Saturday Yard Sale Sabotage

This past Saturday, I awoke at 6am with high hopes and a dream. Yes, it was super early for me on a Saturday morning and would require a nice cup of Dunkin Donuts tea to wake me up, but it was going to be worth it because I was going to hit what I thought would be one of those yard sales that a person talks about for years to come. Why was I so excited?

 Because of this:

 

 and this: 

These yard sale picture previews include some vintage holiday goodness. Valentine’s Day knickknacks, Gurley Thanksgiving candles, and the infamous light up ceramic Christmas trees. The best part about these items besides their outpouring of vintage looks? The price. I squinted and I cropped photos, I zoomed and I looked with one eye and came to the conclusion that the Gurley candles were selling at the whopping cost of 50cents per pair. The Valentine’s Day décor was just as cheap and though the price tag was hidden from view on the Christmas trees, I’m sure they were only a couple of dollars. Has this seller gone mad?? 

As I stated, I awoke bright and early with the hopes of coming home with all of these treasures. The yard sale started at 7am and I arrived a few minutes after the opening time. Seeing that the street was already filled with cars, my heart started pumping with that "must-move-quickly-before-all-gone" mode. Walking into the garage, my eyes darted back and forth from table to table. Candles? Little Valentine ladies? Christmas Trees? Oh the horror. Gone. All gone. 

I kindly and calmly asked the woman holding the sale if she had opened earlier, since the sale was already crowded. I also nonchalantly mentioned the Gurley candles to which she informed me that a man contacted her the night before in regards to the vintage holiday items. (Say it isn’t so!) He swooped in on the sale Friday night and bought all of the vintage décor including the candles, ceramic trees, the little heart ladies, and I’m sure anything else that was not featured in the ad pictures. 

I walked away from the sale with a few items and a reminder that the early bird gets the worm. I love when people include pictures in their Craigslist yard sale ads, but just never thought to contact the person prior to the sale in regards to buying items before the garage doors opened in the early hours of a spring weekend morning.Will I remember this in the future? You bet it. When you can score pairs of Gurley Thanksgiving pilgrim candles for 50cents a pair, it's unlikely that's something that can be forgotten. Will I contact a seller prior to a sale in regards to buying items before that 7am opening time? I'm not sure. Part of the thrill of going yard saling and attending flea markets is that early morning and the lure of what might be sitting on those tables in a musty old garage. Contacting a seller before a sale starts feels a bit like cheating to me, and what fun is there in cheating?

I like to find treasures fair and square, so give me a cup of hot tea to go, my list of sales, and I'll take an early Saturday morning over a Friday night "pre-sale" anytime.