I had the great pleasure of going to yard sales with my family on Saturday, something I hadn't really done much of in quite a while. I can remember going around with my mother, from one yard sale to another, searching for bargains as a child. I also remember having shirts inspected and then held up to me to see if they would fit in between digging through boxes of discarded toys and assorted junk. However, I usually find that I have other things I would prefer to do. Don't get me wrong, I can't complain about yard sales in general, they have been pretty good to me. I often stop at one if it is on my way somewhere, I just don't usually make a day of going from one to the other.

I have several pieces of clothing that was purchased at yard sales. The tightwad in me likes that idea very much. Maybe I shouldn't be so forthcoming with that information, but it really doesn't matter to me if everyone knows. Why pay $25 for a new shirt when I can find one that someone else got for a gift and buy it for 25 cents. There are a lot of people out there who get shirts they don't like for their birthday or Christmas; I just try to profit from their preferences.

I am not always the one that buys the clothing. Often such purchases are communal — someone in the family, often my mother, notices a nice extra-large shirt in a pattern or style that looks like something I would wear and purchases it for me. Not long ago she gave me about five shirts she found at a yard sale. I didn't complain one bit.

Usually I can find shirts or jackets, but seldom ever do I find pants in my size, a nice square 34-34. Most people wear 30 length pants, so I can't find any that I can wear unless I want to look like Huckleberry Finn.

As for spending my day driving from one spot to another, I actually had a pretty good time. Of course, I, like other bargain hunters, was in search of the Holy Grail of yard sales, the master purchase. Like a late model color television that works great for $5 or a real gold jewelry for 50 cents. Sadly, Saturday I found great deals few and far between.

However, I did get to spend some time with the family and look around a bit, plying my ability to haggle prices on stuff that I didn't really even want. Sometimes I like to haggle just to keep in practice. As for not finding many bargains, in retrospect, we didn't even get started until almost 10 a.m. Any decent yard-shopper (my word for a person who attends such events) could tell you that you have to start out before 8 a.m. if you want to find the bargains.

My niece was supposed to drive, but I ended up having the honor when she fell slightly ill. She is pregnant, so I suppose I can forgive her. I know when we had our yard sale in the front yard, at least 20 people showed up before we could even get the stuff out to display it. There is nothing more nerve-wracking than having 20 people in your yard at 7 a.m. trying to pilfer through boxes of stuff you haven't had time to set up yet. Going around to all those houses made me want to sell some of my most worthless junk at bargain prices. Maybe I will schedule a sale this weekend. I already have some clothes racks, two tables with folding legs and lots of roadside parking. Then again, maybe not. Why? You know, it is sometimes more trouble to get all the stuff together for a yard sale as it is to just keep the stuff and forget about it. And besides, almost anything I sell now turns out to be something I need tomorrow. I can think of a few recent examples in which this exact thing happened. I went to find an old toolbox I had to put some extra screwdrivers and other odds and ends in to put in the house and realized that I had sold it the year before. Ditto for some old cable parts and a couple of old razor knives.

I probably sold those because it always helps to have a few tools or fishing and hunting supplies at your yard sale to get the men interested. If the men are driving, they usually want to leave when they get bored. Baby or children's toys and clothes also seem to be big draws, just not so much for the men. We would rather see rusted tools, spools of old wire and boxes of junk than toys and clothes. I don't usually even look for clothes for myself.

I saw some people set up at parking lots and other places with tables lined with merchandise. Some even had brought their own special trailers with shelves inside. Can you imagine how fun that would be to load up an entire trailer of stuff and try to carry it out and display it, only to drag it all back onto the trailer and take it home that evening, weekend after weekend? That sounds too much like work to me. It would seem they have taken part in quite a few yard sales and likely are making a small business out of it, traveling from place to place. I guess, as a part-time 'junk man,' I do something similar. I often travel from place to place and trade one item for another. I have a few friends that I have been trading with for years. However, I am not in it for the money and I don't have to sit and wait for a customer. I like to trade around on stuff and get new stuff without paying money or sell stuff I have traded for and use the money to buy something I want. In a way, I would be tickled pink if the barter economy would return. I can imagine swapping eggs or rabbits for groceries, firewood for beef and boards for sugar, flour and coffee. Trading wouldn't be so nice for everyday items like gasoline. I just can't see carrying a dozen chickens around on the back of the truck in case I run out of gas. I guess we all better stick with cash.

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