Goodwill Finds 1/15/12

My husband, the King of Craigslist deals, had us trekking all over Ohio (okay not really, but about an hour away) so he could trade his phone for an iPhone (which he's not going to use, he's an Android nerd, but he's going to sell the iPhone for some moolala... I've taught him well) so I got to visit some new to me thrifts. 2 different Goodwills. I am jealous because these Goodwills have a 50% off color and a 75% off color!

Here's what I found...

GW #1:

• 3 books for my classroom... you know, since I'm about to start teaching Language Arts! 50 cents each
• Hot Rollers... $5.99 but the 75% color... $1.50
• Set of 2 TGI Friday goblets... .99 each but 50%... .50 each
• 2 Go Diego Go mugs... looks like they'll be a dud... .59 each
• a COPS mug... .59
• a brand new Grace Elements shirt... never heard of the brand but its tag said it retails for 58$ so I took a chance... $1.99 (50% off)
• a pair of Nike Dri Fit capris... I may wear them for awhile... $1.50 (50% off)
• and this, I really have no idea why I looked it up but I'm glad I did. I rarely look at figurines because they never seem to sell for much. But I'd never heard of this so I checked it out. A Munro After the Party Pantry Keys mouse figurine. I paid $2.99 for it. There were only 2 completeds, one for $20 something, and one for $120!! Unfortunately I realized when I got home that my figurine is chipped but I think I'll still do okay. It already has 2 watchers.

GW #2:

• 3 Barney videos, 25 cents each. 1 I'd never seen before, "Three Wishes", which has Sandy Duncan in it, sells for about $20 on its own!
• 4 books for my classroom, 50 cents each
• a new bike pump for us, $2.99
• a little rooster lid, 12 cents (75% color). I collect rooster stuff!

Sorry for the horrible pic!

Opening a Store

Fellow eBayers, are you out there?

My thoughts drifted today to opening a store. I've always thought, oooh that's a good idea, but I don't list enough to justify the cost. I BUY enough. I just don't get around to listing it. I've been using my 50 free listings per month for auctions. Every eBay blog I read says "Don't do auctions!" I do sell a decent amount of my listings, but I always have ones I need to relist.

My problem is I don't have the time (or motivation? or both?) to photograph items and prepare them for listing. But if I had a store, I could list it just once and let it see for as long as I wanted. And I'd eliminate the having to relist thing.

Should I just dive in?

Me, the Teacher

So some exciting news on the job front. One of my co-workers quit, so I am taking her job! I am very excited as she teaches Language Arts, my passion. I've grown to enjoy Social Studies but sometimes it is boooooring. LA was always my favorite! Co-worker seems to think it will be double the prep for me as I will go from 45 minute periods to 90 minute blocks, so we'll see! I've been wanting her job for the past 2 1/2 years!! Ha!

Surprising Sale

I managed to get a few things up on eBay. Sold a few DVDs on Half.com. A surprising sale was this:

PLAYSKOOL SNUGGLEBUMMS SNUGGLE BUMM FAMILY YELLOW WARMLY 1984 VINTAGE IN BOX 80S

Picked it up at Goodwill for 99 cents, after shipping and fees this sold for $20.66. This is surprising to me because I had originally listed it in early December and got no watchers and no bids. This time around, I opened the auction up to international buyers, got 6 watchers and several bids. The buyer ended up being in the U.S. though. I'm not complaining!

Today I made my first thrift store trip of the new year. I am going to keep track of my expenses in a google spreadsheet and try to stay organized.

Happy 101st post!

Ha, just realized this blog has 100 posts. So this makes 101.

Tomorrow is back to work... nooooo.... Not looking forward to it. I absolutely LOATHE going back after break. It's just such a weird feeling, and it takes some time to get back into the routine. I've been so lazy... haven't even been to the gym over break, which was so not the plan. So I'm feeling a little bit like I failed, which then makes me stressed out, and ahhhh!! But I know as soon as 8:30 hits and my little cherubs come into my classroom, I'll be back into the swing of things.

Stuff

So winter break is almost over. I haven't done much of anything productive! I'm not looking forward to going back to work. Before break, some trivial things occurred that just got me super frustrated. It's those political, behind-the-scenes things that occur in school systems that can drive you insane. I just feel so much pressure to get so much done and not enough support, encouragement, or praise from the powers that be. Instead, I get a lot of "do this, do this, don't do this, you're not doing enough of this..." AHHHHH!!

You'd think that all this pessimism regarding my job would have me listing like crazy. But it's not! While I did some shopping and I did get inventory listed for the spring consignment sale, I'm not doing enough...

What it sold for

Paid $3.00, sold for $20.49

Paid $0 (came with our mattress), sold for $26.00

Paid $10.00, sold for $37.36 (I think I could have gotten more if I had divided this lot up...)

Paid .15, sold for $6.99

Purchased a big lap desk table thing for Play-Doh, with some molds in it for $5, most of it I still have, but some of this came from that set along with another box full of molds that I got for $1. So at most I spent $6 on a bunch of various Play-Doh pieces, what's pictured sold for $16.50. And like I said, still have a bunch left.