Garage Sale Finds: A Time To Give Back

Beth is going to pre-school this school year. Our local Methodist Church has offered this program for decades - in fact all my boys attended when they were youngsters. You need not be a member of the church. There is a fee but it is very reasonable.

The church holds an annual rummage sale every September. Since we never did manage to have a sale ourselves this summer, I decided I would give a lot of the items we have been storing to the church. They are giving so much to Beth, surely we can give a few items to help with their fund raising. When we took our donation over I was amazed at the amount of items packed in the church itself - I couldn't wait to actually be a buyer.

We didn't go to the sale until late in the afternoon on the first day. In fact we were the only ones there so I took one quick photo. I should have aimed the camera in the other direction so you could see just how jam packed the pews were. We spent a lot of time going through all the books, housewares, toys, etc. I gave the clothing a quick look over. Pricing was simplistic - whatever you could fit into a plastic grocery bag was $1. Anything too big for a bag was $1. We filled one bag and I found a Stone Mountain purse - our total - $2.

So, what did I put in the bag? A few books for the kids. Pants for Beth and Wullie, pj's for Henry. A Bratz doll (not for Beth but for me to use as a model to make doll clothes). And a 1979 issue of Saturday Evening Post featuring John Wayne. I know, I was one happy customer.

The next day Charles called and asked if we wanted to go to the sale. Sonny was home for the weekend and he wanted to go. Grandpa declined. I was all for going again with the intention that I would spend my time really looking through the clothes. I had just glanced over them the day before. Beth needs pants and tops for pre-school so I was hoping to find a few articles for her.

We arrived at the sale early afternoon. After a closer look at the clothes I found a few tops for Beth. And for Wullie a winter jacket with snow pants to go with. It's a bit big which means he will get a couple years wear out of it. I spent another $2.

Charles bought the kids some toys. Children's books were free this day - limit five. So he and I each picked out five.

Sonny found a bunch of clothing to buy including some nice flannel shirts. He was charged a dollar but gave them two.

I hope the church made a lot of money from the event even though they were selling everything so cheaply. When we got there on Saturday I could see that much had sold - a lot of the items we donated were gone. In fact the workers at the sale said they were amazed at the amount of customers they had in the morning. And on top of that they were serving free corn dogs and ice cream novelties. We declined lunch but Beth and Wullie each enjoyed a fudgesicle. It was an amazing sale and the church members were so inviting and friendly.

When we got home Sonny was so thrilled with his purchases he proclaimed that he would only buy clothing from garage sales in the future. That's a bit unrealistic but it's possible to get much of ones wardrobe this way. Sonny said he just doesn't care what others think - no keeping up with the Jonses for him! In fact he is squirreling everything possible away, making solid investments, and is planning to retire early. He is aiming for the simple life. Am I a proud Frugal Grandma or what?