Yard sale season is in full swing, and you know that I have been enjoying my most favorite recreational activity…treasure hunting.
Not only do I thoroughly enjoy the thrill of the hunt, but it has enabled our household budget on everything from household decor to kitchen gadgets to various necessities to have been slashed 75% over the course of the last few years.
Upcoming posts will include the steps to become a Professional Yard Saler, and the best part is that ANYONE can achieve that title with a little perseverance and an Eagle Eye for the unknown.
Weekly, I have people request to go yard sale-ing with me, but honestly, you don’t need me. You can all have excellent success with finding your own personal treasures. (Granted, there are a select few of you who may live 200 miles from any sense of civilization…and then you can just leave your treasure hunting for vacations. 🙂 I live in the country and sometime drive a 30 mile radius for the right neighborhood yard sale.)
Here are just a few of my treasures over the last two weeks. I can’t believe I haven’t shared them before this.
(Yes, I just had a complete FASHION HAUL at the same sale where I picked up an entire Frugal Fashionista wardrobe  last year…that is coming. 🙂
Antique wooden bird cage – $0.25 (soon to be whitewashed)
bird house
Jewel beaded bowl – $0.25 and blue canister (matches my kitchen perfectly) – $0.75
blue coffee cannisterbeaded bowl
Blue Crystal vase (Poland) – $1, candle – quarter
(Cake Stand in the back ground – $2, decorative plates under pedestal – $0.50)
crystal vase
I love updating some of the things I own. Since I have gotten my Frigidaire appliances, I’ve wanted to switch out old items for stainless steel. My list of yard sale “wants” this year included a new tea pot since I’ve had mine for about a decade. If I didn’t find one with in a few weeks of searching, I would have purchased one new.
Guess what I found my first week out? Yep, I love how God looks out for the littlest of details because I would have bought this new.
Cuisinart stainless steel kettle – $1
tea pots
I mourned the memories shared with my little white flower 1990’s kettle and then gave it to Goodwill. May it bring someone else as many special conversations.
silver kettle
Goodness knows if you’ve followed my blog for any length of time, I share my love of the rice cooker, and believe it’s a great investment (yes, even brand new – no gasping allowed.)
Years ago, I purchased a small rice cooker, which was serving my family just fine. The problem? It just served my family without any left over. I love to cook more than I need for just one meal so that I can use the extras another time.
Imagine how excited I was when I found a BRAND NEW, HUGE rice cooker/veggie steamer for only $5. And when I say brand new, I mean it was still in the box and had never been opened. (Yes, I took a picture of it in the brand new box, but then thought you can imagine what the box looks like and you trust me enough to know I am telling the truth…;))
Another telling sign of what I great deal this was…I didn’t even negotiate down one little penny. It was priced $5. I knew it was completely worth it, and would be really cheap to offer less, so I paid it.
rice cookers
For a quarter, I can spruce up with new candles (since you know we eat by candlelight every dinner), as well as some brand new cotton dish towels. I love finding necessities like this that I would have to buy new anyhow. Nothing exciting, but another reason why I yard sale.
candlestea towels
tourquise Ball glasswareI’m working on clearing out all of my 90’s decor from any kitchen cabinets and shelves.  I found four antique, turquoise, Ball glass mason jars for my corner shelves. LOVE.THEM!
wool carpet
And here was my splurge for last week. I hit a designer yard sale.
Yes, that is how it was advertised. An interior decorator was selling things from her model homes and I was glad to find some eye candy. Her prices were a bit higher than the traditional “clear out the house” pricing mentality, but worth every penny. This is a NYC designer wool carpet. She had it priced for $25 and since I do not know designer prices, I, of course, asked how much she would take for it.
Taken back, she asked if I had ever heard of “XYZ” designer. Ahh…she didn’t know who she was talking to since that was definitely a negative.
She explained that she purchased this for $300 wholesale with her license and $25 was a steal. Considering that those are my favorite colors in the whole world, and I knew I would regret not purchasing it, I splurged.
Look at how perfectly it matches our chair. It was worth every penny and I now feel very designer-ish (even if it’s a bit small for the space). 🙂
I hope you’re having as much fun turning someone else’s trash into your treasure this yard sale season.
What has been your favorite find so far this month?
Posted at: Rhoda’s Thrifty Treasures