Garage sale purchases

I bought a desk last week at a garage sale.   I had wanted to buy a desk  but after looking around at what is available in stores for a couple hundred dollars, I decided I didn't need one.  They are all junk until you get in to the thousand dollar range!  No need to spend good money on something that wouldn't last... and I'd hate it.
 
So...  last Saturday one of my neighbors was having a garage sale.  In the garage was an old solid oak actual teacher's desk.  I wish it could talk.  I can imagine the stories it could tell.
 
It was marked $75 so I went upstairs to where the people were and asked them if they'd take any less.  I told her that I thought I only had about
$30 with me, but I could go to the bank and get more.  I was willing to spend the $75 because I was already in love with it but I really would have to go to the bank to get money which I really did not want to do.
 
She said that she'd take $40 and I said... SOLD!  I told her that I'd go through my purse to see how much I had.  I had two twenties and a bunch of ones.  I thought I only had one $20 because I forgot about my "hidden" twenty.  I gave her the $40 and she said...  take some olives.  OLIVES????  I absolutely love olives!  She said they had cases and cases of them and I should take some.  I looked at them and told her.. I want to BUY all of them.
 
They were Libby's Ripe Green Olives, my favorite olive in the world.  I haven't been able to find them here in many years.  I gave her $5 for about 12 or 15 cases of them.  A case was 6 cans.  I didn't count them because I was so excited.
 
They were selling off all of her mother's stuff.  She had passed away.  She also loved those olives and had contacted Libby's.  She had to buy them in quantity.  I hope she knows that they're being enjoyed.
 
I also got 10 packages of Cincinnati Chili Fixings.  This woman liked her food.  She also bought it over the internet because the ordering form was still in the package.  She spent a lot of money on her food cravings because I checked it out on line at www.cincy2u.com.  I can now have my Skyline Chili in California!
 
She also gave me all the Post-it Notes, staples and a stapler that was inside of the desk.
 
You can find desks just like mine online for anywhere between $40 and
$150  but this one was right here and didn't need to be shipped.
 
I love my new desk!
 
What cool things have you found at garage sales?
 
Here is a picture of one just like mine taken from the internet:
 

 

The next step is lugging it all home!

mar52


They were Libby's Ripe Green Olives, my favorite olive in the world.  I haven't been able to find them here in many years.  I gave her $5 for about 12 or 15 cases of them.  A case was 6 cans.  I didn't count them because I was so excited.

I hope that the olives you bought didn't date from the time you were last able to find them...
 
Brad

My mother bought me a ceramic bust of Elvis for $10.00 at a garage sale a couple years ago. I haven't seen one anywhere for less than a few hundred dollars for good condition, and mine is near mint. Yay mom!

My mother uses a solid oak teachers desk with a slate top, circa 1920-something. We've all been fighting over who gets it my entire life.
 
My best recent garage sale find was a box of computer parts, obviously taken from someone's closet as-is. Turns out they were the ex-husband's, and she had no idea what she had. For $10 I got: two motherboards, three 120GB hard drives, one video card, two sound cards, an ethernet card, and more cables than I know what to do with. None of them new, but all of them still perfectly acceptable for use today.
 
However, the best ever find was the working Suzy Homemaker oven I found about ten years ago for $1.00. They just wanted it out of their house. Someone had already bought the ice cream maker and super grill or I'd have picked those up, too. Unfortunately, it was the victim of a bad roommate, but for a while I thoroughly enjoyed "baking" cakes under a lightbulb.

I found 3 McCoy planters with attached saucers for .50 a piece a few years ago.  They remind me so much of my grandmother who had several garden-related tchotkes on her porch and kitchen.  I didn't know their value at the time, but knew that .50 a piece for a ceramic planter was a good buy.  Now I see them at antique malls starting around $35.00.

Great finds!  I like McCoy ceramics.
 
I think I wrote here back when talking about pens that I bought one of my silver Parkers at a garage sale.
 
The olives have a sell by date of 2012.  They'll be gone by then.
 
I brought the drawers, olives and chili fixings home in my car.  I picked up the desk with my SUV.  Getting it in to the condo was assisted by some nice neighbors.
 
Getting it to the top floor of the 3 level townhouse proved more tricky but it was accomplished with great effort.
 
When I bought it I asked if it came from the top floor because I had the same floor plan.  It wasn't easy with only finger space between the desk and walls.

I love yard sales and estate sales. I find them a good source of vintage costume jewelry, which I collect. I have also picked up several old Magnalite pans, a lamp, and I can't remember what all. I just hate getting up early enough to find the good stuff. 

Now that I'm unemployed, getting up early is getting more difficult.  Then there's the money thing.

mar52


Now that I'm unemployed, getting up early is getting more difficult.  Then there's the money thing.

There is that!!! MdR ain't cheap to live in, as you know!

last week's find: 
A set of copper and stainless pots and  pans for $3.00.
It is good to be poor in a rich man's land.

When I have a Garage Sale I'm always amazed by what sells and what doesn't sell. Stuff I thought would never sell goes first and what I thought would sell doesn't!
(And I spent 25 years in retailing!)

I understand that, Foodbme. I once sold a coffee maker with a big "Does Not Work" sign on it.  I also sold a bunch of cosmetic freebees (think Clinique gift days) to a guy who said they were a present for his wife. I could smell the whiskey and it was 7 AM, so she might not have been too happy to see him and his gift.

I like auctions for the same reason, Marlene. Tomorrow a couple of us 'Old Guys' will take two of the grandsons to two auctions in the next county. Main items are firearms and related stuff that goes with them. We have checked the inventory and even bluebooked a couple of the items, now we'll go play the game ! Sometimes things go cheap, and other times we go home empty handed.
Last month one of the local school districts had a major auction. Teacher and student desks of all types and quality !  One lot was for a desk like the one you got, 10 'typing chairs' two coat-racks and two wooden 6 ft tall bookselves that looked to match the desk...high bid was $7.00 !   Oh Yeah, They sold the contents of the school nurses office, furniture, scales, file safes, chairs and all sorts of medical stuff...bid that took it was $65 !
  Here's a link to one that we will attend tomorrow.
http://www.auctionzip.com/cgi-bin/auctionview.cgi?lid=1124328&fe=152495&txtSearchKeywords=colt%20anaconda&txtSearchZip=47136&idxSearchCategory=0&txtSearchRadius=0
Yeah, auctions are fun.

Very cool.  Good luck with the items you're dreaming about.

I have a Richard M Nixon engraved gold pen and a Rod R Blagojevich 2003 inaugural keychain both still packaged, from local garage sales. lol 

mbrookes


I love yard sales and estate sales. I find them a good source of vintage costume jewelry, which I collect. I have also picked up several old Magnalite pans, a lamp, and I can't remember what all. I just hate getting up early enough to find the good stuff. 

I love costumer jewelry from these sales as well, the best deal I ever found was a beautiful strand of fake pearls, the lady showed me more that she was going to sell as well,  I said, Sold, and bought it.  I love these sales especially for clip on earrings

Just got back from a few in my condo neighborhood.  A bunch of families decided to have them on the same day which is smart.
 
I find it so ironic that if I'm thinking about something particular I'll find it in the next week or so at a garage sale.
 
Yesterday I was Googling bike paths in the Los Angeles area.
 
Today I bought a book:  California Bike Tours...
 for 50¢

I completely forgot about jewelry...I buy a ton of it, but not to wear. It's where I get a fair portion of the beads I use to make my own. Which is one of the reasons (and the only non-artistic one) I never duplicate a piece...garage sale jewelry does not so much lend itself to being able to get more of that particular kind or colour of bead.

My partner is a book nut so we look for them at garage sales. All get read but some go to the library for their fundraiser sale and some go to Goodwill but more than I care to get saved in our bookcases which are overflowing.  Lately we seek out estate sales which sometimes have better things than garage sales and then we go the last day when everything is half price. We belong to a email list on estate sales in the Chicago area that posts photos of items for sale and maps how to get there.

When I was in HS my father was living with a florist.  During the summer she would send me around every weekend to all the area yard/garage sales.  I would buy all the used floral bud vases for dirt cheap (cause everyone has several of them sitting around somewhere).  She would wash them up and resell them for $$$$ or use them in her arrangements and get then get $$$$
 
Today everytime i go to a yard sale I see them and laugh.
 
Last year I went to one and found 3 German made incense burners (a butcher , a baker and a candlestick maker) for $15.00.
I got them home and looked them up and the cheapest one of the 3 sells for $85, but they sit on the mantle with my others that I have collected.