Apron Thrift Girl - ReSellers Listing Challenge

Yes I am still alive. Obviously I am in need of a challenge to get back into the swing of things. I stopped going to yard sales a few weeks ago because I kept buying and not listing anything. My husband started making comments about our house starting to resemble a Hoarders house, lol. So no more shopping for me until I clear out some storage space.

So this is where the challenge comes in, yesterday I discovered Apron Thrift Girl through another blog I read. She is holding a challenge to encourage online sellers to make a goal and hold us accountable to meet it.

My goals are:

1. List 5-7 items per day to reach at least 35 per week.
2. Average $10 per sale.

Sounds easy but it has been very challenging for me to having active listings weekly because my son is now walking and he is VERY active getting into EVERYTHING! Sometimes I manage to entertain him but once he sees me lay out items to list for pictures, he runs over and throws himself on top of the clothing or if it's an item, he grabs it! He thinks it's the funniest thing in the world.

More details about the challenge here.

My Dear Trash - Trash to Cash Linky Party

Wow, this past week has been a great week in blog land! I have found so many new blogs thanks to linking to My Dear Trash. I am learning so much. It's also great to find other people, especially moms out there that do the same thing.

This week I am linking to My Dear Trash again. I am sharing my top sellers for the past week on eBay. Once again, these items were free. They were given to my mom by a lady she works for. She is always cleaning out her house. I mean ALWAYS. My mom comes home with huge bags of stuff about once a month. She tells her to sell it, donate it, have a yard sale as long as its out of her house! ha!

My top 2 Selling items were both doll sets. I usually sell clothes and handbags and this is a new category for me and I think I like it!

This

NEW 10th Anniversary Titanic Rose Barbie Doll 2007 sold for $22.49 to a buyer in Australia.

I've never heard of

Monster High and my mother made me promise I would not give these to

my daughter because they freaked her out! lol.

NEW Monster High Dolls Set of Cleo de Nile & Deuce Gordon sold for $26 to another buyer in Australia!

My Yard Sale Finds 7.9.11 Part One

I did not do a post for the previous week as I did not really go to yard sales. It was about 10 AM and was regretting not going and took off on a whim. It was very hot and brought my kids along and my oldest was NOT having it! To make matters worse, she tripped and scrapped her arm pretty bad. We went home shortly after that.

I only bought one thing, or one set of something:

Set of 36 The Babysitters Club book series. There's about 5 skipped books in there and some bonus books that I think are called "Super Special" series? Paid $5, I think I can sell $1 per book average.

Anyway, this Saturday, I intended to be on my way by 6:45 am, but overslept til 7:10 am. My mom came along with me.

I bought 3 pairs of shoes to re-sell.

1. Woman's Keds - $1, Like New, I think they may have been worn once, they're in that great condition.
2. Men's Nike Sneakers -$1
3. Nike Sneakers - $1, Not pictured, I'll save this story for another post. It's good!

I'm always so excited when I find Starbucks items. I am keeping the stainless steel thermos to keep my son's milk when we go out. I also got a Starbucks Hourglass and a Starbucks Expresso Spoon. I think I'm keeping these for now, but I may end up selling because I don't need them and am trying not to clutter the house.

Also pictured is a vintage Pepsi Glass ($1) and a Dolphin Paperweight ($0.50). I hear paperweights are good sellers on eBay.

I am soooo excited about the vintage 1983 See N Say! I almost didn't buy it! I was in my car waiting for my mom to pay for her items and decided to quickly look it up on my phone. One recently sold for over $30! The man was selling it for $2 and when his teen kids heard him they yelled "Daaaaaaddd!" and laughed at the "high" price. The dad gave in to them and said, "ok you can have it for $1". Sold!

Would you believe I found the below stackable (on the right) Santa mugs and Snowman Pitcher on the pavement next to the trash?! I picked up several other Xmas themed mugs I had already put away before getting a picture.

This caused a chain reaction on Saturday, I had to get the Penguin Mug to "match" and threw in the Snowman Candle and Mickey Mouse 2006 Globe. They were a deal at $0.50 a piece. My son is a HUGE Mickey fan and screeches in delight when I shake the globe. The cute little pot on the left was only $0.25. I bought it for my daughter, she can't wait to pick out a plant at the dollar store.

Below is a "the Sak" Hobo Handbag. It is a great shape! Very clean. I also almost walked away from it and ran back to get it after I searched for "the Sak" on ebay. I could turn $1 into $50! I didn't think The Sak bags were as popular anymore, but apparently they are!

Does anyone have luck with Petite Clothing? I had read on My Dear Trash that is was not that great a seller and I also experienced the same. I got these 2 Express Skirts at a yard sale where the lady had lots of cute dresses in Petites sizes. I passed, even though they were super cute!

I read a few times that Car Repair Manuals resell great on ebay. Picked this one up for $1. My husband laughed when he saw I purchased a Car Book.

Everything pictured below is for my kids:

1. Boys Yellow OshKosh Lined Rain Jacket $1
2. Boys 18-24 mth Old Navy Fleece lined Jeans $1
3. Girls Pink Skirt w/hidden shorts $1
4. Girls Justice Skinny Jeans $1

Stay tuned for Part 2, of my Saturday Yard Sale Finds!

DIY Mickey Mouse Centerpiece

My son's first birthday party was this weekend at a local park. The party was Mickey Mouse Clubhouse themed. I made Mickey Head Centerpieces for the tables. I can't believe this is the only picture I got of the centerpieces. It ended up being very windy and they stayed tucked in a box for most of the party until the wind calmed down.

I made Mickey heads out of styrofoam discs and balls I found at the Dollar Tree and Walmart that I spray painted black. I covered empty formula cans with red and white polka dot fabric I bought in Downtown LA for $2 a yard. I tied cute ribbon to the dowel rods that I got on sale at Michaels. I think each centerpiece cost about $4 to make.

Selling Furniture on Craigslist

We've had this Console table for a few years from Target's Georgetown collection. We got it on clearance and it's still carried on their website. We needed to get rid of it as we bought an entertainment unit from Wal-Mart with tons of storage for the baby's and husband's toys.

After giving the table a good wipe down and touching it up with a black Sharpie, I put white foam boards behind it for picture taking. I didn't want the armoire, tray tables, toys and frames laying in the back to distract from the table.

Online it sells for $140 plus tax with free shipping, so I decided to sell mine at half that. I listed the dimensions and indicated that the table had normal surface scratches and a bumped corner. I priced it low at $70 for quick sale as we have very limited space in our 600 sq. ft. living/kitchen area.

It sold in less than 24 hours for the asking price.

Carlo Fiori Handbag

I picked up this clutch handbag late in the morning at a yard sale about a year ago. The homeowners were retired and moving East. The husband was about done with the yard sale and told me to take whatever I wanted FREE.

I listed this Carlo Fiori a few weeks ago and it didn't sell. I relisted it last week and it sold today for $10 to a buyer in New York. Not bad for a $0 investment

First Post

Hi blog world! I'm 28, living in Southern California with my husband 2 kids. My son turns one tomorrow and my daughter is 6 years old. I recently became a stay at home mom/wife when I was laid off from my job of 8 years at the end of 2010. After getting over the shock, I have to admit I was a bit thrilled that I could spend more time with my babies. I had also started selling our old things on ebay and was making extra money and having a lot of fun doing it. When my mother in law visited, I would drive her to yard sales, one of her favorite things to do. I started buying brand name clothes I recognized and started listing them on ebay as well and my sales kept increasing. My parents and husband encouraged me to turn my hobby into a business. I thought, "why not"? If I can still bring in income AND get to be home with my kids...WHY NOT?! I still plan on going back to work, but for now this is my journey. Stick around while I learn the ins and outs of shopping and selling online.