Dandelions and Daydreams

Negotiating is a lost art in America, but everywhere else in the world, negotiation is the standard way of shopping. While at most regular stores negotiating is frowned upon, at garage sales negotiating is your ace in the hole.

You have to remember that there are two kinds of people who hold garage sales–those that want to make money and those who want to get rid of junk. Personally, I prefer moving sales. The host is leaving and so has an urgent need to get rid of stuff, they will often sell much nicer stuff than the average neighborhood rummage sale, and they are motivated to sell.

I’m going to borrow shamelessly from Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University lesson “Buy Only Big Big Bargains.” First remember, there is nothing wrong with getting a deal if you haven’t’ misrepresented the truth or set out to harm the other person. Consider what the other person needs and create a win-win deal.

Negotiate everything. Always assume that you can get a bargain. At moving sales, you can often get 30-50% off the asking price just by asking, “Will you take $X for it?” Another way of phrasing it is “How much will you take for it?” When you ask this, you might get a better bargain than you would have offered, but you have to know the power of silence. Silence adds pressure to a negotiating situation. The seller may talk himself way down without you having to say anything.

Practice patience. If you wait long enough you will find what you want at a great bargain, and if a bargain isn’t good enough the first time, you can usually wait. It will come around again.

Garage sale shopping can be a lonely thing, it’s always good to bring a friend. I’m not talking about bring just any kind of friend. When you are trying to sort trash from treasure, you need to bring the buddy who will talk you out of buying that velvet Elvis print (or whatever garage sale “must have” you find). You need a good friend who will ask, “Do you really need that?” or “What are you doing to do with it?” A really good garage sale friend will tell you, “You already have 5 just like it and you don’t use any of them!”

When you are choosing your garage sale buddy, look for someone who isn’t afraid to be honest with you. He or She will be your greatest asset in finding garage sale gold

One of the best ways I know to keep from over spending at a garage sale is to only carry cash, and only carry the amount of cash that you actually are willing to spend.

This one is pretty simple. If you don’t have a checkbook, you can’t write a check. Set your limit for the day/week/month and pull out the cash at the beginning of the time period you choose. Don’t let yourself get any more garage sale cash FOR ANY REASON. With unlimited cash, you can bring home unlimited trash, but if you have a budget, you have to look for the treasures.

One more tip, when you are carrying cash to a garage sale, bring small bills $1, $5, $10, and even some quarters. Garage sales usually don’t have change for larger bills.

When you garage sale, it sounds contradictory to only buy something if you would pay full price for it. What place does full price have in a garage sale? I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, a garage sale bargain isn’t a bargain if you don’t need the item or won’t use it. When I go out shopping at garage sales, I only buy something if I know that I would pay full price for it later. This builds on the idea in Part 2: Shop with a List. I make the list first so I know what I want. As I shop at garage sales, I look for a bargain on these items. If I don’t find the things on my list, I will eventually (when it’s in the budget) buy many of these items new. This idea works for home decorator items, clothes, gifts, or whatever you are shopping for. If I wouldn’t buy something at retail prices, I shouldn’t buy it at a bargain price.

When you go shopping at a garage sale and are sorting the treasures from the trash, ask yourself, when I have the money, would I buy something similar for full price? If you really love your garage sale finds, they won’t turn into clutter as soon as they get carried in your front door.

For the garage sale junkie, a summer Saturday can be the perfect invitation for bringing more clutter into your home. One of the best ways that I have found to sort the treasures from the trash is to shop with a list.

List the home decorations you want to buy
Every few months I walk through my house and make a home improvement list. This will become my shopping list as I garage sale. When I find a potential treasure, I already know if I can use it in my house or not. If I don’t know where I will use it, I will pass this “treasure” because it’s really just trash in disguise.

List the clothes sizes for each member of your family
Garage sale clothes are cheap, so there is a lot of potential for great buys. The drawback is that there usually are no refunds from a garage sale and so clothes that don’t fit are wasted money. At the beginning of the garage sale season, measure everyone in your family and list their clothes sizes. If you take measurements of waist and inseam for pants, torso and arm length for shirts, neck size, etc. you can carry a soft tape measure with you and check the clothes for fit before you buy them. On this list, it’s good to have the actual clothing sizes along with the measurements as a double check. This will take just a few minutes, and could really pay off in garage sale savings. If you have children who are growing fast, buy a size above when you buy clothes for the next season.

List names that you are buying gifts for
If you are the sort who doesn’t mind giving second-hand gifts, garage sale season can be an ideal time to buy Christmas presents (or any other type of present). Make a list of names for people you need to buy presents for. When you buy a present for a person on your list, make sure you cross off that name so you don’t buy multiple presents for the same person.

When you buy gifts at a garage sale, carefully check the quality of the item. I often find quality gifts that I wouldn’t be able to afford otherwise. I’m fortunate enough that most of my friends and family are delighted to get unique gifts given with love even if the gift was bought second hand. You know who these friends are, go out and garage sale for them.

Don’t be afraid of garage sales, just bring your armor with you. Bring your lists.