Mondays & Memories of My Mom – Bargain Hunters’ Treasures

Thank God it’s Monday, again. Mondays make me happy because they’re my 52 Chances per year, in which I get to share Memories of My Mom with you. Therefore, I wish for you a happy Monday, too.

Saturday was National Garage Sale Day. And this week celebrates, among other things… National Bargain Hunting Week, which is followed on Sunday by National Thrift Shop Day. I sense a theme here. Bargain hunting, thrifting, and going to garage sales – these are a few of my favorite things to do spring through fall but especially now.

There are many different terms for a garage or yard sale, including treasures sale, rummage sale, jumble sale, tag sale, white elephant sale, fire sale, (living) estate sale, moving sale, and more. Flea markets are large open places where various people rent space/table(s), from which to sell their “treasures” in a group setting.

Market places are also convenient for shoppers and sellers, alike. There was a time when yard sales and the like were often advertised in local newspapers. These days, though, everything is moving to digital form. You can even have a digital yard sale or flea market. Now you can bargain hunt from the comfort of home.

One person’s garage sale bargain is another person’s treasure. My husband and I love to go “treasure hunting” in a variety of places. We often blend it in with our Sunday drives to different towns around southeastern Michigan. We’ve discovered on our explorations that, demographically, some areas have better bargains on certain things than others.

However, that observation is based solely on the kinds of things that WE look to buy. For example, we often look for old farm, nautical, or man cave/bar items – to name a few. We’ll find more nautical stuff near the lakeshore and more farm items further inland. Bar items are everywhere – but we find them cheaper further inland than near the lakeshore.

A celebration for bargain hunting would probably have been on Mom’s top 10 list of favorite things, as she was always a pushover for a good bargain. Even in her last few months, when every little activity seemed to drain her of energy, she still found delight in going to the J.C. Penny store across the street to bargain shop in their purse department.

The big orange clearance signs in the stores seem to beckon us, like the vibrant orange trumpet flowers that irresistibly attract hummingbirds. NationalDayCalendar.com says: “The hunt for the bargain can be just as exciting as the item discovered.” Mom and I would both agree that’s true.

“No Laughing Matter” (circa 1970s)…

[HOW TO] HAVE A GARAGE SALE IN ONE EASY BREAKDOWN!

By Gloria Pitzer – Recipe Detective^TM

UNTIL YOU’VE HAD a garage sale, you just don’t know what you’re missing. I’ve just had one and I know! I’m missing three garbage cans, my husband’s workbench, a swing set, four lawn chairs and our station wagon. Actually, those items weren’t for sale, but you can’t refuse a good price when it’s offered to you.

All I really wanted to sell was a few odds-and-ends like 7 dozen Ruby Bee Jelly glasses, a coke bottle mosaic of my mother-in-law, a transistor radio guaranteed to crack plaster when operated by a teenager, an illustrated guide book to Disneyland and my husband’s bowling ball.

Of course, if the truth were known, I just had to do something about the closets before we were cited for contempt by the Pollution Control Commission. The kids were cleaning out their rooms and dragging out microscopes that had only examined curdled milk.

There was an electric train with which only their father had played, a guitar that never played a tune (but made a neat tennis racket), socks that scratched and even their old report cards. But I drew the line when it came to selling their toothbrushes and underwear. I mean, a person has to be reasonable about these things!

I had heard that garage sales were successful, but I didn’t believe it until I saw 23 cars double-parked in our drainage ditch, a pick-up truck on the back porch and a dune buggy in the furnace room! It takes a garage sale to prove that a woman will buy anything, if she thinks it’s on sale.

After all, what can one do with a dead philodendron plant – a plastic one, yet?

I also learned that there’s no exercise so efficacious for the upper arms as standing in the midst of a group of mad women and trying to keep them from taking the rafters apart while trying to get at our storm windows (which I’ll have you know were NOT for sale) but little did they care.

One woman offered me a dollar for the dress I was wearing, and I had to run half a block to catch up with the lady who gave my son 50 cents for the sheets on the clothes lines. Did she care it was my laundry and I had to make the beds before the day was over – and where would I be without those sheets?

I finally had to administer first aid to the two girls who fought so bitterly over which of them was going to drag off to their car a plaid CPO jacket and a pair of blue worsted men’s slacks!

Mind you, I wouldn’t have cared under any other circumstances but my husband was still in them AND he didn’t want to go with either of them. He wanted to stay home and watch the ball game on TV!

By 6pm, they had bought everything that wasn’t breathing, barking or encased in concrete. As I sat at the kitchen table, counting up the profits of the day, my husband came staggering in, bruised and breathless.

“You know that guy with the flat-bed truck, who’s been hanging around all day?” [He asked.] “Well, he just gave me $50 and drove off with our garage!”

It all goes to prove, if I had put a price on those kids of ours, I might have sold them – but who could afford to feed them once they got them home?

Whenever I’ve gone to garage sales and yard sales or to antique and second-hand shops, I almost always find a good bargain. At least, to me it’s a bargain. No matter what anyone else says, what truly determines a bargain is in the eyes of the beholder.

This past weekend was the annual “M-25 & M-29 Antique & Yard Sale Trail” that runs all the way around the “Thumb Coast” of Michigan, from Sebewaing to New Baltimore. “The Trail” is over 150 miles long, with an endless amount of communities, on and off the beaten path, involved in the event.

The two state roads connect in Marysville, not far from where Mom and Dad used to live. I’m conveniently located less than a mile from where M-29 passes by my street. During an event like this, detours of a mile or two are likely to attract the adventurous “trail shoppers”, especially if they’re signed well.

The bargain treasures I found were two Easter village sets (12 total pieces) for $28, a Sebastian figurine, called “Family Picnic” for $4; as well as two, like-new, 6-foot banquet tables for $8 each. I want to expand my massive Christmas and growing Halloween village collections into an all-season, all-holiday metropolis.

Good signage should have bold legible print, using eye-catching color(s). Over the years, I’ve found that creative signs entice “bargain hunters” to stop-and-shop. I’ve shopped different parts of “the trail”, as well as hosted my own sales, during it. Personally, I prefer shopping it because hosting a good yard sale is a lot of work.

A garage provides a permanent, solid, enclosed and protected area for a sale. If I had a garage, I could set up my tables much earlier, putting stuff out and pricing it a little bit each night, as I clean out different rooms of our house, beforehand.

Since I don’t have a garage, I first have to look ahead at the upcoming weather conditions to see if I can even have a yard sale at all. Then I have to set it all up early, the morning my sale starts, on tables in the front yard that are open to the elements – sun, wind, rain, etc. – and tear it down at the end of the day or cover all the tables with tarps for the night.

I get many compliments on my yard sales, as I organize it into departments, like a store: “Clothing/Shoes/Accessories”, “Outdoor/Sporting Goods”, “Automotive/Tools/Hardware”, “Home Goods”, “Media/Electronics”, etc. I like to use eye-catching, tabletop signs, that can be made easily with tape, colorful poster boards, and wire hangers.

I combine my clothes, shoes, and wearable accessories under one large “bargain” sign that says, “$1 each”. I place and price the coats separately, priced up to $5 each, depending on their condition and season. Many people don’t want winter coats in the middle of summer, regardless of condition, unless it’s priced right.

There are many variables to consider, when pricing – the item’s age, popularity, and condition, as well as several other things. I discovered Angi.com’s Ultimate Garage Sale Pricing Guide is very similar to how I price my own yard sale “treasures”. I want everything to sell so I ask: “What would I pay for that, myself?”

“Knowing your audience is the key to raking in cold hard cash.” – Lauren Hamer, Items That Bring In The Most Money At Garage Sales (Oct. 16, 2017)

Lauren Hamer’s article, Items That Bring In The Most Money At Garage Sales (Oct. 16, 2017), says big-selling items include small kitchen appliances & dishware, tools, exercise equipment, jewelry, coats & clothes, camping gear, hunting/fishing gear, artwork/frames/décor, furniture, and games/toys.

My yard sales include most of those. They do attract a lot of bargain hunters. However, if they’re not priced right (and if you’re not willing to haggle), they probably won’t sell. For a successful yard sale, you can’t just attract the masses, you also have to be willing to sell things for the kind of prices people will pay for them.

There’s a “golden rule” for yard-sale-pricing, suggesting about 10% of the retail value, depending on its condition. An item that has never been used and is still in its original packaging can sell for significantly more but not for its full retail value – maybe 40-50% of it. Share your bargain finds or sales on social media with #NationalBargainHuntingWeek.

Next week celebrates National Radio Day, which would be a VERY special day to Mom, as she talked about her copycat cookery concept and advertised her cookbooks and newsletters on radio more than through any other media.

Thanks for visiting! I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about my memories of my mom, her memories, and other related things. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to email me at therecipedetective@outlook.com. You can also find me on Facebook: @TheRecipeDetective.

https://www.balboapress.com/Bookstore/BookDetail.aspx?BookId=SKU-001062253

IN CLOSING…

In honor of August, being National Sandwich Month, here’s Mom’s copycat recipe for “Chicken Cutlet Sandwich”; as seen in… Gloria Pitzer’s Cookbook – The Best of the Recipe Detective (Balboa Press; Jan. 2018, p. 115). [A revised reprint of Gloria Pitzer’s Better Cookery Cookbook (Secret Recipes^TM, St. Clair, MI; May 1983, 3^rd Edition)]. As always, I’m asking only for proper credit if you care to re-share it.

#NationalSandwichMonth