Time is money when picking

Today I went to Salvation Army to drop off a big bag of stuff, so while I'm there and if there's parking, I pop in. I did post on my Facebook page the collage of  things I picked but for some reason it doesn't show up on my laptop. Only this lemon reamer photo showed up. 

What I didn't say in my Facebook post was that when resellers go picking we don't engage in small talk or make eye contact, not because we're being rude but because time is money so getting to as many stores as you can in one day it important. I'm at the Salvation Army store and start going through a new cart that rolled out. Another woman was looking through it too. I asked if she was a picker and she wasn't. OK that was my mistake! She started following me around the store holding up just about everything telling me how cute it was. I finally had to just leave because I couldn't focus on anything. 

I then went to the Goodwill store and I only stop if I get a good parking spot. It's a really small store and they don't get any really good stuff so if there isn't parking right in front it's not worth stopping. Parking on the side streets is just too risky.

I did find a few fun things that will be easy to flip. I picked up three small white restaurant style bowls because I like that type of dish ware.  As I was waiting for a man who was having a fit at the check out counter about why they wouldn't take a cabinet he took apart (note thrift stores will not take a cheap cabinets that they have to put back together) to finish yelling, I did the comps on the bowls and found out those white bowls (sorry can't get the photos to down load on to my laptop) sell for $15 - $30 each and I was paying .99 cents. I had plans to keep them but decided best to flip them. 

Finding Movations

I like to take the boys for a walk when I can since it really helps them sleep or at least take really long naps. :) Being an older neighborhood there are a lot of roses are all blooming. Yellow roses being one of my favorites so I always stop of take a picture.

It's been a very unproductive few weeks since I finished up with running the thrift store. I still have boxes everywhere and piles of things I need to decide if I should keep or not. I'm slowing once again running out of time. With the demands of having to babysit during the day it really drains me so when I get home I just don't have the energy to make all those decisions. 

I've been listening to Daily Refinement's (Chris Lin) podcasts and group zoom meetings which focuses on selling on Ebay, not that I plan to do that but for the information they share about running an online stores. One thing that is talked about a lot is the the amount of items you list each day will equal the amount your store will sell or make at the end of the year. Posting items once you get your system down takes just a few minutes. They even break it down if you take an extra minute (wasted time) to post how much that will negatively effect your bottom line. I find it very interesting there's a real mathematic formula to it all. 

For the past few days I make a goal to get 25 things either pack, put in a pile to be sold off at Cottage Crafts or given away. It's not as easy as it sounds to do. I downsized so many times that what I have in my kitchen I use all the time so I can't pack any of it up yet. Boxes are just sitting in the kitchen waiting. It's my craft supplies, the ones that have survived all the purges I've done in the past few years, I have to do something with. I'm working on trying to use up what craft supplies ( like paint and card stock)  that can't go to CCB by making cards. I have this wild idea of stocking up my card rack at CCB and make enough of a profit to donate the money to a charity helping the war refugees. I have a goal to do at least 25 things in the process of making the cards, like making all the backgrounds, cutting everything into the right size etc...

So far I've used up several bottle of paint and one ream of glossy paper. Baby steps I know, but I'm getting there. The Daily team talks about getting up at 4:30 am to start their day (most have families still at home) so I'm trying to get out of bed a few minutes early - this post is one of those things to do early. Annie was always the reason for getting out of bed early and start moving before dawn. Now without her, I still wake up early but getting out of bed isn't so easy. 

Off to finish 24 other things before heading out to baby-sit the wild ones. :)

Mysteries of local thrift stores

 This has always been a mystery to me about the local senior center thrift store. I know it's more a social program and not a money maker so it's managed in a different way. I don't visit it too often (only open two days a week) because there's never any "good stuff" to buy.  The shelves are always stocked with the same type of things that don't resell well. I know they take in way more donations than my old store did so I'm just curious as to what happens to the items that pickers like me are looking for. I did hear through the grapevine that the volunteers get to pick the good stuff so that could be why I never find anything. The people that are shopping there are the senior senior types (very elderly) so I was wondering if that's their mission, to provide a safe shopping experience for the very elderly and low income. I had several ladies that were regulars at the store that just came in everyday, sometimes twice a day just pass the time. 

Using up paint

As I go through all my art supplies to sell off at Cottage Crafts in Campbell, I have some things that aren't good enough to go into the ZZ booth. I have a lot of bottles of paint (and I can't remember why I have so many) that aren't full enough to resell. So instead of tagging and packing, I decided to try and use up what I had and make backgrounds.  Since I have the paint and the paper (trying to use up all my glossy paper) I spent the day making a huge pile of backgrounds. I have been thinking about stocking my card rack at Cottage Crafts and donating all the profits to the war relief efforts. It's getting a little challenging as I have packed up most of stamps so I have to use what I can find. 

Free Style Picking

Since I had to drop stuff off at the Salvation Army store, I decided to do a little free style picking. I normally don't find anything at the thrift stores here in Alameda to flip, so I don't brother to stop in. Not sure if it's because there are a lot of pickers or because the big boys (Goodwill & Salvation Army) now have online stores to sell the good stuff. Could also be because of the area, there isn't a lot of high ticket items being donated. It's very hard to find anything at the thrift stores and I'm not one to drive around to all the garage sales. Today I found this pitcher, which when I picked it up the weight made me take a closer look. The markings on the back (made in Portugal) and the color I decided for $1.99 it was worth buying. If nothing else it would add a little color to my booth. I checked it out when I got home and the comps on it came up at $900.00. Seriously people pay that much for a little yellow pitcher? It's headed off to my booth at Craft Crafts but no way will I tag it that high!

Resellers on alert.

It was interesting that I stumbled upon a you tube video about a local ebay seller (Christopher Lin) who got his store shut down. He didn't do anything illegal or underhanded but it boils down to, if you sell anything on ebay, you have to have a line item receipt for everything if asked for it. For many who sell second hand stuff, they won't have those type of receipts. 

He had a 2.5 million dollar ebay business (he was a big fish in a big pond) and also has a very large following on his YouTube channel Daily Refinement. That channel is all  about how to sell successful on ebay, which he did until a few weeks ago. It's very interesting if you're into reselling and what it means for anyone in the business.  People are guessing with all the smash and grabs happening, the high end stolen goods are being sold somewhere and to get top dollars, ebay is a good place to do that.  

There was talk of maybe he would open a retail thrift store because his inventory is so huge, so of course people thought I should contact him. I really thought about it and I know I could design a very cool store for him but it would have to be in Oakland, his home base and that's a hard NO for me. The main reason I'm moving and throwing my life into the unknown is because of Oakland, which is pretty much a lawless town and it's spilling over into Alameda. As much as I would like the challenge of opening a for profit thrift store, living in Oakland just isn't going to happen. 

Turkey Trot

This is how you do a real Turkey Trot! This guy has been hanging around the neighborhood so no surprise to see him out and about. 

I'm not fan of having my phone out when walking. I think it's years of walking with Annie and I had to pay attention to what was ahead of us. Annie didn't like raccoons so if I even thought one was head of us, I would go in another direction. I also had to be aware of other dogs and people. Not that Annie would react but if they weren't paying attention we were coming down the street, they would and then Annie would go into protection mode. I'm very surprised how many people  here are walking glued to their phones. With the increase in muggings here, it's just not a wise thing to do at all!

On our morning walk

Henk is getting sleep trained = having a set schedule when to nap each day. So part of that is going for a long walk during the day after the first nap since it helps him sleep at night. Our normal route is walking down to the small grocery store to check out what's new and for me to get a drink. I have it dialed in now to carry $1.05 in change for my ice tea. Then we walk around the neighborhood for an hour, stopping to check out the flowers or anything interesting. Today we got lucky and saw a monarch butterfly. I haven't seen one in a long long time. 

Eggs made Mees's Way

I'm always surprised by how much Mees doesn't eat when his parents make him breakfast but he'll eat whatever I cook. I'm not sure if it's because I sit and talk to him during the meal or he just likes my cooking better. :)  I do had extra spices, better cheese and I try not to over cook the scramble eggs. The spices make all the difference according to Mees. :)

Cara Cara Oranges

I'm not naturally a morning person but after years of waking up before dawn for Annie, I got use to it. Making coffee is also one of those things I do, not because I like coffee but because of the memories and morning routine it provides. 

I'm a sort of foodie but growing up in California it's a natural thing for most of us. Farmer markets with real local produce (there's a story behind that) are very common. When I'm down in Carmel, we're very close to the local farmers because of all the farm land that surrounds it. I didn't know much (and still don't) about oranges but at a farmers market I picked up some Cara Cara oranges and found I like this variety. It's also a favorite of Mees but he's seriously more into banana bread. So well Cara Cara are in season this is my quick morning breakfast before heading over for grammy duty. 

Cottage Crafts - My Booth

You may wonder what I do with all the things I pick at auctions and garage sales.  I'm still old school and have a consignment booth at Cottage Crafts in Campbell. Tami and George are very good people and if it wasn't for them I wouldn't be able to keep the picking side of my life going.  Tami does a great job displaying everything I drag in. When I moved I was too far away to take care of the booth myself so Tami offered and she's done a wonderful job. She has free range to use whatever I have to fill in gaps around the store or use as displays. This bench is now at the store and I think is going in the front. Cottage Crafts is a very cute store and you never know what treasures you'll find. 

 

Updated Plans for May 2022

Thank you to everyone for the good luck wishes as I set off on another adventure or a better title - lack of a plan. 
This past year has flown by in a blur. Losing Annie did hit me very hard and even a year later I still miss her just as much.
So the current plan is that I will take Henk down to the Carmel house with me for two weeks. His mom has a business trip for a week and I thought it would be easier for me to be down in Carmel with the baby, well better for me. He does sleep well at night when he gets a good long walk in and down there it's much nicer and safer to do. He's a solid guy so I don't think we will be walking on the beach during low tide since carrying him up and down the stairs will be way too much for me. I do plan to stroller hike the trails along the cliffs and maybe even go to the state park. After that I hope to be house sitting up in Tahoe for a few months or maybe even Hawaii. Who knows where I'll ended up?

Farewell Flowers and finally clean up.

Very thoughtful volunteers today gave me some good-bye flowers since today is my last day working at the store.  It's been very busy for me getting things cleaned up and all the things I put aside to use later for displays moved out so my assistant has a clean slate to work with. My creative brain works totally different than his so having piles of random stuff laying around drives him nuts. Place looks like it did before the doors opened a year ago! Will miss my volunteers - great group of ladies!

The packing has started.

It's getting super real now that I HAVE TO start packing and deciding where in the world I'll end up. Not to mention getting my taxes done and all those other life things one has to deal with. Since I've  purged so many times in the last 12 years I don't have a lot and what I do have I use so I couldn't really pack. This time around I don't want to pay a lot for storage so I'm letting go of some of my bigger pieces of furniture as well. Makes me sad to do so but I think it's time. There are a lot of memories attached to each piece and if I knew where I was going, it would be a different. I tell myself this is my Swedish Death Cleaning phase of life, getting rid of things so my children won't have to. At the store I've talked to a lot of people who are donating doing this. It's sad for us but we know in the long run it will make life easy for those who have to deal with our estates after we die.  

I do like the apartment I currently have, the layout is nice and until a month ago I had no neighbors. Alameda being right next to Oakland with it's crime rate out of control, just isn't the best place for me to live and I don't want to get use to it. Fear of not being able to go out at night or safely parking my car anywhere 
isn't the kind of life I want.  Please send positive vibes my way, I sure could use the help! :)

Taking a good photo

One thing I have't been able to teach my assistant or any of my volunteers to do is on how to take a good picture. Since we have to post photos on our social media pages, it's important we get good shots that are interesting. I think with all the years of scrapbooking and blogging, I've learned a thing or two. There are times I walk by something and see that the lighting is good on a display so will take several shots. There are days it's so busy I miss the light window the store gets and by the next day the items have sold. 

 I do miss the old days of using a digital camera but my iPhone does take good photos and much faster to send the image to my marketing person. 

Using Google Lens app

It took over two days to process all the items that came in from the Oakland's white elephant sale leftovers. Everyone said I should go but there wasn't anytime I could without having a baby in tow. I did hear that the prices where pretty high this year so I didn't think I was missing anything.  Going through the leftovers that still had the prices on them, I have to agree that anything of value was at the high end. I think that with Google lens and those other pricing apps, they used that to base their pricing. There wasn't anything super good in what we got but that didn't surprise me as the Elephant volunteers get first crack at what can be taken after the sale. Everything is what I would call fillers, to help round out our displays. We got a box of pewter items (in the photo) and that made a very nice display since we would never get that many pieces in at one time.  

At the store it's a fine line on what things can be priced at. I'm use to the pickers scanning everything because it's business for them. It's when the volunteers get worked up that something isn't priced close to the retail price. What something can be resold for is different than what it retails new for. Clothes are especially hard with some brand costing a lot new but there's no secondary market for them.  

My assistant who is taking over my job when I leave next week signed up for worth point which gives you what something actually sold for recently.   We did check a few things from the elephant sale just to see and it proved that they were in fact checking recent sales of some items. It's too bad for the resellers but it is a fundraiser for the Oakland Museum and they do put in a lot of work to raise the millions they make on the sale.  

White Elephant Leftovers

Yesterday the store picked up the left overs from the Oakland White Elephant sale.  It's something that's only open to non profits. We only had my assistant's small truck and limited amount of time to pick up. Most to the other groups who have done this before rented semi trucks, yes there's that much stuff left over! Everything is wrapped and boxed with the label on top of what department it came from. There's no cherry picking, you have to take the whole box. It was very long and physical 12 hour day. It was also very hot especially being out back in the parking lot. Every surface in the back room is covered with stuff and today will also be another long day of cleaning and tagging. When I got home I took an Advil because I didn't want to be woken up with cramps.  

There wasn't anything over the top (those got picked during the actual sale to the public) but overall it was nice enough items to fill up our shelves. I did invite the resale shop down the street to go through the boxes of things my store wasn't going to take. I was surprised they took as much as they did but I did save us from having to haul off those boxes. Today the plan is to clean everything, tag and make room out in front of the store. 

Mr Stray

I know better than to feed a stray cat but I thought giving him a place to nap off the ground wouldn't be breaking the rules. When I first moved here a year ago there were cat fights every night, not sure this was a the guy but I'm pretty sure this is his territory. Living in the Cupertino Hills for over 11 years I only saw a cat once outside. With all the coyotes and other big game hunters living in the hills, it was a very rare sighting to see anything small. After many months of the foot stool being outside Mr Stray is finally use it. Nice to see he likes it before I move out. 

Creative Challenge

As I wind down from working at the store, it makes me a little sad the "look and feel" of the store will change. There are a lot of arm chair quarterbacks who like to "play" dress up but aren't there everyday to make sure things are kept up. 

Unlike traditional stores I never know what will be donated so the displays change daily. One day we may get all clothes and the next day vintage items from years of traveling the world. One week we got two truck loads of books. One was from a photographer and her coffee table book collection, which just flew out the door! 

I did a wall of empty frames (not a new design idea) because frames are $$$$ so artists come in all the time looking for a deal and seeing them on the wall really inspires even non artists.

Yesterday several pieces of wire art was donated. This face is very cool but I know if I left it where people could touch it, it would get pulled out of shape. So getting the ladder out I put it inside one of the empty frames high up. This is one of the things I'll miss the most about my job, the daily creative challenge of making thing look good.

Depth of Knowledge

At the store we get asked all the time about product.  We did get (sorry didn't get a photo) two Le Creuset STYLE dutch ovens. All I knew about it was that it was a give away some company gave their employees.  We did do a search on it just to be sure it wasn't the high end pans. I'm guessing it was a cheap knock off made to look like Le Creuset. 

The inside looks as if it was sprayed on, not baked. I wouldn't cook with it but it would look nice in a staged home. 

Now the one in the photo, is marked Staub and the comps are all over the board on it.  Our consigner is going to research it some more to see if it's worth her listing it.  

It was a teaching moment, as my volunteers wanted to know why I thought this one is the real thing and the other wasn't. Being able to compare the real and the fake helps. Since I own a set of Le Creuset I also know what the inside should look and feel like. 

In this job (picking)  what they call "depth of knowledge" is important and it's only from years of experience do you get it. Not that I'm an expert in anything (I'm not) but I know enough to know if a profit can be made.