Frugal Parenting

Okay, so we all know that yard sales are great ways to get great stuff for low prices. But not all yard sales finds are created equal. Here is a tip I discovered today: The time of day you show up at the yard sale matters a great deal.

If you get to the yard sale early, you’ll get the pick of all the best items for sale. This is helpful, because often a lot of the good stuff sells first, and if you get there late, you’re picking among stuff that may or may not belong in the garbage can.

But if you get to the yard sale late, you can get amazing prices on items. Because the sellers realize that all the junk left is probably not going to sell and they’ll be stuck with packing up boxes of crap, they sometimes drastically reduce their prices.

That’s what happened to me today. I showed up at a yard sale at noon, which is about the time yard sales start winding down. The family still had tables and boxes worth of baby clothes. Earlier in the yard sale, they were selling each item of baby clothing for $1 to $2. By the time I got there, they were handing out large garbage bags and asking $10 per bagful of clothing.

My husband and I filled a garbage bag completely full of clothing, paid the $10, and counted up our items. We got around 40 items of pants, shirts, and onesies, 10 hats and bibs, and about 10 pairs of baby socks. That’s 60 items for $10. (And these were Baby Gap, Old Navy, Baby Guess brands.) So we paid between 15-20 cents per item. Not bad!

So my advice is this: If you’re looking for rock bottom prices, show up at the end of the yard sale. You can find some great deals that way!

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