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Garage Sales: Treasure hunt - Garage Sales |
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Written by Erin Frustaci
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Thursday, 19 July 2007 |
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Page 1 of 2  If Rich Buckley, 36, and his 4-year-old daughter, Maggie, can buy ice cream from the earnings of a long day’s work, the two will be happy. But then again, it’s not the money they’re after.
“We’re getting ready to move, so we’ve been working up to this one,” Buckley said.
So, on a sunny Friday morning, the two pulled out all their goods onto the sloped driveway of their Fort Collins home. A child-sized toy corner oven sat by the sidewalk. Toys that were once brand-new were displayed in hopes of finding a new loving home. A table with four chairs was marked with a bargain sticker price of $10. A woman, who is expecting, sifted through children’s clothes and other cars trickled in.
The Buckley family has about three garage sales a year, just to keep themselves organized. The trick, Buckley said, is to price things low and move fast.
“If you aren’t out before 8 a.m., you’ll miss the rush,” he said. “The early-morning crowd shops hard.”
 Garage sales, though nothing new, can be the perfect way to purge the old, make a few extra bucks or find stuff you can’t find anywhere else.
Buckley said he prefers to be a garage ‘saler’ rather than a garage shopper. He figures he has enough of his own stuff.
“We probably have a whole other garage sale worth of stuff we haven’t gone through yet,” he said.
Elizabeth Smith, 48, of Fort Collins doesn’t usually like to have garage sales, but because she, too, is moving, it was time to try again.
“Garage sales are a lot of work for little money, but I had some big items,” she said.
Smith has done meticulous price labeling in the past, but she didn’t like it. This time, she let people come to her to make an offer.
So, how does a garage sale shopper know when it’s appropriate to bargain?
Dan Brock, 45, of Fort Collins has a few pointers. He works as a “dealer”— which is a term he uses to describe himself. Essentially, he buys stuff and then resells it. He has done that for 26 years and has a booth at an indoor flea market on South College Avenue.
“You just have to feel it out,” Brock said. “You can always listen to what someone else does. If the person haggles with them, they will probably haggle with you.”
Brock, who started out as a pawn broker, offers this key: Know something about something. What does that mean? Be specific, whether that something is music, books, antiques, etc.
He will often ask for specific things. For instance, he asked Smith if she had any musical instruments.
“Musical instruments seem to be something everybody has but doesn’t think about selling,” Brock said.
Though she didn’t have any outside, she did say she had a violin she would be willing to sell. After checking it out, Brock kindly turned it down. In addition to his flea market booth, Brock will also sell items on eBay. He estimates about 40 percent of garage salers are dealers and that there are two kinds of garage sales— the kind to make money and the kind to get rid of stuff.
“I know a lot of dealers,” he said.
Still, many garage salers are more of the recreational sort. Katie May, 34, of Fort Collins goes garage sale shopping every Friday morning with a co-worker/friend.
“I look for things for my kids — whatever catches me,” she said.
She’s found whole libraries of books, craft stuff, hats, belts and more.
“We usually stop at Starbucks first,” she said. “It’s a good way to spend time with friends.”
Deana Aragon, 40, of Fort Collins will usually stop at a garage sale if she sees a sign and has time. Sometimes she will look in the newspaper and go to a specific location. She said the prices are great and she can find things she wouldn’t ordinarily find in the stores. The garage-sale purchase she’s proudest of is a swing set.
Often, the trick to having a good garage sale is trial and error. Katie Cordova, 40, of Fort Collins has a big garage sale every year.
“I’ve learned over the years what stuff will go for,” she said.
She also recommends organizing clothes in such a way that they are easy to see. She hangs them on a clothesline that runs across the garage. She also times her garage sale around the first weekend of the month.
“A lot of people get paid once a month,” she said. “Hopefully, that’s good for me.”
After all, one person’s junk is another person’s treasure.
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DUDS OR DEALS?
You just never know what you’ll find. You could find the deal of the century or a century-old gingerbread house. Either way, there’s plenty to be found. Here’s what NEXTnc staffers found on a recent garage-sale outing.
▶ Table and four chairs = $10
▶ Skis = $25
▶ Chair made out of skis = $45
▶ “You want it when?” sign = 50 cents
▶ Purse = $1 (This deal was too good for Heidi, the photographer, to pass up!)
▶ Model tepee = $6 (Not sure what this is for, but it was cool!)
▶ Kid’s bike = $5
▶ Snow White costume = $3
▶ Beanie Babies = $3-$10
▶ Pre-baked, ready-to-build gingerbread kit = $1 (Hopefully it’s also pre-expired)
▶ Bird cage = $4
▶ Collector Barbies in boxes = $12-$80 (The one for $80 was the Millennium Barbie)
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|  | "Humankind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost. That is Alchemy's first law of Equivalent Exchange. In those days, we really believed that to be the world's one, and only truth." | |
|  | We're not that bright, even though in our own little world, we're geniuses. We like 80s hair bands and one-hit wonders, but among us we have respectable tastes, too. Metallica, Iron Maiden, U2. Pursuit of all things trivial is a lifestyle, not just a game. We like some sports, love other sports, and can find something to say about anything. We watch TV and movies and we've read a book or two, even a few classics (Yes, Classic Comics count!)
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|  | Felix Wong is an outdoor enthusiast living in Fort Collins. A mechanical engineer by day, he is especially passionate about bicycling, running, and backpacking. | |
|  | Hola Amigos! I'm Sandra. I like to believe that people are 70 percent good and 30 percent dumb. I'm stickin to that story. Reading this blog might make you want to be good, but probably just dumb. | |
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I am a recent college graduate of Minnesota State University Moorhead. After recieving my B.A. in English and Mass Communications this past August I moved down to Colorado.
I enjoy long walks on the beach, candlelight dinners, and heavy metal. My hobbies include reading and writing, music, movies, and getting drunk. Some of my favorite contemporary authors include Bret Easton Ellis, Chuck Palahniuk, and Kurt Vonnegut. My top movies are anything directed by Kubrick. I enjoy listening to anything that rocks.
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--Drew | |
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| | My name is Michelle Turley and I'm 28 years old. I live in Severance with my hubbie, Brandon. We have 2 dogs and a cat. We enjoy camping, four-wheeling, and just being in the mountains. I like to cook, clean (go figure), flea market, and play poker. I have so much to say about poker... | |
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