posted on May 26, 2001 06:53:27 PM new
Okay, here's the idea I had.
There were about 20 yardsales advertised this morning.
This is a pretty good size city (250,000) and I'm not familar with all the streets.
My plan was to go to a map site, put in my address, then the yard sales addresses as intermediate destinations.
I thought I could find a site that would put them all in order and I'd be good to go.
What I found was that each site only has part of what I want. Maps.com will put all your intermediate destinations in the best order, but only allows you 5 intermediate destinations.
Mapblast is 10, not put in order. Mapsonus is unlimited, but again not in best route order.
So my question is does anyone know of a site that will allow me unlimited intermediate destinations, put in 'best route' order?
Or if anyone has a good map program that they've bought that can do this kind of routing.
posted on May 27, 2001 05:13:27 AM new
you seem to be taking a scientific approach to something that does not lend itself to science. most yard or garage sales that say they are starting at 8:00 A.M., already have people hovering around by 7:00 as they are being set up. many are "over" or at least the most desirable items are gone within a few hours. hitting any large number of them with the hope of getting anything worthwhile is almost impossible. sometimes there are phone numbers listed in the newspaper ads, so that you can ask the sellers whether they have anything you are looking for, cutting down on the number you might try to visit.
posted on May 27, 2001 06:44:50 AM new
stusi is right on target! One other thing, if you feel you still want a map, is to try your local Chamber of Commerce. Most of the time, they have city maps. Good luck to you. Janet
posted on May 27, 2001 09:18:31 AM new
Yes I would look for a cluster of sales you can hit the first few hours. Also after a while you will know what areas of the city have better homes where they have nice things. There is just no future in spending time in the armpit of the city where nobody is going to own much nice and they sure are not going to sell it off cheap in their driveway.
In the Detroit suburbs it is common to have a sale start on Thu. and by the weekend all the good stuff is gone.
posted on May 27, 2001 08:23:12 PM new
I never worry about the route. I have a book I call the city gossip book. In it you can look up the addresses in my town and find out who lives where. After I do that, if I don't know the person then I look up their name in the name part of the book. This part tells me their occupation. If it says retired, BINGO, that's the sale I am most likely to hit first, unless of course I know from previous experience it will be a dud. It also comes in handy if you are looking for kids clothes. The book also tells you their childrens name and ages. This book comes out once a year and costs about $14.00. It is well worth its price!
posted on May 28, 2001 06:35:42 AM new
I would recommend the Chamber Of Commerce
sometimes they carry maps or ask for the phone book because sometimes it has a map in it
posted on May 28, 2001 07:53:31 AM new
I started out with the scientific approach to garage sales. Our nearest city was laid out in numerical order going east west, and alphabetical order going north south, so it was easy. I then organized them by opening times,and took off, thinking how efficient I was!
We discovered that the best sales were the ones we found while driving from one listed sale to the next! These were the ones I hadn't bothered to chart because they didn't sound 'good'.
We no longer take that approach. We have found that certain neighborhoods are full of young couples who can barely afford their new house, much less any good collectibles to put in a garage sale. We head for the older, established neighborhoods where people in their 40's and up live. These are the ones with household goods. The really older, but still elegant neighborhoods are where you find the real antiques and collectibles. Usually estate sales in that area.
Other than that, we just watch for sales that pop up as we drive around. Church rummage sales in those same neighborhoods are usually good, sales held by cheerleaders, athletic booster clubs, etc, seldom have anything you can sell but are a good place to look for teen clothes.
The thing we've found is that when you turn garage saling into a job, it's not fun anymore. It's a job.
posted on May 28, 2001 05:24:10 PM new
I have had good luck in the older run down areas of the city. First of all, the stuff is older. Second, nobody else goes there. Third, a lot of times the stuff is underpriced. We all have our ways.
posted on May 29, 2001 08:16:41 AM new
Good point, aliceroad. I also seem to have the best luck starting out backwards from the way the other garagesalers go. Our town has a north and south side. Most people start on the north side because most of the better houses are there. I usually start on the south and work my way north because I have less competition. I've also found that the places with the newest houses very seldom have antiques or collectibles in my town. They are usually smart enough not to part with them and it seems like all of the stuff they have is brand new. If they do have something it is always overpriced or has a crack or some other major flaw. These sales are were everyone starts at and I like to avoid the crowds.
posted on May 30, 2001 12:24:14 PM new
I also live in a city of 200,000.
I do map out my garage sales. I have a map for Friday's lunch hour targeting a specific area of town. A map for Friday after work for those open till 7pm sales. I also map out about 30-40 sales for a Saturday and about 10 for a Sunday. On Saturday I start at the end of town that have the earliest start times and then drive around sections of town in a big circle. I do take detours and follow signs in the better neighborhoods.
I map out the sales using the maps in my city's yellow pages. They are already sectioned off which makes doing the circular part easy. I make copies of the maps and highlight the general location of the sale. That way I can tell at a glance which way I need to head next.
I've done it this way for years. I like it better than randomly driving around town.
posted on May 31, 2001 11:56:03 AM new
My methods are similar to ewora's -
I live near a large metropolitan area where it is not unusual to have over 200 garage/estate/rummage sales on a Spring or Summer weekend.
The book map I use cost about twenty bucks, but it is one of my best investments. I print the sales I want to go to from the newspaper's online site, and then locate them on the map. I write the address of each on a little post-it note and stick it on the map close to the street - that way, I can look at a page of the map and see where each sale is in relation to the others.
I have found great deals in all kinds of neighborhoods - but I can't go to all the sales, so some decisions have to be made - up-scale neighborhoods, older neighborhoods, those near colleges and universities, are great for me (the main thing I look for is books). And I try to get to all the church sales, as they often have a lot of books.
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