I use to do Estate Sales and I grieve over the many wonderful things that I sold that I could use today. I wasn't or didn't have time to sew then and I didn't buy things either - at least not until the last day.
I found a great garage sale one day - I found a quilter that was selling off all her stash. She had about 50 boxes of ironed folded unused fabric. All sorted by color and standing on end so it was easy to see. I went through and pulled some of all colors and then made up 3 boxes to buy. She was selling it $1 a piece and they were 1-2 yard pieces. I should have bought it all, but had no where to put it. :(