It threatened to rain on this holiest of holy Twin Cities yardsaling days. It rained the night before, and on the day itself it rained at about 12:30. But there were 4 good hours to roam the Bryn Mawr neighborhood. While I've seen it more crazy than this, it was still a whole lot of fun for us and our friends.
Is this a busy alley or what?
Janie and I decided it would be good to take her power wheelchair. It folds up and goes in the trunk, and it will run for about 5 or 6 miles before it needs charging. As a bonus, I didn't need to carry much of anything.
Find of the day
In a word - Minnesota - expressed in the presence of an accessible portapotty at a neighborhood yardsale. If you too live in a society that cares whether people with disabilities can join in on the fun, congratulations.
Price - beats me, the neighborhood thought it was worth doing
sold
Least interesting thing we encountered
"Plate" showing a cottage. The windows light up when you plug it in.
price - didn't ask
no sale
I used to know the name of the artist that cranks out these products. I have forgotten his name.
For me, it's offal.
Other things we encountered
Double-paned, wood-framed picture window
price - free
no sale
I don't need it, but I sure did admire it.
Apple crates
price - $10 each
no sale
I really like these, but I loaded up last season at a sale where they were $2 each.
Central American fantasy animals
price - unmarked
no sale
I maybe should be kicking myself for not asking how much. I hate - hate I tell you - having to ask how much something is. The few things that were priced were overpriced.
Elton John glasses
price - unknown
no sale
In 20 seconds, I got all the fun out of these I was likely to, so actually I enjoyed their full potential for free.
Flying woman art
price - $6
no sale
This was a little like the fantasy animal art, but it wasn't wimsical. It was actually a bit creepy.
Old sewing machine in great condition
price - $30
no sale
I need a truck so I can haul these things back to Colorado, where they sell for many hundreds at auction. I see about 4 like this every season.
Neon bear
price - $1
no sale
A study in polyester, this teddy had a lot in common with a cheerleaders pom-pom.
$1
price - stoop down and pick it up
sold
It might have been me who dropped it, but there were no hopes of finding the owner.
Grass and corn husk chickens
price - didn't ask
no sale
They were almost completely falling apart, but they had at least one more chuckle left in them.
Tuna can
price - $2
no sale
I know this brand isn't available in the store any more, but no, it's not antique yet.
Brownies
price - $1
sold
It was the sign that sold me. The brownies were only okay. They had zero frosting on them, and for that at least I say "thank you."
bike
price - free or recently stolen
no sale
The grass was growing through the wheels and the owner is nowhere to be seen. Nice patina though.
Two boxes of plastic dragons
price - $90
no sale
I'm sorry you paid $400 for them, I really, really am.
Ceramic squirrels
price - $1 for both
no sale
I really did like these, but they had a lot of damage. I have the picture and that's good enough.
5 1/4 lbs of sheet aluminum
price - $1.50
sold
It'll bring $2.92 and I also do this just to recycle the materials. As far as the aluminum cooking pot goes, I am on a mission to rid the world of all aluminum cookware.
Moen shower head
price - $1
sold
I did not, and I would not ask if it works. It's a buck. And what if I did ask and it didn't work to my satisfaction? Would I not be disappointed in the person for "lying" to me? It's hooked up now, and it doesn't work exactly like new, but it works delightfully. We're happy, and it came close to being the buy of the day.
Large Rival crock pot with removable crock
price - 75 cents
sold
Again, I did not ask if it works and it does. We had a smaller crock pot where the ceramic does not come out for cleaning. The rust on the outside gives character to what would otherwise be disgusting floral country decoration.
Needlepoint santa
price - $1
sold
We don't have to look at him year around, and I think he's a hoot.
Another santa
price - $1
sold
Janie liked this guy. You can barely see his eyes, and he hangs from a tree.
Russian handmade mittens
price - $1
Another of Janie's finds. Janie collects quality mittens.
Cut-glass decanter
price - $1
sold
It has a little haze from being put in the dishwasher. Nothing a little rum won't clear up.
Records
Price - 50 cents to $1 each
sold
Best of Al Green, another of those great Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong collaborations, Ray Price and Joe Cocker. The Joe Cocker has "Bird on a Wire". I'm looking forward to that.
Books
price - $2 total
sold
All of these will go to the bookstore, so this constitutes documentation of my petty cash outlay. There's a big table book on Rome and Greece, David Halberstam (one of the most intelligent Americans ever), Salman Rushdie, Trout Fishing in America, Chinese poetry, Native American poetry, a Noam Chomsky book, a Cokie Roberts book on the founding mothers. All of these things are in demand by someone (not necessarily me).
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The Bryn Mawr sales are always a delight. If you haven't had enough, last year's discoveries were particularly good. Click here to see those.
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Comments: 40
To all of you - the bike and apple crate pictures didn't transfer properly, but I'm afraid to edit this huge post, because that might happen to even more pictures. Please check the individual pictures in the upper right for greater detail.
So, if I don't respond to your comments for a couple hours, it's because I'm driving =:]
But you did see a wide variety of items, none of which really were phenomenal (I like the glass decanter best), but every week is an adventure, no?
Sue, I'm worn out. I just went back over there today and got a suitcase full of books in French for $5. A 5-gallon bottle for $1.50 and a little scrap brass and aluminum. I did not record the mileage, because it was more of an outing today. Yesterday was serious.
Thank you, Jody.
M.K., if you're having a sale, I'd like to pass on a few pointers. Here, read my 10 Tips for Having a Successful Yard Sale.
Sarina, we've plugged the crock pot in and it seems to work perfectly. Meanwhile I've torn apart the one we had and am going to use its crock part as a double boiler.
The shower head is not perfect, but it still has enough functioning settings to be well worth the money. It's so easy too to change a shower head anyway. We'll see another and want to try it out.
The crock pot is going to get a workout I know. I've taken to mixing strong vegetable broth with V8. It's not so sweet and salty that way.
That's great Lori. I'm encouraged when I hear that someone gets something out of these posts. The first time I resized, rotated and cropped all these pictures, I did it on my camera chip instead of the copy I downloaded to my computer. Then I deleted all the pictures on my chip and had to do it all over on the downloaded copies. Then something went wrong when I first set the pictures up in the post and I had to insert them all over again. In short, sometimes this is a lot of work, but it's part of my larger business plan to eventually spend my retirement shopping at and writing about yard sales. Thank you for the encouragement.
By the way, our garage sale is next week, gonna be in the 'hood?
I'd prefer to do a column for a newspaper, but for now the blog thing will do. Gotta start somewhere.
I never went to garage sales with my parents, Heidi. As frugal as they were this mysifies me, but it wasn't until I was 19 or so that I discovered them. From there on out I've been consumed with paying pennies on the dollar for things.
You have a stronger will than me. I would have taken the free window, for sure.