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!!!!

s

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