Mary Belk: Plenty of treasure in other folks' junk

This time of year, you can sometimes find me foraging on weekends.

Meandering and drifting, I rummage, following bright-colored, handwritten signs posted on telephone poles. Searching for nothing in particular and everything in general, just a delight away from what I’ve been looking for all my life, though I have no clue what it is. Maybe I’ll find it next Saturday.

There’s a cool breeze. I have a half tank of gas and a few dollars in my pocket. I never limit myself with expectations. If I go with a specific object in mind, I’m usually disappointed. I go for the pure pleasure of the hunt, for the simple quest. And I usually find something I have to own.

Summer is the season of yard, garage, and estate sales. It’s time to swap ordinary indoor shopping for the allure of outdoor tables.

If you’ve never tried a junking adventure, here are some tips:

1. Folks tend to clump all weekend sales under the same heading, but they aren’t all alike. Yard and garage sales mean someone is offering to let you take their trash as your treasure. That might happen if you’re patient enough to spend time sorting through boxes and under tables.

Estate and moving sales are usually run by professionals. They offer a mixture of furniture, household goods, toys and clothes.

2. Bargains aren’t the only benefit of frequenting weekend sales. If you go hunting often enough, it becomes a social event. You’ll notice that you run into the same people at all the different sales. And before you know it, you look forward to seeing them.

3. It never hurts to ask, “Will you take less?” This is a good-natured way of bargaining, and these days, we rarely get an opportunity to make a deal.

4. Set limits. Have a fixed amount you’re willing to spend, and decide ahead of time that you won’t buy anything that isn’t beautiful, useful, or nostalgic.

I usually won’t allow myself more than $10 per Saturday. A fun foraging excursion for me is to find four or five items I can’t live without for a total of $3.

But no matter how cheap it is, it isn’t a bargain if you don’t have a place for it at home. Sometimes I don’t find anything. I still enjoy the pursuit.

Writer and photographer Mary Randolph Carter describes the beauty of found objects. “You make a connection with something. You want to give it a home and a new life.”

Junking lets us see the old and cast out in a new light. You walk by a table filled with items. You stop and go back. Then you see it. “Take me home,” it whispers.

You pick it up looking for the price. Yes! Casually you pay for it, and walk away smiling. Then comes the joy of bringing it to its new home. It’s perfect.

Why not give it a try? Foraging is good for the soul.

Mary Belk lives in Auburn and writes a column for the Opelika-Auburn News.