Which, for me, will forever be associated with “Knocked Up.” I have fortunately never had it.
As for garage sales, I have taken part in 2 of them. In the first, my sister and I tried to sell some of the junk my packrat parents have accumulated over the years. Unfortunately, no one wanted any of it. Well, with the exception of our neighbor, who purchased my parents’ collection of National Geographic magazines. It had every issues from 1971-1993 or so, and my sister sold it all for 5 bucks.
The second time, my girlfriend and I tried to get rid of some stuff, along with a few friends. We didn’t sell anything. We had a laser printer one of my old roommates left behind that still worked perfectly, and I tried to sell that. No one wanted it, but right towards the end we got rained on and the printer was ruined, so that was nice. Also, I got to watch an old guy in a Lexus SUV drive up and dicker with one of my friends on the price of an easel she was selling. It was a gift from her aunt, never used, and my friend was only asking $20 for it, but the guy had to pester her until she got sick of him. Finally, she said, “Ok, I’ll give it to your for $18,” a price to which he agreed to with a very smug smile on his face. It was funny and infuriating at the same time.
Oh, my cousin once bought a chair at a yard sale for $10, used it for a couple of years, and sold it on Ebay for $155. And a friend of mine got an incredible deal at a yard sale once. He found a pre-war Leica (with German writing) with a lens for $20. Not only is it worth thousands, but when the seller brought out the carrying case it was in, they found an old Rollei in it as well.

Better yet are the estate sales/auctions that are listed in the free newspapers, available in the foyers of small-town restaurants, service stations etc.

I’m a city-dweller, but I took my boys to an ‘estate sale’ in outstate MO (listed in one of those types of papers), just as something to do. At first it was rather humorous, simply because of the dated nature of the crap that these people hoped to sell. An orange and brown afghan, a toaster oven, and a box full of Christmas ornaments for $2.00

Eventually, you come to realize that you are looking at the contents of people’s entire lives spread out on folding tables, and sold for pennies on the memory by the good colonel….

As a kid I had pinkeye quite frequently. Every time it was a miserable experience. As on adult, I’ve been free of it - even when my oldest daughter picked it up from school. I’d be pretty pissed if I got it now because I’d have to throw away contacts and wear my stupid glasses until I was better. Oh the horror!

Garage sales are better if you go the more affluent parts of town. The stuff is newer and more artistic there; generally not your Wal-Mart kind of junk.

But I prefer estate sales, high-turnover thrift shops, and vintage shops. Estate sales can have great finds because the stuff is priced to move and much of it hasn’t been touched in years so the quality is above average. The last one I went to - about a month ago - had the biggest German beer stein collection I have ever seen. There were easily over 60 different steins. Most of them were priced around $2 each. Too bad I hate beer steins.

High-turnover thrift stores are like one huge garage sale. Because things turn over so quickly, every other week is a new experience. Best deal I got at my local thrift store was an early 70’s console (built in speakers, turntable, AM/FM stereo, and, best of all, an 8-track player). The color of wood and speaker fabric was perfect for to room I was going to put it in. The price - $8. I also picked up a WWII Army coat for $20. It’s the warmest coat I’ve ever owned. But the real bonus is when I’m grocery shopping and random vets shout out (literally), “Hey, that’s my coat!” I’m telling you, the stories about Europe I’ve heard from these guys alone more than paid for this awesome coat.

If you’re looking for more specific pieces or higher-end stuff, check out a vintage shop. If you’re looking for particular era pieces then one of your local vintage shops may be just the place. In my area there are a half dozen or so pretty solid vintage shops. Each owner has their own style that they sell. One place focuses on higher end furniture and glass art, a different place on kitschy 50’s, another tries to have something of everything.

My biggest score was about five years ago… a Quickie wheelchair in excellent condition for $35 just in the early stages of my mother’s significant mobility problems. I found the model on the Quickie website priced at $1500. Mom got to use it for about three years before she passed away, and now it’s stored in our crawl space for whoever needs it next (my siblings and I are all in their late fifties-mid sixties, so it will be needed at some time, no doubt). Anyway, this one score will more than make up for the odds and ends of useless stuff I have bought at other garage sales :)

Good luck with getting rid of the pinkeye. I’m also very glad nobody has had the poor taste to rail at you for an off-topic post… there’s absolutely nothing wrong with doing this (besides, it’s your site and you can do as you please).

I got pink eye for the first time since I was young last year. At least I got half a day (paid) off work for it once I realized what it was.

I used to do yard sales a lot more. I got into the rebate stuff quite a bit and would buy stuff that was free after rebate and sell it at yard sales (or if it was smaller/lighter on ebay). It was a lot of work, but the extra money was nice in college. Now I just do them for fun, even though that was only a couple of years ago now.

I never had pink eye as a kid, but as an adult have had it twice. The causes can be bacterial, viral, or allergy. The guess on this end is mine were allergic reactions (something that has been heightened by allergy shots….go figure). Regardless the cause you still get quaranteened for a bit, just in case it is viral.

Personally, I’ve had more experience with auctions than yard sales (and mainly as a buyer), but have helped friends and family with their garage sales. The idea of selling low is wise indeed, as you may even end up dropping prices just to move stuff to other peoples’ houses before it is all said and done.