EstateSales.NET Blog

I brought a collection of slides into the office. The young people in the office didn’t know what they were. Ouch, right? Darn youths. Slides were the way my family held onto photographs when I was growing up. My parents had boxes of carousels in their closet, collecting dust after being viewed once (or maybe twice, if we had guests over after a family vacation, where they would be shown a slideshow of all our adventures). But as slide popularity died out, it was replaced by new-fangled digital media. My parents converted all of theirs to CDs, and then emptied their closets of all those carousels. And they aren’t the only people who have moved on from projecting images on a bedsheet hung over their TV. Which means that across the country, you can find these nuggets of personal and photographic history at estate sales. But what can you do with them? Sure you could dust them off and host a screening party of someone else’s vacation at your house, but then what? Lampshades! That’s what...

Halloween is around the corner. And as quickly as the holiday aisles at the big-box stores filled with costumes, they will empty, leaving you and your children with slim pickins (which is, coincidentally, the name of the off-brand Woody from Toy Story costume you might end up with if you don’t move fast). And heaven help you if you’re an adult woman. Every contemporary costume made for us involved short shirts and low necklines. (You can’t be a firefighter or a can of Diet Coke without decolletage, ladies!) So, the way I see it, you have three choices: Get to the Halloween stores ASAP and pay premium prices so your kid can be one of 300 Captain Marvels on the block. Wait until the Halloween aisles empty out and all that’s left are generic costume pieces like monster makeup, crowns, and wings, and convince your child that Prince or Princess FrankenFairy is totally awesome and not a shonky costume made entirely of leftovers. Find a one-of-a-kind costume that suits all your needs at your local estate sales and auctions (recommended)...

When I was a kid (and, I suspect, still) my church would raffle off a quilt every month. Tickets were $2 a piece, or 3 for $5. Every month, I would enter. After all, who can resist the siren song of gambling with someone else’s money? (Thanks, Grandma.) Every month, I didn’t win. But I never lost my appreciation for quilting. Not in an I-want-to-learn-how-to-do-that sort of way, though. Just in an I-want-one way. And now I own several (#blessed). The first quilt I acquired was one of those coveted church quilts, given to me by my grandmother as a wedding gift. A few were sewn and hand-tied by my husband’s great-grandmother. One was a memory quilt made out of my father-in-law’s t-shirts after he passed away. My most recent acquisition was one made by yet another in-law, who sews patches into the shape of an elephant or a donkey into a quilt, depending on the recipient’s political leanings. And every time I attend an estate sale, I struggle to convince myself that I have room to add to my collection. Quilting is beautiful in so many ways...

What child of the eighties didn’t covet a Cabbage Patch Kid ? I had one—a boy named Sheldon Percy, with brown, curly hair, and a green football jersey. My sister was blessed with two: a girl and a preemie. And now, 30 years later, she can’t remember either of her Cabbage Patch Kids’ names. Who was the better parent, I ask you? The Kids are gone now. I assume they’re all living happy, healthy lives. But do they call to check in? No. Of course not. Not even on Christmas. Not even to say hello. Where did we go wrong? Cabbage Patch Parenting is hard. Vintage Kids are still sought out by collectors. Doll aficionados, children of the 80s with fond memories of Christmas morning, parents of the 80s with stories to tell about the time they got into fisticuffs at Child World—the Cabbage Patch adopts out to all of them. But if you’re looking to start a collection, or maybe just find yourself drawn to one at an estate sale, it’s important to know what you’re looking at, so you know if you’re about to get a good deal...

Look. I know it feels like summer has only just begun, but there are only a few short weeks before school is back in. So the prospect of shopping for school supplies looms large, and grows exponentially, depending on how many kids you have returning to the classroom. And heaven help you if you’ve got kids heading to college. The costs add up. But before you head to your local big box store to buy new-fangled supplies for each of your kids, might I recommend spending the next few weeks browsing your local estate sales to supplement your ever-growing list of needs and wants. There are, of course, items that are difficult to find at estate sales. If your child requires a five-pack of tissues, a 24-pack of a specific brand of pencils, three glue sticks, and two packs of loose-leaf wide-ruled paper, you’ll probably have to buy them retail. But estate sales are a treasure trove for those looking to save some money on school supplies. Here are just a few ideas. Books At almost any given estate sale, you’re going to find shelves upon shelves of books ...

You come to EstateSales.NET to find estate sales in your area quickly and easily. We want to ensure that it stays that way. As we've grown, we've made changes to the site. Some have worked well, while others not-so-well. We’ve gotten a lot of feedback since our last major update. Much of it was positive, but it was clear there was room for improvement. Before we get started on our latest round of improvements, we want to hear from you. Please take this brief survey , so we can determine how best to enhance your EstateSales.NET experience. Here are some of the more common issues that were brought to our attention following our last major update: Too much to see Depending on the area you’re searching, you might find your results a bit overwhelming. In some parts of the country, a 100-mile radius will give you results that are, perhaps, a bit too far out for your tastes, but not an unreasonable distance if you’ve got itches in your britches for a particular item. But if you live in a major metropolitan area, things get a little hectic...

Dieting has come a long way over the past few decades. Fad and not-so-fad diets have always been a thing, from the once popular gelatin dishes good not only for reducing, but also for preserving the food itself in times when everyone had to tighten their belts for the war effort, to new diets like Whole 30 and the Paleo-thing, which focus not on limiting the amount of food you eat but the type of food you eat. But it can be pretty objectively said that diet recipes have improved over the years. Whether it’s the country’s expanded palate, increased food options, a better understanding of “good” fats, a healthy aversion to additives and preservatives, a movement away from refined flour. . .whatever the reason, those who are looking to lose weight through measured or unmeasured reducing have much better options now than they once did. Case in point: the 1972 Weight Watchers recipe card collection. Weight Watchers is, of course, still very popular weight loss program. But their approach and recipes have changed considerably over the last 50 years...

So you want to throw a 60s soirée… Maybe you lived through that era, and want to enjoy some of the styles and sounds you remember so well. Or maybe you're like me and just watched Mad Men for the fourth time and have since been lamenting the lack of a fully-stocked bar in your modern office, so you’re looking for something to fill that void, even temporarily. Whatever the reason, consider this a guide to help ensure your party is the swingingest on the block. And with a little help from your local estate sales and the EstateSales.NET Marketplace , you can make sure your party is authentic. How to dress There are many different directions you can go. The 60s are associated with a variety of styles and movements, making it easy to choose a style you’ll be comfortable with. Early 60s styles are a bit more conservative, coming out of the modest 50s. But as the decade went on, hemlines went up. Classy A-line dresses were popular, as were roomy shift dresses and baby-doll styles...

The Blenko Glass Company had been adding color to homes for nearly 100 years. Whether you’re an avid collector or simply someone who enjoys the occasional tchotchke, it’s impossible to deny the beauty of Blenko . The distinctly-colored glass brightens up any room, making it appealing to the average shopper, and they have a variety of limited edition colors and pieces, making it a perfect collector’s item. And it was difficult for us not to hop on the Blenko bandwagon after talking to Ed Rothenberger. He was kind enough to show us his collection, give us some insights on what pieces are particularly exciting, and show us how to tell the difference between Blenko and the myriad other art glass companies. Blenko Glass Company has been in business since the 1920s in Milton, WV, in the heart of glass country. Many well- and lesser-known glass companies found their homes in West Virginia, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. And glass blowers and designers often worked for more than one glass company in their lifetimes, which resulted in some similar-looking pieces...

Lamps are a ridiculously common item to find at estate sales. And understandably so: who doesn’t need a little light in their lives? Goth kids, I suppose... Moles... Vampires… But for the rest of us, we need our world illuminated so we can look deeply into the eyes of a loved one, comfortably read our favorite book, and avoid stubbing our toes on the coffee table when we sneak into the kitchen in the middle of the night just to check on the chocolate cake we left on the counter...you know, just to make sure it’s still safe. Thanks, lamps ! But let’s not limit ourselves. There’s a wide variety of lamps in the world, from old-timey to mid-century modern to contemporary. Of course, we can’t spotlight every single type of lamp or every shade design. From Tiffany glass to two-tiered starburst shades to crystal chandeliers , there’s a style to suit any home. And sure, you can find more traditional bases and shades in any store, but one of the fun things about estate sales are the interesting and, dare we say, kitschy items you can find...