Life, Rummage Sale Madness, & Tool Hauls

Life. Life has been busy and full of some crazy ups and downs this past month!
What do I mean? All in good time… ;)
I’ll be able to divulge some of what has been going on, and other things will have to remain private from blog-land, but there’s beginning to be a light at the end of the tunnel, and I’m excited to have the last pieces fall into place in the next few weeks so I can spring the news!
If you have been following me on Instagram, you may have been seeing these last few snippets from when hubby and I were in Pittsburgh for a weekend visiting my bro and sis-in-law:
My sis-in-law C and I share a love for a bargain, negotiating, and anything yardsale/estate sale/sale-sale. She is also an amazing detailed planner, and had all sorts of fun bargain festivities planned out for us to go check out that weekend. One of them was a barn sale:

The fact that they actually call it a barn makes me question everything I’ve ever known about barns.

Then there was another day for a church’s “day on the lawn” rummage sale in the town of Sewickley. Sewickley could be described as the Main Line of Pittsburgh, comparable to Phila’s Main Line. Thus, there was bound to be some awesome finds at this sale!

It was raining the morning of the rummage sale, so as we rounded the last bend with umbrellas bumping each other on our walk to the location, I was expecting there to not be as many people as my bro and C were describing from past years. 
I was mistaken. 
A HUGE crowd was waiting around the taped-off (yes, they had tape up) perimeter before the 10am start time. There were different tents for different items, such as a furniture tent, book tent, outdoor gear tent, etc. – It was a lovely sight for these bargain-loving eyes.
[All pix of the rummage sale hence are from the Church’s FB – credits to whoever took them, as I was busy scoping out the sale & forgot to take my own!]
people lined up around the perimeter
 Now I’ve been to years of Black Fridays at 2am with people pressing into you when the doors open, and library book sales where you are packed like sardines and squeezing by people in tight aisles and fights have broken out to the point that police have not failed to henceforth have a presence at these book sales each year to monitor (don’t mess with bookworms?).
This was even more intense.
On the awaited day at exactly 10am, they cut the tape, and…
…madness ensued! It was a mass of bodies rushing into the lot and hands scrambling to grab the item they’d had their eyes on.
how did I miss this room?! 
Unlike the wild-eyed masses, we four had come just for the fun of it and walked leisurely in, though I do admit that once in I made a beeline for the furniture tent. It was hard to even see what was there for all the bodies there. 
For good or bad I didn’t find anything that I had to take home with me in the whole of the sale (and I made several loops to be sure), but it was certainly an experience!
Once back home, I’ve been having some good fun at a few recent estate and yardsales and scoring some awesome tool hauls. We’ve been in need of expanding our tool-set, and at an estate sale I found a circular saw with charger & 2 batteries, Craftsman tool box, sander & sandpaper, all for $55!
All this for $55!!!
Last weekend I also attended an auction and nearly broke the bank when I won this fantastically large steamer trunk for…$9.
You guys, I wish there were more auctions like this one. Desks, hutches, tables, and chairs were all going for mere dollars. As in $5. Or even $2. I think the most expensive thing there was a tall and beautiful custom hutch that went for $175! It was nuts.
At another sale, got these 2 wooden-handled shovels (my preference over fiberglass), 2 new brad nailers & box of nails, and mouse sander with a lifetime supply of sandpaper for a total of $15!
Oh and fun fact – the same weekend that I bought the steamer trunk and the yardsale haul of tools for $15, I also sold some things and made $35. Yup, I actually made a profit, lol. I’m still grinning about that one.
Updates will likely be sporadic still this month because of the earlier-mentioned event/s taking place right now that I will spill the beans on soon.
Till next time! :)

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