Garage Sale Season, Yay!

It's my favorite time of year, garage sale season!

On Friday we went to a church sale, which was apparently unadvertised except for a few signs. We got there about an hour before the end of the sale on their second day. They were handing out bags and we were told we could "stuff the bag until it's ripping" for $5.00!

So, I crammed as much in my bag as I could. We also went to a thrift store in a nearby town on Friday, and then Saturday morning I got up early and went to a couple estate sales and two subdivision garage sales.

Turned out to be a pretty good weekend. There was one estate sale that started at 9:00 am, and there was a huge line in the driveway, so I passed it up and went on to more garage sales. I stopped back later and went to it, only to find that it was really just a way overpriced garage sale masquerading as an estate sale. Glad I didn't waste my time waiting in line for that one!

I found these two guys from Monsters Inc. Not sure what they are called, they each have a strap and a little zippered pocket on the back. Kind of like a really big coin purse. And two plush Dalmatians, I think from the 102 Dalmatians movie.

Finding Nemo branded Memory game, Disney Robin Hood, Care Bears, and Last Unicorn VHS tapes (probably for the niece and nephew), and two vintage Peanuts books.

Wonder Woman, Tweety Bird, and pink bunny Pez dispensers.

Two vintage tray puzzles, Barbie and Snow White.

A random assortment of magazines from the 90s about the Chicago Bulls. There's also a Dennis Rodman paper dolls book in there somewhere.

This was the best part of the bag sale at the church. I got 16 Playstation games and one PS2 game. Found the two N64 games at the thrift store, and the SNES Toy Story game at a garage sale.

Two vintage stitchery kits.

At one estate sale I found a box with these vintage (probably 80s) 4th of July paper decorations.

New Shoes and a Few Sales

I didn't buy much this past week. It was dreary and rainy most of the time, and the one estate sale that was advertised was across the river anyway and I didn't want to drive that far for what looked like a mediocre sale. We went to Salvation Army on Friday and looked around a while, but I couldn't find anything that interested me.

Earlier this week I did find a cute pair of shoes (Hush Puppies) for myself.

This is one of my favorite things about thrifting, not only finding things to resell, but finding items for myself. These probably sold for $70-80 new, but they are barely worn and I paid $4.99. No wonder I have such a problem buying anything new anymore!

The other reason I didn't do much shopping is because garage sale season is fast approaching (yay!) and I have GOT to get my house organized. It's ridiculous.

So I spent some time on Saturday cleaning and organizing stuff, and managed to make a small bit of progress. I'm trying to reduce the amount of stuff I own, so when I come across stuff that I don't need anymore, if it's not ebay-able, then I've just been pricing and packing things away in a box for our garage sale in May. I have about four boxes already!

I sold one item on ebay this weekend - Vintage Tomy Fashion Plates (just like the ones I had as a kid!)

And from my Etsy shop, this mid-century vase is on it's way to Australia (hope it survives the trip)

Coming Soon.. Garage Sale Season!

Thift Share Monday Post!

I'm finally getting around to restocking my vintage shop and listing more items on ebay. It seems I usually let my shop lapse a little over the Christmas holiday, because my other Etsy shop is fairly busy during Christmas, and I also feel the need to take a break once in a while.

My inventory is pretty slim this time of year. I shop at thrift stores regularly, but many have become ridiculously overpriced lately. It seems that every store is trying to get higher than ebay prices for everything. There are still some deals to be found, but more often then not I walk out empty handed.

I am excited though, because now it is March! And that means, that in a few weeks as the snow starts to melt, the garage sales will be starting up again. I love garage sales. I actually use some of my vacation time during the summer to take Fridays off, just so I can go to more sales! Estate sales too. I've been to a few estate sales this winter already, but they pick up more during garage sale season.

I've found a couple cool things so far this year:

Vintage 1960s Enid Collins wooden box purse.

Blue Fenton Hobnail Vase

This isn't vintage, but it's part of a canister set from Target designed by Orla Kiely.

Orla Kiely Pear Canister

I have a few more, but haven't photographed everything yet, so I'll save them for another post!