early or not early... that is the question

now that you've figured out where the garage sales are, the next thing to decide is: when do you want to go? there are two compelling yet opposing sides to this heated debate.

proponent #1: the early bird gets the worm

your stereotypical garage saler falls into this category. this involves waking up at the crack of dawn (or before that some weekends of the year) and venturing out while everyone else is spending their saturday morning snoozing. the biggest reason to be the first to get there is obvious... you have your first pick of all the good stuff. you also beat the crowds and can take your time browsing. 

i once got to a 7am yard sale at 7am on the dot. i walked away with a $5 pair of perfectly snug ski boots that had been worn once and then discarded because the owner said she broke her collar bone the only run she ever wore them on, so she swore they were cursed and wanted to practically give them away. 

the early bird isn't always a happy place to be though, don't let it fool you. there are two main reasons why being the first to a yard sale can be incredibly frustrating. the biggest reason is that the owners are much less likely to haggle that early in the morning. especially on nice pieces or some of their favorite things that they're not quite ready to part with. the other, less well known fact, is that if you're the first to arrive, i'd guess about 75% of the time, the owners have not finished bringing everything out. and for the 25% who do have everything out, they probably don't have it labeled and organized. as someone who can't stand disorganization, this is frustrating to me. i'm not the kind of person who will dig through a box that an owner brings out and hasn't sorted through yet. that stresses me out. although sometimes i wish i was this kind of person. 

proponent #2: the tortoise beats the hare

the other side of this debate is for the people who show up to garage sales in the last 2 hours that a sale goes on... so typically between 10am and noon. at first thought, you would probably guess that these are the lazy people who do not feel like getting up early. but there's much more to this carefully planned strategy than meets the eye. 

as the hours tick down for the yard sale to soon be over, every garage sale seller looks around at what's left and makes a subconscious decision. either they are panicking about the thought of actually having to return all of their items inside their home or wondering how they're going to haul off the rest of their items or they decide to bite the bullet and lower their prices... neither of which sound like the most appealing of options. this is when the haggling is at its best and you typically walk away with the best deals (refer to where it all began if you don't believe me.) 

the other positive about going later in the day is that you're much more likely to get friends to go along with you. the majority of the time i go alone, but the times that i've had friends express an interest in my hobby and come along have been so much fun. we learn about each other in some interesting ways (personal styles, stress levels, who will do anything - even pay too much - to avoid conflict.) and we laugh. a lot. i once went to an estate sale with my family while i was back home in indiana and we probably spent an hour there, just laughing, reminiscing, finding great deals, and enjoying each others company. 

the conclusion: both sides win 

for me, i usually tend to steer towards the early bird method. there is just something so peaceful for me about driving around the city when there are few other cars out and going on a little adventure before my husband opens his big brown eyes to the morning. during busy season at work, when i have to work on saturdays, i can still keep up with my hobby and get to the office early. other days though, like this past weekend, other more important obligations arise. i wanted to go to an early morning breakfast at a good friends house. he'd just moved into a new place and wanted to start off this new chapter by serving his friends (by making some incredible pancakes and eggs - josh even added peanut butter chips to my pancakes! that's true friendship) and covering his house in prayer. it was important to me that i make this breakfast a priority and be there on time, so i appreciated the flexibility that my hobby provides. 

as in most hobbies in life, any garage saler has to evaluate their options and make the decision that works best for them. this takes a willingness to be flexible, especially when the schedule effects other people in their life - relationships always trump things. so if there's a relationship that i need to invest in, my interests and desires take a back seat... the beautiful thing about garage saleing is, there's always next time.