Garage Sales

M and I have gotten into the habit of scouting out garage sales in our town. We'd look in the weekly local newspaper, on craigslist, and at random signs that people post up in the neighborhood. My sole purpose for going is to expand on my Precious Moments collection, while M goes to search for anything that looks like it might be valuable (maybe one of these days, he'll actually find something worth displaying at The Antique Roadshow).

There appeared to have been a lot more garage sales last year. My theory is that people typically have them when they are ready to move out, and with the real estate industry plummeting, there just hasn't been as many home sales as there normally are, hence people probably aren't in as much of a hurry to get rid of their junk. In any case, we did manage to hit two garage sales last weekend - and surprisingly, we made purchases at both places. At the first location, we found a small Precious Moments figurine and two other tiny Precious Moments jewelry cases for a bargain price of 50 cents each. My collection has now grown to close to 50 figurines. At the second location, we bought a set of three Winnie the Pooh frames and two little Pooh trinkets that were being sold as a whole set. The frames have been hung in our dining room, and are a perfect match to our curtains. I love getting good deals on things!

On a related note, M and I are planning to have a garage sale of our own later this summer (exact date yet to be determined). We cleaned out the basement a couple of weeks ago and inventoried everything to be sold, and have also been getting a steady flow of items from M's mom on a weekly basis to add to our pile of "stuff." Things we plan to get rid of? All kinds of miscellaneous junk: lamp shades, board games, cups, stationery, George Foreman grill, waffle maker, CD racks, clothes, stuffed animals, old cordless telephones, beach bags, frisbees, key chains, roller blades, jewelry boxes, frames, and much much more!