The Perpetual Garage Sale

The elusive hunt for the best deals - my husband may refer to me as cheap but I refer to myself as shopping savvy, embracing coupons and sales whenever possible.

I like to think I get my shopping smarts from an unlikely source: my grandpa. During trips to Kmart in Waterloo, he would quickly mentally calculate per item costs, usually for toilet paper.

When it comes to cleaning supplies and laundry detergent, I usually pick the most cost-effective items, because what's the point of spending a bunch of money on something like that?

eBay is normally my go-to site for penny pinching, but being outbid and weeding through international sellers' junk can be time-consuming. Imagine my glee when I discovered swap meets on Facebook.

One of my cousins is a member of Ankeny Community Swap, so, naturally, pictures of reasonably priced goodies she had commented on were popping up all over my news feed.

The swap meet is similar to a garage sale, with everything from clothing to concert tickets to home appliances for sale. Freebies are also welcome.

Users post the photo of their items, along with the price, with a first come, first serve policy. While you don't have to get up with the sunrise Saturday morning to fight the garage sale vultures, you do have to act fast and constantly check the page for new items.

Users can also swap services and network. A Facebook swap meet in Houston recently had a post for someone looking to swap babysitting for a free haircut.

Adorable shoes for $5? Sign me up, but I figured Storm Lake was probably too small to have such a site.

I was wrong, and just completed my first "swap" yesterday, snagging a like-new purse for $8.

Whatever good, bad or otherwise state the economy's in, there will always be those who enjoy getting a good deal. It's just the technology in which we snoop them out that is changing.

* Ashley Miller is a member of the Pilot-Tribune news staff. Reach the columnist at amiller@stormlakepilottribune.com