This Week's Uncovered Treasures

Between car troubles and the 5K race I had this past weekend, I really didn't think I would be able to make it to any garage sales.  It's SO hard for me not to go though, and I just had to go to at least one. I was home from my race by 9:45 am. (It was my first EVER 5K, and I beat my goal of finishing in 30 minutes.  My official time was 28:24. YEAH!) I quickly showered and headed out to the one and only sale that I didn't want to miss.  It was a huge sale that was being held at a church, and the proceeds from the sale were going to help an adoptive family with the costs of bringing their child home from Ethiopia. Obviously, a cause that is very close to my heart.  We had our own garage sale fundraiser just last summer, as we tried to raise some funds to bring our own Ethiopian daughter home.  I remember very clearly how encouraging it was just to have people come to our sale and wish us luck.  I vowed then that I would always attend adoption fundraisers when I heard of them.

When I arrived at the sale, it was almost 11:00 am. The signs said that starting at 11:00 am, you could fill a bag for $1. Score! They weren't handing out the bags yet, but I started filling my arms with loot.

I got all these books for $1.  Lots of early readers, golden books, and some other miscellaneous ones.  That's 20 books in all, so they were only 5 cents each!

Then comes my bag of clothes.  I didn't find anything really amazing, but they were dirt cheap.  1 women's large Adidas jacket. 3 men's XXL dress shirts.  One is Ralph Lauren.  Some girl's size large shirts, all decent brands (Abercrombie, Land's End, Gap), and a scarf for my daughter. I'm not sure which ones, if any, will sell on ebay. I do know that I can find someone who will appreciate them though.  10 articles of clothing stuffed into a bag = 10 cents each.

My third bag was full of kids shoes.  None of them are in good enough shape to resell, but they are still nice enough to wear. I bought them to bring to Ethiopia with me.  I'll be going back to Ethiopia this winter on a mission trip, and I know these shoes will be greatly appreciated.  6 pairs of shoes = about 17 cents each.

Now, knowing how much an Ethiopian adoption will set you back, I just couldn't walk out with all that stuff for only $3.  I did give them a little extra, along with some words of encouragement as I left.  They seemed like a great family who are going to give a great home to a child who needs one. :)

After that sale, I just wasn't quite finished.  I hadn't researched the garage sale circuit for the weekend, so I decided to try a thrift store that I had never been to.  My eyes about popped out of my head when I walked in.  It was huge!  I only bought a couple things, but I think I'll be back there soon after I do some ebay research.  I saw a lot of potential.

I bought these Christmas books with cassettes, both for 25 cents.  I thought I read somewhere that these sell on ebay, and I figured it was a risk worth taking at only 25 cents.

I also found these cute Corelle mugs.  I've been wanting to find some cute cups for my morning coffee.  Up until now I've been using some plain black (boring) ones that we got as a wedding gift.  I love the vintage look of these with the orange, green, and yellow, and the little mushrooms.  They remind me of the Corelle set my grandparents' used to have.  I got a set of 4 (one is already is use).  They were 50 cents each.

Sorry this post is so late.  It's been such a busy week here, getting ready for the kids to go back to school.  I'm linking up with Coupon Tipster and The Thrifty Momma Says.  Check out their blogs for more garage sale finds.

Ebay Sales - Week 3

I almost forgot that my auctions were ending last night.  We had been so busy trying to switch around bedrooms in our house.  We decided to let our oldest 2 kids share a room, which is something they've been begging to do ever since they became brother and sister 6 months ago.  I adore how much they love each other.  As we were preparing to bring our daughter home from Ethiopia, money was tight. We didn't want to spend the money to finish our 4th bedroom at that time, so we decided to give her our master bedroom.  My husband and I have been using the unfinished room for the last 6 months.  No biggie, but we are happy to have our master bedroom back now, and the kids are thrilled to be sharing a room.  They LOVE their bunk beds (which we got for FREE). I love free things! :)

Anyway, I'm so happy I remembered my auctions before they ended because it was the most exciting auction end I've had yet!  Remember the huge lot of Polly Pockets I bought at a garage sale for $30, and then was sick over because I didn't think I'd get my money out of them?  My final three Polly listings ended last night, and I'm so thrilled with the results!

Polly Pocket Mall Lot - Winning bid $20.50

Polly Pocket Beach Lot - Winning bid $10.49

Polly Pocket Salon Lot - Winning Bid $6.00

Add those to the Polly Listings I sold last week for a total of about $71.  That's a profit of $41! I'm super happy with that, especially considering I was afraid I wouldn't even cover my own purchase price.  The Polly's are packaged and sitting on my porch this morning, waiting for the mailman to pick them up.  I am so happy to have them out of my house!!!  In a previous post, I said that I was swearing off Polly Pockets.  I'm changing my mind on that, but I will definitely make sure I know what I'm buying next time.  I got lucky with this one.

I sold a few other things this week, and I'm really pretty happy with everything that sold.  Here are my other items:

Exersaucer Switch A Roo - Winning Bid $6.60

Exersaucer Switch A Roo - Winning Bid $4.99

Exersaucer Switch A Roo - Winning Bid $5.24

Toddler Girl Keen Sandals, Size 6 - Winning Bid $9.99

I guess I was hoping that the Keen's would do a little better, but I only paid $1 for them.  I can't complain.

I had 5 other Exersaucer Switch A Roo's listed that didn't sell.  I changed my selling strategy a little bit, and relisted them.  Hopefully they'll sell this week.  I am a little confused about the best way to ship them.  I see that most Switch A Roo listings have a shipping price of $2-$3.  I can't figure out how to ship them for less than $4.95. My first thought was to ship them in a a regular large envelope, but the USPS website says that if an envelope is too bulky, it will be subject to package charges.  If anyone has advice on the best way to ship these, I would love the advice!

Total sales this week: $63.81.  This wasn't as high as my sales from the previous 2 weeks, but this week was almost 100% profit! :)

I'm excited to report that I did manage to get to 1 garage sale, and 1 thrift store over the weekend.  I didn't buy much, but I'll work on getting that post up later today or tomorrow.  I still have some more work to do switching around our bedroom closets. Fun, fun!

A Weekend Off

I'm pretty bummed because I won't be able to do any garage sale shopping this weekend.  It looks like I'll be missing some good sales too! :(

My minivan's check engine light is blinking at me.  That's right, I said blinking.  It's not just on, it is actually blinking.  We can't get it in for service until next week, so I am stuck at home while my husband is at work.  My husband doesn't have to work tomorrow, but I'll be running in my first ever 5K race in the morning.  By the time I get back home from that and showered, it won't be worth going out to any sales.

Luckily, I found plenty of stuff over the past few weeks, and should have no problem coming up with about a dozen ebay listings.  I'm not happy about missing all the garage sales this weekend though.  I feel almost as bad as the year I stayed home on Black Friday.  I can't stand the thought of missing out on great deals. UGH!

Ebay Sales - Week 2

I played it safe for my first week of Ebay sales, and listed some stuff I had around the house that was very likely to sell.  I did pretty well.  I even managed to convince all of my auction winners to pay (by nicely threatening to report them). YAY! This week, I got a little braver and listed some of the things I bought from garage sales.  I was pretty nervous to see if my items would even sell.  Here are the results:

I listed a total of 10 items this week.  8 sold, and 2 did not.

The highs:

Leap Frog Fridge Phonics Expansion pack of letters. Sold in less than 24 hours for my buy it now price of 10.99.  Perhaps I should have priced it a little higher, but I got it for free with a bunch of other Fridge Phonics stuff, so I'm happy!

Sweet Secrets Lot. I listed two separate lots of these this week.  These toys were mixed in the huge set of Polly Pockets I bought at a garage sale a while back. I've been sweatin' that Polly Pocket purchase, but I thought these Sweet Secrets might save me, and they did.  I sold one set at my buy it now price of $14.99, and the other set for $8.99.

Polly Pockets Pet Lot. Sold at auction for just over $10. I made 4 lots of Polly Pockets with the huge supply I have.  This is the only one I listed last week.  The others are listed right now. With the Sweet Secrets and this lot, I have officially made a (small) profit on my Polly's.  I still have 3 lots to sell, so I'm happy!

Maternity Jeans Lot.  Paid $4 for 4 pairs of maternity jeans, sold for $44!  This is the sale I'm most excited about.  I found the jeans at a garage sale.  All of the maternity clothes were priced at $1 each, and these jeans were in very good shape.  They weren't anything special as far as brands go (Old Navy, Oh Baby by Motherhood, etc.).  $44 was my buy it now price.  It was a price I knew I would be happy with, and still a good deal for the buyer at $11 per pair.  They sold after being listed for 2 days.

Tickle Me Elmo and Cookie Monster. Paid 55 cents for both, sold for $5.34.  I know this isn't a huge profit, but I'm surprised these sold at all.  Don't get me wrong, they are in great shape.  I bought them because they were so cheap, but instantly regretted my purchase even though I didn't spend much.  Then to top it all off, I goofed on my shipping price.  I estimated it too high, which no doubt effected the amount of bids I might have had.  Luckily, I listed it as economy shipping so I'll still be able to ship it as inexpensively as possible, and make a few more dollars.  Not the way I like to do business (it feels dishonest), but I'm still learning.

The Lows:

Vintage Fisher Price Puzzle. Paid $1, sold for $5.99.  I'm bummed about this one.  I was hoping to get about $10.

Vintage Game of Cootie. Paid $2, sold for $10.50.  Bummed about this too.  It was a complete set. A few of the pieces were chipped, but it was in good shape overall.  I've seen some of these sell for $20-$25.

Chicken Dance Elmo - Didn't sell.  Had some watchers though, so I'll try again soon.

Fridge Phonics Word Whammer with extra letters - Didn't sell.  I still have some hope for this one.  I goofed on shipping with this one too. Estimated it way too high.  I had 5 watchers, so I think it might have sold if the shipping was more reasonable.  I'll do a better job of listing this one next time.

Selling total for this week:  $111.04

I'm pretty happy with my first week of selling my garage sale finds!  I have 14 items listed this week, and already have some bids.  I'm really having a lot of fun selling on Ebay, and can't wait to see what treasures I find in the upcoming weeks!

This Week's Uncovered Treasures

I can definitely tell that the garage sale season is coming to an end here in Michigan, but I did manage to get a few good bargains this week.  As always, I started on Thursday.  Here's what I found on Thursday and Friday:

Maternity Clothes!  I had GREAT luck with a lot of maternity jeans I listed on Ebay last week (details coming soon), so I decided to try to find more to sell. I got 2 capris, 3 jeans, 1 corduroy pant, and 5 long sleeve shirts for $1 each.  They are all decent brands like Liz Lange, Old Navy, and Gap.

The pink sweater from New York & Company is for me, 50 cents. At the same sale, I found a Gap sweatshirt for my oldest son, and a dance leotard for my daughter. Also 50 cents each.  The shoes were $1 each.  The Nike shoes and dress shoes are for my youngest son.  The Keen's are for resale on Ebay.  I found a couple more books for my inventory for 25 cents each.  I also got this Wiggles guitar for $1.  It will make a nice lot with the Wiggles Microphone I got a few weeks ago.  Hopefully they will sell for a nice profit!

I found these little beauties on Friday.  I paid $5 for the farm, and $3 for the Tudor house.  The barn has a nice little selection of farm animals and accessories.  It even came with a black pig, which is apparently rare and more valuable. Looks like I'll be selling that little guy separately. The house didn't come with anything, but I did find some of the furniture that goes with it in another box at the sale. The lady running the sale had a huge Little Tikes dollhouse for sale for $25, which included a box of mismatched dollhouse furniture.  (No Little Tikes dollhouse furniture...DARN!)  I really had to haggle this lady to convince her to sell me the Fisher Price furniture that went with my Tudor house.  She didn't want to separate her dollhouse furniture...even though it didn't go together at all.  I finally convinced her, and left quickly before she changed her mind.

Just some sandals for myself. $1 each.

More books for my inventory. I think these were all 25 cents each.  The Strawberry Shortcake book is from 1983.  I might just list it by itself and see how it does.

These are for me too. I'm a fan of Tupperware, but not a fan of their prices.  I was so excited to find these for 50 cents each, especially the Fridge Smart containers.  I love them because they keep produce fresh for much longer, but I've only had one small one until now.  I'm planning to use the big Modular Mate for storing my homemade pancake mix.

Here's what I found on Saturday:

I picked up an exersaucer for $5.  It was pretty filthy, but had lots of switch a roo toys, and a nice seat cover.  I stripped those things off to sell separately on Ebay.  The seat cover looks really dirty in the picture above, but it cleaned up SOOO nice! I also found these vintage Disney records.  They were only 50 cents each, so I took a chance on them.  Doesn't look like they sell too well. Shoot!

I picked up the Exercise Care Bear, and Doodle Bear for $1 each.  I was going to list the Care Bear, but they don't sell that well.  The good news is that my daughter will LOVE it, so the Care Bear and Doodle Bear will be nice Christmas presents for her.  The Pottery Barn valance is new, and was only $1.  I figured you can't go too wrong buying anything Pottery Barn.  The Columbia jacket was $10, and the lady selling it wouldn't budge on her price.  It doesn't have tags, but it is like new.  It is my son's size, so I bought it with him in mind, but also knowing that I could sell it on Ebay for more than $10.  I haven't decided what to do with it yet.  My son already has a winter jacket for this year, but I really like this one.  I guess I'll let him decide what one he wants, and list the other. :)

That was my week in garage sale adventures. Tons of fun as always!

My First Week on Ebay

I am very pleasantly surprised with my sales for my first week on Ebay.  I wasn't really sure what to expect, but I did my research and listed some really good items that I had laying around the house.  The research and preparation paid off!

As I mentioned last week, I listed 6 items.  5 out of 6 sold, and all for prices that I am happy with.  Here are the details:

Item #1: Used Textbook - Notes From the Grooming Table.  This was a great book while I was grooming dogs, but I don't have any use for it now.  Sold at my buy it now price of $55.00.

Item #2: Used Electric Breast Pump (sterilized, of course).  I had a bidder ask if I would consider adding a buy it now price to my auction.  I did, and another bidder beat her to it!  Sold at my buy it now price of $45.00.

Item #3: Used Sleep Wrap (similar to a Moby Wrap). Sold in auction for $20.50.

Item #4: Used Fetal doppler (heart monitor for at home use). Sold in auction for $45.00.

Item #5: Used Skecher Twinkle Toes shoes (toddler size). Sold in auction for $6.74.
Unfortunately, the winner of this auction hasn't paid yet, despite my best (and polite) efforts at reminding them.  Looks like I'll have to file my first report and relist. Maybe they'll sell for more?  They are super cute!

Item #6: Used manual breast pump.  Didn't sell.

Those are the results of week 1!  I made a total of $165.50. (I'm not counting the shoes since I haven't received payment).

I got a little braver this week and listed some of the items I've recently purchased at garage sales and thrift stores.  I've had a couple items sell already, so I'm hoping for another successful week!

Vacuum Cleaner Upgrade

I have to start out this post by giving a shout out to my awesome hubby!  My frugality is slowly wearing off on him, and this vacuum cleaner upgrade is totally his doing.

While I was out thrifting on Saturday, my darling husband was trying to score some extra brownie points by doing some house cleaning.  One of the things he did was vacuum the carpets.  One of the first things he said when I returned home was, "we need a new vacuum."  He was right. We've needed a new one for quite some time.  The old Dirt Devil bagless that we got as a gift off our bridal registry 8 years ago just wasn't cutting it anymore.  That vacuum has been through 3 dogs and a cat (all at once), and now 3 kids.  It has seen better days.

My hubby knows me well, and he knew I would want a bargain.  There was no way I would agree to a brand new Dyson for $300 or more.  How could I ever justify spending that kind of money on a vacuum cleaner when my daughter's birth family and millions of kids just like her are living in mud huts and sleeping on dirt floors? That may sound drastic, but that's how my mind works now.  Our time in Ethiopia really put my life into perspective.  Deep breath...getting down from my soapbox before I get stuck up there.

So yesterday I received an email of a Craigslist listing that my husband sent to me. It was for a Dyson vacuum cleaner for $25. Honestly, I didn't even pay much attention to it.  Who would sell a Dyson for $25 unless it was beyond repair?  He called me later to ask what I thought.  I told him I didn't want to take someone else's junk, and we left it at that.  When he came home from work, he brought it up again.  He told me all about how much other broken Dyson's were selling for online, and he thought at the very least we would be able to resell it for parts and make a profit.  Alright. I could tell that he did his research, and he hasn't questioned me over the last few weeks as I've been dragging home all my treasures.  Off he went to pick it up.

When he came home, I was pleasantly surprised that it was purple, and it actually ran.  The hose attachment even worked.  The downside...it was FILTHY!!! It looked fine from the outside, but underneath where the spin brush is looked like a nightmare.  The people who sold it to him had 3 dogs. Enough said.

After the kids went to bed, my husband started tinkering with it.  He watched some YouTube videos about how to clean and repair a Dyson vacuum, and got to work on it.  About 30 minutes later it looked almost as good as new.  It picked up A LOT of dirt out of our carpets, especially considering that my husband just vacuumed with our old one on Saturday.  The Dyson even had a fresh smell to it while he was vacuuming.

Here it is! Our $25 Dyson! I'll say it again...I LOVE CRAIGSLIST!!!

Adventures in Thrifting - My First Goodwill Outlet Experience

This past Saturday was my day off!  My hubby didn't have to work, and he agreed to watch the kids all day while I got some much needed time out of the house, ALONE.  Since I had two full days of garage sale shopping on Thursday and Friday, and I awoke to a thunderstorm on Saturday morning, I decided to sleep in and then hit some thrift stores.  I went out of town this time because as I've mentioned before, the thrift stores in my town aren't all that great.  While searching online for the stores I wanted to visit, I was so excited to find a Goodwill Outlet just 20 minutes from my house.  I decided to make that my first stop.

Oh boy.  I had NO IDEA what I was getting myself into.  I walked in and saw a bunch of big rolling bins lined up and filled with junk treasures.  This is what I had expected from pictures I had seen on other blogs.  As I casually browsed through my first bin, I noticed a bunch of people crowded in one area on the other side of the store. Hmmm...what are they up to?  I continued browsing while keeping an eye on the crowd.  I watched the workers move the bins out of that area, and come back with new bins heaping full of new junk treasures. Then all at once, people started digging in, passing items to their spouses who put them into their carefully guarded cart.  It reminded me of Walmart's toy department on Black Friday.  "WOW! These people are CRAZY!", I thought.  I continued rummaging through my bin on the quiet side of the store.

Suddenly, the crowd started gathering around my area, and I realized that my side must be next.  I'm always up for new experiences, so I claimed a spot next to my bin.  Why not?  Within seconds people were standing shoulder to shoulder, waiting for the bins to be swapped out.  The new bins came and when they were all in place, the worker said, "OK, GO!"  It was INSANE!!!!!  I didn't stay in my area for very long.  I just wasn't prepared for what was happening, so I went back to the other side of the store where browsing was much more relaxed.  This same scenario played out over and over, section by section.  I have no idea if this is how it always works at the Goodwill Outlet, or if I just happened to end up there on some special day.

I'm not sure how I feel about my experience at the GW Outlet.  It was thrilling and uncomfortable at the same time.  I only ended up buying one thing.  A Tickle Me Elmo Surprise doll for 30 cents, which I'm pairing with a Tickle Me Cookie Monster.  I did see a lot of things in other people's carts that would be nice for reselling on Ebay, so I might end up back at the outlet someday.  One things for sure, I'll be more prepared next time and I'll bring gloves. Yuck.  At least I know where to get my fix when I'm craving the thrill of Black Friday shopping.

I went to a couple other thrift stores after the GW Outlet.  One store in particular stood out as my favorite.  Everything in the store was 1/2 off that day.  I got a nice pair of running shorts for $1, and a set of hot rollers for $3.  I was fully intending on selling the hot rollers on ebay, but my curiosity got the best of me and I tried them out. I fell in love!  I have very fine, very straight hair that has no volume.  Enter hot rollers.  My hair has never looked this thick and bouncy. I'm keeping them! :)

This Week's Uncovered Treasures

I went garage sale shopping on a few different days this week.  Mostly Thursday and Friday.  I'm not sure why most of the sales in our area start during the week, but it seems that you have to be able to go out on Thurdsay and Friday to get the best deals around here.  Here's my haul from Thursday...

 Most of the things I bought are for reselling on ebay.  The sexy referee costume is my size, so I'm waiting to see if we have a Halloween party to go to this year before I list it.  Hopefully we'll figure that out sooner than later.  The Barbie fishing pole and tackle box is for my daughter, and has already made for a fun day at Grandpa's pond. :)

I got this Leap Frog Word Whammer set with two sets of letters, and the expansion pack of lowercase letters for $10.  I was pleasantly surprised when I got home to find two FULL sets of letters (plus some extras). I also noticed after I got home that the expansion pack is unopened. It's new in box.  SWEET!

I'm thinking I'll sell it all as one lot.  They seem to sell better that way.

The Polly Pocket set was $2, and has a lot of nice accessories.  I think I'm swearing off Polly's for now unless I find the boys.  I'm still sweatin' that big Polly purchase from last week.  I bought this one to try to sweeten the deal for my Polly listings when I put them up.  The Tickle Me Cookie Monster was a risk, but a small one.  He's in near perfect condition, and was only 25 cents.  I found a Tickle Me Elmo Surprise to list with him while I was thirfting on Saturday.  That one was 30 cents.

This is a 5" Barney figure that I hope to sell in a lot if I can find some more.  I can't believe people buy these.  He was 25 cents.  The little Blues Clues house was 50 cents. I'm saving this one for a lot too.

These puzzles are for my son.  He LOVES this kind of stuff, and he has a birthday coming up in October.  There are 4 unopened puzzles, and I got them for 50 cents each.

I bought these Little Tikes waffle blocks with my kids in mind.  There are 90 pieces, and I bought the whole set for $5.  My kids have already had hours of fun with these block, so I don't think we'll be selling them anytime soon.

Now for Friday's finds...

I'm really excited about these size large maternity jeans.  They are in perfect condition, and were only $1 each.  I'm selling them as a lot, and hope that they'll bring a nice profit.  I know I would have been interested in these when I was pregnant!

I found some more play food to add to my growing collection.  I'll be putting together my first play food lot listing this week!

This Playmobil Nativity set was only $1.  The box is pretty beat up, but it has all of the figures and most of the small parts.  I'll hang on to this for a couple months until we get closer to Christmas.  I think it should sell pretty nicely.  I also found some Disney little golden books for 25 cents each, and a bag of disney princess figures for 25 cents.  Not sure what I'm going to do with the princess figures, but they were so cheap.  They would make really nice cake toppers for a princess cake!

That was my week of treasure hunting.  I'm linking up with Yard Sale Mommy, so make sure you head over there to see other uncovered treasures!

Adventures in Thrifting

So, I have to admit...I'm not a big thrift store junkie.  I would like to be, but thrift stores just aren't that great in my town. I rarely find anything worth while when I go. If I do find something I like, it's usually overpriced.  I've been reading the blogs of thrift store shoppers, and I'm so impressed with the deals they get.  Thrift stores in other cities must be WAY better than the ones in my neck of the woods.

My husband and I found ourselves with a couple hours to kill tonight because our kids were at vacation bible school.  We decided to go thrifting.  As always, I was pretty disappointed with the stores we went to.  There are a couple nicer thrift stores in our area, but both were closed already at 6:00pm.  The night was pretty much a bust.

I did manage to find one thing to buy tonight, and I almost didn't.  At the first store we went to, my husband found this little doll that was from the 1994 winter Olympics in Lillehammer.  It was still in it's original packaging, and priced at .50.  I laughed at first, but decided to look it up on my Ebay app for good measure.  All I could find was one active listing for a similar doll, and it was priced at $99. There were no completed listings. I really didn't think the doll could possibly be worth that much, so I put it back and moved on to another store.  I just couldn't get that doll out of my head though.  What if she was worth even half of that? It was only .50!  So we went back and got her.  I am now the proud owner of this...

I can't find much information about her, but dolls like her are listed on other sites, anywhere from $25 - $100.  I can't find any evidence that people are actually buying though.  Maybe I'll keep her until the next Olympic games come around.  Maybe I will have better luck when the world has Olympic fever again. :)

My First Sale!!!

I'm am so pumped right now! Less than 24 hours after I posted my items, I made my first sale! YAY!

The item that sold was a textbook I had from back in the days when I went to dog grooming school. (Yes, there is a school for that).  I loved grooming dogs, and I was really good at it.  But once my first son came along, my priorities changed along with my line of work.  It's been about 4 years since I groomed my last dog, so I figured now was a good time to pass the book along to someone else.  It's a really great book. Very thorough instructions on how to properly groom each breed. It is probably the best book out there on the subject.

I researched completed listings and knew that there was a good chance that this book would sell. I chose to do a fixed price BIN listing and priced it competitively. Tonight I am $55.00 richer. Yahoo!!!!  That's WAY more than I would have been able to sell it for at a garage sale (I've tried).

My package is all ready to be dropped off at the post office tomorrow.  I had my first experience with printing a shipping label at home, and it was much easier than I thought it would be.  I also tried to arrange an at home pick up, but then found out that USPS won't pick up a single media mail package. Oh well, ya' learn something new everyday.

I have one other item that received a bid tonight, and all 5 remaining items have at least one watcher.  This is so much fun! :)

Reaching Goals

Well, I did it. Today I organized, photographed, packaged, weighed, and listed 6 items on eBay.  Yes, I said 6. My goal was to list 5 items, and I listed 6. I have a few more that I'm hoping to list tomorrow. When I get my mind set on something, I tend to be an overachiever. At least in the beginning. :)

So now I wait.....very impatiently. I'm very anxious for next week Monday night when my auctions end.  The items I listed were all things that I already owned. I don't yet have the guts to post the toys I bought at garage sales. I want to make sure I'm comfortable with this process before I start listing my hard earned treasures. Ohhhh, I hope my stuff sells!!!! :)

Setting Goals

Over the past few weeks I have been reading through countless blogs, trying to soak up as much information as I can about ebay selling.  I've identified a few items around my house that I'm going to list, and also purchased some things at garage sales that I will try to make a profit on.  I even set up an Excel spreadsheet to keep track of all my items, costs, and sales.  Through the advice of Yard Sale Mommy, I also purchased a shipping scale so that I will be able to accurately calculate my shipping costs.

Now it's time to start listing some items, and I'm kind of nervous. I've been having a lot of fun getting prepared, but now it's time to get serious and see if I'll be any good at this.  I really hope I am because it's been so much fun up to this point.

My goal this week is to prepare and list just 5 items.  I'm not sure which items I'll choose yet, but it will probably be some things I already owned.  It will take some of the pressure off me if I don't feel like I'm losing money right away.  I'm sure I'll make many mistakes in the beginning, and I'd rather learn from mistakes that don't put me in the hole. :)

Hopefully next week I'll be able to post a few Ebay success stories. :)

This Week's Uncovered Treasures

 My yard sale adventures were spread over two days this week. I started watching the Craigslist garage sale ads on Wednesday night, and I'm so glad I did. There were a number of good looking sales beginning on Thursday morning, so I planned my route and loaded up the kids in the van. I was pretty happy with my haul on Thursday. I was mostly shopping this week with the intention of finding things (toys) to resell on Ebay.  Of course, my inspiration comes from Yard Sale Mommy!  Here are the details:

Part of Thursday's treasures

 

At one sale, I found the toys in the two pictures above.  This sale had lots of reasonably priced toys in great condition.  I bought the Chicken Dance Elmo for $1, Laugh and Learn Puppy for .50, Laugh and Learn mailbox for $1, Leap Frog pop-up toy for .50, and the Baby Einstein CD 6 pack for $3. I'm not planning on selling the Leap Frog toy anytime soon. I bought this one for my youngest son, and he LOVES it. The seller was asking higher prices for some of the items, but she cut me a deal. YAY! She even threw in the blue elephant lovey that you see to the right of the picture for free. :)  At a sale next door, I found 3 books for my inventory at .10 each.

 

Next, I stopped at a sale that wasn't on my planned route, but I stumbled upon it on the way to another sale.  This one was an estate sale. They didn't have much I was interested in, but I did find the two items above.  The vintage Fisher Price puzzle is in near perfect condition, and I remember reading on Yard Sale Mommy that these are decent sellers. I also found this antique Cootie game. I totally bought this for myself. My grandparents had this early version of the game, and I used to love playing it with them when I was a kid. I looked it up on ebay just for fun, and I may just be tempted to part with it. It has all the pieces, so it may just sell! 

I got Uno Attack for $1. This one is for my family.  It's a fun game.  The little Blues Clues plush was .25. I'll probably save him and hopefully add him to a Blues Clues lot some day.

This bamboo bowl is for me. :)  It's hard to tell from the picture, but it's pretty big and will make a nice centerpiece to put on my kitchen island. Now I just have to find something pretty to go inside. $3.

My Little Pony!!! I was SOOOO happy to find this huge box of MLP's. Last week I found a My Little Pony Crystal Castle, and I needed more ponies to put with it before listing.  Well, here they are! The seller was asking .50 each.  I offered her $5 for the whole box, but she didn't bite. She counted them up and found that there were 37 ponies in the box, which would have earned her $18.50 if they sold individually.  She agreed to sell me the whole box for $10, and we were both happy. I paid about .29 per pony. This gives me plenty of ponies to list with the castle, and save for future listings. Now if only I could find some MLP furniture.

When I got home and started sorting through the ponies, I was very happy to find 4 vintage G1 ponies mixed in among the newer ones. What made me happiest was finding the girl in the picture above. Meet Sundance.  I had one just like her when I was a little girl.  She came in a set that included Megan, a little doll.  I still have my Megan doll in her original dress, a Molly doll (she came with a baby Sundance), and even Sundance's bridle.  This will make a nice ebay listing if I can derail my emotional attachment. :)

That was the end of day 1. I spent a total of $22.55.

Now for day 2. I loaded up the kids again on Friday morning to hit some sales in another neighborhood. I'm not as happy with my Friday finds, as I think I made a pretty expensive mistake with some Polly Pockets. Shoot!

I found two big banana boxes full of Polly's.  They were in a very disorganized mess, but I saw a lot of things in the boxes that looked good.  The seller was originally asking $44 for everything, but agreed to sell them for $30.  I quickly checked some things my ebay app while I pretended to continue shopping. I feel like people know what I'm doing when I look things up on my phone, and it makes me nervous.  I don't want to give myself away, so I try to be quick about it. Unfortunately, that means I don't always get enough information to make a good decision. I looked at a listing for the Polly Cruise Ship, and figured that with that and everything else in the box, there was money to be made. I bought it for $30. I almost NEVER spend that much at one garage sale. It was scary!

After sorting through the box at home and doing some more research on ebay, I was pretty disappointed with my Polly purchase.  I should be able to recover my costs if I'm smart about how I list it, but it won't be the money maker I was hoping for.  There are lots of Polly's, including one boy, and lots of clothes, furniture, and houses. There is also a Polly jumbo jet, but it doesn't seem like those sell very well. I think my kids will end up keeping the jet and a few Polly's. They've never played with Polly Pockets before, and they really liked them. I guess it wasn't a total loss if it makes my kids happy.

Also in the Polly box were these little Sweet Secret toys.  I was happy to see the results when I looked for them on ebay.  These little toys might just make my Polly purchase a little more profitable. They are in near perfect condition.

These books are all from one sale, and they were priced at 5 for $1. Yay!  Some of them will go into inventory until I collect enough for a nice lot, and the others are for my kids. My kids are already loving the books I've been finding at yard sales. It's fun to read new books every night, rather than the same ones we've already read hundreds of times before.

 

Yet another sale had tons of shoes with very reasonable prices. I got 5 pairs for my daughter, and 1 pair for my son for only $5!!!

 

I'm in love with these cute Tommy Hilfiger shoes! They need to be cleaned up, but they are in great shape. They were only .50!!!

 

This last picture was a surprise to me.  I could tell that my husband was pretty interested in this little ebay endeavor I started, but he hasn't admitted it. He came home from work yesterday with these two little gems.  These are 16" Toy Story 2 dolls.  Woody is a Disney Store exclusive plush toy. Jessie is a talking, interactive toy. She even blinks. I had a hard time finding information about this exact doll since she's from Toy Story 2, but I finally figured out that she came in a set with a talking Woody. The two dolls actually interact with each other when they're together.  I can't find one exactly like her on ebay, but hopefully someone out there is looking for their Woody doll's counterpart.  My husband paid $4 for both dolls. I'm so proud of him!

On day 2, I spent $40 and my husband spent $4. That makes my total for this weekend $66.55.  That's a lot for me to spend on one weekend of yard sale shopping, so I decided to stay home on Saturday and leave some deals for someone else.  Besides, I have lots of work to do. Now that I have my shipping scale and a small supply of boxes, it's time to start preparing some listings. Wish me luck!!!

I'm linked up this week with Yard Sale Mommy and My Life on a Taffy Pull. Head over to those blogs to view more uncovered treasures!

Dining Room Upgrade

It has been nearly 6 months since we brought our precious little girl home from Ethiopia.  I still have to pinch myself sometimes when I realize that we're a family of five.  After multiple miscarriages and fearing that we would never be able to have any more children, it is a huge blessing to now have three kids. Becoming a family of five has meant that we've had to make a lot of adjustments in our home.  One of the most recent adjustments we realized was the need for a larger dining table.

The dining set we've had for the last 4 years was a hand-me-down from my grandmother.  It was never really our style, but it was a really nice set made of solid oak. It served us well, but only had 4 chairs.  Our youngest is still using his high chair, so it hasn't been a problem yet, but we knew we had to do something about it in the near future.  I kept looking at yard sales for an extra chair that would somewhat match, but never really found one that was cheap enough or matched quite right.  I knew that buying a new set wasn't an option for us.  I just can't imagine spending thousands of dollars on a new dining set that my kids are sure to ding up.

Then one day I saw this beautiful dining set on Craigslist.  It was only 2 years old, made of solid wood, had six chairs, totally our style, and they were only asking $200.  I knew there had to be a catch, but I contacted the seller anyway to set up a time to look at it.  After talking with the seller, I found out what the catch was.  Her dog had chewed one of the legs pretty well, and there were chew marks in other areas as well.  We almost walked away, but I decided to at least take a look at it.  I'm so glad we did!  It was not chewed beyond repair. Since it was solid wood, all it needed was some wood putty, sanding, and a new finish for the legs.  The rest of the problem areas were easily fixed with a stain pen. $200 + a little elbow grease =

Want to see what I would have paid in the store? Here is the exact same set at Art Van.  It's on sale now for $1,099.99, and the original price (probably close to what it cost 2 years ago when it was purchased) was $2,299.99!  I'm so happy with this find! I love my new dining set, and I love the fact that it's used and not perfect.  This way, I don't have to worry so much about my kids being kids at the table.

I didn't waste any time posting our old dining set, and priced it at $250.  A day later, I had a buyer pick it up and pay the full amount in cash.  I managed to upgrade to a really nice dining set that fits our family, and I actually made $50! What a blessing! I love this simple life!

Maybe ebay?

I have been a long time follower of Money Saving Mom (MSM). MSM is a blog devoted to helping people save money and use it wisely.  This blog helped me get started when I decided to start couponing.  I am not one of those crazy people you see on TV, but I do know a thing or two about smart shopping.  I rarely make a trip to the grocery store without my list and envelope full of coupons. Anyway, while visiting MSM recently, I stumbled across a link to another blog, Yard Sale Mommy.  I began reading her posts and became totally intrigued and inspired.  Yard Sale Mommy is an avid yard sale enthusiast, kind of like myself.  She buys items (mostly toys) from yard sales, and turns around and sells them on ebay for some pretty nice profit.  My eyes were opened. Why am I not doing this?  I LOVE yard sales, and I already go to them as often as I can.  I even see a lot of the things Yard Sale Mommy is successfully selling on a regular basis. I immediately started researching what sells on ebay, and have made quite a few mental notes on what to look for.  I am so excited to get started!  I'm going to start by listing some things I already have around the house. This will give me some good practice and experience before I start investing too much money in other people's "junk". 

Up to this point the purpose of my yard sale adventures has been mostly finding clothes for my kids.  My two oldest kids are both 4 years old, and they're getting into bigger sizes now.  The bigger sizes cost quite a bit more than toddler sizes, so I find yard sale prices to be a much better fit for my budget.  Spring is a busy time for garage sales in our area, and I managed to build complete fall/winter wardrobes for my kids from items found at the sales.  There's nothing like finding brands like Gymboree, Gap, and Children's Place for $1 or less per item!  My kids will look great at school this year, and I didn't have to break the bank! Yay!

I'm looking forward to learning more about selling on ebay, and hitting the yard sales hard!  What a great way to make some extra money...doing something I love. :)

This Week's Uncovered Treasures

Here we go! I've been shopping at yard sales for years, but this week is a first for me for two reasons: 1. For the first time ever, I am publicly sharing my yard sale finds. I've wanted to do this so many times in the past because I'm always so excited about the deals I find. The problem was that it just didn't feel right to post it on our family blog. I don't think most of my readers (family, friends, and adoption buddies) share my enthusiasm for yard sale treasures, and they would probably find the whole thing a little boring and perhaps a little odd. I am so excited to finally have a place to share my finds. 2. Another first this week is that I bought a few things to resell on ebay. A big thanks to Yard Sale Mommy for the inspiration! I have a lot to learn when it comes to knowing what to buy. I did make a few mistakes, but also found some things that should sell well enough to offset those mistakes.

Here's my haul:



I am most excited about the My Little Pony Crystal Castle. It's in great shape and comes with the magic wand that opens the castle. I only wish it came with more accessories. I got a few small ponies with it, and only one piece of furniture. I'll be on the lookout for more ponies and furniture to add to it before I list it on ebay. I would especially like to find a couple ponies with magnetic feet so that the magnet feature on the main floor will work, but that doesn't seem to effect the sale of this item too much. I bought this item for $7, and hope to sell it for around $50.



The plush Care Bears were .50 each. Not sure if they'll sell or not, but it's worth a shot. They seem to sell on ebay sometimes.


The plush Wonder Pets Ming Ming was also .50. It's in great shape, and I'm hoping to sell it for about $8. I might hold on to this one for a while and see if I can find some friends to sell with him.



I took a gamble on the Wiggles microphone. I paid $1. It is in good working condition, and came with 3 plush Wiggles characters that are like new. I haven't decided whether I'll make this two separate listings, or list it as a lot.

The Thomas Coal Loader set was $5. It has all the pieces and looks like it wasn't played with. It even has the instructions. I think I'll list this closer to Christmas.

The bag of play food was $1. I passed up some other bags of toy dishes and utensils that were also priced at a dollar, and now I wish I would have bought them too. I didn't realize how much a huge lot of play food and dishes actually sells for. I'll hold onto this bag until I collect some more dishes, and next time I won't pass up a good deal on it.

Another mistake was the LeapFrog alphabet toy. I bought it for only $1 and it is in really good shape, but they don't seem to sell very well on ebay. I think this will go into my kids' toy box for a while, and maybe we'll try our luck with a consignment sale in the future.

This Fisher Price booster seat is in good condition, and came in the box with all the parts. It was priced at $2. I was so excited about this because I needed to replace our old booster. Our old booster is missing the straps which secure it to the chair and hold the little person safely inside. Our little guy is still small enough that the safety straps are a necessity. Since we just upgraded our dining table to one that will fit our whole family of 5, I was anxious to get our little guy out of the high chair. Now the high chair goes into my Craigslist pile. :)

The shoes in the picture are for my daughter. They are like new and only cost me $2! She wore them to church yesterday, and they look so cute on her dark skin. We'll keep these nice for church only and resell them later.

I found a bunch of other things that didn't make it into my pictures because my kids ran off with them. My son found a new in box Indiana Jones play set for .50 that he absolutely loves. He also got a Disney Dinosaur DVD for .50. My daughter got a shirt, leggings, and tights for .50-$1 each, which are already being washed. She also got Strawberry Shortcake DVD for $1 which has been watched too many times already. And of course, there are the little trinket toys that we got for free-.25 each. Gotta love the cheap/free stuff that keep kids happy while yard sale shopping! :)