Posted in Frugal Friday
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Hello fellow readers. Yes its time for another edition of Frugal Fridays! Gotta love it. My frugal tip isn't a newbie, but I fling in an organizational element to it. I'd like to bring up the old yard sale. You know, next to freecycle and generous friends and relatives passing along their quality stuff for nothing, its the best thing for getting what you need cheap. Now notice I said what you NEED, not to pile junk in your house! I hope my organizational tip will help you decipher need from want. I have an ongoing garage sale list. I put things on it that most folks would put on a Walmart or Target list, such as cookware, basic clothing (or not so basic), lamp shades, furniture, etc. Garage sales can be magnets for this kind of stuff at unbeatable prices. I keep this list in my kitchen and make notes on it as needed. Now the next question is when and where to garage sale. I prefer to garage sale alone, without kids. If you bring the kids you will always come home with junk. You know, stuff from the free boxes? The quarter toy that will eventually end up in your garbage, that kind of stuff. When that isn't an option, I limit one item to each kid from the free box (that means one item no matter how many garage sales we hit), and they must spend their own money on stuff. The best place to garage sale in my area is at a large community garage sale. We have a, lets say, more affluent neighborhood up on the hill that has a twice a year community garage sale. One of them is today and tomorrow. I hope to get out and look at what's up there, but we'll see. My garage sale list is short right now so I'm reluctant to go. Again, getting what you need verses what you want - i.e. the accumulation of junk. Most areas of the country tend to have garage sales from May through September. This is the 'season' as it may. So, if you get the bug to go out and hit some of the last sales of the season, keep your head open for these items: (okay think fall/winter now) rubber boots, rain gear, snowsuits, sleds/outdoor winter toys, nice items for Christmas gifts or Christmas decor, Fall decor, Thanksgiving/Christmas dishes, winter coats. One note on the garage sale items as gifts. Personally, I don't have issue with giving a garage sale item as a gift IF it doesn't look like it was purchased and used over and over for 20 years. Yeah, its got to look new or you need to dress it up enough at home for it to look new. I've gotten brand new clothes, stationary, toys and the like at garage sales. Some of them have turned into nice gifts and no one is the wiser (okay, well my youngest daughter did once tell a cousin that I bought her birthday gift at a garage sale, but it made for a good laugh and you know, the cousins are frugal too and thought it was cute.) Lets chaulk that up for yet another reason to garage sale without the kids! :) Janelle |
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Posted by Anonymous