Not your Grandma's estate sale

Scratch that, it probably is your Grandma's estate sale, but I like to think I am a whole new generation of estate sale go-ers.

My love of buying other people's junk started young, when my mom took my older sister, Keely, and I out to Garage sales on the weekends for fun.  We thought this was the most magical thing to happen to us since Minnie Mouse Jazzercise started airing on the weekends (yes, we were very fitness-minded children, who happened to love Minnie Mouse... and TV).

Anyway, my mom would give us each like $0.50 or some ridiculous amount and we would buy something equally ridiculous.  What was amazing is that Mom never stopped us from buying (and subsequently bringing home) these horrible pieces of junk.  What is worse (or better) is that she let us display our finds all over the house, and for a long time!  We never found them mysteriously missing, or broken... she let us enjoy our garage sale junk as long as we wanted.

To truly understand how hideous the items we bought were, I found some pictures that are very close to what we bought.  

Exhibit A: Seashell cat

Exhibit B: A velvet tiger painting

I know.  Lets never talk about these purchases ever again. And please mom, tell me you got rid of these!

Anyway, I have moved on from those days onto much more savvy garage sale-ing.   Actually these days Estate sales are my favorite thing, and what is better than estate sales?  Estate Sales with your best friend!

Bunnie and I started going to sales a few years ago as a dynamic duo- she is the good cop and I am the bad cop when it comes to negotiation.  The first time we went out I gave her a quick run down of my top 2 garage/estate sale-ing tips:

1. Carry small bills, and put them in your pocket.  That way, you can negotiate better.  When you find something you want, you can say things like "I only have 5 dollars left" and then they can take it or leave it.  If you have a $20 in your hand, it is a bit harder to negotiate, when you have to ask for change :)

2. Always remember that they hauled all this stuff out into the front yard, and they don't want to haul it back in. Always make an offer and then stop talking.  The ball is now in their court and if you hold firm, they most likely will give it to you at your price.

We have honed our sale-ing techniques and have so much fun looking for items at sales and hunting down bargains together.

Last weekend happened to be Bunnie's 27th birthday and so what could be better than estate sale-ing all day, having a snack then going out to celebrate.... nothing.  We set out and hit up 7 different sales on QA, Magnolia and Ballard.  Since it is still early in the year for sales, we didn't get a ton of great finds, but we did swoop up some little birthday goodies.

I found these great brand new napkins, which also double as place mats, and bring some much needed color to our dining room.

$4 napkins from a little boutique sale

Bunnie found a beautiful teal ceramic pot which I bought for her as a birthday present and we both found some great cards at an overstock card sale and I also found a shadow box.

  

$2 shadow box and $0.50 cards

We had such a great time, and it was a perfect little birthday, finished up with a great night and some cream puff birthday treats at the bar.

The Great Nabob let us have the whole back section to celebrate Bunnie's 27 years!

Happy birthday to my best friend in the world, hope 27 is an amazing year for you!  

Here is to many more estate/garage sales together.  Next year for your birthday I'm getting you this bumper sticker.