Thrift Store(ies) 8/27

Our local Salvation Armies feature 50% off on 4 of the 5 color price tags every Wednesday. Needless to say, we go to as many as we can! Today was no different, and here is what we found.
Upon arriving at the closest (and one of the largest), I was quite surprised to see quite a few racks less than full. Usually this SA has a HUGE supply of stuff to go through. They were also in the process of changing things around for the fall.
I began going through the racks in my usual order, and after about 10-15 minutes had found nothing. Finally I found 3 silk Tommy Bahama shirts.

Okay, motivation has returned! Next I find a cool LL Bean Wool/Alpaca/Polyester pullover. Finally I hit the Blazers section and scored a Hugo Boss and Canali jacket.
Total cost: $22.94 or $3.82 per item. I should be able to break even by selling any one of these items.
Have a good one and happy thrifting!

Saphire

Goodbye old friend. Rest In Peace.

Saphire was my girlfriend Autumn's dog since she was a puppy back in 2000. Since then she has been a faithful and loyal friend, guardian, companion, and all around wonderful girl. When she came into my life she was about 10 or so, and still had plenty of get up and go. She loved to swim and we have a dog park with a river, so we took her there when we could. Eventually, her back legs began to fail and she could not get around as she once did. I carried her upstairs to our bed every night.
One day we decided to get her a wheelchair so she could be mobile again. We went to Eddie's Wheels in Shelburne Falls and purchased a cart for her. Well, being the stubborn girl she could be at times, she did not really take to it. But with some perseverance (and a lot of hot dogs), she eventually got the hang of it and was walking again. So we would go on walks again. She would stop every 5 feet to smell everything there was, and it would take us an hour to go a block, and I miss that very much.
She eventually lost the use of her back legs completely and the cart was no help anymore. We would help her go to the bathroom and do what we could to make her comfortable. Last week we had to make the most difficult decision a pet owner can make, that putting her to sleep was the best thing for her. Today we did that.
When I walk through the living room where she spent most of her time, not seeing her there is very saddening. I will miss you very much my old friend, I hope you can run and swim anytime you want now. I love you.

The Dog Ate My Blog Post. Repeatedly.

Well a lot has happened since my last post of 5 short months ago ;)  Pioneer Valley Fashion (eBay) is going well, I have surpassed 300 listings and aim to keep increasing that. I have switched from 30 day BINs to Good Til Cancelled. 2 reasons: First, when you do 30 day (or however many days) BINs, after that time the listing ends and any linking with Google, or elsewhere is broken. With GTC, the link is good until you end it. I will probably evaluate after 3 months or so and end and refresh any non selling listings. Second, I don't have things ending and needing listing every day, so that is one less thing to deal with.
My other eBay store, which is devoted to Lego and building toys, Pioneer Valley Bricks, is doing well also. I just received Top Rated status on the 20th. I have been selling minifigures like there's no tomorrow. I have probably 50 pounds (or more) of Lego parts that I need to list. I am (still!) trying to figure out the best way to sell parts. I have about 15,000 parts listed in my BrickLink store, also called Pioneer Valley Bricks.
I began selling on Amazon FBA a few months ago. It is very good for certain things, not so great for others. The fees are on the high side, but the benefit is that I just send stuff to them and they do the rest. It is very simple.
Yesterday I imported my eBay listings to Bonanza. I am going to give it a shot for a while. I figure another avenue can't hurt.
In the past month I purchased a new camera (Nikon Coolpix L610). My last camera was gotten at a yard sale and served me well for some time. Lately it began crapping out, so I decided it was time for a new one. It works great and I am very happy with it. I bought it at Buydig for $87.00 with free shipping, got it the next day and got a free 8GB Sony memory card and a free Vivitar camera bag.
I also purchased a Brother QL-700 label printer. Let me just say this: I LOVE it! No more toner, drums, any of that stuff. All I need to buy are labels, which I found on eBay at $5.00 per roll. A roll is 100 feet long which equals about 150 labels. Shipping has gone from something I dreaded to something I look forward to.
That, in a nutshell is the past few months, and now that things are becoming more efficient around here, I should have more time to post here. Keep checking back, and happy reading.