Singing the Praises of Garage Sales!

There were a lot of years even in the midst of my greatest need for frugality that I neglected the benefit of garage sales. Maybe I went to one every now and then, but not much. Then suddenly neighborhoods started having them all together, and that caught my attention! Suddenly, I could go park, and walk down the street and hit ten or more at a time! Now I buy clothes, books, furniture, hardware, tools, kitchen gadgets, pictures, frames, games, toys, and innumerable other things at garage sales. Most things sell at about 10% of the retail price; clothes, being so plentiful, run about 5%. Now I'd estimate that at least half of our furniture and other household goods must consist of garage sale finds.
I've heard people say you can't find brand names at garage sales, but they are those who don't shop there. My daughter loves brand names and almost never buys them in the stores. She can therefore afford three or four times the brand-name clothing that her friends have (space, however, is a practical limitation). We buy more clothes in a far faster time than we ever could in the malls! Then there are people who sniff that they would never buy used clothes. Well, if they're dirty, torn, or ugly, then no, I wouldn't either. But if they're respectable, why not? Take them home and wash them, and there's nothing objectionable about them.
Suppose you spend $800 per person per year on clothing. If a child goes through 18 years of his life wearing only store-bought clothes, then $14,400 is what you'll spend on his clothes until he graduates. If you spend $50 per year at the store and the rest at garage sales, you'll spend $1,575 on clothes in that period of time. Maybe there will come a day when he finds garage sale clothes unacceptable, but then maybe he can earn the money for his own clothes.
Not only that, but we avoid sales tax; at 8.5%, that in itself is a pretty normal year's return on an investment. And for those who are concerned about it, it keeps that many more useful items out of the dumps; garage sales are one of the more commendable aspects of American consumer science.
So there you go. My plug for one of the best money-savers I've found! I hope you'll try them out as well.