It's yard sale season!

I've posted a lot about my love for thrift shopping, but often as good--and sometimes better, in terms of deals--are yard sales. Folks here in Tacoma love to have yard sales. In Boston, it seemed like most of the yard sales were held by people who were moving or a group of families who combined to have one big sale, but here it seems like many folks have a regular yard sale every year after doing spring cleaning. This means, of course, that many sales don't have a large variety of items. However, it also means there are a lot of yard sales going on every weekend from May through October, and you can find many treasures if you hop around.

This past weekend, my daughter and I were able to hit four yard sales in the three miles we drove between home, the park and the library. One of the sales was to raise funds for a woman who is about to do the three-day breast cancer walk.

At the sales, I purchased a really nice four-slot, big-enough-for-bagels toaster in great working condtion for a dollar. My daughter found four cute summer tops in sizes 6 and 7 for a quarter each. A minor item I bought came in really handy already. For fifty cents, I got one of those squeegee and sponge things to clean your car windshield with, and needed it yesterday morning when I woke up to discover my car windshield covered with pollen, and my car out of windshield wiper fluid. I had to bypass a beautiful set of matching bookcases because I didn't have enough cash on me. But I know that as the summer goes on, there is more to come!

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* In terms of furnishing our future home, we're getting close. With a queen size bed and dresser given to us by a friend, a dining room table from Freecycle, and numerous items purchased from thrift shops and yard sales (toddler bed, dining room chairs, a sofa, recliner, dresser and matching night stands, end tables, lamps, microwave, toaster, toaster oven, pots and pans, set of dishes, set of flatware, cooking utensils, bakeware, casserole dishes, tablecloths and napkins, computer desk, bookshelves, TV), our future home will be pretty well furnished. The most expensive of any of the above items was the sofa, purchased at Value Village for $25. The vast majority of these items cost less than $10, and many were less than $3. All total, I've probably spent less than $250 over the last two years on these things.