Summer is here!

 

Ebay seems to change weekly with the amount of sales I pull in during the week. It certainly keeps me on my toes!

I had this jacket for sometime before posting it. It was completely lined and, believe it or not very, very white! I was happy with my sale after spending 99 cents on this.

 

Maternity clothing seems to almost always sell, but sometimes it takes a while. Maternity dresses ALWAYS sell for me. Even the ugly one’s. Last year I was pregnant so I’d go through and grab things I thought I might like. that way I could try them on and sell them if they didn’t fit. this dress was 99 cents.

 

I was debating this dress even though it was only 99 cents. It is a target brand. But then I saw the tags! What a steal for me and for the buyer!

 

I was just happy to get rid of this suit! I’ve heard that build a bear sells well but this was on my ebay for a while before it sells. Maybe I was asking too much. It was free so it wasn’t a big deal, and I still made a little.

 

 

I saw this book at a garage sale and I paid around $1 for it.

 

Once again, Maternity dress!

 

I now offer free shipping and just raised my prices to make up for it. I like the results and now my item’s are pulled up when one searches for free listings!

 

I had this for sell for about 4 weeks before suddenly it had 5 bids!

Making money highchair purchase!

 

Remember my highchair purchase? It was really a impulse buy, well, as impulse as you can be when buying on Craigslist!

Within 2 hours of thinking, “hmmm, I could use a highchair” I had the highchair in my car with a free stroller, and was heading home!

I cleaned up the stroller and wondered what to do with it. I thought about saving it for my brother in Guatemala's little boy but they won’t be back to visit for a year and I think they could borrow my umbrella stroller just as easy!

So I decided to sell it in my yard sale. I stuck a $20 tag on it then went down to $15 when no one really looked at it.

I ended up selling it for $12 to someone who really needed it ending my $10 highchair purchase with a $2 profit! AND someone got a great deal on a really, really nice stroller! (Not to mention I still have my highchair!)

Garage Sale. Hosting, not shopping!

 

 

This last weekend I was very busy with hosting my own garage sale!

I’d say I put in hours of work but really, I just realized if I had 5 bags of stuff to donate I should at least try to sell it first!

I printed off some simple signs and taped them to some boxes I was going to throw out. The night before the sale I drove to the 4 corners near our house and dropped the signs off with a log in each box to keep them from flying away.

I had decided to start Thursday morning. I woke up and, being a spare table-less family, I dragged blankets out to set up stuff on. I just put things by price. 50 cents here, $1 over there. You sell things for wayyyy cheaper when you were just planning on donating it!

Well, I made $50 and that first hour and when things slowed down I decided not to push my luck. I left my signs up since they said Thurs-Sat and I would have had to wake my kids up from their naps to go haul the boxes in. I guess it was a bad idea because I quickly got a doorbell ring by someone interested in my sale and wondering why I wasn’t out there. Yep, that’s gutsy. So I opened back up and probably sold about $2 worth of stuff in the next two hours.

Meanwhile I invited friends to bring their stuff by and so on Thursday evening I had even more stuff to sell, but for other people. I opened shop excitedly on Friday morning at 8am and sat out there ‘til noon all to make a whopping—$7.

I was not happy. So Saturday I  prayed over my sale. I didn’t want to have to give my friend all her stuff back!  It started out slow but in one blow one lady came and bought 3 large items totaling $46! That helped get rid of many of the larger items. A neighbor brought out his leather chair he wanted to sell and asked $60 for it. I wasn’t too hopeful, maybe because I rarely shop for furniture but I stuck it out there. Just as I was getting ready to close up a man pulled up and plopped in the chair. Within minutes it was sold!

I think the only things I have left to sell are a Bumbo & tray and a new changing pad from my friend. Both will do nicely on Craigslist so I shouldn’t have a problem getting them sold!

All in all I sold $200 worth of stuff! $69 of that is mine and I am very happy. Making almost $70 from items I was ready to toss is pretty good in my book!

Meanwhile I’m looking for better ideas for putting garage sale signs up. I might try stakes instead of boxes next time!

I was pleased with how little work went into this sell and how easy it was to do vs the money that came in. Even if it wasn’t all my stuff!

I think the idea of a garage sale is put in as little time as you can (and still make it workable) and sell as much as you can, rather than for as high as you can!

Why, yes! I do accept free stuff!

 

I’ve gone through 3 high chairs with my 3 kids. I know,  call me crazy. But the first one was just a cheapy I got on Craigslist for about $15. I sold it after our first kid because it was starting to tear and I was worried it wouldn’t sell if the cover was all torn.

 

I made my $15 back and turned around and purchased one for $25. Once again off CL.

$10 more got me a LOT. Single hand sliding tray, 2 trays actually, adjustable height, rolling wheels. I mean, this was FAAAANCY!

(And MUCH easier to clean I might add!)

But when my daughter grew out of it, the thing was nothing but bulky. I didn’t want to haul it up to the attic, and I wasn’t going to leave it sitting there. So I added some spit shine and put it on Craigslist. It sold for $30 after a warfare of phone calls. Apparently the belts in Highchair’s are really important to some people and mine had them.

We figured with kid #3 we would just use this:

Oops, I mean this:

However, where that is great on the road and extra room at the table. It isn’t good for tiny tots like ours is still.

So off to craigslist yet again.

I’ve missed you my friend.

I wanted to spend $10 maybe $15 at the most.

 

A lady had her’s posted for over a month, cost: $15. I saw a terrible photo of it, talked her down to $10 and said I’d like to see it. She happened to have it stored right near a thrift store. Lucky me. While in the thrift store I saw and UGLY highchair for $4. Cheap but…well, not as “thrifty” as I’d like.

I think the difference between “thrifty” and “cheap” is Thrifty gets you what you want for less. Cheap gets you anything that’s out there and doesn’t cost much (and will probably break).

Anyway, the car seat was all wrapped in plastic from being stored but I could tell it was in decent condition. (Which turned out to be really, really good condition!) And I wasn’t about to talk her down any more when they had just dug through their whole storage unit for it! Oh, and they GAVE ME A STROLLER.

Yes, it is rather nice, though worn, Graco stroller. I cleaned it and it is in good condition. I really don’t need it but how can I pass up free?

And the highchair?

Its a hit! With lots of growing room!

Tater Tot Casserole

 

 

• 1-1/2 pounds ground beef
• 1-1/2 medium onion, chopped
• 1-1/2 (10.75 ounce) cans Campbell's® Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup (Regular or 98% Fat Free)
• 1 tablespoon and 1-3/4 teaspoons ketchup
• 1 tablespoon and 1-3/4 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• 4-3/4 cups frozen Tater Tots
• Top with cheese

Directions

1. Cook beef and onion in 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat until beef is well browned, stirring to break up meat. Pour off fat.
2. Stir soup, ketchup and Worcestershire into skillet. Spoon beef mixture into 12x8-inch shallow baking dish. Arrange potatoes around edge of casserole. Top with cheese.
3. Bake at 425 degrees F for 25 minutes or until potatoes are done.

Round up! January

Sales were not as good this week as last week! However, I think things will start picking up. I’m experimenting with free shipping as well! Check it out!
I got these frogs (above) in a bag of stuff for .99 cents. I tried to get .99 out of it but someone did the BIN for $4.50. Someone is getting a good deal. This can be up to $17 if he would have waited for v-day!

Here  (below) is one of my free shipping. I probably will raise the price as I get more confident with things!


I was pretty excited that these Limited pants sold so quickly and for $10 plus shipping!

I did not think Liz Claiborne would go this fast! But someone got a great deal for these like new pants!


It wasn’t until after I posted this that I found out what they were! They are zimmbos and sell for about $18 for a whole set on Amazon. I was pretty happy with my sell price even without the right tag on them. ‘Specially since they are not a complete set!
My Friend at Mom's Paycheck sold some Trivial cards and that inspired me to post these rather than toss them. I got them and a bunch of other items for .99 cents, and sold these for almost $10. Shipping cost me around $4 so it was a nice profit for something I would have thrown away.


Rabbit’s fur! yes, this soft sweater has Rabbit’s fur in it! Sold for $10 with a last second bid!


These pants had 2 bids, from the same bidder, that always makes me wonder how high they were willing to go!

Free preschool learning tools!

 

I am not sure where I got this idea from. I think it is a mix of pintrest idea and my own stingy nature to do things for free!

They are reading sticks! Very easy to make and a great way to get your child over the “sounding out every letter ‘til they forget what the whole word sounded like" stage! Yea, you know! That stage!

 

All you need to make this is a paint stick (free at the hardware store) A paint chip with wholes in it (compliments of Lowes) a magic marker and string! (Painting the stick is optional. I used acrylic for mine. One could also spray paint)

My 4 year old loves them. And my 2 year old! They are great for car trips!

  

Oh, and while you are at the store grab some larger cards and turn them into a color book for you learning-colors child! I love free!