That Saturday last spring where every garage sale had exactly what I needed

I hit the road at 7am on a Saturday last May and stopped at six sales before noon. At the third one, a guy in Wichita was clearing out his dad's old workshop and sold me a nearly new Delta table saw for $40. Then at the next stop, I found a full set of Stanley chisels in a leather roll for $5. Has anyone else had a morning where everything just lined up perfectly like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

chen.adam20d ago

a guy in Wichita was clearing out his dad's old workshop" - that's always the best kind of sale, when someone's just trying to get rid of stuff not make a profit. I had a similar run a couple years back but it was with vintage stereo gear. Found a Marantz receiver at one spot for $20, then literally two blocks away some old dude was selling a pair of Klipsch speakers for $30 because they were too heavy for his back. My car smelled like old dust and cat pee for a week but I didn't care. It's like the thrift gods decide to reward you on random Saturdays for no reason.

the_wren20d ago

Hold on, I gotta push back a little @chen.adam. In my experience, when people are clearing out a dead relative's stuff they're usually pricing everything high because they think it's "vintage gold" or they just want the cash fast. Your Marantz and Klipsch scores sound like the exception, not the rule, and I think most people end up paying full eBay prices for dusty junk.