Crazy Thrifty Crafts: rummage sales

Monday, May 14, 2012

Free-style pickin' in rural Ohio

I love this time of year in Ohio. The trees are green. The wildflowers are still blooming. The temperatures are moderate. And everybody is doing spring cleaning and piling up their leftover junk outside on their driveways, lawns, in garages or at their local churches to sell to garage sale pickers like me. Woohoo!

After a few weeks apprenticing with the garage sale experts, the boyfriend and I are now feeling confident enough to venture out on our own and do some free-style pickin' in rural Ohio.

We picked a route that would take us to a small state park where we could do a 2 mile hike with the dog and then end in Waldo, Ohio for the famous fried bologna sandwich.

The boyfriend spotted the first sale. It was at a well-kept old farmhouse with a medium-sized barn and another small outbuilding. Only a few things were in the driveway, but as soon as I pulled in, I spotted something I needed a closer look at.

An old knee-hole desk was sitting in the driveway. I glanced at it but not for too long so as not to appear too interested, and then headed into the outbuilding to see what else she had. The woman of the house said it was half off everything today. They had started the sale last week and were ready to get rid of everything else. Just the deal-making attitude we're looking for. I told her I might be interested in the desk.

I went back to the desk, looked it over real good: nice dovetail work, nice details, a little scratched but nothing major, lovely curved front drawers, just a smidgen of veneer missing off the front of one drawer and replacement hardware. I started picturing what I could do with this desk immediately. I offered her $20, she took $25. Next thing I know, boyfriend and I are puttin' it in the back of my Jeep.

First stop and I scored a great piece! Now I was totally psyched.

One church rummage sale and several garage sales later, we stumbled upon a flea market/junk shop. It didn't look like much at first, didn't have a sign, just a few kids' toys and a couple old bikes outside of it. But once we got inside we discovered it was a long building with room after room of junk. Some of it looked like dealer space in a flea market. I started hunting and pickin' my way through it til I came to a room with mostly china and glass in it.

Turns out this flea market is being run by three siblings, all under 16, who started selling stuff from their own collections and are now buying and selling from garage sales, auctions, flea markets, and craigslist. Their dad was on hand to supervise at the shop and he told me this was all his kids' idea and he carts them around, driving from sale to sale to pick things up. But he made sure I understood that the kids do all the haggling, buying, pricing, selling, and organizing.

I was so impressed that these three kids are creative, ambitious, and driven enough to run their own flea market. They rent out space and take things on consignment, as well as stock the place with stuff they purchase themselves.

Here's a picture of one of the daughters (there are two daughters and a son) who was working the cash register. Absolutely adorable! They call the place All Stuff Flea Market & Trading Post. They have a Facebook page. I LIKE it! Hope you will too!

And check out the other great finds I bought there and elsewhere on our Saturday free-style pickin' outing.