Dime Store Chic

Estate Sale Adventure: The Long Long Trailer

Hello, My Friends!~~~

To beat the oppressive heat that is settling down on the Washington, DC area, I headed off to a garage/estate sale in Arlingto, VA. The sale was advertised as starting at 8:30 and really did sound promising. There was only one tiny ad on Craigslist and nothing in the paper and there were no directional signs.Did they not want anyone at this sale?

When I got there I saw a whole bunch of tables in the small front yard with sheets covering the goods beneath. A man and two men he may have hired to help him were carrying stuff from the house.

I took this stealthy photo for you so you can get an idea of the layout. Clothes hung from the tree and stuff was everywhere.

I had arrived one hour before the advertised start time and decided to wait in my car, drinking tons of water as the heat was rapidly building, until the sale began, ie. hopefully until the sheets were removed from the tables. I hoped I could go into the house, but didn't think so. These yard/estate sales rarely have a "go into the house option".

Soon, another shopper drove up and hopped out of her car. I know that lady and she is very nice and informative, not afraid to give me good tips and info for other sales. I heard her talking to the man bringing things out, and then she walked over to stand by her car.

I left my car to greet her and we stood in the shade chatting. I found out fro her that the family lives in Texas and that they are taking the vast majority of goods from the house down to Texas to re-sell. The stuff in the yard was the "dregs." OK, I have no problem with dregs, dregs are often good and, more importantly, cheap.

Oh, and here is the long, long trailer with all of the "choice" goods bound for Texas inside:

No problem, its their stuff and good luck to them. I, of course, was only interested in the goods they were selling in Arlington, VA.

So the other buyer and I waited and waited. A woman showed up who was involved with the sale and she had brought her quite cute but needy little girl with her. I'm sure it couldn't be helped to tote the child along, but my goodness that child was always falling, tripping, and generally being in her parents and the helpers way. I felt bad for the child and hoped she could find a cool quiet place to hang out and out of the way.

By 8:00, most goods were in the yard and some still in boxes. But the woman told us that they weren't ready yet. In fact they kept squirreling things back into the house that had just been brought out. This wasn't looking well. By a little after 8:00 a few more people had arrived, including a new friend of mine who is a delightful gal and seamtress. At this point someone running the sale decided to take off the tarps. But still, we weren't allowed to shop.

This situation was bringing back bad memories of THIS past sale. All I could think of was, "don't you people wnat to sell your stuff" I mean here are several people standing there willing to shop, and you still say you need more time?"~~~Perhaps I am asking too much. But tomorrow, Saturday, we are having a yard sale at my house that starts early (7 a.m. or earlier, I even advertised early birds welcome) and my overwhelming goal is to sell everything cheap and fast! Isn't that the goal? Well, maybe it is only for me :)

Eventually they decided we could shop. It was quite civilized and in the end I found some nice things. However, many of the items were priced pretty high so I stuck with the $1-$5 items and did find some treasures.

I snuck another photo before I left.

So, there you go, I said I would not go to any more yard/estate sales, but this wasn't too terrible. Never say never.

Oh, and if you live in the DC area and want to come to a fun and HUGE yard sale on Saturday (tomorrow, June 30th) where hardly anything (except for a little furniture) is over 25 cents to a dollar, go to this ad on Craigslist for more info!~~~XXOO, Beth

 

 

Estate Sale Adventure: Good Cop, Bad Cop

Hello, My Friends!~~~

It has been a crazy week! First our son, our one and only child, graduated from high school last Wednesday! The graduation ceremony was held at the Patriot Center on the campus of George Mason University. It was beautiful and of course I cried! Later that night, I volunteered for the all-night grad celebration held at the recreation center next to the high school. I worked from 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday night until 4:30 a.m. Thursday morning. I was pretty much wiped out all day Thursday, grabbing a nap when I could. It was all good, and our son and his classmates had a great time at the party!

So, I rallied by Friday morning and hit two estate sales. The second one was a digger's delight, which are my absolute favorite types of estate sales. The laundry room in the basement was chock full of Christmas decorations and it looked like I was the first one there as the boxes looked untouched. In no time I filled my bag with lots of holiday goodness. I then cruised the rest of the sale looking here and there, finding this and that, filling my bag even more. After about 30 minutes, my bag was full and quite heavy. I was being very careful as most of the goodies inside were glass ornaments. I've learned how to pack a bag with glass ornaments with little to no breakage at the end.

I went to pay after 45 minutes of good shopping. Now, let me give you what I feel is a good piece of estate sale advice: choose your pricer wisely!

At this sale there were two women pricing the items. Most of the things at the sale had no price. That can either be a good or bad thing. I hung around each of the women, casually observing how each one treated the customers and how they priced the goods. It was immediately obvious that one of the women was much nicer and offered better prices than the other one. In fact the "bad cop" was just plain nasty. The people getting her to price things and take the money, were what I call "the usual suspects", the dealers that are always first in line. They obviously knew this woman, Miss Bad Cop, and were willing, for some reason, to put up with her snotty attitude and absurdly high pricing.

The other lady, "Miss Good Cop", had a nice disposition with the customers, and even better, she just wanted to get your money and get you out of there. So when I walked up to her, and opened my bag, she looked inside, took a couple of items out, and then quickly gave me a good price for everything in the bag including the things she took out. So, remember to observe the folks taking your money at estate sales, and you may get the best price.

However, my story doesn't end there. Since the sale was so close to our home, I went back in the afternoon. I found more Christmas, and some goodies I had overlooked. There wasn't the crowd shopping that had been there in the morning. I went to look for Miss Good Cop to pay and found her sitting at a table with Miss Bad Cop. They were both playing with their cell phones and pretty much ignored me for a few minutes. Then Miss Bad Cop asked in her raspy smoker's voice: "Can I help you?" I told her I needed to pay. She ignored me again and started up the cell phone thing again, talking to Miss Good Cop. I was standing closer to Miss Good Cop and kept inching my bag toward her, keeping a steady eye on Miss Bad Cop, praying she wouldn't give me her lousy high prices and nasty attitude. Then good fortune arrived in the guise of one of their workers who summoned Miss Bad Cop away. Yay! Then Miss Good Cop gave me another good price for the bag full, but told me to go to the other room to pay another lady. I went to where I was directed and there was Miss Bad Cop at the table! Dun dun Dunnnn!

I told her what I owed her, and she nastily asked me: "Well, what do you have?" Fearing she would search my bag and raise the price (which would have been wrong since I already had a price, but I wouldn't have put it past her) I said: "Christmas stuff." She wrote that on her receipt pad and I gave her the money. It took her forever to give me my change and receipt at the some time she was giving the "stink eye" to a man behind me who was moving furniture out of the house. It even looked like she was frozen. I finally had to bring her out of her stupor and say: "I just need my change and receipt and I'll get out of your way." Fortunatley, she complied and I was out of there. Whew!

Here is a shot of the first wave of goodies I bought, just to give you an idea of what I carried around for 45 minutes before paying, and because after all of the text in this post, you should have at least one photo of something relevant to the post :) It's actually a partial photo as I pretty much dumped everything on the table. There's a few other, heavier, items not pictured.

So, just remember to scope out who's taking the money, if there's more than one person doing so, and decide who'll give you the best prices. Good advice, I think. Good luck out there!~~~XXOO, Beth

Lots of Shiny and Bright In Beth's Bagz TODAY!

Hello, My Friends!~~

I am delighted to announce the addition of all freshly made goodies in Beth's Bagz etsy shop today! There is lots of shiny and bright!

Vintage loving cup with a bottle brish tree, corsage and LOTS of shine!

 

A very vintage baby boot ornament!

And another!

 

A silly snow kid pin cushion!

A sweet elf and candy canes wreath with over the top bling!

A tote for "hers"!

These goodies and SO much more are in Beth's Bagz etsy shop today!~~~And on anitehr happy note, our son is graduating from High School tomorrow! I vividly remember his first day of pre-kindergarten. I will try not to cry, but I won't promise it!~~~XXOO, Beth

 

Beth's Bagz Re-Opening TOMORROW!

Hello, M Friends!~~~

I am thrilled to bits to announce the grand re-opening of Beth's Bagz etsy shop on Tuesday, June 19th at 7 a.m. EST!~~~I will be stocking Beth's Bagz with fresh new totes, pin cushions, corsages, and 4th of July and Christmas decor made from vintage materials! If you have a minute please stop by!~~~Thanks so much!~~~XXOO, Beth

 

June 19th Beth's Bagz Re-Opening!

Hello, My Friends!~~~

Next Tuesday, June 19th, I will open Beth's Bagz with lots of new goodies for Fourth of July, Christmas (yes, Christmas, why not?!), and every day!

Here are a couple sneak peeks for you! Oh, and for those of you who wondered what I did with the cute, but flawed, face teapot I found recently...one of these photos may answer that question :)

Totes and vintage fabric creations for every day and holidays!

 

 

Sparkle and over-the-top vintage craziness!

See you on Tuesday, June 19th. I'll start listing in the morning! Thank YOU!!!~~~XXOO, Beth

99 Cents

Hello, My Friends!~~~

I am helping a very good friend of mine sell back list from her on-line shop, and have listed (and will continue to list) a whole host of vintage-inspired decorative goodies on ebay with a starting bid of 99 cents!

Here is a sampling!...

Adorable Victorian-inspired nesting blocks!

Glittery bunny candle holders!

 

A quartet of tin "sunny" signs!

Lots of big wooden primitive stockings!

Lots and lots of vintage springtime images postcard ornaments!

I will be listing more cute and fun decorations this week, all bids starting at 99 cents! if you have a minute stop by my ebay (Bethsbagz)listings to see!~~~XXOO, Beth

Don't Believe What You Read

Hello, My Friends!~~

Please allow me to interject a strong reality check into an estate ad I found on Craigslist.

I will put the exact wording of the ad in quotes and then add my own words as to what the true reality of the sale was. OK? Here we go...

"I am helping an old friend get ready to move out of his parents home."

The person helping the old friend showed up an hour before the sale was to start, bitching and moaning about how much there was to do. Her friend was a very elderly man who had done the lion's share of bringing the stuff out onto the lawn before she got there (I and others offered to help, but he declined)--and did I mention the estate sale was brought out onto the front yard? OK, let's continue...

"60 years plus boxes of stuff inherited by an aunt. Lots of vintage stuff."

Really? All I saw was a card table and larger table with very few items on them as well as a few boxes in the driveway.

"Old toys from 30s and 50s."

There was one block puzzle.

"Old greeting cards, catalogues, scrapbooks, all kinds of old paper items."

One box. Meh.

"Lots and lots of vintage kitchen items - dishes, bowls, 2 sets of vintage silver-plate flatware, vases, 1950s refrigerator, 1950s tv cabinet, old tools, handmade ceramic dishes and decorations from the 50s."

I saw one box of kitchen stuff and 2 bowls. There wasn't a refridgerator or TV cabinet in sight.

"vintage craft supplies,"

This is why I went. I found one baggie of vintage crepe paper. Nice paper but I expected more craft supplies if they had a special mention in the ad.

"children's books from the 30s, 40s 50s, some nice costume jewelry, a few pieces of old mexican sterling jewelry, remains of a cup and saucer collection all from Europe and England, some old china dishes, old purses, a few old doll dishes from the 30s,"

Hardly any of these items were in the sale.

"lots and lots of vintage Xmas"

Three boxes of ornaments do not count, again IMHO, as lots and lots of vintage Xmas.

"some Easter"

NO Easter.

"no Halloween"

There was one Halloween costume. And why would you mention "no Halloween" in the first place?

"figurines, old linens -s one very nice, old barware including a nice teak ice bucket, cocktail shaker with matching glasses, pottery, clothes and lots more. We are still digging out and pricing."

OK, so you probably get the point that this sale was a dud. It was and it wasn't. I found some nice things but the prices were OK. However, since they had the sale in the front yard, the woman running it told all of us standing there that they were not ready and we couldn't shop until she said so. When she "said so" it was like a feeding frenzy. One buyer I saw there likes everything I like so we had to agree to share. I saw the one cool piece of vintage fabric there being snatched up just as I turned to look at it. I really hated that the sale was in the front yard. The ad drew people there but it was just too mis-leading.

The worst thing was the woman placed a second ad touting the fact that they had been cleaning out and pricing for a year! Really? I mean...REALLY? A few boxes and last minute pricing, that we watched her do, does not in my estimation warrant a year's worth of work. What was this angry harrassed woman trying to prove in her ad?

Here is how the ad ended...

"We are pricing and putting stuff in boxes. On Saturday morning we will haul out the boxes and bags and unpack. As soon as we've done that we will open for business. House is at the end of the street with a dumpster in front of it. PLEASE DON'T CALL or email. We are too busy getting ready to answer."

Clearly she felt put upon by her friend, but since I have seen this woman waiting to get into other estate sales in the area, I feel she got anything really worth getting for herself and her "penance" was having to help her friend sell what was left. That's my opinion, of course.

I do know one thing though, I will NEVER go to another estate sale that is on someone's front yard. It's far easier, believe me, to go on the hunt from room to room.~~~XXOO, Beth

 

On Vacation and A Sneak Peek

Hello, My Friends!~~

Beth's Bagz is now on vacation until mid-June (date TBA)! But here is a sneak peek of some of what I will offer you when Beth's Bagz re-opens!

Lots of vintage shiny!

Vintage fabrics and cute smiling faces!

And speaking of cute smiling faces, this is an adorable teapot with a few tiny flaws that I found at an estate sale today. I adore her freckles! I may use her in a future project!~~~XXOO, Beth