First Garage Sale of the Season

I went to my first garage sale of the season!! The weather has been warmer than normal and the season has started earlier this year. Usually it hits around May! I went to my first sale in April! It seems like forever that I have been to a garage sale when its really been about 6 months! 

But now that they are here I am getting ready! Spring cleaning and organizing. Making space for my new treasures! We have taken at least 4 car loads to Salvation Army this Spring so far! I have spent a lot of time sorting and storing everything away in bins in the basement. I need more bins and more time to put EVERYTHING I own away! But, so far, I have a total of 54 bins in my basement. And I need more!! I want it ALL tucked away so I know right where it is when I need it. 

My bins are labeled:
Lightbulbs
Books
Bubble Wrap
Easter (2 bins)
Valentines
Halloween (3 bins)
Snowpants, Hats, Gloves
Ice Skates
Winter Boots
Craft Supplies
Sheets
Wedding (from 10 years ago! I should look through there one of these days - should be interesting)
College
Picture frames (3 bins)
Photos (4 bins. I have both of my grandmas photos because I should be scanning them and putting photo books together!)
Tote Bags
Beach Towels
Old toys from when I was little (2 bins)
Christmas (18 bins. yep 18)
Girl Clothes size 7 & up (2 bins for my oldest daughter for school next year)
and I have 7 bins marked JUNK because I need to SORT the contents out! I just have a hard time letting stuff go. I am getting better! Can you believe it? I guess I am border line "hoarder". But NOW I am committing to USING everything I own or getting rid of it! It feels good!
OK I am still working on it! But it feels good to be moving in the right direction!

This is what I purchased at my one and only garage sale so far this year! It was a great sale! I was her first customer! She had gorgeous BRAND NEW items! 

2012 is going to be a GREAT year of garage sales! 

New Queen bedspread $6. New SUPER SOFT cream throw $6. New Full size blanket $6. Pillows $2 each. 2 brand new roman shades $2 each. Total $26

What do we have here?

Is this a fabulous yard sale?

What could it be?

These last 2 weeks have been BUSY!
This is what I bought in the last 2 weekends of garage sales (since we have returned from the 127 sale). 

I kept all of this in my car and just kept adding to it until I was able to pull it out and sort it all. And today was the lucky day!

School clothes. Puzzles. Snow cone machine $3. 

White bench $7 that I want to paint and use for my dining room table! 

Pink snow pants $1. wooden Pepsi crate $5. 

Michigan license plate 50¢. Gumball machine $1. 

White tablecloth $1. Red polka dot rain boots $1. 

Close to My Heart stamp sets $1 each. Brand New - Pottery Barn red bean bag cover $10. 

3 adorable Halloween plates. Snowman cookie jar $1. 

2 Brand New -Pottery Barn pillow shams $5 each. 2 comforters $6 total. 

Bella Dancerella Cheerleader DVD and mat 75¢. Magnet fun game $1.

DVD movies $1 each. 2 different houses were selling their DVD collections for $1 each. 

I bought all 3 Pirates of the Caribbean DVDs for $3 total. The retail sticker showed $24.95 each. 

Cars. Shrek 1 and 2. Finding Nemo. No Strings Attached. (I think that was just released this year)

All of this was in my SUV! 

All of THIS + PLUS this bike! 

This Trek bicycle was $30. The sweet girl who used to love this beautiful pink ride was so excited to have that $30 in her hands. She told me "it even comes with the bell". So cute!
I have to hide this in the basement and save this for my daughter's birthday.

I have never seen this vintage game before. NUMBLE

It's like Scrabble but the tiles have numbers instead of letters!

They were selling 2 sets of this game. One set has never been opened!

I love these Pottery Barn school picture frames! 

There is an opening for each school year. Kindergarten through 8th grade. 

Perfect timing. I have one 1st grader and one in preschool. 

These frames were $8 each.

Whew...now my car is cleared out and I can start all over this weekend!

Happy Treasure Hunting!

Our Highway 127 longest yard sale experience

We drove about 600 miles from Michigan to Crossville, TN. What a perfect vacation spot for us. We have family in the area and of course we planned our vacation around the 127 sale!

It is overwhelming how many tents, booths and vendors there are!  

The traffic on 127 in Crossville is pretty heavy. And they still managed to MOVE A HOUSE down the highway through all that traffic! 

moving a house down Highway 127

One of my favorite parts of this sale is the amount of old, unique things you can find. I never find stuff this old at garage sales back home.

cash register and Coca Cola cooler

double bicycle

a coffin? $695

unique collections...

jars

license plates

handmade signs

The area around the Cumberland Mtn General Store in Clarkrange, TN is a sight to see! So many booths here! 

We saw the filming of HGTV's Endless Yard Sale Challenge with Cari Cucksey and Kim Myles.

Which will air on HGTV on October 16, 2011.

Cari Cucksey & Kim Myles 

One of my favorite treats were the fried pies.
apple, cherry, blueberry, peach

Fried Pies Sold Here!

and the deep fried Oreos

My Treasures...

vintage toys

Laundry sign & Pepsi crate

photos & mini bowling pins

license plates, mermaid, giant skeleton key

canister set

We shopped the sale Wed, Thur and Fri. We drove as north as Clarkrange, TN and south almost to Pikeville, TN. 

Parking is insane. Cars park along the side of the road. Some parking lots will charge a couple dollars for parking. Sometimes we would see a sale we wanted to go to but there was NO WHERE to pull over.

I think almost every seller was willing to negotiate on prices. Maybe it is just expected. Expected that buyers are going to ask for a better price and expected that the seller wants to get rid of their JUNK.

Sometimes if you just TOUCH an item the seller would say - "I can do better on that price."

The whole experience is unique. You see it all. I was called "honey" and "ma'am" more times in those few days... There was a nice, polite, charming way about the people we met.

and of course we had a little vacation for the kids too...

cooled off in the pool

played mini golf

 spotted Elvis in Nashville (about 1.5 hrs from Crossville)

stopped by the Antique Archaeology store in Nashville - from the American Pickers show

Can't wait to do it again next year! 

Did you go? What did you find? Want to meet us there next year?

There is a group on Facebook to catch all the official details...

https://www.facebook.com/127Sale

Fabulous finds

2 Barbies & accessories $2
Math book 50 cents
Skirt $2 (I plan on wearing to the 127 sale next week in TN)
Cute silver bucket, now my new office trash can, 25 cents
50 cents for the letter E
Bench $5
4 aqua plates 50 cents for all 4

Large lidded jar $2

Pyrex measuring cup 10 cents
Disney frame $1

Decanter $2

My fav... 5 vintage keys $1 each

It is such a great feeling to get out in the fresh air and find such fun treasures. 

• A very sweet woman selling the vintage keys explained to me how rare it is to find a skeleton key with a "heart bow". The bow is the loop on the key. The fancier the bow the more valuable it is. I will be looking for skeleton keys on my trip to the 127 sale. And this nice woman also shared with me that she has turned many many keys into several pieces of framed art in her home and the trick to attaching the keys is to use silicone. I am guessing that might mean the silicone tubes you can buy at Home Depot that you use to caulk your sinks, etc.
• On the bottom of the bench the retail sticker says "Display Benches Set $125.00". REALLY? OK. (There was only one bench for sale)
• I bought the large lidded jar because I am excited about adding glass jars as storage containers in my pantry.
• The Barbies were going to be for Christmas for the girls. But they FOUND THEM before I could hide them and they begged to play with them. They are pretty Barbies with many accessories. I was going to put them in fancy boxes and put them under the tree in December, but instead I asked the girls to cleanup the ENTIRE PLAYROOM before they could open up their new dolls. That was a BIG job!
• The letter E I could use to make this decoration for my wall. So cute! Just need to find a couple more letters to go with it. :-)

(found this photo on Pinterest.com)

GUESS WHAT I PAID FOR THIS GOLF SIGN FOR MY HUSBAND?

$10

He loves it!

more goodies from last weekend

from last weekend's treasure hunting...

I filled my car many times! 

These treasures went straight into my "secret suitcase" hiding spot. Christmas Presents!

games & books & DVDs 

50 cents - $2 each

Barbie golf bag $5

adorable vintage Salt & Pepper shakers $1

clock with stand $1

Footloose CD 25 cents - I need it on CD - I only have it on cassette :-)

brand new ipod speakers marked $10 but I made a deal and got it for $8 (shhh it might be a Christmas present for my husband)

Disney Princess kickboards 50 cents each

Rollerblades in EXCELLENT condition $10

Hello Kitty rain boots $3

I did not buy that table this weekend. That was a gift from a friend!

When I found this picture I got goosebumps. $5 

It exactly matches my shower curtain that I found at Salvation Army for $5 ! 

The mirror was $5 and it is now hanging by my front door.

The story of this rug is incredible! The cutest, sweetest young lady was unrolling it and I was the first to see it. She mentioned she purchased it from Pottery Barn a few months ago for $250. She is getting a divorce and selling the rug because it reminds her of her ex husband. I knew it would sell fast! I wanted that rug SO BAD!

$40 SOLD ! 

Gorgeous! Love it !

Just a portion...

It was a busy weekend of garage sales, flea markets, church rummage sales, estate sales...

This is just a portion of what I scooped up this weekend. 

pink booster seat $5

pink Christmas tree $2

striped scarf 50 cents

flower pot $1

Disney princess carriage $1

bin storage $20 YAY! love this! I am going to organize our craft supplies in this.

4 fans for $3 each

apple peeler corer slicer $3

A portion of my family stayed at our house this weekend. aunt, uncle, cousins, grandparents, mom. It was a full house! 13 of us total. We all went to the flea market, estate sales and garage sales together. 

My grandma showed us how she makes her homemade applesauce and we used my apple peeler corer slicer! 

brand new, heating pad for my mom $3

pink beverage pitcher for my mom $1

brand new, pink and gray sports bag $3

Justice Tshirt $2

horseshoe set $1

flower rain boots 50 cents

one of my favorite finds this weekend was this Schwinn bicycle I found for my daughter. $10 !!

I will post more photos from this weekend's adventures throughout the week.

My blog's 1st birthday & 1st giveaway

My blog is one year old!

I never knew blogging would be so fun. I have learned so much and met so many supportive, wonderful people. There are so many gorgeous blogs out there that I admire.

This year has changed my life!

our stairs redo

  

          I admire the blogging and decorating expertise of ThriftyDecorChick.com

She is MY FIRST BLOG LOVE. 

          I was hooked on her detailed DIY tutorials. 

         SHE inspired me to redo our STAIRS. 

          I am so amazed at how much

          she transforms in her home.

  

Girl In Air

Then there is Girl In Air who is very creative and ambitious! I fell in LOVE with her  Magnetic Chalkboard, Dry erase, with sliding ladder wall!

She has wonderful tutorials for home decor! I am so impressed by the AMOUNTS of projects she has accomplished! Wow! And she has an Etsy store. http://www.etsy.com/shop/girlinair
I really wish she could come to my house and create that fabulous Activity Wall !






And someone whom I have met in person... the very talented Sarah from ThreeBoys-home.blogspot.com. She has transformed some amazing pieces of furniture! I really could learn a million things from her!!

This is just to name a few of the many blogs that inspire me!
I really enjoy following all the amazing blogs out there! You motivate me!
There is so much talent out there and I am in love with all the creativity!


It has been a big year for Garage Sale Diaries...


I had the opportunity to meet the sweetheart Cari Cucksey from the HGTV show 'Cash and Cari'. I have managed to visit MANY of her estate sales this summer. One sale is where I found this amazing treasure for my dad's collection.



My family and I traveled to the world's longest yard sale along highway 127. The sale runs over 600 miles from Michigan to Alabama. It was an adventure to see what other people collect and sell in other parts of the country. Every year it runs the first week in August. We are going again this year!!

Also, this past year I saved our family a ton of money by purchasing the girls' Christmas gifts and Birthday gifts at garage sales. It is amazing all the BRAND NEW goodies you can find. And I shared my secret hiding spot for the presents. I just kept adding treasures to a very large suitcase throughout the year and at Christmas time I had more than enough to put under the tree! 

I won a Silhouette machine from Thrifty Decor Chick! This machine rocks! 

It cuts paper and fabric in any shape and font that is on your computer!

And I have continued to decorate our home with garage sale / estate sale treasures. 

Including 7 tables in one year! 

This next year I want to learn more about transforming furniture! Home Depot has had some fabulous colors of OOPS paint that I have been buying up for $5 for a gallon and $1 for a quart. 

In celebration of my blog's 1st birthday I would like to present a gift to my friends!

My very first GIVEAWAY!!

FLEA MARKET STYLE MAGAZINE 

(retail $9.95)

There are so many inspiring photos and articles in the 144 pages! 
I love this magazine and I want to share it! 

Ways to enter my giveaway:

1. Become a follower of my blog. Then leave me a comment letting me know you are a follower. If you are already a follower just leave a comment letting me know!

2. Follow me on Twitter. Then leave me a comment. http://twitter.com/#!/garagesalediary

3. Like my Facebook page. Please leave a comment letting me know.
 www.facebook.com/garagesalediaries

4. Post a comment about your favorite garage sale treasure, what you like to look for at garage sales or your favorite garage sale story! I love to hear about everyone's treasures!

I want to thank you all for reading along with me on my adventures!!

Yes, this is open to everyone, even my friends outside the U.S. (you there in Australia and China)
This giveaway will be open for 6 days, until next Tuesday, July 12, 2011 at midnight EST. I will announce the winner of a FLEA MARKET STYLE MAGAZINE and post my new treasures I find over the weekend on Wednesday, July 13, 2011 !!