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I skipped last Saturday. Well, I kinda skipped last Saturday. I slept in until 9:30, rolled out of bed and lazily browsed a few garage sales. I found a wooden Madeline dress-up puzzle for my niece (the lovely Beatrice, featured in the post just beneath this one) and a few sweaters for myself for when the weather gets chilly. Bottom line, I got lazy. A gal’s allowed one or two lazy Saturdays a summer, right? :)
If it helps, I have two interesting bits of garage sale information for you today. Well, let’s just call them bits and you can decide for yourself if they’re interesting or not.
First, it turns out that the stack of clothes I bought for Ryan two weeks ago (you can see them in this post) belonged to someone you may (or, may not) know. A few days after purchasing shorts, shirts and a tie from a cute, trendy family a few blocks away (I LOVE shopping at garage sales of cute trendy families – particularly when they’re my size!), my sister mentioned to me that the woman I paid was the wife of Dan Haseltine, the lead vocalist for Jars of Clay. Isn’t that funny? I guess this is what happens when you live in and around Nashville – you walk around in the pants of a singer and you crash your motorcycle in the front yard of LeAnn Rhymes (yes, that actually happened to Ry).
My second bit of garage sale information is really just a response to the question that I keep getting from all y’all (another thing you get to do when you live in Nashville, you get to say “all y’all”). Many of you have asked about how I plan my outings to find the best sales, what I look for and how I manage to get good prices on things. Good news friends, I am one step (or about 15 posts) ahead of you. I addressed many of these questions and more back in June in this post. Feel free to hop over, have a read, and if you still have a question, feel free to ask!
Okay, now on to this morning. Sidenote: Oliver has been galavanting around the country with his grandparents since Wednesday (his first big trip away from home – he’ll be returning to his Mama sometime Monday evening and she – well, I – can’t wait!!). This has changed the dynamic around our house quite a bit (read: I deep cleaned the house this weekend and it is STILL clean!) and things like Saturday mornings feel just plain different without him. It’s a strange feeling, but I’m actually rested. My body naturally woke up a little before 7 this morning ready to go, so how could I say no? But, since O isn’t here, there’s no need to leave Oliver and Ryan to their special Saturday morning playtime, and I was anxious to get back to my clean home and my husband, so I only went to two sales, spent my wad, and came right back home!
Even though I went to 2 sales, I only bought anything at 1. It was a fantastic sale. I looked around, made a pile of all the things I wanted, and told them I had a $10 bill and asked if we could call it good? Who’s going to turn down a $10 in an outstretched arm? We had a deal!
Here’s what I got: (I’m going to list them as the sticker price they had on them at the sale, just so I don’t have to assign everything new values.)
$2.00 – 2 more down-filled pillows – I promise, these are the LAST two I’m going to buy. Really. Even if there are more next weekend for only $0.50 apiece – I have all the down pillows I need – at least until I get them all covered and decide I need more.
$0.75 – An organization tray – There were two and I sort of wish I’d bought them both. I didn’t want to buy any unless I could think of how they could be immediately useful, and at the time I could only think of my kitchen drawer. Now I realize it would have been nice to use another one in my sewing room. Shucks. (This still had the store tag on it – $7.99)
Here is my new storage tray in action. I told you I’d use it immediately!
$5.00 – 10 articles of clothing at $0.50 apiece – These first two things are Zutano brand (very popular in the South) and were new with tags (although the sticker was torn off so I couldn’t see the price). Yes, all of these clothes are 18M size and Oliver is almost 3. They’re not for him. I got news last night that I was moved off the waiting list and onto the consignor list for my very favorite consignment sale in town. When great clothes are fifty cents each and will sell for $3-$8 each, it’s just good business. (And, for the record, the sale is in 2 weeks, so they won’t be sitting around for long!)
And, for my “tuck-and-run” item of the day?
There are actually three because I just cannot decide. Here they are:
$1.00 – Williams Sonoma set of four Cedar Planks – still in the packaging ($14.95 new). These are a gift to my sister and brother-in-law, since I’m not a huge salmon fan and I know they love grilling salmon on planks.
$3.00 – Williams Sonoma instant read thermometer fork – still in the packaging ($24.95 new). I almost saved this for Ry’s birthday, but he was so excited to open it up and figure it out this morning, I’m glad I didn’t wait. It’s especially handy since I ruined my existing thermometer by leaving it in a pork roast when I put it back into the oven a while back. Yes, it melted.
$3.00 – Pottery Barn Bradford wine rack – we have been courting this baby for years. We even almost bought it once but couldn’t bring ourselves to spend $60 on something we felt like we could probably make ourselves. When I brought it out of the van this morning Ryan saw it and said, “Is that… the one?” Yes darling, it is – for less than we would have paid in taxes. I love making that guy proud!
So, I got $14.75 worth of garage sale joy for just $10. And, all in one stop! AND, it’s likely to pay for itself when I consign all those handsome little boy clothes in a couple of weeks. It is, indeed, a great day!
As for your tuck-and-run finds from last week two weeks ago? It was a tie between two. And, since it’s been two weeks, I have no scruples about picking two winners:
Martha Stroud at “A Day in the Life” – Martha hit the mother-load when she found a sale where the family was selling what seemed to be all the leftover merchandise from the Linens-N-Things closeout this spring. She walked away with a $65 iron for $3, a $130 stainless-steel trash bin for $20 and a whole lot more – all still new in the boxes! You can read all about it (and congratulate her!) here.
-and-
Sarah at “The Art in Me” – Sarah found a great yard sale two weeks ago and managed to find a lot of great bargains. The one that makes me a little green though? That pair of beautiful black shoes now hanging on her shoe rack. Excellent finding, Sarah! (You can see what I’m talking about here.)
Alright, time to see what you found this week! You know the drill…
>love jars of clay – very cool story!
>I never realized when I read your yardsale finds that you live in/around Nashville! I do too, which obviously gives me no excuse for not being able to find finds like you are able to!! I definitely need to start shopping for my future classroom as well now that fall is upon us and yardsales will definitely be at full swing!
>Thank you for solving the Zutano mystery! We've gotten a couple outfits from people (for Charlotte) that are that brand, and I was lost.
Also, today I got to use "Lyle, Lyle Crocodile" in my garage sale post. BEST POST EVER.
Hope your time away from the little guy is relaxing and simultaneously short. We're leaving for a long weekend in 2 weeks, and I'm already missing ours.
ps: I wanna see the pillow covers.
>Hey I love your garage sale posts! If my camera wasn't completely dead I would post some pics! I actually went and bought a disposable one until I can buy a new one :)
Anyhoo, I love your template! I tried to find it through blogcrowds, or whatev it is called, but couldn't! I love the dark w/ the blue…so pretty! Anyhoo if you could point me in the right direction where to find it I would love it!!!! Thx :)
>Amy – glad you love the blog, and I'm flattered that you like the design! Bad news though, my hubby designed this for me, it's not a template. I have NO idea how to set up a pretty blog – it was all him!
>Oh, thats alright! Tell him I said great job w/ the colors and everything. Thx for responding :)
>Ohhhh–I was waiting for this post!! Ever since my friend told me about your blog a couple of weeks ago I have been super excited to get out garage saleing. So we went last saturday and had alot of fun. I kept saying "Rachel would be much picker and not buy all this". Haha. I figure the more I get out next summer the more selective I will be. Do you have garage sales year round or does winter put a stop to those in Nashville?
Totally enjoying your blog!!