Living in England till the age of 29, I had never been to a garage sale. The nearest thing to that was a jumble sale, which would be held at a church hall once or twice a year. More affluent areas would have them more often as the people in that area could afford to get rid of outgrown or unwanted clothes. Where we lived was a poorer area and, although we didn’t realize it as children, our parents could not afford such luxuries as new clothes until the old ones were mended so often that nobody would want them.
If any jumble sales were held they were usually smelly and very unappealing. Piles of battered, outgrown shoes alongside stretched out, home made cardigans and coats that had had the hem “let down” so often that there were hem lines that were very visible. My grandma sewed or knitted all my clothes except underwear, so I usually looked well turned out, if old photos were to be believed.
My coats were not home made so they were bought with the idea of being worn for several years. Hence the turning up of the hem and the cuffs several times, to be “let down” next year, and the next and…..well, till I really could not squeeze into it for one more year. Luckily, I was the oldest grandchild so at least my coats were new for the first year, my more unfortunate, younger cousins were given my coats when three or more hem lines were already visible.
The trouble with wearing clothes that were “bought to last” was the lapels of the coat would be almost to my navel and the shoulders hung over quite a bit. However, they were bought new, not at the dreaded jumble sale. My best friend was not so lucky, her mom and dad both worked but were heavy smokers and her dad visited the pub most evenings. This meant not too much money was left for clothes. Her mom didn’t sew or knit so all Janet’s clothes needed to be purchased. She would always have nice new shoes but the rest were from the jumble sale.
Several times I would go on these “shopping trips” with Janet and her mom and always had a fear of catching “cooties” as it all looked so shabby. However, gran had taught me to be respectful of people’s feelings so I oohed and aawed at Janet’s purchases. Most of them looked just fine when laundered, but the idea of someone’s dirty clothes always bothered me.
When we came to Canada in 1974, I spent school vacations with my cousin who lived near Seattle. Dave usually had to work and my cousin’s husband worked away from home, so I would take the girls down to visit Gail and her two girls, who were a similar age to mine.
Gail was a garage sale junkie. Most of her furniture was from sales and she had some wonderful stuff, her girls were dressed in mostly items gleaned on her Saturday morning explorations. Gail and her family were not without money so I was surprised that she did this but, she convinced me to go along with her the next weekend.
No haphazard shopper was Gail. Thursday’s paper was carefully scanned to find where the sales would be. She only picked the “nicer” areas of town and made her lists with care. Friday or Saturday we were all up, fed and dressed by 7.30 so we could be first on scene for 8.00am sales. She had told me not to look too eager but to hang on to anything I fancied until I looked over the whole selection, then make my purchases.
We had told the six girls they could each spend one dollar on toys so they were kept out of our hair while we looked. I could not believe what people were getting rid of. Practically brand new stuff that was perfect for one or other of my girls and all for just pennies. I was in Heaven. At the first sale I bought a huge armful of stuff, despite Gail telling me that we had three or four more sales to attend. I grabbed the bargains because I could not believe that I would find such treasures anywhere else. However, each sale had such marvellous stuff that I just went wild.
My children also had got into the spirit of things and each of them had huge sackfulls of bargains. Crossing the border a few days later, the customs guy laughed at my station wagon, stuffed to the roof with our purchases. The entire load had cost me less than fifty dollars and I had many outfits for my girls, clothes for me and also various pieces of stuff for the home.
Every time I went to visit Gail we did the same thing each weekend until my home was bursting with stuff, the girls would never get the chance to wear all the outfits they had and all of us were delighted with this new way of affordable shopping.
As my grandchildren came along I found all sorts of toys there, ride on cars, dolly strollers, a garage and may small cars to fill it. Going to grandma’s house was always a treat as she had great stuff that wasn’t allowed to go home, so it was always an adventure for the kids to find their, new to them, treasures.
My two youngest grandchildren also enjoyed grandma’s toys but sadly, for the past two years, they want to do nothing but play on their ipads. These items are a great baby sitter, but really do not seem to give the children the ability to think for themselves, or to play together. I know I’m old fashioned but the sound of children laughing and even arguing seems to be a thing of the past.
I do not go to garage sales now as I always find bargains that I do not need but, they were a joyful life saver when money was scarce. The Thursday list, the weekend sales and the anticipation of what treasures were to be found, followed by a few hours of examining and enjoying the treasures we had found. Even as we grew older, Gail and I just loved the hunt and really spent our dollars wisely. Of course, we would then blow our savings on lunch. That is what fun and friendship is all about.