"Pick your own price...."

Now I've heard it all..... I was looking through the yard sales ads in today's paper, and two separate ads caught my eye.

One of them read: "Multi-family garage sale. Zillions of items. Pick your own price.... everything must go."

The other one was: "Come early for the best deals. Drinks and snacks will be provided."


Now.... if we weren't going to the cottage, I'd be at both of those yard sales. Pick your own price. Well, what if everyone offers ten cents or fifty cents for every item--- are they going to sell "zillions of items" at such low prices? And if they do, are the items even worth that much? (When it comes to garage sales, there's not always "truth in advertising.")

As for the other one.... Usually, the best deals are at the end of the yard sale, when people want to close up their garages and get out of the heat.... but the "best deals" aren't always on the best stuff, because we all know that the best things are the first to sell. I loved the line about drinks and snacks.... I'm wondering if they think that will be an incentive to get more people out on a hot morning when the temperature hits 98 degrees before 7:30 a.m.

True yard-salers don't need that kind of incentive. We're out there, rain or shine, high temperatures or low, hunting and searching for just that perfect thing. And even if we're not looking for anything specific, we still enjoy the hunt, because the "perfect thing" might be at the next yard sale, hiding under a pink velvet Barbie pillow.

I hadn't realized how much I had missed going to yard sales till I started back with them. I stopped going about two years ago, after my husband's mom passed away. We were just overwhelmed with stuff here..... our stuff that was already here, and her stuff that we had shipped here. I went through this house without mercy, rearranging furniture, bringing my wicker pieces out to the screen-porch to make room for my mother-in-law's antiques. I sold and traded decorative porcelain and glass that I had bought at yard sales, to make room for her truly vintage pieces.

Everything was just fine, all comfy-cozy, with just a little sense of Victorian-era carefully-controlled clutter. But I vowed not to go to yard sales, because I knew that if I did go, I'd just be bringing more stuff into the house. And, according to my rule--- one thing in, one thing out ---- well, that rule wouldn't work because I was at the point that I didn't want to part with anything that was already here.

Then along came the lake cottage. All my wicker furniture came out of the porch and went to the lake. Again, I went through this house without mercy, taking decorative items, kitchen items, anything cottage-worthy..... it all went up to the lake. But how do you furnish a weekend cottage without breaking the bank? Yard sales!

So back I went..... getting up before dawn, leaving the house as the sun was rising, list in my hand for the local yard sales. And the cottage is filling up with treasures, all casual, certainly eclectic, definitely cottage-y. Yard-salers who I hadn't seen for a couple of years welcomed me back, saying they thought I had moved away. Funny that I never saw those people around town--- we just saw one another at the early-morning yard sales. We recognized each other's cars, and we'd roll down our windows to tell each other "There's a great sale over on Peach Haven," or "Don't bother with Nassau Bay--- they're selling junk, and it isn't even good junk."

When we're up at the cottage, I find that I miss the Saturday morning sales here. I have gone to a few yard sales at the lake, though, and found some nearly-new kitchen items that are up at the cottage. We're still looking for a sofa for the cottage.... we've found a bunch at the stores, but they're either the wrong color or the wrong fabric, or the price is way too high. Sooner or later, I know I'll find the perfect one at a moving sale. And I hope we find it at a yard sale up near the lake, so we don't have to worry about getting it from here to there.

I'm waiting for that ad: "Casual, comfy, neutral-color sofa, barely used... must sell.... name your own price. Drinks and snacks included."