Sometimes a U-turn leads you to a $100 find. That’s what happened when my wife and I were driving back from the post office after dropping off $3,000 worth of movies (tune in next week for that story) and saw a small, crooked sign with “RUMMAGE SALE” written on it. We were heading to get donuts, but I figured the sugar rush could wait, so I quickly pulled a U-turn and entered a church parking lot.

Inside we were greeted by a big open room with folding tables piled high with clothes and knick-knacks. A lot of people were around, but no one was really picking through anything. I later realized that they were all church members just there to help, which meant we had the room to ourselves.

In the corner of the room was a round table with a group of older ladies sitting and chatting while they each completed their own little task. Caithlin and I split up and started rummaging.

The tables were littered with old knick-knacks from grandma’s house. Statues, Christmas ornaments, hair dryers, a bin full of old, water-damaged postcards and other ephemera. After a bit of dusty picking, Caithlin came up to me with a large plastic Ziploc filled with what looked like junk in her hand.

“Look what I found,” she said, waving the dusty bag around.

When she held it up, I noticed the video games. DS games, to be exact. Excitedly, I grabbed it.

“No WAY,” I whispered in the quiet room. There weren’t many other people around at this point. Maybe a stay-at-home mom taking a break from her kids and one other reseller scanning things on their eBay app, but I felt so secretive holding this bundle in this random church in South Florida. I opened the bag and started pulling out its contents: Brain Age with the game and manual, Scribblenauts complete, a charging cable, a small leather purse?

No.

It was a carrying case. I opened it and inside was a ruby red DS Lite, with LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga popped in AND the stylus. I flipped it open.

No cracks.

No sticky buttons.

It was like new.

I slipped everything back in the Ziploc, tucked it under my arm, and high-fived Caithlin (secretly, of course).

The rest of the pick was just fine. We found a few other pieces worth flipping (one you might find in next week’s Flip of the Week), and decided to call it a day.

Walking to the round table of smiling grandmas, I felt my nerves rushing. How much would they charge for the DS bundle? Was I willing to pay up for it? $30? $40? $89.99?!

They started counting my items.

“How much is this?” one asked the other.

“Two dollars.”

The next item. A dollar.

I watched as they got closer to the video games.

She finally picked it up, and there was no price tag.

“Hey, how much is this?” she asked another grandma.

“Ohh, there’s no price on it? Oh gosh, how much?”

They looked at each other, giving a silent shrug of the shoulders.

Another grandma entered the fray at this point and started looking at the bag. Really analyzing it. I stayed quiet. She must know exactly what this is. I waited anxiously. She looked over at me with a smile and asked,

“Are these CDs, sweetheart?”

C…Ds…?

“Oh, no, they’re video games,” I said.

“Oh, that’s nice. Umm.” She flipped it over in her hands. “Two dollars.”

She handed it back and I tried to act only mildly satisfied with the deal.

Once everything was counted up and priced, we walked out of there for $25 flat.

After getting home, cleaning, charging, and testing, I’m happy to say that the DS Lite and games work perfectly fine! And I can thank “Linda,” whose profile was still saved on the DS, for this steal.

Oh, and Caithlin and I decided to keep it for our personal collection too.