Garage Sales For The Holiday

Unused items, almost new clothing, gifts that you never used. All these would make excellent low priced gifts for just the right person looking for a bargain.

Many people, who swore they would never have, or attend, a garage sale, are now having sales and buying at them because of the sluggish economy.

If you have never had a garage sale now is a great time to have one and sell items that you no longer need. It will be just the thing someone out there is looking for.

The items you don't sell can also be donated as Christmas gifts to those in need as well.

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Author: Marilyn Pokorney
Freelance writer of science, nature, animals and the
environment.
Also loves crafts, gardening, and reading.
Website: http://www.apluswriting.net
Email: Current address on website
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Garage Sale Environmentalist

While shopping at garage sales it is very easy to help save the environment.

Bring your own reusable canvas shopping bags to take home small item purchases. Or if buying lots of items keep a cardboard box in the car in which you can empty the bags from one garage sale to the next sale. Cardboard boxes can always be recycled by saving and using it for the next garage sale.

Plastic shopping bags take 20 to 1000 years to deteriorate and paper bags only 30 days in the open environment but neither will ever deteriorate in an airtight landfill.

Over 100,000 birds, whales, seals, turtles and other wildlife worldwide are killed by plastic garbage every year.

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Author: Marilyn Pokorney
Freelance writer of science, nature, animals and the
environment.
Also loves crafts, gardening, and reading.
Website: http://www.apluswriting.net
Email: Current address on website
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Safe Home Heating

Because the home heating costs of electricity, gas and fuel oil are expensive many homeowners use short cuts to reduce costs. Be sure they are safe and not a fire hazard.

Many homeowners resort to kerosene heaters. These are highly combustible and are outlawed in some cities.

Using turned on kitchen stovetop burners and open ovens as well as barbecue grills are other unsafe practices.

Small electrical space heaters can do wonders to warm up a room or a small area of a room in order to prevent the need of raising the thermostat on the primary heat source. But keep blankets, clothing, toys and other flammable items away from the heater.

*****************************************
Author: Marilyn Pokorney
Freelance writer of science, nature, animals and the
environment.
Also loves crafts, gardening, and reading.
Website: http://www.apluswriting.net
Email: Current address on website
*****************************************

Garage Sale Fees

Before having a garage sale be sure to check whether your city or town requires a fee.

Some communities charge fees to raise extra money for the city. Others do it in order to ensure that only homeowners hold garage sales selling personal items and not conducting businesses in their backyards.

But because the process of filing the applications costs more than the fees and with no way to be sure a homeowner having a garage sale actually has a permit, some communities are eliminating the need for permits.

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Author: Marilyn Pokorney
Freelance writer of science, nature, animals and the
environment.
Also loves crafts, gardening, and reading.
Website: http://www.apluswriting.net
Email: Current address on website
*****************************************

Electricity Improves Gas Mileage

Electric cars are in the future but electricity can actually be used to improve gas mileage by up to 18 percent in almost any car on the road right now.

According to tests at the Department of Physics at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Electrorheology, a process invented in 1947, is the key, and it could save 300 million barrels of gasoline, or 150 million barrels of diesel annually in the U.S.

Simply stated, a tiny bit of electricity is given to the gasoline before it's injected into the engine's cylinders and lowers the viscosity of the fuel making the droplets more efficient.

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Author: Marilyn Pokorney
Freelance writer of science, nature, animals and the
environment.
Also loves crafts, gardening, and reading.
Website: http://www.apluswriting.net
Email: Current address on website
*****************************************

Garage Sales For Children

Garage sales can be a great teaching aid for parents to help children learn math and other sales skills.

When planning a garage sale have children from about age 7 or 8 help plan the garage sale and work at the garage sale. The child can receive all profits from items they sell, a set amount of prearranged salary, or any other agreed upon payment.

By taking money from customers and counting back change the child will learn a valuable lesson in managing simple money exchange in a business.

*****************************************
Author: Marilyn Pokorney
Freelance writer of science, nature, animals and the
environment.
Also loves crafts, gardening, and reading.
Website: http://www.apluswriting.net
Email: Current address on website
*****************************************

Tax Deductions From Garage Sales

Donate unsold garage sale items for a tax deduction.

When having a garage sale it is a good idea to have a charity in mind that one can donate any unsold items to. Never bring the unsold items back into the house or garage.

Determine how much each item is worth. Statistics show that most garage sale donors do not put a high enough value on the items they donate. Do not value the item at the price it would have sold for at the garage sale. In some cases, the value may be as much as 10 times more than the garage sale price.

*****************************************
Author: Marilyn Pokorney
Freelance writer of science, nature, animals and the
environment.
Also loves crafts, gardening, and reading.
Website: http://www.apluswriting.net
Email: Current address on website
*****************************************

Christmas Shopping At Garage Sales

'Tis the Season for Christmas shopping and garage sales can be some of the best places to get low cost Christmas presents.

While summer garage sales may be the most lucrative with the most customers, the slow economy has caused many homeowners to sell lots of household belongings in order to make a few needed extra dollars to pay bills. Many of the items sold are brand new which were received as gifts or just purchased and never used. These items are sold at a fraction of the original purchase price. What better way to buy Christmas gifts for friends and relatives?

Garage sales are excellent for making money or inexpensive gift buying.

*****************************************
Author: Marilyn Pokorney
Freelance writer of science, nature, animals and the
environment.
Also loves crafts, gardening, and reading.
Website: http://www.apluswriting.net
Email: Current address on website
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