It’s that time of year where these signs start popping up all over the place. Did you know that in the next 7 days there are 5551 garage sales scheduled, 106 of those are in Minnesota! One of Minnesotan’s favorite spring pastimes is hosting and/or shopping garage sales. All winter long we think about spring and spring cleaning, then spring hits and we really clean out. Most of us don’t want to just throw out items that seem to be perfectly good that we just don’t need or use anymore so we gather them all together and have a garage sale. Our window of opportunity is pretty short with winter being too cold and summer to hot so April – June is the main season for garage sales. We are also one of the top states for holding garage sales according to YardSaleSearch.com.
There are different varieties of sales from the single family sale to multi-family sales to neighborhood sales. If you don’t have a lot of stuff to sell it is best to team up with others. Just as there are different types of sales there are different types of shoppers. Some people are just out looking, some are hunting for specific items and some seem to almost be professionals. They are out first thing in the morning armed with maps and lists. They hit the sales and buy up things before the average bear even has a chance. If you really want to get the best items and the best deals you need to show up first thing on the first day.
It used to be that the sales were just in the newspaper but these days most garage sales are listed in a variety of places online and many times if items are not selling, the seller will put a quick post out on Craigslist just to get rid of the item.
As with everything, some sales are really just junk and some have some great stuff. You will just notice that for 2-3 months every spring in Minnesota the corners are full of garage sale signs from Thursday – Sunday. Happy Shopping!
