Monday, June 10, 2013

400 Mile Yard Sale Treasures - 2013

 Well, we've done it again.  I'd better use this stuff or get that hole in my head.
We set a record for this highway yard sale in that we got more free stuff than we bought!
  
 Last year we started on Thursday in Paris, KY on the  HWY 68, 400 Mile Yard Sale and ended on Sunday traveling from Hopkinsville, KY to Paducah, KY.  There were very few sales out on Sunday, so this year we traveled to Paducah on Thursday, had a good visit with my cousin, and Friday morning started out from Paducah.

We came across several FREE boxes & whole wagon loads.

 All of the items above except the glassware were free.  I grab clothing not faded too bad to use for quilts and doll clothes.  Even the blue pan the glassware is in was free. 


 At Aurora we headed down the addition that was added last year to the 400 mile.  It goes through Murray, KY down to Paris, TN.  We were VERY disappointed.  Only a few residents set up.  Most of our stops were permanent stores.  Really shocked that on a Saturday not many were set up.  We had heard of the HWY 70 yard sale in TN also going on, so after Paris, TN, we headed on down.  All I've got to say is TN folks just aren't has excited about yard sales.


We traveled over several miles in about an hour to the end close to Nashville, then headed back to KY and joined HWY 68 at Russellville, KY.
 It was close to 4:00 CDT and since many don't set out on Sunday (in this Bible Belt country), prices are drastically dropped late Saturday.  They'd rather sell it cheap, or even give it away. In this case we found 2 large trailer loads of free stuff.  Wished I'd gotten a picture of the the trailers.  Great experience.  Folks were helping each other find stuff.  Not grabbing stuff from each other like a department store event.  This yard was close to Auburn, KY.  The event was a money making project for a church youth group.


If Mr. G hadn't been with me to keep me toned down, I'd probably stuffed more free junk in my van than I needed.  Only a couple of times, he asked what I was going to do with stuff.  
  
After we reached Bowling Green, KY we had a nice supper then headed back home (2 ½ hour drive.)
 After church Sunday, we drove over to Paris, KY and headed to Maysville, Ky.  Past history has told us not to expect very many yard sales on Sunday afternoon.  Even those that do set up in a rented space, usually want to quit around 2 on Sunday and go home.

Sunday is another good time for bargains, since people don't want to load up everything.

  There never has been many yard sales just north of Paris until you get to Millersburg, KY.  We've always gotten something there.

People did start packing up due to rain threat.  We found the wagons above with everything marked at 25¢.  This was as bad as the free stuff.  I had to restrain myself.

Rain started just as we got into Maysville, KY as if thinking we were done and it was o.k. to rain. 

Row 1-
*Fan for my sewing desk, can run on battery.
*Block of the month- 12 cut with design picture.  I usually don't pay $5 for something like this, but still cheaper than store bought.
*Was buying the waste can (flower pot) and lady ran in the house to give me the soap dispenser. Surprise added bonus.
 Row 2-
* Garage storage.  Cheaper than the drawers I already purchased from Restore.
* Bolt of red/green fabric will be my next Christmas bags.  
* Will spend $1 on box of fabric, not per piece.  Will pay $5 for large box/bag.
Row 3-
*Sewing notion storage
*Parked next to nursery & accidentally found table of free herbs.  Got some for my neighbor that watches my house while we are gone.
*Statue for deck

 Row 1-
*Normally only pay 25¢ for books, even hard back, because that's what I pay @ local Goodwill.
*At the 25¢ wagon, we asked the guy if we could have one of the boxes he was tossing, & he gave us the crate.
Row 2-
*Jewelry box AND jewelry all $5 and the box looked like one my Mother had when I was growing up.
* I never buy glassware, but this was sitting on the curb as if to take, but when we stopped a gentleman asked $2 apiece, then $1, then 50¢.   It was Sunday and he was tired he said.  Since he came from across the street, I wondered if they were even his. Nevertheless, having a lot of experience at yard sales, I knew some of these pieces were old.  I offered $5 for the whole box.  In the end, he wanted me to take 3 boxes for $10, but I just didn't have the place to put them.  Now, I realize I could use something on top of my kitchen cabinets.  I've seen some of these pieces have a $15 tag on them in antique stores.

Row 1-
* About 6 yards of curtain lining that will do fine to back a quilt.
* Grabbed bags to stuff other stuff in, but a gentleman was grabbing all as fast as he could.  Grabbed the bowl for a birdbath.  Thinking about using one of the bags as a door decor.
* Definitely the big bargain.  LOTs of clothes for fabric.  I helped a lady find fabrics to make costumes for a Cinderella play and she helped me grab hangers.  Also got an embroidery hoop, wreath, wooden vase, 2 bags to stuff things in & metal shelf on coaster.  Lots of things I couldn't have gotten and loaded up if it had not been for Mr. G.  Will tell a story about this on another post.
Row 2-
*Galvanized tub has holes for plants.  The black piece is an iron kettle (no handle.)  Found one next day for $20, which is about average.
*Magazines were in a free box.  Again, books have to be 25¢ each.  Found a sewing book for my student.  Something that's never really outdated.
*Yep, I still watch VHS but will only pay 25¢ as that is what my Goodwill charges.  Cheap entertainment.
Row 3-
*One thing I like about Yard Sale-ing is meeting people.  This lady was downsizing her studio, and so I was able to use her spool organizers.
*The one thing I did scavenge for on this trip was doll clothes patterns.  There were 13 patterns in this bag for $5.  Not all of them were doll patterns.  Only about 4 doll patterns, while the rest were home decor and bag patterns.
*My price limit for patterns, since I already own about 200 of them, is 25¢.  Yes, I went over for the doll patterns.


As we set out on this trip, I said I didn't need anything, and vowed to spend very little money.  I kept my vow.

All in all, the weather for the yard sale worked out just fine for us.  Nice cool breezes blowing, and the rain dodged us. 










Thanks to the FREE programs:
possibly used for this post
GIMP for cropping & other digital effects
 Photoscape for downsizing & watermarking photo
PicMonkey creating collages used on this page



7 comments:

  1. Holy cow! That is amazing. I honestly would want to go to this alone. I don't like going with other people because they either take too long when I am done or they find the things I would want to buy first. If I went with my husband, he would give me a hard time about everything!
    You found some amazing stuff! Very jealous.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I really enjoyed the trip with you and all the treasures you found. I just did a small yard sale event and was exhausted. I cannot imagine how tired you must be after this. Of course, you were probably dancing with glee at the free things!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Actually, I never know from one day to the next how much energy I will have. For some reason I was barely going on Friday but then Saturday and Sunday went well, while Mr. G was super tired by Sunday. Today (the day after) I've been puttering around cleaning up the stuff and putting it away. It's a real adventure for us to go down the road to see what we can find next. If it's super hot, that's another story. Glad you enJOYed your trip with us.

      Delete
  3. Wow what a haul! Looks like you had a lot of fun meeting people along the way too! Have fun with your goodies! ~Diane

    ReplyDelete
  4. Incredible finds! It's so much fun going out and meeting new people.

    Thanks for linking up with us this week at BeBetsy BRAG ABOUT IT Tuesday Link and Hop.

    We'd love it if you would link back to BeBetsy at the bottom of your post. http://bebetsy.com

    See you next week!
    Sharon and Denise

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for the heads up BeBetsy. I had forgotten to add your button to my Linky Party page. I hope all my readers make a visit to your beautiful blog which I do enJOY. Thanks for hosting the party.

      Delete
  5. I am so jealous of your great finds! And i love all of the free finds! Thanks for sharing this as well on Fidlin' Fridays!

    ReplyDelete

Have a JOYful day!
Leave a comment or an email if you like.
I will enJOY either.
Please LEAVE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS if you need a reply.