There are the yard sales we’re all familiar with and then there are a whole other type of yard sale.

Over at the hysterical and often naughty ‘Urban Dictionary,’ we decided to look up the term yard sale.

The website was created to help people understand slang terms and how they are used by different aspects of society. So if you look up a word or a term, you can find oodles of definitions for it. Most are the ‘unofficial’ definition. Even more are very, very saucy, so it should be noted that the site is mostly “not safe for work.”

That all being said, the term ‘yard sale’ has earned several, non-dirty definitions that we found quite interesting.

First up, we got a good laugh out of this description that we’re most familiar with:

Old, dirty, and/or broken, discarded items ranging from bathroom shower curtain rings, to under-stuffed chairs with oily stains and animal hair, for sale. Items are displayed on blankets and folding tables inside of a garage, or on the driveway, and across the lawn. Common identifiers of a “yard sale” are lines of cars (old and new) parked with two wheels sinking into a neighbors’ grass and women, usually in pairs, with big butts and wiggly arms, grabbing everything marked 50 cents. Cardboard signs directing drivers to the sale are seen for years after.

Next comes the definition as its applied to a skiing or snowboarding accident:

A bad wipe-out on the ski slopes, your gear’s all over the place: One ski over here, a pole over there, hat somewhere else.

 

http://youtu.be/GlnFf8iUIVM

 

According to the Washington Post, and several other sources, a lawsuit has been filed by Dave Hester, one of the stars on A&E’s “Storage Wars” series.

In the suit, Hester explains that a lot of the show is faked, and the producers go so far as to plant items in lockers and rig the bidding.

We were particularly amused by Hester’s claim about the episode where a stack of Elvis newspapers were found. He says they were planted in advance by the show’s producers. When we first saw the episode, we laughed at the assumption that all those newspapers could be sold for more than $10,000.

Likewise, we are always bothered by the show’s estimated sale prices on the recovered items — most are ridiculously inflated. Further, the show suggests that the wheeling and dealing of storage unit auctions is a get-rich-quick moneymaker, which like the yard sale scene, is more “miss” than “hit.”

Once again, the Yard Sale Secrets team wants to point you to the YouTube comments of Glendon007 as too he talks about rumors swirling around the “Storage Wars” franchise.

We know a lot of yard salers enjoy the “treasure hunt” aspect of the show and those like it, so we thought it was worth pointing the article out to you.

Glendon, who claims to have made a lot of money in the storage unit auction business, offers some interesting bits of information and insight based on his experience in the business.

(And just to clarify, we in no way endorse the purchase of Glendon’s books and infomercials. We don’t know much more about him than you do.)

(Also, he does swear quite a bit in this video, so it might not be “Safe for Work,” as they say.)

http://youtu.be/pzU59_9zg44

Blogger Earth Kitsch has a great ability to find cool vintage items at yard and estate sales.

While we know that YardSalesofYork.com is your absolute favorite source for yard sale tips, we figured we’d offer you a few other great sites for you to check out.

• Yard Sale Queen – This great tips site offers a lot of useful information on selling and buying. Our favorite part is the section about weird items she’s come across in her years of buying. Our only complaint is that it doesn’t seem to be updated much.
• Yard Sale Bloodbath -- A duo of  snarky yard sale shoppers gives us a look at good and bad buys in their trek through the Seattle yard sale scene. They find some crazy stuff.
• Ranch Dressing with Earth Kitsch – This yard sale shopper has one goal — to completely stock her new ranch-style house with retro decor. You’ll be surprised at some of the cool stuff she finds!
• Vintage Rescue Squad – Another junk-loving shopper, the Vintage Rescue Squad site chronicles one woman’s effort to find the best stuff she can at yard sales, flea markets and thrift stores.
• Yard Sale Snoop – This blog features another Pinterest friendly collection of cool retro items that the writer finds while on the hunt through the wilds of Toronto.  We especially like this site because the writer likes to dig up old commercials on YouTube. Good stuff.
• BONUS — Search “Yard Sale Tips” – Okay, maybe we’re cheating here, but this is a bonus entry anyway. You can get some great ideas by simply Googling “Yard Sale Tips.” That search brings up dozens of articles on what’s good, what’s bad and how to maximize your day at the sale. There’s definitely a lot of great advice out there.

PINTEREST

Speaking of Pinterest, follow the Yard Sale Secrets board by going here!

WHAT ABOUT YOU?

Got some great yard sale tips? Want some advice on a particular yard sale topic? Leave a comment and we will get to work!

It’s not often that you see the Yard Sale Secrets blog doing much self-promotion. All of the regular contributors to this little institution have had at least one yard sale since the debut of this blog. We mentioned those sales, yes, but only in passing.

That changes today though.

The Yard Sale Secrets team is proud to announce that we’ve assembled a group yard sale right here at our workplace, The York Dispatch at 205 N. George St. in York City.

The yard sale will feature six to eight sellers and run from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, May 19. Be sure to check out our ad in Thursday and Friday’s classified pages.

Since our tips are written by multiple people, don’t expect everyone to follow every list of tips we’ve put together. That being said, some of the non-contributing York Dispatch staff members have told us they’ve been researching our “Tips for Sellers” posts, so they might follow the rules better than we do.

This employee yard sale is the first for The York Dispatch, so we weren’t sure exactly how big we needed to make it or how much promotion we should do. It could be a total flop or it could be huge. We just aren’t sure Some of the early discussions included ideas of Bounce Houses, free web access, hot dogs on the grill, tours of the building and so on. All those ideas were put on hold though. We just want to test the waters first. If we do well this year, we might just go for broke next time.

You can plan your whole day around our sale and a visit to York’s downtown. The York YMCA is hosting a Bike in York event at Sovereign Bank Stadium, Central Market will be open, and you can check out the city’s museums and other retail operations while you’re visiting.

The weekend’s weather won’t be absolutely perfect for a yard-sale spending spree, but that hasn’t stopped people from planning them.

That alone is enough for us here at Yard Sale Secrets to launch our weekly Best Bets column.

Here’s a snapshot of the what caught our eye, as advertised in the Thursday edition of the York Dispatch.

 BEST BETS

If you’re heading into southeastern York County, you can hit two good ones:

• Chanceford Presbyterian Church will have a set up from 8 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. that includes antiques, toys and books.
• The Fiddler’s Yard Sale at 1448 Main St. Extended in Brogue has 30 tables booked, which means more stuff in one stop.

Elsewhere, you might want to check in on:

• A sale in Dallastown’s Rydell Drive will be good for kids clothes.
• A multifamily affair across from the  Springwood Golf Course promises to be “HUGE” and offers scrap-booking supplies.
• For those still trying to eke some life out of their old VHS tapes, a sale on Pine Street in York is offering a VCR, along with other more up-to-date items. That sale is outside and inside, making it rainproof.

Guys can land some big items this week:

• Lewisberry has a sale at 586 Ridge Road that includes auto parts, a whole car, lawnmowers and more. They even have a piano.
• In Dover, a house on Abby Lane includes a snowblower. With the way York weather is, you might just get a chance to use it a little later.
• A moving sale at 3240 Rosstown Road in Wellsville has some archery equipment. Look out, you might have to fight some “Hunger Games” fans for that.

WEATHER FORECAST

Both Friday and Saturday will start out on the chilly side, according to the National Weather Service. Friday morning temperatures will be climbing out the low 30s. Saturday morning temps will start out a bit higher, with overnight lows in the 40s. Afternoon temperatures on both days are expected to be in the high 50s

The problem is that both days are predicted to have a slight chance of rain, which can wreck any chance of a good day of sales.

Just held my second yard sale of the season and noticed that the traffic was not the same as in prior years. The first one was at my house. Friday was a good day but Saturday the first customer did not arrive until around 10 a.m. The yard sale started at 8 a.m.

The second yard sale was at my mother’s house and the same thing happened.

In prior years, if the yard sale was to start at 8 a.m. customers were lined up to start shopping at 7 a.m.  And, it was crazy all day with customers.

We also noticed this year that when going to yard sales the volume of people was very low. I went to a community yard sale where the cars are normally lined up along the streets and there were only a couple of cars parked along the streets. Why?

Is it because of the heat? Are the gas prices too high and people don’t want to spend money to travel around to yard sales?

What have you experienced when holding or going to a yard sale? We would like to hear your thoughts.