GANNETT NEWS SERVICE SPECIAL REPORT

From a miles-long event aimed at boosting tourism to your own front yard sale that helps clear closet clutter, we tell you how to set up a sale without a hitch and how to live richly on the cheap by shopping at garage sales in your neighborhood or across the country.

Garage sales: Cashing in on castoffs

Read these helpful articles

IF YOU'RE HAVING A SALE

Variety, timing, marketing keys to yard sale success

A garage sale can be an effective way to unclutter a home and make a little money. Planning and the right mind-set can help pull off a successful sale.

• Run your sale like a pro

• 7 tips for organizing a neighborhood sale

• What to do with the leftovers

IF YOU'RE SHOPPER

Buyers hunt for affordable upscale

Garage sales have become a modern-day safari, a hunt for decorating bargains or a way to add to a collection.

• Tips for successful shopping

• Secondhand can be second-rate for safety

• Treasure aisles abound for secondhand goods

NATIONAL SALES

Shoppers, economy get mileage from big sales

If a neighborhood of garage sales is good, imagine those sales stretching for miles and miles. More sellers attract more customers. More customers generate more excitement. More excitement turns cleaning the closet into a tourist attraction.

• 20 tips for the road

• Cruising for bargains: Interactive map of national sales

MORE INFORMATION

On the Web

Some sites that offer free tips for people coordinating sales and those hunting for bargains.

Interactive multimedia

Cruising for bargains: Interactive map and guide to garage sales across America

Some sales are bigger than one garage, one yard or even one city. Find out about dozens of sales that go on for miles.

Garage Sale starter kit

Downloadable starter kit

Download and print these Adobe Acrobat PDF documents to help manage and promote your own garage sale. Files are compressed in Zip format. They will be extracted to folders on your computer.