Garage Sales...

I love garage sales. Next to Craigslist and thrifting they are one of my favorite things. But when my friend asked me to help her with her garage sale I was a little hesitant. Going to garage sales=fun. Participating in one=stressful. Still, she's like, my only friend (have I mentioned I'm reclusive by nature?) and it's not a good idea to burn the one bridge ya got so...for her I said yes.

Then she sprung it on me...Be at my house at 7am SHARP. WHAAAAATTTTTTTT!?

Yes, I realize that's what participating in a garage sale means. You must get up reeeeeallly early to get started. Because true garage-salers are there at 7:15 (when your sign says 8am) shoving things in your face inquiring, "How much will you take for this?" [Incidentally, this really irks me-early garage-salers-I find it quite rude]. I'm the garage-saler who sneaks in around 10:30-ish. I'm not like, a Nazi garage-saler. My body won't allow it.

So, when she told me 7am sharp I was thinking, "Is that even humanly possible? Get up at 6am on a weekend day?" Still, I swallowed my terror and squeaked out that I might be a tad late. She was generous enough to give me until 7:03. (That's why she's my friend...she's just like me! a bossy bitch) So, I told her "Okay Adolf, I'll see you at 7:03".

I arrived at her house to help set up (it was a community garage sale so others were setting up too) to find her sons blurry eyed but there as well. We got started fairly quickly and it went rather smoothly after the first 30 minutes got under way.

Here's the awesome part-she let me take anything I wanted from her garage sale.

I kept saying, "Oh no, I couldn't possibly take that... I don't need this...what would I even do with that?...My husband would really kill me if I bring more junk into my house..." But she just shoved it in a box that we'd dubbed as "my box" and it slowly filled up as the morning progressed.
Let me tell you...all those protests, well, they were in vain. It.was.AWESOME.getting stuff. I love free things. Cheap things.Things, things, things. I don't NEED things mind you. Ah well. It is what it is. But my friend is totally great and she repaid me for getting out of bed and at her house on time with the prize of giving me all those things (she was also kind enough to buy me lunch).Yes, I realize how materialistic this sounds. When other blogs are talking about purging, simplifying, de-cluttering-I'm going on about things. That's me- going against the flow.

I also went around to a couple of other sales and bought a few things which totalled a whopping $2.25. So, in all, I paid 2.25 for a bunch of things (or that's what I'm telling my husband so he doesn't divorce me for bringing in more junk). "Look honey, sweetie, love of my life, sexiest man alive, these things only cost a total of $2.25!" Yes my friends, stroke their, ahem, ego and they'll be putty in your hands.

So, here's what I brought home:
An acryllic magazine holder. I'm attempting to organize my loft area and I've been on the hunt for any type of organizational tools for cheap.

This adorable, fuzzy, soft angora hat. Can't wear until winter but it's so cute. 

Another organizational tool-I'll paint cuz I'm not into the light house theme but love this little wooden organizer

 Cute little Christmas bell salt/pepper shakers (they even really ring). These are really for my sister in law who collects S&P shakers.

 This botanical picture frame. I love the oval shape. I might paint the frame, change the pic. I dunno. It was free...how could I pass it up?

A couple of pairs of cute shoes:

And the creme de la creme- this scrapbook organizer:

About a year ago my mom got something similar and I really coveted it. I wanted something like hers (which she also got for free- must be genetic) and here it is! I can't wait to put all kinds of things in it. I'm gonna be so organized my husband will want to marry me all over again (Cuz he wants to divorce me, remember? Since I brought all this "junk" home.).

Oh, she also gave me this huge mudroom bench organizer thing as well. Looks similar to this but nicer:

I haven't gotten it yet (she's delivering it later) so I don't have a pic for you but wow. Isn't that great? I mean, it's awesome. It's so awesome that I'm about to talk myself into feeling guilty for taking all these things for free (yes, she even gave me that mudroom bench for free).Next time I see her I might throw money at her and then my husband will divorce me all over again because not only did I bring home a bunch of junk now I'm actually paying for it and well, I should just stop talking so as to not feel so guilty about my great friend's generosity.

:::Going off to purge/declutter my guilt:::