I love a bargain and preferably a hunted down bargain. Don’t get me wrong, I do like a good deal from a shop, with the magical layers of price tickets as the cost has been gradually reduced to a rock bottom ‘heck what a good deal’ price.
Today I am talking about the second hand sales and all their wonder! Whether it is someone’s front yard or a bun fight at the local village hall, I am all about the treasure hunt!
Since I have lived in America, I have not been to a jumble sale which makes me sad. Schools don’t hold them and there are no village halls to put a sale in. I think they are called rummage sales here, but I have not come across one of those either. When I was younger, the guides, the scouts and the schools all had endless rounds of jumble sales to raise money for a canoeing trip or a new roof for the scout hut. I would help set them up with Mum and Dad and we would sort through the endless bags of clothes and household items. Ending up with groaning tables covered in mountains of clothes which you couldn’t even see the person on the other side of the table behind!
In recent years I have managed to pop along to a couple of jumble sales on trips to the UK and scored some lovely vintage Ladybird books and the wood beads in the picture. They are still a bun fight, elbow to elbow searching for that special, useful or just plain wanted something to show itself.
Living here, I tend towards the yard sales in the Spring and Autumn which is a thing not so popular in the UK (probably because of the constant threat of being rained off!). A mini jumble sale on someone’s drive and yard and usually not an elbow to elbow affair. I like to have a quick scan of the whole affair, then stare each area down until it reveals that something I might want. It is amazing what you don’t notice when everything is in a jumble, so lots of looking is an essential tool for yard sales!
I have gathered beads and old jewelry from yard sales along with some beautiful vintage homewares, glass or china, decorated or plain.
My all time favorites are the church hall sales which are about as close as I get to a good ole fashioned jumble sale, just with less piles and a little more organisation. Tables and tables full of vintage and recent treasures ready to be snapped up. A bag of soldiers for my son and an assortment of old buttons for me and I am a happy shopper!
Are you a treasure hunter or is second hand just not your thing? Sometimes I don’t find a thing, just a musty old things smell!!
In case you are wondering if that ace Polaroid Land Camera works, I need to get a film to pop in it. I will let you know!
Happy Mid week!
Clare Davis Etheridge 
i miss a good american yard sale. they have a version in finland called kirppis translated means flea market even when it’s just an individual doing the selling. anyway not a fan of the kirppis here. i’ve tried a few times but never found anything i wanted and they do not price to move their goods.
same with the 2nd hand shops.
i used to love a good thrift shop day but not a fan here.
a few summers ago i was back home and had a 3 day sale with family i tell you that’s big time work. whole new respect for someone who puts on a good sale. we hardly had anything left at the end. people are not afraid to bargain and that made it a lot of fun too.
I love other peoples yard sales, not so much hosting. We never seem to make much and they take so much work. Goodwill gets all my crap! Yes, thrift shops are the best!
Beautiful photo and post, Clare. I also love ‘jumble sales’ as you call them. We call them ‘garage sales’ in Australia, even if they’re not in someone’s garage. Back in Melbourne, there would be garage sales happening every weekend, out the front of someone’s house, at a school, at the local church. I also love op shops. There are no op shops in China! I can’t get over this. The Chinese like the shiny and new and not the second hand so much. Give me a good op shop find over a new item any day x
I didn’t know what an op shop was until I started Pip’s course! What a shame that China has no thrift shops, they would have the most amazing stuff in them!