On May 30th Janie and I had several community yard sales to choose from.
The suburb of Burnsville, Minnesota was having a huge and very tempting sale, with somewhere between 150 and 200 sales, but frankly, we've been burned in the 'burbs - no pun intended - with vast quantities of stuff that all looks the same. It's a bit like those 300 satellite channels you can get, and there's nothing on any of them you care to watch.
We opted instead to head for a couple of urban Minneapolis neighborhoods. East Harriet is quite prosperous, and they had about 20 sales.
Another sale in Nord'East Minneapolis - a triangle formed by the railroad tracks and the 2200-2300 blocks of Taft, Wilson, Harding and Roosevelt St - this was more working class but yet quite diverse, so there was great variety between what was being offered from house to house.
And they just seem to have more fun downtown.
Find of the Day
Bohemian cut glass vase
price - $1.00
sold
My mother-in-law has something similar to this, and I've admired it. I'm not quite sure what I'll do with it, but I couldn't pass it by for a buck.
Another great thing we just couldn't buy
Three school desks
price - $30 for the set
no sale
We have no way to store them and no market for them, but I know they're worth a lot more than that. This was from the same sale that had the Bohemian vase, and I took a good close look at everything they had . . .
Other things we did and did not buy
Cheap Mexican pot
price - $6
no sale
This brought back memories because my family used to drive to Nogales and haul carloads of these back to our gift shop in Ouray, CO. We'd have to warn people that these can't hold water without dissolving, but we still sold out every year.
Enormous cactus
price - $20
no sale
I'm not that much of a cactus fan anyway, but more importantly we couldn't get this home in one piece.
TV
price - free
no sale
The note on it says, "We got a big flat one." Yes, so did we.
New "scarf jewelry"
price - 50 cents each
no sale
Despite being made of quality materials, they just seemed unusually useless.
Bug fogger
price - $2
no sale
I'd rather have bugs.
Fabulous front lawn
not for sale
I'm just sayin' . . .
Hideous shoes
price - $1
no sale
Janie insisted I include these. I suppose coneheads had pointy feet also.
Shoe buffer
price - $3
sold
I'm not sure if I'm going to keep it. I've already used it and it's great, but having shiny shoes isn't a priority. I could give it to my employer to have out during donor events. We also have a friend who's a haberdasher. I wonder if they haven't been banned, because if you had a loose shoelace I could imagine possibilities for injury.
6.6 pounds of brass scrap
price - $3
sold
One pound is not very dense, so I'll send it off to the scrap yard right now. The rest I'll stockpile until the price recovers.
.
Bail-top jars
Old ones - $1 each; Little ones - 50 cents each
sold
I'll use them for something. I have so many of these, but I won't pass good ones up if they're that cheap.
Stoneware canning jar
price - $2 (he lowered the price because it was late in the day)
sold
These are quite common without the lid. I almost never see them with the lid still intact.
Suncatchers
price - $1.50 for the two
sold
We keep finding suncatchers for cheap, and while I don't care for them so much myself, there's definitely a market for them.
.
.
.
Christmas ornament
price - $1
sold
What's another word for festive and happy? Yup, this is that, big time.
Oversized vest
price - $1
sold
Sometimes Janie has to go about 8 blocks to her job at the History Center in the depths of a Minnesota winter. This would go over a coat.
Warm shirt
price - $1
sold
This is for resale.
Books for resale
price - 50 cents each
sold
.
.
.
.
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A book for me
price - $1
sold
It had long dissertations on songwriters' feelings about one of their songs, respectively. It looks interesting. Some day I'll get around to reading it, but by then I'll probably need to have someone read it to me. Right now, I'm just too busy with hands on things - like yard sales!
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Comments: 49
The desks were worth more than $10. I could have gone for the cactus; the only thing I can keep alive. A little too big. My cat would have it tipped over for sure.
We would have had to lay the cactus down in the back of the car, and whether on things or over things it would have yanked the roots out of the pot, and cactus don't handle that well at all. Or, we would have gotten it home and i'd have tipped it over somehow.
I thought you'd like the desks.
I like the front lawn and hideous shoes.
I think those two items were at the same location, Helen.
Interesting finds as always :)
Thank you, Shannon!
The vase was your best find! Beautiful work. I'd have really loved it if it were blue glass for a gift for my sister. But personally I like the red glass!
I've only seen two pieces, Wanda, and they were both in red. There may be other colors, and yet maybe the red color has some significance . . .
I loved the red vase and the school desks! Looks like you found some nice things!
Thank you, Sandra!
There was a shoe buffer at the dry cleaners where I grew up. I never had shoes on in the summer but I remember that thing felt great on bare feet!
Yes, E.M. It's a remarkably cool thing. Feels great on the feet, but a little scary.
Truly Craptacular--and there are always gems among the gravel! I liked the kitty ornament, and those desks reminded me of ones from my childhood neighbors.
Thanks for bringing us the virtual garage sale--it was too wet to have gone live, today!
A virtual day of yardsaling at your service, Liz.
How much do you want for the Christmas ornament?
I'm a little attached to it, Liz. I also broke it (that's why I'm holding it by the wine glass). But let me think about it. Admiring my yard sale picks is some potent flattery.
Err, Joyce, not Liz....!
Woops. Sorry.
Love the red vase.
I think it was the find of the day. There were other candidates.
Nice stuff. You musty now have an extensive suncatcher collection.
We make sure they get passed on to true suncatcher fans. I'll admit I've kept a couple.
Those desks are great, Ron. We've got one that may be about the same vintage, but all wood, and a stand-alone two-seater (side-by-side) rather than that desk-attached-to-the-seat-in-front-of-you design.
Great photos, a great bunch of stuff, and as always a great story.
I'm sure much of the appeal of those desks has to do with people who remember sitting in them, Wil. That's sure the way with old bottles, like Grapette say. People have personal connections with a lot of types of antiques.
What an intricate cut glass vase. Good find for you Ron. I for one would have snapped up those shoes.... I'd be all over those glass storage containers too. Great find for food storage.
RE: We keep finding suncatchers for cheap, and while I don't care for them so much myself, there's definitely a market for them.
I did wonder what you would do with all the suncatchers you pick up. I figured your windows probably didn't have much more room for the sun.... lol
P.S. Thanks for posting this to Frugal Living! Fun post, as usual.
We absolutely resell the suncatchers Ms. Meacham. The get no wear and tear hanging in a window, and people love them.
I tihnk I would have bought something at the "Craptastic" sale, whether I found something good or not. I appreciate truth in advertising.
A bit of humor in a sale is always a good thing, Donna.
It looks like there were some great things (and great signs too!) this week! The shoes were hideous, but that book you got for yourself looks like one I would enjoy. What's the title?
The full title (taking a breath here) is "Graham Nash and Manuscript Originals present off the record, Songwriters on Songwriting, 25 of the World's Most Celebrated Songs." I just noticed there are two CDs inside the cover. It's put out by Andrews McMeel Publishing.
Frankly, the cover is awful. You'd never know there was anything of value in this book unless you opened it up, which I did because I saw tho word "record", and I'm very much into vinyl.
I don't see a cataloging number. Maybe they don't use those any more(?)
Thanks Ron! I'll have to look this up and see if I can track down a copy.
I use to want one of those old desks. Now I don't know what I'd do with it. I guess they just bring back memories.
For sure I would've bought the crock and the glass jars. I might (and that's a big might) have taken a second look at the fogger. Not sure though. We have a fogger and we use EARTH, ANIMAL, & PEOPLE FRIENDLY fog or mist.
For me the desks would only be cool if I had children that age, Lynn, but I wouldn't be able to control how they felt about them, so even then I probably wouldn't have bought them - not for me anyway, maybe for someone else, if I could turn a sufficient profit.
That yard was beautiful wasn't it?!?!?!?
The city is full of neat surprises like that. I think those trees must be scores of years old, and even if a suburb had been around that long, having a front lawn like that appears to be against some rule - written or unwritten - because I never see something like that outside Minneapolis or St. Paul.
Those desks are great.
I don't blame you for skipping the suburbs. "Little boxes on the hillside... Little boxes, and they all look the same."
And their yard sales tell no stories.
No wilds, all is tame.
I say you found a bunch of nice stuff.
Thank you, Minipin. We were quite happy with the day.
I love the red vase. I am a sucker for vases. The mason jars are great too. I would buy as many as I could if I only had the space for them. The cactus was priced good too, but I kill them. Some say you can't kill a cactus.....let me have it and I will show you how!
The mason jars worked out great, Sarina. They were cheap because they were missing the lids, and this brand of jar has its own unique lid size. When I got it home I discovered I had two such lids I stuck away because they didn't fit anything. They fit these jars.
We have a little cactus pot at our place, and we've been trying to kill it, with limited success.
I love suncatchers..any type of stained glass I find beautiful. And the red vase was awesome!!! The mason jard reminded me of my Grandma, with or without the lids.
So...are you re-selling the red vase?
I'm trying to build a tradition of having a rocking yard sale at my mom's every July, and I'll offer the vase then. I'll likely mark it $10.
Love that word "craptastic" and that cool cat-girl Christmas ornament. How much do you want for it? LOL
Cool finds!
I generally do not sell things I find via Gather. In my way of thinking, if I start doing business here, I ought to advertise or otherwise pay Gather in some way. I have been known to just send things to people who admire them, but this item has had multiple admirers, so I'm not sure who I'd send it to.
I was pretty much joking around.....
Joking's good. M'kay? It's good.