It's official - there's a new sheriff in town

and she's here to buy your junk.

quick update

I know I've been a bad blogger lately and I'll try to do better. So this will just be a quick blog post until I have more time to write. Since I last blogged, a few things happened. I had some critters in my yard. Pics to follow. I did a sleep test and was electroded all up from scull to legs. Oh yeah, that makes you sleep well. I even have myself a "Wellness Coach" now. I kid you not. Why? Why do I do anything? Cuz it's free thru our health insurance.

The people at the Nate Berkus tv show got in touch with me. Again. How annoying. Just kidding. I sleep on my Nate Berkus pillow every night. Well actually it is just Nate Berkus pillowcases (bought on clearance when Linen N Things went out of business, but still). Last year they called me of the blue about the possibility of being on one of their first episodes. I never mentioned it until now. Of course the taping was going to happen when we had our big Los Angeles/ Las Vegas / train trip from hell vacation. And they recently got in touch with me about possibly doing something at the Worlds Longest Yardsale weekend which will be the first weekend in August. The taping is of a decorating challenge - really not my thing. If they wanted me to teach someone how to clutter up a room in no time flat, then I'm your person. But to decorate a room so it looks like it didn't come from a yardsale? Eh - don't think I would be good at that. I would be buying more Jesus Playing Baseball artwork. Or if I was lucky, finding another piece of artwork known in the art world as The Kramer. Plus, I have a family thing scheduled for next weekend that can't be changed.

What else. Oh I bought something really cool today for a quarter. I'm going to be eating Virgin Mary toast soon! Again, I am too lazy to take a pic now, but I will show off my toast soon.

here's a pic of my little gardening cart that I purchased the other week for $5 and it will full of tools:



p.s. My peat moss is still waiting for it's deployment.

Take a look at my caboose lantern

I had a good yardsaling day last Saturday. Bought a bunch of stuff. Including this old caboose lantern ($20), a big thing of peat moss ($1), some expensive backpack (the kind that someone would use for Amazing Race ($10), jug of Hoover rug cleaner (.50). Two packages of solar lanterns (8 lights) for $5, a Step 2 gardening rolling bench full of new hand tools ($5), very long tree trimming saw on poles ($2). The toilet paper came from an actual store, not a yardsale. But don't get me wrong, I HAVE bought toilet paper at a yardsale before, but this package just happened to be in my car when I took the pics.



At the moving sale where I bought the peat moss for $1 - afterward I heard the husband ask the wife - "Why didn't I ever deploy the peat moss?" And wife answered that he did but they had bought two and only needed one. So now I have my own peat moss that I will be deploying to my yard.




And last but not least, Jesus playing baseball for $1. You would think he would at least wear sandals for a little protection. And just think of the dirt. Ewww.

Drive-thru Tobacco Barn Yardsale

I drove right thru a barn last Saturday on purpose. It was to get to a yardsale. It was sorta like driving on a covered bridge, but there was no bridge. The seller had a "everything for $1 yardsale". I've been to their previous yardsales so I sorta knew what to expect regarding stuff (no antiques or fancy jewelry). But I did see something that looked like a crown so I had to buy it. It's like a big tacky crown shelf. But I realized that I was holding it upside down. So it's like a big tacky upside-down crown shelf. Anyhoo, I'm going to spray paint and hang it up anyway. Because I've been watching Nate Berkus, and I think this is what he means when rooms need architectural detail. Or not.

And at one of my thrifts, I took a chance on something and spent $15 on a motorcycle jacket. I think it will do pretty well on ebay. I also bought a singing McDonald's Filet-o-Fish for $1 - just because.

Here's pics of the tobacco barn (taken with my cellphone). Southern Maryland tobacco barns are on the endangered species list. Apparently, they are important and should be saved so that we can look at them and think about all the tobacco that was dried in there and made into cigarettes for people to smoke and get sick from.



lots of ventilation for the tobacco to dry




They converted one side of the barn to storage units for all their stuff. That's what I need.


My tacky crown shelf:

Thrifty, super cheap families wanted for TV show

I got the below email from a casting director looking for thrifty families in the Los Angeles area. So if it sounds like something up your alley, feel free to contact them. I don't know what the deadline is, but I assume they want applicants sooner rather than later.

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Is your family the thriftiest in America? Do you refuse to pay full price? Are you always on the lookout for the best deals?

Calling all coupon experts, yard sale fanatics, thrift store wizards, swap meet junkies and super savers for a brand new show on a major network! This show will be the chance to put your skills to the test in a fun competition and prove once and for all that you and your family are the ultimate bargain hunters!

If you live in the Los Angeles area and your family will do anything to save a buck please email your story and a family photo to Ellen Rakieten Entertainment: familycasting@rrstaff.com

Ok, so I'm in Redbook Magazine this month (August 2011 issue)

but instead of putting me on the cover (as I assumed they would), they put Jada Pinkett Smith. But if you read the article (page 132) at least they used someone who looks like me in the photo on the right hand side of the page (a young, skinny, attractive woman wearing a red off-the-shoulder blouse). And get this, I made a big error. I paid $3.99 plus tax actual CASH for it at Walmart. What the heck was I thinking? I should have gone to Walgreens (and used Register Rewards) or CVS and used my Extracare Bucks to pay for it at least.



I know I never have gotten around (yet) to posting my yardsale buys from NY or last week. So here at least is a photo of the stuff I bought last Saturday.

I am kicking myself over not buying something last week at a yardsale. One seller had about a half dozen brand new basketballs for $1 each. Just one was orange (which I bought) and they others were a weird blue/black combination color. But still they were brand new etc. I should have bought all of them and donated the extras to my son's summer camp, where I'm sure they wouldn't have turned down a donation of new basketballs. So that just reinforces my new mantra "when in doubt, buy it - especially if it's cheap".

Too lazy to talk about all the stuff individually , so just click on it and enlarge to see detail. A lot of the stuff I bought at one sale where I bought a bag full of stuff (nothing priced) and the seller told me it was $5 for all. The dog scrapbook was the most expensive thing ($3) for ebay. The Yahtzee game was new and $2 (will keep). Big remote (.75) will go to my mom who needs a big remote.

Patriotic Toilet Paper

I spotted this "patriotic toilet paper" at one of my thrifts a while back. No, did not buy. Is it just me, or should it be called unpatriotic toilet paper???

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You would be proud of me. I decluttered a bowl the other day. I was trying to shove my new Dunkin Donuts water bottle in a kitchen cabinet and while doing so, another bottle fell out onto the kitchen counter knocking a bowl to the floor into a million pieces. So congrats to me for uncluttering. AND bonus - the bowl was dirty anyway so no need to wash it.

p.s. Ooopsy, I forgot to mention, while I was in NY, I went to a Dunkin Donuts grand opening and I filled out an entry to win a gift set and I won. Ewww - coffee??? Gave it to my sister.

thrift store shopping in upstate new york

Also when I was in New York, I stopped at a couple of thrifts that I always visit. Doesn't the Salvation Army look so inviting?



When I saw the entrance, I thought maybe they had gotten word that I was visiting and in preparation had set up a special entryway with a moat, just for me, as yardsale royalty. It was lovely, but I told them they could use the special queen/moat entryway for all. It was in this store that I saw the phallic Christmas Castle a while back.



Vinny (my niece's cat) enjoying the $1 yardsale cat house I bought him.

Garage Sales in Upstate NY

Ok ok, here's more excuses for my blogging absence. I was away last week in upstate New York to attend my youngest niece's high school graduation. The graduation ceremony was on a Friday morning so no garage sales for me that day - but I had all morning on Saturday to hit the sales and even on Sunday I went to a few plus an indoor Elks Club yardsale.

Here's a couple of pics of my trip. There is such a variety of homes in upstate New York. You name it, I've been to it. Yardsales where the homes are 100+ years old, community wide yardsales in mobile home parks and apartment complexes, and regular ole typical single family homes. And even at a celebrity's home. And I'll never forget shopping at one of my all time favorite moving sales - going to David Cassidy's moving sale.

On my way to yardsale - the final day of a 3 day sale.


And they still had a ton of good stuff left! I bought a cool pair of Mid-Century Modern S & P shakers for .75 and a picture frame for $1 (for my mom who told me to find her one).

Busy busy busy

Well when the cat's away, the queen plays. I was living the single girl life for a couple of days when DH and Jacob went away on a guy's motorcycle trip. They drove to Luray Caverns in Virginia on Friday and came home on Saturday. So that equals two days of uninhibited shopping for me.

But first, let me show pics of what I bought last Saturday. This is the shoebox of stuff I got for $5. When I was getting it out for the photo, I found the handwritten note.



I also put a pair of a pair of wire-cutters into the box. It also had the man's high school awards.


The prophylactic booklet is from some toothbrush company called prophylactic.


Here's one thing I bought yesterday (believe me, I bought more but only had time for one picture). Its a Little Tikes toy box but people want them for their football parties to use as coolers etc. It was $5 and some on ebay (depending on condition) sell for $75+



And now since no one thanked me for not posting some non-pretty pictures in my last post and I got one request to show at least one non-pretty picture - I am posting TWO, because I aim to please.



You can click on the photos to enlarge them. To see all the gory details.

Yard Sale Queen Weekend Update

Last few days have been busy. Had Jacob's graduation ceremony from 5th grade to attend. Now I won't come right out and say it was boring, but I'm so glad I don't have to sit thru any more 5th grade graduation ceremonies. On Saturday (of course) I went to some yardsales. Most interesting thing I bought was a shoebox sized box full of interesting mementos from some soldier's WWII experience (metals, dog tags, things with swastikas on them, vintage souvenir booklets with photos from Italy etc etc.) I got all of that PLUS a railroad lantern and a 70's motorcycle magazine for $5. I asked the seller if the items had any sentimental value to her and she said no since it was stuff left in the house from the previous owner.

At another sale I took this photo of the truck in the driveway of the seller. There was a man and woman giving the sale, so I told the woman I liked the bumpersticker and the man said "that's not her sticker, it's mine". I did not buy their tub. Only thing I bought at that sale was a $2 Beatles Love cd which I will give to my sister. She saw the show last month in Vegas and loved it.



Here's some of my thrift store buys from last week. A Longaberger basket for .25 (it looks like it was washed or something - the Longaberger stamp on the bottom is barely visible. And 2 hairnets for .25 - to add to my hair net collection.



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Over the weekend, we stayed one night at our favorite local hotel. I got a special offer to stay one night for only $32. So I couldn't pass up that deal.



Our view from the room. There was a band playing from 4pm-8pm. In the evening, while the guys were relaxing in the room, I went down to the pier and watched some fishermen come in with their haul. Then saw what they do with the fish afterward. Ewwwwww. I have pics but they are not pretty.

First for Women magazine

If you're waiting in line at the grocery store and have a few minutes to kill, check out the latest issue of First for Women (June 27th, 2011 date on cover) - page 86 to be exact to read some of my titillating tips on becoming a yardsale genius. I was also interviewed for a different article (same magazine) which will be out in August I think.

Speaking of grocery store lines - oye - what an experience I had yesterday. My grocery store has 3 self checkout lines - which are located further away from where the regular cashiers are at. So I'm waiting to self checkout and I hear a commotion going on in the next lane - with a woman calling for help. I look over and see a small child wedged between the side of the grocery cart and the wall and the woman (who is probably the grandmother) is getting hysterical. The child was screaming and I told the woman to calm down a second - the child can obviously breathe. And the woman says to me "But you don't understand - she doesn't listen to me!!!!!" I'm thinking "lady, get a grip, you can worry about that later".

An employee comes over and is trying to do something with the cart. So I step back and let the employee have space. Nothing is budging. The grandmother now starts screaming at the top of her lungs for help. So I go back over and thought that if the register wall could slide just a little, it may help. So I (still carrying my awesome purse of course) press my back up again the wall (where I drew the purple line) and then put my feet up against the other side and just pushed. I felt the wall start to tilt backwards some, so I pressed again harder the second time and the employee was able to get the girl out. Good thing I am sturdy like ox (thanks to my Polish & Ukrainian genes). And guess what happened afterward? That witchy grandma started yelling at the little girl. No thank you to anyone. By this time (I swear it seemed like forever but the whole episode probably only lasted 2 minutes from start to finish) the store manager finally got there and he told the grandma she needed to quit yelling at the kid.

The child was right in the little space on the left where it juts out a little by the electrical outlet.



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Had a nice little trip to my fav thrift today. For .25 I got 2 more vintage hairnets for wacky hairnet collection. And for .25 a Longaberger basket. Will post a picture tomorrow.

What skin secrets involve using a butcher knife?

I saw this ad on some website I was on recently and it made my laugh. I wonder if they took the picture from some teenage slasher film.

Yard Sale at a McMansion

Last Saturday (Memorial Day weekend) I went a little further than I normally travel for yardsales because I heard of a huge church yardsale. And since there weren't many advertised near my house, I decided to go. Plus, I saw an estate sale classified ad which was near the church.

I went to the estate sale first since it opened earlier. I think it was mislabeled - since basically, it was an indoor yardsale or indoor moving sale. To me, an estate sale is a sale that occurs after someone has passed away and it includes everything that you would find in a house (food, half full boxes of detergent, furniture, books, clothing, collectibles, junk, stuff, odds and ends, doodads, and whatnots.) And if I'm lucky, vintage spice tins to add to my collection.

But before I got to the estate sale, I had to take a hike to get to it. You had to park up on the street and then walk down a super long driveway. They should have had valet parking. Seriously. They had the signs to prove that they've done valet parking in the past.

The sale was actually an indoor moving sale. But I guess calling it an estate sale makes it sound classier (to some, not me). Like the way Martha Stewart always calls a yardsale a "tag sale". But actually when I read "estate sale" it makes me think that it could be a professionally run sale with high prices. Like I said, this sale was more like an indoor moving sale with reasonable prices.

I believe this quaint 9000+ square foot house with pool will be going on the market soon, so it could be yours, for the right price. Of course I would love it since, I too, decorate much like this myself (of course!!), and have the same taste in architectural details but I prefer something a bit more upscale. Nothing but the best for the queen. But then if I lived there, I would have to drive a lot further to get to my favorite thrift store, so that ain't gonna happen.

The only thing I bought was an American Girl doll for $20. Although if you bought a lot, you were allowed to leave your merchandise so you could go retrieve your car and drive it up the house to load your purchases.

The start of the yardsale hike:


The journey continues.....


Finally arrived:


I couldn't get the entire ceiling in the pic so I did a separate pic of just the chandelier.




Main Kitchen area - some of those things on the ceiling are speakers.
I didn't take a pic of the second kitchen which was on the bottom level.




stuff in the garage for sale:


The church sale was very good. I did buy a bunch of stuff, but sorry, no pics. There were something like 78 vendors set up (each paying $25 a spot). Plus the church had their collection of stuff to sell. There were lots of customers too. A well organized yardsale with a good following/reputation can really earn a church or organization a lot of money.

Yard Sale Buys

I forgot to post a pic of what I bought last Saturday. It was a good day. Lots of church yardsales and even a school yardsale which was unadvertised. I cannot figure out why an organization would hold a yardsale and not even advertise it in the garage sale section of craiglist for free.

Stuff in the picture above range in price from free (the seller knew me and just told me to take stuff) to $2 for the Made in Poland crystal vase which I bought 2 weeks ago but forgot to photograph. Got a good deal on the new Johnson and Johnson baby wash stuff for .25 a bottle. And I got a vintage Disneyland ashtray for free (but it's not in the picture).

In the photo below the shopping bag and the two plastic bins were .50 each. Birdfeeder ($5) was the most expensive purchase of the day (looks better in real life - it's actually upside down in the photo)


And during the week I stopped at a new thrift store that opened up recently. I doubt it will stay in business (I think it's a "for profit" thrift store, rather than one run by an organization. I would have bought a pair of these nightstands if there were 2 of them but alas, there was only one. I just love the look of it (but would have painted it. That is glare on the top).


And of course, I hit Walgreens for some bargains. I'm always going to Walgreens to get stuff free (after Register Rewards) but for the first time I saw free free stuff. Just calendar posters but hey, they were free. I took a Family Guy and a Spongebob Squarepants one for Jacob. And side benefit - each poster came with a nice piece of cardboard. I'm weird, you never know when you'll need a nice piece of cardboard.

So many yardsales, so little time

I found out that I lied the other day when I said I had 2 church yardsales in my town to go to on Saturday. I have three. At least their start times are staggered (7am, 7:30 and 8am). Next Saturday (Memorial Day weekend) I will probably be hoping to find one decent yardsale.

I saw something so hideous the other day, I had to have it. I have no idea why. I spent more than I think I should have ($3.50). I thought they would just charge me the $2 nightgown price and not the $3.50 robe price. I wasn't going to complain since it is my favorite thrift and the last thing I want is to irritate the volunteer cashiers.



Here's something else I bought this week:


some kind of fancy super duper ironing press. I paid $8 for it. The thing is heavy, I will put it on Craiglist.

I did two magazine interviews today - hopefully both articles will come out sometime in July.

How not to price stuff at a yardsale (or thrift store)

I swear, some people really must not want to sell stuff at their yardsales or thrift stores. That is the only logical explanation I can come up with why someone would mark stuff in obvious places in permanent marker.

Exhibit A:


And here's an oldie that you may remember from last year. Exhibit B:



I had a good yardsaling day last Saturday. I was able to get a $3 booster seat to give to my brother. They asked me to look for one since they occasionally have a friend's kid in their car (they have one booster seat already but want a second one for their other car). Even though he lives in upstate New York, I plan on visiting there again soon so I can give it to him then.



Here is a portion of the stuff that I bought on Saturday. One church yardsale (spent $7 for the bulk of the stuff you see), then an indoor community center yardsale and then a school yardsale and a couple of others. See that red box? That's a Waterford Crystal Christmas ornament (next to the box). It was $5. I like the round ceramic dish with cover (on the booster seat), that was .50. The Scrabble game was free. Crafters like Scrabble tiles to make stuff, I've been saving up a bunch of tiles to put up as a big lot on ebay. The rifle team jacket was .50. It seemed like an odd jacket - maybe someone on ebay will think it's cool. The Rosie doll (.75) is an ebay dud. But maybe I can resell at my next yardsale.

Looking foward to this Saturday. Two more nearby church yardsales.