Yes, that is the question: What have we found lately?
Stuff?
Yeppers, stuff, that is. The local volunteer fire department has put on the local garage sale at the community rink every weekend for the month of July, and know what? I cannot say whether it was better from last year or it just stayed the same as usual. But all I can say is that at least the items my family and I bought last year never returned to the garage sale as donations.
This past weekend, once the garage sale opened to the public, my husband went there at once. Within a half hour, he brought home a truckload for $25. A couch, a recliner and a garden hose reel stand that we have been needing for a while since we brought out our garden hoses for flower gardening and filling up the pool (don't ask me about the water bill, because we have yet to know when the next bill comes out in September,........). Because we live in the low income housing, we were NOT allowed to place the garden hose hanger onto the house because it would damage the renovated exterior of the house (on a cheap, cheap budget that involves cutting corners,...........I bet Mike Holmes will be shaking his head over this), the reel stand is perfect to keep the backyard clean and tidy, much easier to move it when cutting the lawn. The couch and recliner is in the basement in the rec. area so that way my husband has a place to hide away from family stress. After helping my husband unload the items off the truck, my 5-yr-old son and I went to the garage sale and I grabbed a big box ($5 dollars per box of things filled up) and started looking around. My 5-yr-old decided he needed a box of his own to fill toys up for himself and his two little brother so I had to let him (no big deal, at least it is still $5 per box to fill up items). While looking around, I could hear some other kids being picky about the condition of the toys. They say that the toys are better at Walmart than here, but my 5-yr-old didn't care at all. After all, toys are going to get tortured and broken, right?
For me, I found alot of items that I am happy to put them to use. I picked up a framed corkboard, a letter/bills holder with a corkboard all in one piece (pinterest would love a pic of that!), a spice cabinet that I am going to use to store sewing thread and bobbins on it, a big bag of cotton yarn (oh gosh, my mom and I figured it had to be valued at $50-60 dollars for a few big balls of yarn in variegated colors, so I am going to knit and crochet a few washcloths and spa collection items), a shoe box of crochet cotton, and that is pretty much it. All for $5. Yes, some of you are going to think,"you're bringing more junk home", but at least it didn't take up too much space at all. After all, I have a crafting area, and it is organized. The floors in the house has to be swept up to 5 times a day, thanks to the horror of watching "Hoarders". And the laundry has to be put away, endlessly.
It doesn't end here at all. This weekend, we are going back to the garage sale, as the volunteers have put out more items for the public to check out, so this should be fun.
Happy garage-sale-ing!
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
A brand new beginning for all of us in the family,.....
............, and if anyone, ANYONE ever, EVER steps in our way to make it worse, will be shoved out of our way BADLY.
Since the last post, there were extreme ups and downs and it is hard to explain it into stories that either can be a hard lesson to learn, a good lesson to learn and even learning the hard way to help move forward for the better. I learn that I cannot be bitter forever after what happened to us resulting in costs to cover the losses (thanks to people committing the crimes against us illegally, resulting in bad karmas hanging over them permanently), so at the moment, we are living the better moment with happiness and positivity. And no, my family and I have not given up on finding good deals through garage sales, online sales and,......auctions? Nope, we haven't gone to them lately.
So what have we been doing lately with garage sale deals and such? Well, last year, my family and I moved into a rental home in a town farther away from the last town (called Satan's Village), and know what? It was for the better. In the current town we are living in, the local volunteer fire department hosts a large rummage sale every Saturday for the month the July every year, to raise money for up-to-date equipments and trainings (really, they did a great job responding to calls on residential fires, accidents and life-threatening situations, and we learn it can happen anytime, anywhere!) and to me, it was NEVER boring at all. We just never know what is coming in every time we go in, and that is good. We didn't bring home more junk, we found useful items that came in handy. Such items we got, for example: fitness equipment, baking items, crafting supplies, clothes, home decor, organizational solutions, and gardening supplies. From what I remember is we spent a total amount for the month of July was no more than $100 at all. Amazing, that is. When you question,"Why fitness equipment?" Well, for starters, my husband and I were the ones to try to get back in shape and actually, it was me in the end that actually kept going as usual (almost a year later ;) ). Overall, the items we bought from the sale did not clutter our space at all.
As for our vehicles, it was a huge change in our lives. Our '94 Explorer decided it was time to find a new owner who was interested in tinkering with vehicles to make them run again. I do miss the Explorer (great times, I say) but it was time for a change in which I needed a vehicle that was easy on gas and have lots of room and space for my growing family. Soooo,.....this past spring, after struggling to get the income taxes done for instant refund, we bought a 1998 Dodge Caravan (don't we wish it was a Hemi?) for $1500 and the last owner bought it brand spanking new 15 years ago for his building contracting company. It was kept clean and was in use for work and travel until he needed a new upgrade. Of course, my husband thinks the van needs more work, but to me, I love the van very, very much. Too much to explain, but I love the van very much. My husband recently bought a 1992 (?) Ford Ranger for $500 as it runs great and cheap on gas (it is standard and I have no luck driving one ;) ). At the moment, it needs to get the passenger-side bracket replaced (it's broken and rusted, and we have a new one). The best part of the three vehicles we owned (oh yeah, we have a '91 Chevy 1/2 ton for a year already and it's my Wednesday night drive ;) ) is that they are FULLY paid for without worry.
With the garage and community sale season in full speed, we have found a good deal that people think," are we actually going to do this?" We have purchased the winemaking equipment for $25 (valued over $100) and we are still finding the right time to get the winemaking kits so we can make our own wine (we joked about labelling our wine,"Whattaya "Wining"About? Drink Up!") so we don't have to drink and drive outside the comfort of the home.
There will be more adventures of garage sale-ing and such coming soon. Keep checking up for my next blog ;)
Since the last post, there were extreme ups and downs and it is hard to explain it into stories that either can be a hard lesson to learn, a good lesson to learn and even learning the hard way to help move forward for the better. I learn that I cannot be bitter forever after what happened to us resulting in costs to cover the losses (thanks to people committing the crimes against us illegally, resulting in bad karmas hanging over them permanently), so at the moment, we are living the better moment with happiness and positivity. And no, my family and I have not given up on finding good deals through garage sales, online sales and,......auctions? Nope, we haven't gone to them lately.
So what have we been doing lately with garage sale deals and such? Well, last year, my family and I moved into a rental home in a town farther away from the last town (called Satan's Village), and know what? It was for the better. In the current town we are living in, the local volunteer fire department hosts a large rummage sale every Saturday for the month the July every year, to raise money for up-to-date equipments and trainings (really, they did a great job responding to calls on residential fires, accidents and life-threatening situations, and we learn it can happen anytime, anywhere!) and to me, it was NEVER boring at all. We just never know what is coming in every time we go in, and that is good. We didn't bring home more junk, we found useful items that came in handy. Such items we got, for example: fitness equipment, baking items, crafting supplies, clothes, home decor, organizational solutions, and gardening supplies. From what I remember is we spent a total amount for the month of July was no more than $100 at all. Amazing, that is. When you question,"Why fitness equipment?" Well, for starters, my husband and I were the ones to try to get back in shape and actually, it was me in the end that actually kept going as usual (almost a year later ;) ). Overall, the items we bought from the sale did not clutter our space at all.
As for our vehicles, it was a huge change in our lives. Our '94 Explorer decided it was time to find a new owner who was interested in tinkering with vehicles to make them run again. I do miss the Explorer (great times, I say) but it was time for a change in which I needed a vehicle that was easy on gas and have lots of room and space for my growing family. Soooo,.....this past spring, after struggling to get the income taxes done for instant refund, we bought a 1998 Dodge Caravan (don't we wish it was a Hemi?) for $1500 and the last owner bought it brand spanking new 15 years ago for his building contracting company. It was kept clean and was in use for work and travel until he needed a new upgrade. Of course, my husband thinks the van needs more work, but to me, I love the van very, very much. Too much to explain, but I love the van very much. My husband recently bought a 1992 (?) Ford Ranger for $500 as it runs great and cheap on gas (it is standard and I have no luck driving one ;) ). At the moment, it needs to get the passenger-side bracket replaced (it's broken and rusted, and we have a new one). The best part of the three vehicles we owned (oh yeah, we have a '91 Chevy 1/2 ton for a year already and it's my Wednesday night drive ;) ) is that they are FULLY paid for without worry.
With the garage and community sale season in full speed, we have found a good deal that people think," are we actually going to do this?" We have purchased the winemaking equipment for $25 (valued over $100) and we are still finding the right time to get the winemaking kits so we can make our own wine (we joked about labelling our wine,"Whattaya "Wining"About? Drink Up!") so we don't have to drink and drive outside the comfort of the home.
There will be more adventures of garage sale-ing and such coming soon. Keep checking up for my next blog ;)
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