Estate/yard sales -- you just never know

Linda and I headed out early yesterday morning to three estate and yard sales.  Duane wasn't able to go with us due to family commitments.  I was just sure that the first sale was going to be the jackpot.  It was being held in an older part of town and the only place it was listed was The Flyer.  It's gotten kind of pricey to put an ad in The Flyer -- especially since you can list for free on Craig's List and Gsalr.com.  It was listed as an estate sale, though, so you can imagine our disappointment when Linda and I met at the address only to discover that it was an elderly man just getting rid of some things.  In other words -- a garden variety yard sale.  He had some tables set up in his one car garage and an area next to it.  Linda noticed that the items were kind of pricey although I did hear the man say that everything was half off the sticker price.  Something tells me that he was a flea market vendor and was just getting rid of some stuff.  Neither of us saw anything we wanted at his yard sale.

The next sale was out in a bedroom community called Lutz.  It was an honest to goodness estate sale.  The people having it were selling everything including a lot of nice furniture because they're moving out of state and plan to build a new house when they do.  Although neither of us bought anything, we were relieved that this one was an actual estate sale and not just a yard sale.  The prices were good and the items were nice, too.

The last sale which was held a little further north in Lutz was the one I least expected to be a good one.  It was listed as a yard sale and just said, 'lots of misc.' which can mean anything.  Also, it was located in a mixed area of old industrial type stores and older small houses.  Well, we hit one of the coolest sales I've been to in awhile.  It was a little old house and items were set up on tables in the yard, on the porch and in the house.  It turned out to be the home of a couple who sell at one of the best flea markets around -- the Webster flea market.  I posted here when Linda and I went to the market in Webster last spring.  This couple wants to get out of the business so they held what was basically a mini flea market of cool stuff at their house.  Lots of vintage items.  I bought a garnet necklace and a bag of wood crochet hooks.  Linda found a beautiful vintage Japanese/Nippon coffee/tea cup of the type of porcelain she collects.  We were just sorry that Duane missed this sale.  She loves old stuff.  Apparently there was even more jewelry when they started their sale at 8am so who knows what we missed.  The lady told me that she's going to have another sale in about a month.  We don't want to miss it!

So the least promising looking of the sales from an advertising perspective was, by far, the best one.  As we tell ourselves, you just never know what will be a dud and what will be a find.

We also went to a thrift shop that I had noticed before but had never visited called Friends and Neighbors Thrift Store.  It's located a bit off the main road just before you leave Tampa and enter Lutz.  Nice shop with good stuff and good prices.  I bought a couple of DVDs and Linda fell in love with the prettiest wicker table painted blue.  The owner told us that next Saturday, they're having their parking lot sale and the furniture will be 1/2 price plus anyone in the community is welcome to set up a table and sell stuff for free.  We're going to head back and (fingers crossed!) hope that Linda can snag that table for 1/2 price.

Lastly, we went to a Starbucks that was inside a Super Target.  I'd never been to this but it was in Lutz and Linda knew about it.  It was a nice break after a fun morning.

Our buys.