Shopping estate sales recreationally is fun. Shopping them with a plan is better.
Define what you're hunting
A sale with vintage Pyrex and a sale with fine-grained hand tools overlap less than you'd think. Narrow the kinda of things you'd actually resell or keep before you plan a route. The EstateSales.net phone app has this problem explicitly noted in app store reviews — shoppers have wished for category filtering for years.
Plan around openings
Most sales open 8-9am. Two adjacent sales opening at 9am are not both visitable; pick one, or use platforms that let you see multiple sales and reserve for the one you actually want.
Rough cost model
For a 5-sale Saturday: fuel, time (roughly 5 hours), tolls or parking, food. But the real cost is opportunity cost — the sale you skipped rather than the sales you hit.
For families
Estate sales are not stroller-friendly. Kids are welcome, but you'll want to split: one adult in the queue, one at the playground. Some platforms let households register as one group so you occupy one line slot, not twelve.
Don't over-camp: the app did the waiting
Claim a reservation, show up for the doors, then proceed straight through. You'll spend the same time, but on shopping instead of standing.