School's Out for the Summer; Lets Have a Yard Sale!

Its no secret how much I enjoy garage and yard sales. I love discovering a good find almost as much as I enjoy hosting a sale and watching others unearth their own little treasures. The clever folks over at garagesalestracker.com have just launched an interactive website which enhances this experience. Not only can you easily locate a sale within your area with just a few clicks of a button, you can also advertise for free (for a limited time) if you are holding your own sale.
One of the features I especially like is that when you are posting information about an upcoming event, you have the opportunity to list specific items that will be available, such as computers, digital cameras, kids clothing,etc.,and then anyone searching for sales in the area can type in what they are looking for and narrow it down by item. What a time saver! There is also an option for contacting the seller if you have any questions. No more circling ads in the newspaper, driving from place to place searching aimlessly, wasting gas.
Here's an adorable little chandelier that I was lucky enough to snap up during one of my recent excursions:
The coolest part about purchasing items this way is that, A) It's a pretty safe bet that you are going to get a one of a kind item, and B) It is usually a fraction of the price you would pay in a store.
Often times,you have to think outside the box and look at an item and see the possibilities. A great example is clothing. For inspiration on what to do with the abundance of t-shirts gracing most yard sale tables, check out this clever book: Here's another great resource for turning trash into your own special treasure: In today's disposable world, it's refreshing to see the ingenuity and creativity people have as they transform ordinary, mundane, or seemingly hopeless items into fabulously functional pieces.
Not only can this be a fun pasttime for adults, kids can get in on the action too. Learning to recycle items in this ever-increasing green market is a building block that will make an impression for a lifetime. I will be going into more details about how to incorporate yard and garage sales into your children's summer activities in a future post. Until then, don't forget to visit http://www.garagesalestracker.com/blogger/index.html for additional insightful tips and advice.