Once upon a time, secondhand was second class.

But thanks to the ongoing recession, Americans have a new attitude about spending money and a new affinity for pre-owned.

Last summer, even garage sales suffered in the economic downturn. People were afraid to part with any of their green.

This summer, it's a different story. People will spend - albeit frugally, very frugally, said Mary Cecava, a Lincoln garage saler and seller.

"I've done garage sales off and on for years, and there has never been traffic like this before," she said on a recent Friday morning.

Shoppers are looking for practical items - furniture, kitchenware, towels, shoes and clothes, even adult clothes, garage seller Carrie Hoyt said.

"And those usually don't sell well," she added. She started her sale on Thursday with two tubs of her clothes. By 9 a.m. Friday, less than a dozen pieces remained.

Even people who don't necessarily need to count their pennies are doing so.

Frugal is the new smart fashion, said Kristin Mayo, who donned her 50 cent garage sale find - a colorful patchwork seersucker sundress - while manning her own sale a few doors down.

"I don't feel like we were hit that much," she said of the recession. "But still my goal is to find all of my son's clothes for next fall and spring at garage sales."

She's also watching for things to decorate her family's newly built home.

When her brother put a $200 pricetag on his antique dining table in need of refinishing, Mayo ran into the house and pulled out her own pristine kitchen table and chairs, put them down by the road and slapped the same $200 price on it. Her hope was to sell her set so she could buy her brother's table, which sat surreptitiously out of the line of traffic.

"I have two choices," Mayo said. "I can decorate on a budget or pay full price."

Furniture is a hot commodity, Cecava said.

"If you write that you have furniture (in your ad), people will be sitting outside of your door," she said.

She recalled an earlier sale in which she advertised end tables and bedroom sets.

"Literally there were 10 cars out there" before she opened, she said.

However, in this new era of secondhand chic, deals are the name of the game. People are reluctant to pay the marked price on anything - even if you're only asking for $1, as Mayo and Hoyt found out during their joint garage sale last week.

Cecava had a $200 pricetag on her gently used oak dining room set with four matching upholstered chairs. People tried to talk her down to a fraction of that.

"I may be desperate, but I am not crazy," she said.

Garage salers and sellers agree: Stuff that never sold before is selling well - such as towels, rugs, shoes, old Tupperware and even commode covers.

Stuff that once flew off the tables is virtually ignored -no matter how low the price.

Knick-knacks, collectibles and seasonal items such as whimsical Santas and snowmen that are the bread and butter of craft fairs don't even catch an eye.

When one of Hoyt's crafty snowmen finally sold for 50 cents, she was thrilled - even though she knows a few years ago it would have easily fetched $5 in the early hours of a sale.

"Cutesy stuff - people aren't buying it at all," Cecava said.

Simple is in.

Jodi Kruse, who held her first garage sale last weekend, confessed she just really wanted to "get rid of stuff." She said she's embraced a simpler lifestyle, which includes less cleaning and dusting of nonessential items.

And so she, along with her mother and friend, tried to sell the things people once clamored for at nearly any price - Snowflurry and Boyd's Bears collectibles, Pampered Chef cookware and Pottery Barn-style decor. Although they drew lookers, a lot of people were held back by the new economic and psychological reality - "less is more."

In his 15 years of garage saling, Randy Wilson has seen a change this year. More cars coming in from outlying counties. More shoppers, more sales and more demand for true deals.

With more people hoping to earn some cash through garage sales, there's a glut of quality merchandise.

"It has to be a bargain, otherwise we know we can go to another sale to find it," Wilson said. He points to the like-new toddler exer-saucer in the back seat of his sedan. One woman wanted $20 for hers, but Wilson knew he could find it for half that price somewhere else - and he did.

"Kids' stuff sells well, but they don't realize there is so much kids' stuff out there," he said.

Which is where buyers benefit and sellers suffer.

"Some people try to get retail out of their stuff," Wilson said. But most will be lucky to get half of what they spent on it - more often it is about one-third of the original purchase price, he said.

Which takes us back to Cecava and that dining room set. She knows it's worth well more than the $200 she was asking.

Yet if the tables were turned, she probably wouldn't pay that price at a garage sale.

"I want stuff for nothing," she said.

Reach Erin Andersen at 473-7217 or eandersen@journalstar.com.