I was raised by avid garage sale perusing parents who would drag us out of bed on Saturdays to hit all the garage sales in the neighborhood looking for bargains. Out in Issaquah after all the yuppies moved in you could find major scores because half of these people had never even opened the wedding presents they received, or were clearing out their closets with cashmere coats for $5.00. They didn’t need the money so prices were amazingly low.

Portland has some really great garage sales, and when I was going through my Tiki stage before it became popular, I could pick up cups, fabric, ashtrays, and all sorts of other Tiki empheria and also old creepy 50’s and 60’s cookbooks for nothing. Unfortunately those days are over, but while I’m figuring out what my next phase is going to be I found out about a website one of the Metroblogging readers pointed out.

It’s a map that is constantly updated with most of the Portland Garage Sales, Yard and Estate Sales listed on it. Not only does it give you the location, address, and hours, but also information about what’s being sold. I was completely blown away by the detail. You can either click on a flag on the map and the info pops up, or you can check out the menu on the right with various posts including the cities where the sales are being held. It completely blows Craig’s List out of the water. I hate having to sit and page through all the b.s. on Craig’s List to find what I’m looking for. Whoever created this is a genius!!!

The website is http://gsalr.com ^[1] and I would suggest taking a look at it if you’re looking to do some garage sales over the weekend as we start moving towards the end of summer. The other cool thing is this is a nationwide project, so if you aren’t in Portland you change check out other cities. Yes mom they have one in Seattle that included entries for Gig Harbor and Tacoma. Happy shopping!