Yard Sale!

Do you like to go to yard sales or garage sales? Nichelle and I used to get up early on Saturday mornings and go to them when we lived in California. We had fun scrounging around other people's junk. We never knew what we'd find. I've gotten a lot of great stuff from yard sales. I mostly like looking for books. Books are expensive, but you can get them really cheap at a yard sale. Often I'd come home with handfuls of books for myself and for the kids. You just can't beat a picture book that costs a quarter, compared to what they cost brand new in the store. We've also gotten some major things at a yard sale, for a fraction of what they'd cost us brand new. One of those was our trampoline. It was a really high quality one, not like the cheap ones they make now. Sadly, we had to leave it behind when we moved. Another was a screen door for our house, which would have cost us $60 or more new from a store. We bought one for $15 at a yard sale that had never been used. I've only been to 2 yard sales since moving to Montana. One was right on our road and we bought the boys an air hockey table for $5. It works great. I also got a porcelain nativity ornament for a whole dime.

A few weeks ago Brenda posted a link on her blog for yardsalequeen.com. Being the yard sale nut I am, I bookmarked the link hoping to read it later. I did that last night, and oh my gosh, there is some funny stuff on this site! The page I've linked goes to the "Customers from Hell" page. If you have some time, read through this. Some of these stories are hilarious. Others are downright shocking. I can't believe how bold and rude some people can be. My favorite story was by Selena in Sacramento, where she talks about the man who bounces around estate sales like a crack addict. I've seen people like that. We used to have regular yard sales when we lived in California. We never enjoyed them. Rick would make fun of me because I'd try to label everything and keep things neat. He'd rather just toss it on the ground and hope someone would buy it. We had some pretty nervy customers, but frankly, I can't remember anything super bizarre. Mostly, it was people slamming on their brakes on the street when they saw our sign. Or people who'd wander through our garage, when clearly, everything for sale was on the driveway. We also had people open our gate and wander in our yard, even though we were still setting up and weren't ready to open. I've seen some pretty icky stuff at yard sales too. I remember one place selling urinals, like the kind you'd use in a hospital. Ummm, no thanks. If you like going to yard sales, or plan to have one of your own, this is a great website.

Do you have any wild, weird or bizarre yard sale experiences?