12 Items First To Go When Thrifting Estate Sales

In a recent post I discussed how to prepare yourself for successfully shopping at an estate sale but what I quickly realized was that I needed to elaborate on what is the first to go at estate sales! In going to countless estate sales, I have narrowed it down to 12 items first to go when thrifting at estate sales. The last thing you want to do is go to an estate sale at your leisure and find out what you were going for was gone within minutes of the door opening! Leaving there with your tail between your legs will get you discouraged and keep you from ever wanting to go again. And dare I say, paying full price!

A Little Bit About Estate Sales

Estate Sales are not always on Saturday and Sunday. In fact, a majority of the time I find that they start on a Friday! For the most part I like to shop at estate sales put on by a professional venue. Why? You may ask. A professional venue, to be quite honest, will have no attachment to the items being sold, so it tends to be considerably cheaper. It’s priced to sell, or at least below market value. Because of this, you cannot haggle on an item. They almost always have the items that have not sold yet marked down to half price sometime Sunday afternoon, or the 3rd and final day of the estate sale. This is where it is important to know what can wait to be purchased until then or what needs to be bought asap!

My First Estate Sale Mistake

A few years ago I had come across an ad for an estate sale put on by a professional venue. Well, at the time I really wanted a cuckoo clock but I didn’t want to pay over $500 for a new one. Because it started on a Friday, I figured I’d drop the boys off at school and head over there. Being a week day, it should be slow. WRONG! After my 40 minute drive to get there, I started to walk inside the front door of the estate sale as the cuckoo clock was walking out–in someone else’s hands! I was so bummed! I realized at that moment, there are certain things that you have to wait in line for if you really want them and want to save money. I still left there with a phonograph and some swing Jazz vinyl for Theron, so not a complete fail.

Second Time Is A Charm

My second time was thankfully a success! I will admit that it was a close call as I showed up within 30 minutes of the estate sale opening and some other man kept walking back and forth debating whether or not to take the cuckoo clock. No debating for me, as he walked away thinking about it again, I jumped in and grabbed it! Keep in mind, these estate sales are like a Black Friday event within the first couple of hours of opening. So know what you want to get by looking through the ads, and when you show up, keep your eye on the prize! Get the item in your hands so everyone knows it’s being bought–by you!