Today we made a short day of it. We had about two and a half hours, so we picked a couple self-described "neighborhood yard sales" out in the suburbs of Woodbury and Maplewood, MN.
This doesn't always turn out so well, because a few unscrupulous yard sale hosts know people will flock to a neighborhood yard sale and just put that word in their add to attract more customers.
This was not the case with either of the sales we went to, and on the road between the two we found lots of other good sales. So let's see what Janie and I did or did not buy, shall we?
Find of the day
Kenwood tuner and amp
price - $15
sold
I got by for 5 years on a wonderful Technics tuner I salvaged from the dumpster in our building. It just needed a little switch lubricant to take the scratch out of one of the controls and delivered stunning audio quality until just recently, when the control went beyond my ability to fix. This Kenwood is almost the match of what I'm losing, all the controls work fine, and the difference in sound is so small it isn't worth noting, really. It's more a difference in ambience than a difference in quality.
The thing we least wanted to buy:
Shredder
price - free
no sale
This note is an abbreviation. Allow me to fill in the missing words. "Free. Will shred [only] one page at a time. Makes [lots of] noise. Might have [a] staple caught [, and pretty much jams on anything you couldn't chew up and swallow]."
Okay, I'm no fan of shredders, period.
Other things we did or did not buy yesterday:
Game controller
price - $3
no sale
Somehow, monsters with bar codes don't qualify as monsters. I'd like to have a bar code tattoo. Would that make me a monster, I wonder . . .
5-gallon enamel beverage dispenser
price - $3
sold
I took a chance on the spigot not working. I never ask, "does it work" because that's just setting me up for being disappointed in the seller. I buy it and if it doesn't work I'll just pretend the wonderful tuner/amp I bought cost a whopping $18. If I do ask, and it doesn't work, then I feel cheated. I won't pay three dollars to feel cheated. And you couldn't pay me three dollars to feel cheated.
Faith book
price - $1
no sale
Begging your pardon Dr. Dobson, but the God I know always makes sense. Always. I'm more inclined to think maybe God didn't say all those confusing things some people say he did. Better yet, maybe God isn't a "he" and God doesn't "say" anything.
Diamonds
price - $1 for the bag
sold
I don't have a use for plastic diamonds just yet, but I will. If nothing else, I know I won't choke on them.
Dress
price - $3
sold
There's a closeup of the fabric. It will look great with Janie's brunette hair and blue eyes.
Another shredder
price - $3
no sale
This one works I guess. That's nice.
Leather bag
price - $1
sold
Janie wants this for the back of her manual wheelchair, and I agreed it was far nicer than what she had. I think these used to be called "man purses".
Brass thing
price - $5
no sale
I'd hoped it was heavy, so I could buy it for its scrap value. It wasn't. It was just thin and cheap. I took the picture because it was enormous - standing about 18 inches tall at the handle top. It couldn't have been intended for tea, I don't think.
Sweater
price - I forget, not much
sold
Janie picked it out. Acrylic and mohair mix. It's really soft.
Batmobile monster truck toy
price - $25
no sale
If it was a buck, I might have bought it and brought it home. I have a five-pound splitting maul, and if the head landed on this sideways, I think it would smash in a most satisfying manner.
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Would You Buy This or Not is a weekly feature whenever the weather is nice enough to allow sales to take place. If you'd like to see some of our previous adventures (and there are over 100 now), do a tag search for "garage sales" sort the list by "most discussed" and scroll down through the results. We'll see you next week, we hope.
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Comments: 30
You didn't happen to run into a DVD player? Mine stopped working, the one in my bedroom so now I can't watch movies to go to sleep. Let me know if you find a deal on one. : )
I've thought about getting some sort of mobile home, but if it costs $400 in fuel to get it down south and back, I'm not ready for that.
Joanne, that's one disadvantage of yard sales. It's hard to know everything traded hands honestly. These folks looked awfully straight-laced though. I think they just had more money than they knew what to do with. They bought a Bose unit because it took up less space.
Ooo. Tree-ripened apples. Sarina that brings back memories. It's amazing what vegetables and fruits lose even in the first week after being harvested.
Yes Gabby, I try to do this every week, and the intent is very much to bring people along who for one reason or another either couldn't go, or even if they do they don't see the real fun in it. Do come back!
Corina, I see DVD players all the time, but they're such cranky things and still so state-of-the-art that I'm leery of them being put out for cheap sale. If a genie came out of something I owned, I'm afraid I'd have to feed it or something. I think the dress will be nice, and if it isn't, not much is lost.
Well, you're always welcome to come along, Amanda.
(disclaimer: im not a doctor but i watch them on TV.)
I had what we think was whooping cough in jr high, Lori. It hung on for months because we didn't have health insurance, and finally they thought they'd load me with penicillin. Whatever it was went away, but just about did me in in the final battle. Anyway, if sulfa drugs won't fix something, I'm in trouble, because I'll never, ever, take penicillin again : )
Laura, coffee sounds right. That would make it more Turkish, I suppose. I just generically think of such brass items as being made in India.
Also your story on the amp brough back a memory. I got a Kenwood amp in the 90s at an estate sale that was $40. That may seem like a lot, but know that this amp sold for $800 in its heyday. The only thing wrong with it is that the equalizer display sticks when the unit is first turned on. You simply click one of the equalizer adjustments and that unsticks it. It is still working fantastically today.
The beverage dispenser works like a charm, and I'm trying to figure out what I could make five gallons of that wouldn't run us broke.
Marianne, our Kenwood is exhibiting some scratchiness, and I'm not sure whether it's the cables from the tuner or one of the nobs. I'm optimistic, though. I should check to see how much it's worth also.
The dress and sweater were also great buys.
I would have bought the tea pot as it remind me of many that my middle eastern friends tend to use unfortunately I don't think theirs are copper and some other finer metal.
Thanks for sharing this garage sale journey with us. I will follow on with you two again next week.
Esther, there was a little scratchiness in the Kenwood sound, but I tracked it to the cable connecting the two. There's often something little like that behind great deals at yard sales. Metal coffee pots I know are popular, but I just can't get away from how well glass works. Thank you for visiting, and I'll be delighted to know if you come back.