THRIFTING IN THREES

The fun started with the yard sale ads on Craigslist. One was dubbed the “Can’t Stand My Neighbor Garage Sale” and the ad encouraged you to “come and see how my neighbor continuously takes pictures as I have my huge garage sale.” Another billed itself as the “Garage Sale of the Year” and promised both a bounce house for the kids and hundreds of adult videos “for any fetish.” Now, there’s an appealing combo! Gosh, somehow we managed to miss both those sales, wonder how that happened…

I had companionship on Saturday—my friends Marcia and Jan. Jan had asked if she could apprentice herself to me for a morning; she’s stopped at sales before but said she’d never gone garaging on purpose. She’s planning to do a sale for her parents this summer to help them declutter, so she was doing market research.

We were greeted at our first stop by this handsome tiger, ready to hop onto a bike or skateboard.

The lady having the sale didn’t seem to be quite so ready. At least twice we picked up sweaters and when we asked the price, she said she didn’t really want to sell that and took it away. Of course she also told me she had worked until 3:30 in the morning, then come home and set up for their sale. Probably the lack of sleep talking.

Next we headed for the first neighborhood sale of the year, where we met this guy.
He said he just loves going to sales, so his family made him this shirt for Christmas. He lives in Long Beach (about 20 miles away) but thinks the sales are better where we are, so he comes down each weekend. But he always gets lost. I get lost all the time too, but these days I don’t say I'm lost, I claim to be taking a mini vacation.

Our favorite overheard conversation was at the sale where the guy was trying to move some old Avon hair tonic. Bottle was shaped like a dune buggy, and as we walked up he was taking off the cap to demonstrate that the contents were still good. Well, perhaps not good—but certainly potent! As soon as the lid was off that smell hit us like a brick, and we were several feet away. His price was a dollar, and I offered him a dollar not to take the cap off again. He was trying to sell it to a man who had a boy about twelve years old with him, and we heard the kid ask his dad what it was. “It's hair tonic,” dad answered.

“What’s hair tonic?” asked the boy.

We all agreed that some of this week’s sales were just “too proud of their stuff” as Marcia says, with prices higher than any of us thought reasonable. But there were enough real bargains to make us all happy. Jan’s finds included fresh picked avocadoes and brand new artist designed linens. Marcia walked away with a wedding gift food processor that had never been used and a wonderful hand woven wrap, among other goodies.

I spent $12 for:

Door prizes for the next meeting with my children’s librarians, some baseball items for our Summer Reading Program


and an unusual hat.
A vintage mohair sweater I hope to resell

Fun bowl to replace the one I keep at work that I broke recently, boo hoo
Two felted wool baskets
A couple of papercraft tools
A caftanish garment to wear over my bathing suit this summer
Satin brocade cloth with tasseled corners. Marcia said it would make a good Christmas tree skirt, so that’s what I'm planning for it. I figure eight months to cut a slit, hem the edges and add a tie or two is about right.

This was originally a candle holder, but my husband has repurposed it as his bathroom glass.

Here’s my big ticket (three bucks!) gamble for the week: a mosquito inhibitor. It uses a pack of scented stuff that supposedly keeps the mosquitoes from being able to find you, and the guy said it keeps flies away as well. We had such a fly problem last year (and mosquitoes arrive in droves to feast upon me, while totally ignoring my husband) that I thought I'd give it a try. I want to be able to get my ten-bucks-worth of enjoyment from the patio furniture we bought last week!

And lastly, four brand new mouth blown glasses.
I love the little bubbles in the glass (the name on the tag is Ruby Fizz)
and I really love getting them at a 95% discount from the store price!

My favorite item that I didn’t buy this week: