Garage Sales vs. Thrift Stores

Unfortunately, the majority of the pieces fit Indiana. I am just kidding! I bought most of them with her in mind. Out of the 70 pieces or so I purchased, she kept about 40. Imagine that, I only had to spend $30 to wardrobe my daughter for an entire season or two, when normally it costs just $30 (at least) for one piece of teenage clothing.

Here is Indy in one of her darling outfits, brand new sweater (with tags), great wide leg jeans and a shiny tank top. I think she looks adorable and it cost me an entire $2.25! Another bonus of garage sales is that I find A LOT of items that I can use for my home and family.

Out of that garage sale purchase of clothing, I sold three pieces at auction for over $50.00. You may remember the wrap dress from the introduction–it is one of those pieces. Those three pieces paid for the entire bunch. Garage sales can rock!

Here is another one of clothing pieces that sold at auction.

Cons:

Too early: I know that Mo and Carmen can sympathize with me on this one. Garage sales are just too darn early. Who wants to get up at 5 am on your only day off? Not moi. I went out to some garage sales a few weeks ago and I got to one at 8:20 am (pretty darn good I thought).

After I bought the Midwinter Wedgwood set they had for $6.00, my next question was do you have any flatware? The gal told me, “no, we had a guy here at 5:30 am that bought all seven sets we had”. I was like, Yikes!

I can’t compete with that. Never have and never will. I just hope he didn’t get any sterling flatware. That would put me over the edge.

Here is one of the Midwinter plates that did sell at auction.

Another Con…Can be a total waste of gas: Lately in Palm Desert, I go out to garage sales and there are only a few advertised in the paper or on craigslist and there is nothing there to even consider buying. Seriously, the sales lately have been so bad that my gas costs me more than I even spend.

I can’t figure it out, but my friend Lori’s husband Lou agrees with me. The sales have been a pile of junk on the ground. Nothing even worth picking up. I am hoping this changes soon or I am going to start hitting Orange County and San Diego because I have heard their garage sales still rock!

Thrift Stores:

I really can’t believe that I am expounding upon the virtues of thrift stores but Yes, I am! I love my local thrift stores. I have been having great luck in these lately while the garage sales have been waning away to nothing.

I went out last weekend and found absolutely nothing but one tiny box at garage sales and then I hit my Goodwill and in 10 minutes look at what was loaded in the back of my SUV for only $77.

One of these sets is amazing and the soup bowls will sell for about $25 EACH at auction. The amazing set that I paid $19.99 for is Pfaltzgraff and Mo is already in the process of listing that set.

Here is what else I am finding.

Pros:

Reliable and always open: I don’t have to get up at the crack of dawn to beat the 5:30 am flatware guy. I love this about thrift stores! They are open during reasonable hours. Say, 9 am (most are 10 am) to 5 pm or even 6 pm. What a goldmine! I can stroll into any of our 50 plus thrift stores whenever I am in the neighborhood. You have got to love that convenience.

Also, the thrift stores that I hit in San Diego during my recent mini-vacation had great items. I got a pile of eight Mary Engelbreit dishes that I paid $3.99 for in San Diego. We got these listed immediately with a starting bid price of $14.99 EACH.

Gotta love those thrift stores that just move the goods in and move the goods out. They don’t care what they price their items for as they are just looking for turnover. Out here in the desert, it seems like the donations are getting fewer and further between so the thrift stores are spending more time researching and pricing. That is detrimental to us!

Here is one of those Mary Engelbreit salad plates

that we have up at auction.

Rotating stock: I just mentioned this above but let’s reiterate this important point. You want to find those thrift stores that care more about the volume than the individual items. The thrift stores that are overwhelmed with donations are the ones you want to hit. They will price it, throw it (not literally) out on the floor and if it doesn’t sell they will mark it down quickly.

From my experience, the thrift stores that have a fleet of trucks at their disposal to pick up from your place of residence are the ones that are overwhelmed with donations. As you drive around your city, take note of the charities that own trucks that they use to pick up donations for free. These are the thrift stores you want to frequent.

I just had amazing luck with this in San Diego. I went to a Salvation Army thrift store that really had nothing that I was interested in buying but I overheard one really nice sales lady say that every Monday at 3 pm the entire store goes 1⁄2 price. What? It was Monday at 2:45 pm. I couldn’t figure out why there were still customers paying for things with only 15 minutes left to go.

I found my few items and was waiting in line to pay when I saw a dinnerware set in the glass case. It was priced at $45.00 and I asked to see a piece. Wedgwood. Score. Done deal. And then she said that three German lusterware pieces also came with it at the new marked down price of $22.50.

The Wedgwood has no bids, but check out what this chipped German Luster Teapot is already bid up to. I Love CERTAIN thrift stores!

See this listing here.

Cons:

Overpriced: Too many of our local thrift stores are overpricing. I was in one of them this morning after the gym and they had finally gotten in a new group of items. Seriously, they are not getting many donations at all. They did have a set of Le Creuset in a display cabinet.

I was really excited until I saw the eBay print out sheets taped on each piece and then the thrift store prices were half of those prices. Give me a break. Those eBay auction item prices were for brand new pieces. Not used and donated thrift store items. I just walked out. NEXT.

Tempted to buy your own items: I am the worst at this. After I donate things, I don’t remember and sometimes almost buy them back . And if that isn’t bad enough, I will often buy what Mo or Carmen has donated.

Recently, I called Mo from a local thrift store and said, “Did you donate Dansk Rondure in yellow?” I knew that she had purchased some about a year ago and I thought for sure the pile was her donation. She said “No, but it doesn’t sell.” I am a sucker for Dansk and bought the set anyway for $39.99 without heeding her advice. It turned out just fine as I sold five of the bowls at auction for $15 each! Yay!

Here is one of those bowls.

Another lesson happened the other night. Indy, Houston and I were in one of our local thrift stores before going out to dinner. Indy was standing and staring at a shelf and said, “Those look like our Jim Beam Bottles.” OMG, she was right. I had donated a HUGE pile recently and they were “in actuality” the Jim Beam bottles that I had my kids help me clean about two years ago (remember the cock roach story from the ezine?). What a great memory! Or maybe I have scarred my amazing kids for life. Just kidding. We will always have the memories…”Memories..like the corner of my mind…”

I just tried to go by and run into the thrift store and take a photo, but they had just closed. Darn it! Oh well, I am sure you can picture it in a corner of your mind.

In any event, I hope this article gives you some ideas for sourcing from garage sales and thrift stores and some tips and tricks to help you navigate these fun and challenging venues. I LOVE the sourcing part of this entire exciting venture.