by Angi Grantham

Created on: July 31, 2008   Last Updated: October 31, 2008

"Yard Sale!" , the excited voices of my family echoes off the interior of the car (and my ear drums) as I turn the corner.
"Go back Mom, that one looked like it had alot of great junk!"
This is the constant refrain whenever we drive anywhere. Yes, I love yard sales and so do my children.
My own Mom and I started hitting the sales when I was about 6 and I have done her proud by carrying on with this wonderful family past time.

I don't know if it is the unbeleivable deals you can get on some things or if it is the fact that it is new to me, but I am absolutely addicted. Nearly every weekend the kids and I jump in the car and cruise for yard sale and garage sale notices.
"Keep your eyeballs peeled and remember the address" I say.
And boy, do they ever. My daughter can sing any address over and over until sometimes I can hear the song in my dreams.
I was so proud of my son last year. He had just turned 13 and it was the beginning of yard sale season in our area. This was an especially nice weekend and my Mom even came over for a bout of bargain hunting. Now when Grandma comes it can become a particularily long day because she wants to hit every sale. About 2 hours into our adventure my children started getting a "wee" bit cranky. A one more sale deal is struck. If we can find just one more sale with lots of good looking junk we will stop and that will be it. After that we will head home for lunch.
Well right down the road from our last stop there just happened to be a really great sale. This guy had tools, books, electronics, clothes(my personal favorite), and knives. My son homed right in on the knife display. Directly in the center of the table is a beautiful bone handled hunting knife with carvings etched into the blade. Everything was priced quite well, but after a hard day of yard saling we were all pretty depleted in the cash area.
Well having seen his own mom and grandma dicker on prices for many years he finally took an initative to try and haggle.
The knife was priced for $7 ,( a steal)but as I said we were depleted. "Will you take $3" my son asks.
"Sorry", says the man.
And at that my son set down the knife and started walking back to the car. He got clear down the drive.
"Ok, I will take $5!" the man shouts after my son's back
I could see the surge of joy work it's way up into his shoulders as he turned and whipped out his wallet. Five dollars was just what he had.
I forget everything else we bought that day. It was fun. The weather was good and people were freindly. My son became a haggeler.
I love yard sales.

Learn more about this author, Angi Grantham.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.