Estate Sales

I love shopping and I love estate sales. I had always thought that estate or tag sales of possessions emerged because house owners are moving out to new larger or smaller homes and are disposing their old stuff or new. It is only much later that I learned that it could be liquidation of belongings due to less happy circumstances like divorce, foreclosure or death.

I blame my daughter for getting me hooked on this form of shopping. She would checked for estate sales online and planned the routes to take. We would start out in the morning with the handy mobile phone providing GPS directions and hoped to secure some awesome finds.

It is exciting to browse for works of art, ornate lampshades, coffee tables, antique armchairs, lovely terracotta pots, crystal vases and bowls. The potential buys are endless. It is extremely frustrating when you see something you want only to find that it has already been sold. The competition comes from antique and vintage dealers who very quickly snap up all the good collectibles.

I often marvel at certain homes that have whole rooms filled with seasonal decoration stuff. We bought quite a huge haul of Christmas decorations that were still in original packaging and totally brand new.

We may like some items but not buy immediately. After a couple of days, we would revisit and purchase these items at a discount. Naturally, we are not lucky all the time because they could have been already grabbed by other buyers.