Brentwood or Bust!

This weekend, in Brentwood, MO and surrounding communities, there is a huge yard sale extravaganza. The city has waived the yard sale permit fee for this one day. The event is being advertised widely. There will be a map of the participating yards. Authorities expect 500 households to participate in the sale.

This is what we have been training for, People!

Our plan, as of Wednesday, is as follows:

• leave home Saturday morning at 6AM
• drive the Big Van for maximum payload
• wear tool belt to hold small bills, coins, cell phone, water, camera, keys
• pack car with stocked cooler so no stops are required for sustenance
• prepare large tote bags and labeled cardboard boxes to keep treasures separate
• possibly bring a portable potty-ing device (this is still under discussion)

Thursday and Friday will be physical training days. We will focus on general strengthening and cardiovascular stamina. Drills specific to yardsaling include:

• Auto Egress - in the car, buckle up, unbuckle, out of the car, slam the door, repeat.
• Sale Sprints - park car in front of neighbor's house, run from car to front yard as fast as possible, repeat.
• Pocket Pulls - in a fluid motion, reach into pocket, pull out a single dollar bill, thrust it out ahead of you, repeat. Five sets of twelve reps each side.

If we detect any weaknesses we may have to add a drill or two before Saturday.

Saturday Debrief

Stupid camera. My battery lasted for two pictures and I can't even upload them now because I can't charge the thing and upload at the same time.

Anywho.

What a day! I walked down to Laura's at 6:55. As I approached her house I saw her backing out of the driveway. An early start! I climbed in the van and noticed Hudson's seat was full of snacks. "No Hudson?" I asked. "No. But we have Sawyer." She replied.

Sawyer! Sawyer is the sweetest seven-year-old you will ever meet. If he forgets to say "Yes Ma'am" or "No Ma'am" Laura slaps him. Haha. Not really. But she has this cute southern thing going on where she demands her boys say "Ma'am" all the time. Before I met Laura and her kids I thought southerners were born saying "Ma'am", like some verbal genetic mutation or something. It turns out they are trained to talk that way! So having Sawyer along for the ride was a treat.

We had two goals: go to St. Theresa's "Everything Under the Sun" rummage sale and get me home by 10AM. Easy, you say; St. Theresa's is 15 minutes away at most and we started before 7:00. But you forgot about skivving! (see previous post for definition.)

We started out on Main, heading east, or as east as Main St. can go, which is really southeast. (A brief note about roads in Belleville: they are messed up! As far as I can tell, only Rt. 159 runs due north-south. It is The Beacon in the Night. Every other road zigs and zags or cuts diagonally across the map, making yard sale navigation a real chore.) So we're on Main and we skiv down 82nd to Woodside. Here we found a Nintendo Gameboy SP for 25 cents (why is the cent symbol not on the keyboard?) Also I bought JoJo a TinkerBell hoodie for 50 cents. I photographed a Twin Towers commemorative knick-knack but if you refer to paragraph one of this post you will know why that picture is not here.

Back to Main St. and on to Hope Church, near Memorial Hospital, for a "Parking Lot Sale". We expected a typical church rummage sale but it was a "Sample Sale". There was only one of each item but many were new with tags. They had funny tags and showed evidence of having been displayed on mannequins (the sweater I bought was closed with both buttons and double-sided tape for optimum drape.) Every shoe in the impressive shoe display was a size 6, the size most often displayed in shoe stores and merchandising venues. Little Laura, with cute little size 6 feet, raked it in. I looked over at her and her arms were overflowing with shoes. I think she bought 8 pairs or something. Each pair was gorgeous. She will have to post a photo for you.

After Hope Church we got back on course to St. Theresa's. We only had about 6 miles to travel. But we found skiv after skiv! We couldn't go a half mile without another neon posterboard announcing another yard or garage sale!

We had to turn down Charles St. because there were two good signs posted at the Lebanon Rd. corner. At the first sale we got out and started our customary squealing, to which the proprietess said, "These girls love yardsaling as much as I do!" We took the opportunity to promote our blog and hope she is reading right now. They had good stuff, plenty to squeal over. I stepped up on the porch to snoop in some boxes and the home owner's daughter said, "Oh, that's just junk." But I pulled out the most wonderful sculptures! One was a little bronze man sitting cross-legged, wearing a Santa hat. The other was a bronze cast of the artist's own hand. I looked at the daughter, stunned, and she said, "I made those but I was embarrassed to sell them." I asked how much they cost and she said, "Oh... I don't know... a dollar?" So I bought them for a dollar, but I told her they were wonderful and tried to get her to rent studio space at my mom's artist colony. (More later, I promise.)

A few doors up Charles St. we found a mediocre sale... with the most wonderful wooden objects ever! Laura must post a photo of her gun-crate-shipping-cartons. She blew a good twenty minutes deciding if these totally awesome, one-of-a-kind, utilitarian yet attractive items were worth $5 each. After a million minutes (maybe 17) she offered $2 each and the lady was happy to see them go. (A word about Laura's frugality: cheap. Seriously, she will find something so awesome for $1 and offer 25 cents. I would not have the balls. That's why I spend $4 to her $1 every week.)

With the six gun-crate-shipping-cartons safely in the van, we got back on Lebanon Rd. and headed to St. Theresa's. It was 8:45. We had just enough time to stop at a gas station for cash and potty, get to St. Theresa's, leisurely scour the tables, and make it back to Signal Hill by ten. But then we saw a sign... a big sign. A sign advertising a sale throughout an entire subdivision. I don't recall the subdivision's name. It must have been "Subdivision California" (like Hotel California where you can check out any time you want but you can never leave.) because we immediately became trapped, unable to drive away from the 20 or so adjacent sales but having to pee so bad and totally out of cash. We couldn't buy a single thing but we couldn't stop shopping! It was almost a nightmare. Sawyer said, "I just want to go home."

We wrestled our way out of Subdivision California and stopped at the nearest gas station.

"No Public Restrooms."

What the hell is that?!

So we went to a better gas station (really, Laura, please list the names of the Good and the Bad gas stations so people can know who to support during these tough economic times.) where they had a potty, an ATM, and plenty of snacks.

It was 9:25. We had just enough time to hit one more sale and skiv home. I thought "The Teaser" from Friday was on Water's Edge but I was wrong. The stop at Water's Edge was a bust and we had to head home. I think we skivved a teeny tiny bit on the way home but Sawyer was ready to be done and I had to get home or face marital consequences. So we never made it to St. Theresa's! I was home by 9:56, marriage intact.

But wait.

I took Donny to soccer. Matt joined us. I was hoping to leave soccer and rejoin Laura at St. Theresa's before they closed at 1PM. During soccer she called me to say, "You have to get here! It's 'anything you can fit in a bag' for one dollar!" But then Matt showed up at soccer (after Henry's bowling league, where he performed very well, by the way) and said, "Let's all go to lunch!"

Now that is just sweet. A man that wants to have lunch with his wife, his five kids, and his mother-in-law. So I have to agree, right? But time is ticking away, People! Soccer was over at 12:15, we drove to the nearest Burger King, I didn't order a meal, hoping to "bat clean-up" and finish all their leftovers. At 12:45 we were just about done and Matt says, "Why don't you go do what you want to do and I'll take the kids home?" Sweet man! That's why I love him! I yanked JoJo and Gramma into the car and we screeched out of the parking lot, heading toward St. Theresa's.

We pulled into St. Theresa's parking lot at 12:57PM. Laura and Sawyer were waiting for us at the door. We ran through the gymnasium, stuffing anything desirable into a paper sack. One dollar per sack! My mom, JoJo, Laura, Sawyer, and I were running from table to table, cramming anything metal, pink, or interesting into Shop-n-Save paper bags. I have yet to really unpack these bags and take stock of the merchandise from St. Theresa's but I spent only 5 bucks and I'm pretty sure the stuff is great.

Saturday Prebrief

It's dark outside. I am showered and ready. I find myself asking what it is that gets me motivated like this on a Saturday morning. There is really nothing else except international air travel or a newborn baby that could get me up this early. It's not just shopping. And it's not just bargains. I have never lined up early on black Friday for a post-Thanksgiving sale at a normal retail establishment. What motivates me is the delicious combination of adventure and conquest. We tear around town Thelma-and-Louise-style (if T&L drove a minivan and brought along a toddler.) We know there is something dangerous about our early morning adventure -- we explore deep into scary basements, encounter men of questionable character who live on the fringe of society, we face marital reprimand for our spending and collecting. But the promise of finding an unexpected treasure is too compelling! There is little in my life that surprises and delights me. (my children, of course, but they come with a lot of baggage, don't they?) But here, on a chilly fall morning, before the sun comes up, I imagine the wild and zany things we will find today. Like hidden Easter eggs full of fine chocolate! And who will be selling these gems? Will the proprietor of the sale have all his teeth? Will the seller have tagged and displayed his wares or will he only reluctantly have unloaded them from his garage to satisfy his wife's demands? What will I learn about the lives these people live from the tangibles they no longer want? One woman went to too many Pampered Chef parties and has to dump her superfluous gadgets. One man spent 20 years going to garage sales and has decided to liquidate his collection in an effort to simplify. One woman is moving up in the world, leaving her mobile home and knick-knacks behind. One couple enjoyed dressing their children in mounds of expensive clothing and needs to recoup a tiny fraction of the expense.

We are bringing the camera today. Tune in later.

stuffed beaver

No, really, we saw one. It was a taxi-dermied (is that a real word?), real, stuffed beaver. With fake snow. And wouldn't you know, we didn't have a camera. Man! Price tag? $200 beavers. Too much for this cheapskate.
Also seen today: lots of owls, because the woman's husband felt the many pairs of eyes were watching him in their living room, not one but 2 massage tables, and lots more that Nancy will have to fill in here as I can't remember any more.
But I just have to say this: if you advertise for a Friday sale, then for gosh sake have a freakin' Friday sale. Or at least let us in your garage to see the stuff you will put out for your Saturday-only sale. We so will not be going back to you tomorrow, Friday-yard-sale-teaser-lady.
More tomorrow. A church sale. Oh yeah, baby.

must-haves at every yard sale

So after my last thoroughly depressing post, (thanks for lightening it up, Nancy! And thanks to Alicia for liking our wacky writings!) I decided to make a list of what we find every weekend at yard sales. Actually, this list was born out of a desire to have a scavenger yard sale, where items we would frequently see at sales would be on a list for our friends to go try and find. We had little interest in the scavenger hunt, so we had to let it go, but here is the list (and keep in mind these are things we have seen at yard sales in our area, not made up ones):
-any incontinence product
-South Beach Diet
-owl (stuffed, made of yard, in a frame, made of shells, feathers, etc. Other animals definitely not as popular for decorating)
-jock strap (used)
-any book on menopause (Gail Sheehy wrote an apparently popular one)
-any book on sensuality (this was fun to see at a catholic church rummage sale)
-doilies
-home made blankets, afghans, etc.
-fake flowers
-bras (used)
-any kind of exercise equipment, from the big (elliptical machine) to the little (Tae Bo tapes, weights, etc.)
-wedding dress (these are always sad to see)
-boat chairs (for some reason, there are lots of these in this land-locked state...haven't figured this out yet)
And the best part has become, when we see these items, to shout out, "South Beach Diet!" to each other. Nancy came up with this fun idea, and the yard salers look at us like we are crazy, which we are!

Props to our one "Follower", Alicia. Woo Hoo!

And tomorrow is Friday, People! We have 7 sales on our list plus an unknown number of skivs. Let's roll!

Excellent commentary on buying stuff from dead people, Laura.

Personally, at estate sales I focus on the kitchen. The deceased's kids have probably raided the valuable china and silver. What is left are tried-and-true cookware and utensils. Imagine an 80 year old granny who has baked cookies every Christmas since 1950. You know she has the perfect cookie sheet, mixing bowl, and spatula! Maybe she was a champion of the potluck supper and therefore has an awesome casserole dish and serving spoon. It is likely she was born in the first Great Depression and knew how to stretch the leftovers: soup ladle! The beneficiaries of her will can easily overlook these common things.

The basements and garages of dead people are well-stocked, too. Think tools, machines, and devices. After 60 years of putzing around with miscellaneous home repair, you know the deceased man-of-the-house had acquired the perfect screwdriver, vice, and tin snips.

cleaning up the treaures

So if there is any downside to yard saling, it has to be that in order to get your stuff so cheap, some of it may be in yucky condition. For example, I purchased an awesome leather tool belt (for use in future yard sales, of course....did I already mention this here?) for $1. It has many compartments and can be very useful; it is just in really poor shape. Dirty, misshapen leather, etc. You spend a lot of time cleaning/rehabbing your items, but I don't mind this part. It is nice to take something that hasn't seen any love and revitalize it.

This is also the stance we take concerning estate sales. It is disheartening and quite sad to walk into someone's home (usually an elderly person), with all their worldy possessions on sale. Often, the owner has passed away, or sometimes they are taken into nursing homes. Samantha and I went to one in which we believe the owner was acting as cashier. Nancy and I went to one in which the woman's husband had died and she couldn't bear looking at belongings without him (actually, that was the one that I got the toolbelt).

The home of an estate sale usually smells like the windows haven't been open in some time. It is musty, dusty, and usually decorated 50s-80s style. One can't help but wonder, as you walk on the shag carpeting (there is ALWAYS shag carpeting), "Is this how my treasures will end up? Will my children be so bewildered by my treasures (and why I considered them treasures) that they will just give up and invite strangers into my house to purchase my soap dishes for a quarter?" When someone dies, they leave behind stuff. No two ways about it. It is a question of what to do with that stuff. Some elderly people (both my grandmothers, for example), sense their time is coming and begin to give away their belongings in the preceding years of their death. Some people do not, either because their advanced age caught up to them, their passing was sudden, or they couldn't bear to part with their belongings. In any case, it is depressing.

However, we (Nancy, Samantha, and I) have assuaged our sometime-guilt with the thinking, "By purchasing this elderly person's treasures, we are ensuring they will live on in our homes. We will clean them, use them, and honor them." That is really the only way to make an estate sale palatable; otherwise it is just too darn sad.

The enclosed picture is just such an estate sale purchase from a woman who had recently died. The turquiose chair has brass nails on the arms in which the paint had flaked off. I brought it home, cleaned the upholstery, and painted the nailheads. This is the result.

debriefing, again

Nancy displaying the hot tub/jacuzzi/bath..that was plugged in, full of water, and bubbling away on a cool September morning. The lovely couple who were selling these items were dedicated yard salers, and a delight to meet.

debriefing the debrief

Here is the incredible, homemade, pneumatic can crusher with Nancy showing the results.

Debrief - Nancy

She wasn't that late.

I got some really great stuff yesterday! Here is a list:

• "Dogs Playing Poker" poster, $2
• Giant metal tub (maybe a dog-washing tub or a horse water trough?) for use as Guinea Pig habitat, $8
• Cuddly sweater, $1, which I put on at the sale site and wore for an hour in the chilly AM.
• Three rusty metal heating vent covers for art, $5 set
• A baggie full of dangling chandelier crystals, $5
• Tiffany style hanging lamp, $8
• Handy set of allen wrenches (this was a gift for Matt because I recently misplaced his other allen wrenches, causing a marital discussion about respect of property.)
• Vera Bradley backpack (this was from a skiv* on the way to drop off three little girls at a birthday party. I took the contents of her gift bag and put them in the $3 Vera Bradley backpack, thereby making an average gift into an excellent one! Yay!)
• Set of 20 acrylic paints, new in box
• Giant stainless steel ladle
• Vintage portable baby bassinet, dark avocado green, with metal legs and metal handles. For dolls, of course.

*Skiv

1. verb, to skiv, to veer off course to follow a yard sale sign. "Let's go to the estate sale on 43rd street and skiv along the way." "While driving to the rummage sale at Governor French, we skivved and found an old chicken incubator." "Skivving is dangerous because we sometimes veer wildly in traffic."
2. noun, a skiv, a yard sale located through the act of skivving. "Look at this awesome chicken incubator! I found it at a skiv!"

Laura... we need pictures of the fully operational jacuzzi tub and the redneck can crusher!

debriefing

So I was really late in picking up Nancy. I bring my almost 3 year old son, so I had to gather snacks, books, drinks, etc. He h.as caught on quickly to the fact that if he comes yard saling, he gets stuff. His brothers (ages 5 and 7) complain about all the haul little brother has, but don't want to come along so they themselves can score treasures.
Some of the loot today: a $1 leather tool belt for use during a super yard saling weekend (upcoming); a $1 set of 8 retro, mini record player coasters in avocado, burnt orange, and golden; a full/queen size quilt with shams for $10, and a heavy duty compass for my newly-minted cub scout for $3. The ultimate prize for me (I'll let Nancy fill you in with her treasures) was a vintage antique chicken incubator for $15. The price listed on the antique store tag (from whence it came) was $69, and the group selling it wanted $20.

Yard Sale - Prebrief

The alarm went off at 6. I hit snooze once. At 6:09 I jumped out of bed, let the dogs out, brushed teeth, and did other things regarding personal hygiene.

I am going yardsaling this morning with Laura. She is picking me up at 6:55. We HAVE to be home by 10:30 because we have serious family commitments: she has to drive her mother to the airport and I have to begin the intricate series of pick-ups and drop-offs that will define my children's Saturday. There really is no room in the schedule for this today. My husband is only supporting this outing because he knows tomorrow he will spend an equal number of hours running 20 miles in preparation for the Chicago marathon in October. (Honestly, if we compare hobbies, who is crazier??)

Deciding what to wear was a challenge this morning. Jeans, of course, because I need pockets for dollar bills and quarters. You can NOT haggle someone down from $4 to $2 and then pull out a twenty. That is just bad form. Also I need a pocket for the cell phone because my husband and kids will no doubt call me a few times looking for clues as to where I've hidden their soccer cleats, bowling balls, and cub scouts uniforms. I chose a basic white t-shirt this morning. There's no need to be fancy. And if you look too good the sellers will suspect you have more money than you actually do. I did throw on a cotton cardigan (light blue, Limited, $1 from a sale on Thursday) because it is a little chilly at 7 AM in mid-September. (Do they yardsale in Alaska? Is the season like one week long? Maybe they yardsale ALL DAY because the sun stays up all day in summer! OMG! The possibilities!)

It is 6:52. I have 3 minutes to pack a snack because there will be no stopping this morning once we hit the road. Check back later for the debrief.

Is it trash or treasure?

So obviously what one person considers trash is another person's special find. One of the pleasures in yard saling is finding your personal treasure. It can be a sewing table with no sewing machine, a round metal object with holes for your art wall, or a great wooden toy that is environmentally friendly.

I mentioned one of the pleasures of yard saling. There are several. We enjoy meeting the sellers. For the most part, they are an interesting lot. Yard saling is in some ways a voyeuristic activity, as it gives you glimpses into another person's life, and usually this is a person you would not have had recourse to be friendly with on a daily basis. We have had men who: 1. greet us in pajamas, 2. invite us into scary basements to see tables, and 3. invite us into abandoned warehouses to see more wares.

You certainly learn your way around town, also!

My Brother

My brother says this blog should be called "TARD Sale Adventures". He does not understand. When he gets his birthday present... THEN he will know the glory that is yardsaling.

Circles

To yardsale (a new, recently created verb) effectively, one must have a wish list. On my wish list are objects that meet this categorical requirement: circles made of metal with holes. What follows is a picture of my collection to date. Included are: a clock face, a garage door pulley, a sewer grate, the flue from a wood-burning stove, various pizza pans, bundt pans, egg poachers, temperature moderators, a lid, and a hubcap.

Here is a non-exhaustive list of some of the treasure we have bought at yard sales (note: "Yard Sale" is synonymous with "Garage Sale" and "Estate Sale" for the purposes of this blog, unless we decide to write an entire entry on the subtle differences between the three. Stay tuned!) over the past two months. Prices are included when they are particularly impressive:

• Five foot wooden nutcracker with working jaw/lever/cracking device, $20
• Forty-two complete decks of playing cards, $2
• Vintage wood/metal school desk with attached chair, $5
• Box full of Brio train track and accessories
• Turquoise, leather (as yet unverified) arm chair, circa 1962, $15
• Bookshelf, 3' x 5', made of vintage wooden ammunition shipping cases, $10
• Ouija board
• 150 year old butcher block island from actual country store with knife marks and uneven surface from years of use. Included was the lore that an old dog spent his days in the country store, curled up under said butcher block. $100
• Vintage wind-up toy monkey that claps symbols together, $2.50
• Ten stainless steel restaurant plates, $1 each, from an ex-restauranteur who didn't really want to sell anything but was having a sale to appease his wife. (More information about "Mike" in a future blog.)
• Giant metal bullet shell casing. Seriously, this thing is 3 feet tall.
• "Xanadu" record album.
• Many self-help books, including "Get Fired Up!" and "Your Out-of-Control Ferret", bought specifically for the purpose of getting a hearty laugh out of my brother.
• Vintage Gameboy, original, with intent to resell on Ebay
• Two marble slabs, three sides finished, 2' x 3', $5 each
• Two large boxes of Legos and Lego related foundations, $150
• Life size owl made of feathers
• Miniature owl made of shells
• Countless books, kitchenwear, toys, clothes, and furniture

There is more. So much more.

September 11-12, 2009

We are three friends who yard sale every Friday and Saturday. On this blog, we will tell our stories of interesting people we meet and treasures we find. I am Laura, and I am the cheap one of the bunch. I will bargain for just about everything (usually for 50% off). Nancy is the enthusiastic encourager, and our resident artist and visionary. Samantha is our excellent navigator, a real-life architect, and voice of practical reason.