Oh, I also go to bed at 10:30 now.
I've decided I need more of these things in my life- black stretchy pants, puppies, and garage sales.
Since moving out of the sorority house and starting to nest in my new apartment, I care a little bit more about the things that I have and how I decorate my house. It's the life after college thing, I'm telling you guys it's weird.
I've been a garage-saler all of my life. When I was little my mom and I would go on Saturday mornings and I would always want to buy a board game with my money even though there was no way in the world all the pieces would be there, and my parents would have to buy me the game brand new anyway.
It wasn't until last weekend when I went with a friend that I realized I knew a little bit about the "science" of garage sales.
I didn't start going to garage sales in Edmond until about a year ago. I was moving out of the sorority house and into a "real" house for the first time, and I needed "stuff".
This was about a year after my parent's house burned down and all I had was the stuff that I brought to college with me, which included 15 boyfriend pocket t's from target and a mirror I bought from a thrift store in high school.
Here are some of my best garage sale finds:
This is my most recent find - the price was at 20 but I haggled down to 15 even though I probably would have paid 20. The lady I bought it from said she's had it forever! And she was old...
This TV stand is probably the most I've ever paid for something at a garage sale, but it's actually really nice quality. It was 40 dollars and the lady "said" she paid 250 for it. Not sure I believe it but it's a really nice piece of furniture.
That party light has gotten a lot of good use. Every time my roommates and I would start drinking, we'd turn on the light. 25 cents.
I got these two vintage cameras for 5 dollars each. I'm not sure if they work or not but I looooove the way that they look!
I think I bought this silver tray for 2 dollars last year. I use it to hold all of my perfumes!
I bought this nightstand last year for 5 dollars, painted it and replaced the handles. It's the perfect size to hold the books I haven't read. I also got that lamp at a garage sale for 3 dollars and I replaced the shade with one that I got at a discount furniture store.
So basically everything that I own is from a garage sale. Since I've been going practically my whole life, there are some tips and tricks that I've picked up, especially in the past year or so.
- The earlier the better. Now, I'm not hardcore because I've never gone out on a Friday morning because my work schedule would never allow it. But I do wake up around 7 and head out around 8. It gets so hot so quickly and you're probably done by 10:30, all the good stuff is gone.
- The older the homeowner, the better. That means that you're not going to be looking at baby clothes and nokia brick cell phones. Generally if it's a young family there's not going to be that great of stuff. You want an old couple, probably a set of grandparents or older that have really cool old stuff. That's where I've found most of the vintage stuff that I've bought, old records, silver, those vintage cameras. Even if you don't buy anything from the older people, it's really neat to see all the crap they've collected over the years.
- Don't be afraid to haggle. If the people aren't crazy (which some of them think they're going to make a serious profit from selling baby clothes OUT OF THEIR GARAGES) then what they're essentially doing is trying to get rid of the crap. There will usually be a price on whatever you're wanting, and I try to go as low as possible whenever I haggle. That way if they go lower than the original asking price, but not my price, I know I have a deal. If they won't budge just walk away. Usually they will give you what you want because they're just trying to get rid of the crap.
- Estate Sales - those are different. Usually they are held because someone died, so it's kinda weird looking through their house, their clothes and all of their stuff knowing that that person is dead. It's a little bit more tense than when you go to a garage sale and talk to the person about all the Fear Street books they have for sale. I don't go to a lot of estate sales because they generally price everything pretty high. I've never had good luck with them.
- Don't feel bad if you don't buy anything. I usually talk to the people when I come up and that's where I get the best tips. I was talking to a young couple telling them I needed furniture and they pointed me to the neighborhood where I bought that TV stand. I always ask how they're doing and then thank them when I leave.
- Drive-By's are generally telling if there's good stuff or not, but you never know what's going to be there when you park your car and get out. If the garage looks bare, I just go on to the next one.
- Rich neighborhoods are sometimes great - but mostly the stuff doesn't have as much character as an older neighborhood.
- May is the best month for garage sales, by July neighborhoods have generally already had their "Garage Sale Weekend"
Those are my garage sale tips for now - I think next weekend I'm venturing out to Oklahoma City and Moore- I'll be sure to post my finds!
I'm off to finish watching The Office and then I'm crawling into bed! Maybe I'll blog more this month....
Mal xoxo
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