A Year in Junk

I decided to share with you, my "Year in Junk".

Collection of vintage figural and standard Christmas Bulbs. $1.00 for the whole lot, if I remember correctly.

Vintage Christmas and Vintage Kitchen. A common theme of my junkin' travels.

Old wooden toy clothespins, a very old slate and other fun children's items.

Old ledger, celluloid rose pin and a set of huge old wooden beads.

Ah, this was quite a sale. Everything was priced 10¢, 25¢, etc. I bought so much. See those Santas in the middle? I was excited to find those for my Santa colleciton. I wonder where they are because I totally forgot about them until I saw this picture. Darn organizational skills anyway.

Lots of cool old stuff scored in one morning. I seem to have a reoccuring "red" theme in my finds. I don't really even have red in my house!

Probably my most favorite find of the year. The top flips open to make a step ladder. I love this thing so much. $7.50 is a lot for me to spend, but I whipped it out Pront-O when I spotted this one. Red and white, go figure!

This is a very old Beauti-Box tin from the 1930's. I found this by digging to the bottom of the box of fruitcake, cookie and other unremarkable tins one day. Bliss.

A very old Betty Crocker iron with lot of cool old graphics. Lots of red.

A stack of old metal boxes scored at different sales. The red one is an ammo can,t he green one is an explosives box from Korea and the blue one is an old tool box. I also have a larger red one that held a toy train.

I scored this sweet little vintage child's metal folding chairs and table in the trash on Spring Clean Up day. When I stopped to grab it, the couple came out and asked me to take several other things too. They had everything set up like a yard sale hoping people would take it before the trash trucks came by. I am happy to have saved this one from the landfill. Oh yes, and it is red and white, of course.

I got this potting bench at a sale for $15.00 this summer. I had a ball gathering up my old junk and displaying it on it. As you can see, it is still sitting in the driveway and I already had it junked out. I found the big metal 3's that day too and they just seemed to fit on the bench. They are still right there today.

My junkin' goal at each sale and thrift - looking for matte white pottery. I have done well this year. This photo was taken last January when I put my collection back out after Christmas. Yesterday I put my collection back out and I have 51 pieces! I have done well finding them for 25¢-$1.00 each. I know I spent $2.00 for one and that was my most expensive one. The entire collection started after reading an article in Country Living several years ago saying it would be the next "hot" collectible. A few weeks later, I went to a sale and they had twelve dirt encrusted matte white pots sitting on one table. My heartrate sped up knowing I had found a treasure, but I didn't know the price yet, so I knew not to get too excited. I asked and the lady said the sweetest words, "10¢ each." I scooped them up, took them home and soaked and scrubbed them until the glistened. I remember finding a McCoy, Royal Haegar, Floraline, Shawnee and lots of other name brand pots. I really intended on selling them, but I just fell in love with them. I decided to keep them since I had so little invested. I have been fortunate to find (and have been gifted!) more and more to add to my collection. Someday I hope to have a hutch full of pottery that I can fill with my old Shiny Brite collection at Christmas.

So, there you have it, my Year in Review. My year in Junk. This year I vow to only bring home what I love or what I can sell. And to actually SELL IT. I vow to show restraint and not have empty hand syndrome. Leaving empty handed is okey-dokey hokey-pokey. I vow to bring it home and put it where it belongs and not pile it sky high on the kitchen table. I vow to list it quickly or store it WHERE I CAN FIND IT (see Santa note above) and then list it when appropriate. I vow to organize and cull out a lot of my junk and have the YARD SALE of the year this spring. I vow to get my collections organized and dust free. (That's a good one! Snort!)

Hey, I think the thrift re-opened today! I vow to GO!