Speaker 1: Episode three, p. Forty one, Why you Shouldn't sleep on
Speaker 1: estate sales.
Speaker 2: Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to
Speaker 2: save money, embrace simplicity, and live a life here your
Speaker 2: hosts Jen and Jill.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast. My name is Jen,
Speaker 1: my name is Jell, and today we are talking about
Speaker 1: estate sales, and we were supposed to be talking about
Speaker 1: them with a guest, but they did not show up,
Speaker 1: and we just decided, you know what, we have to
Speaker 1: record this because it comes out next week, and we
Speaker 1: would rather break our five and a half year streak
Speaker 1: of a guest every third episode than to risk not
Speaker 1: being able to get a episode to you on a Friday,
Speaker 1: because that streak is more.
Speaker 3: Important, and we have just prioritized the show must go on.
Speaker 3: And my imagination is that every single one of you
Speaker 3: listening had no idea that we do a guest every
Speaker 3: third episode.
Speaker 4: Now you do know.
Speaker 3: Now we've highlighted the problem to you. But we're here
Speaker 3: and we're doing We're doing the most and the best
Speaker 3: we can, and it's going to be a great episode.
Speaker 1: You are underestimating. I am more distraught about the broken
Speaker 1: pattern than Jill.
Speaker 3: Let me know if you've noticed, Yeah, patterns in the
Speaker 3: types of episodes we put out.
Speaker 1: Just this pattern. Yeah, this pattern. I carefully curate the schedule,
Speaker 1: and there are definitely things in orders and patterns that
Speaker 1: nobody does realize for sure, but I think this is
Speaker 1: the most obvious one, so we had to point it out.
Speaker 3: The good news is we know a ton about estate sales,
Speaker 3: so we absolutely can talk to you about this without
Speaker 3: an expert.
Speaker 4: It would have been really fun with an expert.
Speaker 3: But here we are. I just host it in a
Speaker 3: state sale. I go to estate sales. This is I'm
Speaker 3: the expert. You can talk to me.
Speaker 1: If somebody was gonna stand us up, it's good that
Speaker 1: it's this one and not like an episode on taxes
Speaker 1: or lefe insurance or medical debt negotiations.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: So this episode is not brought to you by being
Speaker 1: stood up, but it is brought to you by stickers.
Speaker 1: So another pattern you may be aware of is that
Speaker 1: we release the friend Letter, our weekly newsletter every week
Speaker 1: three times a week Monday, Wednesday, Friday, where we share freebies, promos,
Speaker 1: deals and hacks to help you spend in alignment with
Speaker 1: your values and say no to what doesn't matter, and
Speaker 1: we have so many devoted subscribers. We see you opening it.
Speaker 1: We know you're opening it. You're clicking the polls at
Speaker 1: the end of every email. Sometimes they're fun, sometimes they're
Speaker 1: to get more information about you, so we know what
Speaker 1: types of episodes we should be producing. So if you
Speaker 1: haven't filled out a poll or responded to one, do
Speaker 1: that because you get to participate in the episodes that
Speaker 1: you hear. But this is specifically for you guys that
Speaker 1: are opening the friend Letter. We have a referral program
Speaker 1: and you can get free merch just by sharing the
Speaker 1: friend Letter with your friends. If you're opening the emails,
Speaker 1: we know you enjoy them, So spread the love and
Speaker 1: share it with your other friends. Because who doesn't love
Speaker 1: hearing about all the national days and what you can
Speaker 1: get for free and what you can do for free
Speaker 1: and all the ways you can save money. Who doesn't
Speaker 1: love that? Who doesn't want to get that text or
Speaker 1: email from their friend? You can be the friend that
Speaker 1: helps them your friend get that text or email. So
Speaker 1: if you're not already getting the friend Letter Frugal friendspodcast
Speaker 1: dot com slash friend Letter, But if you are already
Speaker 1: getting it, and you open the emails. You know, at
Speaker 1: the bottom of every email is your personal unique referral link,
Speaker 1: and you can just share that. Share it in your
Speaker 1: Instagram stories, share it in your Instagram feed, share it
Speaker 1: on your Facebook, head to the nearest Slack channel or
Speaker 1: Microsoft Team's channel and drop it in there and be like, hey,
Speaker 1: save money, and then you can get stickers a grocery tote.
Speaker 4: Yeah, stickers with a first thing m hm, yes, t shirts.
Speaker 1: You literally just need one referral to get a sticker pack.
Speaker 1: So if you're not already getting it frugal friendspodcast, dot Com,
Speaker 1: slash friend letter, if you are, scroll to the bottom
Speaker 1: of the next friend letter and share that link for
Speaker 1: some stickers.
Speaker 4: We won't stand you up.
Speaker 1: We won't. It may take us six weeks to mail
Speaker 1: the stickers out because we do it by hand, but
Speaker 1: you will get them. There is a form you have
Speaker 1: to fill out with your address before we send them
Speaker 1: to you. That is the only barrier to getting the stickers.
Speaker 1: So there you go. And let's talk about estate sales,
Speaker 1: and we talk about buying secondhand, but when we talk
Speaker 1: about it, we talk a lot about thrifting. Buying on Facebook, Marketplace,
Speaker 1: even pawnshops. We love pawnshops, especially for bigger items, items
Speaker 1: that are harder to fabricate or fake. We love pawn shops.
Speaker 1: We don't talk a lot about a state sales. So
Speaker 1: this is our episode on a state sales.
Speaker 4: It is wild.
Speaker 3: There's so many different ways to buy secondhand, and we
Speaker 3: are talking about this very specific one of a state
Speaker 3: sales and we'll get into defining it more. But yeah,
Speaker 3: this isn't pawn shops, consignment stores, thrift stores, even Facebook marketplace.
Speaker 3: It's not garage sales, yard sales. It's specifically a state
Speaker 3: sales and they bring their own flavor of goodness and
Speaker 3: we want to highlight for you how to find them,
Speaker 3: how to engage in them, how they run, and what
Speaker 3: to look for. So this first article, as all of
Speaker 3: you know, we go through two articles on the topic
Speaker 3: that we're talking about, some of what a search on
Speaker 3: Google's going to bring up for you, and we give
Speaker 3: you our feedback on it. Usually it's good stuff. Sometimes
Speaker 3: we disagree. You're going to hear it all. So the
Speaker 3: first article we've chosen, if you were to google a
Speaker 3: state sales, how to find them, how to use them.
Speaker 3: One of the articles that comes up is from Better
Speaker 3: Homes and Gardens and it is titled how do a
Speaker 3: state sales work? Experts revealed top treasure hunting tactics and
Speaker 3: I did think that this was a good article. I
Speaker 3: think worth reading through the whole thing. We're going to
Speaker 3: give you a gloss over of it. And first of all,
Speaker 3: just defining what an estate sale is. So it is
Speaker 3: a public sale, something that anybody in the public could
Speaker 3: go to. It's often held on site, meaning at the estate,
Speaker 3: at the home, where items inside the house and outside
Speaker 3: the house hand in the garage are available for purchase.
Speaker 3: I think a lot of people will associate in a
Speaker 3: state sale with a homeowner passing, and that can be
Speaker 3: the case, but there's other various reasons that in a
Speaker 3: state sale might be happening, downsizing, sometimes really awful situations
Speaker 3: like bankruptcy, foreclosure, maybe a divorce of a couple, And
Speaker 3: so any time that the majority of the contents in
Speaker 3: the house need to be sold, it would qualify then
Speaker 3: as an estate sale. One other thing that typically sets
Speaker 3: the state sales apart from just your yard sale or
Speaker 3: garage sale is that oftentimes you actually go into the
Speaker 3: house and everything that you see in the house is
Speaker 3: for sale, so they are much larger. There's usually a
Speaker 3: lot more for sale than at a yard sale, garage sale,
Speaker 3: even a moving sale. Sometimes people will use those terms
Speaker 3: interchangeably a state sale and moving sale because they want
Speaker 3: to give the impression that there is a lot for
Speaker 3: sale here. But typically and a state sale will have
Speaker 3: even more available for purchase than even a moving sale
Speaker 3: because often people are taking a lot with them, and
Speaker 3: a state sales like, no, all of the contents of
Speaker 3: this house.
Speaker 4: You could purchase.
Speaker 3: And I've even been to a state sales where sometimes
Speaker 3: that includes fixtures, like you could remove doors and closets
Speaker 3: and mirrors, And there was in a state sale I
Speaker 3: went to where they were actually going to be demolishing
Speaker 3: the house, so people were coming in removing windows and
Speaker 3: taking out cabinets. And sometimes that does happen, or even
Speaker 3: if the new owner of the home knows that they're
Speaker 3: going to be renovating, there can be a ton of
Speaker 3: stuff for sale. But that's getting a little bit more
Speaker 3: into the weeds. Just know that an estate sale is
Speaker 3: much larger scale than yard sale, garage sale, that kind
Speaker 3: of thing, So think bigger items you're going to be
Speaker 3: able to find.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I love that it's inside too, because you can do
Speaker 1: a year round. You're not beholden to the summer if
Speaker 1: you're up north, or the winter if you're down south.
Speaker 1: Estate sales happen year round. Sure, there are times that
Speaker 1: maybe there are more because it's when people choose to move,
Speaker 1: but especially with people passing divorces, bankruptcy, those things are
Speaker 1: not as predictable, so you can get them year round.
Speaker 1: They're inside, so this is a really good way to
Speaker 1: get secondhand stuff of good quality too. This isn't stuff
Speaker 1: that has been held inside a garage for years until
Speaker 1: somebody's ready to get rid of it. This is stuff
Speaker 1: that is, as the articles say, usually more personal, and
Speaker 1: it is the swath of categories that are included is
Speaker 1: much more broad. You can find a variety more of
Speaker 1: things than a yard or garage sale. I've actually stopped
Speaker 1: shopping yard sales. I just don't have very good luck
Speaker 1: with them. I personally don't love the hunt. That's me,
Speaker 1: and I know Jill loves yard sales, but I don't
Speaker 1: love the hunt. But in a state sale I can
Speaker 1: really get behind. There's usually something at an estate sale
Speaker 1: for me. But how do you find these estates sales,
Speaker 1: So there are several places. Facebook Marketplace for sure. Most
Speaker 1: estate sales will start on a Friday and they'll go
Speaker 1: Friday to Sunday. So you can either strategize and look
Speaker 1: up on Thursday and hit get all the best stuff
Speaker 1: go on Friday mornings if you have that option, or
Speaker 1: you can look and go Sunday afternoon to get any
Speaker 1: last minute deals. Knowing that your options might be more limited.
Speaker 1: You can choose the strategy that is right for you
Speaker 1: if you are in a little bit more of a
Speaker 1: time crunch. If you're like, ugh, I really need to
Speaker 1: buy the stuff. I really want to just buy it
Speaker 1: on Amazon, but let me try some estate sales. You're
Speaker 1: a Friday morning person. If you are casually looking, be
Speaker 1: like I don't really need anything, but like I got
Speaker 1: some money set aside, let me see if I can
Speaker 1: find a deal. You're a Sunday afternoon person, So Facebook
Speaker 1: Marketplace and then also estatesales dot Net. You can plug
Speaker 1: in your zip code and find estate sales in your area.
Speaker 1: And I know, Jill, you just hosted one for your
Speaker 1: mom and you posted it to a statesales dot net.
Speaker 1: Is there anything else people should know about that site.
Speaker 3: Right, So we're we're primarily talking to you, the listener,
Speaker 3: as someone who might go and shop at an estate sale,
Speaker 3: but if you ever were to host one, this is
Speaker 3: also a place that you can post it too.
Speaker 4: I think it was.
Speaker 3: It's just a really helpful platform because, as you said, Jen,
Speaker 3: you can type in your zip code find what's in
Speaker 3: your area, but you can also see what's coming up,
Speaker 3: so you can even search a month out because oftentimes people,
Speaker 3: since it's such a large sale, they're advertising it weeks,
Speaker 3: if not a month in advance. Now, one of the
Speaker 3: things to know about how specifically a statesales dot net
Speaker 3: runs is that they're not going to give you the
Speaker 3: exact address of a sale until usually about twenty four
Speaker 3: to forty eight hours in advance. So you can know
Speaker 3: the general location of where the sale is going to be,
Speaker 3: put it on your calendar, but you are going to
Speaker 3: need to either check back in or sign up for
Speaker 3: emails from the site to then be able to receive
Speaker 3: the exact directions of where the sale will be as
Speaker 3: it gets closer. That's really just a protective security measure
Speaker 3: for the homeowners and the people who are running the sale.
Speaker 3: There are also some other rules that a statesale dot
Speaker 3: net puts on people who advertise their sale about different disclosures,
Speaker 3: things that they can or cannot sell. All of it
Speaker 3: is very reasonable, but there may be certain things you
Speaker 3: might not be able to buy and in the state
Speaker 3: sale listed on this website because of some of the
Speaker 3: rules that they want to adhere to and not be
Speaker 3: involved in the exchange of certain types of goods that
Speaker 3: may not be for general public sale. But it's an
Speaker 3: excellent search function. I did not know about it until
Speaker 3: we ran our estate sale and now it's part of
Speaker 3: my regular search engine. You know, I love yard sales,
Speaker 3: but estate sales are even better. So knowing that everything
Speaker 3: listed on this site is an estate sale is amazing,
Speaker 3: and I was pleased to find that a lot of
Speaker 3: people do advertise on there. A lot of times estate
Speaker 3: sales are run by professional companies and so they want
Speaker 3: people to show up. They don't want to put in
Speaker 3: all this work and effort and no one's there. So
Speaker 3: there's also usually a lot more marketing efforts for estate sales.
Speaker 3: They want to be found, and so to know that
Speaker 3: everything on this site is going to be in a
Speaker 3: state sale is really awesome. It's not the only one
Speaker 3: out there. You can also utilize websites like estatesales dot org,
Speaker 3: a statesalefinder dot com, or even just look up in
Speaker 3: Google estate sales in your area using your zip code.
Speaker 3: So there's plenty of ways to find them. You just
Speaker 3: need to know that this is what you're looking for.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: One, So I just looked up one real quick, and
Speaker 1: it looks like a lot of them are Thursday, Friday, Saturday.
Speaker 1: So I didn't realize that that would be such a
Speaker 1: popular day to start too, but so I guess check
Speaker 1: wednesdays maybe on when things start. Maybe your Thursday morning
Speaker 1: shopper or Saturday afternoon shopper, it may be either.
Speaker 3: Well, And I think that's a great thing about estate
Speaker 3: sales is that they often happen for multiple days. So
Speaker 3: sometimes that is during the week, so if you've got flexibility,
Speaker 3: that's great. But yeah, they go for multiple days.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and you can see a lot of pictures on
Speaker 1: here of what is included in the estate sale. Facebook
Speaker 1: can have some pictures, but it's definitely not as many
Speaker 1: that you can post on this site. So definitely check
Speaker 1: out these estate sale specific sites when you're checking out.
Speaker 1: You can also subscribe to their email lists, so you
Speaker 1: can get estate sales in your area. You can get
Speaker 1: notified of them for free.
Speaker 3: Yeah, So then how do they work? And if you've
Speaker 3: been to yard sales or garage sales, it's not going
Speaker 3: to feel that much different other than the fact that
Speaker 3: there will be a lot more stuff for sale, and
Speaker 3: again you might be walking through the home. One thing
Speaker 3: to note though, in how they typically function. Again, many
Speaker 3: times it's professionals who are running the estate sale. Sometimes
Speaker 3: you will go to estate sales that are run by
Speaker 3: the homeowner, or if it is happening because the homeowner
Speaker 3: is deceased. Many times maybe the family is running it.
Speaker 3: But more often than not, you're going to be encountering
Speaker 3: a company who has been hired to run the estate
Speaker 3: sale for the homeowner or previous homeowner. And so for
Speaker 3: that reason, there may be other parameters rules, a structure
Speaker 3: in place that is different from a yard sale or
Speaker 3: garage sale. They're all pretty self explanatory. They're going to
Speaker 3: tell you the rules as you go, but for instant
Speaker 3: they may only allow a certain amount of people in
Speaker 3: the house at a time, So it could be that
Speaker 3: there's a bit of a line you might be able
Speaker 3: to shop the things outside of the house before you're
Speaker 3: able to go in once enough people have left. Usually
Speaker 3: there's a bit more of a system for purchasing, maybe
Speaker 3: just one table that you go to to purchase your thing,
Speaker 3: rather than a lot of people walking around and exchanging
Speaker 3: money as you go. So there's these professionals who are
Speaker 3: going to be there, and they may not be as
Speaker 3: lenient in negotiating pricing as you might find at a
Speaker 3: garage sale or a yard sale. So that's just something
Speaker 3: to keep in mind. Another reason for, like you said, Jen,
Speaker 3: considering going on maybe one of the final days of
Speaker 3: the sale, like a Sunday, that's usually when things will
Speaker 3: be discounted quite a bit. But if there's pricing on things,
Speaker 3: I'm not saying don't negotiate. Anything can be negotiated, but
Speaker 3: you just might find that more thought and curation has
Speaker 3: been put into pricing and they might be a little
Speaker 3: bit more stringent on the price. Is the price on
Speaker 3: the first day, The second day it might be reduced
Speaker 3: by twenty to thirty percent, and then the final day
Speaker 3: maybe half off to seventy five percent off. So these
Speaker 3: are just some things to be aware of in setting expectations.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So how do you distinguish between trash and treasure?
Speaker 1: And the next article we're going to talk a little
Speaker 1: bit about what don't pass up on these particular things.
Speaker 1: But you can find anything at an estate sale. So
Speaker 1: how do you distinguish between trash and treasure? I think
Speaker 1: the first thing is if you like it a lot,
Speaker 1: it's treasure. You know, it doesn't matter the quality or
Speaker 1: the condition or whatever. If you look at something and
Speaker 1: you're like, oh my goodness, this is everything I am
Speaker 1: in love. Live in that feeling, and it is a
Speaker 1: treasure for you. If you're actually looking for particular quality,
Speaker 1: particular brands, authenticity, then some things you can do is
Speaker 1: first have your phone on you and look a stuff up.
Speaker 1: So if you're going to an estate sale looking for
Speaker 1: like real authentic stuff that you can resell, you have
Speaker 1: to have a trained eye for this stuff. I don't
Speaker 1: want you to go as a reseller and get duped
Speaker 1: because something looks really close to authentic but ends up
Speaker 1: not being authentic. So we mostly recommend doing this for
Speaker 1: personal buying stuff because then it doesn't matter. But if
Speaker 1: you're going to resell and you're going to I would
Speaker 1: say pick a niche really study it so that you
Speaker 1: can go in there with at least fifty or seventy
Speaker 1: five percent of the knowledge you need and then have
Speaker 1: your phone or some kind of resource to back that up,
Speaker 1: just to double check. And part of that would be
Speaker 1: like look for manufacturing labels, names, brands. Quality. Really quality
Speaker 1: stuff is going to last. So if you're seeing phrase
Speaker 1: like it's a you know, a cheap purse, then you
Speaker 1: know it's probably not a chanel or a coach, you know.
Speaker 1: So I would say be wary if you're really looking
Speaker 1: for authenticity, like as a reseller or to even have
Speaker 1: his quality. I think you're safer going to an estate
Speaker 1: sale to get quality because you know those things, those
Speaker 1: items have been owned and worn, and if the quality
Speaker 1: is still holding up, you can again be more confident
Speaker 1: in that and knowing that this stuff hasn't been stored
Speaker 1: in a garage. Most likely if you're buying it in
Speaker 1: the living room or the bedroom, that's probably where it's
Speaker 1: been stored. So that would be my biggest recommendation in
Speaker 1: distinguishing between trash and treasure.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think some really amazing things can be found
Speaker 3: at estate sales, and yeah, if you just like it,
Speaker 3: then get it. But if you want to know it's authentic,
Speaker 3: you can be looking at labels turn turn furniture over
Speaker 3: look for manufacturing labels, and just overall quality of the
Speaker 3: fabrics or whatever type of item that it is.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but that's a Thursday or Friday morning type of
Speaker 1: sale purchase. If you're looking to be a reseller or
Speaker 1: just to get the top of the line. All the
Speaker 1: resellers are going the first day, the first hour, so
Speaker 1: just be wary. If it's there on the last day,
Speaker 1: it's probably not authentic or another reseller has passed it up.
Speaker 3: So let's get into our second article. This one comes
Speaker 3: from Building Bluebird and where you want to look at
Speaker 3: this specifically for what to buy at estate sales. What's
Speaker 3: going to be the best things to be looking for
Speaker 3: or to even plan for or wait for an estate
Speaker 3: sale to purchase these items. And the title of this
Speaker 3: article is fifteen items to absolutely buy at a state sales.
Speaker 3: And I'll just kick it off with the first one,
Speaker 3: which is vintage furniture, although I'll just say furniture.
Speaker 4: Yes, at a state sales there.
Speaker 3: Can often be vintage antique just gems of pieces of furniture,
Speaker 3: but not necessarily everyone who is having an estate sale
Speaker 3: is necessarily older or a collector of antiques and vintage items.
Speaker 3: Sometimes they're just selling furniture and whatever types you're looking for.
Speaker 3: This is the place to go. I would even say,
Speaker 3: first before you're going to go buy new. We always
Speaker 3: say by yous before buying new. But as state sales
Speaker 3: are your spot for some amazing gems, from couches and
Speaker 3: sofas to chairs and tables, stools, beds, bed frames, bedding,
Speaker 3: and you can get furniture at a steep, steep discount.
Speaker 3: Of course, many times it's going to be a lot
Speaker 3: of moving, so you're gonna have to have the ability
Speaker 3: to transport whatever item you purchased to not only out
Speaker 3: of the house you purchase it in, but into your house,
Speaker 3: which can be cumbersome. So that's something to keep in mind,
Speaker 3: but it's part of the reason you're going to get
Speaker 3: such a good deal on some of this furniture.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I would say, I mean we could add we
Speaker 1: could bundle appliances in there too. Is another big thing.
Speaker 1: I know when we did my mom's estate sale, it
Speaker 1: was a foreclosure, so we sold everything. We sold the
Speaker 1: appliances too, So if the house does not need a
Speaker 1: resale value, then go for it. So there's a little
Speaker 1: addition there.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we sold some freezers at the estate sale we
Speaker 3: just had, so maybe not all the appliances, but you
Speaker 3: just never know, so everything's gotta go.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: So my first pick on the list is picture frames.
Speaker 1: So I love looking for cool picture frames, and I
Speaker 1: don't always find good ones at the thrift store. Again,
Speaker 1: I'm not a hunter. I mean, I love a good
Speaker 1: vintage picture frame, but I'm also like very picky, don't
Speaker 1: I think the line between TACKI and vintage is so
Speaker 1: thin for me. Yeah yeah, And so it's just a
Speaker 1: fine line. And I have a better track record at
Speaker 1: estate sales for finding the vintage than I do at
Speaker 1: thrift stores. So I love just finding any old picture,
Speaker 1: any old art, and then if I can remove the
Speaker 1: art and replace it with my own or a picture,
Speaker 1: then I am all over that. Or even something that
Speaker 1: has a cool shape that can be spray painted gold
Speaker 1: or black, I'm in for it.
Speaker 3: I was shocked at how quickly the picture frames went
Speaker 3: at the estate sale we just hosted. Really, I was
Speaker 3: shocked by a lot of things, the questions I got
Speaker 3: about what people thought we would have for sale the
Speaker 3: things people were interested in. I mean, I guess similar
Speaker 3: to selling things just on Facebook marketplace.
Speaker 4: Sometimes they go quick.
Speaker 3: The things that you don't think are gonna go sometimes
Speaker 3: it takes forever. The things you think are gonna be hot,
Speaker 3: hot button items. All that to say, picture frames, I
Speaker 3: wouldn't have even thought that they were nice or good.
Speaker 3: I think sometimes people even bought some of the artwork
Speaker 3: just for the frame to put something else into. They
Speaker 3: went like hot cakes, and then people were still coming
Speaker 3: asking do you have any more picture frames?
Speaker 4: It was it was wild to me.
Speaker 1: Dang okay, well, okay, so that's a good point. What
Speaker 1: things went first. Picture I would have never guess picture frames,
Speaker 1: even though I do love them.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Exercise equipment the amount of people interested in exercise equipment,
Speaker 3: which I was shocked at the number of people interested,
Speaker 3: but I guess as I thought about it, I was like,
Speaker 3: that is a great thing, and that's actually not on
Speaker 3: this list, So there you go. Exercise equipment is very expensive,
Speaker 3: as I've in the last three years gotten into at
Speaker 3: home exercising weights are expensive, but you can get them
Speaker 3: for a song at estate sales and yard sales and
Speaker 3: especially at a state sales. Sometimes you've got even more
Speaker 3: quality or larger at home workout equipment like treadmills, bikes, benches,
Speaker 3: not just your bands and lands and dumbbells.
Speaker 4: We had all of.
Speaker 3: That, and there was a bidding war happening over some
Speaker 3: of the exercise equipment.
Speaker 4: It was wow. That was surprising to me too.
Speaker 3: Tools that is no, that wasn't on the list either,
Speaker 3: and we're gonna get there.
Speaker 1: We both added it at the same time.
Speaker 4: The tools.
Speaker 3: You would have thought that there was honey, a massive
Speaker 3: honey pot in the garage and bees were everywhere. These
Speaker 3: people were buzzing all over that garage, and I kid
Speaker 3: you not. I think that the garage was pretty much
Speaker 3: cleared out in about the first half of the first.
Speaker 4: Day just with tools.
Speaker 3: Now granted it was a detached two car garage full
Speaker 3: of power tools and lawn equipment, but these are the
Speaker 3: types of things you can get at a state sales
Speaker 3: that as people are downsizing and they don't have need
Speaker 3: for this. It was a lifetime accumulation of the things
Speaker 3: that a person would need to maintain a home now
Speaker 3: all being sold. So if you are a homeowner or
Speaker 3: maintaining your own home. Chances are you're going to find
Speaker 3: something that is maybe not sexy decor item, but really
Speaker 3: going to solve a problem for.
Speaker 4: You at a steep, steep discount.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we've gotten really obscure tools power and not power
Speaker 1: that you don't really find in the store or are
Speaker 1: over what we consider overpriced for what they are. Found
Speaker 1: them at a state sales for a song, And now
Speaker 1: we have this really obscure tool that makes life a
Speaker 1: lot easier for like one particular thing.
Speaker 3: I know, you just know whatever is in a garage
Speaker 3: that you might have to buy, even down to different
Speaker 3: oils for maintaining cars and lubricints and liquid wrench and
Speaker 3: WD forty and cleaning materials, anything that you might need
Speaker 3: to go out and spend eight dollars for brand new
Speaker 3: could be fifty cents to a dollar half used because
Speaker 3: you buy these things once and then you just are
Speaker 3: able to kind of keep using it. So just go
Speaker 3: to an estate sale. I mean, sky's the limit. I
Speaker 3: can't name for you everything that's going to be there.
Speaker 3: But the next thing on my list that is on
Speaker 3: this list is lamps and mirrors. That's another thing that
Speaker 3: did go decent. Definitely the mirrors and some lamps. Lamps
Speaker 3: are another thing that are a sneaky, sneakily expensive thing
Speaker 3: to purchase. If you've recently had to buy a brand
Speaker 3: new lamp, chances are your jaw dropped. How in the
Speaker 3: world could a floor lamp possibly be one hundred and
Speaker 3: fifty dollars on sale?
Speaker 4: But they are.
Speaker 3: It's wild, So go to an estate sale look for lamps.
Speaker 3: They're going to be plentiful. Something I also like looking
Speaker 3: for at a state sales is even new lamp shades.
Speaker 3: So let's say you have a lamp but the lamp
Speaker 3: shades getting really grungy. You could maybe even just buy
Speaker 3: a lamp or just find lamp shades for them. So
Speaker 3: it's just kind of a nice way to be able
Speaker 3: to even update at a low cost the things you
Speaker 3: might already have in your house. And mirrors, we also
Speaker 3: know that those are another super expensive item that you
Speaker 3: can often find large mirrors at a good price at
Speaker 3: a state sales.
Speaker 1: The next one on here for for me is holiday decur.
Speaker 4: Yes, I underscore that.
Speaker 1: There is so much of it and typically like some
Speaker 1: of it is vintage and they just don't make that
Speaker 1: stuff anymore, and it's so beautiful. But you can even
Speaker 1: find like really good quality faux Christmas trees beautiful ornaments,
Speaker 1: like if you're still using your cheap ornaments from college,
Speaker 1: head to an estate sale and get some old ladies'
Speaker 1: real fancy ornaments. Like I mean, these things are good.
Speaker 3: We don't call them old ladies just so sorry mature
Speaker 3: wise women when they have made intentional, beautiful purchasing decisions.
Speaker 4: Yes, with their holiday decor.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I am not a mature woman. I am basically
Speaker 1: an old lady.
Speaker 3: That was another surprise for me in the other direction.
Speaker 3: I really thought that the holiday decor was gonna go,
Speaker 3: and you know what, I think it would have if
Speaker 3: people were to be a little bit more future thinking.
Speaker 3: That's another one of my sidebar encouragements is future think.
Speaker 3: You might be at an estate sale in the dead
Speaker 3: of summer. It might be so stinking sweaty and so
Speaker 3: winter is not on your mind, but know that it's coming.
Speaker 3: Would there be something for winter that you're gonna want? Now?
Speaker 3: We had really quality space heaters and holiday decor that
Speaker 3: I was shocked didn't go. But I told my mom
Speaker 3: and like, hold on to these, sell them on Facebook
Speaker 3: marketplace because people right now aren't future thinking. But in
Speaker 3: a month from now, they're gonna drop fifty bucks on
Speaker 3: these space heaters. They're gonna want the holiday decor. There
Speaker 3: were Christmas trees and garland and all kinds of stuff.
Speaker 3: So be smarter than the people who were at this
Speaker 3: estate sale. I wish I could have taken a ton
Speaker 3: of stuff with me, but the estate sale happened in
Speaker 3: Pennsylvania and I live in Florida. I don't need the
Speaker 3: space heater, but I would love the garland. But it's
Speaker 3: a really, really great thing to be look I also
Speaker 3: will add to this wrapping paper. Always always buy your
Speaker 3: wrapping paper your gift bag. Sometimes even greeting cards. At
Speaker 3: these estate sales. Don't buy it full price when you're
Speaker 3: just two weeks out from Christmas. Think ahead, go to
Speaker 3: a state sales.
Speaker 1: Make me beautiful vintage cards and wrapping paper.
Speaker 3: Vintage wrapping paper. Oh, it's my favorite. I could talk
Speaker 3: about this all day long. But the final thing I'm
Speaker 3: going to choose on here is gardening supplies. So we
Speaker 3: are talking of course your shovels, your yard tools, but
Speaker 3: also plants and pots. We also know pots are very expensive,
Speaker 3: especially the larger you get, and again, you can get
Speaker 3: these for a song at an estate sale, oftentimes very
Speaker 3: mature plants well taken care of, Oh the gardener's dream
Speaker 3: as an estate sale. Yes.
Speaker 1: And then the last one for me is area rugs.
Speaker 1: So look at the rugs on the floor. They're usually
Speaker 1: for sale. Area rugs are so expensive and you can
Speaker 1: typically get them for a really good price at an
Speaker 1: estate sale. It's been kept inside, take it, get it
Speaker 1: cleaned before you bring it home, and you have this,
Speaker 1: you know, beautiful rug and for a fraction of the price,
Speaker 1: and you know it's clean. So area rugs for sure.
Speaker 1: The article says, wool rugs. I don't know the difference
Speaker 1: between rugs, but I just know big rugs are expensive
Speaker 1: and I like getting them secondhand.
Speaker 4: Yes. Do you know what we love?
Speaker 3: Love love getting second hand, And by second hand we
Speaker 3: mean from you all weekly, multiple times a week.
Speaker 4: I love it.
Speaker 3: The bill of the week.
Speaker 2: That's right, it's time for the best minute of your
Speaker 2: entire week. Maybe a baby was born and his name
Speaker 2: is Williams. Maybe you've paid off your mortgage, Maybe your
Speaker 2: car died and you're happy to not have to pay
Speaker 2: that bill anymore.
Speaker 1: Duck bills, Buffalo bills Bill Clinton, this is.
Speaker 3: The bill of the week.
Speaker 4: Hey guys, mine's April.
Speaker 5: I'm from SoCal and this is my bill of a week.
Speaker 5: A couple of months ago, I crashed my truck due
Speaker 5: to faulty breaks, and luckily my dad Bill offered to
Speaker 5: do all the labor for free. I bought all the
Speaker 5: car parts, and when everything arrived, the hood came super dented.
Speaker 4: We are really mad.
Speaker 5: We emailed the company and it costs them too much
Speaker 5: money to ship.
Speaker 4: Us in new hoods.
Speaker 5: So they offered we get it appraised and they would
Speaker 5: credit my card back the money, which was about one
Speaker 5: hundred and fifty dollars. So I actually don't care about
Speaker 5: the dents. It's an old truck and I just love
Speaker 5: my truck and I just want it back. So my
Speaker 5: dad said screw it, and he took a hammer to it.
Speaker 5: The hood looks fine and my truck is almost back together,
Speaker 5: and I'm so excited. I saved money on labor, I
Speaker 5: almost got the hood for free, and my dad and
Speaker 5: I have actually been having fun putting the truck back
Speaker 5: together and I just cannot wait to drive it again.
Speaker 1: And that's my bill of the week.
Speaker 4: You guys are awesome.
Speaker 1: Thanks Yes, April. Ooh, and your dad's name is Bill.
Speaker 3: Oh.
Speaker 1: I love everything about this. I love dy in.
Speaker 3: The car, April. You're awesome. You're the one who's awesome.
Speaker 3: Just even the energy you're bringing to this phone call
Speaker 3: and the Bill of the week is making me smile.
Speaker 3: And the way that you have diy this truck repair.
Speaker 3: I mean, first of all, I'm so glad you're safe.
Speaker 3: That's a really scary experience. And then to deal with
Speaker 3: financial hassle and not being able to have your truck
Speaker 3: to drive is just that's a lot. It's really overwhelming,
Speaker 3: but you are making the most of it having fun
Speaker 3: with your dad whose name is Bill. And that's my
Speaker 3: biggest takeaway. Thanks Bill, Thanks April's dad Bill. Bless thinks
Speaker 3: Bill for saving your daughter on expensive bills. If you
Speaker 3: all listening have learned how to make lemonade out of lemons,
Speaker 3: you're safe. But your dad's name is Bill, or your
Speaker 3: name is Bill, or you.
Speaker 4: Know a Bill.
Speaker 3: Visit Frugal friendspodcast dot com, slash Bill tell us about it,
Speaker 3: and now it's time for the learning round.
Speaker 1: All right, So for this week's lightning around your best
Speaker 1: estate sale score.
Speaker 3: Jill this is so hard to narrow down, Jen, I
Speaker 3: don't think it's possible, and I just don't think it's possible.
Speaker 4: So I'm gonna rattle it off.
Speaker 3: Some of the key highlights for me filing, cabinet, closet
Speaker 3: storage solutions, plants, some of those vintage ornaments you were
Speaker 3: talking about, Jen, like things I could never afford for
Speaker 3: myself and are one in a million. I've never seen
Speaker 3: anything else like some of these beautiful holiday decorations. I've gotten,
Speaker 3: vintage clothing, jewelry. Some of my best finds lately are
Speaker 3: some of these mature older women who are selling off
Speaker 3: their wardrobe and Man, of these dime pieces have good taste,
Speaker 3: they have bought the quality fabrics, they have great trial,
Speaker 3: they took care of it, they last, They have lasted
Speaker 3: so long. Hopefully I make them last longer still. But
Speaker 3: I have some real amazing pieces added to my wardrobe
Speaker 3: that I never would have been able to find for myself.
Speaker 3: And they're also unique. So that's fun. Estate salesman plants,
Speaker 3: so many plants, trees like the big kind at a fraction,
Speaker 3: like a fraction, yeah. And then a lot of times
Speaker 3: when you make friends with these people at the estate sale,
Speaker 3: they'll even more steeply discount it. They'll talk to you
Speaker 3: about how to maintain it so that it lasts so
Speaker 3: much longer. The amount of plants I've gotten from these
Speaker 3: dime pieces out here just run in the state sales
Speaker 3: is it's pretty wild.
Speaker 4: I love that.
Speaker 1: So our best I don't know, I won't say it's
Speaker 1: the best. But the most unique is actually the house
Speaker 1: that we live in. We saw our house for the
Speaker 1: first time at its estate sale, and we buy did
Speaker 1: not know this.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, so they were having an estate sale before
Speaker 3: they had sold the house.
Speaker 1: Correct. Interesting, Yes, well it was on the market, but
Speaker 1: they were having the estate sale and yeah, and then
Speaker 1: we put in an offer and purchased it. So yes,
Speaker 1: that is our biggest most unique estate sale purchase.
Speaker 4: Amazing was buying the estate.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and Trav's also bought a few tools at the
Speaker 1: estate sale. But they were selling this couch, this vintage
Speaker 1: tropical looking couch. I think it had either ritan or
Speaker 1: like bamboo or something. Ah, it was goreus. I didn't
Speaker 1: need a couch, but it was gorgeous.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Tablewear, flatwear, linens, I'll get vintage table cloths, cloth, napkins,
Speaker 3: sewing supplies.
Speaker 4: It's who man.
Speaker 3: This is a long episode because I just I love it.
Speaker 3: I love it so much. Thank you all for listening.
Speaker 3: We hope you love it. We're gonna stop talking to
Speaker 3: you so you can go find an estate sale. But
Speaker 3: also one of the things that you can do as
Speaker 3: you're looking up a state sales is leave us a
Speaker 3: review because we love reading them, like this one from
Speaker 3: Elizabeth P who says love Jill and Jen love this
Speaker 3: female driven podcast on frugality and simplicity. It is refreshing
Speaker 3: in a world of bloggers that tell us what to
Speaker 3: buy next and what we need. This podcast offers a
Speaker 3: contemplative way to consume, and what better contemplative way consumer
Speaker 3: just going to estate sales?
Speaker 4: I love Elizabeth. Thanks for your kind words.
Speaker 1: Yes, thank you, Elizabeth. Thank you so much for listening.
Speaker 1: If you enjoyed the show, please take a minute to
Speaker 1: leave a rating and review. It helps potential new listeners
Speaker 1: know what the show is all about, knowing that we're
Speaker 1: not pushing a bunch of deals on you and telling
Speaker 1: you what to buy next to save fifteen dollars, but
Speaker 1: how to be a conscious consumer.
Speaker 4: Yes see you next time.
Speaker 1: Gorugal Friends is produced by Eric Sirianni.
Speaker 4: All right, John, how are you feeling?
Speaker 3: How are you feeling now that you've let it sink
Speaker 3: in that the pattern is broken, it's a new pattern. Yeah.
Speaker 1: We both know a lot about estate sales, so I
Speaker 1: was confident that we could do this, especially since you
Speaker 1: just host one, so you kind of have the seller's
Speaker 1: perspective of like I want to know, like when was
Speaker 1: when were there the most buyers? What did the landscape
Speaker 1: look like?
Speaker 5: Like?
Speaker 1: What are the insider tips that you saw from the
Speaker 1: selling side that buyers could find helpful.
Speaker 3: The first day and especially the first hours really were gangbusters.
Speaker 3: So we ran the sale Saturday and Sunday, and I
Speaker 3: would say Saturday, the sales started at nine am. Of
Speaker 3: course we had early birds, even though we said no
Speaker 3: early birds, but we let them in at eight forty five. Fine,
Speaker 3: a forty five till about twelve one o'clock. Gangbusters.
Speaker 4: It was wild.
Speaker 3: The money was flying, people were swarming, it was crazy.
Speaker 3: There was then a lull in the afternoon, and then
Speaker 3: the second day was not nearly as busy.
Speaker 4: And I even know this.
Speaker 3: I would say similar to even yard sale weekends as well,
Speaker 3: where you're going to do your most sale the first
Speaker 3: day and you can expect about half the next day.
Speaker 4: But one of the.
Speaker 3: Things I even take away from it is it is
Speaker 3: still worth going to an estate sale on the second
Speaker 3: or even third day. There was so much stuff. I
Speaker 3: do think that there might have been a bit of
Speaker 3: a lull on the second day just because people were
Speaker 3: assuming it was picked over. And while that was true
Speaker 3: in part, there was still so much stuff and you
Speaker 3: never know if what someone else passed up is what
Speaker 3: you are potentially interested in. So there was still a
Speaker 3: lot of holiday decor. There were still mirrors and rugs
Speaker 3: and furniture. There was still lawn and garden supplies. The
Speaker 3: tools were gone, the exercise equipment was for the most
Speaker 3: part go on. But what can also happen, and what
Speaker 3: happened for us was there was more stuff we pulled out.
Speaker 3: So especially if there's not an organization running the estate sale,
Speaker 3: like for us, it's the family who ran the estate sale,
Speaker 3: and so it's just a lot of work, and so
Speaker 3: we did our best to get ready for it on
Speaker 3: day one. But then we were able to take the
Speaker 3: lull on day one and into the evening of day
Speaker 3: one to pull out just more stuff. That we didn't
Speaker 3: have time to get to. So there were new things
Speaker 3: day two that I also think people may not be
Speaker 3: aware of. So that's just my encouragement that if you
Speaker 3: can't make it to the first day because of work
Speaker 3: or schedule or whatever it's and even if you're like
Speaker 3: I'm not the person who's like trying to get the
Speaker 3: fifty percent off junk that's left over, there still is
Speaker 3: good stuff. I think at most estate sales, even if
Speaker 3: you weren't able to get there the first day.
Speaker 1: And what were you willing to discount, Like by the
Speaker 1: end of it, oh.
Speaker 3: By day two it was fifty percent off just across
Speaker 3: the board because we had stickered a lot of things,
Speaker 3: And by twelve o'clock day two it was take it.
Speaker 3: It was practically take it, because that's the beautiful thing
Speaker 3: about a state sales too.
Speaker 4: It has to go.
Speaker 3: Sometimes yard sales might be yeah, we'll bring it back
Speaker 3: into the house, but even there across the board, people's
Speaker 3: plan is to take it to the thrift store. So negotiate, negotiate, negotiate,
Speaker 3: maybe pick some things you want, ask for a price,
Speaker 3: and then if you find more things, most likely they're
Speaker 3: going to just throw it in for the price that
Speaker 3: they already quoted you on the things you asked for
Speaker 3: a price quote on. So I'm not going to encourage hoarding.
Speaker 3: Only take what you need. Don't keep it from a
Speaker 3: thrift store because it could be good for somebody else.
Speaker 3: But yeah, I mean, if you're interested in those things,
Speaker 3: bundle pricing is absolutely a thing.
Speaker 1: And were you cash only or did you take like
Speaker 1: Venmo or zel?
Speaker 4: We took Venmo typically too.
Speaker 3: At these estate sales, yes, you can take They're going
Speaker 3: to take a wide variety of payment forms because they're
Speaker 3: selling larger items. We had large furniture, We even had
Speaker 3: small trailers, tractors, things that were worth upwards of one
Speaker 3: thousand dollars, and so yeah, we kind of had to
Speaker 3: have other options. So definitely Venmo or cash app or
Speaker 3: zell could be ways of making payment as well.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's much easier to do that when you're in
Speaker 1: person too. I know some of these estate sales that
Speaker 1: are run by a company are still cash only just
Speaker 1: because they can't, you know, venmo money to themselves, so
Speaker 1: bring cash. But yeah, if it's family run for sure,
Speaker 1: like ze.
Speaker 3: Depending on the company, they may even take credit card.
Speaker 3: There are some who will just have points touch rail systems.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's so true. Well this wasn't even more educational
Speaker 1: after show? We don't should we say something silacious to
Speaker 1: make it worth it?
Speaker 3: Oh?
Speaker 4: Yeah, what do you have that's salacious?
Speaker 3: My banana tree broke. It's not salacious, But here we go.
Speaker 3: Did I tell you this?
Speaker 5: No?
Speaker 3: In the last storm that we had, we thankfully didn't
Speaker 3: sustain hardly any damage, but our banana tree broke.
Speaker 4: Good news and bad news.
Speaker 3: That the banana tree broke in an irreparable way. But
Speaker 3: I wasn't certain if the banana trees we have would
Speaker 3: produce or could produce fruit, because they were babies when
Speaker 3: it got them. And in its breaking, we realized it
Speaker 3: had a bundle of bananas growing on it. I don't
Speaker 3: know how I missed it previous to that. It was
Speaker 3: I guess some how hidden by bigger leafs in front
Speaker 3: of it. But a huge bunch of bananas was growing
Speaker 3: on this tree. Now, when it broke, the bananas were
Speaker 3: still way too tiny to be able to consume, which
Speaker 3: is sad, but at least I know these are the
Speaker 3: banana producing banana trees.
Speaker 1: Right, you're down one. I'm excited about that, Yeah, you're
Speaker 1: down one.
Speaker 3: There's others growing in its place. The most mature one
Speaker 3: saw an early death, which is sad, but I'm going
Speaker 3: to take the wind in that. We got bananas. We
Speaker 3: got bananas on our property.
Speaker 1: Okay, my alarm just went off. I have to pick
Speaker 1: up Kai. Okay, but this was great. Bye bye