How I find old cleaners!

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kenkart

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 25, 2009
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As most of you know, I seem to get lucky with finding old odd machines, it is more than luck, you have to check out auction zip every week, as well as all local papers for estate sales, you have to be consistent, im off 2 weekends a month, the 2 I work, Don goes to the sales, also I try to hit 3 local Goodwills at least 3 or 4 times a week, the outlet yeilds the best stuff, I dont have tons of money to spend on ebay, although I have bought a few very special machines there, but the secret is, be at the estate or tag sale EARLY!!! if it starts at nine, im in line at 7.30, I get in first, run through and go on to the next one, often Don goes to one while I go to another, same for auctions, so GET UP EARLY AND BEAT THE BUSHES...it works!! HANS
 
Right you are Hans. Don't hesitate to heed The Twingle when it strikes. and if your Mom is still among us, have her regularly ask all her Gal Pals and check those wonderful Church Rummage Sales.

This stuff doesn't just fall from the sky, ya know. Well, sometimes...

Dave, standing out in the yard with outspread arms when it rains toasters & vacuums & frying pans, oh my.
 
 


 


 


<span style="font-family: trebuchet ms,geneva; font-size: medium;">Hans, what is Auction Zip??</span>
 
That's exactly how I find all my stuff,,yard sales, thrift shops and I go often. Or at least I did.. almost everyday. You can also post a "wanted" ad free on freecycle.org in your area.. got some that way as well.
 
btw re yard/estate sales... here's what I do if I haven't mentioned it already..

I sit down at the table with the newspaper listings of yard sales and punch each one of the addresses into my GPS and save it using the name GS1 GS2 GS3 etc. Then in the morning when you start up your GPS you go to your listing of saved addresses and they're all in the order of which one is closest to you.. so you head to the closest one first..Then when you're leaving the first garage sale the GPS will automatically reconfigure which of your garages sales is the next closest to where you currently are.. saves a lot of driving and you don't have to keep looking at the newspaper. Delete each address once you've visited that sale otherwise it will be returning you to one you've already been to..
 
Charles, Auctionzip is an online directory that allows you to search for local consignment/estate/real estate/antique auctions and see a listing and pictures of what's up for bids.  If you can stand waiting for 2-3 even yes 4 hours tops you can score some great machines at a dirt cheap price.


 


Hans, are you and Don well known to the NC area auctioneers/sale companies? 
 
Anyone else here have trouble with yard and garage sales that have nothing but baby items and old clothes but NO appliances or vacuums-I have that problem here-'bout ready to give up on yard sales.I am burning a lot of shoe and tire leather on these Sat mornings on the way from work.Now its just time to go straight home.Tired of seeing baby junk.
 
garage sales

I stay away from garage sales in neighborhoods which are populated mostly by young families where most of the items will more likely be clothing and childrens' stuff and stick to areas where older people live.  Estate sales, antique shops and thrift stores are where I find more of the things that interest me.
 
 


 


 


<span style="font-size: medium; font-family: trebuchet ms,geneva;">A few years ago I stopped at a yard sale on my way home from church one day. I wandered around looking at the stuff — mostly new or new-looking electronics, TVs, stereos, game consoles, speakers, computer bits, and a few vacuums - new plastic crap.</span>


 


<span style="font-size: medium; font-family: trebuchet ms,geneva;">All of a sudden four LAPD cars came screeching up. One went up into the resident's driveway, two stopped at the curb, and one actually drove up on the grass!</span>


 


<span style="font-size: medium; font-family: trebuchet ms,geneva;">The cops all jumped out of their cars and swarmed the yard, quickly figuring out who was there to buy and who was there to sell. All the shoppers had to stand to one side while the cops looked through all the booty and then spoke to the guy selling the stuff, and arrested him.</span>


 


<span style="font-size: medium; font-family: trebuchet ms,geneva;">Turns out he was from the "Stupid Criminals" file </span><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: trebuchet ms,geneva;">—</span><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: trebuchet ms,geneva;"> the stuff he was selling was hot. And some of it was stolen from his <span style="text-decoration: underline;">next-door neighbor</span> who happened to be looking out his window and saw his stuff out there!!</span>


 


<span style="font-size: medium; font-family: trebuchet ms,geneva;">"About as sharp as a marble."
</span>
 
Baby stuff... yes unfortunately most of the garage/yard sales here are the same way. Full of plastic Playskool toys and kids outdoor plastic crap. When I drive by I try and get a good look and see if it's even worth stopping, many I just keep driving.
 
I have been doing that to a large part too,baby junk and piles of clothes-just keep going.I think another problem here is the area isn't that old,and when folks here buy new things-the old ones are more often thrown out since there are no basements to put the old items in.Whats really bad about the baby-kids items-the yard sale serves as a way for the sellers to get rid of broken items for whatever price they get for them-and the yard sale of "hot" itmes is interesting!!wonder if the neighbor whose stuff got "jacked","crooked" was the one that called those cops!If there is anyone who needs to collect the baby and kids things-come out this way!There are LOTS of new housing developments here-and the older developments- you don't see ANY yard sales!
 
It's Pretty much the same scenerio around here, too, lots of baby junk. Any more, I just look for the estate sales. Estate sales quite often have vacuums, and lots of them are vintage, That GE Swivel Top and Electrolux Golden Jubilee both came from estate sales, I paid less than $10.00 for them.
 

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