`YARD SAILING' TOP SATURDAY ACTIVITY FOR DEAL HUNTERS

In the eclectic culture that is "yard sailing," Judy Perkins of Cape Girardeau is definitely the early bird. But she's not looking for worms, she's looking for a good buy.

Along with many other Americans across the country, Perkins said she and her husband, Gerald, forfeit their chance to sleep in and get up each Saturday morning at 6 a.m. to "hit the sales."

"We find all kinds of bargains," Perkins said. "We look around until we see something we like and we buy it."

All last summer, Emily Scisers, 17, of Cape Girardeau, joined the devoted clan of bargain hounds who got up with the sun to get to the yard sales.

"You've got to get there early," she said. "The earlier you get there, the better things you find."

Scisers spent as much as $30 one day buying clothes, a chair and other items for her room. She said she got a lot for her money.

And therein lies people's appeal for yard sales.

Perkins buys clothes, books and any other appealing little knick-knacks, spending much less than she would at a retail store buying new items.

"When people go to yard sales, they don't want to spend a lot of money," said Lisa Brown of Cape Girardeau, who holds about five yard sales a year. "That's why they go. You can find something that is almost new for 25 cents."

Brown's yard sales offer clothes for children and adults, old albums, costume jewelry, books, used video cassette tapes and even a few new items. Brown sells hand-crafted pieces that she makes herself, such as pillows and hand purses.

The Perkinses like the time outdoors looking for items they need at low prices. But that's not the main reason they like going to yard sales so much.

"It's fun," said Judy Perkins. "We like to get out and meet people."

Brown agreed. She said while she certainly has good use for the extra money, she especially enjoys the opportunity to meet her neighbors.

"It's interesting, too," she said, "from a sociological perspective to see what kind of people are going to buy what they do. You never know what people are going to buy."

The Perkinses are testimony to this. Once the Perkins bought an Indian pottery jug in Mexico, Ala. Later, they bought a street light in Illinois.

"It was the most interesting thing we've bought at a yard sale," said Judy Perkins. "It had a big bulb on the top, I just loved it."

When the Perkinses travel, they always make it a point to check out yard sales in other places.

"Wherever we go we go to yard sales," Judy Perkins said. "When we go to visit, we go to the sales."

Buying from a yard sale is more than fun and economical, said Richard Bryant, an assistant professor of Biology at Southeast Missouri State University. "It's re-use," Bryant said. "That's better than recycling."

Recycling uses the same material over and over, Bryant said. But it requires reprocessing. Reprocessing requires energy and additional raw material.

Lisa Brown said whatever else a yard sale is, it's draining: "It's a lot of work to get everything out in the yard and back in. It's fun, but you wouldn't want to have one every weekend."