Another man's treasure...

Yard sale shopping is something that I have grown up with. My mom is the champion of all yard sale shoppers. My mom loves getting up at the crack of dawn on Saturdays to hit the sales for incredible deals. Whenever someone asks if she is looking for something in particular, she simply says, "a good deal." And boy, does she ever find them! I used to be embarrassed by my yard-sale-ing mother. I was always afraid that someone might see me at a yard sale and think I was cheap, or that I would show up at school wearing someone else's hand-me-down shirt and they would know where I had bought it for 25 cents.

My attitude toward yard sales has changed drastically since high school, and I now welcome the chance to rummage through storage bins of 25-cent items and find treasures of my own. Twice a year, the property owner's association that we belong to allows its residents to hold yard sales. There are over 2,000 single-family residences in the Four Seasons POA, so the semi-annual yard sale weekend is a very popular event at the Lake. I could hardly wait to wake up at 6:30a.m. on Saturday to hit the sales. For two and a half hours, I raced from house to house, intent on finding the best deals before anyone else did. My heart rate quickened, and I felt a little competitive when I saw other shoppers eyeing the deals I knew had to be mine. At one house, I found a couch and love seat for $250. I bought the set to put in my basement. As I was walking away after making the purchase, there were two other people asking about the items. I have to admit I felt a little smug knowing that I had beat them to the chase, and won an awesome deal.

Couch & Love Seat=$250.00



Justin sent me on a mission to find a console for the downstairs t.v. Up until now, it had been sitting on the floor in the corner of the room. There were three huge entertainment centers that I found at different yard sales, each one with side towers that adjust to the size of the television. The third entertainment center looked like this:



Made by a designer furniture company of hard wood, I knew it had to be an expensive set. The seller was asking $675. I offered $550 and he took it! I was thrilled! The same house had a beautiful roll-top desk for $450. I wanted it, but didn't dare get it. I told Justin to take a look when he went back to pick up the entertainment center. He saw the desk and offered $375. Again, the seller accepted. We were thrilled!

Roll-top Desk: $375



We got the couches, entertainment center and desk into our home and began setting everything up. It was then that I realized the fatal error I had made. It hadn't occurred to me that the person we bought the entertainment center from had a huge t.v. with its own stand and there was nowhere for a smaller television to sit on this entertainment center. Justin had sent me out to find something to put our little t.v. on, and I came home with a huge entertainment center, with no console for the television! Oops. No big deal, I thought. The furniture brand and series is engraved on the inside of one of the cabinets. I'll just call around and find the console that goes with the set. I called three different stores and they each told me that the console for this particular entertainment center costs over $900!!!


So, hopefully we'll be able to find something cheaper that will still work. For now, we've borrowed a little table from a friend to put our t.v. on. I'm hoping that we'll be able to find a t.v. console that will match the entertainment center. Justin is hoping to get a bigger t.v. to put on it.

Riverside Entertainment Center: $550