Yard Sale Report: April 17th, 2010

It was one of those mornings that tested my yard sale devotion: freezing cold and looking like it could rain any time. Wouldn't I rather snuggle up in my nice warm bed for a couple more hours, then sit around in my jammies drinking coffee?

Fortunately, it takes a LOT to deter me from the prospect of finding some good bargains, so up I got! I knew that today's scheduled events included a moving sale and a church rummage sale, both likely to contain bargains galore. So out the door I went, sufficiently bundled up to withstand the brisk temperature as I made the rounds on my bike.

I was very well rewarded for my efforts. I'm a fairly discerning shopper, even at yard sales, but there are three things I can seldom resist: books (especially cookbooks), baskets, and clear glass/Pyrex. I found all three today!

Here are all the non-clothing items I hunted down. At my first stop (the moving sale), I got both of the baskets, plus that super-cool Pyrex platter (I have never seen one with a design like that before!), a set of glass candlesticks and a vintage Laura Second Canadian Cookbook (circa 1977). I love a good vintage cookbook, especially a Canadian one. They are usually good for a few laughs over the more bizarre dishes or recipe titles (Huskies-in-a-Drift or Baked Seal Meat, anyone?) I do find they are also an excellent source for classic recipes using basic ingredients, just the thing for any frugal cook! This one has a recipe for Rhubarb Relish which I'm hoping to try if my fledgling rhubarb patch yields enough this year. I paid a total of $2 for all of those items.

Next stop, an unadvertised yard sale across the road from the moving sale. I picked up that cute little pink stripey wallet (which coordinate perfectly with my summer tote!) and an umbrella for a total of a buck. Umbrellas seem to bite the dust pretty quickly at our house, so when I see one in good condition I grab it!

I was busy getting my bounty tucked safely into my bike panniers (I had to bungee cord the basket on top of my bike rack) when it started SNOWING!! That nice wet barely-snow. It may be the first time I've been snowed on while yard saling. For a split second I considered heading home rather than riding out the extra couple of kilometers to the rummage sale. But I just can't say no to a rummage sale :)

I scored the rest of the items pictured above at the rummage sale: small glass pyrex baking dish, another vintage cookbook (Betty Crocker's New Boys and Girls Cookbook, circa 1965, first edition!), two hockey books for my younger son (already tucked away in the gift cupboard for holiday gift giving) and another book which is also going to be a gift (I have a particular recipient in mind, who sometimes reads this blog, so I'm not being any more specific than that!) I got all of the books for a total of $1.00. The small glass dish plus all the clothes in the next photo were another $6.50.

I could have taken a much more artful photo of the clothing but I was worn out from my morning of bargain hunting, so I just slapped everything down quick. I got a pair of black yoga pants, a white collared long sleeve shirt, light green camisole top, white T-shirt and a tank top (under the T). I also got my hubby a light blue Denver Hayes T-shirt which looks like it's never been worn; it's not in the photo because I'd already handed it off to him! To be honest, I wasn't sure if any of the clothes were going to fit right, but at rummage sale prices (much lower than thrift store prices) I'm willing to play "clothing roulette". Anything that didn't fit would go in our own yard sale pile (we're holding one in about a month). I got lucky this morning and everything fit me perfectly except the tank, which is a tiny bit bigger than I'd prefer it to be, but will probably still be fine for cycling in.

Grand total for the morning? $10.50 for 18 items, or just over 58 cents per item. Yes, it *was* worth going out in the cold for all that!