In a Shift, Yard Sales Remain Hot in Cold Season

"It's been going pretty strong," said Chris Heiska, a Lusby resident who blogs at http://Yardsalequeen.com. "Every Saturday, I'm like, 'Oh, I'm going to stay home this Saturday,' and then I'll check the paper and there's another one."

Yard sale habitues like Heiska say a lot more first-timers ventured into the yard sale game this year, some of whom are selling treasured possessions rather than unwanted junk.

"There are more quality things," said Sally Drown, 62, a Herndon resident who shops at yard sales for fun and to outfit her family's cottage in Vermont. "People are moving and downsizing and getting rid of stuff just to make money."

Lynne Grier sat in the garage of her townhouse Nov. 22 in Sterling and wished for more traffic at her moving sale. She recently quit her job as an underwriter in the failing mortgage industry and plans to move in with her sister in Chesapeake, Va. She made a pot of chili for salegoers.

"It's been a struggle," Grier said. "I'm selling about half my books, and it's painful. My books are my friends."

Her daughter Heather's bridal dress -- satin and sequins neatly preserved in a David's Bridal box -- was also for sale.

Leaf decided to have her second sale of the year because she wants to rent out a couple of spare rooms, perhaps to a student at nearby George Mason University. Her children are grown, and she will welcome the companionship, she said.

"I haven't sold a house in six months," Leaf said. "Normally, I'd sell five or six. . . . It's getting very tough."

Many neighbors in the subdivision have steady government jobs and good incomes -- the brick Colonials are assessed at about $750,000 by Fairfax County -- but even so, "people are really concerned," she said.

Nearby, Flood, 44, an office manager for a telecommunications company, was bundled up in a blue ski jacket, looking through the housewares. In recent months, she said, she has begun strenuously economizing after a divorce and a $10,000 reconstruction of a flooded basement. She has started yard sale shopping, clipping coupons and splitting a membership in a warehouse store with a friend.

"I'm poor," she said with humor. "It's the pits!"

Flood, a single mother of two boys, said that her economic straits have been keeping her up at night.

"I'm very scared," she said. "I don't sleep well. I go to sleep praying, 'Let me make the bills this month.' I think about it when I'm driving. I'm terrified someone's going to hit me, and then I'll have to buy a new car. I'll wake up at night and go, 'Gosh, did I pay that bill?' I check my bank account once a day to make sure everything's going to cover. It's just stressful."

She ended up toting away a free TV and a $2 candle sconce for one of her bare walls.

In keeping with the cold day, Leaf had set out winter and holiday items, including her children's boots and snowsuits, holiday picture books arrayed on a chair, even a pair of snowshoes.

"When I look back, I think about how sweet they were when they wore those things. That's something you think about," Leaf said. "I spent a million bucks on everything, and this is what I got!"