MOVING ON.....

I'll miss her when she moves.

My daughter, Smarta**, bought a house. My baby! So she is moving out, again. She moved out several years ago and lived on her own in a 5th wheel camper. I think she learned rather quickly that the space in a camper is very limited and it is hard to heat and cool. But when it started to leak, it was either spend a bunch to fix it or move on. She chose to sell it as it was and move back home to save enough to afford something without wheels. Good move. During that time she was able to pay off the mortgage on a piece of property and buy and pay off a car. Good girl!!

She purchased an older home about 18 miles from us. It is in a nice neighborhood and was in pretty good shape. Needed painting and the floors needed to be updated.

She isn't married and doesn't have a boy friend. So guess who gets to help paint and rip up carpet and all that good stuff? Yep, good ole' Mom and Dad. My poor arms and legs are killing me!! Up and down the ladder and down on the floor and all sorts of good things.

She closed on the 27th of Dec and immediately started to renovate. All of the carpet is up and we finished painting the last room this weekend. Now all we need to do are the paint bathrooms and change out some cabinets that she wants to update.

Thanks goodness the painting is done. She has cathedral ceilings in her kitchen, dining and family room. No one wants to climb the ladder to do the very top of the ceilings. SweetiePie has a bad knee and can't get up on the ladder for too long. SmartA** has a bad knee and vertigo issues and will not get up on a ladder or even a step stool unless she absolutely has no other choice. So guess who gets to climb the tall ladder? But, it's done and we can move on.

The two princess came to "help" change orange
sherbert into blue

Now to remove the kitchen cabinets over the bar and put in a cabinet with glass doors on both sides. Its going to be so cool. If we don't screw it up. We are hoping to find some old windows to use for the glass doors and we will just have to build a frame for them. Habitat for Humanity here we come!!

THE YEAR IN THRIFTING

Thrifting has been good to me this year.

Last year I was just getting started in my ebay store and learning what to sell. I am still learning and I fear that it is an ever evolving process. Trends change,tastes change, and customer demographics change. Also, what I can buy depends on what other people donate or sell at yard and estate sales.

I had a great December. I had a very good year. I was able to go shopping and I had the opportunity to sell some wonderful things. Along the way I learned some valuable lessons. Some good, some not so good.

Valuable lesson #1: Not all people are honest.
As much as we want to believe that all people are good, tell you the truth, and do the right thing, that isn't always the case. I sold quite a few pairs of shoes this year. Most sales were completed without any problems. I have learned that you need to mark your items so that when someone returns a damaged item you can be sure it is yours. For example, I received a pair of Dansko shoes back that were damaged. Dansko shoes have molded vinyl or wooden soles with rubber treads. I can't imagine what type of thing you would have to do with your foot to break a pair of Dansko soles like this.

Both shoes cracked  and chunks out of the heel.

The innocent "I've only worn them once" just doesn't ring true in this case. If the buyer did only wear them once, what the hell was she doing that would cause this type of damage!?

Valuable lesson #2: Go with the gut (after you check ebay completed sales).
Ever see some things when you are thrifting that you just KNOW are going to be a good sale? Me too. But the gut sometimes is not as accurate as checking what sales have been on ebay. And then again you can't just use the completed sales to figure out whether or not to purchase. It takes time and practice to figure it all out. I'm still working on it just like most sellers on ebay.

Valuable lesson #3: If you can grab a good item out of the cart at GW, go for it.
We all know the rules. Don't touch the stuff in the cart. You must wait until it is on the shelf before you dive in. Well....it was busy that day and there was only one salesperson on the floor and the cart was just sitting there and IT was cute and IT was marked and IT was a great price and no one was watching....

Now on to the YEAR IN THRIFT
I did very well this year, especially November and December. I have had very few days (knock on wood) that I have had no sales. My yearly average has been around 3 sales per day. Not too bad considering that I have only been doing this for 15 months full time.

It's no secret that I love my favorite thrift. They have bins that are (were) 25 cents per item!!! I have picked up some wonderful things. They also have a wonderful free area. I have picked up some wonderful things there also.
My very best super duper 25c item was

A women's First Gear Motorcycle riding jacket. Not new and not in perfect condition, but still a lot of wear left in the jacket especially if you are just learning to ride and want protection from the pavement. Sold for $45

My very best item from the free bin:
It sold and I deleted the picture but it was a Cow Lovey. A blanket for a baby, black and white spotted with the cutest ever cow head. It was brand new, never washed, no spots and in perfect condition. I couldn't believe that it sold so quickly, and for $50.

My very best item I sold for someone else:
My daughter, SmartA**, sometimes has me sell things for her. We split the proceeds, after expenses, 50-50.
I do all the cleaning, photos, listing and shipping. She picked up a bunch of vintage role playing games from the 80's for $1 each. The best one that sold was DragonQuest. It wasn't complete, but had most of the instructions and almost all of the game pieces. Sold for $215.00

My most surprising sale:
This was a tie between a vintage textbook and a plastic Pringles container.
I had read that Pringles containers (the plastic two piece single serving lunch box size) sold well. This was a lime green single serving Pringles container that I paid 15c for and sold for $10 in a matter of hours after listing.
The book that sold was "The Perception of the Visual World", a 1950 textbook. Not in perfect condition so I listed it at $142.00. When I listed there was another, better condition book on ebay for $300. Took 9 months to sell but received full price.Purchased at my favorite thrift on buy one get one free day for 42c.Sold to a bookstore in San Francisco, so you know the price was marked up when my buyer sold it to his customer.

My best sale ever:

A vintage 1950 Kay Bojesen teak dog. An original, not a reproduction, in excellent condition and marked correctly. This was my item removed from the cart at GW that I spotted and just had to have. When I saw the name, and it was marked Denmark I thought I could get $100-200 for it. Mid Century Modern, Denmark and Teak!! Didn't bother to check ebay completed, just grabbed the dog.When I did my research I found out that the last original one sold on ebay for $757.00. I held on to it and listed after Thanksgiving so that it would end just after Christmas. Listed for $899.00 and never expected to get that amount. Just wanted someone to "get a bargain" and offer me less. Had several offers and no one wanted to pay a fair price. Lowball offers of $250 to $500. After listing ended (about 15 minutes after the listing ended!) a buyer that had bid earlier contacted me and offered $750.00, which is what I originally thought I could expect to get for the little guy. I relisted and he purchased. Originally paid $4.

Now, I don't expect to find another Kay Bojesen dog next year. But you better believe that I will be keeping my eyes open for one. And for Pringles chip containers!!

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season and that ebay sales were fantastic.

My first New Year's Resolution is to be a better blogger. I hope that I can get caught up with everything and get back to blogging.

PREMIUM PRICES

 I mentioned a few days ago that my Goodwill loves to price some items they think are "better than the average bear" at premium prices.

Take this Victorinox across the shoulder bag. All purses at my GW are priced with a sign at $1.99 and then they take the premium purses and price them individually.

Perfect condition, barely used

Nice little over the shoulder bag or you could sling it on your back.
They must have thought it was premium, so they pulled it and marked it up. How much do they think this is worth?

$2.00 I guess they thought is was almost premium.

That $2 is after two attempts with alcohol to remove the sharpie. Still there. It's never coming out. Lucky I am keeping this for thrifting and yard sale-ing.

WHY BOTH SHOES?

If you purchase shoes to resell, as I do, you probably pick them up from lots of places.

Most yard sales or estate sales will price shoes at one price, either with a sign or just let you know when you ask the price.

My good ole' Goodwill loves to select the "premium" shoes and price them at "premium prices". Which means that they have checked what is listed on ebay and decided that they have a gold mine and are going to give you the shaft. 

My local GW loves sharpie markers. Loves them with a passion. Sometimes I will find a "premium" something that has two or three prices on the label. They can't decide what is high enough. You get the item for free! Just mark it up to a fair price and move it out of inventory. Hopefully, into my inventory but someone will want to purchase it if you price it fair for both parties.  Geesh...decide already.

If they mark the soles of the shoes that is fine, unless they are leather or the rubber Dr Martens. Sharpie is NOT coming off of leather or the rubber. At least I have not found a method of removing sharpie that doesn't leave a worse mark on the leather or rubber. And of course they have to mark both shoes and sometime they mark the insole. I purchased a pair of Mephisto sandals (not retail cheap) recently and both soles were marked in silver sharpie and one insole was marked in black sharpie. Grrrrrrr. But these were my size and I planned to keep them for myself anyway. But if I had wanted to resell them I would have had to leave them behind.

I think I have found a solution

Why the price on both shoes? I don't see any shoppers
in GW that are looking for just one shoe.

On the soles of men's shoes that I can't safely remove the sharpie I just draw a box around the price and move on. On the soles of women's and girls shoes I draw a heart around the price and move on. So far no problems and the box or heart look better than sending out a pair of shoes with the thrift price on them.

Let me know if anyone has a better solution.

THANK YOU, BRUCE

I live in a very small town. We have two stoplights on main street. But there is a street off of  Main Street that runs parallel and cuts out the two stoplights. It's a short street, only two blocks long but very busy, because lots of people want to cut out those pesky stop lights.

Last week I spotted a bright pink sign in front of a nice little house on Winston, the by-pass street. I just had to stop and see what it said. I'm that kinda gal. It was a little late for yard sales so I wondered what it was.

Magic words: Estate Sale

Magic words scribbled in magic marker, with the dates wrong and no time. So I stopped and asked, very nicely, what time on Saturday the sale started. The nice gentleman said around 8am. Yipee!!!

My daughter, SmartA**, is in the process of purchasing a house. Set to close on Dec 27th. Hey, she needs furniture, therefore, we NEED to go to the estate sale. NEED to go, did you hear that SweetiePie?

So, I set the alarm and got up early. Had to wake SmartA** up because she forgot. She thanked me later.

Why would I thank Bruce for holding an estate sale? Because I don't think Bruce gets out much. He had things priced ridiculously low. Vtg dark oak bedroom set, twin bed(with clean mattress)$50, dresser $50, chest $50. Two vtg hooked rugs, one 8x10 and a small 3x5 for $25. A MCM blond wood bedroom set for
$125, bed, mattress, dresser, chest, two nightstands. Handmade wooden tables, $5 each. And on and on.

Perfection in primary colors. Very light use, no chips!!!!

Now this is the most sparse estate sale that I have ever seen. There were two long metal folding tables on the front porch with kitchen items displayed. And not a single person in sight. Yep, I got there at 8:10 and there was not a single person there. OK, my kinda sale.  Lets see......I'll take that complete set of primary colors Pyrex mixing bowls($5), set of 4 Kromex spun aluminum canisters, copper color tops($4), vtg Philbe blue Fire King pie plate(50c), Pyrex pie plate(50c), tiny Satsuma vase(33c), 5 aluminum tumblers(50c) and assorted tupperware and aluminum  kitchen gadgets(3 for$1).

I had the scale already, but the other stuff I purchased for
a grand total of $16. Oh, a plaid thermos in the back and
an old red, metal Thermos cooler, forgot to get a pic

But wait, it gets better. Outside under the carport were some wooden things against the wall. My daughter spotted a treadle sewing machine in a cabinet and asked how much. "Oh, I'm giving all that stuff away" SOLD (National Two Spool), Late 1800's ladies oak writing desk, SOLD. Now, mind you the writing desk had come unglued and the sewing machine top needed repair, but we are a family of fixers and she guarded everything kept Bruce company while I ran home to get the van. All of the pieces were there and I am a woodworker so I have all the stuff needed to fix the furniture. New stuff for the new house.

National Two spool, circa 1920. It even had all
of the accessories in the drawers, thimbles, thread
and just junk. My grandmother had one just like
this that  I learned to sew on.The little table
will become an end table, an old  child's table,
heart pine!!
 

The leg had come unglued. We took the front fold down piece off
to start cleaning. All of the pieces are there but need gluing and
clamping up.  

See the drawer on the bench behind the desk. Very ornate
knobs. Got the drawer for the inside too and a shelf that
fits under between the legs

So, thank you Bruce. And if you ever feel the urge to have another estate sale, please call me.

TIS THE SEASON TO BE BUSY

I hope everyone survived Turkey Day. We had just the immediate family, 8 total. Just enough so we could all sit together at the same table and enjoy the family, turkey and PIE.

In a never ending quest to supplement the disability income that the gov't so "graciously" gives you each  month I have been working ebay like a mad person. I haven't been thrifting because I have bunches and bunches of stuff already. See my previous post if you doubt me.

I have grown my ebay store to almost 900 items. It is still growing and I am amazed every day at what sells. Not that I sell junk or just high priced stuff. I just sell stuff that I think will make a profit. For example, in the last week I have sold a variety of things. From t shirts, fabric, toys, dress shirts, sweaters, mugs, Christmas ornaments, sax reeds, to shoes and a bunch more that I can't remember. When you have 10-15 packages a day to get out, things get blurry.

I am so grateful to have a good inspection team here at the humble abode. Every time I bring in something new I have a dedicated inspection team that checks everything out very thoroughly. See...
I picked this up at GW for my 2 little Princess to play with, not for a present but to keep at Grandma's House.
This is Simon, he is NOT a princess. He is chief inspector.

So, if I'm not on here much until after the holiday you can blame....me. I tend to go overboard when it comes to shopping and listing. After all, I have coupons good for December at my favorite that give me 50% off of EVERYTHING.  Gasp....be still my heart. And we all know that December (and January) are prime picking months at thrift stores. Lots of people are cleaning out the "old stuff" in anticipation of buying or receiving "new stuff". And as we all know, a coupon makes it even better.

Does the world revolve around "stuff"?

DOES THE 5 SEC RULE APPLY?

In the cleaning frenzy on Wednesday before the arrival of everyone on Thursday I found this.

In case you can't tell what this is its a Junior Mint.
Now, it has been quite a while since we have had Junior Mints in the house, but it is undamaged and cat hair free. It was "stored" under the desk where my printer is.

Well, since it was JUST one and you can NEVER eat just one, I reluctantly tossed it in the trash.

Hey, I have my standards.

Sometimes I'm just weak when it comes to chocolate.

Note to Self: Add Junior Mints to the shopping list