Why I heart garage sales.

I could have said "love", but "heart" is much more non-committal.

It's the reason to keep waking up early, even though it's saturday. On a really nice day, you can drive around with a coffee and the windows rolled down, as your partner of choice puts his/her feet up on the dash and you slow down to read any neon piece of paper, and turn at the balloons strapped to a car. It's like a slow-motion road-trip, as people's closets, basements and attics regurgitate onto their front lawn.

Whether you're an amateur garage-sale-goer, or a full-on-loser like me, here are som rules of garage-sale-driving for those who are looking to actually buy:

Rule #1: Stop at every garage sale, no matter how lazy or unfriendly the people may look. There's no "type" of person that chooses to make a garage sale, there's only the people who don't throw them. That being said, you don't know that an interesting conversation might actually occur, and besides, it's more about what they own. This person is not a fiend, a recluse, or a pack rat: they just chose that today they will sit out in the sun while making a few bucks, and quite frankly, having about 50 cars pull up in front of your place in a day, can be intimidating. So, showing up when there's nobody around will be very welcome on their part.

Rule #2: Don't judge the garage sale by its looks. The one with a bunch of baby stuff might just have a few boxes of stuff that you're looking for (unless of course, you're looking for baby stuff). However, if you're looking for toys of a specific generation, like, ummmm, Transformers? Attending a baby sale is the wrong move. Be aware of your age, the transformers will be at the middle-aged garage sales.

Rule #3: Garage sales thrown by apartment buildings are a goldmine. A lot of the times, the landlord is one of the people within the sale. That means that there might be some REALLY good stuff for sale that was just abandoned by an old tenant out of pure frustration. Translation: there's no emotional connection between the seller and the object, AND, he just wants the stuff to be out of here -- go for it, it's bound to be cheap.

Rule #4: Learn what not to buy, by paying attention to what people are selling. What you don't need in your life will become blatantly evident, and you can get rid of those expensive commercial "do I need this'" forever.. or just buy them for 1$ and chuck em' when you realize the truth. Furthermore, you'll be a bit more aware of necessities of life that you might have overlooked.

Rule #5: don't be a friggin' purist. If someone is selling commercial overstock at a garage sale: consider the value. Expiring commodities such a lightbulbs, batteries, furniture pads etc, are really expensive when you choose to buy them as-you-need them. I saw a box full of brand-new lightbulbs at 1$/4pack. I'm stocked for the next little while.

Rule #6: if it's a couple, talk to the men. Men aren't really happy to have to stay home for this, and they'll beg you to take the stuff away. However, if the item seems to be under the jurisdiction of the male (such as golf clubs, powertools or anything "toys for men"), talk to the wife: her bitterness will save you money.

What's cheap nowadays? DVDs and Music CDs. People really don't want to put stuff back on that shelf, and we all know what the price of DVDs has dropped down to. You can find DVDs for the price of a rental, and *good* CDs for under 1$. Of course, you might have to sift through a few copies of McMario, BIG SHINY TUNES vol52, and Boyz2men: but I got me some Marilyn Manson and the Fight Club soundrack for a quarter -- I think chalk costs more than that.

As for the rest, people are now doing garage sales to get RID of stuff, and no offer gets refused, especially on a Sunday. It's no longer "I'm gonna try to sell this", it's "Get that f$%ckin' thing out of here".

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I've been doing the garage-sale saturday-morning-ritual thing for a WHILE now, but this year, I was supposed to slow it down a bit. How could I? We don't stop shopping, and we go out there when we do need things and pay them full price. When there's a possibility that you can buy items for ridiculously less than the actual price whilst soaking up some sun-and-social, it's money in the bank.

This year, the focus for me is on essentials: Things that cost way too much when you need them. If someoene's selling lightbulb, BUY THEM. Extension cords/Power Bars, you'll be happy to have a spare. As I said, a lot of people are store owners and will try to sell overstock for ridiculously cheap: look for those brown boxes.

Here are my entertainment finds thus far for this year:

GameBoy Color with 1 game
4$

PSOne, Two Controllers, Two Memeory Cards,
Gran Turismo 1, Gran Turismo 2. and You Don't Know Jack.
10$

Commodore 64 "sheltered tennager kit"
(BOXED Computer and 1541 Drive, Milkcrate full of purchased and copied disks,
Fastload Cart, WICO Command|Control Stick)
20$

Colecovision System, Yamaha 16/6fx Mixing Board, PS2 Light Gun
35$

PS2, Two Controllers, 5 Games, DVD Remote
50$

I've also found some great interior decoration jewels. People are sometimes sad to part with them, but at least they know it's going to a good home.

Now, why would I buy an extra PS2? Simple: there are games that are worth playing, but not all my friends actually own a console. That way, you can play lend-it-to-me-santa-claus and put a PS2 with God of War and Burnout in a plastic bag, and just hand it over with a smile. Plus, games still have decent trade-in value at the right store. So when you think about it, 4 flagship titles can get you between 2$(ebgames) and 35$(anywhere else) towards your next obsession.

The PSOne? I was actually just looking for a memory card, and was willing to pay 10$ for one card alone. I didn't know!! I didn't know you had to put a PS1 memory card into a PS2 in order to be able to save your game!

And the mixing board, well, list price is 420$ U.S. In fact, I think I'll go bask in that light for a little bit...