Friday, May 30, 2008
Friday Five: Garage Sale!
Welcome to your irregularly scheduled Fifth Friday Five, hosted by will smama and Songbird!
Since will smama is preparing for a joint garage sale with her parents, and Songbird's church had a Yard and Plant Sale last Saturday, we have five enormously important questions we hope you will answer:
1) Are you a garage saler?
At this point in my life, no. No more room for stuff. But when I was in college and law school, yes. Some of our furniture came from them.
2) If so, are you an immediate buyer or a risk taker who comes back later when prices are lower?
I used to be a risk taker when I was shopping unless it was absolutely to die for.
3) Seriously, if you're not a garage saler, you are probably not going to want to play this one.
(That wasn't really #3.)
3) This is the real #3: What's the best treasure you've found at a yard or garage sale?
Twenty years ago.. There was a beautiful 1920's walnut bedrooom set. But it was expensive. I commented out loud that it sure was nice, and the elderly lady said, there was an identical set in the basement, but it was covered with spider webs, etc. If I was willing to haul it out, I could have the bed, vanity, dresser and night stand for $100. I did and spent the summer refinishing it. The bed is is our guest room. The dresser eventually bit the dust, but the vanity ( minus the mirror) and bench are where my computer is located now.
4)If you've done one yourself, at church or at home, was it worth the effort? Can't say that I think the church sales our youth group ran were worth it, so we stopped. In large part because people who "donated" unloaded some scary things. And everyone want everything for under a dollar. The scariest "donation" was a blue peekaboo negligee with cutouts in the important parts. As we were sorting,I found it,before any of the youth saw it, and disposed of it. Used, and inappropriate. But I wish I knew who donated it.
5) Can you bring yourself to haggle?
Not really.
BONUS: For the true aficionado: Please discuss the impact of Ebay, Craig's List, Freecycle, etc... on the church or home yard/garage sale.
Not sure I can speak to this, other than to say that the idea of finding just what you wanted rather than being in a sea of stuff has some appeal, but the idea that you buy something and it never shows up is out there. But right now I am looking for a French Horn. Pretty sure I will not find it at a yard sale.
12 comments:
well played, I love the fact that you refurbished that whole set over summer and are still using some of it :-)
Great story about rescuing the furniture from the basement!
For the French Horn, definitely give Freecycle and Craig's List a try...that way you can buy the horn locally and assess it's condition before you buy. And you might just get one for free!
Used furniture is the best! (Actually it really is, as almost anything made 50 years or more ago is better quality than what we get now -- that's why it's still around.) I have to say, say what you will about eBay, I've never had a problem with stuff not showing up. But not the best place to buy a French horn. I love the story about the negligee too. Never ran into anything that inappropriate...we did once get a huge stack of pristine t-shirts, all with liquor ads, as one of the 20somethings had worked as a bartender for a while.
Walnut is gorgeous, that set sounds like quite a find!
Oh, the lingerie story is great!!
great play!
good luck in finding the french horn. i affirm revanne's words about freecycle and craig's list. it's amazing what you can find and it seems that the people are typically very nice to work with (our experience anyway). we've never had an ebay issue either--just fyi.
i too love the furniture story! that is AMAZING!
Great find with the furniture, I love the idea of reclaiming old things and letting them live on. Good luck with the French horn, I scored a cheap cello on e-bay, which one day I will actually learn to play.
LOL about the negligee!! To think someone thought that was a good idea.
And how awesome that you got that set for such a good deal!
You may not believe this but last weekend my daughter and I called in on a garage sale where there were a large number of trumpets and a french horn on sale. The man was really nice - had been a professional trumpet player for years but had to retire on health grounds. Unfortunately for you the sale was in Sydney :) We bought a couple of those insulated cups to take hot chocolate 'on-the-go' when a bit late for the bus in the morning.
It is really scary what some people will donate to a church garage sale, and really sad. Good on you for stopping it. Great play!
My pastor says that our semi-annual garage sale is "a chance for the faithful to get rid of their junk and feel good about themselves. It'll be a cold day in hell when someone donates a brand new flat screen to it."
Oh L & G, wanna come out and play this Friday's 5 at my blog?
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