Jar openers- who’d-a-thought!

 

I’ve heard that getting high is a huge thrill the first time and the following times are never as good. But people keep going back for more trying to reach that first high feeling. And no, I’m not trying to say “somebody” and mean myself…I know what you were thinking!

The neighborhood garage sale about a mile from our neighborhood is just like that. The first year I went to it was when my amazing in-laws were visiting and the kids woke up so early I decided to try to keep the house as quiet as possible and let everyone sleep. So I hoped in the car with them and headed toward any nearby garage sales I could find.

Lucky me. There was a neighborhood garage sale!

I found this kid chair for $3 right off and snagged it!

I liked it so much I later got 2 adult chairs that were the same kind. It is a $15 chair at Target.

The same time I got 2 pairs of kid Crocs for $1 each that came with those buttons that insert in the croc holes. Those shoes made it through 2 of my kids before I lost one of each.

It is a sad story.

I also got a $10 100% wood bunk bed for  the kids at this sale. Amazing.

I was almost done when I rolled past a lady who was selling pots and pans. She sold me a whole set of stainless pots, lids and all for $7.

Yes. $7 for the set! She was upgrading to Rachael Ray pans.

Fine by me! “Yes ma’am! I wasn’t looking to buy pans but I will take your $148.49 like new pans off you hands and teach myself how to cook on stainless steel right away!”

My mom-in-law heard she had another set and we raced back to get her a set of red pans (She loves red) for $10ish. Lets make the whole family happy!

Well the last few years since then I’ve been able to catch the sale by random chance. I don’t drive by that neighborhood but have checked Craigslist at just the right weekends. This year I thought I had missed it but they moved it back a month and I was able to catch it last weekend.

Once again, shooting for that high…and missing. But it wasn’t all loss. I found this Professional Jar opener and actually walked away from the $4 price tag then looked it up on my phone! Wowsers! People pay that much for those things?

I could tell by the price tag they had no idea how much it was worth. So I talked her down to $3 (you know…what if it doesn’t sell?) and tucked the enormous jar opener under my arm and headed out.

It sold. Well it is selling. I have several watchers and one bid $45 with $10 shipping. It is about $10 less then the going price for these but I’d be happy as pie if it sold for $55. And that’s still about 1/2 price for the buyer. Did I mention it’s never been out of the box?

Boy howdy!

I also snagged this to possibly resell:

It was a kid’s 1st garage sell.

He was about five and wasn’t going to budge from the $2 tag he’d put on this.

It was starting to rain and my hubby and kids had made a run home and so I was on foot. Not interested in hauling this around in the rain

…well, for $1 I was but not for $2.

His mom talked him down and that little mister made his first sale!

The thing retails for $99 on amazon but doesn’t really resale unless you have a lot of cartridges. Glad I stuck with the $1 price! My kids will get that much out of it.

I also got this for $1:

We are working with my 4 year old on saying, “Yes ma’am” instead of “But mom,” or “Well….”

This ended up being his prize for going a whole day with out using “well” or “but”. Today was the day! And awesomely enough, though it didn’t have a car that sold with it, one of my son’s little friends had given him the very car that went with this. It was buried in the sandbox but after a bid of digging and dusting this racetrack is now the largest source of entertainment in our house!

Amazing how the boys seem to have all the cool toys right?

Oh, and it sells on Amazon new for $99. Sweet!

All in all I spent about $20 and I’ve already got a bid for $55. I’d say that’s a happy garage sale day, right there!

Round up! May

 

This was a very cool skirt that I bought for 99 cents because it had a fancy tag. Yep. That is the only reason.  Well, and because Free People just SOUNDS like a brand people would want.

It had a lot of interest at it’s original price of $21 but I had to knock it down to $13 before it sold. I had an offer of $10 and I’m glad I held out. $3 isn’t much but it is at least enough to cover shipping. After eBay fees and all I made $7.02 on this skirt.

 

For the most part I do free shipping. But every once-in-a-while I try adding shipping and knocking the price down. People love the orange “Free shipping” but in the same way they love saying, “I got these for $6.99. It is a win-win!

I mad $7.09 on those Old Navy slacks. I like to make about $10 per item. I think my advrage right now is $7.27 but I’m also cleaning out my drawers so I’m not sweating it too much.

This blazer I got for 99 cents because it was so eye catching. I didn’t even put the brand in the title because it wasn’t a very well known brand: Rafaella Petites.

It was on ebay for sometime before it got a bid and I made $5.81. Not the best but better than being in my closet. And I’m sure she will love it seeing as it is such a cute thing!

Wranglers-Spanglers. I am trying my hand at name brand jeans. Mostly Wranglers and Levi. The first week they sold REALLY well and I bought some more and they stopped. I feel like its like gambling. I got hooked and now I’m loosing!

However these jeans were a great deal for whoever bought them!

And I made $5.57 off them. No biggie but money in the bank none-the-less!

I was excited to see this TAILS brand tennis outfit for sale for only 99 cents for the set! It wasn’t til I got home that I realized the size difference in the skirt and the top.

Thankfully, one can sell pretty much anything in any size on ebay! I made $9.17 on this outfit.

Nice slacks are always in style!

Advantages to Living in the City. Free Mulch!!

This weekend  my husband is switching from his old work truck to his newer work truck, so this week I have a truck I can haul stuff in! I have been franticly trying to remember all those, “If only I had a truck,” Moments.

Unfortunately most of these moments are unplanned. But getting free mulch from our fair city’s Greenwaste dump is one of those things.

Usually, we have a truck full of the hubby’s tools so it isn’t worth unloading and then loading when I need a truck, it but not this time!

The greenwaste dump was supervised by a bunch of 60+ yr old men who drive heavy equipment and under their hard expressions I sense that they really enjoy their job!

Our pile of mulch! We could take whatever we wanted! Of course the 3 kids went with me, the workers didn’t seem to mind so it turned out great.

I was happy that the piles of mulch I wanted to get from was far away from the bulldozers and trucks unloading tree branches. One less thing to worry about when hauling kids around! I wasn’t sure if they would even let the kids out of the truck. As it was we just got in trouble for climbing up the mound!

 

Let me tell you. When a guy in a bulldozer tells you something, you listen to it!

So the kids settled for eating snacks while I loaded up the truck.

It went something like this:

Scoop, Scoop

“Mom! Sister needs to go Potty!”

Pause, take Sister potty behind the truck.

Scoop, Scoop

“Ouch! I got something in my eye, mommy?!”

“Then blink a bunch!”

Scoop, Scoop, Scoop

“HEY MOM! LOOK! I got the door of the truck open all by myself!”

“Good job, Son!”

Scoop

“MOM! Can you come shut the door?”

“Ok but don’t climb all over daddy’s new truck and get it dirty.”

Scoop Sco…

“Mom! Can we take our shoes off and then climb on the seats?”

Scoop, Scoop, Scoop

“Mom! Sister needs to got poopy!”

Now THAT is a problem!

 

Somehow, I’m not sure how, but somehow the kids and I got the truck loaded in about 40ish minutes. I stopped loading when I started thinking about how hard it might be to get this out of the camper shell. Usually they just load you with the bulldozer but with the shell on I had to hand shovel it. 

Part 1 of Mission Mulch accomplished!!!

If anyone wants some HUGE logs this is the place to get them!

 

Here is my City “Wheelbarrow” It worked great!

 

And these are my helpers!

And great helpers they are!

 

Here is the flowerbed!

Then it was time to do the garden!  I’ve been using grass clippings as mulch but this will last much longer!

After.