I'm pretty sure I'll take that title back at some point but for now it stands true.
Story time!
My first estate sale was 2 weeks ago. I was actually at a local antique shop and saw a handwritten advertisement for a local estate sale and it was ending in 45 minutes.
I high-tailed it to the event and was slightly disappointed. I guess I always expected estate sales to be a bit more ...... cheap? I don't know. Are they usually? The estate sale team seemed to have the majority of their items priced at about what they'd go for on eBay from people who thrift and try to turn a profit. I was getting discouraged 'til I came across an old green vintage box from the '60s packed to the brim with old-ass postcards. I knew I was running low on time and I was the only one there aside from a middle-aged woman who wanted to talk me up and down about Kennedy (my newborn daughter), who was snoozing away happily in my baby wrap.
I need to sidebar for a second.
I used to be one of those people who would try to talk to you about your baby. I now see why, oftentimes, people were short and sweet or just flat out cold. I love babies. In fact, I have two of them. They're hellions but I adore them. Sometimes I just want to get in and get out and I'm getting to the point where I am absolutely sick and tired of people asking me 50 million questions about my baby like they've never seen one before. Then turning to my 3-year-old and asking her a million questions about what it's like to be a big sister. Before having kids, I'd get the hint if someone didn't want to talk about their baby. I'd move on. But now it seems I was one of the only people who'd catch the hint. I try to be as direct and nice as I can be but make it obvious I have things to do. Why do people keep talking to me when it's obvious I need to get going?!
Sidebar over.
So this lady, who I'm sure was fully aware of the time constraints, kept talking to me about her own kids and nieces and nephews and all their kids. I nodded politely and made a comment here or there but overall I kept moving. She followed me. Talk about obnoxious.
I was carrying the box of postcards, debating in my head if I wanted to pay the $12 and try to sell the postcards on Etsy or eBay. Then Kennedy started to whine and grumble. (Her nickname is "Grumbles" for this very reason).
At this point the lady had followed me down to the basement but was finally leaving me alone. Kennedy began to cry harder. I knew I had to feed her. I found a chair in the darkest corner and began to nurse her. I decided this was likely one of the lowest points of my life: Sitting in a dead woman's mildew-ridden basement with my tit out with only crickets and spiders for company and trying to console an angry newborn while I contemplate the purchase of an overpriced box of postcards.
What had my life come to?
Thankfully Kennedy finished quickly and I was able to leave without disturbing the estate sale team's time.
My second estate sale was this past Saturday.
I saw the listing on my local Craigslist around 1:30pm. The sale was going on about 25 minutes away from my home and was going on until 4:00pm. I decided I had enough time this go 'round to actually look at things, but I had my oldest daughter with me instead of her spending the day with her grandma.
Sigh.
I managed to get the kids and myself dressed and out the door in a little under 20 minutes. Record time. I deserved a cookie for that miracle.
When we arrived, I noticed that a lot of the items in this estate sale were, again, overpriced. Or so I assumed. Lots of breakable glassware and kitchen items and a million wicker baskets. Why so many baskets? What do you put in all of them? All your ridiculous kitchen pieces?
I wandered to the back, carrying the baby in my baby wrap and trying desperately to make sure my 3-year-old didn't touch anything. I managed to back into a shelf full of breakables with my own ass and almost broke a ton of overpriced crap but thankfully got away unscathed. Of course my child called me out on it.
I came across a $5 with two interesting objects.
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| Not the exact item I saw - this is from Google |
This Mickey Mouse pin seemed to be pretty old and possibly valuable. A quick Google search brought up little to no profit if the pin was being sold for $5. What a disappointment and a rip off. I'm learning quickly ... to be cynical. Or is it a realist?
The next item that caught my eye was one I ultimately purchased.
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| Again, this is from Google. I'm lazy. |
What is this?
Well, it appears to be an antique/vintage attachments case for a Singer sewing machine.
It was on the $5 table. I decided to take a gamble and buy it. My internet was being an asshole and didn't wanna load and the back room I was in was without air conditioning and I thought I was gonna have a heat stroke so I grabbed it and went on my merry way.
We decided to move to the upstairs.
Wow, talk about stuffy and hot. You'd think if you were having an estate sale you'd at least make it appealing enough that your visitors/potential buyers weren't roasting in your upstairs bedrooms.
I found a bedroom full of clothes and went to town researching (I had better service with my phone in this room). In the meantime my oldest was lolly-gagging around and trying to play with everything. I was losing my mind. My poor tiny baby was sweating profusely since she's against my body in the wrap. I decided that I'd have to hurry.
I came across a couple pairs of vintage Levi's Dockers and they're currently up for sale on my eBay page along with a pair of Vintage Dickie's pants.
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| Finally - an actual photo I took. |
I bought four pairs of them and received a small discount at checkout. They came to $2.50 a piece and I was quite proud considering my local Goodwill charges $4.79 for a pair of pants. It turns out my uncle didn't agree... he said the Dockers are a hard and slow sale and I might make a small profit. The Dickie's weren't great either.
Damnit.
Moving on, I found a very interesting pair of vintage men's shoes. I'm into vintage things, can you tell? Anyway, a quick Google search told me I could get as much as $40-$60 for them so I decided to gamble for $3. They're currently up on my eBay for $45.99 after I spiffyed them up a little bit. Here they are in all their glory:
Nice, huh? I thought so.
All in all, I was happy with my purchases. I'm still researching the sewing machine parts. It looks like I might be able to sell them for around $25-$30 on eBay if I'm lucky. Not a bad profit. Wish me luck on that. I also bought some vintage Old Spice after shave bottles.... I bought five of them @ $1 a piece. The biggest one looks to be selling for around $25-$45 on eBay. Again, not a bad profit. I'm hoping to get that one up soon. I did end up buying what I thought was a vintage quilt but I was told it was quite new and just vintage-inspired. Bummer. I paid $10 for it and that's a good price if I wanted to keep it but I'm hoping to flip it.
On to the next sale!
