Mary-Isms and Mrs Jolly Made My Yard Sale Blessed

Before my yard sale this year, I called my insurance agent about my home insurance bill. We got to visiting, and I told her about the yard sale I was having to help pay part of the around $5000 in car and home insurance that was due. 

I told her that I hated having sales where negative people will come and ruin the mood bickering over prices or beating you down, and you take the ridiculously low price because you are desperate.

 My Insurance agents name is Mary. She is wonderful, and I have never met her in person, but we are friends as we visit when I call, and we enjoy those visits. 

She has given me some good suggestions over the years, and at other times, I have been able to give her advice just as if we had been actual friends for years. When I was saying that I was hoping that I could make enough during the yard sale to pay some off my bill off, Mary gave me such sweet advice.  

She said that when she is having a sale, she gives gratitude for the item and then sends out "happy rainbows and sparkles" from that item that will pull in someone who needs that item, like creating a trail to that item for someone who needs that item, calling in someone who will appreciate that specific thing!

I thought that was such a cute idea. I said it is kinda like Marie Kondo's method. She said "kinda, but more, like "calling" someone in for that item." I told her I would try that and that I was going to start calling her advice, "Mary-isms." I do believe that her method worked!

I posted some pictures online on the local yard sale sites toward the end of the sale. I had a few negative people come earlier, and was working on "forgiving" that type of person and putting out that I could bring in positive people as I do believe negative brings negative, and positive attracts positive. I had just been talking to my daughter about that after the negative people came, and shared that I wanted to attract positive people. 

The last person to come for the day was just after that talk. I posted a picture online, and in the photo was an ostrich feather duster. A woman I knew from my PTA days pulled up and ran to the duster and was so excited about it. She told me she saw it online and rushed over to see if I still had it. She found a few other things I had that she was interested in and I told her I hadn't had time to look the antiques up online for pricing yet. She said, "Take your time, I can continue shopping." She then found a few more things she was interested in buying. 

I usually look up selling prices on ebay and then half to 3/4 the price for the yard sale as I won't have to post it or pay selling fees. She had another item and she clearly knew the brand and how expensive they were. I quickly looked online and couldn't find the exact item but could see that the brand was expensive. I told her $10 for the little jug and she told me, "I am going to pay you $15 for it because it is worth more than you are asking and it is in MINT condition!" 

She had her grand daughter with her. The grand-daughter LOVED a leather jacket that was turquoise blue that Princess Five used to wear. She also asked about some leather friendship bracelets that Princess Three brought back from Africa when she did a service mission there. She proceeded to tell me she wanted to buy the bracelets to give to some children whose father died unexpectedly the week before. I told her she could have the bracelets and complimented her on thinking of others.

I am going to call the lady "Mrs Jolly" as she brought such a positive spirit to the sale! She ended up spending $150 and was so happy with the items she found! I asked to take a photo of her grand daughter in the leather coat so I could share it with my girls.

I ran into her at a store about two weeks after the sale and I told her that she made my entire sale. I asked if it was "OK" for me to share about her on my blog because she was so sweet to pay what she knew the value of the item should be rather than trying to beat me down on the price or make me feel guilty for asking a fair price for an item. I told her I was going to call her "Mrs. Jolly" on my blog post because she brought joy when she came! 

The other thought I wanted to share, was that what one person thinks is trash, is another persons joy or treasure. My daughters would say things like, "No one would buy that." or look at me like I was hoarding trash to sell about some items. I had a really beat up looking waffle iron that even I thought probably should have gone into the recycling as the plastic front piece was missing. I sold it for $1.50. I had a bunch of the cheap plastic ketchup and mustard bottles, and it was so funny when I sold them for $1, I looked at my daughter and she was just shaking her head becasue they were one of the things she thought I should have thrown out. I asked the man what he was going to use them for, and told him that my daughter didn't think anyone would buy them. He told me that he is a wood worker and his wood glue bottles always get clogged with glue, so he pours the glue into those bottles and they don't get clogged! 

I appreciated him sharing that as I thought it was a good idea. My daughter thought it was funny and admitted that I was right about putting everything out for sale. Even the feather duster that brought Mrs. Jolly to the sale, I had thought about putting in the trash as the feathers were falling out, but that one sale brought in $150, so I am glad I didn't throw it out! 

One last suggestion for yard sales, I forgot to share on yesterdays post. Make sure you have change. I use a fanny pack and start with about $115 and $5 in quarters. Even a few years back, people would write checks. I got one check this year. All the young moms paid with Venmo. The older people paid with cash. I also take larger bills out of the fanny pack and leave it in the house so that I don't have large amounts of money on me at any point. 

It is amazing to me how trusting in God, having a positive attitude, and being willing to put the work in, can have such great rewards! I am so grateful for people like Mary my insurance agent, and Mrs. Jolly for coming into my world and leaving their "Sparkling rainbows" in my life! 

I feel so blessed that I was able to make enough to pay off the house insurance for the year with some of the yard sale funds. I am still working on the car insurance and the house tax bill I got today. It seems like there are always new bills to take the place of paid off bills, but God is so good and sends me angels to guide and brighten my life as I go forward! 

 Have a blessed day!

How to Make Over $1000 at a Yard or Garage Sale - Made Over $2200 This Year!

 

My last two garage / yard sales, I made over $1300 each! This year, I made over $2200! Here is a link to my last year sale post.

Here is another post where I share about having a yard sale in 2015.

 

Princess Four, helped me put it up and take it down. We did it on a weekend when we knew there would be visitors in town due to a convention. We made over $2200 at the sale this year!! 

 

I made a video where I share how to make lots of money at yard sales, and give lots of ways to increase sales at your garage sale!

 

My mother used to do yard sales when I was age 8 to 12 while growing up. By helping her with her sales, she taught me some great tips on the best way to make money and get people to come, and how to lure people out of their cars. 

Keeping the large big ticket items at the sale until the end helps draw people in, and you can do that by taking written bids on larger items to get the most on those items. You then call the winning bid at the end of the sale and have the winning bid pick up the bigger items at the end of the sale, so the bigger items draw people in.

Take "offers" rather than listing a price, as they may be willing to pay more than you are asking.

Put up signs that will pull people into your sale using arrows on the signs and I print them out and save the files for future sales. 

Always have some unique or interesting items front and center and back center to catch people's eyes as they pull up! 

Don't crowd items, by spreading out the items, it looks like you have lots of stuff so people think it is worth getting out of the car. 

Also, clothes won't sell in piles. Always fold them so people can clearly see each item. Hanging only works if you can hang them all off a gutter or somehow spreading them out on trees, so they can see each item without having to touch them. Most people won't dig through a pile or flip through hanging clothes. 

Towards the end of the sale, draw people in by saying $5 for a bag of clothes, or having a table of $2 items. Post those items online to draw in those bargain hunters! 

I have some great tips I share on the video on quick ways to set up and take down the sale and how to set up the sale so that people see all of your items. 

Advertising on local online, classified, craigs list and facebook group sites and by using posts on "giving things for free" to get people to come to the sale from online. Also, post online by using edits and writing on each photo so that people will not skip photos thinking you want more than they will pay as well as describing the item and its merits. I had one lady come for an ostrich feather duster, and ended up spending $150 because she saw the duster online for cheap and wanted it.

I have gotten really good at, and have the best way to prepare for rain so that it is quickly covered and dry until the rain stops! 

I share all those things, and more, in the video. 

By making the main photo an eye catching item / or post a photo of one of the coolest things you have for sale as the first photo on your posts on social media, it draws people in to look at the rest of your photos online. 

Hopefully, the video and descriptions will help if you choose to have a sale. I will share tomorrow some other things that can help you in your sale, but these are the "setting up" ideas. 

I am SO grateful to my Father in Heaven for blessing me with the strength to do a sale, and for Princess Four being so supportive and staying with me for the crazy setting up early each morning, and taking down each night. She was a blessing for sure! 

Have a Blessed Day and thanks for visiting!

Local Thrift Store Not What It Used To Be - Small Jewelry Bags and Not Much In Them

In so many months, this is only the second jewelry bag I have found worth buying. I don't even know if it was worth buying, but it is the only one that had silver in it for months. 

They have tiny bags now, and most of them are about $15, and when they don't sell for that price, they mark them down in a week, then down again in another week, and there are several bags that have been in the display for a month or so. For some reason, there just isn't anything worth buying. They have been looking things up online and making them priced close to what they would cost online, so there are LOTS of things not selling. 

I have run into my friends that frequent the store, and they have all commented on how the deals are not showing up like they used to at that store. 

I don't go as often as they just don't seem to have things worth buying. Hopefully, things will shift and they will be able to find a middle ground where it is worth buying the items a bit less than you could purchase them online. 

I still have several jewelry videos I haven't taken the time to edit and post on youtube, but it will have to wait until I am not so busy. 

Have a Blessed Day!

 

Pruning is Well Underway - Half Done

I was out pruning trees every night this past week working into the dark of night. I can't work in the heat of day or I get overheated, so I have been working from about 5 p.m. on. 

I have been working hard and filled all the garbage cans for the week, but want to finish all the pruning before the cold sets in. I will have to keep working daily in order to finish as I have some bigger trees to do, but also still have smaller trees to finish as well.

It is a big job every fall, but I LOVE the way they look for the entire winter. Each time I drive down the street, I enjoy how they look all pruned and ready for the next year of growth. 

 I will keep you updated as I go! Its been a busy week as I have multiple projects going! I am glad I am feeling good enough to work in the yard. 

Have a blessed day! 

How To Permanently Fix a Shelf That Keeps Falling & Won't Stay In Place By Putting in Corner Bracket

I wanted to share how I permanently fixed a shelf that kept falling down for 20 years in my kitchen. I made a video showing how I fixed it.

I don't have much kitchen space in my home. I don't have a pantry or many kitchen cupboards. I have one cupboard in the entire kitchen that allows you to change the height of the shelf. 

Since the day I moved in, the shelf pegs were broken on that shelf. The old owners told me that they kept breaking and I could buy new clips at the hardware store. I bought a handful of those peg clips and within a short time they broke. I have some large square Tupperware bins that hold the larger bags of sugar and flour. 

Since the pegs kept breaking, I used those tall Tupperware bins to hold the shelf up. I then tried buying different types of pegs. I even cut up a knitting needle that was metal and tried to make my own longer "pegs" so that maybe they would hold the shelf up. 

Because the shelf was cut small for the space, when you put something on it, the pegs have more pressure on them as the shelf isn't on much of the peg, but just the tip. They all broke and the holes that held them started chipping away.

I have shared that I am trying to fix things in the house right so that I don't have to keep "fixing" things over and over. You can see that on my blog if you look back over the past year, you can see that in the house and yard. In the yard, I landscaped with the rocks and bark, I fixed the shower, and have been working on the garage. I pondered on how I could fix the shelf for good either by cutting a new shelf that would fit better, or a different way. 

I am so grateful that I have great guardian angels that inspire me when needed. I have come up with some great "fixes" in my life when others would have given up on something. I am grateful that they constantly inspire me when needed. 

I was doing dishes in the kitchen and the thought came to me that I could fix the shelf in a similar way that I fix the drawers in the house that were broken when I bought it. I used "corner" brackets and screwed them on the inside of the drawers to hold the corners strong.

I have repaired drawer faces that have broken on drawers using the corner brackets, but for some reason, I didn't think about using corner brackets for holding up the shelf all that time, but just kept buying more and more pegs that broke. 

I am glad that I pondered on it and came up with this solution as it has been so nice being able to actually use the shelf as I couldn't use it before for fear of anything on the shelf falling and breaking.

It cost only a few dollars to fix the shelf. Even if I had cut a new shelf that actually fit so that the pegs didn't break, it would have cost more for the wood alone! Also making it match would have cost even more. This was a cheap and inexpensive way to fix the problem fast and easy! 

I found some corner brackets at the second hand store for cheap so had them on hand to use for this "fix." It was really easy to screw them into the walls of the cupboards. I just had to make sure that they were even so that the shelf fit level. 

I can't tell you how nice it is that I don't have to take everything off the top shelf and remove it so that I can get to the Tupperware bins below when I bake. It has been a long 20+ years having to deal with that. Now, I actually can put things with weight on them on the top shelf! 

 I am very blessed to have such a lovely kitchen and home, and now I have a few more functional cupboards. 

 Have a Blessed Day!

Cleaning the Shower By Removing the Shower Doors and Frame

I shared in the past few weeks how I had to fix the shower drain in my bathroom. It was leaking and caused some flooding in the basement while I figured out how to fix the drain. 

I have had to caulk the shower door frame for years. Each year, I have to scrape off the caulk and re-caulk it. When I moved into my home, the rubber base below the shower frame was ripped and missing sections on both the inside and outside. 

Since I was fixing the drain, pipes, and ceiling, I figured I should fix the door frame on the shower door. I also wanted to take the entire thing outside and scrub it clean. I have a product I like called "Tub and Tile Cleaner" by a company called Melaleuca. I took the shower doors out, popped the top frame section off, unscrewed the side pieces screws, and had to take a small knife and slice down between the frame and the shower edges to cut away the silicone caulk. 

Once the edges are removed, the bottom will pop out. I had to use the knife to cut the seal with the silicone. It was a dirty job as I have been in the house over 24 years and I have never taken the frame off to clean under it. 

When the frame was completely off, I took the entire thing out of the house and sprayed it with the product I mentioned and scrubbed it all off. I had to use the knife to scrap off some of the build up and silicone on the metal parts. 

It took me several days to scrape off the silicone caulk on the fiberglass shower. It took me days to try and find replacements for the rubber base sections that were torn and ripped.  I went to the plumbing supply store, Ace Hardware, Home Depot, my mechanic, the glass store in town, and the RV supply store at least 2 times each asking before I pulled it out and after I pulled it out trying to find the exact rubber seal. I then got online and called several plumbing supply companies and checked for hours online. 

I finally gave up. I did try a rubber clamping RV seal but it was a bit thick and made the sides just enough higher that the screws wouldn't line up on the metal frame sides so I was sad that wouldn't work. 

I ended up cleaning the old rubber seals and then caulked the parts back in as they had been. It feels good to have the shower done and clean. It won't last as long as I would like as silicon has a short life with water. 

I finished reinstalling the surround frame for the shower doors and the clean shower doors. The shower looks so good that I don't want to use it and get it dirty! 

 

I am grateful that I was able to fix the drain problem, the flooded basement and pipes, the drywall and paint, and to be able to clean the shower to near new condition!

I feel so blessed to have such a beautiful shower and have so many bathrooms in my home. I am TRULY blessed! 

Have a Blessed Day!

The Pruning Has Begun - The Clippers Worked Great

 

Yesterday, I blogged about putting new hand grips on the pruning clippers. Here is a link to that post.  

Today, I worked on pruning the fruit trees in the front yard. I was able to get the three fruit trees and one of the flowering plum trees in the front yard done. I still have three trees and roses to do in the front yard, and seven in the back.

I had a problem with my electric pruning sheers. I think they need to be sharpened. I bought a longer one at a second hand store last year and used that one, but it is heavier and clunkier, so it was harder to use. I am thinking of pulling out my grinder and sharpening the smaller one tomorrow. 

I went out with Princess Four and she helped for an hour putting branches into cans, but then had school online and a date. I was out in the dark finishing up and filled all the extra garbage cans. I think it went rather fast which was nice. I am hoping that the back trees go as quickly. 

It was a long day and I got a few things off my list which made me happy. I would like to continue getting more off my list, but I am happy to get anything off it at this point. 

Have a Blessed Day!