Trash or Treasure?

You know what they say about one person’s trash being another person’s treasure, right? I totally believe that, much to the irritation of my dear husband. He doesn’t always see the ‘vision’ in my garage sale or freecycle acquisitions. But he only grumbles about 75% of the time, so that’s not so bad, right? I’ve learned to not pick up anything ‘for him’ or ‘for him to fix’ because it’s not happenin’.

Why does he doubt me? I’ve found some wonderful stuff! Like that awesome porch swing that fit the space on our porch like it had been custom made for us! The hardware to hang it cost more than the swing itself. But there was some grumbling involved, because it meant that dear husband had to buy the hardware, install the hardware, and hang that swing.

While I can’t say he’s supportive of my garage sale habit, he has at least accepted that I really like to do the garage sale thing, and sometimes I even take the kids along, which lets him sleep in uninterrupted on a Saturday morning. (Who am I kidding? He’ll sleep in uninterrupted even if the kids ARE there.) He will also give me the cash in his wallet when I don’t have any cash. He does, however, always insist on asking how much I paid for an item, and even if it’s a SCREAMING deal, his automatic reaction is usually that I paid too much. Come on, man–a DOLLAR? How can a DOLLAR be too much. Oh, well. I try to ignore his little comments about overpaying, and he tried to ignore my piles of stuff that I don’t quite know what to do with, but isn’t this pretty? I have made some mistakes and bought stuff that really is junk once or twice (there is a little incident over bookshelves that we will never EVER speak of again) and then I tuck my figurative tail between my legs and admit that it was a foolish purchase and a waste of money, and we go on.

A few years ago, I bought this really cool old wine barrel at a garage sale. I paid either about $5 dollars for it. I like the old looking things that have been re-purposed and given new life. And I like barrels. I have one outside in my flowerbeds. So, I muscled this lovely barrel into the back of my van that, like every good garage sale diva knows, sometimes a car has to act like a truck.

As you can see, it’s got fabric lining, little feet on the bottom, and a top that closes. Not really knowing what to do with it, we hauled it upstairs to Megan’s room, and she filled it to the brim with stuffed animals.

Fast forward a few years, and Megan’s room is now Megan and Natalie’s room, and it’s time to make a change and give the girls individual beds instead of a bunkbed. In order to do that, we had to get rid of a few pieces of furniture, and the trunk was one of them. There was much complaining about where the animals were going to go, but it had to go. Taking a chance that someone else out there might love that trunk as much as I had, I listed it on KSL.com. On a whim, I also listed our faithful double jogger stroller/bike trailer, since everyone rides their own bikes, and we don’t really need that anymore. Within minutes of posting the ad, I had someone calling. For the stroller, not the trunk. Dang, I should have listed that for more money, and I shouldn’t have accepted the first low ball offer, just because they were willing to drive over RIGHT away and buy it. Oh, well. I did at least get $125 for that 10 year old stroller.

No interest in the chest thing, though. Not willing to just give it away, I scooted it carefully into the family room and put all the throw blankets that tend to congregate on the couch into the trunk. I still like it, and if I can arrange things to use it in the family room, then so be it. As soon as I realize that it looks pretty good in the family room all useful and full of blankets, I get a call about it. Someone was interested in that barrel.

But…but I just… OK. I had listed it for $100, which I knew was a pretty high amount, so I was ok to come down to $80. And she wanted it right away and was going to send her brother over to pick it up for her. I emptied it out, put the blankets other places, and maneuvered it over to the front door. I’m happy that it has found a new home where someone will hopefully love and appreciate it. She said on the phone she was decorating a pirate room and thought that chest would fit in perfectly.

And I think I scored a pretty sweet deal. Nothing like my good friend Robin, who can buy a plate for $1 and sell it for $150 on EBAY, but at least I made some money on the deal. Not only did I get to use that barrel trunk for several years to store animals in my girls’ room, but I made $75 bucks on it.

So, trash or treasure?
(Ryan, you are not invited to comment on this post, thank you very much.)