Since the school year is ending, many college kids are moving out of their dorms and apartments this month. If you'll need a loft or mini-fridge, arriving on campus on move-out day is a perfect time to get them from seniors who don't want them anymore.

Even if you don't need those items, now is a great time to stop by apartment complexes near colleges and look for moving sale flyers. (Even if the school year ended for them the first week of May, they might have leases through the end of the month.)  When people are moving across the country, they're often very open to selling at a very low price.  I got much needed furniture for very little money this way.

I hope this helps someone!

Dear All, Now, for garage/apt sales, estate sales, & moving sales, you who live outside of San Francisco -- maybe outside of all major metropolises -- have such an advantage over us!  I keep salivating when folks mention the low prices that they have found at such sales.  Here, my experience is that yard sales' prices are approximately double Salvation Army's (which are high for thrift stores, in teh 1st place).  I can't remember the lasat time that I found a true bargain at one.  Therefore, I only check if I'm already walking right past a sale.  Yours in Him, Deb

This is a great idea! If you aren't terribly squeamish, you can also check dumpsters. Sometimes people throw away perfectly good items just because they won't fit in the car! Using this method, I found a mini-fridge and printer! The printer was an older Lexmark, so it wasn't anything fancy, but it fulfilled its basic function.

I went to a garage sale yesterday at a real estate agent's house and bought one of his desks for $20. It is a very sleek clean lined simple computer desk, but is over $100 at the store. It is just like one i saw on hgtv and wanted but didnt think i could afford!  He had another one like it and if i would have had room, it would have came home with me to be a sofa table for the new house.  Thanks for reading I just had to share my excitement!!!!!!