I admit it; I’m hooked.  These reviews have convinced me that I really need to give garage saling a try.  But I think I’d better pick up a copy of Bruce Littlefield’s book before I head out.  Because as one blogger put it: “If you dread the garage sale world like I have, I recommend you take a look.  Maybe it will change your mind.  It did mine.”

And like another blogger who admits that she is “by no means yard sale savvy“, I’m willing to learn.  Having been “in charge of [her] moms group yard sale this past April…[she] was eager to see what [she] had done right and what [she] could have done better.”  One point made in the book that really stood out for her was that “yard sales are for bargains. If you’re not willing to part with it, don’t sell it. You get rid of an item you don’t want and get some cash and someone else leaves viewing your piece of junk as a treasure. It’s a win-win situation.”

Other bloggers who are seasoned garage salers are amused when they find sellers who haven’t read Littlefield’s rules.  As one avid garage saler recounted:

“I was at a sale this past Saturday morning when I spotted a table full of children’s books. Although the sign read Books 50 Cents Each, the ones I was interested in had $2 stickers on them.

When I asked the lady in charge how much the books were she jumped out of her lawn chair and hustled over to me, hands stuffed in the pockets of her money belt, jingling change. Two dollars, she announced upon examination.

Two dollars for the lot of them? I pointed to a pile of two, maybe three books on the table.

She sucked in her breath. Oh, no, she breathed. These are board books. They’re two dollars each.

Number seven on Bruce’s handy Do’s and Don’ts for Sellers list: Don’t ask new prices for used things – including well-worn board books. Clearly this seller should have brushed up on her garage sale etiquette before having her sale. I mean, who pays two dollars for a used board book?”

Our Canadian bloggers reminded us that “Canada has garage sales, too“ and grumbled good-naturedly that “by the nature of the beast [the book is titled Garage Sale America], all the tips for great haunts are in the States.”  And a California blogger let it slip that “Garage Sale definitely means something to us Californians, since we seldom use our garage to store the car; rather, the garage is the junk-area. Frequently I’ll hear people saying, I am having a garage sale so I can actually park my car in there!”

The eco-consciousness of Garage Sale America didn’t escape our bloggers either:  “In this age of rampant materialism and fascination with all things shiny and new, Littlefield’s recycle/re-use/re-purpose message is as refreshing and eco-friendly as a cloth grocery bag.”  And even those who formerly shied away from garage sales are now “seeing adorable little gems that would make so much sense if I had them as accent pieces or decorative flair.”

As before, our bloggers found the real charm in Littlefield’s book to be in the memories it sparked and the inspiration it gave them.  One reminisced about childhood outings with her mother and concluded by admitting that “after reading this handy and informative guide and drooling over photographs of the author’s tremendous finds, I have my motivation. I feel that old familiar sense of excitement and, dare I say, titillation.”  Another recalled similar adventures with her father - “I remember my dad went off to a sale for knick-knacks and came home with a light blue convertible.  And my dad and I found plenty of things that we needed. In fact, my living room is decorated with garage sale finds.”  Garage Sale America was her Father’s Day gift to him.  And as before, the photographs in this book were enough to win over anyone:  “I have discovered my why I want to start snooping in my neighbours’ yards: the photo ops. The photos alone are worth this book: a plethora of pink flamingos, a tumble of bird houses or a set of old coffee cans.”

But hands down, the greatest garage saling picture came from one of our Canadian bloggers - whose anthropological warrior SISTER actually swiped the book from her:

“Remember polyester pantsuits? Polyester shorts pantsuits?

Polyester shorts pantsuits for children?

If you find a polyster shorts pantsuit for children, you can buy it, and put it on your child, and take pictures. For the purposes of anthropological analysis, of course. Just take care to not allow your child out into sunlight, lest the outfit burst into flame.”

She goes on to say: “If I could find a pair of tiny vintage white roller skates and The Knack on vinyl, I could have [my daughter] re-enact entire scenes from my childhood, which I could film on Super-8 and screen at dinner parties where I’d serve Kraft Dinner and Wonderbread with Hawaiian Punch…And I’d totally invite Bruce Littlefield. Because if I can find those skates and that vinyl, it’ll be entirely due to the inspiration derived from his field guide to pop anthropology.”

Now that sounds like the kind of dinner party I’d like to attend.  And I’d be sure to bring a fabulous hostess gift…one that I found at a garage sale, of course.