Dallas, episode 2. In which money talks.

Have I mentioned my Peanuts collection?  If you are keeping track of the multitudes, then, yes, you might recall a photo of a 3-D Snoopy happy dance pin picked at the Randolph Street Market in Chicago (Chicago-Indiana-Michigan, episode 9).  This metal sign is not quite as vintage as that picked pin, but it won my heart after meeting my collector's gaze that cool Canton-First-Monday Thursday and is now packed away with the (too many) Christmas decorations awaiting another post-Thanksgiving rescue from long-term storage.

It was also the first item I picked up and consequently purchased (for six dollars) that crisp day.

When you are planning on spending a day fleamarketing, one of the things you must consider is how you pay for purchases.

Whether Mari and I are hosting a garage sale or enjoying a Saturday morning in search of that perfect garage sale (still searching), there are two essentials on our list.  If it is hot (and it usually is--thank you, 101-degree-still-February-record-breaker this past week!) then bottled water is third.

First is cash.  More and more vendors at large fleamarkets are accepting credit cards thanks to the ease (perhaps a little too easy) with which such transactions are handled via smartphone apps,
e-mail receipts included.

Credit card payment apps come in especially handy whether you are buying vintage silver Southwest jewelry in Long Beach, for example, or even Lea Stein celluloid cat pins at Les Puces de Saint-Ouen in Paris or on Portobello Road in London (working up to that blog series, I promise!).

Most fleamarket and garage sale transactions, of course, are easily and best handled with cash.  Cash helps you control your spending, but you need to be prepared with small change.  A quick visit inside your bank (remember tellers or live-action-non-automated ATMs?) the day prior to sale day will net you the small change necessary to swiftly score the best deals.

You can't exactly bargain your way down to $6 (from $8) for Peanuts metal decor then pull out a pile of Harriet Tubmans (just trying it out) for payment.  I wouldn't go so far as to call it unethical, but it's just not the right thing to do.

Having been on the receiving end of such transactions, I know how defeatedly depleted (crappy) I felt transferring ownership of once beloved collectibles to bargain hunters pulling wads of twenties from their pockets.

Keep small bills and maybe a twenty in one pocket and the rest of your cash stash stashed.  Never insult a hard-working dealer.

Back to my list of two essentials.

Two is pretty much common sense, but sometimes that's easier said than done, especially if you haven't had your morning coffee yet.  Take a strong bag along to collect your loot.  Dealers often have reused shopping bags available for your purchases, but you can't always count on that. Besides, walking around with those plastic bag handles digging into your hands is not the best thing for you or your rescued collectibles.  Get a strong-handled tote bag or backpack and have it readily available in case there is an impromptu fleamarketing trip on your weekend horizon.

Mari and I keep a storage bin in the garage with leftover shopping bags and paper that formerly wrapped breakables brought home from shopping trips.  Instead of tossing these or recycling them in a traditional sense, we give them a new purpose as they transport secondhand goods away from our own garage sales to new homes near and far.

In case you're wondering, that's one or more of my fingers hovering over the photo of my wife and the next photo of Mari with her sister. Not a UFO (not really).  Still trying to get used to wrapping my clumsy hands around my new phone.

By the way, isn't a one-dollar-table one of the greatest fleamarket sights ever?!  That next table loaded with vintage kitchen storage containers is another welcome sight for this collector.

As I wrap up this quick revisit to an old fleamarket favorite, I wanted to share a final photo, which is actually the first photo I took that Thursday morning.  It's your first view of the Trade Days grounds as you cross the short covered entrance bridge.


It's also a picaresque parting shot of a memorable winter day (winter by Texas standards anyway) spent with family, friends, and favorite fleamarketed finds.

We stick around the Dallas and Fort Worth area for a few new old adventures next time.