You never know what you’ll find at a yard sale
May 14th, 2007 | by mbhunter |This weekend I stopped by a yard sale on the way to another activity. I had thought it would be a quick two-minute scan and then I’d be on my way. Boy, was I wrong!
A little background: My wife on occasion does scrapbooking, and she has a lot of friends that are into scrapbooking a bit more than she is now. The yard sale that I went to was being put on by a former Stampin’ Up! demonstrator (which I gather is like Mary Kay for scrapbooking). She was getting out of the business and was selling off most of her inventory.
Well, my wife wasn’t with me, and I don’t really know much about scrapbooking except that a) the stuff can be really pricey and b) the paper is acid-free. So I was calling her to ask about what she needed, what things were, and so forth. My wife told me to “surprise her” and so I called her up to tell her to get some cash out of the ATM because I had bought her out. At the price I got the lot at, I figured that my wife could keep what she wanted and I could sell the rest or she could give the rest as gifts to her scrapbooking friends.
It turned out to not be too bad of a deal, because my mother in law bought me out for a small profit.
I’m perfectly happy passing deals to someone else wholesale like that. Eventually I probably could have made more money selling the remainder on my eBay store, but making a quick profit on the whole lot and moving it out of our house has its appeal, too!
But that wasn’t the whole story.
I had parked in the neighbor’s driveway to go to the yard sale. On the way out (after joking that I owed him parking) I mentioned that I bought out the woman’s scrapbooking lot. At that point he asked me if I sold things regularly. It turns out that he has a large collection of postcards that would be an excellent complement to the magazines I sell in my store, and that he might consider letting me consign them. Additionally, it turns out that he is a serious vintage soda memorabilia collector, especially Coca-Cola.
You never know what you’ll find at a yard sale!
5 Responses to “You never know what you’ll find at a yard sale”
By Q at $1 Million to My Name on May 14, 2007 | Reply
There was a yard sale across the alley from our house this weekend. Picked up some great picture frames for $2.
If you want to live frugally, avoid yard sales!
By Frugal Momma on May 14, 2007 | Reply
I am soooo jealous! I am an avid scrapbooker and try to find the best deals possible. My mother’s day gift to my self was some stuff I bought a few weeks back at a Stamping up party.
By FrugalBabe on May 16, 2007 | Reply
Ooooohhh I would love to find a yard sale like that!!! I love to scrapbook, but I usually improvise with supplies, since the stuff is so pricey. What a good husband you are, for noticing all that suff and taking it home for your wife!
By ginger on Jun 30, 2007 | Reply
Well today I went to an estate sale and was going through a box of old books on how to use a camera and found but didn’t keep a stock certificet(ms). It was for 100 shares of……Coca Cola from back in the day. Also in the box was a deed to oil and gas wells and 4 insurance policies. I was honest and gave them to the lady who owned the stuff but I keep thinking “I was maybe holding millions of dollars in my hand.” I still want to cry when I think about it. But I don’t think I could have done anything with the stocks if I wasn’t honest because they had the ladies grandma’s name on them.
By repossessiongirl on Mar 18, 2009 | Reply
Hey – I have to confess that I never shop new – we dont call them yard sales – we have massive car boot sales, where you can get anything you want at a knock down price, especially if you wait until just before closing – I LOVE IT!!!!!!