Yard sale finds

Pictured are yard sale findings: saw blades, pistachios, movie, puzzle, game, jars, iron, bath mat and free pen.

This last Friday we decided to shop at yard sales. The Daily News has a great list on-line where you can click on the ones that are of interest and make a list to save and copy. There were few advertised out in our area along Highway 99E so we almost decided to go in to town for those sales. Then we happened to pick up another ad paper and found there were quite a few out by us. So we planned our shopping trip to go between our place and Los Molinos.

Friday started cold and cloudy but we set out anyway hoping for the weather to improve. It did. By the time we reached home again the sun was shining and things were warming up.

Shopping at yard sales is a lot like shopping in thrift stores, but they usually only happen on weekends. Our weekends usually seem to be filled with other activities so we don’t get to yard sales too often. On the other hand most thrift stores are open Monday to Saturday and seem to fit into our schedule better. This yard sale trip did prove to be quite successful though so maybe we will make the effort to plan future trips to yard sales.

Our purchases included two decorative glass jars with plastic lids, one short and one tall, for 25 cents each. We like containers that we can see into so we don’t forget what we put in them.

Findings at another stop included a Rowenta iron for $5, one circular saw blade for $1, a set of dado blades for $7 and the video cassette movie “Schindler’s List” for $1. The Rowenta iron is considered very desirable by those who sew and is usually on the expensive end. It is a very good quality iron. The one we purchased is in good condition except for the button that is to make a burst of steam. The saw blades, especially the dado blades can be quite expensive when bought new, but the ones we purchased are like new for a fraction of the new price. We do not watch many movies, but “Schindler’s List” is based on history and was given good reviews so we decided we would try it.

A big sale at the Methodist Church yielded a bath mat for $2 that we plan to use on top of our washing machine to keep the dirt the cats leave on it when hopping up to eat. We also found a 550 piece puzzle with a cute picture of many whimsical birdhouses for $1 that will be an interesting project to build. Puzzles are always a fun project to do with the family. Another find there was a game called “Rate Your Mate” for 50 cents. In the instructions the players are asked to take the Rate Your Mate pledge: “I promise to care for and respect you (your spouse) no matter what the outcome of the game.” When paying for our purchases at the church they also included a free pen with their name on it.

Our final stop on the way back home yielded flavored pistachios for sale. We got two flavors, one with honey mustard and one barbecue flavored, for a total of $6. We usually prefer raw, unseasoned pistachios, but have not found them for sale that way much. We were told most people only buy roasted and salted or flavored ones.

Our grand total for our trip was $24. Not bad for a morning treasure hunt.