We hit a few yard sales and a flea market this morning. There were a bunch of good deals, but space is getting tight in our house, so we have to really have a purpose for the things we buy or be able to “turn the merchandise” quickly. So here's what we found and the purpose for the purchases:
- An exercise trampoline for $12. This is a decent-sized item, but it's for our daughter, and she loves it.
- A CRT monitor, keyboard, and speakers for $5. One of our flat-panel monitors bit the dust a while back, and $5 for a spare monitor until I can get a suitable replacement is cheap insurance.
- Two CDs for a quarter each. This is just dirt cheap and I like the music (Eric Clapton Unplugged (eBay) and Jars of Clay Much Afraid (eBay)). One download on iTunes is a buck!
- A solid maple shelf for $3. My wife got this with her mother's house in mind because it goes with her decor.
- Miscellaneous sewing things: several packages of Velcro® for a dime; a bag of thread spools for a quarter (each spool goes for over a dollar in the store, and there were ten spools in the bag); a couple of yards of sturdy fabric for a dollar. My wife goes through supplies like these regularly now that she's gotten back into sewing, especially quilting.
There were quite a few decent-quality musical instruments at fair, but not great, prices, like a Yamaha clarinet for $150 and an alto saxophone for $300. One guy at the flea market was selling some of his electric guitars, and I looked over the bass guitar and thought about it a bit. I'm a musician but I don't play bass guitar, and even though $100 for a hardly-used Stinger from the 80s was a good deal, it was still a bit much for just trying it out. That, and I'd need to buy an amp for it, and space here is starting to get at a premium.
I'm so glad to see that others do what we do! My wife and I have been making some extra money selling items from thrift stores and yard sales on ebay and craigslist for a couple of years now. We purchased a used Baby Bjorn for our daughter on ebay and then my wife found one at a thrift store in like new condition for $1.99 (they retail for upwards of $80). We sold the used one for what we paid for it (after using it ourselves) and kept the newer one. That's just one example of many. I'm certain people think we spend a fortune on our daughter and home but we are EXTREMELY frugal. We want some insurance for a good life and future for our daughter so our priorities are set. We want to set a good example for her and lead her in the right direction.