October in Kauai
I arrived on the beautiful Garden Island on Wednesday, October 6th. While still shaking off the jet lag I was off to the garage sales by Saturday. A very small carry-on is a gift in 3 ways, light to carry, arrives with you to your destination and makes it a necessity to buy new clothes. As a frugalista I find garage sale shopping for specific items like a sporting challenge. To win in this event, the first step is the plan of action. I scour Craigslist and The Garden Island News classified online the day before the event. I make a list breaking down the sales by town. Starting with Kekaha and moving onto Lihue.
The ocean view from our new digs in Kalaheo
Live in Kalaheo so I usually only shop the west, south and east. The north shore excursions are a special occasion that I usually plan with another activity. I usually end my “garage sailing ” excursion in Lihue, as a conservation measure. I get my gas at Costco, do my Wal-Mart stop, and pick up some fresh produce at the Kauai Community College Farmers Market all in the same trip.
guava
I list the number and street address under each town category along with the time that the sale opens. The earliest garage sales usually open here at 7am. I scour the listing of items in the ads to see which early sales may have the items I need and plan to attack them first. I also note next to the address if there are specific directions to the location in the ad. Then I peruse the list to see that I know the location of all the sales. If not, I google the addresses and make notes regarding their location.
petal soft
My daughter tells me I can just put them all into the GPS and the GPS would map us the best route. I believe for me that would be time prohibitive, as it take me forever to type things into it. I like to just cut and paste. Hey, is there an app for that?
contrasts for the senses
This was my first outing of the season so this time I opted not to head too far west, as there were only 2 sales in Kekaha and none in Waimea. The initial approach was made in Hanapepe.
hot hot hot only one per pot
Hanapepe is a quaint artsy working class town that’ s just a little rough around the edges. I find it a photographic treasure trove, but poor pickings for garage sales today.
just a taste of Hanapepe
The next stop was Eleele, residential working class community that loves their dogs. Found the pot of gold in Eleele.
my new friend Kala
Two wonderful garage sales with like new clothing in just the right sizes for me and lots of wonderful maternity wear for my daughter. I was able to purchase 4 complete island style professional outfits, comfy soft jammie pants, 2 tank tops for golf, a stylish and cotton comfortable orange and white dress, 3 ball caps, 1 aloha shirt for Chris, a 50 ct of golf tees, a few maternity frocks for my daughter, Erin, all for under $30.00.
woman's best friend
Next stop home to Kalaheo. Two sales here and a quick check in home, then on the road again. Kalaheo is rural to residential, upscale to working class, with houses carved into and perched on the hills to take advantage of extraordinary views. Breezy, green and beautiful Kalaheo is my favorite place to stay on all of the island.
slender trees arc in the wind near my Kalaheo home
Today we’ll skip Koloa, Poipu and Lawai, but make a quick stop at a moving sale in Omao. I made a small purchase at a big sale 3 bars of dove soap, 7 candles, and a tiki salt shaker for $3.50. I think there is mainly just one road in Omao with just a few offshoots. This is hilly ranch land with mountain, valley and pacific ocean views. The livestock seems to like it.
eggplant gleam in the sun
Last stop today for the sales is Puhi, working class and a comfortable commute to the big city of Lihue. Puhi is also home to Kauai’s only college. We found many nice baby items here. Many people in this community are having keiki (pronounced “kay-key”) is the Hawaiian word for “baby” or “child”, literally meaning “the little one”.
complements
Here in Kauai, so many are growing keiki.
tropical mixer
Everyone loves keiki, their mothers and the mothers to be. There seems to be no better place to grow and give birth to them. I am so glad my own daughter gets to experience her pregnancy here in this wonderful island place bathed in love and the spirit of aloha.
blue skies in paradise
