Yesterday it was just plain lovely out. Janie and I started at a couple of church rummage sales and then just wandered looking for signs. This is not by preferred method, but not seeing any neighborhood or even block sales in the paper gave us little choice. There is no bad day of yardsales (except in the dead of winter - that's not a lot of fun).
Find of the day
Serious bolt cutters
price - $10
sold
Sometimes, when disassembling something to get the aluminum or brass or copper away from the steel, my small bolt cutters are a struggle. These will solve that, and since my only use for them is my recycling business, they're deductible as capital equipment.
Least interesting thing of the day:
Realestate investing for dummies
price - 50 cents
no sale
Yeah, baby. Flip that house. What could go wrong?
Other things we did and did not buy:
Well, speaking of recycling . . .
Brass scrap (8.75 lbs; scrap value $14.85)
price - $5.50
sold
Hmmm, I think I see a piece of diecast in there though. That brings only 50 cents a pound.
Brass fireplace kit (about 10 pounds)
price - $1
no sale
It pays to bring along a magnet. Some fireplace kits are a mixture of brass and steel, and end up yielding about 7 pounds of brass. This had maybe one pound of brass (the part that holds everything else together. I wasn't going to throw away the entire set to make 70 cents.
Aluminum scrap (7.5 pounds; $3.75 in scrap value)
Price - $1
sold
The air grate actually was sitting among some renovation waste in our building. It's a bit bulky, but I wasn't going to let it go in a landfill somewhere.
Turquoise ring (may or may not be silver)
price - $1
sold
There is fake turquoise out there, but it's a type of plastic which is easy to test with a hot pin. I waited until I got home to do that though, since it was just a dollar. Anyway, faking the cracks and natural inclusions in the rock is something lazy people wouldn't bother with.
Collectible holiday decorations
price - $25 each
no sale
Anything made to be collectible is just another beanie baby in my eyes.
School desk
price - $3
no sale
I have nowhere to keep it and no outlet. I took the picture because I thought it was a deal.
Haloween decorations (new, at the artist's home)
price - $15 for one ghost; $25 for three.
no sale
I wouldn't buy these for anything, but the craftsmanship (or more properly I guess I should be saying craftswomanship) was outstanding. She also had Christmas and Thanksgiving things. Really. I'm serious. These weren't your everyday tacky lawn art.
Books in Dutch and Chinese
price - 50 cents each
sold
The Chinese are in demand by college students (one of the hot languages to know these days); the Dutch is less in demand, but I thought the Winnie the Pooh subject matter raised its saleability (also spelled "salability", but I chose the other spelling, because it's clearer what the meaning is; "salability" could be something that is easily salted).
Jug
price - $2
sold
Jugs are still pretty common in the Midwest (probably the East also), but out West I think I can turn a nice profit on it.
Gallon of roofing nails
price - $1
With the rise in metal prices, nails have gone up considerably. When you coat a nail with zinc, that also increases the price. "But isn't housing construction in a slump?" Yes, but people still have to fix the roof, and I expect these to get snapped up at my yard sale. I already have lots of nails in Colorado. I can bring along my scale and sell them by the pound.
Necklace
price - 50 cents
sold
Janie decided not to get out of the car, and asked me just to hold up anything I thought she might like. Right then, she saw two women holding this and talking about it. "Too bad, they'll buy that for sure" we thought. No, they passed it up because it was missing the clasp. This never had a clasp. It had just come apart, and 10 seconds with a pair of needlenose plyers had it back together.
Glass dragonfly
price - $1
sold
This is just right for our Christmas vine.
Vietmanese folded paper swan
price - 50 cents
sold
There was a whole box of them, all new, but they'd been handled carelessly and all had a little something wrong with them. Too bad. I picked one of the better ones. This will go well in our bird collection.
Zeppelin and Rare Earth records
price - 25 cents each
sold
Both are basically unplayed. The Rare Earth is among the first ten records I've ever bought, so I'm sure it's due for replacement.
Homemade bread
price - $3
sold
Whole wheat sunflower seed. I usually freeze bread as soon as I get it, but I thought we'd eat it quickly so I left it out last night. The cats loved it.
Fabulous warm shirt
price - $1
sold
It needed a wash. It's drying now. This will sell for $10 easy in my mom's shop. We charge her a flat $2.50 per shirt, but she sells out every year, so we've started to raise the price. For more about why I go yardsaling, and why we buy warm shirts in particular, click here.
A short-sleeve shirt for me
price - 50 cents
sold
But, man, that skinny mirror in the bathroom needs to go.
Good thing
I bought
a new, larger mirror
at today's sale
for $2.
Now, I just need to mount it on the wall . . .
Pizza stone
price - $1
sold
I don't make pizza, but these are very useful in the oven.
----------------
So, that's it for this week's Would You Buy This or Not?
Next week we'll be out in Colorado delivering a load of merchandise to my mom, and having our own yard sale. See you there!
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Comments: 27
It took about 5 minutes to see the pics in my newest article ("shared" last evening) show up.
I still can't see your pics, even though I've been at your article for a few minutes already.
:-(
The photos are just now beginning to show up for me here , little by little!
Loved the little dragonfly!.....and what is your Christmas vine? Sounds like something similar we do instead of a regular tree
I still don't know if it's in mint condition, Diana. I've paid that much for records, but they were ones I couldn't find anywhere else. That said, a good rave on Zeppelin is worth easily as much as a therapy session.
I feel foolish, it never occurred to me to be shopping for scrap metal at garage sales.
Wanda, the folded birds are really great art. I wish they were all in decent shape. I'd have bought them all.
Thank you for coming, Aderlaide!
George, I haven't used them yet. I'm letting that be a surprise for when I feel I really need them.
Kevin, I usually skip jugs because they take up a lot of room in the car on the way out to Colorado. This one wasn't too big, and the price was right.
Yes Theresa, I too like foreign language books where you already know the story. It helps you guess as to what the words mean.
I wouldn't go to sales just looking for scrap, Greg, but if you're already there it's the thing to do. There are some really sad and/or annoying sales that have their saving grace in a 50 cent pressure cooker!