By KAREN MADORIN
Our years of marriage have required serious budget stretching strategies. The first year, we discovered garage sales offered opportunities to buy anything from yard and garden tools, kitchen essentials, décor, and other crazy stuff folks who start out with nothing need. The fact we never knew what we’d find added adventure to those quests. It was like a perpetual Forrest Gump box of chocolates.
For pennies, we multiplied sparse kitchen inventory into cupboards full of vintage bowls, Bakelite choppers, pans, and wire potato mashers just like gramma’s. She still used her stuff, so when I’d find something similar for the right price, I added to my stash. Not only did people sell vintage items, they’d put unused or barely used towels, mitts, curtains, griddles, blenders, and such on their sale. For pennies on the dollar, I bought a sturdy blender and new in the box waffle iron to develop culinary skills. Once I realized I didn’t like cleaning waffle irons, I traded it for something I really needed.
Similar bargains filled our mostly empty family tool box. We found everything from hoes, rakes, and tomato cages to multitudinous screwdrivers, wrenches, pliers, saws, and more. Over time, our collection grew so that when we could comfortably share tools and hardly miss them.
Once our family expanded, such bargains furnished and decorated a nursery. We found a barely used cherry wood crib for infant daughters to sleep in. My mom embroidered an heirloom baby quilt, but garage sales added sheets, hooded towels, and adorable sleepers. Those who shop regularly know they’ll eventually find exactly what they want in great condition. That may mean hitting sales for weeks in a row and not bringing anything home, but eureka moments await.
Over time, we went through Mickey Mouse tables and chairs, art supplies, balls, bats, gloves, and lots of cute clothes. If I found an adorable something the girls would wear only a time or two, I’d buy it and later pass it to a friend with smaller kids. Same with toys. If what I brought home entertained the girls only a moment, it soon found a new home.
Once grandkids came along, the search for kid clothes, games, and toys began again. Discovering a boxed, beautiful Barbie brightened one grands’ day. Another eagerly awaits art and craft supply deliveries to refill her stash. Every kid has their choice of baseball mitts. All our grands eagerly anticipate fishing gear finds. They love new bobbers, lures, and nets.
One of the curses of being a lifelong bargain hunter is that space limits treasure you can bring home. We reached capacity long ago, so when new comes in—book, kitchenware, décor, tool, toy—something goes into the donation box in the trunk, delivered 2x monthly. I refuse to unpack a cupboard, closet, or drawer to find what I’m looking for. This rule makes that doable. It also guarantees thrift store employees recognize us.
Some folks don’t have time to garage sale; some don’t enjoy it. If you have time and you don’t mind waiting til you find what you want at a sale, this offers a less expensive means to entertain yourself, especially since you never know what you’ll find.