I love yard sales, but unlike many people I don't go to them all the time. Mostly because I don't really need more "stuff"! I am always trying to weed it out!! However evey year in June, our small town has a large community yard sale, and I will spend most of the day going to these sales (usually about 20+). It takes several hours to visit and eat linch at the fire house too! My kids love this day and save their money to go every year.

Some of the best things I have found are: brand new boys underwear for 10 cents a pair, A big bag of socks for $1.00, an "oldies" country music tape for 50 cents that we listen to constantly, a stack of picture frames with a neat old horse picture for $1 total, a nice blue blanket for 25 cents, lots of books, fabric, sheets, bulletin boards for 50 cents, brand new games, canning jars for $1 a box, small jelly jars that don't use screw on lids, we use them for small drinking glasses, a nice glass corning ware set (3 bowls with lids) for 50 cents, that was like brand new! a pressure cooker missing the weight but with everthing else for 25 cents, ...I could go on and on, but you are probably sick of reading about it!!!

Tell us about your best finds!!!!!

-- Melissa (cmnorris@1st.net), October 20, 2001

Answers

I guess the very best thing in the last year I've found was a Victoria strainer for $10.00 they're normally $50.00, but just recently I found my mil several pairs of pants and blouses really cheap, size 22-24, these are normally very hard to find in this size thats not wore out. Today I found about 120 newborn disposable diapers for $1.00, the lady had stored them and forgot about them, the baby outgrew them! I'm not haveing any babies but my nephew and his wife are! What a find! Whats really a treat is when you find something you've really been needing, in good condition and a good price! I found a nice lamp for my dh's table for $2.50. I have been going lately more than I should really, I have to keep a list of needed things to remind myself not to buy so much junk!

-- Carol in Tx (cwaldrop@peoplescom.net), October 20, 2001.

The books Ten Acres Enough and 5 Acres and Independece for a nickle each.

-- Cindy (S.E.IN) (atilrthehony@countrylife.net), October 20, 2001.

Our best find was after a yard sale. The next day the people moved and left everything that didn't sell on the curb. My son came home with a Singer sewing machine that my daughter is using to learn with.

-- Cathy N. (keeper8@attcanada.ca), October 20, 2001.

Last summer I found a piesafe(hutch) it new condition for $10.00. New books for a nickle,cast iron skillets for .10 and boys boots and western clothes for .10 an item. I also found new, in the box pampered chef stoneware for 2.00 a box,and Martha Stewart sheets for 1.00.Quilts for 2.00, I could go on but I won't .If you see a yard sale that is way out in the country. Go. Not very many will and they want to sell.

-- Micheale from SE Kansas (mbfrye@totelcsi.net), October 20, 2001.

My daughter called today to tell me she bought my Christmas present at a yard sale today. She was so excited she couldn't wait until Christmas to tell me about it.

She found 12 old issues of Mother Earth News Magazines from the 70s (back when MEN was a "good" magazine). She got them at a church yard sale where she bought whatever she could fit in a box for $1.00. She also got two pairs of boots for the baby, four books and a working popcorn maker plus a few other odds and ends.

My best buy was a L.L.Bean field coat in "like new" condition for $10. (They sell in the catalog for $139.) I was thrilled. I also got a Radio Flyer red wagon in very good condition for free. I use it to haul bags of feed to the chicken house.

Wishing you enough.

-- Trevilians (aka Dianne in Mass) (Trevilians@mediaone.net), October 20, 2001.

THe best things i'v ever gotten at a yard sale, was this gorgeous looking necklace, that could have been prom or ball material, but being sold for less than my thoughts are worth. THen another time i bought a really nice lamp for 1$, it had it for five years, until i got sick of the dust it collected. My moms a yard sale-oholic, so shes always finding stuff and bringing it home.

-- jillian (sweetunes483@yahoo.com), October 20, 2001.

Our best find wasn't at a garage sale, but was at an auction. The auctioneer put a bunch of boxes of 'junk' together and nobody would bid on them. Finally my hubby bid $.50 and the auctioneer yelled "SOLD!" (My hubby has an affinity for boxes of junk!) He brought the boxes home and as we were going through them, he picked up a magazine from the bottom of a box and went pale. It was a first edition first issue of Sports Illustrated! We sold it on eBay for just under $100.00. :-)

I don't complain about him bringing home boxes of junk anymore!

-- Cheryl in KS (cherylmccoy@rocketmail.com), October 21, 2001.

Hello Melissa, My wife and I are always going to yard sales, looking for stuff to use and to re-sell. We re-sell many items on Ebay as a way to bring in an extra income. One time we stopped at a garage sale and I found a copy of Madonna's Sex Book. It was a limited edition, and new they were costing $50.00, (back in the early ninties). We got it for $2.50. I went home an posted it on Ebay figuring that I could probably get $10 or so for it. Well, by the end of the auction we had sold it for $198.00! That was probably the best profit that we had ever made on any item that we had sold on Ebay then and now! Sincerely, Ernest

-- http://communities.msn.com/livingoffthelandintheozarks (espresso42@hotmail.com), October 21, 2001.

An old rocking chair that the woman having the yard sale said had been cluttering up her basement -- she sold it to me for $13. It turned out to be solid oak -- hand made and circa 1815....

Not a bad deal! This is why I like going to yard sales in "rich" neighborhoods!!!

-- Tracy (trimmer31@hotmail.com), October 21, 2001.

The "best" deal was a Victorio Strainer (in perfect shape) for $3.00.

Two weeks ago, for a total of $2.25, we bought a pair of men's insulated coveralls (just a little paint on them), a men's insulted work coat that matched the coveralls, a pair of men's size Old Navy jeans for one of our sons, two men's dress shirts, one men's flannel shirt, pair of boy's sweat pants, a window topper, a cloth shower curtain, a pillowcase, an electric alarm clock, a pretty tin filled with about $12.00 worth of thank you and notecards, a ladie's wallet, and a lug wrench. All of these items are in excellent condition except for the coveralls.

On top of this, our youngest son loves to sing and someone there gave him a $1.00 to sing. We have laughed and laughed over this - went to a garage sale and "earned" a dollar on top of our great deals!!

-- Terry - NW Ohio (aunt_tm@hotmail.com), October 21, 2001.

This was also an auction as opposed to a yard sale but the best buy I've EVER made. I went to an estate sale because of a trailer and a safe I wanted to buy. I arrived when household goods were still being sold. Just like Cheryl's story, they had boxes of 'miscellaneous' they were selling. 'Miscellaneous costume jewelry' was what was announced and no one bid. They added a second box and still got no bid. A third box was added and I bid $1.00 just to move things along and, of course, owned them.

I didn't get the trailer or the safe but paid my $1.00 at the end of the sale and almost left the junk there. Only the thought that my then-young daughter might find something to play with in the boxes had me actually take them home.

I decided to go through everything and eliminate items with pins or sharp edges before letting her root through everything. In so doing, I found an old gentleman's Rolex Day/Date watch with a President band. I couldn't believe it was the real thing until I had my Mom (a retired watchmaker) examine it.

The irony of the whole thing was that this watch must've been worn by the smallest man ever. I couldn't get it over my hand. The only adjustment on these is by adding or removing links... real gold links! I spent more money on links for that thing than I'd EVER spend on a watch before I could even wear it.

Then, the first time I did, I damaged the crystal on a steel plate. Well, of course the crystal wasn't plastic, or even glass. I believe I was told it was "clear sapphire" and, the way it was priced, I believed it! By the time I paid for that on top of all the links I'd bought, I decided I wasn't a 'Rolex' kind of guy and sold it to the jeweler who'd done all the work on it for me. I still made out fine but always remember that watch when I think about something being a "bargain" because that was one bargain I couldn't afford.

-- Gary in Indiana (gk6854@aol.com), October 21, 2001.

One of my best buys was a box of dishes-I didn't have enough matching plates for my extended family when they came to our house so I found a box of nice white stoneware with pale blue rims-the box was $5 but I could tell it had plenty of plates so I went ahead and got it with out looking at in it. The box was so big and heavy a guy had to put it in my car-I was afraid it would burst through. At home, I found 12 matching plates-that in itself was a great buy, but also some lttle bowls that are perfect kid bowls-enough for my kids and thier cousins, plus some cool funky 60's classes, plus 4 McCoy pottery bowls which I havn't sold but which will bring consderably more than $5!

-- Kelly in Ky (ksaderholm@yahoo.com), October 21, 2001.

I usually look but don't find too many real bargains in my area any more, things are getting so no one does their own sales anymore, but hires them done! (Estate Sales, mostly) I did, however, about 2 or 3 years ago, buy an envelope box (the kind that holds 500 #10s) full of little odds and ends, knickknacks and a lot of dirty pieces of what appeared to be a child's tea set - the only thing was, they were marked on the bottom "Made in Occupied Japan" and were the blue willow pattern. I offered the $10 the lady suggested right quick, thinking they had to be worth at least that. When I got home and cleaned out the box, I had 26 pieces of that Blue Willow in wonderful condition (after being washed), along with a set of handpainted Noritake salt and pepper shakers, a salt-and-pepper from the Chicago World's Fair, old doll's baby bottle still in the box, and numerous other bric-a-brac. I haven't sold it yet, but just watched a set identical to mine sell on Ebay a couple of months ago for $400! I can tell you, cute as it is, it won't be long for this house!

-- Christine in OK (cljford@aol.com), October 27, 2001.

The best thing i ever found at a Garage \ Yard sale was a bunch of pieces of furniture for a 10.oo . THERE was a total of 11 different pieces all in nice condition.{2 bureaus...a desk....a jelly cabinet.3 night stands...2 end tables..a cofee table and a small deacons bench. that was about 3 weeks ago ...i paint furniture and am working on some pieces as we speak. But i already painted and sold the deacons bench for 125.00.And the set of end tables for 150.00 to the same person .all in a beutiful hunter green with burgandy rose pattern. i'm seeing dollar signs here!!!! lol! THE TRUE MEANING OF ONE MANS JUYNK IS ANOTHER MANS TREASURE ...OR WOMANS AS THE CASE MAY BE!!! LOL!

-- Donna Wilkins (ddwhyme63@excite.com), July 26, 2002.

OOPS ...ME AGAIN ...LOOKING I THINK BY THE WAY I QUICKLY TYPED IN THAT LAST MESSAGE ..I'D BETTER GO LOOKING AT YARD SALES TOMORROW FOR HARDLY USED BRAINS !!!!!! I CAN REALLY SPELL THE WORDS BEAUTIFUL ...AND JUNK!!!! LOL!!!! BUT HAD A 4 YR OLD BUGGING ME AT THE TIME I WAS TYPING THE MESSAGE!!!! LOL!!!! JUST WANTED TO CLEAR THAT UP!!!! LMAO!!!!!! KIDS CAN MAKE ALL MOTHERS GET A CASE OF TEMPORARY INSANITY FROM TIME TO TIME!!!!

-- DonnaWilkins (ddwhyme63 @excite.com), July 26, 2002.

OOPS ...ME AGAIN ...LOOKING I THINK BY THE WAY I QUICKLY TYPED IN THAT LAST MESSAGE ..I'D BETTER GO LOOKING AT SALES TOMORROW FOR HARDLY USED BRAINS !!!!!! I CAN REALLY SPELL THE WORDS BEAUTIFUL ...AND JUNK!!!! LOL!!!! BUT HAD A 4 YR OLD BUGGING ME AT THE TIME I WAS TYPING THE MESSAGE!!!! LOL!!!! JUST WANTED TO CLEAR THAT UP!!!! LMAO!!!!!! KIDS CAN MAKE ALL MOTHERS GET A CASE OF TEMPORARY INSANITY FROM TIME TO TIME!!!!

-- DonnaWilkins (ddwhyme63 @excite.com), July 26, 2002.