Sweet Saturday indeed! Yesterday I performed feats of junk collection that made me feel like a
Garage Sale Queen, despite the gritty and humble sensibilities that accompany one on a day rummaging through peoples old junk and crawling through trash piles.
I found so many things I'd been wanting while I was out, and I only spent $9.00 during my garage sale circuit. I was doing so well.
I even managed to score several things for free. Oh, what fun...
...then I went to Goodwill. Darn that Goodwill! Goodwill ruined my positively stellar track record for the day and got me for $19.16. Drat.
You must know, however, that they had 13 cups and 5 bowls in the most mesmerizing shade of aqua. (The image above doesn't do them justice.) The huge picnic basket shown in the picture above was also from Goodwill, which was just what I had been looking for. Hooray! Then I stumbled upon the quilt rack. Why didn't I just stop looking around and leave?!
Oh well, too late...once an item is seen, it cannot be unseen, and you know it's nearly impossible to just walk away. So I was thinking I could take it apart and use it as a couple of ladders and see where they would best work and what I could hang on them. Then again, since the dryer is broken, this could come in handy for hanging up wet clothes. Casey and I also discovered while messing with it, that when extended wide, it would make a great tent frame for a kid to play under. So many uses and so much fun for a few measly bucks.
Here's what I got for my time and travel:
The boots I got from Target the day before, everything else but the planters was scored on my morning hunt.
Garage Sales:
Collander: $0.25
Videos: $1.00 each (we
needed these, even if they are VHS)
Glass topped Ball Jar: $0.25
Milk bottle: $1.00
Tele-Tone Record Player: $5.00 - Woo hoo! This was the most exciting thing I found. I have been looking for a record player in a suitcase for some time and everywhere I find them online they are expensive and then I'd have to pay shipping as well, which always stops me.
My eyes went wide when I saw this. Such a score! I was so excited. It needs a needle and who knows if it turns at the proper speed, but for $5.00, I decided it was worth a shot. Casey has been warned that I will soon be playing my old albums once I get a needle...
...She wanted to know what she's ever done that I would torture her like that.
Wood crate: $0.50
Small basket with lid and handles: $1.00
Sweet white shell: FREE!
Three round cake pans: FREE!
Two heart-shaped cake pans: FREE!
All the pans were free because the lady who was selling them was so mad at the people before me who were rudely trying to get things for nothing when she already had them marked so inexpensively, and they were being jerky about it as well. When I came up and started talking to her and showed an interest in them, she said, I want you to have them. Just take them. No charge. She said, I would rather give them away to someone nice than accept money from someone who is so rude. Score!
Goodwill:
Aqua Cups: $.69 each
Aqua Bowls: $0.89 each
Basket: $6.00 (I asked and got $2 off because it was starting to rip underneath)
Quilt Rack: $3.00
The big fun of the day for me, aside from all the other great finds, was when I found the pile of trash across the street from a little church flea market. It looked promising, so as soon as I scored the great little glass topped Ball Jar at that sale, I went over to the pile to start rummaging. It had rained the night before so things were soggy and heavy.
Trash Pickin':
Single Door Cabinet with undermount light: FREE
Bunch of scrap wood: FREE
This photo was taken after I already got my first haul out of it. I always forget to take a photo before.
I could see that there was
some salvagable wood, but alot of what was there was particle board. There wasn't much I wanted, and I don't even know what half of this stuff had been, but I did spot unfinished cabinets, one with a door the exact size I have been looking for in order to make a chalkboard for a skinny spot in my kitchen. Yes! I was able to slide that out from under the pile with a little work, and I did it without a crash, despite all the stuff on top of it. I was also able to score a few pieces of wood that looked decent.
The louvre doors near the very bottom of the pile would not budge with everything on top them and I was not in the mood to rework the whole pile even though I really wanted them. Besides there were nails and staples sticking out of everything. I was feeling a bit self-conscious too (picking does that to me) especially when there is an audience, which there was, across the street at the sale... and cars going to the flea market drove by slowly to see what this crazy woman was up to in the trash.
After I got the heavy cabinet (with the undermount light on it) into the backseat with the scrap wood, I called it good enough and took off.
Whoever had taken that trash out to the road obviously did not consider the pickers who would inevitably come. Tsk, tsk. They could have put the good stuff on top so I could have gotten more, but noooooooo! They piled it up all wrong. And why do people put huge mirrors at the bottoms of their piles where they will inevitably be broken break right away. Some people could use a less
on in trash piling etiquette so that those who come to treasure hunt will have an opportunity to score as much of that loot as possible. Ah well, all part of the fun and adventure, I suppose.
After I came home and got this door off and sanded it and realized how perfect it is and how nice this cabinet is, I thought I really need another. I could keep one as a cabinet, and use one to make a chalkboard with. I looked at the photo I had taken of the pile and I realized that there was another cabinet in there and a cabinet of drawers. I remember seeing other big things, but most everything was falling apart. However, I started to think that if I could get another cabinet, I could at least take the doors off and throw the rest away or use the good wood for something.
So, I drove back at the end of the day to repick the pile. The cabinet with two square doors was falling apart, but I managed to get it into the car (very heavy). With the big, heavy cabinet having been removed from on top of the louvre doors, and after a lot of huffing and puffing and pulling... and determination, I got them out, crossed the street with them, narrowly avoiding a car, opened the car door and realized that once again, I had forgotten the limitations of a mid-sized Nissan sedan.
My eyes are bigger than my back seat
Crud. I hate making a scene and struggling as onlookers watch me dig through a pile, only to get something awkward out and then not be able to fit it into the car. Embarrassing. My eyes are so often bigger than my backseat. I didn't give up. I went at it, determined it would work, even if it meant opening my trunk (gasp! It's full of junk) and moving the stuff around to fit the louvres through the opening that goes through to the back seat. In the end, I managed to finagle it into the car, wedge it in place and drive home safely, despite the huge passenger side companions the louvres were.
My car is filthy now, but then, it was for a good cause...free stuff!
Second run on the Trash Pile:
Two-door Cabinet: FREE
Large Shelf: FREE
Hinged Louvre Doors: FREE
Found this big shelf on my second pick through the pile. It was made of good wood with a finished edge along the front. I think it is exactly the length I need for over my kitchen window. How cool is that!
Other scrap wood came home with me as well. Handy, especially since I stopped by Lowes later in the day and took a look at cabinet and wood prices. Yikes! Trash pickin' is the way to go!
There was a cabinet full of drawers in the pile that I didn't bother with. It was quite large and was turned the wrong way to get to easily. Since I don't need a bunch of drawers lying around right now, I passed. I have limited storage space, except I could just pry the fronts off of them. Hmmm. I also see now that I also should have taken the hardware from the black drawers. Too bad I didn't. It would be a shame for those to get thrown out. Yes, I'm thinking maybe a third run to the pile is in my evening's future.
I came home and got all the doors off and all the nails and staples out of all the wood. Tore apart one cabinet and salvaged some good thin laminate backing pieces that will come in handy for something some day, then cleaned the louvres. All that took about a half an hour. Then I did a quick sanding of the doors, and they are ready to be remade. All in all, a good day, even if Goodwill did get me for $19.16.
The little crate I got for $0.50 was soaking wet, but I stuck it by the front door to dry and liked it there, so I went and got some flowers and set them on top. Nice.
Now I have some chalkboard painting to do, among other things. It's raining like crazy though. Don't like to paint when the weather's bad, but I may just do it anyway. I'll post my finished product as soon as it's done.
The little basket with the lid went inside to hold the Christmas tree ends I've collected the past couple of years for a project that didn't pan out. It works perfectly. It will hold them in style until I come up with something new for them to do.
By the way, I went back to Goodwill to get the last cup and bowl (I had left them to keep my expenditures down the first go round, but decided they were needed) and look what I found.
Made in America and only $8.00! Nice. I couldn't find one of these online to figure out how old it is. If anyone has an idea, please let me know. I'm thinking 1950's or 60's. Anybody else have one of these or know?
Anyway, I had to have it. We really do need a heater (no, not now, but we will next Winter) and this one was entirely too cool to leave to someone else to snag. And it works like a dream.
When deals come your way, you might as well just go for it.
And I did...all day long.
PS: After all my hunting and scoring, I have already put many of my finds to good use. I had my coffee in one of the cups this morning and we've had cereal and ice cream out of the bowls, and I rearranged another grouping by my "fireplace" to incorporate the big picnic basket as well as the little one with the Christmas tree ends. Success!
Until the next hunt...
