It's starting to be the season for one of the region's great economic "sports" -- garage sales.

A lot of people pursue the sales with a passion that easily matches that of the weekend golfer: gathering the ads, mapping a route, and hitting sale after sale for the best buys. Now that the weather's starting to warm up, so will the sales.

Of course, the recession gives the practice a little boost too, for both buyers and sellers. People might look to buy more used items at a discount these days -- or they might be looking to sell off more old stuff to raise a little extra cash. If you're in the latter camp, here's a link to a page that rounds up a lot of advice for the garage seller:

Garage sales are work - a lot of hard work, but the returns more than justify the effort. Whether it's advertised as Patio, Carport, Yard, Porch, or Garage-a-Rama, people will come and buy. Clean out your closets and ANYTHING that is useless to you or you don't want - put it in the sale. Don't throw anything away. People will buy just about anything. You'd be surprised. What is one person's trash is another's GOLDMINE!

A few other links regarding garage or yard sales:

YardSaleQueen.com includes tips, warnings, links -- a host of information about yard sales. Link. This page offers more suggestions for hosting a sale. And here's an LA Times article about the sales, in the context of the recession.

I'm planning a similar story here for the Everyday Economy page, and am looking for both shoppers and sellers to interview. Are you planning a garage sale -- or planning to shop at one -- in the near future? What's your strategy for having a successful sale? What's your approach to getting the best deals?

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