As if trying to make up for the weekend before, this weekend we squeezed in a lot of fun. We manage to do our treasure hunting about every other weekend and we’d skipped the previous one to deal with the flooding. This weekend there were 3 estate sales in our town, like a mile from our house. With the gas a ridiculous $4.19 a gallon (higher than the rest of the country), we try to stick close to home.
Souvenir postcard and tickets from Riverview Amusement Park in Chicago 1904-1967
When people ask us what our weekend hobby is, I may have to say we’ve taken up SALE-ing! It sounds much more pretentious than going to tag sales. Both hubby and I have gotten good at negotiating prices. A lot of times the prices marked are firm, at least on the first day. Frequently, the 2nd day everything is half off. Of course, usually the best stuff is gone the first day so it’s rare to get anything outstanding at a discount. I just know when I’m finagling for a deal, never to insult anyone by offering too low. Sometimes the prices are already good, other times they are retail prices and we have to pass. Being nice goes a long way and if I can get a few dollars off here or there, it makes us both feel good. I’ve also learned to know when to keep my mouth shut and when to speak up. It never hurts to ask if there’s any movement on the price. If you don’t ask, they don’t offer. I used to ask “There’s a whole stack of old postcards that aren’t marked, would you be able to sell them all for X dollars?” Now I ask the same except I don’t throw out a number figure and see what they come up with. I got a stack of 100 postcards for $5 a few weeks ago and Friday I got a stack for $4. Little things like that leave me tickled pink! 😉
Vintage Sewing Basket
I’m kind of in a quandry because we don’t *need* any of the stuff we’re purchasing. It’s more fascination with unique things that we may never see again. This is in direct conflict with my desire to declutter and simplify my life. We just threw out a ton of stuff from the basement that got water damaged so we made room. However we’ve got a pact that we won’t be taking one more thing into the basement ever again. I wonder how long that will last.
Our finds for this week included: a plastic 2 gallon watering can for $1, a framed postcard and tickets from Riverview Amusement Park in Chicago for $8, a little painted metal frog for the garden for $2, a bar of Clinique facial soap with soap dish for $3, Royal Haeger pink and blue peacock vase for $16, an adorable pink sewing basket with all the contents for $12, a small metal camel for $4, 4 handpainted owl letter openers, ginormous coffee cup and saucer that’s actually a planter (pre-drilled hole in bottom of cup) for $8 and the piece de resistance: a 6 1/2 foot long sailfish! It is proudly displayed in our upstairs hallway. It’s hard to find room for something that big but it is just outstanding to look at. This pirate life is starting to get interesting! 🙂
Sailfish
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If your into that kind of thing it works.. good deal! And it does make a great piece of decor, hope it;s not a dust collector.
I realize it’s not everyone’s cup of tea. We’re happy with it though! Really enjoying going to estate sales lately. I’m sure it’s just a phase like going to auctions was 10 years ago.