A trip to Denise’s basement

I may have mentioned, one of the difficulties of working on the project of collecting the things I need for The House of Goodwill during coronavirus is that there aren’t any estate sales or moving sales going on where I can buy some things (like kitchen items) that I really need in bulk.

But one day I turned up an ad on craigslist that I hadn’t seen before – someone had posted the entire contents of the basement of a house for $350.  Someone’s 94-year-old mother had died, and the kids had taken everything they wanted from her home and the leftovers were sent to the basement.

The ad had been up for 8 weeks already, and a lot of the basement stuff had been offered and sold piece by piece, but the craigslist photos showed a few promising leftovers.

So I responded to the ad, said I did not need (and couldn’t possibly use or store) everything they had, but asked if I could pick out some things and make them an offer on what I could use?  The answer – absolutely yes!

So my husband and I headed over to Denise’s basement to see what we could find.

At first, it seemed kind of disappointing.  A lot of things in the photos (games, kitchen pots & pans, etc.) were already sold.  And everything was dirty - it had been sitting in the basement for a while.  But as we started picking through the piles, we found all kinds of things we could use.

Among the highlights:

Some beautiful thick green glasses & wine glasses

A gorgeous flowered lamp

With a new shade, this will look great!

Some pretty towels that had never been used (a few of them were straight out of the 1970s – perfect for the bathroom with the green sink!)

A chainsaw

Silverware & some utensils

A side table

A box of wine glasses

A pair of porcelain ducks

A flowered latch hooked rug

I don't think this latch hooked rug was ever used.  It came out of my washing machine looking pristine!

And Denise was fantastic!  As I picked through her piles she tried to sell me every single thing she had. (Ripped chair – no thank you.  Statue of dog – no thank you.  Special chair for hemorrhoid relief – no thank you.)  She was great, and entertained us with stories of her “tightwad” mother who left each of her kids a $500,000 inheritance – that Denise said she did not need due to having a paid-for home and social security.  (We offered to help her out with that, but she declined.)

At the end of our treasure hunt, we agreed on $55 for all of it, and we loaded up our SUV.

There was a lot of great stuff, and after it all went through the washing machine and dishwasher, it sparkled and shone.

A trip to Pottery Barn it was not.  It was much more effort, but much less money.  And way more fun!

As always, the joy is in the journey!