And we still have September to find what we want. Here in Vermont there are yard sales all the way through September and sometimes we get surprised to find one in October.
Down in Florida, the sales last until 4-6pm. I've got a best friend down there that once told me this.
I've been yard saling for years and would have to say that now, I am a well seasoned yard saler. I learned at a young age the fun past time of yard saling. I had a great aunt growing up who loved to go yard saling every weekend. She would often spend all day yard saling and would show up for a visit later in the afternoon.
Sometimes we would patiently wait for her to show up. Sometimes we would go yard saling with her, my Nana and my mom. We would often get lost and have some good laughs as we asked people for directions.
In later years when I would talk to my Dad about yard saling he would call me, "Aunt Mary." I always loved visiting her house. She had lots of pretty china dishes, a piano, granny afghans, dolls and other stuff. It was a fun place.
Later in college, my sister and I would have fun yard saling and finding cool items. I'm sure I don't have lots of the items any more. But I still have these antique silver tea spoons that I love from yard saling with her.
The well seasoned yard saler learns to collect all kinds of different things. When I was first married, I started yard saling more and as a young mother, it was my Saturday escape from the kids. I often would come back with lots of stuff. Clothing and toys for the kids, cool items for me and ocasionally finding something for the husband.
A well seasoned yard saler learns from her mistakes. How many times have we come back with things we know we are going to be putting in our next yard sale? I can't tell you how many things have ended up in my next yard sale, the trash or Goodwill. Too many to count. The one thing I do remember that ended up going straight into the trash was one of those old Snoopy tooth brush machines.
And I used to come back with small pieces of furniture and bigger stuff. Things I thought I could use for photography, storage for my many dolls I had at the time.
I used to accumulate lots of stuff and was probably the yard sale queen (alias; the hoarder). When I first moved into my new apartment three years ago, the movers said that I should be put on TV. I literally had no bare space and they made a path for me to get from one room to the next. I had two much furniture for my little apartment and too many things.
Goodwill has seen a lot of me over the last three years, and this last year I finally smartened up and started selling stuff on Ebay to make some money. And now, I have cleaned out my apartment and am yard saling to find other items to sell.
But, I sure used to not be careful with what I would bring back from yard sales.
And I think that every year we yard sale there are going to be some things that end up going to Goodwill, the trash or EBay. Sometimes we see a sale and think that we want it and then later realize that we didn't really need it.
How many times have you boughten something at a yard sale several times because you bought something once before and got rid of it and changed your mind when you see another one again at another yard sale?
And we usually like to stop at all yard sales in case there happens to be that one treasure that we are looking for. Or sometimes it ends up being too small and we drive on by. And sometimes we don't like the drive down a certain road to find the sale.
There's nothing I hate more than seeing a yardsale sign and then get sent on a wild goose chase. The yardsale is just not there like it said it was or you're yardsaling on a Friday and the sign said Saturday. But we don't always read the sign. We just see a flash of flourescent pink or orange and know we're headed in the right direction.
After that fact, we cringe as we know we have wasted gas on that one. And then there are the yardsales where we stop and look, but there is nothing that we need.
I don't need sheets, dishes, vases, old VCR tapes, tons of books that will collect dust, baby toys, etc.....
Sometimes we see things we like, but the seller is asking too much for everything and we choose to walk away with our money in our pockets.
I'm always on the hunt for crafting stuff and dolls and of course the outfits and things to sell. I try not to get too many big things now. I've been busy getting rid of lots of furniture and big things. I try now to get just what I need.
I did end up getting rid of a few things I got at some yard sales. Earlier in the season, I got luggage for reinventing and chose to get rid of one as I thought I got too many of them. And some little odds and ends ended up at Goodwill. And things that don't sell on Ebay go there. And sometimes things get cut up for crafting.
One man's trash is another man' treasure. I always remember this saying and heard it so many times.
We scour the yard sales for so many things that we want for a cheaper price and love that we got a great bargain. That is the love of a good yard sale. It's a great way to have a whole new wardrobe for a cheaper price. I honestly shouldn't need to shop at a clothing store for many years.
But of course we do see an outfit once in a while that we absolutely must have.
I love finding things that are going to be useful in my creating.
I also love it when you go to a yardsale and you find exactly what you were looking for. Like today, I was thinking of buying in a store or on Ebay some decorative knobs to add to my hutch that I am painting and collaging. It would have cost me more money and low and behold, I found a bag of porcelain flower drawer knobs for $1. What a bargain.
So, you never know what you will find at a yard sale. Whether you are a novice, collector, buyer and seller, and of course the well seasoned yard saler, you learn to be selective with what you buy so you aren't bringing back all kinds of junk to fill your apartment or home.
The yard sale season is slowly coming to a close, but I'm already looking forward to next year's yard sales to buy and sell again. And when the season is done this year, I will have to look for other ways to buy and sell until the next year roles around.
I guess that is when my crafting skills come in and I can also attempt to sell what I create too. That's a selective thing and you never know who is going to want it.
Jennifer Jo Fay
August 3, 2012
Wow. Another post today! Julia is playing Skyrim instead on the PS3 so I have control of my laptop this afternoon. Now, what do I want to do next? But, I will probably still spend some time cutting out more yo yo circles.
And another thought about yardsales. Watch out for the Estate sales. The prices are sometimes sky high and once in a while they charge you sales tax. And this morning, I was at my kids house early writing a post, checking my Ebay and getting two packages ready to mail. My son and I looked out the living room window just as I was ready to go to some yard sales and were so surprised at all the cars lined up on the street.
I couldn't believe it. Cars were everywhere and tons of cars were lined up in the court across the way. We saw people walking out of a certain house with stuff and Sean said they are cleaning out the house. We knew that earlier this year the woman living there had passed away and now figured they were cleaning it out.
Well, I went outside and got in my car and slowly waited for my turn to carefully pull out of the driveway. Once on the road, I didn't get too far as people were walking across the street and more than several other cars were trying to get up from the other side of the street, cars behind me waiting and one car had the nerve to try to pass me on the right and I kept honking at him to wait his turn and that he could not pass me. What was he thinking?
Well, what it ended up being was an Estate sale with the green signs all over the place. I almost wasn't going to go after I was done yard saling but I ended up going in. The prices weren't as bad as the other one I went to. I ended up coming out with some bangle bracelets and yarn. I was curious to see what the lady had in her house. I don't really remember too much about her as she kept to herself.
I imagine the house might be up for sale at some point.
There had to be at least 50 or more cars there early this morning. And I think by the time I got there, everything was picked over.
And whatever happened to Friday being the popular day for yard sales. I still manage to find some, but nowadays people mostly have them on Saturday due to working.
And usually everyone is tired by a Sunday and just want to close up shop. And it's no fun gathering everything and spending hours cleaning up. That is the biggest chore of actually having a yardsale.
My last yardsale I had was last summer and I swear I took about 2-3 hours to set up and close down. And nine bags of kids clothing ended up going to Goodwill as I gathered things that didn't fit them from their house too. That was the biggest yardsale I ever had.
And I had stuff in my hallway the night before and when I woke up in the morning my big framed art print of those two angels thinking got stolen. Someone came down and saw it. I wouldn't be surprised if it was my next door neighbors as they would have been the ones that would have seen it when they were walking into their apartment. I forget who did it. Some famous artist.
Today's pretty drawer knobs. This was the yard sale gem of the day. I need four four my hutch project and then I will decide if I want to use them on my armor. I might not want them on that. I might decide to save the rest of them and look for more drawer knobs at sales. It looks like they are selling pretty well on Ebay and maybe I can get a little collection going and then sell them. Or you never know when you're going to find a little piece of furniture that might need one of these. Or some wooden container that would be nice with one of these attached.
A purple top that I am ending up keeping instead of listing on Ebay. I was going to keep one other top instead of this one but the other top was too tight in the sleeves and this one ended up looking really nice on me. And the purple polka dots could be useful with the photography still life photos.
A pretty girls Bonnie Jean dress that I am selling right now on Ebay.
The wooden bracelets and yarn I got at the Estate sale this morning. I came back with three bangle bracelets and Julia was like, "What did you get?" I showed her and immediately both girls wanted one. So I got thinking there goes my painting these idea I saw from Modge Podge Rocks website and blog. Below is the one that Julia has started painting with the cheap Folk Art paints. Mollyanne ended up not wanting to paint one, so I still get to paint two of them.
Some free fabric remnants I got at a yard sale today for the yo yo circle cutting
A new pile of fabric ear marked for the fabric stretchy bracelets that I cut up over the last few days.
Here is my old flower pattern I started to sew five or six years ago when the girls were younger and I was living in their house. Maybe about four years ago actually.
I'm going to attempt this again with some fabric sometime. Maybe I can play around with the petals and make bracelets out of them. Seeing as I've been on a big bracelet kick this year.
Right now this looks like it would be long enough for a scarf, but I think my plan had been to make a blanket throw out of them. And one flower was a baby teether with the tissue or tracing paper inside it.
Here is my big pile of yo yo circles that I have cut up from now to last November. I had them in ziploc bags for a while and decided to switch them to this earlier this week and have them all in one place. This is about a 12" X 12" basket. I've got a bunch of these baskets I bought from JCPenneys years ago. I used to stack them on top of each other and they held my dolls, artwork and any thing I could think of putting in them. I once had a big drywall shelf that I would situate them on too. I always liked finding things that were going to create more storage space for things.
As you can see with this growing amount of yo yo circles, it will take me a while to sew them all up, seeing as I've got lots of other crafting projects lined up too and the novels and the art. All in good time. It's not going to walk away. But I'm sure a few of these will get cut up by the girls for their Pet Shop Characters or the Webkinz.
This afternoon's snack. I'm dipping it in Ortega Guacamole dip today. My favorite thing to dip them in is Hannaford's french onion dip, but that is gone now. I wonder if they would be good dipped in mustard. Hmmm...
I added some to a hamburger helper meal yesterday (tomato basil with out the hamburg)