Garage Sales are a Gold Mine!

Posted by M.S. on April 25, 2009

During the early years of my money journey, I discovered a virtual gold mine. That gold mine was garage sales–which I now absolutely LOVE!

I had the extreme good fortune of having a very creative and fun mother-in-law, who happened to LOVE going to garage sales with her friends for cheap entertainment and to get GREAT bargains.

The impression I had of garage sales at the time was not favorable–alright, I admit it–I had a very negative image of them. I thought the stuff was all JUNK no one wanted. Boy was I wrong! (Although there is almost always some junk in each garage sale.)

My negativity evaporated when my mother in law pulled out the cool items she had purchased on her latest rounds of “rummaging” trips. I was floored at what she could buy for a nickel, 25 or 50 cents!  She had items from Crate and Barrel, Pottery Barn and Williams-Sonoma that looked BARELY used and she had paid 25 cents for them!  She snagged high-end clothing items for herself and grandchildren that were 50 or 75 cents!   She had a wide variety of stuff she had gotten for practically NO money–and I was intrigued!   I had to find out what this was all about!

I started to tag along on her treasure hunts and was delighted to learn I could get all the furniture and accessories I needed to decorate and upgrade our duplexes at garage sales!   I got an even better deal because I drove up in  my older, unassuming “ugly” car- so it looked like I needed a super cheap deal, driving this old car (see earlier post).

Remember—we were trying to aggressively save—so every PENNY mattered!  The less we spent—the more we saved and the more we could invest!

Tables, lamps, dishes, clothing—you name it–they are all available at garage and estate sales for practically NO money!  I was HOOKED!

Over the years, these treasures increased the comfort and value of our personal home, as well as the rental real estate. Soon, my overflowing home loaded with frugal treasures caught the eye of the Discovery Channel and they featured a tour of our home on their top ranked Decorating Show.  They even flew me to Hollywood, where I demonstrated my frugal decorating techniques in their studio!

In 1998, I discovered eBay as the perfect place to sell the overflow of my accumulated treasures, and I have operated a successful eBay business ever since as a stay at home Mom,  making money, generating over 4,000 Positive Feedbacks and shipping goodies all over the world.

I continue to sell on eBay and am now one of the top ranked Education Specialists in the U.S., trained by eBay, as I  teach other people how to sell on eBay!  eBay is a terrific business for me and it is for YOU too!

Garage sales were a super deal back then–and they STILL are a fabulous source for great stuff for almost NO money!  And you are being kind to the environment by recycling!

Spring is here!  Get going to the garage sales!

I’ll see you there!