The Good~
If your interested in people, like I am, an estate sale is like a window into someone life. By the time you have made your way through the sale, you really kinda get a mental snapshot of who the person was and what kind of life they led.
I especially love it when a family member is putting on the sale. That’s when I get all the stories of how their mother loved that hat and how their wife wore that coat to all the parties and it was her favorite or how they wore that dress when they were a teenager. It’s nice for me and its nice for the family, some days, I keep a tissue in the ‘ole pockets in case I start watering up.
M-E-MO-R-I-E–S !!! LIGHT THE CORNERS OF MY MIND…..misty watered colored memories….of the way they were… {little Barbara Streisand for ya}
Vintage stuff is just automatically cool and at these sales, there is lots of it. Buying these items also makes me feel like I’m extending people’s legacy, I just think its neat that a little part of that person is gonna be “livin’ on” with someone else and that their items are once again gonna be enjoyed.
Since I sell most of my vintage scores in my Etsy shop, I feel like I’m doing my part to spread the love, cause now Aunt Betty’s beloved coat is going to live at Katie’s house in New York. What did we do before the days of the internet?
The bad~
Some of these sales can really be kinda sad and a little creepy.
Some homes reek of some unidentifiable smells , some have dank Freddy Krueger spider filled basements and attics and some still have hospital beds in the living room, Aww, one day we will be old too.
I hope ghosts don’t really exist, because I don’t know if the recently deceased might appreciate me hauling away their prized processions. I could be doomed. Oh, lawd.
You better hope you ate your wheaties before you visit one of these sales, cause you buy what you can carry in your little chicken arms and It pretty much never fails that the first thing I pick up is usually some big ass 100 lbs coat or a huge vase that I have to lug around for the rest of the sale. It is a big possibility that you might be lugging boxes out of a 1000 degree dark attic down 5 flights of stairs and unfortunately your car is 20 miles down the road. Good thing your adrenaline is in high gear at these things, it’s the thrill of the hunt, don’t do drugs, do estate sales instead # cleanliving.
You CAN go ahead and pay, load your car and then come back to the sale, but time is not on your side at these sales, cause while you’re loading your car, Sallie Mae buyer just scored that vintage pink coat in the other room, curses……darn you Sallie Mae’s of the world.
The Ugly~
Speaking of the other people at the sale, other buyers and sellers can sometimes be ugly and are a reality show just waiting to happen. Some of them are downright annoying, or is it me? PMS is a bitch.
There are the seasoned vintage sellers who know everyone and everything, the ebayer, the book guy, the guy looking for gold, the annoying husband and wife teams, the young girl with the basket, who looks like red riding hood and the old man looking for tools.
There is also the incredibly obnoxious lady wondering why she didn’t get a chance to look in the box before you picked up the whole thing and carried it away. The admirer, who’s following you around eyeballing everything you pick up and the lady who knocks you down as she speeds past you. I might have to trip her one of these days.
Then there are the Feshies as I call them, the professional companies hired to run a sale, some of them are nice but I have found most to be generally unpleasant. They have their minions stalking you around from room to room watching you like a hawk to make sure you don’t steal anything and that lady checking you out..why doesn’t she ever smile…its a mystery.
I get it, maybe there’s a criminal element that they all have dealt with in the past, but it ain’t me sister, so gimme a break.
Estate SaleTips~
*Come first or come last, sales are usually on Friday-Sunday, you may get the best score by coming first, but if you come last you get the best deal, typically everything is 1/2 off on the last day of the sale.
*Have a game plan, depending on what you’re looking for, if you’re looking for clothing, head toward the bedroom, if you want tools, head out to the garage first, if you want some soap from 100 years ago, head to the bathroom and so forth. {you sicko} Thank goodness, I have never seen any undergarments for sale. Seriously, they sell anything and everything at estate sales.
*Don’t forget to haggle, never hurts to ask.
*Be respectful of the items, don’t just toss it around like yesterday’s garbage.
*Bring cash
*Bring hand sani
*Bring a box or basket
*Make your own sticky notes that say “Sold” on them and stick them on things you absolutely can’t carry, make sure your really gonna buy it though before you put that sticky on it.
*Inspect it and Smell it, some stuff you can’t launder or air out
Each sale has a different vibe, you kinda don’t know how its gonna go till you get in there and dig around. Overall, these things are interesting and fun and you just never know what in the world you will find. Every sale that I have gone to I always find myself saying, at least once, “what in the heck is this”, cause I have no idea.
What’s your craziest estate sale experience, leave me a comment and don’t forget to subscribe!
Also, if you wanna see some of my finds, visit my Etsy shop!
xoxo
-stylishpiggy
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stylishpiggy
Stylish Piggy 
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