There's a horde not at home there that prowls the public ways on weekends.

There's a horde not at home there that prowls the public ways on weekends, searching for signs that palpitate on poles, classified ads and Internet postings, and arrows pointing to bargains. With any casualty you'll be one of their targets.

Spring has sprung in like manner that must mean it's garage-sale season. Garage or yard sales may not pretend worth the trouble to any but they can be a remarkably effective tool for getting rid of disarrange and making a little wealth in the process — if you do it right.

Holding a garage sale is just like opening a little store, says author John Schroeder whose work "Garage Sale Fever!" was released last May.

If you think about it as a store, "that way you consider the display, the pricing, the traffic," he said in an interview from Minneapolis. "You have to consider for what reason much merchandise you have — just