I went to my second estate sale ever on Sunday. They were both eerily the same; same layout of house, same old lady doilies and odd knick knacks, same sad sense of the stuff left behind when a life ends.
My friend who knows about estate sales and being fashionable said I'd be a fool not to buy the grey leather coat with white fur trim at $20, so I did. I also put in a blind bid on a worn dining room rug. The estate sale guy today called and said I can have it for $200. I've wanted an old rug, but I'm not sure that this one really will go with my decor.
It feels vulture-like to buy this stuff from a dead person. Actually, maybe the lady or man of the house just has to move to a nursing home. Who knows? But in the spirit of reuse, I'll try not to feel morbid. I don't when I get stuff from Goodwill. And buying new stuff is probably more harmful in the long run.
The Mercury‘s JOYRIDE Issue Is Out Now!
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The Mercury‘s April issue is called “Joyride,” and it’s all about
transportation in Portland. Whether you get around by car, bus,
bike/unicycle/electric...
4 weeks ago
1 comment:
I have bought a fair bit of stuff from estate sales, and I get that vulture feeling, but the desire to make stuff continue to be useful rather than just buying new outweighs that for me.
I found pristine condition toys at a house where the kids of the owner were there, and I chatted with the daughters a bit. They acted happy to have me buy things that I would use.
I have gotten clothes, furniture and sewing stuff, and felt pretty good about the reuse. Realistically, a family that is using an estate sale isn't going to keep grandma's things, either because they don't want them or can't deal with them. My mom used such a service for my grandmother's furniture, since her style was quite different from my mom's and the cost of shipping furniture from PA to CA was prohibitive. Better this than the stuff ends up in a landfill.
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