What's your best yard sale find ?

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O.K. everyone on a lighter note , what is your best yard sale find ? I went out yesterday and found a Garden seeder in lehmans that sells for $85.00 .It was in perfect shape and had all the disks .I had no idea what it was worth but thought the $10.00 price tag was too high ! I got it for $7.00 !What a buy , can't wait for spring .

-- Patty Gamble (fodfarms@slic.com), August 25, 2000

Answers

A carnival glass vase for 10 cents! Happy yard sale-ing,~~~Tracy~~~

-- Tracy Jo Neff (tntneff@ifriendly.com), August 25, 2000.

O.K., I know that I shouldn't be so fond of "things" but I have this love of beautiful silver. This summer I found a set of quality silverplate, in perfect condition, old, service for 12 with serving pieces, over 100 pieces, for $43.00. I didn't cheat the people, it was an estate sale and the guy really wanted to get rid of it. He didn't like it because it was an old pattern and he didn't want something he had to clean!! Imagine that.

-- Peg (NW WI) (wildwoodfarms@hushmail.com), August 25, 2000.

No question about it--Countryside! Eight issues for 10 cents each about 10 years ago. Subscribed immediately, bought all the available at the time back issues and keep them all. You'll never get them from me!

-- Sandy (smd2@netzero.net), August 25, 2000.

Hmmm, I could put quite a list here, though actually my husband found most of them, as I seldom have enough cash on hand to go yard- saling!! He got my wood cook stove, in excellent condition, at an estate sale for $200. A LARGE aquarium at a yard sale for $10 (five koi in it right now that used to be five-for-a-dollar feeder fish!). Two of those garden seeders for $5 and $10. I got a yogurt maker at a thrift shop for $2 and it works fine (though it only makes one quart at a time). We've picked up the big hanging chicken feeders and waterers for a couple of bucks apiece. He was just GIVEN over a hundred concrete blocks by someone who wanted to get them out of the back yard of their new house. Also all the glass he used to build his little greenhouse was given to us. (I know, this isn't all yard sale stuff!)

-- Kathleen Sanderson (stonycft@worldpath.net), August 25, 2000.

I went to a flea market (people went there instead of holding yard sales) and managed to get: a 17" wooden bowl, a bundt cake pan (an old solid one, not one of those modern pieces of junk), and a 6 qt crock pot. All for $5!

The lid for the crock pot didn't fit quite right, but the glass cover for one of my Dutch Ovens works just fine. I've found that these places are a good source for cast iron. Most of my favorite pieces were bought from older folks who just couldn't heft them around like they used to. Cheap and well seasoned....can't beat it.

-- Chris Stogdill (cstogdill@rmci.net), August 25, 2000.



A corona grain mill for $15.00, and a Squeezo strainer, for $12.00. That was LAST summer. More recently, eight pairs of almost new work pants for Hubby, in the size and style he likes, for $1.00 each. A pair of almost new leather tennis sneakers (kid chasers) for when I go back to work at school, for 50 cents! The list goes on and on!

-- Leann Banta (thelionandlamb@hotmail.com), August 25, 2000.

A pollenex shower massage new in the box for $2 is our best find so far. But actually, I think our best find at yard sales is the time Lynn and I spend together doing "cast off archeology" as we call it. We never take more than six dollars (two each for her, our son and myself) You can't do that at Wal Mart.

-- Jay Blair (jayblair678@yahoo.com), August 25, 2000.

The books, Ten Acres Enough and Five Acres and Independence for a nickle apiece, a 5 qt. stainless steel bowl and a 4 qt one, both for forty-five cents. Lotta of other stuff. My husband does really well at yard sales.

-- Cindy (atirlthehony_1@yahoo.com), August 25, 2000.

A perfectly good Vitamix for $3!

-- R. (thor610@yahoo.com), August 25, 2000.

What perfect timing this thread is. I just sent my friend an e-mail last night asking if she wants to go yard saling Saturday morning before we head to the farmers' market to buy corn to freeze since a racoon just wiped mine out yesterday. I'm having a lot of trouble with my garden this year but I'm determned. (But that is another story).

We both just love yard saling and I laugh when I go with Michelle because she is the yard sale queen of all time. We go through suburbs and she keeps her van running parked at the curb while we both hop out and charge up to each house. If we find something we throw it in the back of the van and head to the next one. I always tease her that if I don't keep up with her I think she would drag me down the street half falling out of the van because she is so focused on getting to the next one. It is just a huge laugh the whole time.

But back to the thread subject. Our last trip a couple of months ago I bought a commercial grade appliance dolly for $5. It was marked ten but I talked him down. I don't have an immediate need for it but it is just one of those things that when you need it, you need it and I couldn't pass up the price.

I always make offers regardless of the price because most sellers just want to get rid of the stuff or I'll combine several items and shoot them a price for the whole thing. I am always getting full size and queen size quilts or comforters with no holes for $2 or $3 or blankets or sheets for a $1 or even a box for that price. I use these things in the whelping box when we have puppies so I don't really care what the pattern is or if they have a tear or not, which they never do anyway. I just want to make sure my puppies and mama dog are comfortable.

I also always scarf up baskets if they are good and sturdy and a good price which is usually a quarter each because I put together gift boxes for friends at Christmas and special occasions and I can always use a nice basket. This year's Christmas gifts are going to be jams, fruits, pickles and veggies in canning jars put into nice baskets. I will be looking for linen napkins to line the baskets with tomorrow.

I have also decided that I am going to remodel my whole house using things I get from garage sales, estate sales or flea markets. Since I can sew and my husband is an artist and can paint flowers and things for me, I plan to find good sturdy items that just need a new paint job or a little fancying up. I just want to do it for the challenge of it. I'm tired of the stuff we have now as we have been married twenty years and most of it was bought when we got married so out with the old and in with the new! (Or in this case out with the old and in with the older.) I'll give you all a report on how I do tomorrow.

-- Colleen (pyramidgreatdanes@erols.com), August 25, 2000.



I think I must either lack the "yardsaling gene" or else just have a mutant version of it. LOL! I am always interested when I see a yardsale, but almost NEVER find anything worth buying. I would LOVE to find a Vita-Mix, nevermind for $3.00 (!)-- but there never seems to be anything like that. Ugly plastic junk, kids clothes (for which I have no use), and broken down/cheap/really ugly furniture is about all that I see! I think I have an eye for furniture that is salvageable -- but why bother with a rickety, scarred, particle board item?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not a snob. I have lots of old (not antique, just old) items that I use daily. But they're sturdy and functional, and they'll be around for years longer, 'less an elephant sits on one or something. So what am I doing wrong? Am I in the wrong town? Lack the bloodhound instincts? Don't stick to it long enough? Is that it -- you all are so dedicated to the hunt and I give up too soon?

-- Joy Froelich (dragnfly@chorus.net), August 25, 2000.


Joy go EARLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Almost all of our clothes & foster children's clothes came from garage sales/ most of our furniture! And I have made a really good living on finding buys at garage sales & resaleing them at antique malls/consignment stores, etc.! You have to know your stuff & don't waste your time/ if they don't have WHAT you are looking for then move on to the next one! I once bought a green wood burning cookstove at a garage in excellent condition for $25.00 & sold it to a rich lady in Colo. who was building a get-way-cabin in the mountains for $2,500.00 now a bad day of saleing!(she thought it was such a bargin -she even sent a truck to Ks. to get it!)(and it was a bargin) I buy all name brand clothes at garage sales for us & our grandchildren. We even bought a motor home at a garage sale once.I have bought glassware--antiques --you name it & I have bought it at garage sales! If you can't find anything ever at a garage sale you go too late in the day when all the bargins are sold--or else they didn't have any to begin with! I have friends who don't want anyone to see them at a garage sale as they are too good for that!!!!!!! It is great with me as I turn around & sell my finds to them at a good profit! I LOVE TO GARAGE SALE!!!!! I have been able to cloth our childern in style & name brand clothes--save money we could use in other ways---& been able to make a darn good living being a "picker" at garage sales--I know who I'm going to resale it to when I buy it! I have 30 years of contacts I have worked to build in to a good living! PRAISE GOD FOR OTHER PEOPLE'S JUNK I HAVE TRUNED INTO OUR TREASURES & A DARN GOOD LIVING!!!!! Sonda in Ks.

-- Sonda (sgbruce@birch.net), August 25, 2000.

Not I, but my sister - bought a Strawberry Shortcake display house full of little SS dolls for $30-odd and sold it piecemeal on E-bay for a total of over $230. Too cool.

-- Soni (thomkilroy@hotmail.com), August 25, 2000.

Three 16-foot hog panels (regularly $13 each) for $15 total! And a 10' X 10' chain link dog kennel for $75. It still had a $269 price tag on it! Together, these two items became my goat yard....

-- txcountry girl (nancyk@icsi.net), August 25, 2000.

I completely furnished my house and stocked my kitchen and linen closets, decorated, outfitted my children, bought 99 % of my youngest sons toys and books, found all my canning jars and equipment, free fencing for the yard, and got all of our camping equipment at garage sales. Its hard to pinpoint my best buy, and I try to forget the bad buys. I guess the best buy would be an antique oak pedestal dining table with one scratch on the top for $30. All of our outdoor maintainence equipment and most tools were found at sales also. I found a hitch and receiver for my van for $5 two weeks ago. Love garage saling!!!!

-- Gina NM (inhock@pvtnetworks.net), August 25, 2000.


Our large digital microwave oven complete with turntable for FREE. The owners said it sparked when they ran it and were sick of paying $60.00 to have it cleaned all the time! Well, we took it home and replaced the little panel on top of the inside of the oven for $5.00. The old one had bits of tin foil "welded" to the top of it- these people must have had no idea what they were doing. Anyway, we've had the thing for 6 years and it's still going strong!

Also, an Oster Kitchen Center-combination stand mixer, blender, food processor and grinder for $10.00. Have ground quite a bit of hamburger in that thing, not to mention mixing up cakes, etc. Almost all our furniture and clothing are second hand, and I LOVE it! If I won the lottery tomorrow (if I played the lottery LOL) I'd still be rummage saling every weekend. :)

-- Laurie in WI (Laffee7994@aol.com), August 25, 2000.


A James washer and wringer for $10 and a round point shovel, rake, and snow shovel for $8 for the three.

-- Marci (ajourend@libby.org), August 25, 2000.

My lil redheaded dumplin! Cost? Still payin---she's worth it I guess. I've too much invested in her to trade'r fer a new pickup. Well, to be honest-a blacksmith forge with all the tools----$45.00. A blacksmiths floor model vice for $8.00. Yeah, me and dumplin-we be mates. Still like the forge, tho. Matt. 24:44

-- hoot (hoot@pcinetwork.com), August 25, 2000.

One of the earliest FOX FIRE books for $4 at a flea market. I probably could have gotten the man down another dollar if I hadn't been salivating looking at it....:)

-- Suzy in 'Bama (slgt@yahoo.com), August 26, 2000.

A diaper changing table for $3. A almost brand new car seat for $4 (would have been close to $80 new). And although this isn't tag sale, at the nearby Goodwill store, I get all kinds of barely used brand name dresses (Mousefeathers, Lands End, Polly Flinders, Oshkosh, Gymboree) for $2.49 or $1.25 if it's past season.

-- Christina W. (introibo@address.com), August 26, 2000.

Tag/estate sales are great, but they don't beat 'junking'! Cruise around the neighborhood the night before trash pick up, and haul the goods away-FREE!

-- Kathy (catfish@bestweb.net), August 27, 2000.

Joy, it may not be you. I came from New Hampshire where yard sales are wonderful and you find the great quality items that will last forever at great prices. But, I now live in Virginia and I have to say that a lot of the yard sales have the type of junk you describe. And ironically, I live in an area where people pay quite a lot for their homes and have good incomes yet they seem to have the cheapest (quality-wise) things at their yard sales. We have to visit quite a few of them before we find the real treasures. As others advised, go early.

By the way. This weekend was a bust. We could only find one yard sale and it wasn't that great. Guess it is getting too late in the season for them here.

-- Colleen (pyramidgreatdanes@erols.com), August 28, 2000.


Oh!I forgot to mention one.My daughter had been praying for a swingset (she was 2 and1/2)nearly everyday she asked Jesus to give her a swingset with a swing,slide and teeter-totter.It was fall though and every store we called had sold out except toys-r-us and they were too expensive.

On our way to church one day,I noticed a swingset on the K-Mart sidewalk for 179.00.Later that day,I told my husband about it,and he went to check it out.He figured he'd think about it and come back the next day(it was probably around 9pm).Annie was all excited;she was going to get a swingset!Jesus was going to give her a swingset!

Well,the next day Tim went back;the swingset was sold.My daughter was nearly heartbroken.I told her to keep praying for that wasn't the swingset for her.

The next weekend my mom and I went yardsaling.Down the road a ways,we found the moving sale we had been looking for.I was hoping to find her a swingset,but ,alas,there was none.So we bought a few things,and just before we left I happened to ask(somewhat forlornly)"You wouldn't happen to have a swingset for sale would you?"

As it urned out,she was having her sale at her mom's house though she lived in the small town where we go to church at.The factory that bought her property was expecting them to do the demolishing of their own house.

In HER yard, she had a large swingset- 2 swings,a glider,a bar,a teeter-totter,and a slide-cemented in.She said that if we would dig it up,we could have it.And so my husband and my dad dug up the FREE swingset.My daughter now has her swingset;it is a nice one. Happy yard-saling and God Bless, ~~~Tracy~~~

-- Tracy Jo Neff (tntneff@ifriendly.com), August 28, 2000.


A brand new pasta machine (still in the original unopened packaging) for $10 -- and a circa 1815 oak rocking chair (needed refinishing) for $13.

I love yard sales. I like going to farm auctions, too, as you find a better quality of stuff and generally stuff that is more useful.

-- Tracy (trimmer@westzone.com), August 28, 2000.


My best find was a real treasure. I found it in a thrift store where they sold stuff that hadn't sold at their weekly auction. When I saw the blue velvet case with Hebrew letters on it, my heart began to pound! I brought it to the lady and asked her how much she wanted for it. She said she had no idea, and opened the case for me. Out came a beautiful, silky white a blue prayer shawl, a tallit. Also several yarmulkes. She said, "I 'm not sure what this is, I think it's a tablecloth for mass or something." !!! She took all the money I had for it, about $10.00. I knew that it was worth far more, and that it had no business sitting on a table in a thrift store! For those of you who are Christians, the fringe or hem of the garment that Jesus was wearing when the women with the issue of 7 years touched it, was a tallit.Religious Jews wear them when they pray, and when they die, the tallit is buried with them. So it was very strange to find one in a thrift store, in north Idaho of all places!

-- Rebekah (daniel1@transport.com), August 28, 2000.

Rebekah, thanks for the story of the tallit --it was very interesting to me--I love to learn something new each day/ your story was something I learned today--thanks! Sonda in Ks.

-- Sonda (sgbruce@birch.net), August 28, 2000.

That was neat Rebekah!I think I will relate your story to my dear friends Howard and Ruth;they are an elderly Christian couple who've dedicated their lives pretty much to serving God's Chosen People. They have such a love for your people-all true Christians should-but theirs seems to be something extraordinary!I'm sure they will appreciate this. ~~~Blessings~~~Tracy~~~~

-- Tracy Jo Neff (tntneff@ifriendly.com), August 29, 2000.

Well this weekend we found insulated stove pipe 5- 3 foot lengths for $50.00 and then a back to basics book for $1.00 . 4-One-piece union suits , 2 osh-kosh overalls, snowpants and boots [neverworn] 6 onepiece turtlenecks , a Carters sweatsuit, a Disney store jumper all for $15.00 ! It was a good weekend .Hope everyone else had luck .

-- Patty Gamble (fodfarms@slic.com), September 04, 2000.

found a brand new bread machine for 5.00. the box had never been opened. My whole house is decorated with early flea market stuff. Can't see spending alot when i can get by with a little. Just find a good desk chair for my computer room for 5.00. Also made my very best friend on a yard sale trip, and that didn't cost me any thing but a smile and the return on that investment can't be measured.

-- dee (abbysnanna@hotmail.com), January 19, 2001.

'picked' a sticking-tommy out of the $1 box at a tag sale and sold it on ebay for $550. that's right . . . the decimel is in the right place.

-- adam mohney (amohney@extremezone.com), October 14, 2001.

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