One of my new neighbors is a yard sale guru!

[Lady Freedom Returns]

She took me on a little shopping trip. I got a gorgeous red leather, REAL leather jacket for $1! Got a REAL Chanel purse for $3 and a book that I need to find a autographed expert for. It has what looks to be a personalities autographed of Walter Cronkite in it!

[rurallib]

1. people like that are really good to know

we have a high poverty rate in our small town and there are some real pros at getting everything they can for a buck.

[LiberalEsto]

2. Still a month until yard sale season here in frozen Maryland,

but I'm counting the days!

Is it yard sale season all year round in Tucson? Sounds like you got some amazing deals.

[Packerowner740]

3. I love a good yard sale

While never really finding anything of great value I did go to one sale last year that had some items fron the Packers/Steelers Super Bowl in Dallas in 2010. I got a program, a key chane and a souvenir cup. That's the closest I'm going to be able to get to really going to a Super Bowl. As you can tell from my name I am a huge Packer fan. I even have some autographed footballs from some Packers.

If there is an autograph you are trying to authenticate you should be able to find real autographs on the net to compare with.

[IrishAyes]

4. Congratulations! It's a fine madness, yard sales. I love 'em. It's also a good way to get around

and meet people when you're new in town. ThiIs tiny town in flyover country, as you might imagine, is a hardcore poverty pocket - people aren't lazy, but there's very little employment. That's why I could afford to retire here.

Anyway, some people seem to think they can sucker others into paying top dollar for good used stuff, but most don't even try. We have a church sponsored clothes closet that charges 10 cents a garment, so I've learned to feel robbed if a yard sale item costs more than a dollar. Much as I love going to other people's sales, I never have one myself because of the dogs and the fence. If I have clothing to pass along and no way to get it to the clothes closet (where I'm likely to bring home more than I took), I just call up the local radio tell-and-sell program, state the size, and offer it free. I never listen to the program because it offers too much temptation to the ingrained collector side of my nature. If I resist buying something advertised, it only frustrates me almost as much as buying it.

What I gravitate to at yard sales now is books, mostly. Although sometimes I wonder if I haven't already scarfed up all the ones that interest me. I like old books mostly, from the 1920's backwards. Modern books tend to be political treatises, and there aren't any liberal ones to be found in this neck of the woods. The oldest book I ever found here is dated 1818. I also found a first edition of The Seven Pillars of Wisdom that I treasure even though it's only in fair condition. A few good Victor Hugo books, too.

Regardless, it's a lot of fun to hunt through stuff. Like a box of chocolates - you never know what you'll find.