Garage Sales & Your Thrifty Itinerary

So many garage sales...so little time

Sure, we're called Let's Go Thrifting! but we love all venues for unique thrifty finds, including garage sales and flea markets. So if you're hitting the road this weekend to track down some secondhand savings, make sure you have a solid travel itinerary.

"Gee·sale·er·dot·com" is the premier search engine specifically designed for garage sales. You can search by the sale date, by state, by city and even by local neighborhood. And if you're hoping to hit several sales in one day, their Trip Planner will map out your custom list for easy traveling.

If you are organizing a garage sale of your own, Gsalr is also a reliable resource for free listings. We added ours today and love the idea of being easily navigated.  And all of these features are free!

So say, for example... you should find yourself in Philadelphia tomorrow. Add our sale at 3816 Greenacres Road to your custom Trip Planner map and come on by.

So fill up the gas tank, grab your thrift wish list and get going with a map of can't-miss thrifty destinations.

Odds ‘n’ Ends Thursday: That’s the Last of It

Well, we finally finished going through all of the boxes, bags and storage bins in preparation for Saturday’s garage sale. While I wasn’t particularly thrilled to have clouds of dust clog my nasal cavity, or to see itty bitty spiders that camp-out in the crevices of the garage pop out unexpectedly, or to have an entire wall-mounted cabinet to come de-walled only to slam on to my shoulder, it wasn’t all bad. Rediscovering previously treasured items from the past was nice.

We relived the Furby trend for a moment. We laughed at the unbelievable amount of collections we’ve amassed. We found things we even forgot we still owned.

Then we played with them…



My sister decided to play a game of “Which One of These is Not Like the Other” with a pile of pugs. Pugsley seems only mildly annoyed.



And this is the product of a 27 and 22 year old, respectively. We stuffed Rainbow Brite, Twink, Mr. Peepers the Owl and a tiny pug into this sweet set of wheels and rolled them around the carpet for the dogs to chase. Of course, the dogs grew bored of this before we did.

After a few minutes of playtime, we packed it up. Some things will stay. some things will go. But it was fun reliving the past.

Tomorrow we’re going to take a drive around to post up some fliers for the garage sale. I think they are sufficiently kitschy.

What childhood favorites have you reminiscing about the past?

The Thrifted Life: Organizing a Garage Sale

Look at all these things!


Being what I refer to as a professional thrifter and appreciator of the secondhand, I have accumulated a lot over the years. While I am constantly dusting and organizing my treasured finds, there comes a time when you realize the magnitude of what you own. Of course I donate a lot to Goodwill, many items which may very well came to me from the very same shelves of Goodwill—in some sort of cyclical loaning process.

But when the junk is piling up and the income is running low, having a garage sale seems to be a novel idea. And on Saturday, the idea will come into practice.

To ensure the success of the sale I began to organize items a month ago, slowly but surely bagging and boxing it all up. Now I’ll organize my thoughts so that others may be inspired to purge their junk:

• First thing was to decide what would stay and what will go. It’s been said many times that if you haven’t used an item in over a year and won’t be using it in the foreseeable future, it’s time to let it go.

• I try to keep items together. Toys with toys. A few boxes of books, CDs, DVDs, a box for small electronics. Things will be least likely to go M.I.A. the day of the sale if they are neatly organized.

• I have a mental price list for big ticket items, asking a slightly higher cost than what will likely be paid. I expect to be haggled and therefore will be haggled down to a price that I may expect to make for that item.

• I don’t waste time pricing each individual item, because I find price tags scare some of the clientele. I just like to distance the garage sale from the typical retail environment. Besides as a garage sale shopper, isn’t it much more fun to ask for a price, haggle, then finally agree?

• I created a Facebook event for family and friends who love looking for assorted useful junk, made a Craig’s List advertisement and will be posting plenty of fliers around the neighborhood prior to the sale.

• Later in the week I’ll get to the bank to make assorted small change, very important considering the amount of cheaply priced wares I’ll be peddling.

• I plan to set up early, no later than 7 am, and will also be making sure to move the cars from the driveway and in front of our house so drivers passing through can see the sale items.

• Lastly and most importantly, I am making this a community event. I invited friends and neighbors to join me in purging the excesses and making a few bucks for our street’s first multi-family garage sale.

So long as the weather holds out and we get some decent thru-traffic, the garage sale should be an all-around success. I still have a lot to do, but the end result will hopefully be well worth the work.

Are you having a garage sale this season?

The Week in Review: My New Left Shoe

Admittedly, there was not a lot of thrift productivity this week. This is for a couple of reasons:

1. My right foot is still booted from the stress fracture.
2. Due to the inconvenient boot and the inability to drive, I’m at the mercy of others when it comes to getting out of the house.
3. I’m kind of broke and still awaiting my temporary disability payment. (Isn’t it just a little sad when you’re too broke to go thrift shopping)?

Earlier in the week, I had a run-in with a mob of angry clowns. But Saturday night, I paid a visit to 2nd Avenue and bought only the essentials:



60 cents and worth every penny.

 An adorable framed vintage tile piece with a little 70’s girl holding flowers. She's a bit dusty, but otherwise too cute to pass-up.

I also found a gorgeously kitsch framed 70’s yarn art for my best friend. (Photo will be posted a bit later). Truth be told, I love this piece and want it for my own. I just have no available wall space. Plus she has a similar 70’s floral decor theme and this would make a nice addition. It should also be noted that she’s been rescuing me from constant couch vegetation and literally pushed me around the mall last week in a rented wheelchair. Now that’s friendship.



Brand new, never worn Converse for $5.

And irony of ironies, I also scored a pair of brand new Converse One Star canvas flats. Of course I would thrift a pair of perfect-fit, size 11 shoes while I have a busted foot. But it’s not like I could just ask them to sell me just the left one for a discounted price, right?

This upcoming week will be bustling with frantic secondhand organizing as I prepare for a garage sale next Saturday. It’s just time to let go of a few things, maybe make some money, make some room. Then I will have a cleaner, better organized space for other new-to-me thrift acquisitions. Out with the old and in with the…old, I guess.

How was your thrifting week?