Last Saturday, after several weeks of driving from one sale to another, Janie and I noticed that one of our favorite neighborhoods was having a sale. There are two adjacent alleys in to the south and west of Lake Nokomis that have a sale in the first weekend of September. This time the sale was five blocks long.
Five blocks down and five blocks back.
About 40 sales in all. We parked in one spot and walked to 40 sales. That's the way to go.
Find of the day
Dresser
price - $10
no sale
We don't have a truck, and we have all the dressers we need. This was just a gem though.
Least interesting thing of the day
Triple Whopper with Cheese
price - five bucks or so
sold
Sort of. After the sale we drove up to the lake. We decided not to stop at a sit down place and rather have a fast food meal. While I laughed derisively at the preposterousness of a triple whopper, I ate a double whopper without a second thought. When we got to the lake, I had to take a long nap, and when I woke up I had a headache that lasted the rest of the weekend. Food is supposed to be nourishing. I guess I needed a reminder.
Other things we did or did not buy
Blowup chair
price - $5
no sale
I would have bought it if it were a buck, because I would love to deflate it and haul it back to Colorado where I could sell it in my own yard sale for, oh, five bucks. Sadly, I need to think about ways this yardsaling can pay for itself, and selling things for what I paid for them is not going to make that happen.
Tennis shoes
price - I didn't ask
no sale
They were probably half price or seventy-five percent off. Tennis shoes are terribly overpriced, for my tastes.
Van chairs
price - free, as far as I could tell
no sale
They were a bit ratty. If I still lived at a camp in the woods, I'd toss them in the truck and go. That was 30 years ago, and my tastes in furniture have changed considerably.
Antique gas range
price - $40
no sale
Now wouldn't this be the greatest thing for a woodcutting camp(!), speaking of my living-in-the-woods days. Wow.
Dresser (sign said, "Needs work.")
price - $5
no sale
It this point I'm looking around for a truck to buy.
50s starter-home dining room table
price - $150
no sale
I knew it was worth it, but I passed it by because it wasn't selling for yard sale prices. I actually could have disassembled it and put it in the car. Maybe I should have.
Ninja Turtle slippers
price - a buck
no sale
I thought they were cool, but I'm not cool enough to wear them.
Foosball table (adult size)
price - $50
no sale
This too would go great in a woodcutting camp, but back then I'd have thought $50 was a lot of money. It was better to kick back around the fire and watch squirrels anyway.
1905 or so sewing machine
price - $50
no sale
We see one of these every other week. If I had that pickup truck, I'd haul these back out west to a ski area and sell them to Oprah and Ralph Lauren for $400 a pop. But it still probably doesn't warrant the cost of owning a truck.
.
.
.
Chinese corn-husk bird
price - 75 cents
sold
It was in perfect condition, and I had to work at keeping it safe from all the other stuff tossed into the back seat, but we had to have it for our bird collection.
Frisbees
price - 10 cents each
sold
Not to be a broken record for those of you who follow our yard sale posts, but I should explain for those who are new. We buy things for ourselves, and save enough money to offset the bother of having another part time job. Then we pick up things to resell - mostly scrap metal and merchandise for my mom's gift shop back in Colorado. We also have a yard sale each year when we go out there, and these frisbees will be appreciated by people with dogs.
Plastic nun chucks
price - $1
sold
My nephew is into all things Japanese, and I've been wanting to show him some moves. It was back in 1979 when I last had any practice swinging chuks, so it will be nice to play it safe until I get the knack of it again.
Homegrown tomatoes
price - $2
sold
"Just two things money can't buy. True love and homegrown tomatoes." Or so the song goes. But if you have faith in your fellow humans, you can buy homegrown tomatoes at a yard sale.
.
.
.
Scrap (about four bucks worth)
price - $2.75
Every little bit helps. I'm on a mission to rid the world of aluminum cookware, and the two other items just struck me as ugly.
.
Razor scooter
price - $3
sold
My father-in-law had some bicycle handle tubing that he'd been saving for a long time. When he saw we'd bought this he let us have them. Now the razor is as good as new, and some kid at our yard sale is going to get a great deal.
Central American weavings
price - $5 each
sold
These are about thirty by fifty inches. They'll pack nicely for transport and I think I can ask $15 each in our own sale.
Rose colored glasses
price - $1
sold
They go nicely with the new cap Janie has. We got some yarn at a sale a few weeks ago, and a Janie's friend Joan made her a hat with it.
Chamois cloths
price - five for a dollar
sold
They're not real leather, but I didn't have any so I loaded up.
.
Citrus juicer
price - $2
sold
These are expensive, as much as $100. I already have one I bought for one dollar, and I'll pass this one along for a modest fee.
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Now I'm going to go check the listings for this weekend. The first thing I'll do is do a term search in the yard sale classifieds for "neighborhood" and "alley".
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Comments: 35
Elaine, I really liked that range too.
Rob, Sheila, Minipin - I wish I had a storefront in some residential neighborhood. I'd surely resell that dresser if I did.
Eclectic Bird, I can't recommend yardsaling enough. It takes a while to know which neighborhoods to avoid, but then you can do quite well.
George, you make me want to go into the business . . .
Jim, the chair was tempting, but I'd have had to stop yardsaling and let all the air out, roll it up, get it to my own sale and blow it up. I just have to be careful about the opportunity cost of items I purchase.
Sue, I haven't had a chance to use my juicer yet (oranges that make their way to Minnesota aren't all that good).
Thank you, Kathryn!
You're welcome, Priscilla. I composed this last Sunday, but it somehow got eaten while I was trying to save it. It took me another 4 days to bring myself to recreate it. Knowing it matters to you makes it worth while.
We did see a lot more, Nana, and the neighborhood lends itself to interesting things. There are some neighborhoods and suburbs that have the same rot sale after sale, and I've learned to avoid those.
Good buys!
Mary Ann, it probably would have made a good sled after it popped.
Wilhelmine, good to see you. We have a rule of thumb that our bird collection contains "dumb looking birds", but they can't be made to look intentionally silly - those are boring.
Thanks, Esther. I have some really outstanding weavings in our house already. These are nice, but I think they need to go to a less exotic location than our place.
The tomatos were delicious, Wanda. And as everyone would agree, you're right about the dressers being great deals.
I have to try mine out, CC.
Debra, for the price of a triple whopper you could have bought both.
Karen, I don't doubt I could sell the chair for more. My concern is the hourly wage of deflating it and inflating it again, mostly deflating it. I have lots of air tools where I plan to sell it, but getting the air out while other items are calling out to be reviewed - I couldn't do that.
I suppose having grandkids would make a lot of sales more interesting, Sarina. Most kids' stuff makes me glaze over, except for some of the toys.
That was a handsome piece of furniture.