Don't take shortcuts on Star Wars Legos and Masks!

In my town, it's easy to get lost! 

If you follow my Twitter feed, you may have noticed my complaining about the over abundance of garage and community yard sales held last week. It seemed like every church, suburban development and community group decided that September 21st was thee day to have their sale. For professional pickers like me, it turned into a long, tiring slog through area neighborhoods. After endless jumps in and out of my truck, I started to become disoriented and occasionally lost track of where I was in town! You might think I was exhibiting the first warning signs of senility, but most of my local streets are lined with countless curbside mailboxes, big shady trees and driveways leading up to a garage. After countless hours of relentless sales, it all begins to look the same! So having too many yard sales is not always a good thing.

But despite my whining, people will host their sales when they want to. As for me, I like dealing with a nice manageable number of around 15 to 20 sales on a Saturday. That's just the right amount for me to hit between the prime hours of 8 to 10 AM. More then twenty just gets too crazy! To deal with an excess of sales, I begin cutting corners by skipping the yard sale "repeaters", or doing a "drive-by" without getting out of the truck. Although these little tricks can save time, there's always the danger of missing something good! That almost happened this past week.

Faced with way too many sales on Saturday, I found myself rushing from one house to the next. Methodically working through my list, I rolled up to a brick rancher that I've been to many times before. This lady was a border-line professional yard sale seller. The hard-core type who hosts several sales each season. When pressed for time, I'll sometimes write off garage sale repeaters, reasoning that they can't possibly have good stuff to sell at every sale. As I approached this lady's driveway, I could see cheap Halloween decorations, some fabrics and other average household items for sale. I was ready to pop the truck into gear and head to the next sale. At the last second however, I changed my mind. I decided that since I was right there, I might as well take a look. It's a good thing I did!

Almost as good as Star Wars Legos

Looking into a box of  Halloween costumes, I discovered a Star Wars Darth Vader talking helmet. I already knew Star Wars stuff is hot. The Star Wars Lego sets always sell for big bucks on eBay. But I also learned from a fellow blogger that Star Wars Darth Vader masks are a big deal too! These masks get snapped up on Ebay for as much as $40 dollars or more. Next to Star Wars Legos, this mask could be the next best thing to find at a garage sale! In this case, the seller obviously thought Darth Vader was just another Halloween mask! I fished the mask from the Halloween box and pressed the voice buttons to make sure it worked. Sure enough, I heard the infamous heavy breathing of old Darth Vader! I asked the lady what she wanted for it? She started at five, but agreed to take my counteroffer of three dollars. (Now all I just needed was a Star Wars Lego set to make my day complete!)

Now that I have it, I am in no hurry to sell the mask. I may even put Darth Vader in winter inventory and wait to sell him when things slow down. The main point of my story is this...you can't always write off a garage sale just because they hold multiple sales each season. You can never tell what you'll find on your next visit!

How's the Fall garage sale season going for you? You have any time-saving ideas when faced with too many sales? Pass along your tips in the comment section below....


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