Not Bad! Nor Bad at all!

 Despite having the flu and then being sick with a nagging hurtful cough for three + weeks I still did okay for the month of February. I did not list many items at all. I did delete and relist. I think that kept me in the ball game. I sold approximately 38 items and about 1800$ in sales. I only spent a little over 400$ on inventory and opened a booth at the LOCAL peddler mall.

This I picked up at an Estate Sale on Saturday and it sold with in a few days. Tuesday I believe.

This purse I have had since this summer. I am hesitant to sell purses, But I picked up several at a 75% off day at an estate sale. They were high dollar and the only way I could afford them was at 75% off. The more expensive ones were already gone but a few goodies remained.

Got this little goodie at a live auction. It has not sold yet, a long tail, but I should do very well with it as no one else was interested.

it just got better

Unable to access my photos for months and months made me lose my appetite for posting. Suddenly they have appeared again!  

My new years resolution for 2025 is to buy judicially. I have a garage full of stuff and two storage units. Most of it needs to be listed. So, I am cutting back on purchasing until I have stabilized.

I have spent 52$ so far this year. I also have the flu or covid, I don't know. I know I feel better then I over exert and crash.

So I traveled to Madison to one of my fav on line auction houses and got the following!

The weather has been horrendous. i will never complain about 90 degree weather again until its 90 degrees again. Its wet and muddy and I am recovering from the flu so its not so smart to get out. 

I have resumed listing as being ill has made it impossible to take much interest in anything.

So far this is what I have up for February

 

Pretty but stained that I worked on with a tide stick that just made it worse. I am hesitant to wash them because I think I will ruin the 3-D effect of the flowers.

  Death Pile stock.

Scary Clown I got on an online auction for 2$

Irish linens from same auction. Got a lot of linens and so far have only listed this pastel group of vintage linens.

That about all I have now.

What sold? later

Long Time No Write

 I hate Google.

I can't upload any of my photos unless I give them more blood money. As if they don't make enough from their advertisers. I sympathize with the young man who shot the CEO - corporate greed over services is rampant. Our country is on the verge of being run by billionaires and probably as corrupt as it has even been. The idiots (from sea to shining sea) who voted this vile excuse of a human being will suffer the consequences and the rest of us will endure. 

Anyway, I have continued to run my Ebay store, which is where 99.9% of my orders are coming from. I believe I have sold two things on Merc which at one time, when I began, was phenomenal for me.

I have truly neglected listing for the past several months but my spending has not curtailed and I believe I could officially verg on hoarder.

I'm reading again. After a long drought of reading an occasional book, usually  a non-fiction, but I have found an interesting author, Jim Harrison. I have finished one of his books and checked out another from the downtown library. The books are full of lust and liquor, Indians and land grabbers, cancer, promiscuity, wealth and interesting characters. The author also wrote Legends of the Fall, so you can imagine the thrill I have knowing I have about 20 books to plow through.

And in real life, I have ridiculously volunteered to foster two dogs who lost their home due to circumstances that many of us face. Money problems. I won't judge on the why and hows a person could find a home that does not allow dogs, I just know it must be terribly hard on him. And the poor dogs. It's a well know fact that I like dogs much better than most people.

I await their arrival.

Until then, I plug along and hope for better things to come.

Oh Oh oh. In ;the book one of the protagonists in an anxiety attack of sorts (this character is delicious) had been advised by one of his psychiatrists to list all the things he likes. I was hard pressed to go back to sleep after a 330am doggie bathroom trip so I began to list things I liked.

The list is endless....so my life, bereft of Joe, must be worth living if I enjoy/like graveyards, walking the dogs, auctions, making pies, smell of mowed grass, new shoes, puppies, etc. etc. etc.  

No Luck at the Yard Sales - Again

 Yesterday I ventured out in search of the elusive Yard Sale Holy Grail. I do not understand how the landscape of available garage sales in this area can yield such pathetic results. I watch the "influencers" on YouTube and see them score wonderful items and then post the results of what sold, how much they spent and what the items have been listed at asking prices. For example - Spent 36$ - listed at 385$ It just does not happen around here for me.

A month or so ago, I bought a 1962 Barbie Doll Dream House form the original owner. I was very excited because they list on Ebay for good money and I had the original owner - the provenance! It was huge and the cost of shipping would arrive in the mid to upper 20's, so I sold it at my yard sale for what I paid for it. 

I suppose the essence of a successful yard sale chase is #1, knowing your stuff.  I cringe when I see nothing but clothes and plastic toys. I do not know my toys well enough to know what has value and what does not. #2 is know the territory you are hunting. Maybe the 100 mile yard sales are the Mother Lode. I did it once, in June and stuck out. I spent all day chasing the dream and ended up with desperate purchases that once again, I unloaded at my yard sale.

Yesterday I had high hopes of one that was advertised as having an abundance of items accumulated from years of Estate Sale purchases. Wrong. Just a bunch of Home Decorator stuff, once again childrens things, and Big Lot purchases,

The only outdoor that bore fruit was the Lutheran Church Community Yard Sale - which I must remember for next year because it is an every Saturday set up for 20$ a spot, I found a lady who was in the mood to deal with her exquisite jewelry booth.

  For 20 bucks she sold me three fantastic signed pieces.

 So, I went to my old stand by, the Estate Sale. 25 - 50% off on Saturday. I found 36$ worth of stuff, two purses, a pair of designer boots, an Hawaiian tea cup and saucer (she double charged me for this!!once at 50% off then again at 25% off, oh well. A cashmere sweater and a fabulous faux fur jacket so soft that you could lay a naked baby on it.

20$ should translate to 150$ 

36$ to 250$ I may keep one of the purses.

I may go back today, its 75% off.

I see Them Long Hard Times to Come

Originally started in early April

Missed me? Wonder where the hell I have been? Joe died in March and my world is upside down, side ways, all shook up and I am still processing life without him. It's empty and difficult to even acknowledge he is gone. No longer here. I feel him in the room, in the car, everywhere.

I have hammered on with Ebay despite it all and the sales are still trickling in. 

April Sales

The Estate Sale Trail

 I need to take pictures of all the beautiful homes I visit while on my Estate Sale Trails. This one was on Blank-er Rd. You parked at a museum or historic building and were then transported to the home via van. It was awesome. The home was going to be torn down due to termite infestation. But it was super cool and very old. Late 1800's if I had to guess.

I went the last day, after 1 when everything was 75% off. There was a bookshelf full of antique books but they were in very bad condition. A complete set of Charles Dickens was decrepit, yet at 75% off I still picked out the best several of the crumbling spined books.  I put them  back after thinking about it. Even at 50 cents, was I going to risk possibly bring silver fish or some other pestilent into my home. Not worth it. Anyway, finding an interested buyer would be hard. I then began posting my volumes of Charles Dickens on Ebay. They are undated but once again I am guessing late 1800's. I got them at an auction house that I use every now and then, but when I went to pick them up, having paid for the entire set, it was incomplete! They had somehow managed to give several volumes (4!!!) away to someone who also bid on antique books. This is not the first time an auction house has messed up. But they are only human.

This is one of the treasures I found. I saw it during my first pass through of the house. It was marked 26$. During my final pass thru a couple, Mother and daughter were examining it, the daughter saying she thought it was creepy. That was enough incentive for me to grab it as soon as they moved on. For 6$ I was going to take a chance on it. Turns out its fairly valuable. It is not marked on the bottom, just MADE IN CHINA sticker remains. It could or could not be marked. It's obscured. It could be Staffordshire, could be a copy. This original pitcher has been copied by many companies and artists. This one is in terrific condition and very heavy. I believe I have it listed for over 200$ So we will see. I believe it will eventually sell.

Sales are steady as long as I run a sale on my entire store. What the heck, I send out offers etc and sell a lot at the offered price. If  the Ebay algorithm  likes and promotes my items because of this, so be it. Its a sale all the time.

July Sales

June Sales (and my feet)

May Sales

Yard Sales

 I just went and wasted a whole day and 1/2 tank of gas cruising  the US 68 400 mile long yard sale. I went on about a 50 - 60 mile stretch of the sale, from Lebanon to Shaker Village and found crap.  This is my fifth year of reselling officially, and I have to say I have been to only one yard sale that yielded any profit or had any substantial items for sale.

This is what I saw. Amazon Pallet junk. Rusty old tools. Toys, games, puzzles and clothes. I did see some bicycles that would have been an excellent buy if I were in the market for a nice ride. Only that morning I had seen how to remove the front tire to slip into your back seat but this particular bike did not look like it was in that style. And the brake line was rusted.

I did buy some yard ornaments for myself. A boyd bear that upon closer inspection had some issues with the clothing, a horse ceramic brooch, a Barbie Beetle Car which is sub par once I really took a look at it. 

I am going to have a yard sale in the near future to unload some items I am very hesitant to list on Ebay and I have just abandoned Facebook Market Place as too convoluted to maneuver any more. It use to be great until they screwed it up with advertisements for Temu and stuff from other areas. Thats me buying, to sell is a nightmare.

I set up a "booth" at the Shriner indoor yard sale and did fairly well making a 162$ profit. My Cracker Barrel experience helped make my booth look interesting and well organized.

That's all the news that fits.

Except I'm depressed. Joe passed away and a huge hole in my heart has opened up.