Do you need a cooking pan , a dish to serve it on , a radio , a Tv , a piece of furniture or even window for your house ? Then taking a little time once a week during the summer to visit the garage and yard sales in your neighbourhood could save you a lot of money .Why pay retail if you can find a similar or even the same product at a fraction of the cost .If it works and does the job you`re giving a second life to the items you puchase .
Yard and garage sales are also a great place to find an unrecognized treasures that you may be able to purchase at a 1000th of the price if you get super lucky .
Old furniture could be refinished and reupholstered if its sound enough or if your good at woodworking like my buddy Trace Sauer @ http://truenorthservices.ca - he could repair and refinish any type of wood furniture and he gives great service too .
You may even find new items you can then resell on E-bay or Kijiji also.
Estate sales are especially good because the houses contents are all on sale . The early bird gets the worm and you may find something of value at you neighbourhood garage/yard or estate sales if your the first person to visit said sale.
Build yourself a list of all sales in your area from the newspaper or from an online source in your area ( I use Kijiji ) Sort them out into opening times and and areas , then map them out to save time driving or bicycling between sales . It don`t take much time and by doing this you save time and energy. (If you have a bicycle think of adding a trailer to it to carry your purchases) .
Note : If you`re bicycling around and you find something too large to carry just negotiate a small downpayment to hold the item or a pay half now and half when you pick up the item agreement between you and the seller .(ALWAYS pick up your purchase as quickly as possible to avoid problems with the seller selling it to a higher bidder and using an excuse like my husband/wife just sold it and they didn`t know it was already purchased.
When looking at items for sale at the sales themselves be quick and thorough if you want to fing the good stuff .
Being quick at scanning the merchandise means that if you don`t find anything at this sale of any value you can quickly skip over to the next sale on your list and still get there while the pickings are good .
If you find something you like and wish to purchase it casually ask the price and move on . Ten or twenty seconds later ask them for a better price noting any nicks or defects . If they knock the price down say something like : How about this price* . This price* you offer should be especially low . This will make them think its not worth as much as they might have thought . This also puts the buying power in your hands a little more - negotiate a price and purchase your item . Get to the next sale .
Go to all the sales on your list because you never know what you might find .Old vintage TVs and Radios Stereos.Cheap CDs / DVDs /Tools / Books and just about anything you need can be found .
Stop don`t waste your money. Be sure to test any electronics or items with moving parts before leaving the sale . Look all the buttons or parts and make sure they are all present. When bying tv`s or stereo and nowadays even air conditioners and fans , *don`t forget the remote controls*.