My retrospective menus are an idea I picked up from Karen at Abundance On A Dime. Now I'm going to pirate another idea from her - her weekly yard sale review. This could be a fairly regular Sunday feature for me during the warm months, and a little less frequent when cooler weather forces me to rely only on thrift store shopping for second-hand bargains.
Although there were lots of subdivision-wide garage sales yesterday, I didn't have a lot of luck finding anything I wanted or needed. I had better luck at some the sales I saw here and there on Thursday, that weren't part of an organized neighborhood effort.
In addition to a few odds and ends and quite a few summer tops for Kat and me that I found for a quarter each, I also found:
A set of king size sheets for our bed. They looked new and the woman selling them said they'd only been on her bed once. I made her open them and prove they were king-size, which I think annoyed her, but the last time I bought king sheets, still in their package, from a thrift store, they were actually queen size. I wasn't going to make that mistake again. These were $10.
Brand new jar candles. The big quart-sized ones, more or less. They're not Yankee Candle or anything of that caliber, but have a nice fragrance and not "waxy" smelling like some can be. I enjoy scented candles, but almost never buy them at regular retail prices. Why should I when these were only 50¢ each?
A Paul McCartney CD for Kat. She's a little McCartney groupie, and yes, she does know that he's an old man now. (But doesn't he look young in that cover photo?) $1
Kat purchased this telescope with her own money. She had asked Santa for one back in December, and when he failed to deliver, she decided to buy one herself. The suggested retail on the box was $79.95. She bought this one for $7. At less than 10¢ on the dollar, she may have found the best bargain of all.
I also want to mention the "Item of the Day". All veteran garage salers know what I mean. It's that one item that you see over and over again at different sales throughout the day. I'm not talking about something so common that every one should have it (like coffee cups or ice trays), but something uncommon enough that it stands out just a little. This week's item of the day was the electric juice extractor. The kind where you put the fruit or veg in the top and juice dispenses into a glass at the bottom. I think I saw three of them in about two hours' time...and took a pass on all of them.
Did you go to sales this week? If so, what did you find?
6 comments:
Yard Sale season has not started here yet, too cold and wet! I regularly travel a thrift store route. I think I prefer a store over a yard sale, unless I am shopping with someone. Nice finds!
My town was FULL of yard sales this weekend and I didn't go to a single one :( The hubby doesn't like doing garage sales. I know what you mean about the size of sheets. I bought some sheet at a thrift store the other day that said full, but when I put them on the bed they were twin! ugh. Love the telescope for $7, that's awesome!
Lindsay: I think Shane likes them as much as I do. He's always looking for hand tools, garden tools and other old rusty stuff...LOL!
Local sales were a disappointment this weekend but I also admit I didn't make a great effort since most of the sales started Thu or Fri. I walked away empty handed from two sales. At the third I bought 2 yoga DVDs and an Alice In Wonderland DVD for $1 each. At the last one I got a set of plastic measuring cups (25 cents) a set of plastic measuring spoons (25 cents), a metal steamer insert(25 cents), a plastic deviled egg tray (25 cents) and 2 Tupperware containers (75 cents and 50 cents).
I was meeting a friend for lunch in a nicer area and I stopped at a yard sale there. I got 4 tops (one was Banana Republic, one was Old Navy) and a pair of pants for $2 each, a brownie pan for 75 cents and a Bob Seger CD (best of) for $2. I went digital with my music last year and sold or donated my CD collection but my music service lacks certain artist, Bob Seger being one of them. I can listen to it in the car.
I also spent about $35 in Goodwill, buying 3 pairs of pants ($4 each), several tops ($3.50 each, approx.), a brand new pair of Bass shoes for $5.50, a metal mixing bowl (97 cents) and a conical aluminum sieve strainer (missing the stand or masher but it was only $2.97) and a 47 cents pasta cookbook.
Annie, it sounds like your family had great luck at the garage sales. This is my first visit to your site and I've spent some time browsing through your earlier entries. You've created a love and informative spot for your readers and I'll definitely be back. I hope you have a great day. Blessings...Mary
I didn't hit ANY garage sales this weekend even tho it was an all city garage sale in one town...
Maybe I'll get to one next week.
Kudos to you two on your awesome finds!
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