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Everyone has some activity they enjoy and Lori and I are no exception.
Nearly every Saturday morning, we head out just after the crack of dawn
to visit garage sales, yard sales and rummage sales. It dates back to
when we had our online company Hollywood Headquarters back in L.A.
Then, of course, we were seeking books, CDs, DVDs and VHS which we
resold on eBay and Amazon. It was fun while it lasted. We did it for
two years and grossed about $75,000 a year.
Now, we do it for fun and to decorate our apartment and stock my office. These days, I still seek CDs but mostly for my own enjoyment. I rip them to my computer and sell them in bulk lots of 50 or so on eBay so someone else can make some money too. For Lori, it's artwork for her Ladies Art Wall and anything "cat" for our Cat Bedroom. Sometimes, I seek specific things, like a tripod for the Hi-8 video camera we got at a yard sale for $20 or a bag for my tumba. I have also stocked my office almost 100% from garage sales. As an example, I bought 50 sheets of glossy ink jet photo paper for $1, a beautiful wooden file cabinet for $8, a wooden screen that separates my office from the kitchen for $1. One Saturday, I nabbed four sealed printer cartridges for Lori's printer for $2 each. We got the printer, a HP, for $5. I'm using a HP scanner I bought for $8. (That particular day seemed to be "Scanner Day," and I picked up another one for $5. Since it was newer, I donated it to our church.) Furniture-wise, I got a black metal entertainment center for nothing, two filing tables for $3 each and my coup of the century: an authentic hospital table (the steel kind that can be cranked up and down) for $4. I use it as my primary "desktop." We bought all of our four clocks for $2 each or less at yard sales, my stacking desk trays (plastic and metal) for $1 each, and loads of labels, printer paper, and file folders for pennies each. In case you weren't sure how obsessive I am, let me lead you down the path which led to this morning's yard sales trip: Thursday and Friday, Lori identified the viable sales in the St. Petersburg Times classifieds. The first thing I did was find each address in Google maps. Then, by trial and error, I figure out which ones are close to one another or on the way to one another and map our route. Today's trip is a real extravaganza because we are visiting two beach communities, Gulfport, east and west St. Petersburg, Largo, Clearwater and Dunedin. Armed with the maps, I ride shotgun/guide and Lori drives because she has (admittedly) no sense of direction and is a better driver than I am. The very best sales are the ones where dozens of families lay stuff out in a church rec hall or something. We find the coolest stuff at sales run by gay men or lesbians, the worst stuff at sales in trailer parks and we are often surprised by sales which don't appear to be good but turn out to be terrific. |
