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If you want to get some great bargains for your homestead, it’s time to start visiting flea markets. Flea markets get their name from “marché aux puces,” a French phrase that literally translates to “market of fleas.” The name comes from the fact that the first outdoor bargain markets in Paris often included items that were old and worn and possibly full of fleas.
Today’s flea markets, however, feature a wide variety of quality second-hand clothing, household supplies, and equipment that can save you a bundle. It’s worth the time to visit your local flea markets on a regular basis to look for things that can make your homesteading life easier or more convenient at a fraction of what they would cost new.
Here is our list of items to put on your flea market checklist.
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1. Books
From oldie but goodie cookbooks to novels to DIY guides to school books for the kids, flea markets can have great reading selections. Quality hardcover books are often priced at $1 or less.
2. Storage Containers
Baskets, buckets, wooden boxes, barrels and other containers can come in handy around your homestead. Flea markets are often full or attractive, useful storage options at great prices. Some vintage containers are so decorative, they can double as home décor pieces as well as being useful.
3. Furniture
Well-made furniture never goes out of style. You can find bargains on tables, chairs, bookshelves, and cabinets at flea markets. Outdoor furniture can double your living space in nice weather.
4. Canning Jars
Whether you use them for food preservation, as drinking glasses, as vases or for other purposes around the homestead, sturdy glass canning jars are usually plentiful at flea markets. It’s not unusual to find them priced at around $3 for a dozen jars.
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5. Lamps and Candles
You often can find new or almost new candles at giveaway prices at flea markets. Kerosene lamps are another useful find for the prepared homesteader.
6. Fabric
Curtains, bedspreads, blankets, and sheets can be used as is or repurposed in a variety of ways for your home and property.
7. Old Windows, Ladders, and Doors
These items can be refinished and repainted for use in your home, your outbuildings or even as charming garden décor. For example, an old ladder can become a plant stand indoors or outdoors. A door can be part of a sturdy and attractive table, and a window can work well in a chicken coop. You also can repurpose shutters for vertical gardening.
8. Large Buckets, Sinks, and Tubs
These items can be used as water and feed troughs for your animals, as planters in your garden or as containers for any number of homestead supplies.
9. Toys, Games, and Puzzles
You and your family can spend many happy hours playing games and puzzles that you purchase inexpensively from flea markets. Chances are good your kids will find a fun toy or two to keep them entertained – at least for a while.
10. Tools
Check flea markets frequently for low prices on well-made, brand-name tools to add to your home and garden collection. Battery-operated tools are a great find. Also look for nails, screws, and bolts at very low prices.
11. Appliances
You might pick up a great deal on large home appliances such as a washing machine or a dishwasher. Check these machines out carefully to make sure they are in good operating order before purchasing, however. Also keep an eye out for quality smaller appliances such as food processors, bread machines, ice cream makers, crockpots, dehydrators, grain mills and coffee grinders. Hand-operated machines are good choices for homesteaders who live off the grid.
12. Baby Equipment
You may find gently-used strollers, baby beds, playpen, baby carriers and other items for your little ones at a flea market.
13. Shoes and Clothing
Are your kids growing out of everything? Are you spending more time than ever outdoors? Look for big savings on clothing, coats, hats, gloves, shoes, and boots.
14. Sewing Items
Flea markets can have incredible prices on thread, patches, yarn, needles, fabric, patterns and even sewing machines.
15. Camping Gear
Tents, tarps, sleeping bags, cook stoves and cast-iron pots are important pieces for a homesteader to own. Yet, they are pricey when purchased new. Look for quality used items at flea markets that still have years of service left in them.
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16. Bicycles
Bikes and exercise equipment frequently find their way to flea markets. Be sure to ask to take a bicycle out for a test drive before purchase.
17. Pet Supplies
The cost of owning pets can skyrocket if you buy new supplies. Visit flea markets for good prices on pet leashes, harnesses, collars, kennels and crates.
Be Ready to Haggle
Prices at flea markets are negotiable, and many people find that the bargaining process is part of the fun of flea market shopping. To get the best deals, here are a few tips:
- Arrive early at the sale to see full selection.
- Bring cash.
- Don’t be afraid to ask questions.
- Bundle items together for lower pricing.
- Treat vendors with courtesy.
- Vendors may be willing to offer better deals near closing time.
Have you ever found an incredible deal at a flea market? Comment below and tell us about it!
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MORNING from SEATTLE,WA. I have gotten a lot of stuff off “CRAIGSLIST” for free like KEROSENE HEATER and just KEROSENE! I even got a KEROSENE STOVE real cheap! EVEN a cast iron cooking stuff ! NOTHING BETTER THAN FREE!
We found our wood cookstove at a flea market. Everything was intact, it just needed a good clean up. We hit the local flea markets every weekend and have bought so many useful items like vintage tools and kitchen items, parts for my vintage sewing machines, good prices on ammo, plants and produce.
I’m a vendor at a swapmeet and I’ve learned that sometimes its better to buy new since some of the things you find are not always in Woking condition and some vendors won’t tell you or will tell you that it works great (usually only the fly by nighters do that) so check thourghly on any machanical or gas operated stuff and avoid electronics unless they have a way to test them
That is why I shop for the “FREE Stuff “ on Craigslist ! You look long Enough you well be surprise what good stuff you can get for “ FREE” I have got over 50 gals. Of kerosene and a few kerosene lamps ! Since I am retired and disable I have lots of time and not much $$$$$
They also make heat,but watch out for the carbon monoxide in tight locations. They work well when then the power goes out for days on end.Like up here in northern Alberta Canada.
would not recommend buying shoes second hand as they can ruin your kids feet.
Yes I have, I found an XBox and a bunch of games for a total of about $20.00 about 10 or 12 years ago and we still play a game of golf everyday. I would never miss a good yards or flea market. I also spend a lot of time in thrift stores when I can get into town.
I like Flea Markets and Swapmeets, and have picked up some killer deals on items for pennies on the dollar. Most of the ammo cans I own came from Flea Markets and cost a buck or two.
I don’t, however, buy any shoes second hand. After a Plantar Wart experience from an almost new set of Hunting Boots, I avoid shoes. They say the HPV virus only lives up to 6 months in shoes, but it lives a lot longer than that in my experience (over a year). I spent a lot more than I saved, so shoes and boots I avoid.
A lot of these items are too much for a bug out bag. Who is going to put an appliance in their bug out bag? Much less a washing machine? And how are you going to keep a roll of chicken wire anywhere?
Much of this is either common thrift store strategy or picking up the pieces after an apocalypse.
I say learn how to garden and homestead on your own time to begin with: learn the strategies and keep them in your head. Or make a notebook of them and keep it safe from destruction. A lot of survival is head knowledge. The more you know, the more you can innovate in a pinch.
Yes, tools are good to have, but toolboxes full of good tools are heavy. You won’t get much of anywhere with all of them.
Make sure you can make an item do a number of tasks, not just one. Instead of a set of wrenches, choose a multitool crescent wrench with screwdriver tools. Or a screwdriver with interchangeable bits,including Allen/Hex wrench heads.
Battery-powered tools only work as long as they have charge. Otherwise, useless. If you can find a hand-powered drill, that’s a good find.
Limit what you bug out with to what you can carry. Limit it to what will fit in the bag you can carry. A hand drill will give more room than a power drill. A multi-bit driver takes much less space than the same set of screwdrivers it replaces.
Make your own kit of needles including a card of a variety of needles like rug needles, glovers needles, darning needles, sharps, and ball point needles. Thread should include basic sewing thread, button thread (thicker and stiffer), and thicker threads and cotton yarns.
I have everyday “bug-out” tools in my purse: a multitool, a pair of Fiskars for kids scissors, Carmex balm, hand sanitizer, pen and pencil, and notebook and pad of sticky notes. Perhaps you could call that an urban bug-out bag.
Check out making a survivalist Altoids tin kit.