Adventures in Garage-Saling

WITH THE ARRIVAL of summer (I think it’s finally here for real this time!) comes the garage sale season. Also in this category are yard sales, moving sales, rummage sales and estate sales. Spending weekends browsing around town looking at sales is always interesting.

I’m not one of the ‘tried and true’ garage sale people who hits the streets at 8 a.m. sharp on Friday morning, nor do I map out my excursions.  This makes it seem too much like work for me.  I prefer to head out the door at a more leisurely pace and drive wherever the road takes me.  I have been on a few wild goose chases as a result of old and outdated signs, but I usually manage to find something unique.  I'm continually amazed at how many very nice and brand new items are available at these sales.

When my son was young, he was a master at finding all kinds of treasures.  He also found ‘older’ things that he wasn’t familiar with.  Like the time he was looking at record albums and exclaimed, “Whoa! Look at how big these CD’s are!” Or the time he thought that a pair of ski boots were roller blades with the wheels missing.  He also found rotary dial phones to be very cool!  More than once, he approached an overly cluttered yard or garage only to find out that the sale was several doors down – oops!

LAST SUMMER I stopped at a garage sale and as I got out of my car, I noticed a purse lying on the grass next to the street.  Uh oh, someone had done the very thing that I’m always afraid of doing and that is putting my purse down while I load up the car and driving off without it.  I opened the purse looking for some identification or a phone number so I could call the person whom I figured must be frantic about her missing purse.  Imagine my surprise when I found out the purse belonged to one of my neighbors!  I scooped it up and drove it right over to her house.  She didn’t know where her purse was and was getting ready to call the bank to cancel her checking account and credit cards.  After a very joyful, relieved and tearful thank you, she set about thanking me in the most creative way imaginable.  She painted a beautiful picture of a portion of my garden. Her talent is really amazing!

Several years ago, a lost dog showed up in my yard (as do all lost animals).  She had a collar, but no tags or microchip.  I held on to her for several very fun days and hung signs and placed ads.  The owner saw one of my signs and came over and retrieved his tennis ball-loving pooch.  A couple of months later, I was at a garage sale and “Goldie” recognized me!  She came running over and greeted me with her tennis ball.  I’m not sure if I would have noticed her, but she definitely didn’t forget me!

If you’re looking for something to do on the weekend and don’t want to spend a lot of money, you might want to give garage sales a try.  It is always interesting to explore different neighborhoods, meet new people and find a treasure or two in the process.