Day of deals: The BHG Garage Sale

It’s so fun to have a friend as into bargain hunting as you are. So when my friend Mary sent an email asking if anyone wanted to brave the Better Homes & Gardens garage sale with her, I couldn’t reply, “YES!” fast enough.

Des Moines is home to publishing powerhouse, Meredith Corporation, the company that creates Better Homes and Gardens, Midwest Living, and many others. The garage sale, which took place over a couple levels of the company’s parking garage, was a chance to clean out and sell off TONS of stuff from past shoots and prop closets. (Are you drooling yet? Yes, I was too, when I heard.)

Mary picked up the coffee, I grabbed bagels, and we met at 7am (doors opened at 8 ) and ate breakfast in a line that snaked around the whole city block. Callen was a willing companion – you have to train those guys to shop early on!

Apparently, we weren’t as hard core as we thought we were, getting there a mere hour early. We heard that people at the front of the line had been there since 2am! I don’t think anything is worth standing all night long, but if I could do it all over again, I might have gotten there around 6 or so to get further up in the crowd. By the time we made it in, there was still quite a bit of stuff, but you had to dig for the good things, and most of the furniture (all of which was amazing!) already had big orange “SOLD” stickers on it. We did manage to find a few things, and it was kind of okay that after I had planned to spend MUCH more, I walked out with an $11 total.

Mary scored a couple of lamps, a wipe-off mat to put under Cal’s highchair, and some brand new cans of spray paint. I found a lamp that I’m planning to paint, some yards of bright fabric to use for propping photos of invitations and other Liz Ink stuff, and a Pottery Barn magnetic board to hang and attach magnetic spice jars to. I’m not sure if I’ll use it in the kitchen or in one of our offices – maybe I’ll use it for my sprinkles collection somehow. For five bucks and still in the original packaging, I decided I could figure out the use later!

After we made it out of the sale, we all felt a little like Callen here. We met up with Christine at the nearby Starbucks to soak up some A/C. Still in bargain mode, Mary suggested Gordman’s. I’m not sure why, but I rarely swing by there. So glad I did today because the deals continued for both of us. A mirror, a cake-pop baker (yes, I caved), a fun summer tray, a “C” for Cal’s room, and a funky stepstool, and we were feeling pretty frugalistic.

Thanks for a fun day, Mary!  Hope everyone is enjoying their Saturday