Garage Sale Shopping Tips - A Complete Kit To Save Money!

[This post is written and copyrighted by FIRE Finance (http://firefinance.blogspot.com).]

Two interesting events led us to create this post. The first was a visit from one of our family friends after a long time. While having dinner we were discussing about being frugal. At this point our friend told us about some of his recent furniture shopping at an online store named StacksAndStacks which had some great deals on home and furniture (upto 75% off).

Though we pride ourselves as frugal netizens and tech savvy citizens, we were surprised at this new piece of information. This store was completely new for us! When we checked the prices at this new online store we did find some great deals. But we for one would never buy furniture online because of the extra shipping fees, chances of damage in transit and the hassle of returning it if we changed our minds later.

The second event that set us to think was an email from one of our readers who graciously acknowledged that he and his wife had saved around 30% of their (usual) dining bill by exercising some of our frugal dining out tips. We were very happy that someone actually saved money in real life by reading what we write on our blog. The best part was that they shared their experience by writing to us which made us really feel good!

Combining these two experiences, we wondered how we could help our audience save money on furniture or other home purchases. Reflecting on our experiences and looking around our house we found that we had saved hundreds of dollars by buying most of our stuff second hand at various garage sales. Even our Rubbermaid laundry baskets were purchased at some sale!

Bingo! That gave us the idea to share how we go about purchasing stuff at garage sales. The basic concept of saving through the means of buying second hand is that someone else's trash is another person's treasure. So you can use these tips at garage sales, yard sales, rummage sales, church sales or a "whatever you call it" sales. For us these sales always present a means to find a new treasure and save some of our hard-earned money.

To make the most of a garage sale, it is very important to know what you need and then make a plan to go about shopping for it. Else you might get into the addictive habit of wandering around the town aimlessly and buying stuff you don't need. Here are some essential components of a garage sale expedition kit:

• Shopping List: We create a list of things we need to buy and then prioritize them. We usually restrict our selves to what we need making a vow not to buy stuff we don't need even if they are offered at throw away prices. The list serves as a compass for us and often it has helped us save time and energy by directing our focus in the right direction. Our priorities are divided into categories like:
• A: must have else difficult to get by in life
• B: useful but can do without it for certain period of time
• C: wishful haves or luxuries

• A List of Garage Sales: We often scan the newspaper for local offerings of garage sales. Another interesting online resource is freecycle.org. Then we prepare a list of garage sales that we are likely to visit. Usually we visit garage sales in nice neighborhoods since they have better items for sale.
  

• Plan your Driving Route: The next step is to look up the addresses on Yahoo or Google. Then we create an ordered (sorted by the distance from our home) list of sales and plan an optimal driving route. We follow it up by printing the route as well as packing some detailed city maps. We have not invested in a GPS yet!
  

• Ration your time: We allocate a chunk of time for the entire garage sale expedition. Then we allocate slots of time to different sales on our list depending on our shopping list and the type of sale. With this aid we optimize our time and prevent ourselves from whiling away time aimlessly.
  

• Measurements & Sizes: Depending on what we are going to buy, we also prepare a list of measurements. If we are looking for home furniture, we jot down the sizes of the probable spaces where the furniture needs to fit in. On the other hand if we are on lookout for shoes or clothings, we note down the sizes, and so on.

• Some Handy Tools: When we are planning to buy furniture we carry a tape with us. This serves as a useful tool needed to measure furniture and see if it would fit in our noted measurements. Also we keep a handy strong rope in our car, in case we need to tie stuff and fit them in the trunk of our car. Some other useful stuff are a roll of paper towel and a powerful electronic screw driver (for the extreme cases where we need to dismantle some parts of the furniture for transit).

• Feed yourselves & Carry some food: On our expedition days, we get up early and have a good breakfast before setting out. In addition we carry some snacks, drinks and our lunches in brown bags. This helps us to cut down the temptation to eat at a fast food restaurant when we feel tired during our expedition.

• Check for Gas: We also make sure that we have plenty of gas in our car before setting out.

• Withdraw cash: As we set out of our driveway, we check to see that we have our ATM cards, some change especially quarters. Then our first stop is at an ATM where we can withdraw cash that would be necessary for our purchases. Most of these garage sales do not accept credit cards or personal checks.

• Fanny Pack: During our garage sale expeditions we usually put our cash in our fanny packs. This act frees our hands and makes moving around easier and faster. There is no headache of carrying a purse and digging for stuff in it while trying to decide on something.

• A small pad and pen: We always keep a small notepad and pen in case we need to jot down some phone numbers, names or addresses. Sometimes if we had to leave a sale early we use the notepad to take down the sale's contact information. Often this act has helped us to call back later to see if they had anything left at the end of a sale that we needed.
  

When we arrive at a sale, we usually walk around quickly to get an initial overview of what is up for sale. This helps us decide early on if there is anything worthwhile on which we should spend our time and energy or should we move on. It is important not to lose focus. And our efforts have paid off. Often we have found useful items for a fraction of the cost that we would have paid if we had purchased them new.

Well those were our secrets to a successful garage sale safari. We feel that the only thing missing are the elephants! What do you think? We are eagerly looking forward towards knowing your successful garage sale (shopping) secrets.

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Image Source(s): iStockPhoto