On the drive Friday I stopped at two thrift stores in towns along the way. What were my scores? A brand new pink blouse for .25 cents (special one day sale - way picked over so only found one item but still a great find!) and a Sharp's Confectionery tin for .50 cents which I believe is from the 1940's or 1950's.
 |
| Happy St. Patrick's Day! |
We had a great day. I didn't take any pictures there - as I didn't want to haul my DSLR camera along with me and my cell phone is a dumb style old school one with a terrible camera. I did sell some of the items that have been collected over the past year and had a really nice time!
Cost of the table was a very inexpensive $7 plus $2 for a bottomless coffee each which was money well spent as the hall is not heated and we were there for five hours. Mom took homemade breakfast sandwiches and fruit for snacks. I walked away after expenses with $81 which is going to be split as follows: $6 into the Christmas fund and $75 into the travel fund. About $20 of that was selling household items that should not have been moved but were (like some dvds and books). I priced things to sell, not make tons of money and a couple other flea marketers who have antique malls bought several items. I got to spend some quality time with Mom and had a great time. Not a bad way to make extra money at a hobby that I do anyway. This is more for fun than a big money maker but now I know I can continue to collect thrifted lovelies for the next time I decide to do a sale. I tried to price my items above garage sale prices but below ETSY and Antique mall prices and it felt really good that others thought they were getting a great deal too. Click to see a few of the items that sold like the green and white oil lamp, divided vegetable dish, the vintage palmistry porcelain tray, five vintage glass electricity insulators, silk scarf, coloured liquor glasses and two of four vintage apothecary jars (I kept the best two for my own collection).
I will never make a million dollars at a flea market but I sure had fun and it was a great way to spend some time with my Mom and make money at the same time. Now I get to keep picking!
Sounds like a great day! I have a few things I could ebay but I've never done it before so I'm a bit hesitant but it seems like a waste just to have those items sitting there, so perhaps that will be a mini challenge for April
ReplyDeleteJudy xx
Ebay scares me too. Share if it works for you!
DeleteWhat a great way to spend time with your mom, clear some things out that you don't need and earn a bit too. Hope you attend and sell again and write about your next flea market experience.
ReplyDeleteJoy
I think it will definitely happen again - everything that was bought for resale brought 4-10 times what I paid for it so I must be doing something right plus I had a lot of fun.
DeleteGood for you. We've gone to fairs and festivals to sell my husband's books. It can be fun, but long days can be tiring when sales are slow. Glad you had a positive result. - Margy
ReplyDeleteI hear you - I think diversity is the key and not going every single week. I think I would like to it a Saturday every other month or so.
DeleteYou made some lovely money but the priceless part of your post was the time you were able to spend with your mom. And figuring out what you need for future sales.
ReplyDeleteWe have toyed with the idea of having a booth at the antique mall in the city. Not to really make a lot of money but for a project to give us an outlet for the vintage shopping we love to do. We both fear that our home will one day start to look too busy but we love to shop for treasures. If we could still shop but turn around and sell those items, bonus! I know it would be work but we both think it would be a lot of fun too. Some of the vendors have chatted with us and they seem to really enjoy the hunt for the perfect item for their booth. We applied and are on the wait list so at least it is something we can continue to think about.
Sales are ways to connect to others with similar interests but if you can sell too, you have done well.
Hope your cold is better soon!
I really enjoy spending time with Mom, sometimes I still see her as a thirty year old single mother. She is 70 this year. I worry that Antique malls have such high rents would it be worth it - hopefully the one you are trying to get into has good traffic.
DeleteYou ARE amazing! It always makes me smile when I hear good things about spending time with moms. I still enjoy MY mom - now 87 years old!
ReplyDeleteI really hope Mom lives a long time. She is one of my best friends.
DeleteSounds like you had a good time! Priceless time spent with your Mom. A good way to make a little money, too.
ReplyDeleteIt really was a nice day.
DeleteHello Cheapchick, I nominated you for the Liebster Award, post is here: http://www.shoestringmanor.com/2013/03/ive-been-nominated.html
ReplyDeleteThanks Aggie!
DeleteGlad you had a fun flea market experience! I vote "yes" on the Etsy shop... I get lots of interest from Canadian customers but rarely sell there because of the high shipping costs. I think there would be a great market for Candadian sellers to sell to other Canadians. Just my 2 cents. :)
ReplyDeleteI definitely keep ETSY in mind with all my purchases. There will always be those items that can sell on ETSY but not good for my local market. Likely if I do it I will start it in Summer now.
DeleteAs it turns out, Aggie nominated me, too. And I'm nominating you again! Clearly you are well-liked. You can read my version of the Liebster Award here: http://bigfoodetc.blogspot.com/2013/03/its-honor-to-be-nominated.html#more
ReplyDeleteThanks - I have been nominated before but appreciate your kind thoughts!
DeleteThat is awesome! We are thinking about having a garage sale but ugh, it is so much work.
ReplyDeleteMy new neighbor says she is having a garage sale this spring so I might put up a table the same day with some of our leftover books. They are a lot of work though. Cheers!
Delete