Minnesotans love yard sales. Perhaps it’s the local thrifty, practical Scandinavian heritage, but every weekend from now until fall neighborhoods here are bustling with yard sales. I expect it’s the same where you live now that spring is here.

As a new Minnesotan, I love yard sales just as much as the long term residents. Yard sales are my favorite place to shop for my son. Clothes, toys, and gear for children are among the best buys at yard sales.

You can get some wonderful bargains, but shop carefully. Yard sales are one place where the old adage Caveat Emptor – buyer beware – truly applies.

Inspect everything carefully, especially things for babies, and anything that a child could get hurt in if it’s defective or broken, like a swing, or a baby carrier.

Things to avoid are older toys which would have been made before modern safety standards. Same goes for cribs, clothing, and other gear.

Battery operated things should only be bought if your child will still love if it doesn’t operate. The batteries might be dead, or the thing might be broken.

My favorite bargains? An exersaucer for $5, which he lived in for about four months, and a Baby Bjorn carrier for 50 cents. And the very best buy? The free toys and extra things that a seller threw in when we bought an armful of other things. We got a little red wagon free with a bunch of books and my son still loves towing things around in it over a year later.