Thank you so much for this great review...

Estate sales aren’t always fun: cranky old men peeking through windows at the crack of dawn, sag-faced bargain-seekers in winter gear pushing their way past card table displays in white-carpeted living rooms. Worst are the stern-faced auctioneers unmovable in their price structures, not caring why you’re buying a box of antique doll heads, simply wanting you out the door and wanting your dollar.

Chicago Estate Sales is the opposite of all that. Their prices are low, they’re uber-welcoming from the moment you step inside, and while you literally dig your way around the treasures you can hear them laughing it up in the living room, commenting on people’s fantastic finds, asking, “Where did you get that?” and “Now what are you going to do with a carpet sample book from 1958?” You get the feeling they actually enjoy vintage finds while some companies treat the entire affair like a funeral. (I know what you’re thinking, and yes, while some estate sales certainly happen after funerals, many of them are the logical pre-cursor to an elderly downsizing. Can you say condo in Florida?)

When Chicago Estate Sales tells you they have a “dirty dig,” you go. They don’t have pictures of this sale up on their website yet, but I had the unique pleasure of attending a dirty dig last June and I still think about the sale today.

Highly, highly recommended sale — this is my favorite estate sale company in Chicago!

By the way, if you’d like more updates like these — especially if you live in the Chicagoland area — I post tips all the time on Twitter. So follow me there and you’ll get even more bang for your free BackGarage buck. ....

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