Yard Sale Finds: Vintage Books and More

After my Friday night Goodwill trip, I was stoked to get up on Saturday morning and hit the yard sales. I even woke up before my alarm and was up earlier than when I have to go to work.
I was out the door by 6:30 on my way to 7 AM sales - this week I headed south instead of north to try my luck in that direction. When I got to the first 7 AM sale, there was no sign of life. There were a few boxes and an old dresser in the driveway along with 2 parked cars so I wasn't sure if they were just getting a late start, but I wasn't going to hang around to find out because I would miss out on other 7 AM sales. I was a little bummed because they had advertised a Britax car seat cover and some brand name shoes like Doc Maartens that I thought would do well. From reading the Ebay Underground blog, I've been itching to try my hand at selling shoes.
At the next sale, I got all of this for $10:

I'm hoping to sell the bumbo on CL for at least $15 (paid $5). Inside the bumbo are a pair of Pedipeds (I got some shoes after all) that I think could get $10. The baby bunting goes for about $15, maybe more as it gets colder since I can't imagine planning for winter in this heat. The cowgirl outfit has a lot of NWT listings on eBay so I'm not sure about a used one, but I'll try $10-$15 for it. If nothing else, my daughter will wear it. There are also two Eric Carle rattles/car seat toys that could fetch $8-$10. Finally, I love the look of the Pottery Barn owls, but not the price. I'm wondering if I can sell this owl plush as a cheap alternative.

At the next yard sale, I got this lot of vintage Dr. Seuss and Beatrix Potter books for $5. I separated out the large Dr. Seuss books and the smaller ones into 2 lots and am hoping for $10-15 per lot. UPDATE: I sold the lot of smaller books for $20 already. I also saw a closed listing for one Beatrix Potter book for $25 so I'm hopeful that these will do well.

I'm amazed to find unopened toys at yard sales because I can't even get from the store to the car most times before opening a toy for my daughter. I got this Thomas the Train take along Christmas set for $1 with a free DVD. I might hold off until closer to Christmas, but even in August these are doing well used and I have a new one.

At the last sale of the morning, I got all of this for $10:

The Lincoln Logs are almost complete, but I think I'll combine them with the other Lincoln Logs I got at Goodwill and see if I can sell them as a big lot like this one. I also got a Batman tote which might do well at Halloween for the little boy who wants to be Batman and have a matching bucket for candy. I also got several books including a decent number of Early Readers (may wait to collect a few more so I can sell these as a big lot), a new Dr. Seuss book, a Little Critters book, a kids Bible, and a couple of Magic Schoolbus books. I'll keep the other books for my daughter for now unless I find more Magic Schoolbus books and can sell them as a lot.

Overall, it was a successful morning and along with my Goodwill finds, I feel like I have a good inventory of items to sell. In fact, my guest room looks like a crazy mess with all my stuff to sell on eBay and various unfinished projects. I'm hoping to make my way throgh it slowly but surely.

I'm linking up to My Life on a Taffy Pull's garage sale treasures for the first time.

Friday Night Goodwill Trip

I took a week off from my usual yard sale adventures to travel to Arizona for my mom's 60th birthday party and engagement celebration. It was a whirlwind trip jam-packed with lots of visits with family. I had visions of hitting some AZ yard sales on Saturday morning, but the jet lag just didn't want to let me wake up that early. Needless to say, this past weekend I was definitely itching to get out there and find some good deals after missing a week.

When hubby said he had to work late on Friday night, I took that as an opportunity to do some Goodwill shopping with my daughter. It's a pretty good setup there since the toy aisle is in the back corner of the store so we just set up camp there - me with my iphone and her with every loud toy she can put her hands on. It's a win win for both of us. Here's what I picked up on our Goodwill outing:

Fisher Price Purse for $1.99. Not a huge profit margin (selling for $5-6). 

Fisher Price Piggy Bank for $1.99. Selling for $11-12.

Special Agent Oso figures for $1.99. Selling for $7-8.

LeapFrog Click Start Cars Game for $3.99. Selling for $12-13.

Set of 26 Alphabet Incrediblocks for $2.99. Hoping to sell for $20 like this one.

Timmy Time Night Night Timmy Plush for $4.99. Closing auctions on these were between $15 and $25 - it's a popular international seller. UPDATE: This sold for $25 within 1 day of listing it.

Big bucket of Lincoln Logs for $7.99 (not pictured, but it's this set missing a few pieces)

I was hoping to go back later in the weekend to take advantage of tax free savings on clothes and shoes, but I never made it back since we went to the circus on Saturday afternoon and then Sunday was spent catching up on loads of laundry backlogged from our trip. My yard sale finds on Saturday made up for it though.

$5 and a little elbow grease

Today was a SUPER slow day for yard sale finds. That's not to say that there weren't many yard sales - there were quite a few on CL and I saw many signs while I was out and about. It was more about quality. I had mapped about 6-7 sales from CL that said they had toys, but when I got there their toy selection was basically one or two boxes of discarded toys that didn't even look worth sifting through. Very dissapointing in regards to the toy selection.

I did come across one sale that had a lot of kids' clothes and shoes for 25 cents each. If only I knew what baby #2 is going to be, I would have been able to get some good deals. My daughter currently has enough clothes, but I did end up getting her a pair of hardly-used soccer shoes that she can use in about a year when she's 4 and I sign her up for soccer. I also got a couple pairs of larger-sized water shoes that looked like they hadn't even been worn for when she outgrows her current water shoes. So far, I had spent a whopping 75 cents - I spent more at my Starbucks run on the way to the sales :-)

On the way home, I hit a sale that was in my neighborhood and this was my most successful stop of the morning. I've been wanting to get my daughter a vanity for her room for a while now and I've been stalking CL to find one that looked nice at a reasonable price, but hadn't yet found anything that fit that (I liked this one, but for $50 I'd at least like a stool). Well, at this sale they had a vanity for sale. At first glance, many people probably would have passed this vanity up because it was a little worse for wear. It was certainly well-loved by some little girl named Leslie who had scribbled all over it in blue pen and painted her nails dark green and black (as evidenced by several large pools of dried black nail polish on the vanity's top). However, I saw potential and for $5 I was willing to take it home and experiment with the Magic Eraser that Yard Sale Mommy had mentioned could work wonders on reviving old toys. I wish I had taken a before picture to do justice to the end result, but alas you will just have to take my word that this vanity started off looking a lot more shabby than chic. So, for $5 and a little elbow grease with the Magic Eraser (I'm a believer!) I was able to give my daughter a nice new-to-her vanity for her room.

Yard Sale Finds: Raggedy Ann and My Little Pony

Yesterday, I woke up at 6:15 AM and was out the door by 6:30 AM stoked about the yard sales that lay ahead of me. I can't even get up that early for work! If only work was like yard saling :-)

There weren't any yard sales in my area yesterday, so I ventured a bit further north into Cedar Park to see if I could find a few good deals. I had already mapped my route with Yard Sale Treasure Map (a little buggy, but useful to help figure out the optimal route for all the CL sales with toys posted online). Despite going to 6 or 7 sales (I lost count), I didn't come home with a whole lot.

I was a little bit overwhelmed and got sidetracked with looking up additional sales on CL on my phone and following signs that I thought said "toys and stuff" but actually said "tons of stuff" (I guess I need to bring coffee instead of milk next time, but our Keurig died). So I learned my lesson to just stick to my list of sales. I also learned my lesson that it's not worth going out of my way for just one sale even if they did advertise an exersaucer (not the right kind though so totally a waste of gas).

Here's what I ended up bringing home:

I saw this Ragggedy Ann Jack in the Box for $1 and thought it might make a good sale on eBay since Raggedy Ann is such a classic toy, and as a Jack in the Box, it seemed even more classic. I love old fashioned toys like this and the Radio Flyer wagons I picked up last week - they keep their value no matter what year it is. I looked up the completed listings and saw that there were a couple new ones and one used one that went for about $20. This one has a lttle dent on it, so I might not get that much, but even if I make $10 from a $1 investment, I would be happy. Plus, my daugther has gotten some enjoyment out of it so that makes it all worth while.

I picked up these skates for $3 purely as something for my daughter to use and not necessarily for resale value. I had a pair like this growing up and I wanted her to have the enjoyment I got out of learning to skate. My husband and I were avid rollerbladers when we were dating in college and I even tried out for the roller derby once (I might have stuck with it if it wasn't on the other side of town). They even came with knee and elbow pads so it seemed like a good value for $3, plus I think I might be able to resell them at a consignment sale once my daughter gets her use out of them. There didn't seem like a whole lot of demand for them on eBay.

My final purchase of the day was this My Little Pony Rainbow Wishes Amusement Park. I knew from reading Yard Sale Mommy that My Little Ponies are good for resale, so when I saw this set in its original (albeit tattered) box for $2, I couldn't pass it up. I offered $2 for this set plus 2 Curious George books and 1 Berenstein Bears book for my daugther (marked at 25 cents each) so it was like getting the My Little Pony set for $1.25. Plus the original set only came with 1 pony and I got 5 ponies with this set, so that should help to raise the resale price and bring in at least $20. My daughter has already become attached to this set, so I'll probably hold off on selling it for a little bit. Every week it's like Christmas for her when I come home with my yard sale finds. It's certainly a lot cheaper than Christmas!

At the same sale as the My Little Pony set, there was a bucket of Polly Pocket Disney princess dolls, clothes, and a couple of buildings (a Snow White bedroom set, a part of a castle, and some other building that I forget now). I wasn't sure about getting it because even though Yard Sale Mommy had said that the Polly Pocket Disney princess dolls do well on eBay, the clothes looked a little worse for wear. So I ended up passing up this $5 bucket of Polly Pocket and kind of wish I hadn't after coming home and looking at some of the completed listings for just part of what was in the bucket. Next time, I won't pass this up for sure!

So while I didn't come home with a whole lot this week, I still had fun getting up before the sun and having a couple of peaceful hours to myself.

Yard Sale Finds

I started reading Yard Sale Mommy last month and finally got a chance to try my luck at the whole yard saling experience these past two Saturdays.

My first Saturday experience was pretty good - I didn't get a whole lot, but then again I didn't spend a whole lot either. I figured I should start small and see how it went before diving in head first. I only went to two yard sales in my neighborhood since I didn't want to drive too far for my first yard saling adventure. The first yard sale was pretty small so I didn't get anything there. I then went to the second yard sale and as I was walking up their steep driveway (we live in the hill country after all), I saw a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and I quickly picked up the pace because I knew from Yard Sale Mommy that these are good sellers. I might exercise more if I knew there was a pristine Clubhouse waiting for me at the end. I paid $2 for this clubhouse (it had a sticker on it for $3) - what a steal since I figured I could get at least $30 for it. At first, I thought it didn't have any figurines with it, but when I got it home I discovered there was a mickey mouse in the mouse ear compartment so that made the deal even better. I currently have it listed on ebay and am up to almost $30 with 3+ days to go. Not bad for a $2 investment!

At this same sale, I got a big bag of Thomas the Train duplo. I also knew from Yard Sale Mommy that anything duplo and anything Thomas the Train sells well so I figured I couldn't go wrong with this purchase for $5. I loved duplo growing up and passed that love on to my daughter, so she can always play with it if it doesn't sell (so far, it's not looking good). When I got it home, I looked it up on eBay and found out it was the Load and Carry set and then realized that the most important piece of the whole set was missing (the Thomas face for the train). I went back to the yard sale and left the lady my number to call me if she found it, but I never got a call. There are some extra pieces that don't belong in the set, so I included those in the listing hoping it would make up for the missing Thomas face. Oh well, lesson learned on this one.

Last week, I read a post on Yard Sale Mommy that said that the switch-a-roo toys for Evenflo exersaucers are good sellers on eBay. I couldn't wait until Saturday to try my luck so I found one on Craig's List for $10 (I offered $7 and she took it). I was able to get about 7 toys plus a snack tray and a seat off of it to list on eBay. So far, I've sold 4 of these toys. I priced them lower than others to start since I wanted to sell them quickly. I had noticed that some of the toys were selling for $8-$10, but others weren't and since I'm a newby I tested out my toys at the $5 price point. I got a quick sale, but I'll probably try a higher price next time.

My 3yo daughter had to test out the exersaucer.

 This past Saturday, I tried the yard saling adventure again and was pleased with the first sale of the morning. I managed to pick up an exersaucer for $5 and it had a musical, light up arch bar that I knew went for $20 on eBay so I was giddy to get it for $5. My guest room looks like an exersaucer graveyard at the moment.

I also picked up two mini radio flyer wagons for $1 each (these people had twins so they had two of everything to sell it seemed). I found one completed listing that sold for $30, but others that didn't sell for $10 - I think it's all in the title as Yard Sale Mommy has taught me - so I'm going to list it exactly like the $30 one and try my luck with selling one of these. I'll let my daughter keep one and will sell that one when she gets tired of it. They're good for giving her dolls a ride.

I'm already looking forward to this Saturday when I can try my luck again at the yard sales. Thanks to Yard Sale Mommy for all the great tips and tricks for this newbie and for the opportunity to link up! I have a personal blog, but created this one so that I could share my yard sale finds and other shortcuts to make life easier as a working mom.