What to Wear When Yard Sale-ing

One does not need to look trendy, pretty, or glamorous to yard sale. A die hard, serious yard saler can be quickly spotted for their practicality and comfortable attire.

What to wear:

1. Layers:
I reccommend a long sleeved, button front shirt over a T-shirt. Your T-shirt needs to be long enough that when you bend over to sift through a box of goodies you don't give the world a show. ;)

2. Comfortable Sneakers:
I don't reccomend sandals. If you are up and about early, chances are you will be walking in dew covered grass. In addition, I've had several occasions where I found myself walking in tall grass and/or muddy areas.

3. Sunglasses

4. A small purse with a very long strap that can be draped across your body, leaving your hands free for digging.

Score!

I purchased some things that I normally wouldn't on this sale-ing trip. I am honored to be a member of Delta Kappa Gamma, an organization of key women educators. As a service project, we are making Christmas wreaths for a local nursing home. That is why I purchased the wreath, ornaments, and ribbon ($2.00 total!).

My favorite find of the day were the handmade purses. They still had the $35 dollar price tags from a craft show, but I only paid $5. Woo hooo!!!

The other purse is a yard sale gift for my MIL. I picked up the little gourd ornament because it seems that I always need an ornament for an exchange at Christmas time (25 cents). The brand new tupperware container is PERFECT for microwaving at work (50 cents). I've always wanted a set of those little vintage grape-shaped on the vine salt n pepper shakers (25 cents!!!). The Partylite candle holder is super heavy and shouldn't blow off my porch (50 cents). I couldn't resist the Santa figurine. At Christmas time, I deck out my kitchen in St.Nick. The pyrex dish was $1, the oatmeal bath (opened but none of it used) was 25 cents and is wonderful when you have dry skin or poison ivy. The T-Shirt was 25 cents.

Thanks for stopping by my blog. Please consider following my blog. Now that cooler weather has settled in, I should have weekly posts.

Happy Thrifting and Yard Sale-ing!

Yard Sale Buddies - A Rare and Precious Breed, Indeed!

People often say, "I want to go yard saling with you." They go one time, and they never seem to ask again. This used to hurt my feelings until I realized why this was happening. I'm a DIE HARD yard saler. I don't mess around. I get up EARLY. I'm on a mission ... Yes, I have fun, but I don't want to stop at Starbucks or chat with your long lost buddy from high school for twenty minutes.

I have a very, very good friend that is my best yard saling buddy. Her name is Cheryl (pictured at the right, above) and we've been yard saling together more than twenty times over the past year. She and I hold the same basic saling philosophies.

So, what makes a good yard sale buddy?

1. They get up early like you do. -- And they don't whine about it!

2. They take turns driving and/or split gas money with you.

3. Like you, they understand the importance of time management. Find it, browse it, buy it, and get on with it.

4. They know how to make big huge things fit into tiny little cars. Cheryl and I once managed to get two sets of bifold closet doors into her little car after a long day of saling and a bunch of merchandise already in there. On another occasion, we brought home a buffet in my Taurus! Oh yeah, Baby!

5. They don't want to the buy the same kind of goodies you want to buy. If you both want the same things, things will be weird. Cheryl and I look for totally different things, and we have fun finding things for each other.

6. They know when to call it a day.

Thank you for stopping by my blog. I apologize for the obvious absence of saling posts. I have purchased some items, but I've failed to take photos. I promise to do better.

Do you have a yard sale inspired blog? Leave me the link!

A Hot Mish Mash

Love the vintage umbrella. It's huge and in perfect condition. 50 cents
Brand new magnetic mailbox cover. New, these sell for about 14.95 in my area. I paid $1.00. :)

Beautiful earrings. The woman having the sale told me that her mother-in-law bought them for her in Barbados and since she hates her mother-in-law she can't wear them. $1.00. The necklace was 50 cents. I think it's Premier.

All of the adhesive rhinestones and pearls were 25 cents per package. I will put them in the HappyScrapper bags next month. The wall paper rolls are EXACTLY what I want for one of my bathrooms. That stuff is expensive at Lowes and I got it for $1 per roll.

Once again, Blogger turns a photo sideways for no apparent reason. Agh. Anyhoo - This was a treasure find. She's a vintage My Child Doll in original clothing. Unfortunately, some little girl decided to take a green magic marker to her forehead and arms. I bought her for resale.

I don't usually whine about the heat. I get tired of hearing other people whine about the heat. But, DANG ... this summer has been hot!!!! I understand all the complaining, I really do. The summer heat has certainly had a huge effect on my yard sale efforts this summer. I haven't posted much here because I really haven't been to as many sales. Usually, I go to yard sales every weekend in the summer. In total, I've went yard saling maybe five times the whole summer. It's just too hot. So, I went out for just about an hour (before the heat really revved up) a couple of weeks ago, and these were my finds.

Thanks for stopping by my blog!!!!

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I will be on the hunt this weekend!

A great big HELLO to all of my new followers. I'm very excited that someone out there in cyberworld is interested in my search for bargains and treasures. It's been a busy few weeks, but I WILL be yard saling this weekend - both Friday and Saturday, so keep your eyes peeled for some new loot posts by the end of the weekend and pray for NO THUNDERSTORMS!!!

Beatin' the Heat

Last weekend was blazin' hot, but have no fear! The Garage Sale Diva isn't dissuaded by a little sunshine. :) Nope .... I headed out to several yard sales on Friday and Saturday and came home extremely satisfied. The best sale I went to was this unadvertised one that had a brand new Mr.Clean mop for $1. If you happen upon an unadvertised sale ... STOP! It's probably a lot less picked over by the other garage sale divas and divos.

I bought these two Care Bears (vintage and including a cousin; gifts for my sister) for 50 cents, the patriotic Santa for 50 cents, and bunch of books for my classroom for 10 cents each.

My heart was racing out of my chest when I found this gem! This is a brand new, still in the package, $60 paper trimmer ... it comes with a dock for your mp3 player. The asking price was $10 and I talked the seller down to $5. HISTORIC.

I paid around$3.50 for everything in this photo; 2 garden flags, an angel figurine, a remote holder that I plan to use as a pencil caddy on my desk, a string of country hearts, a beautful tablecloth for my dining table, a mini Crock Pot for my mom, and a snowman dish/utensil.

I spent about $5.50 on everything in this photo; 2 purses, a brand new pair of Danskin shoes, brand new slipper socks, new stickers, new teacher bag, a vintage clothing steamer (they work better than the newer ones), and a little notebook I plan to embellish and give to a friend.

All twelve books for $1.20. All are published by Scholastic, and that means I have a Reading Counts quiz for them in my classroom. YES! Btw, never pay more than 25 cents for a softbound book in mint condition. If it's a little worn, ask the seller if they'll take ten cents.

The two hats were a splurge at the flea market ... $3 each, but I loooove them so much. The little garden decorations were 10 cents each, and all of the stamps and blender pends were $1.00 total. The blender pens alone retail for $9.95 plus shipping and handling.

So, you can see it was a great yard sale weekend. I'd love to hear about your finds. Thank you so much for stopping by my blog. If you'd like to become a follower, just click the link on the right.

What To Bring

All avid (and rabid!) yard salers know that there are some items to pack that will make their yard sale adventures more fun and easier. This is The Garage Sale Diva's Yard Saler Packing List:

1. Full tank of gas.
Nothing is worse than being in between two awesome sales and having to divert your route to go to the gas station.
2. A list, printout, or other way of knowing your route. I usually just jot down a few addresses on the back of an envelope after scouring Craigslist, The Buyer's Guide, and the local newspaper. For the most part, I can remember my route in my head, and I only write down the sales that I'm afraid I may forget. On particulary busy Saturdays, I'll use Yahoo maps and actually map out my route.

3. LOTS of change and $1 and $5 bills. This is a biggie. Many people that are having yard sales grossly understimate the change that they will need.

4. Sunglasses. I actually use these not only to protect my eyes, but I also don't like for others to know exactly what I'm looking at. Weird, I know.

5. Water and a snack.

6. Hand Sanitizer. After handling items, it's nice to have. I've been to a few sales that have made me want to bathe in it.

7. Boxes, bags, and bubble wrap. Make sure your treasures make it home safely.

8. A likeminded friend :) Going to yard sales with a friend is incredibly FUN if you are the same type of yard salers. My friend Cheryl is a great yard sale friend. In a future blog post, I'll write about what makes a great Yard Sale Buddy. I'll also be writing about WHAT TO WEAR when yard saling.

Are you having a charity yard sale in the Martinsburg, WV or Eastern Panhandle Area

If you are having a yard sale to benefit charity in the Martinsburg, WV or Eastern Panhandle area, please let me know. I'd love to advertise your sale right here on my blog. Just send me an email at garagesalediva AT verizon DOT net with the name of the charity, a link to the charity website (if available), yard sale location, date(s), time(s), and if possible a photo or two of some of the items that will be available.

Oh, The Places You'll Go

I went yard saling a couple of weekends ago with my favorite yard sale buddy, Cheryl. What makes a good yard sale buddy? Hmmm... well, let's save that for another blog post. ;)

So, we went to a few sales that were incredibly small. I always wonder at these incredibly small sales how much $$$ the individual would make even if they sold every single item. It doesn't seem worth it to me, but hey, whatever floats their boat.

Berkely County Relay for Life had a huge sale in the Martinsburg Mall Parking lot. Everything was "donation only." This presents a challenge for people like me. I want to give a donation, but I don't want it to be insultingly low. At the same time, I do want to score a deal on the items that I'm purchasing. At the Relay for Life Sale, I bought a quilted purse, some Kelly doll furniture, an electric light (that didn't work when I got home- agh!), a HUGE box of pencils, and a couple of Strawberry Shortcake things. The Kelly doll furniture is for prop use. I am entering the photo contest this year at the Strawberry Shortcake Collector's Convention. The furniture is the perfect size. I was most excited about that huge box of pencils. As a teacher, I probably purchase between 500 - 1000 pencils a year, with my own money.

At the Spring Mills Flea Market, I was pretty disappointed to find that most of the vendors still had their stuff covered up or were only beginning to unload at 9:00 a.m.. I'm not real impressed with this new flea market yet, but that is fodder for yet another future blog post. The only items I found there were some vintage My Little Ponies, a gold purse, and a beat up vintage CPK. He needs some major work, but I think he'll be cute once I get him fixed up.

We went to the Bartles' family yard sale. This sale was huge. They had tarps laying everywhere and EVERYTHING was 25cents. I wish I had been able to go to this sale on Friday because I think I could have scored bigtime. I did get a complete Lemon SSC doll, a LPS, and a pretty blue tin.

Also on Rt.11, at a townhouse, I found a lavendar sweater and three cans of Avon Bug Spray. That stuff works wonders! My husband is an avid hunter and it's all he'll use. We usually pay at least $6 a can from an Avon dealer, so at $1 a can, I bought all she had with a smile on my face.

Near downtown Martinsburg, we stopped at a house with an unadvertised sale. They had a TON of great baby stuff, but alas I wasn't in the mood to look for stuff for the Care Pregnancy Center that day. Instead, I found some great books for my classroom, including a copy of The Places You'll Go. I plan to read it to my exiting 8th graders on the last day of school.

Anyhoo - I didn't come home with much, but that was due to the weather. We only had a couple of hours because the wind was incredbile and the sky was black due to an impending thunderstorm. That's okay ... we have all summer left. Besides, we had a wonderfully relaxing lunch at Habanero in downtown Martinsburg. Yummy.

Relay for Life Yard Sale

There will be a Relay for Life yard sale to benefit several teams, including the team that I'm a part of - Spring for a Cure!
May 8, 2010 9:00 a.m.
Martinsburg Mall

2010 YARD SALE SEASON NEWS

Hello, Bargain Hunting Friends!

In my opinion, the 2010 Yard Sale Season for my area has officially started. Wooo hoooo!! I have big yard sale plans for the morning, so wish me luck. I went last week, to only about five sales, and found some awesome stuff. I hope to post pictures from last week and tomorrow on my blog tomorrow night, so stay tuned.

Winter: The Season of Drought

It is about this time of year that I begin to have SERIOUS yard sale withdrawal symptoms. There aren't any yard sales in my area from about November to late March, due to cold and snow. Are you suffering from Yard Sale Withdrawal? Signs of YSW:

1. You find yourself making numerous handwritten and mental lists of items you want to find at yard sales.

2. You daydream about that first warm Saturday, planning what time you'll leave and who you are going to take with you.

3. You find yourself in the thrift store . . . wishing that you were paying yardsale prices.

4. You dream at night of finding that awesome treasure for 25 cents!

5. You are on Ebay every day. Bidding. Lots.

Pictured above are some recent Goodwill finds. I've been buying a lot of small toy items because I have a new hobby of making custom Strawberry Shortcake dolls. The bag of Bristle Blocks toys is an incredible find! My siblings and I used to play with those for hours. They are EXTREMELY hard to find. The Betsey Clark Mug is a gift for a friend, as is the CPK rattle. The other stuff is for custom doll making. I know, it's not a very exciting lot of goodies. However, I don't like Goodwill Prices. I'm suffering with a bad case of YSW.