Sweet Bag Sales, How I Love Thee

My garage sale-ing has been thwarted this weekend due to badly-timed car malfunctions, so I thought I'd relive past successes! I didn't blog about last week's trip because I washed and put away everything before I thought to take a picture.

We started out badly. It was late in the morning, so we were only planning to hit up two or three sales on the way to the park. It's true that garage salers fall into two categories: people who just want you to take their "junk," and people who are trying to make money. Both of the first two sales fell into the second category. Everything was priced up to retail value (retail, in this case, being our already-overpriced thrift stores).

So we (mostly I!) were feeling pretty dispirited when we headed to the last sale. If it hadn't been basically across the street from the park, we might have decided to skip it. The ad on Craigslist just said it was a fundraising "dollar sale," which I thought meant that everything was a dollar. Boy, was I wrong! As we pulled up, I saw a parking lot full of tables, piled high with clothes, curtains, and what-have-you, and a big, glorious sign that read, "FILL A BAG FOR A DOLLAR." That's right, glorious. I was out of the car and off before Hubs had a chance to say, "I'll just park, then?"

I duly filled my bag (plastic, not paper, unfortunately!) and we headed to the park. On the way home a half-hour later, though, we were passing by the sale again and the sign had changed . . . . Now it read, "EVERYTHING FREE."

Oh, you can bet I told Hubs to pull over and went scurrying across the street with my mammoth shopping bag in tow. I knew that keeping a "green" shopping bag in the car for impromptu trips to the grocery would pay off . . . . I found more good things the second time around, probably because the items on top had been picked through and/or carried off already. So, for the price of my original dollar, since I can't remember exactly which clothes I picked up when, I hauled off a winter coat, black Dickies (capris), a pair of brown Eddie Bauer jeans, a zip up black sweater, a 65% angora beret, a white scarf, a J. Jill blouse, a polo shirt, robe, and a pile of clothing to resell or give away. Whew!

Where else could I have gotten a whole new wardrobe for a dollar? Talk about a great, guilt-free shopping spree!

A-yard-saleing we go!

I hit up three yard sales this morning, Hubs and the dog (Chase) in tow. Hubs definitely plays the part of the aloof, merchandise-carrying spouse, but if he offers to come, I figure he's enjoying himself! In any case, we take a nice drive around town and Chase hangs his head out the window.

Today Chase was a little under the weather. He had "minor surgery" yesterday to remove a benign tumor from his face. It looked exactly like a mole, and he'd had it for years, so we almost didn't mention it to the vet. It's a good thing we did!

The weather was cold and windy today (summer in Montana!) so we didn't browse long anywhere. I did manage to pick up two leather-looking trays and a pretty little dish for $2.50 total. The price stickers were still on: $14.99 each for the trays and $7.99 for the dish. Hurray!


We've been wanting trays to use for our dinners outside, since our outdoor "table" is just two small plant stands pushed together. I never expected to find anything this nice, but it's amazing how what we need (or want) will come to us if we're patient.

Teeny-tiny glass ornaments

I picked up these old-fashioned glass ball ornaments for 25 cents at a yard sale last week. They're tiny and very pretty. I think I might cluster them together and hang them like mistletoe, or just heap them in a shiny bowl. What a treat! Hubs and I are planning to go yard sale hunting tomorrow... I'll let you know if I find anything good!