Disc Golf, Rummage Sales

Depending on your latitude, the disc golf season is slowly coming upon us. With the economy taking the fast track down the tubes, you can be guaranteed to see one thing between you and your disc golf courses this summer: rummage sales.

Of course, for our fancy-pants East Coast readers, those would be called tag sales, but the fact remains the same: there's going to be lots of good, cheap stuff for sale everywhere you look. Disc golfers tend to be a thrifty bunch, enjoying a sport with no fees and very small start-up costs, so this is going to be a summer from heaven (as long as gas prices don't spike again, because that would never happen, right? Right?). Let's take a look at how to capitalize on the misfortune of others, shall we?

The first thing to figure out is the age of the neighborhoods and the age of the people living in them. Once you know what type of sale you go for, you'll be able to surf Craigslist and the local advertising newspaper like a pro. The following are generalizations, and you never know where you're going to find a gold mine, but you still want to focus on high percentage/density areas.

Brand new vinyl villages are going to be filled with 20 somethings and young professionals, so count on lots of children's clothing and toys. The occasional bonus is something from a hobby that one spouse or the other hasn't been into since college. Cycling trainers and old skis may pop up, but if you want a huge discount on a treadmill or something big, look for folks in their early 40's in a more established vinyl village. If you need to get the age on a development, check out any deciduous street trees. Chances are they were popped in with a giant tree spade with about a four inch trunk diameter when the area was turned from farmland to a living hell, so that can help you figure out how long the neighborhood has existed. They'll also be unloading their "first new home" furniture. If there were such a thing as vintage Ikea, it'd be here. Also look for kitchen items.

Older expanses of lifeless suburbia can provide wonderful benefits. After the nest is empty, a lot of couples finally give up on their former selves and come to grips with the fact that they are never going to go back-country hiking, kayaking, golfing, or some hobby ever again. Of course, the children have most likely already absconded with some of the goods, but if you want to live the life of a looter, you have to realize sometimes you're going to get beaten to it. Better furniture will pop up here. If you're not sure what somethings worth, ask if they'd be so kind as to hold a piece for 25 minutes while you "measure your dining room" which means pick up a friend who knows white oak from plastic laminate.

While many rummagers could live a lifetime working the cul du sac beat, but for me it's the 50's ranch home retiree neighborhoods for tools and fishing lures. I've gotten boxes of both for the price of one particular object in the box. My best score ever was a retired pro-fisherman who had thousands and thousands of lures and was more than happy to hand them away cheap. Here you may also have a better chance at undercutting posted prices, as the person running the sale may be selling items from another family member and have no idea their value. If it's a great price, don't try to con them, it could backfire and they'll decide they want to "hold onto it" (translation: not sell it to a sleaze like you). However, a carefully executed "well, there's a little rust on the handle here, I'm not sure if I shouldn't just buy a new one" can sometimes help shave dollars off.

A few warnings: beware any old computer components. You never know how little they will work, and a printer that's selling for a dollar is still going to need $20 of ink, and then you have to hope it will work. Also, beware of both so-called antiques and new-in-box items by brands you don't recognize for the same reason: unless you are very well versed in the field, it's could be something they're actually hoping to swindle somebody on. An example of this was an angle grinder I once saw for $15. For $15 how bad could a grinder be? DeWalt and Milwaukee grinders go for over $70. What a steal, right? Wrong. This store brand grinder (most major hardware stores have low-quality power tools made in the same Chinese factory) regularly went on sale for $10-12, and came with a long warranty if it was new and you had the all powerful cash register receipt.

Keep your eyes open and give yourself time for a few stops and this summer you'll be counting "rummage aces", the best thing you got for a buck!