An old, established, and relatively well-to-do neighborhood nearby has a tradition of doing a massive 4-block yard sale every September. People put it on their calendars. You never know what you'll find there.

I went somewhere else.

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I'm going to wait for prices to come down and experiment with a cheaper alternative.

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I have a well-deserved reputation for being a tightwad. Part of it is in my blood; I'm largely of Scottish descent, and Scots just tend to act that way. But I think part of it is what I observed growing up.

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I bit the bullet and bought a new Toro.

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My wife found another one at a yard sale for $25. It didn't start either, but at least it was in good physical condition and it was only a year old.

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From the pictures, it looks like pretty much the same old starter set Lionel has been selling since the early 1950s, with the addition of the modern "Fastrack" with integrated plastic roadbed that plugs together easily. That's not all bad.

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When I read it, I thought it explained everything about my two grandfathers--one was rich, one was poor, both were Scottish, and both spent their money pretty much the same way.

I've been reading a lot of these kinds of books because I'm not going to let what happened to us back in May ever happen again.

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But there are two problems with it. What are the odds of you running out when working late at night when all of the hobby shops are closed? Too high. And it's expensive. But I found two explanations how to make your own.

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I'm not into that all that much. I'm a guy. So I just asked her to keep an eye out for tools for me if she happened to be garage sale-ing.

This week she found an estate sale with tools and trains. It started at 7:30 this morning. So I dragged myself out of bed to go.

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