Blizzard of 2010

This is the day after the record setting blizzard of 2010 here on the east coast. Just a few days ago we had another major snow storm that left us with about 2 feet of heavy snow which hadn't been completely dealt with and yesterday's additional 10 - 20 inches certainly didn't help.

I feel like I am living in a winter wonderland! Today the sun is out and everything is shining. It is hard to open your eyes out there but if you can, it is really pretty.


I am hoping that my neighbor with the tractor comes soon to do my lanes. The slog to the barn this morning was difficult, to say the least.

The boys are enjoying themselves!

And I must admit, I am enjoying the solitude.
Stay warm!

Thrift Store Finds!

The East Coast is expecting a big snow storm starting this afternoon (Friday) and continuing on until tomorrow night. 12 - 24 inches are expected. This has been quite a snowy winter here in Maryland. It might snow once or twice and melt right away but this will be the third snowfall this year and it will be snowing on top of snow that didn't melt from the first two. Not a big deal for most parts of the country but Maryland doesn't do well with snow. I am planning to be housebound until at least Monday.

Yesterday I hit a couple of nearby thrift stores and I am very pleased with my purchases! I bought 4 sets of dishes, a vintage Pyrex juice set, 3 printed needlepoint canvasses and a couple of neat painting pattern books.

I will have plenty to work on this snowy weekend!

Bunches

It has been a slow winter with respect to garage sales. I think the last one I went to was at the beginning of December. Thrift stores have been some help in filling the gaps with inventory to sell but I am running very low.

So...what I do when I am running low is to go into the box, or to the kitchen table where there are stacks of items that I either didn't want to deal with or on my first look at research showed that they may not be worth much. I tend to buy stacks or bunches of things; magazines, yarn, stamps, old model kits, music rolls, Smurfs, plastic army men, and the list goes on. Buying bunches or lots usually translates to low purchase prices for me, and that is good, but I tend to get blocked by these bunches and over-think how to list them. But with no new inventory coming in, I have had no choice but to tackle the bunches.

The idea is to break up the bunches up into mini lots that will sell for $9.99 each. That is my gauge - how many items should go together to equal $9.99 as a fair selling price.

A great example recently is the Smurfs that I bought at an estate sale a few months ago. I had a hunch that there may be Smurf collectors out there so I bought 4 baggies full for $30.00. Immediately after, I thought I had made a mistake and when I got home and took a peek at how Smurfs were selling on eBay, I was even more sure that I wouldn't make my money back. They sat on the kitchen table for a couple of months until I finally brought the baggies into my office and spent the better part of a Sunday afternoon researching. That research enabled me to name each Smurf and by immersing myself in Smurfland for an afternoon, I felt more confident about listing them. I grouped them into 16 lots, most with 5 Smurfs in each lot and a few with only 1 Smurf.



I didn't know what was going to happen but they were off the kitchen table! I need to be more trusting of my hunches... I sold 5 lots at auction, 4 for $9.99 each and one for $145.00!!! And then when they were relisted in my store, I sold 2 more lots for $9.99 each! That $30 investment turned into $205!

I recently ended 17 auctions of player piano music rolls that had been in a box under the table in my office for over a year. None sold but almost every auction had a watcher so they were immediately relisted into my store and I am still hopeful that some will sell. (if they aren't listed, they won't sell ;0) Even if they don't sell, I have a theory that the wide variety of inventory in my store attracts window shoppers.



I currently have plastic army men, cowboys, etc at auction in 10 separate lots for $9.99 each. Within one hour of listing them, I had bids on 4. How can that possible be true? Again, I had a hunch.



I have been been selling magazines like crazy these past few months. A huge amount of magazines were purchased a few months ago and have been selling consistantly ever since.

Bijou has been working on a basket full of needlepoint yarn that has been on the table and taking up a lot of room. That yarn should be listed at auction later this week.



I have to try to remember that $145 Smurf when I get blocked and let my kitchen table fill with the "hard to list" items.