First Spring Garage Sales

Participating in the following parties this week . . .

Thrift Share Monday
Nifty Thrifty Tuesday
Today's Thrifty Treasures

Yesterday DH and I decided to go into the city to check out all the garage sales. We didn't go to many garage sales last year after taking a small break so we weren't sure what to expect. There were quite a few of the "I got all this stuff at storage auction" sales. Now that all the Storage War shows are popular I look to be encountering quite a bit of that this summer. I tend to find these garage sales to have high prices although at one of them I did find a mini George Foreman grill for $4. Nothing else, though.

I also came across a couple of those "I'm an Extreme Couponer" sales where the only thing really being sold were toothpaste, body wash and anything else you can get with a coupon. I have nothing again couponing and use coupons myself - it's just when I go to garage sales that's the last thing I'm out hunting is more body wash and toothpaste.

At the first house we stopped at I purchased these three things.



I saw this great tablecloth still in the package for $5. Figuring it was still brand new and had never been used I didn't mind paying that for it. I later discovered when I got home and unfolded it that it was only made to look like it never been used. It actually had a nice yellow stain on it and the people had ironed it and folded it neatly and placed it back in the package. I would like to call that False Advertising and have now learned that even though it looks brand new it may not be.

Check out these nice embroidered flowers though. I'm going to try to treat the yellow stain and see if I can't get it out of the cloth.



I also picked up this nice Sterlite organizer. It looked like this when I bought it but I have since scrubbed it with a magic eraser and removed the masking tape and it looks brand new again. I've been wanting one of these for DD to use in her room to keep her hair bows organized.



My final purchase from this house was this cute T-Shirt. I told DH I may have to wear this to the next family reunion. ;)



The next garage sale had mostly children's items. There was one table full of t-shirts for .50 a piece and I found 4 great ones to wear around the house. As mentioned in an earlier post I love peace signs and was real excited to find this one.



The next few garage sales mostly had baby clothes and baby items - nothing I'm looking for. In another neighborhood we came across a garage sale that was hidden behind a house and we actually passed it up a couple times before we finally found it. I'm glad we did because it was there that I found these two nice jackets.



Our final stop of the day was at a benefit garage sale for a lady with cancer. Really the only thing they had was tables full of clothes. They were telling everyone to fill a bag for $1. I dug around for a little while but these were the only two things I came up with.



Until next time . . .

Garage Sales, Goodwill and Remodeling

Happy 2012 everyone. Things have been busy around here lately since the start of the year. We're in the process of remodeling one room while working on others in our home. I've officially declared my house a disaster until we're finished and warn everyone before they enter of the chaos inside.

Under three layers of flooring in DS's room we found these great natural hardwood floors. I was so excited because I wasn't particularly looking forward to linoleum floors in his room which is what we had first decided on.



During all this work though, I have managed to squeeze in a couple trips to Goodwill and have attending my first garage sale of the season. Last weekend we went to a storage sale at DH's cousins house. She has these usually once a month during the year. This time the pickings were slim and my only buys were a Ralph Lauren shirt and a Cato jean jacket.

Things haven't been too great at Goodwill lately either. I did find this Hannah Montana guitar hanger for DD's room. We're redecorating her room and we're going to hang it for her as soon as we finish painting her bedroom. $3.99



Also I found this goblet for .99 - I eventually hope to have a whole set of these but for now this one will do.



My only other purchase was this Tommy Hilfiger purse for $3.99. It didn't have tags on it but looked brand new.



I had to get creative with my picture taking today to try not to show off my big mess. However, I can't wait to show pictures of everything once it's finished.

Until next time . . .

ThriftyAnnabella

First Weekend in June Sales

I'm also going to be joining Rhoda this week at Southern Hospitality

The first weekend of June and the garage sales were everywhere. Before I bought anything new this weekend I was determined to finish that nightstand I bought a few weeks ago for $10. Okay, maybe DH was a little more determined for me to finish it so he put me to work. :)

I took a screwdriver and pried all the leaves and vines off of the drawers then gave the whole thing a coat of Antique White. The handles also got a new look thanks to a can of black spray pain. I can't wait to find a new lamp to go with my new bedside table.



Saturday morning we had a long list of sales we wanted to visit. However, by 9:30 it had already gotten so hot outside many people were closing their garage sales down early. Thanks to the heat though I did manage to score some great buys. At one sale we were told everything is priced 25 cents. They were already starting to close their sale down and was trying to get rid of everything quickly. I managed to pick up three skirts at this sale.

I also found another sale with a large table full of ladies tops, most of them in my size, for only .50 each. I came away with a grocery bag full of new tops for summer, some with price tags still on them.

We only found one Estate Sale this morning and the house was packed full of stuff. My only purchase from this sale was this Cosco stool for $5. I have to say that I love Mr. Clean Magic Erasers. The top of this stool was brown and dingy and looked to have a few stains but after a little scrubbing with Mr. Clean it looks as good as new.



Some of my garage sale finds of the day . . .



I fell in love with this little purple piggy bank. It's missing it's stopper on the bottom but for .25 it makes a great decoration.



I thought the little reindeer on this were so cute. It has a battery compartment on the bottom and I can't wait to try it out and see what it does.



At two different sales I found this great purse and two DVD's - my total for all three - $3.

Hope you found some great buys this weekend.

Until next time . . .

ThriftyAnnabella

Last Garage Sales for May

I'm also going to be joining Rhoda this week at Southern Hospitality

This morning I woke up around 5:30 a.m. and sat around for a little while debating with myself on whether to get everyone up for the sales today or not. Earlier a storm had passed through and there was still the threat for more rain. However, after watching the weather on TV I decided we would probably be safe.

There were many indoor and under the back porch or in the garage sales this morning since everyone didn't know whether the rain was over yet. Plus, there were many other sales that had been sitting out overnight and everything was wet and ruined.

Our first stop of the day was at one of these sales where everything was wet. I decided to pass looking at the clothes since they were all still pretty wet and went to see what they had managed to keep dry by keeping it on the porch. For $5 I picked up this lamp and these two Sterlite Snap Lock containers. I absolutely love Snap Lock and pick it up every chance I get for extra kitchen storage.



We didn't find much at the rest of the garage sales on our list. There was a lot of furniture and other items marked SOLD at many sales and a lot of baby items at the others. I did find DS four t-shirts and DH found himself a couple of t-shirts along with a .50 DVD (Alien VS Predator Requim)and a few VHS cartoons for the kids. At a couple of sales along the way I did find these items.



These two will help to complete my Christmas Village - I paid $5 for the pair.



At another sale I picked up this great pink garland with pink pinecones and pink presents on it. They also had several boxes of ornaments but these are the only ones that really caught my eye. I paid $1.25 for all of this.

On our way to the next town over we saw a sign advertising an Estate Sale. DH and I both love Estate Sales and was not even aware that there was one in town this weekend due to it not being advertised in the paper. I'm so glad we happened to be driving around in that area.

I purchased this great chair for $5 and it works perfectly at our computer desk. Also this great stool cost us $6.




The next town over we only managed to stop at a couple of sales because by this time I had come down with a bad migraine and couldn't stand to garage sale anymore. I was ready to be home with a couple of Excedrin Migraines (this stuff works great) and a nice comfy couch. So my last purchase of the day was this purse for $2.



So that was my day at the sales and believe it or not we only got rained on once. Since next weekend is a holiday we'll probably take a break from the sales and hit them again in June.

Until next time . . .

ThriftyAnnabella

Patio Furniture and Angel

I'm also going to be joining Rhoda this week at Southern Hospitality

This weekend my DH finally got a Saturday off to go into the city with me to hit the garage sales.

Our first stop was at the many Estate Sales being hosted in our area this weekend. I found a beautiful set of Wedgewood China but couldn't bring myself to cough up the $200 asking price. The only thing I did find at the Estate Sales was this beautiful angel for $25. She stands over 2 feet tall. The lady had three of them sitting on her back patio. I decided one would be enough and snatched her up.



Next on our list was to hit the many garage sales we found listed in the paper. DH took the kids and went shopping with them at one sale and came back with a toy organizer and several toys. I also found several pairs of pants for my DS which is great since he is growing so much. At one sale I came across this light up schoolhouse for $2 which will go great with our Christmas village this year.



At our last stop of the day DH found several sets of Craftsman tools for $5 to $10 a set. He was so happy he was floating on Cloud 9 the rest of the day. While he was packing up all of his tools I happened to see a sign that said table set $20. Curiosity got the best of me so I decided to check it out and this ended up being my final purchase of the day.



Only one of the chairs has gotten rusty and broke in a couple of places but I figured the table with three chairs for $20 was still a great price and a great addition to our back patio.

I love this picture because my little Fred is standing back there looking at me probably wondering what on Earth I'm taking a picture of. He's such a cutie. :)

Until next time . . .

ThriftyAnnabella

I Went After All

I'm also going to be joining Rhoda this week at Southern Hospitality

This weekend was great because I actually got to go to the garage sales after all. DH did have to work and I know he hated missing all the fun but he encouraged me to go without him and bring someone along with me. Who was that someone? My sweet dear grandma.

She always hears me tell of my garage sale stories and asks to come along sometimes so I grabbed her up this morning and away we went. Grandma found some great pictures, a tablecloth and some coasters and was so excited about her finds.

So what did I find. Well here goes . . .

Friday morning after dropping my kids off I stopped at a couple of sales down the road from my house. One was being hosted by a dear friend of mine. The only thing I found at her sale was a book but she did give me a goodie that I picked up and commented on how cute it was. What was it? Such a cute little bear magnet.



She was a little dusty so as soon as I got home I got a can of compressed air and blew the dust off of her hat and cut off a long pink feather that was beyond hope.

Next garage sale was one of those that advertised antiques and definitely had antique prices. I did find one thing that had to come home with me though.




For $5 this great hen on nest bowl is a great addition to my hutch.

Saturday morning with DH's encouragement my grandma and I hit some sales in my hometown. The first sale we stopped at had mostly baby clothes. Everything had been picked through but I could tell that both ladies hosting the sale were Coca-Cola collectors who were selling their collections. I love Coca-Cola and have a lot of it in my dining room. Today I found one item I didn't have. This great napkin holder cost me $2 and it looks like a trip to Sam's Club is in my future to get napkins for it.




At the end of the day we stopped by my dear friend Tina's flea market. During the Spring months she hosts Junkin' on Main in our hometown. She has a great blog and would love a visit from you at Junkin' on Main

It was hard to look around with both kids with us because we were scared they would break something. I did find one thing that's on my list for the summer. This nightstand was $10 and I can see a great remodel in it's future. I can't wait to slap some white paint on it and bring out it's inner beauty.




I can't wait to see everyone else's goodies from this weekend. Happy Mother's Day to all mother's.

Until next time . . .

ThriftyAnnabella

Bedroom Remodel

My sweet DH and I have been busy over the past couple of weeks.

It all started when I told DH that I was bored with the way the house is decorated and would really like to scrap everything and start over. I know most people would probably cringe at that idea but since most of my decor comes from garage sales and thrift stores I'll basically be coming out even by selling it in my own sale. I think as the years go by that my taste for home decor is starting to change and the things I used to like just don't suit my taste anymore.

So we decided to get ready to hold a huge garage sale the second weekend of April. So for two weeks I've been decluttering and piling stuff up to get ready. This pile of items has actually tripled since I took this photo and has actually taken over the living room.



We've been working on remodeling our home a little at a time since we got married 10 years ago. So far we've completed a bathroom remodel and have been slowly working on some of the other rooms. So while sorting through the master bedroom yesterday my sweet DH decided that since he had a few days off we should go ahead and remodel the master bedroom. Who would have knew the surprises we had in store. Since we moved in there has always been this ugly duck paneling on the back wall along with an air conditioner actually stuck into the wall instead of a window. We've always wanted to jerk the air conditioner out and get rid of the paneling so yesterday we got started. As you can see our bedroom looks like a tornado ripped through it and made a big mess. Even the poor nightstands became a catch-all. First thing we did was to trash the old waterbed headboard and start ripping down paneling.



What we found behind the paneling would make anybody cringe with fear.



We started out trying to use bleach to get it all out but ultimately decided to rip it all out and put all new drywall up.



Much better :)

Today we start the painting and decorating and I can't wait to share the final results. Actually if you look closely you can actually see a sneak peak of the color we're using painted on the right side of the drywall.

In all this craziness and chaos we did find time to stop at one garage sale though. As you may remember from earlier posts DH has a cousin who buys storage lockers that haven't been paid for and then resells the contents. If you watch Storage Wars on A&E then you know exactly what I'm talking about. She has her sales once a month and we usually go check them out. So when we heard she was having one last week we couldn't resist. The pickings were slim this time but I did manage to find a nice wallet for $1.



Until next time . . .

ThriftyAnnabella

Garage Sales Oh MY!

Earlier this week DH and I had discussed whether we wanted to go to garage sales this week. However, the closer it got to weekend the more tired I got and decided I really didn't want to hear the alarm clock going off at 6 a.m. so we decided to sleep in. After getting up around 9:00 we decided to head into town to pay a bill. We never made it to town though before we had to go back home to unload the car. There were garage sales everywhere.

As I pulled into the first one the lady hosting the garage sale came up to me and said everything is $1 unless marked otherwise. Something I always like to hear. She had a leather top end table with a hinged lid on top for $10. I thought about it long and hard but finally decided I didn't have anywhere to put it. I did end up purchasing a hat and a couple things for DH. My single purchase for myself at this sale was this double heart jar filled with oil for $1.



The next garage sale was hosted in a small porch with barely any room to walk. I was getting really aggravated trying to get around people to look at items and finally decided to give up. The homeowners prices were a little high anyway so I figured I wasn't missing much. The kids were with us and they were the only ones that ended up finding anything. DS got a stuffed Bullwinkle for .50 and DD found a Disney Princess clock bath set for $4. I was tempted not to purchase it though because it was in a box full of Christmas gift sets with a sign to say 1/2 off original price. DH and I both figure that someone purchased all that stuff when WalMart had it 75% and was trying to make a little money off of it. DD also got 2 dresses at this one.

The next two sales were being hosted together. It was already after 10:00 and I did not figure that anything good would be left but decided to stop and look anyway. I was so glad I did. Here's a preview of my purchases.



I actually had this exact same washbasin and stand when I was married to my first husband. He took it when we were getting divorced and I've always missed my stand. So imagine my surprise when I saw this yesterday. I told DH I wonder if this is the same one I had before because I found out later my ex sold everything he got out of our old house. For $20 it came home with me - maybe even again :)



For $2 I fell in love with this vase. I actually thought it was an antique until I got home and noticed the Made in China sticker on the bottom. Oh well, it's still beautiful.



My last garage sale purchase of the day was this Burberry purse for $1.

When we did finally make it to town we made a stop by Goodwill to drop off a few things and while in there I found this beauty for $1.99



Until next time . . .

ThriftyAnnabella

Vintage Donald Duck

Curiosity got the best of DH and I this morning and as mentioned in yesterday's post we decided to go back to his cousin's garage sale to see what other treasures she had unpacked. However, when we got there we realized that she had not got a chance to unpack much of anything else because of being so busy with customers. There was one item that was new and it caught my eye and ended up coming home with us.



This Vintage Donald Duck bank was only marked $1. I absolutely love Donald and love watching cartoons of Chip and Dale fighting with him over their tree. Upon getting home with him though we realized that due to sitting out in the sun too long his feet are a little warped which causes him to keep falling forward. Hopefully, once we put some coins in him that will balance him out and he'll quit being so tipsy LOL.

Until next time . . .

ThriftyAnnabella

Water Fountain Lamp

Today DH and I decided to go visit his cousin. As mentioned in an earlier post she is having one of her monthly storage building sales this week. The sale doesn't start until tomorrow, however, she doesn't mind too much when family comes and snoops around the day before. Her sales are very popular and most of the time that is the only way to get the goodies before they're gone.

Today I learned one valuable lesson though - don't ever sit anything down regardless of whether the garage sale is open yet or not. I picked up a bottle of perfume priced at $1 that smelled so good. I set it down on the stand of my purchase that I'm about to show below and this lady stopped by to take an early peek also and that was the first thing she went for. I played nice and went ahead and let her have it without saying anything and later told DH I was glad I did because the scent faded really fast and didn't last any time.



My only purchase today was this 5 foot tall water fountain/lamp. She was wanting $40 but let us have it for $30 since the pump on the fountain wasn't working. I told DH that it didn't really bother me that the pump wasn't working because I would have never used it as a fountain anyway. Water fountains in the house + kids = TROUBLE.

Here's a close up shot of the inside. I absolutely fell in love with this. I spotted it from far off and practically ran to it. LOL



DH's cousin showed us the inside of her house and a couple of other spots that were stacked with boxes still waiting to be unpacked and we're very tempted to go back tomorrow to see what other treasures she has.

Until next time . . .

ThriftyAnnabella

Father's Day Weekend Sales

First thing I want to wish any daddy's reading this a Happy Father's Day.

This Saturday was a usual garage sale Saturday, nothing exciting. Most of the garage sales did have fair prices with the exception of one which was outrageous. At one garage sale we stopped at there was a couple selling their extensive DVD collection. There were bins full of DVD's - probably around 500 or more. Unfortunately, the prices on most of them was $5 a piece so I passed.

I found one thing for my front porch this weekend. This cute little mosaic table was $4.




Most of what we found this weekend was clothes for the kids.




However, I found this little Christmas cottage that lights up for $1. Also, I found this little bag of arts and crafts supplies for $1 for my Sunday School class.



After the garage sales we also made a stop at Goodwill. I found a lot of clothes for DS and DD which is a good thing because DS is growing like a weed and we can't keep him in pants that are long enough.



My total for this weekend $23

Until next time . . .

ThriftyAnnabella