Friday, May 04, 2007

It's Garage Sale Season!

I love to go to garage sales. To me, it's the thrill of the hunt. What great buy will I find? I've gotten nice pictures for my living room and dining room, window coverings for the living room, craft supplies, even candy!

Now, I'm not a garage sale nut. I look over the ads each week and find the ones in my corner of town. I don't drive all over the place. And I only go on Friday mornings. I don't arrive at the sales before the start time - nothing is worth being in the crowd of early-birds, with their brisk, deal-hungry approach. Being around those folks just brings me down. I don't need to "beat someone out" for a deal. If it's still there when I come later, great. If not, then I've been saved spending that money.

Plus I shop with a list. Really! This summer my list has two things: original Rummikube (the current versions have plastic tiles - I'm looking for the old style solid tiles) and decorative milk glass plates for the guest room. Oh, and maybe clothes for LMH if they're good quality.

So this morning the uber-princess and I set out for a handful of garage sales. She's got her eye out for American girl doll stuff - a rare find, but worth picking up if you do find it. No luck for her today. And nothing from my list either. But I did get a masonite clipboard for a dime. That goes into my stash for teacher gifts next year. Then it will become an altered clipboard. And I found a nice framed photograph of an English cottage. Don't know where it will go yet, but we've been drooling over this kind of photo at fine art fairs and so I knew it was a deal. Plus I just liked it. Now we're home and on with our day. No more garage saling until next Friday. And then, who knows what fun stuff we'll find!

4 musings:

WilyHacker said...

You need to add cheap craftsman hand tools to your list. Since Sears has a no questions asked policy on broken hand tools. It's just like buying a new one.

Llama Momma said...

I love the idea of going with a list. We really should go out together sometime...though Saturday morning sans kids is definitely my favorite time! :-)

Anonymous said...

I just hit a wonderful community garage sale last weekend and got a ton of bargains, including a handcrafted end table made of solid oak for $10 (the find of the day!).

I went with a list, but ended up with a bunch of stuff not on it. I still think a list is a good strategy, though!

Anonymous said...

Well written article.