What I Wore: Spring Sequins

Since I have been back to work, I have been having fun experimenting with my closet.  I have somewhere to dress up to and not planning my wardrobe around how well I can pick up and chase a toddler without toppling over or spilling out of my shirt.

This week I decided to participate in the challenge to wear "Spring Sequins" hosted by Nany's Klozet, Flor de Maria, & Ashes Into Fashion.  Doing this challenge was great because I came up with another way to wear a sequin top that I have only worn twice and be more creative when planning my outfits.  By being more creative, I get to shop my closet free instead of shopping at a retail store to buy more stuff because I feel like I "have nothing to wear".

Here's is what I wore:

1. Zinc Black Blazer - Thrifted
2. Forever 21 Gray Sequin Tank - Gift from Husband
3. Floral Pleated Skirt - Thrifted
4. Charlotte Russe Suede Black Platform Pumps - $27

Again, sorry for the crappy cell phone pic.  I tried taking pictures again with my daughter and obviously it did not work out!

What I Wore: JCrew Tangerine Coral & Polka Dots

First let me say that taking pictures of yourself is no joke.  All those fashion bloggers make it look so effortless, but truly it takes a lot of trial and error pictures and posing without looking insane.  I wanted to share my outfit last week so my daughter and I took it outside for some picture taking.  ALL. MY. PICTURES. LOOKED. RIDICULOUS.  I ended up only keeping ONE to share with you all and I'm almost embarrassed to share it.  It took me an entire week to bring myself to post it.

I must say, I really have to lose those last 15 lbs I've been carrying around.  I am only 5' feet tall and gaining one pound looks like 10.

I love a good bargain, so lots of my current buys are thrift, clearance or yard sale finds! It is so exciting to me when I find something cute & stylish dirt cheap.

So here it is, I wore this to work: (Try to look past the unflattering pose and silly look on my face)

1.Forever 21 Black Cardigan

2. J. Crew Coral/Tangerine Ruffle Top (Goodwill find)

3. Macy's Black Polka Pencil Skirt (Goodwill find)

4. BCBGirls "Library" Peach/Nude Cutout Peep-toe Pumps

5. Target Mossimo Sunglasses ($1 at the Dollar Store!)

I thought I would add that later that night my super cute heels went from looking like this: 

To this:

By the unmerciful jaws of this furry creature my daughter named Moxie:

Why? Moxie, Why? It is ALWAYS my stuff too.  Why don't you chew your 7 year old owner's shoes? I promise you would enjoy her $10 Target flats just as much as my discontinued, no longer sold, only worn a handful of times BCBG shoes! RIP shoes, you will be missed :(

Side Swept Bangs: Before & After

This weekend, I had the opportunity to be a secret shopper at a local hair salon in exchange for a free cut.  I saved a picture on my phone of the style I wanted to give the stylist the image of the look I was going for.  The stylist was great, she actually played it very safe and trimmed very very little of the bottom since I am growing my hair out and added just a few layers on the top of my head for volume.  The bangs were a little thinner than I would have liked, but I added a little more thickness when I got home.

The pictures are crappy because they came from my phone.

Here is me before (no bangs):

The Below picture is after the cut (with bangs).

What do you think?  I'm pretty happy with it!

Three Bags of Bottles & Cans Later

In the name of mother earth and being less wasteful I have persuaded my 7 year old to organize all recyclables in exchange for all the funds we get after taking them in.

A few weeks ago our dog moxie ripped into all the bags the recyclables were in the side yard and my daughter just about gave up in her efforts. So we promised if she picked them up this weekend we would take them in and take her shopping with her earnings.

So as promised here she is with the $13 she received for the three 13 gallon bags she filled with cans & bottles.

An hour and a half later and a visit to the mall and Target, she ended up with a box of Orbeez. I tried to talk her out of it and tried to get her to pick something more useful like shoes or clothes. However, to her buying those things are boring and "mom's job".

Dollar Store Haul

Ok...remember when the dollar store had nothing but off brand, reject stuff? They have been carrying some great items.  Of course everything is always while supplies last, so if you see a great deal, grab it and grab a couple if you can!

This week I stopped back at my local 99 Cent Store to see if I would have more luck finding clothes but I found nothing.

Here's tonight's loot:

1. I got my almost 2 year old (3 more weeks!) some cheapie Bart Simpson flip flops.  (Side Note: Isn't it hilarious watching a toddler try to walk in flip-flops for the 1st time?)

2. 55 Yards! packaging tape for my eBay Packages

3. Full Size Nabisco Honey Maid Graham Crackers

4. Full Size Kellogg's Alvin and The Chipmunks Snacks

5. L'eggs 2-pk Massaging Foot Covers (love these for wearing with booties)

6. L'eggs Opaque Tights

7. L'eggs Black Leggings

Good Night Y'all, got an early morning tomorrow, finally Friday tomorrow! I will have made it through my second week back at work!

Brand name clothes at the Dollar Store

A couple weeks ago I noticed a rack go up at the 99 cent store with a mixture of clothes. I found that these are used clothes but come with a tag that says "this recycled garment has been carefully selected and inspected. We used our unique methods to assure like-new appearance".  This is the tag that is attached to each garment:

 Although I found that most clothes very worn, faded, or pilled, if you dig (just like at a thrift store or yard sale) you may find something decent. I found this cute lace aqua Lane Bryant top the first time and sold it for $16 plus shipping on eBay.

I stopped in real quick Sunday and noticed them hanging up "new" stock. I picked up 6 pieces, 4 to resell and 2 for me.

From Left to Right:

1. Ivory Lace Tunic Top (Love this one! Thinking of wearing it to work on casual Friday.)
2. Apt 9 Embroidered Ivory Plus Size 2X Blouse
3. Daisy Fuentes Seafoam Top. (Selling on eBay & already has a bid on it!)
4. Xhilaration Purple Polka Dot Satin Ruffled Top. (Listed on eBay but undecided if I should keep it.)
5. Katie Todd Pink Lace Jacket.
6. SIXTEEN Plus Geometric Tunic Top in 2X

As you can see one of the tops already has a bid on it and that sale alone will pay for my entire shopping trip at the 99 cent store. hahaha.

Anyone else finding unexpected finds at the dollar stores?

What a Difference a Mannequin Makes!

So I've been laid off again. Sigh. I actually got to really love the job and the people so I was sad to go.  Long story short, a permanent replacement transferred to take the job I was in. She has been working in a similar position at their other building and well it meant I had to go.  However I got raving reviews from my manager and she offered her recommendation if I needed it at any job I apply.

Anyway, every other day I check Craigslist for cheap dress forms/mannequins.  I finally found one for $30! 

The dress forms ended up not being the actual ones pictured. The seller found the pics online, but they're pretty much the same except, they were missing the top wood knobs.  I bought both, one for my friend who just started selling on eBay again and she will be keeping one.

So now my pictures on my clothing listings have gone from looking like this:

To looking like this:

Doesn't that look a million times better?  And its amazing how quick I can take pictures and it is so much more fun.  It's like playing dress up with my dolls when I was little lol.

Sales Summary from November through January

Since I haven't updated my eBay top sales since October.  I thought I would give you all an summary update on my top 3 sales in the last quarter (Nov-Dec-Jan):

November:

This Bebe jumsuit was a return from October.  Apparently the girl who returned it said it didn't arrive in time for a costume she was planning for Halloween.  I originally got it during Salvation Army's Dollar Day. She paid $30. 

I re-listed it and it sold for $77.99 (-$4.75 shipping)!!! Woo-Hoo! Sometimes returns aren't so bad.

December:

Ok, please tell me I am not the only one that jumps on board a fun new workout craze only to never start it!  Well this is what happened with this XBOX Kinect Zumba game.  I WATCHED (not played along like you're supposed to) it one time and I didn't like it.  I prefer the real thing. 

I paid $22.50 during a great Amazon sale and it sold for $45 to a buyer in Canada so they paid their own shipping!

January:

This Jones New York Dress Suit sold for $29.99 plus shipping. This was in a bag of clothes my mom's boss gave her.

Like I have said previously, I didn't have a lot of time to list since I started work up again.  I sold an average of 20 items per month this quarter.  I'm hoping to get things running this month!

Show Us Your Life: Working Moms

Hi! I'm back.  Since I started working full time again in November, I haven't updated this blog.  My good friend has been trying to encourage me to post again.  When I saw that today's Show Us Your Life on Kelly's Korner is Working Moms, I figured this is a good time to start blogging regularly again.

So I work full time and sell part time on eBay.  I am a data administrator for a company in the medical industry. I have been married to my high school sweetheart for over 8 years. I have a 7 year old daughter in 2nd grade and a 20 month old son.

When I took this new job, I missed my babies so much cried everyday for a month.  Can anyone relate? I still get sad once in a while, but for now this is what needs to be done to give them a better future. We all want our kids to have the best, don't we? 

Thankfully my new job is amazing and my boss is so great because she lets me take a late lunch so I can pick up my daughter from school everyday.  My daughter goes to the school 5 min from my job and 5 min from the sitter's house (who is one of my best friends).  I was able to arrange for her to go to school so close because I was able to show the school district my job and sitter's house where in the qualifying area for my daughter to attend there.  My biggest priority when I went back to work was to still be around for my kids as much as possible and for my kids to be so close to my job makes everything work out! It also made me ease my emotions knowing that I could still drop my kids off in the morning and pick them up everyday. 

My daughter also goes to gymnastics and coincidentally my new job ended up being one block away from the facility!  So when I started working again, we changed her class time so I can be there for the last 15 minutes of class for her. I have noticed many kid's centers and daycares have started opening in business parks and this is so convenient for us working mothers. Plus, the class ends early enough that we still get home in time to make dinner and finish homework. When the kids go to bed, I try to squeeze in some picture taking to list on eBay and spend some quality time with my husband.

So anyway, I wanted to share how I juggle being a working mom and wife.  I hope to find other working mom blogs to connect with!

My Top 3 Selling Items in October

I noticed that my 2 of the 3 Highest selling items last month were my book lots I wrote about in my previous post and the 4th was also a book lot. (Note to self: keep picking them up at yard sales!).

So with the book lots aside, here are my top 3 (non-book lot) items that sold for the highest price in October:

#3. NEW Zenergy Chicos Zip Up Zipper Active Jacket sold for $29.94 (-$3.28 shipping) at auction. Can you tell if this jacket is Navy or Purple? I listed it as navy blue and freaked out when I was shipping it because in some lighting it looked purple! Fortunately my was happy and left me positive feedback!



My out of pocket cost for this was $0. My mom's client cleaned out her closet and has my mom take whatever she wants. My mom gives me all the stuff to me, lol since she hates clutter. She has great taste and her stuff always brings buyers.

#2. Clarks Privo Womens Leather Darebin Skimmer Sport Slip On Flat Shoes sold for $38.39 (-$4.75 shipping) Buy It Now.


This was also free from my mom's client.

#1. Lil Lion Baby Infant Costume sold for $40.54 (-$5.08 shipping) Buy It Now.

This costume was worn by my son for Halloween 2010. I bought it new for a great price, I think these retailed for up to $59.99 and I bought it for half with a Groupon. I'm glad I made all of my money back. It's like we got it free.

Since I started work this month, I wont have many listings for November :( I'm hoping to make time to list on the weekends to list.

Selling Children's Book Lots

Mom's Paycheck was sharing about her success with book lots and asked what our experiences have been. I have only done a few and they have all sold great. Especially since most were $0.25 - $1 and more expensive ($1) books had belonged to my daughter and she outgrew the stories. So the cost per wear cost was down to pennies.

These I bought to sell; they were $6 for the lot at a yard sale. I held on to this Babysitters Club Lot of 36 books because I had a few missing from the series. I had it listed at auction for $19.99 with the option to Buy It Now and immediately had several watchers. It sold within 2 days for $45 BIN.

This lot of 23 Dr. Seuss books sold for $58.00 at auction.

Lot 15 Berenstain Bears First Time Books sold for $29.02 at auction. This lot was hard for me to let go. I loved reading these with my daughter, but she was ready to let them go and make room for Junie B. Jones Books!


And the best for last...these books were FREE! A man was cleaning up and told me to take any books I liked. These looked brand new and like they never even opened them! These were also missing a book, its part of a 5 book collection. It didn't stop buyers from bidding! These sold at auction for $47.00

What I also like about selling books is that Media Mail is super cheap, so you can offer Free Shipping as an incentive to draw in buyers! Now when I am looking for books to sell, I try not to pay more than a quarter each or try to bargain a better price when I am buying a big lot.

I went back to work and I am an emotional wreck!

WOW. Is an understatement - listen up....

10 months ago I was laid off and I decided I would take advantage of the time and re-evaluate my career, finish up my degree and spend embrace the role of a SAHM as well. I used to envy those moms driving the SUV's taking up all the parking spaces at Target during my lunch hour and now I was one of them! I knew eventually I had to go back to work, after my unemployment insurance ended, we would not afford to live off of one income. Why? More on that later.

I started looking for work after I met my 6 month mark of being home. My brother and dad had been unemployed the previous year and it took them months to find a permanent job. My husband worried it would take me longer to find a job as the economy had gotten worse since then. Plus we live in California where the unployment rate is one of the highest in the nation. I wasn't ready to work yet but I figured by the time I found a good job, it would be 2012. I found a job almost immediately. After several weeks and interviews, the position was mine.

I just completed my 1st week at work. Guess what? I hate it. I cry every chance I get. I have no reason to hate it though. Everyone is great, the job is great, the pay is great, the location is great, benefits will be great. This would have been my dream job had I transferred from my old job to this one. So why do I hate it? I miss being a SAHM. I have been working since I was 16 years old, even went back to work after being on maternity leave with my 2 kids without a problem. What was different? I was on maternity leave for 4.5 months and 3 months later I was laid off and then spent 10 months at home. So literally I have been with my son since he was born to 17 months. I got to experience him in a different way than I did my daughter.

I have lots of feelings of guilt and regret. The main one is that there are many people out of work or forced to take jobs that are less than ideal and I should be happy that I was so fortunate. I am thankful but sad. I dont know if that makes sense, but it's the truth. I was very fortunate to find a job so quickly with great pay and benefits. In addition, with a great supervisor who lets me pick up my daughter from school and drop her off at her sitters'.

And the one that makes me cry. My kids. I mourn the time I've lost with them. By the time I get home its 5:40 PM and we rush thru dinner and homework and it's off to bed for my daughter. Half hour later, the baby is off to bed. Then I rush to pack all their things for the next day and before I know it, its time for bed for the adults.

My biggest regret is not realizing how I felt until I started the job. Maybe I had to start a job to realize I had changed. I regret not putting more time into making my online selling an organized, planned out job as I always said I was working towards. The last month I grossed $1200 in sales. This was only selling 2-3 days per week. What if I had worked every weekday for 3 hours per day on eBay? Maybe I could have afforded staying at home? Or What if I took a part time job that allowed to me sell on eBay after work all while being at home with my kids?

So what's going to happen? Well, this position is 2 months temp with a huge possibility of it becoming permanent. The woman I am covering for is on a medical leave and is unsure when or if she will return. Most of the office is in agreeance that she will not return. This entire week I have been praying she does come back. My friends and family say my feelings may change after I have been here a few weeks.

I would welcome any advice from moms that have felt the same feelings of sadness and anxiety by going back to work after an extended time.

Thanks for reading up to this point! Phew!

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.