stuff…shhhh! Don’t tell him
I said that)
The
days I go out to find sales I always have my eye out for these moving
sales and I go to them first. I will even pass up other sales just to
make it to the moving sale. I can always go back to the other sales,
but I want to be sure I am early for the moving sales.
I
believe that a lot of other people have actually caught on to the
goldmine that Moving sales are. The sellers are selling very good
stuff, which they currently use, for super cheap, just so they
don’t
have to haul it to the next location.
The
best part isn’t that the items are generally already priced
cheap
but that the sellers are very open to haggling.
Just
a reminder, start you bid out lower than you would actually want to
pay. I know this seems like an elementary concept but you’ll
be
surprised at what offers will come out of peoples mouths when they
get excited about a sale.
It
is so much easier for you to come up on your offer than it is for you
to haggle them back down. So have a predetermined price in your head
already.
Now
we come to the sales that for me started it all….
Garage/Yard
Sale
These
sales are absolutely my favorite. They are the Garage sale or Yard
sale. Depending on what part of the country you are in sometimes
determines what you call these sales.
Basically
the yard Sale is any sale that is held in a yard and the Garage sale
is one that is held in a garage or a driveway. The technical way to
figure it out is ask yourself this question “ am I standing
on
grass or concrete?” If the answer is grass than your answer
is yard
Sale.
But
seriously…these sales are one in the same. Don’t
get hung up on a
silly name.
You
can find anything in the world that you want at these Garage sales
(remember earlier, I am going to use garage sale term now to cover
both yard and garage sale). And the prices are generally pretty low.
There
is one saying that I repeat over and over in my head when I attend
these sales and it keeps me motivated and focused. Here is what I say
to myself:
“Remember
this is a garage sale, these people don’t want these items
anymore”
Why
do I say this over and over? Well it’s pretty simple. I
don’t
want to get caught into thinking that I need to overpay for any
single item. Plus it generally helps me to come up with a general
figure to start my bidding or haggling, as I like to call it.
I
want to tell you about one of my finds at a garage sale.
One
Saturday morning I went to this sale that was down the street from my
house. This couple has a big garage sale at least once a year. They
have multiple families join in, so needless to say there is a lot of
stuff. Sometimes they even sale hot dogs and beverages.
One
could actually stay there quite a while just eating and shopping
away.
As
I glanced over a few things I noticed a double oven sitting in the
driveway. I didn’t think twice about it at first. I assumed
that it
didn’t work.
That
was my first mistake is that I assumed. And if you don’t know
where
assuming will get you…then that is just going to have to be
a
lesson for another day.
Just
remember, assuming is a NO NO!!
Well
I continued to browse around and ended up buying some real nice
clothes and haggled a little bit to get a couple of dollars off. When
I was finished I jumped in my car to continue to many more sales that
day.
Eventually
when I got home I decided that I was going to go back to that one
garage sale just to see if they had any more clothes left. I even
asked my husband if he wanted to jump in the car and go with me.
I
told him that there were going to be a lot of items and he might like
it. Now, my husband does like garage sales but his one flaw is after
a couple of minutes at the max 30 minutes he is ready to go
elsewhere.
As
we arrived at this garage sale I started looking at the clothes right
away like I planned. My husband was off wandering around looking at
whatever he looks at. Then my husband comes to get my attention to
tell me about that double oven stove (he knows I want one, so
apparently he has listened to me and remembered at least one thing I
have said.)
I
told him that I already noticed it and I just shrug him off. He just
kept on saying that it looks pretty new. He tells me to “Ask
about
it”!
After
my husband pestered me about it, I finally go ask one of the ladies
at a table to tell me the story of the oven. She went on to say that
her husband does construction and this was one of the ovens that they
took out when they were remodeling a house. She told me that there
was nothing wrong with it and it was around 4 years old.
I
have wanted a double oven for a long time. I already had one oven
that was built in so I knew that it wouldn’t be that hard to
install this one.
I
asked her what was the price on it. She then told me to give her a
bid
I
hate when people do this because this is where the haggling begins
and I am going to start my bid out low and I don’t want to
insult
them by going to low and make myself look like an idiot
However
on a positive not if you do go to low the worst thing that can happen
is they say “NO”.
When
she told me to give a bid I said “no” you start.
She
tells me again to give her a bid. I did her a favor and warned her
that my bid was going to be low. I just didn’t warn her once
I
repeatedly warned her it’s “going to be
low”.
She
said ok. Give me a bid!
Well
I warned her, I said $5.00
The
moment that $5.00 came out of my mouth I could hear my husband gasp!
I already warned my husband many times before that when we are at
garage sales and I’m haggling to “keep your mouth
shut!”
The
lady and everyone else there all looked at me like I was crazy. It
was almost like one of those real awkward moments when everyone
stops, stares and looks at you cause you did something wrong and the
moment seems like it last an eternity. Well that is how this felt.
But
hey I repeatedly warned her!
After
the initial shock and the silence wore off the woman said to me
“let
me go ask my husband”.
As
she said that I slowly turned around to my husband in utter
disbelief. I just knew that this woman was going to keep on haggling
me up. I was even willing to go up to $100 or even $200 dollars.
The
stoves were Jen-air so they were around $2,500 so that’s why
I was
willing to go up that much
Paying
one or two hundred dollars would have been a great deal. When she
walked inside to ask her husband I thought I was going to be able to
hear him scream, “are you kidding me” those are
worth more than
$5.00.
When
the woman came back outside she informed me that her husband was
asleep and could not wake him, so I could go ahead and have them for
five dollars.
I
have never, I mean never seen my husband speechless before but this
time he was. His jaw absolutely hit the floor. After he came around
out of his confused state he told the woman that we would be back on
Monday to pick up the ovens. We didn’t have a truck at the
time.
You
should have seen the look on the woman’s face. It said it
all. This
was Saturday and she did not want to see that oven sitting in her
driveway for 2 more days.
I
finally grabbed my husband and told the lady we would be right back.
As we walked off I told my husband that we just had the deal of a
lifetime and need to get that stove out of there as soon as we can
before they change their minds!
I
was so afraid that when her husband woke up he was not going to let
it go for so low. We went and borrowed a truck and were back at her
house within 30 minutes.
Funny
thing when we got back was that the husband was awake and actually
helped us load the oven into the truck with her son. Wow. What a deal
Ok,
let me explain to you why I actually started the bid and haggling so
low. There are several reasons.
First,
she told me that the oven was one that her husband got out of a
remodel that they were doing, so I knew that they had no money
invested in it.
Second,
I overheard her telling someone that she was tired of that oven
taking up space in her garage. So I knew to go low. What was I going
to lose?
Nothing!
I actually think I won this one by a along shot
Here
is another tip for when you are out at the sales. Always ask
questions about what you are buying. If I didn’t ask
questions then
I would not have known that they had no money invested in those
ovens.
Another
tip is to always have your ears open and listen to what is going on.
Listen to what others are asking about and listen to what the people
who are having the sale are saying. I listened and knew she was tired
of having that oven sitting in her garage.
When
we got the stoves home it was not long till we got someone over to
put them in for us. I held my breath the whole time till we actually
turned them on. I kept thinking that they wouldn’t work and
that is
the reason they let me buy them for $5.00
But
when we hooked them up they worked perfectly fine and I still use
them today. It’s been about a year since I bought them and I
love
them. They look brand new and I am so happy with them
I
did some research and noticed that other ovens just like mine cost
between $2,000 & $2,400 dollars.
How’s
that for a savings of $2,395!!
Ok
now I have gone over the different types of sales so that you know
the difference and the potential qualities. In the following chapters
we will start getting into more detail about exactly how to find
sales and when is the best time to go.
Click
Here To Read The Whole Book
Chapter
2
How
to find them
Finding
good quality garage sales is really an art form or at least an
adventure for me.
Before
we talk about all the places to find garage sales for you to go to, I
first want to give you the reasons why it is so important to have a
game plan.
Yeah,
you heard me a game plan!
Why
a game plan? Well because with out one then you are going to spend a
lot of wasted time looking for sales when you don’t have to.
Yes,
You will still run across some sales without a plan but that depends
on the day and time of the year you decide to aimlessly wander
around.
What
if you knew exactly where the sales where, what they are selling, the
best days to go and did all this in a systemic way so that you wasted
No time, gas or effort looking in the wrong places . You may even
miss the Garage sale of the year because you didn’t have a
plan and
just drove around aimlessly till you saw furniture on a lawn?
Now
we know why we need a Game plan.
I
am going to break this down for you in – simple steps and go
into
detail about each one.
Don’t
worry this is going to be super simple.
There
are only 3 steps.
-
Decide what day you are
going to Garage Sales
-
Systematically search
for them
-
Plan your day
Deciding
what day you are going
Traditionally
throughout the years most Garage sales are held on either Friday or
Saturday. So these are the only days that I myself plan on going to
them. However that does not mean that some people don’t plan
on
having sales on other days of the week
For
example, I have noticed in the last couple of years more and more
people have been starting their Garage sales earlier in the week.
Usually this means Thursday or Possibly even Wednesday. I
don’t
know why some people do this. I guess they don’t want to
spend
their weekend selling their stuff and would rather go to the lake,
pool or they are just having the sale extra days so that they can
make More Money.
I
don’t mind the Thursday Garage Sale because they usually are
not as
crowded which means I can get the pick of the best stuff.
You
may even notice some people having their sale on Sunday as well.
Generally Sunday sales have items that everyone else has already
looked over and do not want. I never plan on going on this day and to
think of it I really don’t know the last time I even went to
a sale
on this day.
Lets
say that you decided that you were going to go to some Garage Sales
on Friday, then you need to start your planning on Wednesday.
Why
Wednesday?
So
that you can have time to find where you are going, make sure you
gather all the right things to take with you, and you have two days
to do it and not be rushed the night before
Trust
me, when you do things the last minute or without a plan something
always goes wrong and not according to plan.
On
Wednesday you are going to want to start keeping an eye out for signs
as you drive around. People usually but signs out several days
before, so just keep a look out so you know where to go.
If
you decided to go on Saturday then you can start this whole process
and planning on Thursday.
Systematically
Searching for them
Now
we are into step two which is a little bit more fun and almost like
detective work. It’s the hunt for the sales and narrowing
down the
best ones for us to go to.
There
are several different ways that people can find Garage Sales. Some of
them have been around for ages and then there is some that are a
little bit more 21st
century.
Don’t
worry about the 21st
century stuff. I figured it out and all I can really do is check
email.
One
of the best ways to find garage sales is to look in your local paper.
This has been my tried and true method of being able to locate some
of the best sales that are very close to my home.
Where
I live I also get a city paper as well that I use to find some of the
yard sales. Generally the local paper has been my bread and butter
because all the sales are so close and Its hard to go to all my local
sales and then drive to the ones in the city and still expect there
to be anything left
One
of the newest ways that I use to find sales is Craigslist. You may
not have heard of it but a majority of people know about it and it
has really been catching on in the last year.
I
am going to show you later in the book how you can use Craigslist to
make money from some of the things you bought at garage sales.
If
you don’t know what craigslist is it’s a free
website.
(www.craigslist.com) That allows people to post-different things for
sale, jobs or announcements. It is all broken down by city.
Lets
say you live in Oklahoma City. All the listings would be from people
in that city or people who were selling something there.
The
best thing about craigslist is that people will begin posting their
garage sales early in the week. This gives you time to plan. Many of
the people also have pictures of what they are selling, tell you what
they are going to do if it rains or if the location is gong to
change.
Another
website that is out there that has posting for local garages is
Kijji. Or www.kijji.com
The
site is a free listing site like craigslist but it is not nearly as
popular and a little bit harder to navigate.
I
have noticed a lot of other listing sites starting to pop up on the
Internet where you can list your garage sale for free. Its seems like
every time I go to these sites it tells me that there are no sales in
my area.
I
guess people aren’t using these sites that much or they just
aren’t
that good.
Another
way to find garage sales is by keeping your eyes open when you are
driving. People will start putting their Garage Sale signs out
Wednesday.
So
as I am driving around I really start paying attention to signs and
places I know that there are going to be sales. Now on Thursdays
everyone is putting out their signs so you really better be looking
out for signs on Thursday.
You
may even want to write down some little notes for yourself so that
you remember when you go home.
But
don’t write them when you are actually driving. One way to
make
sure you don’t forget is to call your house of even call your
voicemail and leave yourself a message so that you can write them
down when you get home.
There
are several neighborhoods around where I live that have garage sales
all the time. On Thursdays (since I generally go to sales on Friday
morning) I get in my car and drive around those neighbor hoods and
night to see if they are having a sale the next day.
I
guess you can say that I am garage sale stalker! Haha
When
you are at any given sale strike up a conversation with someone else
who is there at the sale. Ask them if they have been to any other
sales that day. Also ask what kinds of things were there so you can
make a judgement on whether you should go or not
People
at garage sales are generally really friendly and have no problem
telling people where they have been, what they found and where they
plan on going.
Plan
Your Day
The
night before you plan to go to sales you need to make a plan. After
you have a list of all the sales that you are going to you need to
map them out
Make
sure you do this. Make sure you actually get out a sheet of paper and
write a list. What you need to write is the addresses so you
don’t
get lost or spend lots of time driving around aimlessly.
After
I have my list of addresses I usually go to my computer, sit down and
mapquest the addresses so that I know exactly where I am going and
how to get there.
The
good thing about having a plan and mapping out your day is that I can
guarantee you are going to run into more sales along the way that you
didn’t even know were there.
Don’t
be afraid to stop at these sales you find along the way. You may
uncover some valuable find, like I did at that estate sale, plus
almost all the fun is in the hunt and not knowing what you may find
next.
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