Beware of Yard Sales & Auctions

Yard sales and auctions can be contagious. Just warning you now. It seemed my wife couldn't pass by a yard sale sign without wanting me to stop. Man, most times I was lucky to be driving because the traffic wouldn't give me the time to pull over and back-up. Not. But, it was a good excuse. Why would I want to bother with someone else's junk?

It got to the point where I was pretty good, if I don't say so myself, at avoiding the streets and country roads where these sales were likely to take place, or I was able to distract her long enough to pass beyond her vision and avoid seeing the yard sale sign by pointing to something on the opposite side of the street. My love of leisurely drives whether along tree-lined streets, or picturesque country roads was in serious jeopardy.

Well, that was then, not now.

Okay. Let's get down to the real fun. Yard sales are treasures yet to be discovered by those in the know. You'd be downright surprised at what you can find for a few cents, or a couple of dollars. Take that coffee table in our living room. Here was a scruffy looking piece of furniture sure to give everyone visiting the notion that they should leave a contribution on the way out so we wouldn't have to have that wreck in our house. The real truth is that wreck was solid pine purchased for 5 dollars. My wife diligently stripped and scraped and sanded it until it was as clean as a surgical table. Wow, was I surprised. It wasn't that I hadn't refinished furniture in the past, but, that was the past. Surely, with our corporate means we were beyond such mundane pursuits,

For those of you who love this type of fun, fear not. I got the bug. I especially got the bug when we decided that simple living coupled with a frugal lifestyle would be our destiny.

You know, there is something "fun" about reclaiming other's discards and bringing them back to life to serve well their purpose for many years to come. I can't tell you now, I've lost track, of all the wonderful, useful and inexpensive items we both have spied and bought at yard sales.

To add to our "fun", after we moved to our country home, we were fortunate enough to find some local auctions. I was dismayed to learn that my wife had never been to an auction before. Wow, was that a mistake or what. Auctions became so intense that I had to fight to get the bidding card away from her. She couldn't resist bidding on all sorts of useful items we needed but didn't have, or didn't want to lay out the money. Why, it was down right disconcerting the way she held onto that card especially since I wanted to bid on a multitude of items too. Fun. Exciting. You know, a person could get so excited that they could just end up buying some real treasures for pennies. Pleeease give me have that bidding card - now!!