GroshLink

This morning was a good morning of yard sale-ing (i.e. the act of visiting yard sales).  One time I told someone I went yard-sale-ing and they thought it was some kind of new sport.  In a way, maybe, it is.  I prefer the development yard sales b/c you can hit more than one in one trip and they tend to have newer items.  I suppose that may be the one thing developments are good for.  Ooh, sorry if I offended anyone.  To the uninitiated, allow me to share a few yard sale-ing tips.

1. Don't set your expectations too high.  Many times you come home empty handed. That's ok.
2. Go with a wad of cash.
3. Be picky about price.  Here's my pet peeve about yard sales and why I didn't end up with a car full of stuff this morning:  When I go to a yard sale, I expect to pay yard sale prices. That means, kids clothes for .25, not $3.00! Ok, if it's a really nice 3 piece outfit, maybe $2.00. I passed up a lot of clothes and baby equipment today because it was overpriced.  After all, when I have a yard sale the idea is to get rid of the stuff -- not to get rich. And in the end I donate what doesn't sell, so if I get a quarter I'm ahead.

So what did I find this morning? Well, technically I did fill up the car -- 2 minivans to be precise! And I had to go home for more money! We've been looking for 2 matching dining room chairs to accomodate our expanding family.  Our current set came with 4 chairs. Eden now asks to sit in a big girl chair, not her highchair.  But when the whole family sits down for a meal, we don't have enough chairs. We've looked around a bit, but it's difficult to find 2 matching chairs, affordable, sturdy.  Most places require you to buy the set. Or they cost more than I want to pay. At a yard sale today I found 2 matching, sturdy dining room chairs for $3 each. The style was not what I wanted, but the price was right. So I bought them. They have a cloth seat which I can recover to match the seats on our other 4 chairs.

We've also been looking for new barstools. We bought new ones last year and they are falling apart -- literally, screws fall out of them and they wobble. At a yard sale today I found 2 matching, beautiful oak, wooden, swivel barstools.  Ideally I wanted 3, but they were too good to pass up. $20 each. A little pricey, but since I've looked around for barstools elsewhere I was willing to pay it. Then I went to another yard sale and wouldn't you know -- they had 2 matching, wooden barstools! No, they don't match the other 2 I had just bought, but I wanted a 3rd stool and the price was right. I am pleased with a Cinderella sleeping bag that I also bought and appears to have a broken zipper. Ergh.