Shara told me not to go out yesterday, because there was too much going on in our neck of the woods (traffic) and the temps were hovering around 100 degrees (sweating). She turned out to be absolutely right, but not on the basis of those two factors — but because my bad-decision-making switch was decidedly in the “on” position from the moment I got up in the morning. The first yard sale I hit looked like it was going to be a humdinger — they were still in the process of bringing out boxes and boxes of really old, really pretty stuff. GREAT! They were former antiques dealers. BAD. Especially since nothing was priced and I had no way of knowing how expensive things were going to be. I HATE that. People, price your stuff. Really. Otherwise, what is a customer to do? “How much is that? How much is that? How much is that? How much is that?” I did a test ask — just to gauge how much things might run — and asked about this cute little angel set.
The woman said $1, which, hey, I can do that, and I kind of assumed that things were going to be pretty affordable and gathered a little stack in front of me. The angels, plus these items.
I asked her to tally me up, she does some kind of silent accounting in her head, and comes out with $25. TWENTY FIVE DOLLARS. That is not the kind of coin I usually pay at yard sales unless we are talking about a piece of furniture. The worst part of it is I just nodded and paid her. WHY? I don’t know. Fear of being rude. The crowd was starting to get pushy and I just wanted out of there. I really wanted a few of those items and felt bad about putting some down and asking her to re-tally. Ridiculous. I could have been perfectly polite about indicating that that was more than I wanted to pay, but instead, I sucked it up and gave her the money and spent the rest of the day regretting it. I mean, I’m really trying to keep yard sale spending below $40 every weekend and that was more than half of what I intended to spend all day. I don’t really think that amount was too too terribly expensive — I think the vase and the flower frog are probably easily worth that between them, but for re-sale, that’s more than I want to spend. Plus, I’ve kind of been trying to get away from smalls like this in the booth. But the flower frog is truly beautiful.
It’s not marked, so I have no idea how to find out how to price it. Anyone? Anyone?
So it was a crappy start to the morning, and I followed that sale up by going to three or four more unimpressive sales before hitting one that, as soon as I parked the car, I could tell should have been first on my list. SO FRUSTRATING when that happens. It’s bad enough when you can tell that the sale had stuff that you would have purchased, but you’re just inferring that from the caliber of stuff left behind; it’s even worse when that stuff is being snapped up right in front of your horrified eyes. I mean, I just missed so many things. A gorgeous mini-file cabinet. About fourteen pieces of pink depression glass, including a bowl of a size I’ve never seen before, all priced at a couple of dollars each. A woman had a pile of stuff in middle of the driveway so big — I thought it resembled someone’s stash but then thought, nah, it can’t be, it’s TOO BIG and started shopping from it — only to be tartly informed it was already taken. And the stuff that was in that pile. Friends, I’ve been trying to block it from my memory since Saturday. For example, I dug this piece of fabric out of the bottom of the box:
If that isn’t the cutest fabric EVER, I just don’t know what. This lady had a STACK of 1940s fabric in her stash. Really, there was nothing to do but gnash my teeth.
I did get this great milk glass compote (?) for $3.
And the oldest Golden Book I’ve ever seen (1942), with Goldencraft Cloth Binding. It’s in terrible shape, but the illustrations are cute.
Also, got three very old World Book Encyclopedias.
These will be pilfered for ephemera packs, since the illustrations are SO GORGEOUS. Including this spread, destined to be a set of framed prints. I’m thinking red polka dot mats and cream frames.
BTW, why would their great-grandmothers not have known what a tomato was? I suppose I will have to read the entry to figure it out.
At a different yard sale, I listlessly picked up this faux-old rabbit.
Ran into my friend Barb, finally, about mid-morning, and she found this great flour sifter at the sale we were at and generously offered it to me.
And at the same sale I got this cute oven-to-table baker.
The only other purchase of note were the pair of vintage fiberglass children’s chairs I got for $3.
Are you bored yet? Me too. But wait. There was still one more bad decision. And that was my decision to drive miles and miles and miles north to Rogers to hit a few sales that sounded good BUT WERE NOT. It was on this trip that I realized how similar my yard sale habits were to gambling. If you’re losing hands in poker, you desperately try to double down and see if you can recoup your losses. Same with yard saling. I just want to keep going, keep driving, convinced that I will find a sale that will make my morning worth it and make up for all the gas I’m using. In other words, I THINK I HAVE A PROBLEM. Yard Sales Anonymous, anyone?
There are only three weekends left between now and the barn sale, and I still don’t feel like I have enough stuff to make my tent as attractive as I want to. Worse yet, yard sale season is winding to a close. That’s not the case in Chicago, alas, where the Andersonville Neighborhood Sale is scheduled for next week (sob, this will be the first time in 18 years I’ve missed it!) and the church rummage sales are about to go into full swing. Here’s hoping there are some good buys still out there for the next couple of weeks.
Linking to The Nifty Thrifty over on A Living Space.
by Lara Jo
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