Would You Buy This or Not? (August 19, 2007)

On Friday night the weatherman warned of a deluge.  Determined garage salers that we are, Janie and I paid it no heed, and rose to see what everyone else was going to miss.  First we headed off to a community yard sale in nearby West St Paul, only to find it had been cancelled.

We then followed our route map, and about every third sale was not to be.

But this meant we did find about 10 sales still running in people's garages, despite the rather hearty rain.  We presevered.

Find of the day

Dim Sum and Jun Bo

price - $32

sold

Seaweed salad, fried crab claws, fried sea scallops, shrimp dumplings, egg custard buns and hot tea greeted us after we'd finished our rounds.

Other things we bought in our rounds

40 gram silver necklace

price - $2

sold

I'm starting to go through every jewelry table at sales.  I don't think people realize silver is almost $12 an ounce these days.

12-pound bag of Baking soda

price - 50 cents

sold

It's remarkably useful stuff.  I like to put a pound down the garbage disposal and follow it with a quart of cheap vinegar.  That cleans things right up.

Private company history

price - 50 cents

sold

I do a lot of research into living individuals, so my employer can know whether approaching them for a large gift is going to be an annoyance, or whether they will end up saying "I was wondering when you were going to ask.  Of course I'll do that."   These self-published company histories have a wealth of information about the values of the founders and their descendents.

Brass scrap (6.5 pounds)

price - free

sold

I always keep my eyes out for scrap at sales.  This includes aluminum, brass, copper and (most recently) silver.

Scrap steel (6 lbs)

price - free

sold

Steel is only worth 5 cents a pound, but as long as I'm separating the steel from the brass, why not keep the steel also?

Old ink bottle with label, contents and box

price - $1

sold

This will go to my mom's gift shop in Colorado, where she has a large inventory of old bottles.   I always like it when the price is on the packaging, in this case it originally sold for 19 cents.

Oil painting

price - $2

sold

This is a cheap picture, made with the same techniques Juarez, Nogales and Tijuana painters used to apply to felt.  However, travelers love them, and my mom sells a lot of them.  Since this was in perfect condition, I'm taking it to her for resale.

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Since all of our purchases will eventually be resold, this was very much a business trip, so,

End mileage: 86639

Start mileage: 86592

Net tax-deductible mileage: 47

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Would You Buy This or Not? is a regular feature most Sundays here on Gather.  To find more of our adventures (including days when the car came back crammed full) search on the tag "garage sale".