Sunday is sunny and very windy. We're staying inside for the most part today. Danny and I went to the early service this morning and had hoped to later get some things done in the sun. But he's in the attic and I'm in the office. Even Lindsey is working at her computer today. She and I are waiting for the race to come on and will probably watch it together.
Yesterday we went yard sale hunting. We were on a VERY tight budget but sometimes I think that adds to the "thrill of the chase" to find the BEST cheap item we can find. Most of our finds were under $1. We bought a clock with a rooster on it for 50¢ that we'd thought to keep, depending on if we found just the right spot for it. I looked it up online and found one sold for over $15.00! Needless-to-say, it's online now. We may end up with it yet, but we'll give it a chance to turn a profit first.
We began our trip yesterday in the SUV; Danny didn't say anything about not using it after the overdrive light came on Friday. We got half way up Hungarian Road and called him when the dreaded light returned. "Bring it back," he said. So we ended up getting a very late start on our day. Meanwhile, he took the vehicle to Stanley's for a diagnosis. It doesn't look good...we may end up at a transmission shop paying lots of money to get it fixed.
We felt bad at first, but being late to a yard sale has it's advantages.
1) Folks are more inclined to bargain down to almost nothing rather than take their items back into the house. We needed more quarters than anything else yesterday. In fact I had offered $1 for an item only to be told that everything on the table was 25¢.
2)Without all the good stuff to look at you don't have to stress over feeling like you passed up a great item you thought you needed.
3) You don't have to feel guilty that you'd bought a higher costing item at all.
4) The best reason is that you can quickly weed through the "leftovers" to find that one jewel of an item that everyone else overlooked in their early day haste. We hunt through small boxes and bags that usually get a quick perusal and a snub from passersby.
5) We sometimes get FREE stuff. Lindsey got a new sealed Bible for free yesterday.
Of course, one downside is that all the "good" sale stuff has been picked over and is nowhere in sight.
6) There are no crowds. We drove all the way to a yard sale only to drive past it because there was no place to park. A waste of time and gas, never mind the goodies we missed, but we figured they probably didn't have much anyway since they weren't smart enough to fix it so people could get to the stupid sale in the first place.
The only advantage I see to going hunting early is that there are those super items still available. But disadvantages abound too:
1) It's colder.
2) It's crowded.
3) NO one wants to negotiate when they have customers still coming.
4) Items are priced ridiculously high. Folks tend to price rated on personal attachment to the items. Just because you paid $50 new doesn't mean you'll get $40 at a yard sale; think $5 and it's gone away forever!
Of course I really don't have to worry about being early to a yard sale. We've never made it yet, no matter how early we get up. It's only a theory that exists in the minds of the hard-core. We're just having fun.
