Wednesday, September 5, 2012

The Bargain Underground

Ever see a new idea someone had, an invention or something and you thought to yourself "why didn't I think of that?".  I had that moment this weekend.



Growing up the daughter & granddaughter of avid Yard Salers, I was subjected to embarrassing treasure hunts by my Mom & Grandmother.  They would get the newspaper on Fridays and go through the yard sale section circling the ones that "looked good" and mapped out their trips for the following Saturday morning.  I was the kid in the back seat of the car having an anxiety attack that someone would see me or recognize me at their home hunting through their old stuff and think I was some "trash hunter". 



I've learned over the years that one man's trash is another man's treasure.  Not only that, but why spend full price for something when you can get the same thing in great condition for much much much less?  Who's the smart one here the full price buyer or the bargain hunter?  Now-a-days the popular shows on TV are Pawn Star, Storage Wars and American Pickers.  All people trying to find treasure amongst someone else's "trash". 



When I had Peyton she had most everything brand new and I notice my money FLEW out the window on things she barely even wore or played with.  Give the girl a crayon and a box and she's entertained for hours!  So, I learned with Dylan, I could buy 3 and 4 times the items and spend less at a resale store or yardsale and most of the items are brand names and still have the tags on them.  (By the way, Peyton and Dylan LOVE yardsales, thanks to Grandma & Grandpa)  I also learned that once you were done with the toys and clothes you could sale them back but most of the time you wouldn't get much for them. 

This weekend as I cleaned out their closets and dressers I remembered a Facebook Yard Sale site and thought I'd give it a shot...post a couple things and just see if I could sell it.  WELL...I couldn't post my items fast enough before they would sell.  I had people asking me to sell more of the sizes I had and I even had TJ digging through the shed for his unused stuff to sell!  I even posted a couple things I hadn't thought to sell and yep, sold em! 

There is a whole underground bargain hunters code!  Meeting places, ethics on the site, code words like "bump" and "ppu".  I'm totally addicted to this new age yardsale!  Already made some new friends and have people that want me to tag them in pics as my kids start outgrowing the clothes they are in now! I even discovered other more specific yard sale sites on Facebook:  Outdoors items, Guy Stuff, Kids stuff specific & high end purses! 

So, don't knock it before you try it!  Besides in this economy we can all save some moola!  I mean when you can buy a brand name item for $2 that normally costs $25...welcome to the Bargain Underground! :)




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