Published: June 11, 2009 10:59 am      

CRIB NOTES: Second-hand doesn't mean second-best

At the risk of increasing the competition on weekends, I feel as though I need to share a piece of advice with readers who still have young kids at home.

Over the past few weekends, my wife and I (or my wife and her mother) have spent Saturday morning perusing area garage sales in order to find goodies for the kids.

Never have we come away from a trek empty-handed.

You’d be amazed at the items parents of older children are getting rid of — and, more so, the low prices on the price tags.

We’ve picked up an outside table and chairs for Penny, a replacement swing for our swing set (which, in itself, was a Craigslist find), several new items to give to Penny for her birthday next month and a variety of toys for Penny and Rigby.

These sales serve both sides amazingly well. Parents of older children know when they’ll no longer have any use for toys and clothes, and hosting garage sales allows them to at least recuperate some of the money they spent to acquire these items.

And parents of youngsters, well, let’s just say we’re an eager lot. Toys are expensive, but no matter how tight money gets, we don’t want our kids to do without. Garage sales allow us to satisfy both the urge to spoil and the urge to salvage our wallets.

Here are a few helpful tidbits I’ve picked up for these sales:

• Don’t underestimate what you might find. Many of these items aren’t new, but they’re no less usable than the items you might buy from the store. So what if someone else used them first? If you have doubts, just wash everything first.

• Plan ahead. My wife routinely checks this newspaper and Craigslist for garage sale postings. You can often find several grouped together in a given neighborhood, allowing you to maximize your shopping time. We have our favorite neighborhoods, and you’ll find yours, as well.

• Go early. The best items WILL be gone within minutes of the sale’s start time; competitions aren’t as fierce for Olympic medals as they are for big-ticket garage sale merchandise. This especially applies to items you actually need as opposed to just want. Last year, after we got the news that Rigby was on his way, we searched for months for a double-stroller. We eventually settled for a relic that I think Wilma Flintstone and Betty Rubble used to push Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm around Bedrock, but there was still a struggle at the sale at which it was acquired, and it continues to serve us well as a reserve stroller in my in-laws’ possession.

• If possible, leave the kids home. We took Penny and Rigby the first time, and even though we were wise enough to have me stay in the car with them, Penny still craved those toys that she saw, calling out for them with lust similar to how zombies crave flesh. They also started getting cranky within the first hour, and it’s easy to spend three hours or more on the garage sale circuit.

• Have fun. Even if you don’t get what you most wanted, the pleasure should be in shopping around and unearthing the occasional surprise gem, not in grabbing the biggest item and becoming king of the Pack ‘n Play mountain. If you find yourself complaining at any point, just go home. Seriously. You’ll kill everyone else’s good vibes.

So happy hunting. And if you come across Cinderella’s castle, hands off — it’s mine.

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Thanks to all of the readers who wrote e-mails, called and sent get well cards to my family and me after the column I wrote about my family’s car crash was published. These thoughts — as well as any other opinions, good and bad — are appreciated.