Estate Sale Friday

Last Friday, my mother and I went to two estate sales in our area and got quite a haul.

The first sale was hosted by the same family with the Bag of Used Soap from the week before, but they had more things out. We did quite well there, finding a few kitchen wares, some fun things, and lots of books and craft magazines (which we got for essentially free).

The Home Improvement books and Craft Magazines are a hoot and have the best pictures! The Kitchens and Bathrooms are the most fun; they come in the best colors.

There's Vixen the Reindeer Apron again! And isn't the tablecloth envelope just so cool? It's made so that you can fold up your fancy tableclothes in it when you put them away and they won't get all damaged.
The Troll Doll is a Dam troll from 1988 with his original tags on him. He's wearing a uniform with a shirt from Cellwood Machinery.

The second sale was the estate of an Army Officer and his wife who was an Army Nurse during WWII. In one of the rooms they had this charming portrait of the couple; too bad it was damaged.
Their house was wonderfully decorated with lots of things from the Philipines and Japan (she was in Japan in the war) and was quite fun to look through. They also had some kind of weird things like this "chewbacca scale" which I suppose was intended to keep your feet warm on cold mornings.
We found a few things we could use including a Gemco pump action Ketchup and Mustard set (more picnic ware) for $1.00 and a Butterfly Gold Pyrex Lasagna Pan for $3.00.

I even found a rhinestone necklace finally. I always see the prettiest rhinestone necklaces at estate sales but my neck is too big for them usually. This one fits just right and was only $6.00. I love it and will wear it the next time I take Betty (the mink) out for a night on the town.

We usually go to estate sales on Sundays when everything is half price and so when we went to this one on Friday we were pleased to see things priced as we would want them to be. We also usually miss out on the good things like jewelry and apparently bags of soap.

Maybe they're more common than we thought.

We didn't buy too many things last Friday but at the second sale we bought things that we can actually guarantee will get used.

What's your favorite thing to look for at estate sales? I always look in Kitchens first for Pyrex and other Kitchenware.

Please visit these parties to which I am linking this post:

Thrifty Thursday @ Tales from Bloggeritaville
Garage Salen Party @ debbiedoos

"A Very Thrifty Picnic" and "Cooking With Vixen"

Tomorrow, July 31st, there is a huge "all church, all county" picnic in my area and a few of my friends and I are going together.

Before we could have our picnic I needed to acquire things like plates, silverware, cloth napkins, and other picnic essentials. Not being made of money AND being into everything vintage, I have been picking things up over the last week and I managed to get everything I needed and more.

No single item in this picture cost me more than $7 and much of it I already owned.


The silverware I got at the estate sale where we found A Bag Of Used Soap. It was $6.00 and all pieces are in what my mother calls the "twinkle star" pattern from various companies but much is Oneida. The drink cooler (named Wallace) is from the same sale and cost me $3.00. The Federal glass salt and pepper (pictured later) cost $1.00 for the pair.


The silverware caddy came from Goodwill for $3.00 And all the pyrex is from Goodwill as well. The most expensive item is the 4 qt Red Cinderella bowl for $7.00


The red and white checked tablecloth (above) I bought at Fred Meyer's on clearance at the end of May for around $2.00 and it's been waiting for a sunny day ever since.
The quilt (under the mixing bowls) I found at a garage sale for $1.00. The underside is red and white mattress ticking while the top has some great feedsack prints.
The plates I found in a garage sale's free pile.

I think they were once someone's fine wedding china but they were too chippy for their purposes; perfect for mine!

Also not pictured are some cloth napkins, a couple of white melmac plates, and a pair of gemco ketchup and mustard pump bottles (they look like hand soap bottles!) that I found today.

And I'm going to be using our new Town and Country Radio Flyer Wagon (it's supposed to be someone's birthday present but not 'til we fix it up) to cart a lot of these things, along with coolers full of food, from the car to the picnic site. We got it at Goodwill a couple of days ago for only $12.99. It needs some work, but it was a great steal (new it costs $114.00 on Amazon).


Today I made a wonderful new friend, Vixen, the reindeer apron. Here we are when we first met!


It's like we were made for each other! I just had to have her (I love aprons) and at $0.50 how could I refuse? She was just begging me to take her home! I went back today to the same sale at which I saw the Bag of Used Soap and found her along with a few other fun things. She and I had great fun baking today even though she tried to eat everything (it was right at mouth level and all).

As I am "the one who bakes" among my friends, my contributions in the way of edible things for tomorrow are pumpkin bread (which I baked in the butterfly gold pyrex that I scored for $3.00 today) and raspberry pie!



Vixen and I attempted to make Chocolate Chip cookies from a years-old mix but they didn't quite turn out.


My mother (being sweet) says that they look like Pralines while my father (like a ten year old boy) says that they look like fake barf puddles. Vixen was pleased that they turned out so flat because that way she gets to eat them even if she does have to fight my dad for them.

In all, my picnic items cost me (not including the pyrex that we already owned) $16.50. I am very pleased with the total cost and excited to use it all!!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone and happy thrifting! I'll post more next time about the sales we hit today.

I've linked this blog to:

Thrifty Treasures @ Southern Hospitality
Nifty Thrifty Tuesdays @ Coastal Charm
Thrift Share Monday @ Apron Thrift Girl