Garage Saleing with only $2.

As I mentioned before I like to find items at garage sales to sell on eBay. It takes longer but I think you can get better deals.

A couple of weekends ago I only had $2 left in my buying budget. I thought it would make for an interesting challenge.

I begin my quest about 9:30 Sat. morning. At the first few garage sales I go through the same routine. It is straight to the "free box." In every one I see nothing except what to me is garbage. I then browse the sales themselves. I was disappointed at the sales I was going to. There was nothing I wanted to buy even if I had unlimited funds.
Then I go to a town house. They have a whole room called the "free room." Stuff is scattered around instead of in a box. And I find something I want.

HANGERS! And not just any hangers, but wire ones. I don't have any at home and they come in really handy when you have a slightly clogged drain.

At this point I have spent $0 and have 2 hangers. I go to the next garage sale. This is where real excitement happens.

Immediately I see a spinning special occasions card holder. I need one of these to display the Ghost Sign Cards I make. Examples can be seen at http://www.ghostsignsseattle.com/gift-store.html. Mandy also makes cards so it wouldn't be just for me. (Convincing myself it is OK to buy)

At this point I would like to interject I have a rule of not buying something for myself unless I have had success at buying objects to sell.

I ask the price knowing it will be above $2, but hoping. The woman I ask doesn't know and goes off to find the answer.

I look around the sale and find many interesting things including post cards from the early 20th century. This is not good for my spending. I find things that would make great gifts too. uh oh.

So I put everything I am interested in into a pile. By the time the woman comes back I have broken down. I throw out a price for everything in my pile and the card holder. She asks for a few more dollars. And then I say the words that destroy my experiment.

"Will you take a post-dated check?"

So I ended up with some interesting post cards, gifts, card holder, and an Army card that I will be selling.

A big reason I bought the items was, not only because I wanted them, but because by talking with the sellers and then buying from them I found out about a hole-in-the-wall bookstore that they had donated some of their historical Seattle materials to. I'm doing research on Seattle, WA history, so this is a great find for me. I paid more than I would have normally too. But sometimes making connections is worth it. I ended up with a book from that store that gave me information I had not found before.

An interesting book, by Tim Houston, featured in With Five Questions, speaks about the importance of networking like this.

Below is the War Dept. card I purchased and two of the post cards.

WAR DEPT. CARD
Notice of Classification

I will post link to eBay when I put it up.

POST CARDS. 

The hotel is the Butler from Seattle. Torn down years ago.

The second card is about Prohibition that began in the Northwest sooner than the rest of America.

I think I will put that one up for sale soon as well. I will post links when I do.

And that is how you go to garage sales with only $2 to spend.