Yard Sale Finds

Last weeks $20.00 thrift store challenge made a second appearance this weekend. I decided to see what I could get at yard sales for $20.00. I was lucky because it stopped raining Friday night so there were plenty of sales to choose from. I don't have photos this time because most of it is in the washer. But this is what I got:

Yard sale #1: A mans Kahala Hawaiian shirt for $1.00
Yard sale #4: 3 men's 4XL shirts. Includes one Tommy Bahama and two Ralph Lauren. $3.00 total.
Yard sale #5: 2 kids books for my Princess $0.50 total.
Yard sale #7: 2 tutus, a new with tags bathing suit, a couple of infant toys, and 2 costumes for $2.50 total. Only the costumes are for eBay.
Yard sale #9: 10 Christmas ornaments and a pair of women's Diesel jeans. Total spent $6.00. I have never tried selling ornaments before but my sister has had good luck with them. They include Lennox, Waterford, Spode and several other well known brands.
Yard sale # too many I lost track: My remaining $7.00 were spent on a costume, a tutu, a jacket, two tops, a doggie purse, an electronic American Girl thing (no idea what it is but I threw it in the pile) and a pony. No not a real pony. A rocking horse that is adorable. It makes noise and moves its head. My daughter fell in love so I had to get. And she wouldn't get off of it so it was either leave her or take the horse.

Most of my money was spent on things for the girls but I should still be able to make a good profit on the resale items. I kinda like this $20 challenge. It makes me stay on a budget and actually keep track of what I bought. Plus mom was with me with extra cash just in case I found a need to have item I couldn't afford.

Update

I re-read my last post and realized I forgot to mention Salvation Army was having their 50% off all clothing sale. That's why I got so much for only $20.00. Most of their children's clothing is $2 or less and men's shirts are $3.25. So half off is a really good price. And I already sold one item and almost made back my $20 investment.

I also sold my Steiff doll I had posted about recently. It sold for $60.00 auction. She's on her way to Texas. Between both Steiff items I paid $3 and sold them for $120 total this week. I wish I could turn $3 into $120 all the time.

$20 Challenge

Recently Margaret at Live Like No One Else wrote about a “Only Got $20 In My Pocket” challenge. She took a ride to the thrift store to see what kind of treasures she could acquire for $20.00. She hasn’t posted her finds yet but I did decide to take that challenge.

Today I walked into my local Salvation Army with a goal of only spending $20.00 and finding as many items I could find that I could turn around and sell for a profit on eBay. This challenge was actually hard for me for several reasons. The main reason is that I have very little time to shop. I usually go on my breaks and spend at the most 30 minutes shopping. Most trips I only buy one or two items and spend about $5.00. So finding enough time to shop and purchase $20.00 worth of items was going to be hard. But the Thrift Store Gods smiled down on me and there was plenty to choose from in the two sections I had time to look through, mens shirts and jeans. I actually had to put back a few items to keep within my $20.00 budget. So what did $20.00 buy me? Well …


7 for all mankind jeans

A Kahala Hawaiian shirt

A mens Patagonia shirt

Reyn Spooner Hawaiian Shirt


Boys Ralph Lauren Shirt



Two Tommy Bahama shirts



Cubavera Shirt. I’ve never sold these before but I thought I read somewhere that they sell well.


Hudson Jeans


Janie and Jack child bathing suit

That is 10 items for $20.00. Well actually $20.50. The best part is that I got all of it listed already. I wonder how much profit the $20.00 will bring me. I will keep you updated.

Feeling The Excitement Again

Since I opened up a store on eBay I rarely do auctions anymore. It's easier to let something sit til it sells. I dictate the price I want. I'm sure often times I short change myself but when I buy items for a dollar or two, or often times less, I'm happy with my profit.

This week past week I put two items up on auction. I know very little about these items and couldn't find the exact items for sale so I thought it would be best to let the consumer dictate the price. One of the items was the Steiff doll I mentioned in a previous post. The other was a Steiff Ralph Lauren bear I bought for a dollar at a garage sale two weekends ago. I started the bear at $50 and got no bids for 6 days. I did at one point have 11 watchers. Last night I finally got a bid. And this morning two more. It's up to $61 dollars with an hour to go. I love the feeling of auctions, the excitement. When my phone tells me I got a bid I run to check it and see how much. So why don't I do this more often? I think I'm going to start doing at least one auction every couple weeks. Keep the excitement in the relationship alive.

Here is a picture of the bear. It's missing its hat and another accessory and the coat closure is loose. Other Ralph Lauren bears have sold for much more but they were in like new or new condition. No matter what it closes at I am happy with the profit I have already. Not bad for a dollar investment.

It's Called What?!

If you had a clothing line what would you name it? Think of all the possibilities. All the ways you can express who you are or what you represent. And with all this possibilities I often wondered why some people settles on the such strange names. Some are easy to figure out. Many designers just name the brand after themselves. But others … make me wonder, what were they thinking?!?!?! For example:

Apple Bottom Jeans – Maybe women they like there bottoms named after the shape of a fruit. I would prefer all eyes stay away from that area thank you very much

Baby Phat or any other brand that has the word Phat – I don’t care how you spell it I don’t want anything fat or phat touching my body. I have enough already.

7 for all Mankind – While I think it’s kinda cool to have the word Mankind in the name why do we only get seven of what ever it is. What if I want 8.? And what exactly are they giving Mankind. Makes me think of a Twilight Zone episode I once saw, “To Serve Man”. Maybe I don’t want any at all.

I’m sure I can go on and on about designers name brands. What made me think of (yes there is a reason not just my brain going crazy) was a dress I sold recently. The brand name was Jelly the Pug. Cute name but I don’t know if I would name my brand after a pug no matter how cute it’s name was. The fabric for this brand is very colorful and whimsical. It stood out among the racks of other children’s clothing at my local Goodwill. I picked it up on a whim and figured for $2 I would take a chance selling it. Sometimes my instincts pay off, it sold within a week for $24.00. Might be another good BOLO.

Happy Birthday

To Margaret from www.livelikenooneelse.com . I'm not sure how old she is but I'm guessing she's in her mid 20's and looks fabulous for her age. Enjoy your big day Margaret and your time off. Happy birthday!

Shopping

I am simple type of person. I would rather be comfortable then look good. Unlike my friend April who says you must suffer for beauty and its better to look good then to feel good. But she always feel bad. A lot of medical issues. I think dressing up is her way of hiding the pain.

I've always dated jeans and a t-shirt type of guys. Our big dates are a small local restaurant and a movie. Jason and I are lucky if we can make it out of the house without at least one child on our "dates". Just a way of life. And it's a pretty good life.

But recently we got invited out to a nice fancy restaurant. Since it was right before Christmas my budget was tight and I didn't have the money to go out and but a fancy new dress. Especially one I would probably never wear again. So what was a girl to do? Nothing in my closet was acceptable. But then my mom reminded me I a whole lot (more then I care to admit) of clothing items in the garage a.k.a. my eBay room. So I went shopping in my eBay merchandise and I found the perfect dress. Everyone loved it.

Does anyone else ever going shopping through their eBay merchandise when they need something? Or am I just weird that way?

At this point it would be nice to include a pic of me wearing my fancy dress. But I hate pics. So here is a pic of my Princess and nugget all dressed up.