Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Best Retail Buy of The Week

Best Retail Buy of The Week

 

Here's a picture of Little Lola sporting a pair of leggings ($1.00) from TARGET. She is such a fashion statement! Definitely a hit@ the pumpkin patch!

Friday, October 22, 2010

Fedor Boot Camp

There's Tito to the right of the  M-1 Global sign standing under the  "AL" .

I have yard sales and he has M-1 Global  


                                                   There's Fedor!

Sharing something from Nate Berkus

Check it out here

I thought this was a great "Ten Tips for a Terrific Tag Sale by Meg Fairfax Fielding the writer of "Pigtown Design" a Baltimore-based design blog.Visit her blog at http://www.pigtown-design.blogspot.com/

From labeling and pricing to staging and selling, "Junk Whisperer" Meg Fairfax Fielding shares her tips for holding a successful tag sale!

Tag sales are a great way to make some extra money and clear out things from your house. But in order to have a successful sale, here are a few tips to make your tag sale the talk of the town.

1. Decide whether you want to make a lot of money or get rid of things. If your goal is to clear the clutter, price things to move! Have a dollar table, or baskets of toys where everything is 10¢. If your goal is to make money, be a little more selective with your prices – but don’t make them too high or you won’t sell anything! Everyone loves a bargain.
2. Pick a date, and then advertise. You can do it the old-school way and put signs up on major roads near your house (don’t forget to take them down when your sale’s finished!). Write in BIG letters on bright paper to catch the attention of passers-by.
3. You can also advertise your sale the new media way on Facebook, Craigslist, your community’s listserv or via e-mail to all of your friends. See if your neighbors will have a sale the same day, and get more bang for the buck. If you’re advertising electronically, add lots of descriptions and pictures. This will draw the crowds.
4. As you are pulling things out to sell, PRICE THEM! You will not have time to do this the morning of the sale. You can buy colored stickers with pre-printed prices from an office supply store. These will help take a lot of the decision-making out of pricing items.

5. Make a staging area for the sale. As you go through what you’re selling, price the piece and move it to staging area. That way, on sale day, all you have to do is move items outside.
6. The morning of the sale, put out tables and blankets and organize your items like a store. Have like with like – all kids’ clothing on one table, toys in baskets on the ground at child-height, kitchen- and house-wares on another table, and furniture set to the side!
7. If you have some very nice pieces, like un-used wedding presents or grandma’s china, make up a Boutique section. Pickers and dealers don’t care about kids’ clothes and toys, they want to see the good stuff. Likewise, someone looking for kids’ toys probably won’t want antique china.
8. Have lots of change – everyone goes to the bank machine and gets $20 bills. Have lots of $1’s and $5’s and small change. You don’t want to lose sales because you don’t have change. If you have an apron with pockets, that’s better than leaving money in a box on the table. If someone’s holding an item, you can make an instant sale.

9. If your children want to get in on the action, they can sell lemonade, water and home-made cookies. People love to buy from the little ones.
10. Be cheerful and pleasant to everyone! They don’t know that you’ve already answered the same question 11 times today. The buyers are giving you money to take your things away. This should make you very happy! Make sure they know it. The more you do before the sale to get organized, the less frantic you will be on the day of the sale. Tag sales can be lots of fun for both the buyer and the seller with a little bit of planning.  

Meg Fairfax Fielding is the writer of "Pigtown Design," a Baltimore-based design blog that explores architecture, design, books, and gardens. To learn more about Meg, visit her blog at www.pigtown-design.blogspot.com.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Fedor Emelianenko ‘Boot Camp" Road Trip!



You are probably asking your self what does MMA Fighter Fedor Emelianenko have to do with yard sales?
Well, it's about passion and doing things we love to do. I am passionate about my Saturday mornings and finding the perfect wow factor. By doing so I fulfill a passion and by saving money, we can do things that we normally wouldn't do or afford to do. Like this boot camp with Fedor for instance.Tito and I are 2 of the 50 people attending this Sunday! Tito is so excited ,I don't think he ever imagined meeting him. He has Fedor t-shirts and a necklace. Yeah I know- kind a creepy with the whole necklace thing.  
The moral of this story is to follow your passion and try to  to cut back on expenses. It wouldn't hurt going to a few yard sales to save money.Who knows maybe one day when the opportunity presents itself, you can fulfill a dream or two, or three.

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

How a Hair Barrette taught me a Lesson




 On one of my yard sale haunts(oh look Halloween is in the air, I meant to write hunts) on Saturday I came across a former store owner getting rid of  left over merchandise. She was just starting to display her items. I am a natural "helper" as I like to call it, or a control freak, depending on how you want to look at it. I asked if I could open the  large package of barrettes ,she welcomed the idea. Being in retail from the age of 15 , I neatly placed them on the table methodically displaying the barrettes for the next customer to admire. I asked how much , she responded a $1 . I happily dug into my coin purse when she had a revelation and said, 50 cents for helping me. As I continued digging she thought it over again and said for you 25 cents and take two! I was surprised and grateful. It really got me thinking how when we give of our time to help someone it does come back to you. It's the little things in life, a small token of appreciation goes a long way.




Monday, October 11, 2010

How I "stuffed" 52 Items into 2 grocery bags for just $10.00

Let me explain, twice a year a local church in San Diego has a great rummage sale. It's a typical rummage sale with nick knacks ,clothes and basically anything and everything you can imagine. 

 As soon as you walk in a group of little Ladies eagerly hand you a brown paper bag  with the words "Here's a bag- fill it up for just $5.00 ". At first the customers think they mistakenly heard something else and ask "Excuse me,anything"? The ladies  nod enthusiastically saying yes anything.

 My first year , being a novice to this whole rummage sale lifestyle, I grabbed a bag and went straight for the clothes finding a few brand named pieces . I'd walk with a skip to my step and a  "I found a bargin" swagger .I'd made my way to the register with about 10 items clutched to my chest. I was  thrilled with the savings and  the notion my money was headed to a mission in a Third world country warmed my heart .Plus by reusing the the grocery bag I waaaaaaaas green! All was good in the world and I was scoring good karma points.

As the years past I became an expert of "rolling up" the items . I can now strategically place about 20-25 items in my grocery bag! I had watched my ex-husband years ago place  clothes in a suitcase in this" rolling up" manner. I figure it was a military thing or something he learned in his travels. It's funny the things we remember years later. 

Grocery bag



Grocery bag filled willl rolled up items


I made at list of the items I purchased all for $10 (  I ended up with 2 grocery bags) 

  • 10 skirts
  • 2 pairs of jeans
  • jogging outfit
  • 39 blouses/shirts
I was amazed and definitely wowed by the name brands:
  • Banana Republic
  • Chico's
  • Eddie Bauer
  • Daisy Fuentes
  • Liz Claiborne
  • Karen Scott
  • Calvin Klein
  • Old Navy
  • New Port News
  • Forever 21

I'll share more pictures once my son shows me how to use my camera. Sad, really. I can run a company yet can't take a good digital picture and download. It's been added to my bucket list. Really.
  

Thursday, October 7, 2010

A Life of Blue

Photobucket

I really enjoyed the "A Life of Blue" blog. It's given me such inspiration in finding furniture pieces @ the yard sales.

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919)

I love this picture I found @ last weeks yard sale. It's a reproduction of Pierre Auguste- Renoir "Woman Arranging Earring" . Pierre-Auguste Renoir was a French artist who was a leading painter in the development of the Impressionist style It was only $3.00 ! The  seller explained her Mother purchased it when she was a young girl. The seller appeared to be in her 60's. I found several places on the Internet selling reprints.





Tuesday, October 5, 2010

MY FUTURE TATTOO

A picture of my future tattoo! Hey, maybe I will be on the next episode of L.A. Ink ?????

It’s edgy, pink and dear to my heart.


Monday, October 4, 2010

The Wow Factor- Earth Therapeutics-Eye * C * U Eye Care Unit for 50 cents!

This was a nice little treat for 50 cents. I found it retailing for $9.99 plus shipping and handling .Yeah!

Health and Beauty Accessories - Natural Products - Retail - Earth Therapeutics-Eye * C * U Eye Care Unit

The Wow Factor- Seacret Nail Care Collection-


Ok, so the package was a little dented on the top right, however the contents untouched and NEW! All for only $2.00 I googled as soon as I arrived home and found
Seacret Nail Care Collection  which retails for $49!

Friday, October 1, 2010

Setting intentions to the Yard Sale Gods

I AM SO EXCITED! Tomorrow is Saturday which means my only get away for the week. A two hour pleasure that is all mine….yard sales! Yeah me! This is where I began putting my intention out to the Universe and cry out to the yard sale gods to find certain things. At times it works, other times I have to wait months. It worked on the time I asked for a crimper iron for Julia my eleven year old. A local beauty supply store wanted $30 for a crimper! I set my intention days before and low and behold on my next yard sale run, a woman was selling her brand new crimper for $5! She intended on using yet then changed her mind. That was my WOW factor for the week! Setting an intention can happen in all factors of our daily lives. Be it asking the Yard sale God for a cost cutting purchase, the parking Gods for the great parking spot in a crowded mall or your God for help. Try setting an intention and see what happens!  
This picture by Photographer Greg Williams reminds me of our lives as a blank slate then us "adding" an intention to fill our lives with clairty and color.