Garage sales and yard sales

I love garage sales. I have found neat stuff, and met some nice people.
I like benefit garage sales the best, simply because I like the idea that people have gotten together and contributes stuff for a cause.

My very favorite is the annual fair at the local Catholic church; as well as vendors and food and kiddie rides and games they host a plant sale and 'white elephant' sale. In addition they have a snack area and the ladies always sell wonderful homebaked items. It is something I look forward to attending each year because I always find some friends there, and it is a fine way to spend a day.

I always find nice plants there, from local gardeners who donate extras to the sale. And of course end up with garage sale treasures. I think it was last year, I got a $650 Living Air Purifier for $5, which along with the HEPA filters I have do wonders to reduce allergens.

Do y'all stop at garage sales? What treasures have you found?

Hubby isn't fond of garage sales, so I rarely go to them (since he does all the driving)... we are usually on the lookout for snake cages though. One day we saw the neighbors three doors down having a garage sale. I got a nice ten gallon aquarium for $5 (it had a locking reptile lid) and they learned that I raised mice and rats, and I've probably sold them several hundred dollars of mice and rats. When they found they could walk to my house and buy them for 1/4 the price instead of driving 75 miles round trip, they were quite pleased.

Hubby and I had our first garage sale ever two days before christmas. We made a little over $150 and were barely prepared to even have one. We're hoping to have another one the weekend after next, and so long as circumstances allow this, that is what we are going to do. We plan to try to have one once a month the first four months of the year. After that it will be too darn hot!

At this point in time we're more hopeful that other people will find garage sale treasures at our house than that we will find treasures elsewhere.

I even sold some mice at a garage sale. I picked out some of my cutest mice, and had them arranged in large critter keepers, wheel, water bottle. Get ten times the money for pet mice compared to feeder mice. Maybe next fall some of my baby snakes will be at one of our garage sales. We have to pick days like when they have the big rodeo (1/2 a mile down the road from us)... our house is on the main road leading there. Lotsa traffic.

Like Sasheena, I too happened upon a deal on tanks. I was driving somewhere (never made it there) and saw tanks so I stopped. It just so happened the guy was into fish and had just had an acrylic set up installed. I ended up getting 10 ten and 5 twenty gallon tanks for $60 bucks.

Yay for garage sales. I bought one of my Minolta XG-1 cameras with a 50 mm lens for $2 at a garage sale. I figured, hey if it doesn't work it's still worth it to get it fixed." I popped a battery in her and the pictures I've posted here are from that $2 camera. The flash shoe didn't work on the XG-1 body I already had but it works on the $2 one.

My best place to buy tanks, rats, mice and the occasional reptile is a local small animal auction held the second Sunday of every month. This month I bought 27 medium to large and a couple Jumbo rats for 85 cents each. They were split up in six 10 gallon tanks with water bottles and black metal screen tuff tops.

Last month I bought 25 mice for 55 cents each and they were split up into two groups and in two 10 gallon tanks with home-made tops with water bottles and one had a wheel in it.

I've bought tons of dwarf and Syrian hamsters and have never paid more than $1 for any of them. Some of them came with nice cages, kritter keepers, reptile ranches, etc.

One time they had 25 brand new 10 gallon tanks and I bought all of them for $4 each.

Tons of rabbits, none priced over $3 and most for $2.50. Some go higher but I just let those go.

I've bought a Cal-King B&W for $20, a KSB baby for $5, an amevia, that they called a yellow striped agama, for $8, a large pac man frog for $12, ball python adult for $30, adult BCI for $55.

In October they had an approx. 15' retic that they couldn't get a bid on and the bid was only $20. Then they said the owner had to sell it and would take $20. No I didn't bid, I can't handle something that large, especially in a retic. It was a beauty though.

Large iggys usually go for around $20-$40.