Finding Great Deals and Conserving

One person's trash is another person's treasure.  That is the essence of garage sales.  Whether it is moving away or combating hoarding, people are trying to clear out their homes for various reasons.  You show up, take a look at what is for sale, and maybe purchase something for cash.

Those treasures, or trash, are usually on sale for bargain rates. The sellers want everything to go.  If there is something you might need or want, hold off buying it from the local stores and spend some time going to garage sales.  If you find what you are looking for, you are almost guaranteed to spend less for it than at a store.  Besides being priced for less, you can also save money in other ways.  Although I don't, some people haggle for even lower prices.  Also, I have yet to go to a garage sale that collects sales tax.  Case in point, yesterday, I purchased a small item organizer, seven child's size pants, and a pizza stone for only $7.00.  No tax was charged and things were much cheaper than in the store.

This brings me to another beauty of garage sales, randomness.  Who knows what in the world you'll find.  In my car, I keep a list of items that I am looking for.  When I get caught up browsing, the list helps me remember what I would really like.  However, the randomness of the what might be on sale makes it fun.  Last year I purchased old but unopened Lego sets for my children.  I found a marble mortar and pestle, perfect for guacamole, for $3.00 a few weeks ago.  One place I stopped at had old Playboy magazines for a $1.00 each.  A collector would love to find that. 

How do garage sales help the environment?  Quite simply, you are reusing items when you make a purchase.  In the spring, I bought an office chair for $5.00.  The seller didn't throw the chair in the trash.  And since I purchased a used chair, I didn't need to buy a new one from a store.  That means a new chair didn't need to be manufactured and shipped from thousands of miles away to get to me.  Less trash, less shipping, less cost, and less pollution are all the results of going to garage sales.  What tips do you have for going to garage sales?