How to turn a weekend hobby into a money-making venture by knowing what to buy at a yard sale.

My wife and I have been going to as many yard and garage sales as we can reasonably get to for about two years. Summertime is the prime time for "moving", "estate", "rummage", "garage", and "yard" sales, and if one knows what to look for, there is gold (well, actually BRASS) in them thar hills. Every Friday and Saturday morning, I get up very early -- around 3:00 a.m. -- and get the morning paper from the curb. While I'm waiting for the coffee to brew, I quickly glance at the yard sale section of our local newspaper. Once the coffee is finished, I get my clipboard loaded with two or three sheets of fresh notebook paper, and I start going through the list of sales. When I spot a sale that looks promising, I list it, then circle the ad in the paper. As soon as I have made the initial list, I comb through it and sort the sale by the starting time and the location of the sale. I then plot our route, using the time and location info and the city map or Yahoo maps,on my computer, with minimizing the miles driven and maximing the number of sales we can hit in the shortest possible time in mind. Once we hit the road (typically at 5:30 a.m. if the first sale is at 6:00) we hit as many sales as we can and we only look to buy decorative items made from BRASS. Everybody seems to have BRASS animals, BRASS fireplace tools, BRASS this, and BRASS that. Buy all the BRASS you can find, but bear in mind that BRASS is a non-ferrous metal. That means that a magnet WILL NOT STICK TO BRASS. Not every shiny piece of metal you see that a magnet won't stick to is BRASS, but you'll soon learn what real BRASS is. After you have bargained your way into buying as much BRASS as you can find, the next step is to get every bit of it to a recycling center near you and redeem it for COLD, HARD CASH!! This past weekend (Friday and Saturday) my wife and I picked up 56 lbs. of BRASS. Most of it was in the form of BRASS animals and BRASS planters and bowls. We found one old-fashioned BRASS fire extinguisher that weighed out at 11.5 lbs. and were able to purchase it for $2.00!!! The current price for scrap BRASS, at our local recycler is $1.95 per pound. You do the math. We usually average just under $100 per week during the peak summertime yard sale season. Get started today, and get yourself in practice of guaging the weight of any BRASS item by practicing hefting items that you know the actual weight of. If you happen to find a large BRASS animal figure, and you know it "feels" about the same as a two-pound bag of sugar, then you have an idea what it will probably be worth at redemption. Most BRASS items that we find are in the 2 to 4 ounce category, and we try to give 25 cents or less for such pieces. You'll be amazed at how many BRASS items are out there in people's homes, and how EAGER they all are to get rid of it. Help them unload their trash, and add to your folding cash with a fun

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

• A copy of your local newspaper's classified section
• a good, clear, and current map of your city
• a clipboard and notebook paper on which to chart your list of "stops".
• at least one small, easy to carry magnet for each person in your hunting party.
• A thermos of coffee, and several bottles of cold drinking water.
• A couple of breakfast bars or other energy treats.
• A willingness to bargain (haggle) for the best price and the ability to know when their best price is simply too high.
• A good sense of humor.

1. Check through your local newspaper's classified section for yard sales and garage sales.
2. List all the sales that look to have some promise of being your type of sale, then "map out" your planned route. Time spent planning your route, then sticking to it, will maximize the number of sales you can attend and cut down on expense for fuel, snacke, and etc.
3. Start early. Pay no attention to "No early birds, please" disclaimers. Very few people can sit in their homes awaiting 6:00 a.m, say, with ten or fifteen eager buyers camped out on their curb or in their driveways. The early bird really does get the worm, and getting to that first sale early gets you on the road to the next one that much sooner.

Tips & Warnings

• List the sales, plan the route, then STICK TO YOUR PLANNED ROUTE!! That is the best way to get to the maximum number of sales. Remember: Most yard sale activity is over and done with by 10:00 a.m. the day of the sale. Showing up late only gets you a tour through a pile of mostly worthless leftovers.
• Know what a pound feels like in the palm of your hand. For that matter, know what 2, 4, 6, and 8 OUNCES feel like in the palm of your hand, while you are at it. Nothing will discourage you more than spending two days running your patootie off, buying BRASS like crazy, then finding out at the recycling center that you lost money on the weight. BUMMER!!!