I have always gone to yard sales and estate sales for fun. You just never know what you will find and a lot of the stuff is things you are planning on buying anyway. As I have related before, once I started collecting casino chips I made a serious effort at hitting as many yard sales as possible. The problem was, since I live in Hillbilly Heaven (the Bible Belt), there are very few casino chips to get. So I started buying something that I could eventually turn into money just to help pay for the gas. That something turned out to be gold and silver jewelry and silver coins. So now that I have collected 30 pounds of the stuff I decided to start selling it a year ago in a single showcase in a very nice antique mall. Well that stuff is selling pretty well so I started going to more estate sales and buying even more jewelry. At most professionally run sales they really do not know the true value of a lot of the jewelry they are selling. They look at how pretty it is not at how much gold is in it so many times I am able to buy things for about half of gold value. While going to these sales I noticed other things that I could use. Keep in mind that almost all of the stuff I buy is new in the box. So here is a true story about a day in the life of someone who has to be truly nuts! I really had no idea how much of this stuff I use every day.

I got up in the morning and brushed my teeth with the sensitive toothpaste I got at an estate sale. I then took a shower using soap, shampoo and conditioner I got at sales. I went downstairs to have homemade waffles for breakfast using a mix and the maple syrup I got at sales. Oh, and I drank some of the Jamacia Blue Mountain coffee you see in the picture. I empty the dish washer and refill it and put in the detergent I got at a sale. I turned on the computers and traded a few stocks. The flat screen monitors I all bought at sales. For lunch I had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (yes, I really like PBJ) from peanut butter and jelly I got at sales and washed it all down with a beer that I made from ingredients I bought at sales (I have made my own wine and beer for years). I went out to top off the fluids in the cars and, yes, I got the oil, washer fluid, antifreeze , brake fluid and power steering fluid at yard sales. I go into the yard to check on the grass seed I bought at an estate sale to see if it is growing yet (OK, not everything I buy works as intended). But I see I also need to spread the fertilizer and weed killer that I got at sales early next spring. For supper I have shake and bake pork chops using the shake and bake I got at a sale (OK I didn't get the pork at a sale but it was 50% off at Aldis since the expiration date was coming soon). You can guess where I got the salt and pepper if you have been paying attention. I also had a cookie made from chocolate chips and flour I got from a sale. Later that night I had a piece of cake from a mix and frosting from a can I got at a sale. I also have time to play with my chips where I put some away using cardboard flips and staples from a sale. I package up a few chips I sold using strapping tape, envelopes, protective cardboard mailers, bubble envelopes and stamps - you guessed it - all stuff I got at sales. Before bed I throw in a load of laundry using detergent from sales.

Are you getting the idea that I am the ultimate recycler? I took the picture this week after I went to an estate sale. I bought a few things and then went into the laundry room and saw two large floor to ceiling cabinets that were being used as a food pantry. I went out and asked how much the food was (normally they charge $.25 -$1.00 per item). I was really disappointed when the guy said that they could not sell any of the food. BUT he said I could have anything I wanted for free! I only take the stuff I know I will use so only got about half of what was in the cabinets. But still I figure there is almost $500 worth of food that I took home (they actually charged me $5 for the Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee but that is still a steal). I got so much stuff we had to clean out a few cabinets in the garage to store it all. Many times there is a sad story that goes with buying this stuff. I think this was a case of someone with dementia. Who else would buy 5 jars of mayo, 6 jars of peanut butter and 13 cans of pickled beets? Instead of all of this ending up in a land fill at least it found a good home.