Find yourself with a dull weekend morning and a little extra change in your pocket? Check out your local yard sales!

If you’re a fan of consignment shops, Goodwill, and thrift stores, you probably already know how to spot a good bargain. For those of you who have never been to a yard sale (I have met several people who tell me they’ve never gone!) you might wonder why you should even bother looking at things other people have thrown out.

Why Go to Yard Sales?

For my family, yard sales are a great way to stretch our budget. We look for items we’d buy anyway. It also helps my kids learn the value of a dollar. They have found video games, movies, tech gear, and other items that would have cost much more if purchased new at a retail prices. I love Pampered Chef items, but rarely buy them because they’re so expensive. At yard sales, though, I’ve been able to find the apple peeler/slicer with base ($5), several Mix N’ Scrape spatulas (25 cents), a mandolin ($5), and more.

For us, it’s also a fun activity. My husband and I love to go “yard saling” together; in fact, we prefer it to date nights at a restaurant or movies. We like to talk while we’re driving to the sales, and we love treasure hunting together. We’ve found amazing deals, lots of freebies, and even made friends in our town that we wouldn’t have otherwise met.

I also think that buying used helps the environment. It gives objects a new life; they might otherwise be thrown away and take up landfill space. Maybe that’s my Pollyanna spin on being cheap, but it makes sense to me!

Finally, buying used frees me up about stuff. I don’t cling to it because it cost a bazillion dollars. Instead, when an object reaches the end of its life with me, I’m more likely to share it or even give it away because hey! I only paid $1! An example — I’m always buying books at yard sales. Even at a used bookstore, you can pay $2-$10 for a book. I look for them at a 50-cent or $1 price point (though I’ll pay more if it’s a book I really want.) After I read them, I am happy to share them with my friends, family, and even be a book fairy. My hoarding tendencies are quieted a bit when I know I didn’t waste a month’s salary on something we don’t need anymore.

Hoping to give it a try? Here are some things to keep in mind when you go to yard sales.

Go With a List

Make an ongoing list of items you would like to buy if you saw it at the right price. Have you been wanting a bench for the empty spot in your entryway, or some inexpensive pots to start your container garden? If you’re looking for clothes, know the sizes you need in advance. Have a price in mind for these items. Keeping a list helps you to be aware of things you might otherwise pass up. For example, my daughter told me she wanted an Apple keyboard for her iPad. Instead of buying one online, where used ones ran around $27, we ended up finding one at a yard sale for $5. It was even charged already; she used it in the car on the way home!

My husband is always looking for woodworking tools, and I’m currently on the hunt for pretty home decor and containers for gardening. When I can find school items for very low prices, such as backpacks or binders, I grab those to give to my students. I teach at an inner-city school where most students do not have their own supplies, so this is an affordable way to meet those needs.

For the record, it might take a year or more for me to find the items on my list. I don’t fulfill my yard sale dreams on every trip. Sometimes — many times –a yard sale is a bust. That’s what makes the good ones REALLY good!

Go With Cash

This is one time when your change jar will come in handy. Take some change and small bills. I usually keep a few larger bills on hand just in case I see something with a higher price tag that I don’t want to pass up. Normally, though, we spend less than $20 in a weekend. We really try not to buy things we wouldn’t already purchase, so we often spend much less than that.

Be aware that most sellers are willing to negotiate on prices within reason. Even if I go to a yard sale where things seem to be priced higher than I am willing to pay, we still take a look around because you never know. Sometimes the seller is happy to knock off a few dollars to get rid of things. We also try to consolidate our purchases and pay for the group instead of item-by-item. What I mean is, my husband and I wait for each other when it’s time to pay. If our purchases would total $12.50 separately, we put our “cart” together and ask if the seller would take $10 for all. Our offers are almost always accepted.

Take Your Phone

You might be tempted to leave your phone in the car, but keep it with you in case you want to look up a brand or reviews on an item. Last week, we purchased something I’ve been wanting to buy for months — a pair of poolside lounge chairs. They were marked $10 each. I noticed the brand name on the back of the chair and looked it up. Similar chairs are currently selling for over $500 on Wayfair; we got the pair for $15.

Be Choosy

Once you start going to yard sales, you might find yourself buying too much stuff. The low prices or sheer volume of deals might seem too good to pass up, but do you have a place for each item? Be selective about what you purchase. You don’t want to set it out at your own yard sale without using it–unless, of course, you can make a profit doing so.

If you’re actively selling on Poshmark or eBay already, you might take a business approach to yard sales. Garage sales can be a great place to secure inventory, but definitely consider the resale potential of each purchase.

There are some things I won’t buy used. I think the line in the sand varies with each person, but one of my “no” items is any kind of clothing that touches private parts. Many people who are fine with buying gently used swimsuits and bras, so YOU DO YOU. Know your own limits and have fun!

Some of my favorite buys….

I always love hearing about the deals people find at yard sales. Just yesterday my friend was telling me about the $100 rug she purchased at a yard sale, only to find that it was a $5500 rug from Ethan Allen. Here are some of my memorable deals from this year:

• Sakroots tote bag for $5 (retails $79)
• Marucci baseball bat for $8 (retails $399)
• large framed Charles Frace print for $5 (retails $150 unframed)
• Several new-with-tag clothing items for my daughter, paid $25 total (retail $305)

Share your best yard sale finds in the comments below!