Are You Ready for Christmas?

These girls are keeping me busy these days.  My sister in law, Melissa, took this beautiful picture.  You can see more of her amazing photography here.  

Hi there!

Are you making me a proud yard sale mommy and selling your toys like crazy?  I hope so!  It's time to get rid of everything you have and start fresh for the new year!  If it won't sell now, it probably just isn't going to sell!

Sell now so you have time to just enjoy Christmas with your family.  I'll list things this week but after that, I'm taking the month off.  Decorating, shopping, baking, card making, and just plain enjoying my cozy home and my girls are going to be at the top of my priority list.  Don't let ebay cause Christmas to pass you by!

Speaking of card making, tonight I'm getting our Christmas cards together on Shutterfly.  They're pretty much my favorite cards ever!  Despite the card companies bombarding us every year with deals and steals on cards, we always end up going with Shutterfly Christmas cards.

I always have such a hard time choosing our Christmas card.  It's something I look forward to every year, though, mainly because I know it is a picture I'm actually going to be in!  There doesn't seem to be too many of those...hmm...

I also use Shutterfly to make each girl a "yearbook," a photobook every year that highlights all the pictures and activities we've done in the past 12 months.  My vision is for my girls to head off to college one day and have 18 shutterfly photobooks under their arm, a history of moments both big and little.  The girls love these...and I think they might be their favorite Christmas gift!

I'm pretty excited to get our Christmas photo cards done!  My sister in law, Melissa, graciously took pictures of us over Thanksgiving...she's a pro and they turned out great.  She actually took pictures of the whole family...all 21 of us.   She deserves some kudos for turning chaos into a beautifully and artfully arranged picture!

All of the Shutterfly photo cards are so beautiful, I'm not sure which one to choose...but I'm off to do that now.

I'll be back soon.  Until then, list your little hearts out.  And then, mail each package off, wish it God's speed...then love your kids, warm your home, forget about ebay and enjoy celebrating the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ!

Tuesday's Ebay Selling Tip: Kick the Tires

You gotta kick the tires.  Ok, so this probably goes without saying.  But maybe if I would have done a little more tire kickin' I wouldn't have had such a rough go of things last week.  What do I mean by kickin' the tires?  And what can we learn?  Here you go.

1.  When you're at a yard sale, see if what you are about to buy actually works or has the necessary pieces and parts.  The first step with this is to actually ask the seller if it works, has all the pieces, etc.  My cousin almost bought a wagon this weekend that was BROKEN.  And I can't tell you how many times I've asked a seller to go back in the house and see if she can't find those Pat Pat rocket action figures.

2.  Test your electronic toys BEFORE you sell them.  I am so bad about this.  I always assume it works, but sometimes it just doesn't.  At least if you know, you can be up front with your descriptions and there will be no surprises when your package arrives.  Though I must say, in all my glorious laziness, sometimes my listings say, "This toy may or may not work with batteries.  I don't know though, I haven't tested it!"

3.  Don't feel the need to send your toys with batteries.  You can if you want to, of course, but remember it makes your package heavier to ship (especially D batteries).  It is enough to tell your perspective buyers that the item has been tested, it works, and will require batteries.

4.  If you kick the tires and find something doesn't work or a battery compartment is corroded, don't despair.  Sandpaper is your friend and that is often all it takes to reestablish a working connection.

5.  If you are selling clothes, dress ups, etc., examine your item closely in natural light.  Look for rips, stains, tears.  How many times have I sold something only to find a missed stain when I'm packaging it up?

Do you have any kickin' the tires stories or tips to share?  Please do so in the comments!

My American Pickers

Pumpkin pickers, that is.

Give me a farm and a Carolina sunset in October and I'm a happy mommy.

Give Charlotte a new pair of kicks and a red wagon and she's a happy baby.

Give the big girls the promise of a hayride and what you have is simply the best...night...ever.

This part of Saturday is my favorite.  I love yard sales, but it's the on-a-hayride-watching-wheels-
turning moments that I love the most.  How many more years do I have before she no longer wants to wear her pumpkin bracelet to the pumpkin patch?

Refusing to believe they will ever choose to spend a Saturday night with friends over a Saturday night with mom and dad, I snap pictures of what I know are fleeting moments so I can revisit them again six months from now or a year...or ten years.

Happy pumpkin picking to you and yours.

Saturday's Yard Sale Spoils: O Christmas Tree Edition

Saturday morning I had VERY high hopes.  Two big neighborhood yard sales and one little ol' me.

I can't believe this is all I have to show for it!

Not that I'm not thankful for everything I find.  I am.  But it seemed like I was two minutes too late at every house I would stop at.  Deals were being made everywhere for the items I wanted.  Ugh!  Oh well.  There's always another Saturday morning right around the corner.

I was super excited to buy a fake Christmas tree for five bucks.  My mom has been buying me Hallmark Barbie Ornaments since they first emerged on the scene in the early 90's...and after many years and sometimes multiple Barbies each year I have quite the collection.  My dear husband grumbles each year when our tree is covered in Barbie ornaments.  The girls love this, of course, but he's got enough pink in his life already...he doesn't need it on his Christmas tree too.  So this year we'll put a tree in the girls' room and they can put all of their girly ornaments on it.  I think they'll be thrilled when they hear the news!

I also bought a handful of fifty cent dvd's, a nice collection of Rainbow Fairy Books at 25 cents each, Toddler Wise book so I can brush up on my toddler babywise skills, a couple of loveys, a stroller for Charlotte for Christmas, lots of dress up dresses and a few clothes for the baby.  I also picked up a vintage fisher price little people house which will be delivered to a nephew, some Thomas stuff, a few my little ponies and a few more odds and ends.  I won't even tell you what I DIDN'T get because that will cause me to relive the big fishes that got away and I might get sad.  I hope you had a better Saturday than I did!

What to sell Wednesday: Parts and Pieces and Stuff Like That

What day is it, anyway?  Oh well.

Once you've been at this for a while, you might find yourself with random parts and pieces of things at the bottom of boxes and storage bins.  Or, maybe you bought something thinking it was surely a gold mine, only to find it wasn't worth your time to sell.

Well don't go throwing anything away just yet.  I've got a collection of "randoms" I intend to sell...very soon.  Parts to extremely popular, not sold anymore toys...things like baby doll pacifiers and doors to pirate ships and caps to castles...you get the point.

Now I'm not claiming you'll get rich off a random care bear castle topper or a door to a fisher price pirate ship, but I'll happily pocket ten bucks for each and go on my merry way.  These little trinkets are easy to ship, easy to store, and easy to list, and sometimes you can even set the market and get seemingly outrageous asking prices if you're the only one out there who has one to sell.  You'll likely tap into two buyer markets:  moms looking for a missing part to a favorite toy, or an ebay seller hoping to get that last little piece that will make a complete set.

Things to think about:  research everything.  When you buy a bag and see random stuff in it, spend time searching said random stuff to see if you can find out what it is.  When you identify it, see what others are selling it for and undercut them by a buck so yours will sell first.  And don't list it for 99 cents or something silly like that.  When it comes to random parts and pieces, make your start price what you expect to sell it for, or do a fixed price.  Keep your shipping low since at most these little things will only cost a couple of bucks to ship.