Yardsaling in the Fall

If you're keeping up with the blog then you know last week I went

to a new thrift store. If you're not keeping up, go back and

check it out. Today I listed my funky find of a green vase on

eBay from last week.  If you want to get in on the bidding war

check out the auction by clicking on the picture of the vase.

It's a fabulous vase but it's been sitting on my desk for a week all lonely and unappreciated so it's time to let it loose and allow it to explore the world.  More importantly, it's time to make more room on my desk for new purchases from today's yardsaling adventures.

MY YARDSALING PLAN FOR THE DAY

Whenever I go yardsaling I plan it out by printing a few prospects from Craigslist. Today's plan was a solo yard sale, an outdoor community yard sale at a church, an indoor community yard sale at another church, and a Large Community yard sale in a development. The first yard sale started at 7am and I was ready to get up early and do this thing!

Here's what I'm NOT looking for:

1. Christmas Decorations- I cannot believe how many Christmas Decorations  are at yard sales. It completely boggles my mind.  I personally do not decorate for the holidays because I am cheap and lazy and I see how many Christmas Decorations end up at yard sales.

2. Baby Stuff of Any Kind- I understand people have babies and they outgrow their clothes so quickly and then they end up with a ton of baby clothes but I have absolutely no interest. Same thing with their toys, cribs, accessories, etc. If I'm driving by a yard sale and I see a pack and play sitting next to a used and abused baby swing, I keep on driving by.

My yardsaling plan seemed solid today. I felt like with the two community yard sales I wouldn't get skunked on the day and I had a better shot at getting some good deals.

YARD SALE #1- The SOLO Sale 

I was so excited to go to my first stop because the Craigslist ad really caught my attention. It bragged of tons of records!  I know absolutely nothing about records and even tried to give myself a crash course via the internet yesterday to no avail. The thing that caught my eye specifically in the ad was "will have collectibles and other interesting and unusual items." I am all about interesting and unusual items so I made this my first stop and already had it pegged in my mind to be amazing.  There were thousands of records lined up the driveway in boxes and into the garage but I could not find anything interesting and unusual. As far as these "collectibles" were concerned, I saw a box of dirty, PLAYED WITH, Hess trucks!   The people were super duper nice which made me look longer and feel compelled to buy something. The husband asked what kind of music I liked and talked to everyone who showed up. The wife even held a stack of records for a customer as her husband let him in the house to use their bathroom! It looked like this was the husband's life time collection and he was just getting rid of some of it. I managed to pick up three records, all were $2 each. I'm going to end up selling them all on eBay.

All in all I was really mad at myself for getting up so early to get to this yard sale. It wasn't a total waste and if it wasn't so cold out I may have flipped through some more records but I was hoping for something more.

YARD SALE #2- The Outdoor Community Church Sale

My second stop was an outdoor community yard sale and craft sale at a church. This Craigslist ad claimed to have over 40 vendors and "lots of everything with reasonable prices". It immediately looked promising because I saw signage all around the neighborhood directing people to the place. Once I pulled in I saw a bouncy castle and a food truck and I thought, "Wow, this place is legit!"  Then my hopes were immediately crushed when I looked to the right and saw a sea of red and green Christmas Decorations. A silver glittery Christmas ball slowly rolled in front of my car almost mocking me as I went to park and get ready for another walk around in the cold. This place did have a lot of vendors but I wouldn't say it was anywhere near 40. It was also kind of weird because the majority of the people went to church there so the whole atmosphere was a little cliquey. There were two rows of vendors and there was a lot of Baby Stuff and Christmas Decorations that I just breezed on by. There were also a lot of home made crafts and baked goods which I also avoided. Then I found it, my funky find of the day!

This purse stopped me dead in my tracks! Mainly because I am still overcoming a bit of a purse addiction but also because it's a bold color with an attractive pattern and tons of organizational space on the inside. I don't have to tell you what's going to happen to this purse because I'm sure you can already guess. It's going to sit on my desk for a week and then I'm going to eBay it. But for this week I'm going to look at it and love it and imagine myself out and about with it dangling from my arm as I receive compliments on it left and right!

I considered this community sale to live up to it's Craigslist claims for the most part. The fact they had the bouncy castle and food truck  along with my funky find of the day left me feeling positive about it.

YARD SALE #3- The Indoor Community Church Sale

Finally I was off to an indoor community yard sale! Just the thought of being able to shop without frozen hands was excitement enough. I pulled into this place and it was packed! Once I walked inside I had to walk down this hallway which lead to a small open area that had a few tables of older random kitchen type of stuff and baskets. Then I walked into the big multi purpose room and it was full of people, stuff, and crafts. They even had a snack bar!

There were three rows jam packed with people selling their unwanted items. Everyone in this place was friendly and having a good warm time. They even had a separate section for Christmas Decorations which I avoided completely. The Craigslist ad claimed over 45 vendors would be there and I believe that was accurate. It was so packed that it was a little cramped and hard to maneuver. I thought some of the items in this place were a little over priced but I did manage to get a good deal on a cat bed for $5 that still had the tags on it! This was my most useful find of the day. It may even get more use than that exercise mat I found last week (which I have used 6 days already).  Needless to say, it was an instant hit with the cats and created an immediate turf war followed by King of the Hill Challenges.  All in all I enjoyed this Community Sale the most because it was warm and I could take my time and look at things and I had feeling in my fingers.

YARD SALE #4- The Large Community Yard Sale

My last stop claimed to be a "Large Community Yard Sale" with over "100 homes in the area". This was complete hogwash! I drove past one house with a lady sitting in the driveway and her items were laying on blankets on the ground. It's all about the presentation people! Then I came up to 2 more houses and completely wasted my time by getting out of the car. The one guy had his sprinklers on! Who does that? You had to walk in the street on wet leaves to avoid getting sprayed! I got back in the car and headed down the street some more and there were three more houses with just nothing that interested me at all.  Again, I got out of the car for nothing.  I was on my way home and stumbled upon a surprise yard sale in my neighborhood! This was a smaller yard sale but it's where I found my bargains of the day! I really liked that this yard sale used those pricing labels and they had everything on tables.  That oven mit is going to get a lot of use, way more than a quarter's worth!   I haven't decided the fate of that purse yet but for the price there was no way I could pass it up.  That may be the purse addiction talking again.  This was a great way to end my day of yardsaling.

All in all this was a good day of

yardsaling. The first stop was a let

down, the community church

sales were what I hoped they'd be, I got skunked out on the large

community yard sale, but I brought the excitement back with  my

bargain of the day from the surprise yard sale!