I’ve saved hundreds of dollars by scoring second-hand items. The trick is hunting in the right neighborhoods.

Over the years, I’ve saved hundreds — maybe even more — by picking up secondhand items from a variety of sources. Some of my most coveted belongings have come from garage sales and curbs bearing pre-loved items and signs announcing they’re free.

There’s the midcentury modern side table that goes perfectly with the oversized leather chair and ottoman my husband found on Facebook marketplace; the dark wooden desk with narrow bookshelves on both sides and a small drawer in the center that I picked up from an alleyway by my uptown apartment; the map of the sea floor in an ornate brassy frame that now hangs above my writing desk that I scored from a friend’s garage sale.

I’m always on the hunt for items, and even if I don’t need anything, I’m usually game to take a look at what’s available at garage sales, estate sales, or whatever might be out on the curb on bulk pickup days.

Where you hunt for items matters — sometimes

You might think some of my best finds would come from fancy houses where glossy cars fill the garages and old furniture is an afterthought, and sometimes it’s true. But as it turns out, a number of my luckiest scores have come from the various neighborhoods I have lived in.

My neighborhood delivers for me when I need something practical, but when I want something unexpected or impractical, I like to expand my boundaries. My creamy vintage Coach purse in a color I’ve never seen anyone else have? It came from the annual garage sale of a neighborhood my best friend lived in for many years. As did two leather backpacks and the glass pitcher with ten matching stemmed glasses, which I pull out for special occasions. The houses in that neighborhood are a mix of big and small, but they are all old, charming, and located in a historic and monied corner of the city. It’s only a 10-minute drive from my house, but the homeowners skew older and the belongings they sell tend to be collector’s items. I wouldn’t shop those sales for my practical needs; I shop them the way I browse bookstores. Do I need any more books? No (yes). But will I buy some anyway? Yes.

I’ve always had an eye out for freebies

Years ago, I spotted a charming desk with an attached bookshelf in an alleyway near where I lived. I made my mother help me carry up two floors to my studio apartment. That desk stayed with me for three moves before my husband and I carried it to the collection curb in our current neighborhood, from which we’ve deposited and collected many items during our five-year tenure.

While I once sought charming, antique, eclectic pieces for a studio apartment, now I have a house, two children, and some pets to consider. What I’m in the market for today is more practical, and — as was the case when everything I owned fit into a 600-square-foot space — what I’m looking for is best found in my own neighborhood.

It was on an early morning walk this spring when I saw a sign that read “FREE TOYS.” The unmistakable orange and blue of Hot Wheels packaging caught my eye as I approached. I had gotten my heart rate up and didn’t want to stop my brisk walk, but as I neared the pile of toys in the grass, I decided I had to check out the racetrack. Now, I saw this toy I knew my child would love — a toy I would never buy him because of the price and the size — and I brought it home for him. His excitement was priceless. The toy, too, had no price.

I know when to stop

While bringing my son, the same one who now owns a Hot Wheels racetrack, to his friend’s house this week, I drove along labyrinthine streets past new-builds twice the size of my own house. I saw many garage sale signs. It is spring, a season when many are cleaning out their homes and looking to offload things they no longer use. But I didn’t stop. I don’t want to pick up too many things we don’t need. But, if something changes and I happen to be in the market for a dresser or a Longaberger basket, I know how — and where — to start the hunt.

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