You can't buy a collection of swizzle sticks acquired over years of travel in a retail store; nor can you pick up a set of hand-thrown pottery dishes for $10. The only source for these treasures, if you're lucky, is your neighborhood yard sale.

Every Friday and Saturday, the faithful rise early, map out their routes and cruise the local subdivisions in search of bargains.

The thrill of the hunt literally drives shoppers for miles. Katie Jackson of Newnan and her yard sale partner, Glenda Lohman of Peachtree City, were found browsing Saturday in the garage of Deborah Toksoz of Planterra Ridge in Peachtree City.

"We both have grandchildren and we like to look for things for them," Jackson said. The other beneficiaries of their forays into the driveways and yards of weekend storekeepers are their daughters. "My daughter just moved and she has this glass shelf that's just perfect for these plates," Jackson said, showing off some floral dinnerware purchased from Toksoz.

Katherine Register of Tyrone lucked up on a pair of great-fitting jeans for just a quarter.

Great stuff at great prices is what keeps yard sale fanatics coming back for more.

"We have them and we shop them," Toksoz said. She and her family joined their neighbors Friday and Saturday for a Planterra Ridge subdivision yard sale extravaganza. Participating homes signaled potential buyers with balloons tacked onto mailboxes. The pottery dishware Toksoz sold for $10 was originally purchased at another yard sale for $25. "It was just too heavy for us and didn't fit in with anything we had," Toksoz said, explaining her reason for the resale.

As a veteran yard sale junkie, Toksoz was asked what was her best find to date. "Probably my daughter's bedroom furniture," she replied. Toksoz found a complete set of baby basics for $20, refinished it, decorated it, and after her daughter outgrew it, sold it. "I made more money on it than I paid for it," she said.

For Robin Harrison, her annual yard sale is a family affair. She recruits her sister and mother to gather their goodies and host the sale in her Peachtree City neighborhood. Harrison's sale items include everything from McDonald's Happy Meal toys to baby furniture and toys. A Little Tykes reversible changing table and doll crib sold quickly for $7.

DeDe Gauthier joined her Planterra Ridge neighbors' sale in an attempt to weed out "too much stuff." Top finds in her garage included a color TV propped on a metal typewriter stand, a world-class swizzle stick collection and assorted knickknacks and brick-a-brack.

Spring and fall are prime seasons for tag sales, as homeowners catch the cleaning bug and the urge to purge their closets and garages. But before you price your castoffs and plant your sign, be sure to check the rules and regulations governing yard sales in your particular municipality.

Peachtree City requires residents to use only the permitted yard sale signs available from city hall. The specified signs may be displayed one day prior to the sale and must be removed immediately after the sale. No signs can be placed within 200 feet of Ga. highways 54 or 74, or within a median. Regulations also state that no sign can be affixed to a utility pole, tree or existing sign, and it cannot be more than five feet above the ground.

The City of Fayetteville has similar sign restrictions. Signs can be no larger than four square feet and cannot be displayed in a public right of way or within 200 feet of Georgia highways 85, 54 and 314. Signs cannot be placed within a median strip or displayed more than three days. Placement of signs on trees, street light poles, utility poles and street signs is not allowed and no sign can be more than three feet above the ground.

The Town of Tyrone has only one advisory: placement of signs in the town's right of ways is strongly discouraged.

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