Yard Sale Saturday: Early birds beat the rain

This weekend's yard sales were anticipating some hostile weather, it seems, and wisely began pretty early to beat the rain and the heat. I ran into several community yard sales, which are great for quantity.

For some reason, this sometimes makes sellers feel it's more of a flea market and up the prices accordingly, meaning far fewer sales and more junk to lug back into the garage at the end of the day.

Several friendly folks and smiling faces littered the various sales, most of which were up and running by 8am. Some listed as starting at 7am where just unpacking at 715am - a bit of a no-no, and a habit that will invariably result in a big "meh" from early-bird buyers.

Granted, some will just dig through your unopened boxes anyway, but personally I'm never that desperate for a coaster set or salt and pepper shakers.

I picked up some decent books, most of the sellers commenting on the earthquake that had woken them only a few hours hence. There were some decent movies, priced everywhere from 25 cents to several dollars.

The obvious winner for this week's Fun Find was the cardboard stand-up of Jeff Gordon which the owner had colored with red marker over the lips, effectively emasculating the NASCAR racer and arguably decreasing the resale value of the item.

The Sunday sales may have been worthwhile, but with all of the rain from the night before, and the occasional sprinkle throughout the day, I'd guess only the truly dedicated sellers and buyers were out.

Til next time, be sure to check your books for embarrassing home photos you've used as bookmarks before selling, and have some fun out there!