Yesterday morning, I hit the streets with my mother-in-law to go garage saleing. It was time for city-wide garage sales in the neighboring town, and we had a ball. The city publishes a map of the town with a list of all the sales and puts them out at the local grocery and convenience stores, so we grabbed our copy and headed out.
There were 31 sales on the list and a whole bunch more besides (it costs five bucks to have your name on the list), and we hit a ton of them. We went to half the sales on the list and I don’t know how many that weren’t. We saw all sorts of things, from a solid wood rolling pin that could really do some damage if used as a weapon to a stock tank someone had used for a kids’ swimming pool. There were a couple of estate sales, a couple of plant sales, and several people selling baked goods in addition to other stuff.
We even saw a couple places selling everything including the kitchen sink. 🙂
I lucked out and found a cute little camping chair for Thumper. Cricket got one last year for his birthday and Thumper tried to steal it every time we got it out, so now hopefully he’ll leave Cricket’s alone. I found a really nice travel backgammon set, jump ropes for the kids, and a really pretty necklace.
And books. So many people were selling books that I could have started a whole new library if I’d bought them all (and I really had to restrain myself to keep from doing just that). I found a Caroline B. Cooney book that I had to have because a.) I love her books and b.) it involved Greek mythology; I found an old book called Technique in Fiction; I even found a whole box full of free books, so you know I took them all. 🙂
My book haul. 🙂
Free books are the best. 🙂
Speaking of free books, I’m going to be taking part in a blog tour to raise awareness about book piracy, and some very lovely authors will be giving away free copies of their books during the tour. It all kicks off on May 24, so I hope you’ll stop back!
Do you go to garage sales? What kinds of things have you found there?
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Suddenly they all died. The end. 
We don’t really have garage sales over here. We have Boot (trunk) Sales, and they are massive and mostly populated by police since a lot of what’s sold there is stolen.
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Yikes! Our city-wide sales are pretty big – they typically last two days. I’d have liked to go Friday, too, but I just didn’t have the time. They do it again in September, though, so maybe then?
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I used to love Garage-Saleing! I haven’t had the energy to do it so much lately (nor the space for what I might acquire), but I find it awfully hard to pass one up when I see books in the piles.. 🙂
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I used to go all the time as a kid, but doing it with young kids in tow is trying. Luckily, I got to leave the kids at home yesterday – it was nice having a girls’ day with my mother-in-law! 🙂
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That’s awesome! I love going to sales like that. And there is nothing better in the world than finding BOOKS at sales or for free. I get all excited. And I have to make myself think very very hard about which ones to get.
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Right? I got Technique in Fiction and Ethel Morton’s Enterprise for a quarter total, and they’d been marked at 50¢ and 10¢, respectively. Most of the others were 50¢, too. I love garage sales. 🙂
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I love garage sales, junk days, second hand shops, giveaways… I have become more discerning with age and only get plants or books, old comics etc. it can be amazing what you find though Kay.
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Same here. I’m trying to declutter my house, so I hate to buy more stuff that I’ll have to find room for, which is why I set myself a $10 limit. The books were by far the biggest splurge, but really, you can never have too many books.
Lack of shelf space is a huge problem, but there is no such thing as having too many books. 😉
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I’d hate to end up like those people who are compulsive hoarders and can’t move in their homes. $10 sounds fair until the object is found. 🙂 I’ve sold and given away countless books over the years and I still have a few boxes full in the cupboard.
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Me, too. I saw one episode of Hoarders on TV where the person they were helping was a book hoarder and they had to throw out her whole collection because vermin had gotten into it. Stacks upon stacks of brand new, never-been-read books were tossed into a dumpster like so much garbage. It made me want to cry.
That said, when I die, it will probably be because a giant stack of books fell on top of me.
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It’s really sad Kay that people get into that state of being. All those books, the rats, mice and silverfish would have loved them. make sure you only buy soft cover books Kay, it won’t hurt as much. It would probably defray the cost of a funeral, you could get cremated with the books. Oh, that’s bad Laurie. 😦
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It really is. Most of my books are paperbacks – I think I can count on one hand the number of books I have that are hardbacks. Still, I think I’d be okay being cremated with my books… 😀
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Used to do a lot of garage sales and picked up some great items for next to nothing, especially books. Don’t get out much anymore and the house is already pretty full (but can’t get enough books!)
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I don’t go to as many garage sales as I’d like – it’s just too much of a pain taking the boys along with me because they want EVERYTHING. Luckily, I have two other kids old enough to babysit now, so maybe I can start going to a few more. 🙂
Most of the things I find worth investing in at garage sales now are clothes for said kids. New prices being what they are, it feels like a better investment to get things at garage sales, especially when so many of the clothes people put out are very gently worn.
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Agree, clothes can be a good find, inexpensive; a good value at garage sales especially for kids since they grow out of them so quickly. Little boys can’t have too many toys! But guess I shouldn’t say anything; I can’t seem to have too many books! Hope you make out to more garage sales this summer. Here’s fingers crossed we get some good weather.
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Little boys can’t have too many toys!
We just cleared out their stock at our garage sale, so now they think they need more. The trouble is they don’t play with most of the toys they have! 😀
And there is no such thing as too many books. 😉
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I was just thinking about Charoltte Doyle the other day. I read that in 5th grade. Good book.
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I’ve never read it before! Miss Tadpole gave me a copy for Christmas, so I gave her the copy I picked up on Saturday. We can read it together! 😀
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