Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Garage Sale-ing

My sister "Inklings" post about going to the thrift store reminded me of our "second hand" lifestyle. Over the years, I have frequented garage sales on most weekends, and have found so many things we needed! I do draw the line on some things, but I'm not too proud to buy used things.

Here are some things I found that we used:

--leather couch and loveseat for $30
--electric lawn mower for $15. Sixteen years later we are still using it.
--children's books. I used to get all kinds of great books for my kids.
--children's clothes. Garage sales are especially great for finding baby clothes.
--Toys. I got all kinds of toys that I normally wouldn't have had the money to buy.
--motorcycle helmets. My husband wasn't thrilled with going with me until he saw these!
--camping gear. We have been able to help get camping gear for Boy Scouts who couldn't afford it.

Lastly, because we are in the Christmas season, I want to mention the "windmill" decoration I found at a garage sale. I think I paid $15 for it. Today I was in a store and saw one that is about 1/3 the size (mine is about 2 feet tall), for $100! Score! Here is a picture of what it looks like.




















You put candles in those little metal cups, and the heat from the candles causes the windmill to turn. The figurines are set on wooden disks that rotate when the blades turn.
If you think you wouldn't buy things from garage sales or thrift stores, try going and you might change your mind!

4 comments:

Nene said...

I love garage sales, Goodwill, DI, and all second hand stores. I love especially to go to Goodwill, where I buy books. I've found some good buys at these places also.

Vid said...

The problem with getting t-shirts at a thrift store is that when people ask me what they mean,
I never have any idea, lol.

nick said...

I love the windmill. Not only ingenious but beautifully crafted. We don't have garage sales here, only car boot sales, which tend to be full of complete junk. But we have loads of charity (goodwill) shops which have very good furniture, clothes and books at rock-bottom prices.

Anonymous said...

Like it - though not so sure about second hand motorbike helmets.