Flea Market Finds 10/28

As usual on Sunday, we took a trip to the flea market this morning. Sandy is due to arrive sometime tomorrow so we weren't too optimistic about finding things.  We were not disappointed.  It was chilly and windy, there were very few vendors set up, and when we talked to the owner, he said next Sunday will be it till the spring.  Here is what I found:

• 1 Microwave turntable, $1.00

Yep...that's it.  I was hoping to find some cool Pyrex after scoring 2 Pyrex Promotional Casserole dishes yesterday.  Or some Legos, or something....but no dice. Since next Sunday is the end, we are hoping that there will be a lot of vendors trying to get in on the last minute action.
I got about a dozen items listed today, so all was not lost. Tomorrow and Tuesday will be listing days, provided the power doesn't go out due to Sandy.  Almost one year ago, we had a snowstorm that blanketed our area with wet, heavy snow that knocked out power for 3 days. Wednesday we are going to the Salvation Armies south of us. Good luck to all in the path of Sandy, be careful and be well.

Tag Sale Treasure Hunt 10/27

It's Saturday, and that means only one thing....yard sales!  We went to about a dozen or so today, and did pretty well again.  We spent about 3 hours going to and fro; and we scored the following:

• 2 pounds 9 ounces of Legos, .50 cents!
• 2 Vintage 1959 Pyrex Twin Server Promotional Dishes, $1.00 for both
• Viewmaster and 10 discs, $1.00
• Punchy Hawaiian Punch phone $2.50 - SOLD! $39.99
• Beige Rotary Phone $1.00

Last but not least, Autumn scored a huge lot of rubber stamps for $2.00:

 This is less than half of them.  We're I'm gonna clean these babies up and get 'em listed!  Depending on design and size, these can bring up to $8-$10 bucks a piece.  Most will be less, but for $2.00 it's a winner!
I'm off to separate out the Legos and clean up that phone.  Tomorrow we will be off to the Olde Hadley Flea Market, so tune in then for the results!

Thrift Store(ies)

On Wednesday all of our local Salvation Armies (we have 6 or so in our general area) have Family Day, which means 4 out of the 5 price tag colors are 50% off.  We rotate the stores we go to so we always have fresh items to buy.  After a slow couple of weeks we did quite well yesterday at just one store.  This particular store is one of the busier ones, but it was PACKED yesterday! Autumn found 3 nice pairs of shoes (UGG, SAS, and Dansko), and I found (above left-right):

• A vintage 60's or so Boy Scout uniform (with pants and 2 patches in the pocket) $9.99
• The North Face A5 Series short sleeve shirt $2.49
• Polo Sport micro fleece pullover jacket $2.99
• Women's Under Armour shirt $1.99
• Men's Under Armour shirt $1.99
• Nike Windbreaker $3.99

I also found a pair of Tommy Bahama silk shorts, a Castelli cycling jersey, a pair of Pearl Izumi cycling shorts, and a pair of Columbia Titanium shorts. The good thing about the thrift stores is they are a steady source of merchandise all year long, which is great when the season ends on yard sales and the flea market closes. We also have a few Goodwills and 2 Savers south of us.  I like the selection that Savers has, but they are far more expensive that the Salvation Army.  We generally only go to Savers when they have a 50% off sale (usually on holidays).  I plan on listing today and tomorrow  (as much as possible), and then off to the yard sales on Saturday.

Set Up In Minutes.....

Thank you Kari from She Thrifts, $he Scores! for the link and follow!  Much appreciated!
Our router started going on the fritz a few days ago. After opening my browser, the first few pages would load fine, then it just wouldn't connect after that.  So after some troubleshooting by my tech guru Autumn, we decided to buy a new router.  We took a trip to our local Staples and after conversing with a very helpful employee, we decided to get a Linksys E1200 (pictured above).  After all it was MUCH cooler looking than my previous Linksys router, what with the antenna and all....
I began to set it up after Autumn had installed the software, and right off the bat we have problems.  Finally 67 minutes later (set up in minutes) Autumn's laptop is connected.  Now on to my desktop, which I'm pretty sure was owned previously by Fred Flintstone.  153 minutes later (set up in minutes) that is connected.  Now we have our wireless printer.  All I can say about that is the customer service at Brother is very good.

On the plus side, that orange telephone I bought Sunday sold today for $59.99.  Even with free shipping, I still made a great profit.  I also sold a lot of 187 magnetic letters for $19.99.  That was a bit of a surprise.  Tomorrow is our Salvation Army day, as 4 of the 5 price tag colors are 50% off.  Hopefully we will find some good items. 

Legos and Technics and Bionicles Oh My!

I would like to thank the good folks over at We are: Clamco for the link and follow!  Thank you!
Now on to business.  As seen in yesterdays post, Flea Market Finds, we found a whole bunch of mixed Legos, Bionicles, and various other building parts, pens, pencils, lint, a 357 Magnum shell casing (not kidding!), and my personal favorite:

Homer J. Simpson! This figure is from a Burger King promotion, and when you push a button on his back he lifts his arms.  So now, whenever I get a sale on Ebay, I press the button and yell "WOOOHOOO" in my best Homer voice. Homer I am keeping!
Anyway, I have found about 20 or so Lego mini figures including the coveted Kashyyyk Scout Trooper from Episode 3.

According to Brick Link, the holy grail of Lego info, this guy alone is worth what I paid for the whole box.  I am still in the process of separating everything into different types.  I think after I get everything pieced out, I will have enough to begin listing on Ebay.  I'm hoping I will have this finished today so I can begin listing tomorrow.

Flea Market Finds

We went to the Olde Hadley Flea Market this morning, as we do most Sundays.  We found several good items today as you can see in the photo.  Highlights include:

• A beautiful orange ITT push button phone $5.00
• A Ralph Lauren stuffed Polo Bear $1.00
• About 15 pounds of assorted Legos and Bionicles $20.00
• A box of Ball Jar rubber gaskets (not pictured) $1.00

All in all, not bad.  I was very happy with the phone as I have never seen, much less bought, an orange one. The seller wanted $10.00, but the jack was loose, so I offered $5.00, which he took.  I was also quite happy with the boxes of Legos and Bionicles.  I found 14 mini figures which alone should about pay for all of them.  I have been buying Legos as I find them and separating them into lots.  Now, with this haul, I will start listing them.
I also ran into a vendor selling fire grenades.  These were used in the late 1800's to the early 1900's to put out fires. I had heard about these through my interest in old bottles, but had never seen any in person.  They are filled with carbon-tetrachloride, which is very harmful to people. He said that he had bought 25 of them at an auction.  To collectors of glass, or fire fighting memorabilia, these are very desirable because few have survived to this day. 

Tag Sale Treasure Hunt

We have had very good luck the past several weeks on our Saturday yard sailing adventures.  Not so much today.  First of all the yard sales are slowing down due to the colder weather, and it rained all day yesterday also.  All in all, we hit about a dozen sales and came up with the following:

• A vintage Lady Schick consolette hair dryer (that blue spaceship looking thing) $3.00
• Coca-Cola ceramic cookie jar (looks like a lunchbox) $2.00
• A brand new pair of Nike Tiempo indoor soccer cleats $10.00
• A bunch of magnetic letters and numbers (I don't know why) $2.00 [Sold for $19.99]
• Not pictured: Jansport backpack $1.00

Not bad, but not on par with the last month or so.  I should be able to turn this into $150 or so. I also scored a nice Burdock Blood Bitters bottle with applied lip from the late 1800's for a quarter.  This I will add to my collection. Tomorrow we are off to the Olde Hadley Flea Market. Details to follow.

The Coffee Cup Conundrum

Well, we have a few coffee cup waiting patiently to be listed.  Autumn likes to buy coffee cups for us to resell. I however, am not that enthusiastic about them.  For a few reasons:

• Not a real big money maker.
• Shipping is a pain.
• A heck of a lot of photographing.

But lately, I have decided to really start listing all those things that don't really appeal to me.  I find it hard to get motivated about these items, but the fact that they could and do appeal to others is what I need to realize.  That being said, I still face the issues listed above.
I have 2 pricing structures to consider:  $9.99 + shipping, or  $14.99 or so with free shipping (Fast and Free!).  Possibly more for the Far Side mug.
As far as shipping,  I am entertaining the FOMO method as shown here by Jason Smith of Thrifting With The Boys.  So this morning I wrapped up a sacrificial lamb mug the same way as in the video for a little stress testing.  With my 9 year old helper, Johnny, we threw it around the house, and bounced it down the stairs for 10 minutes or so.  It seemed to be fine.  Then I took it outside and launched it about 10 feet in the air onto our sidewalk.  Game over.  BUT, provided that the post office doesn't do that, I am willing to try it. I did order some 7x7x6 boxes from the PO just to be safe.
Photographing is well...photographing.  Can't sell without pictures. Ugh!

College

A few weeks ago, I scored 3 college textbooks for $5.00 at a yard sale. The oldest one was from 2010, so I figured they were still current. I do not use a cell phone or tablet, so I shop blind so to speak.  I got home and found they were selling, so I listed them for a total of $210.00 with free media mail shipping.  I sold one in a few days for $59.99, and woke up Thursday morning (Oct 18) to find a second sold for $69.99.  However, there was a message from the second buyer stating he wanted to cancel the purchase because the book would not get there by Saturday the 20th (he is in Florida, I am in Massachusetts).  He did say if I could get it to him by then, he would go ahead with it. I checked out Priority shipping at USPS, and found that they could get it there by the 20th (fingers crossed), so I went for it!  Got it to the Post Office as soon as they opened, and got it mailed out via Priority Medium FRB.  I sent him a message saying it was mailed out, but have not heard back from him.  I gotta say, I'm a little nervous!
In other news, tomorrow is our yard sale day so tonight we will get all our addresses programmed into our GPS and get an early start tomorrow morning.  I will post our finds when we get home, so stay tuned!

*UPDATE 10/21* The textbook did arrive on Saturday as planned.  I am quite relieved.  I have not heard a word from the buyer, which doesn't surprise me as he just opened his account 4 days ago.

*UPDATE 1/1* The 3rd text book sold for $59.99.  A $5.00 investment turned into $189.97!  Not bad!

Welcome!

Hi, and welcome to Thrifting For A Living.  My name is Lou and I, along with my girlfriend Autumn, sell items we find at thrift stores, yard sales, and flea markets on Ebay.  When we started, we sold men's clothing and sneakers, but have branched out considerably since then.  Our general plan of attack is on Wednesday we go to the Salvation Armies in our area (we have at least 6 in our general area) because 4 out of the 5 color tags are 50% off. On Saturday we go yard sailing, which will probably be slowing down soon as the weather worsens.  On Sunday, we go to a local outdoor flea market which has at most a month left.
My goal is to provide you, dear reader, with insights, highlights, the occasional blunder, and some humorous anecdotes from our thrifting adventures!