The life of a junker is WAY less glamorous than people would think. We don’t go to auctions and find things in mint condition at “steal of a deal” prices. It’s often a lot more like this….
Boxes and piles of junk that have to processed. The set of nesting bowls I bought on a whim. They are in good shape..have a USA stamp on the bottom and nest perfectly. Well I don’t know if $3 was a good price and if I can make a profit on them until I look them up.
When looking on Ebay for prices, PLEASE don’t do what some people do….think that the asking price is what they are going to get in real life. If you ever check a price on Ebay, type in the name of of your item then go to the far left column until coming to search criteria. Check the box that says sold items.
For example I got the baseball bat you see on the table in a bundle of yardsticks. I bought the bundle for the yardsticks for $5…BUT now I have this baseball bat. It’s a Louisville Slugger. It’s Henrey Aaron bat. I looks on Ebay. I was all excited…Someone had one listed for $45. YAHOO…Jack pot. Nope. Actual selling price was about $10. Okay. That gives me a better idea of what I can ask for it if I take it to the antique booth. When pricing things, one of the workers there suggested looking up the SELLING price on Ebay and then make it a little less. For me, we don’t really have other baseball stuff in the booth…I’ll be happy if I get $6 for it.
In the picture above in the upper right corner is a box of jars. Did you know that old glass peanut butter jars are something that is selling. I went to a garage sale and bought the jars. They were filled with nails and screws as the previous owner used them in his shop. The jars were COVERED in dirt. I bought them for 25 cents each and will price them at $7 each. The dirt all has to come off first! Oh no glamor in this job at all.
The kitchen island and sink are covered with stuff. The dishwasher is loaded and running.
…and then there’s a box of stuff on the stove. See?
This was the box.
Hubby bought it. Darn I hate glassware. I know nothing about it. First step, to the dishwasher. In the process I realized the cute Scotty dog ash tray was chipped. Dang. That’s the thing I liked.
I am not a glass girl at all so dealing with it is not my favorite! But Hubby buys so what’s a girl to do. By the way…he’s not a glass guy either.
This is my pile of things to price. They’ve been cleaned. I have a guess on how I’ll price them.
Still more things that need attention. Still more things I’ve started to process only to find a nail is sticking out or needs to be put in so those thing have moved out to the garage for Hubby. Yep…he has piles just like mine.
…and look. Hubby bought more insulators…WHY? I don’t know. We already have a box of them that we’ve tried to sell and they didn’t sell. He likes them I think. I’ve done the same thing so I should not be one to complain….but want to take a guess on who is cleaning them…ME!!
Pardon the sink…it’s part of the not so glamorous junking life.
I’m cleaning a picture frame. The frame had to have sat in a kitchen where grease splattered and then dust accumulated onto it. It was gross.
Dust plus grease, in the past has been my undoing. Not anymore. Have you tried the product below. AMAZING!! I love the stuff. I sprayed in on the frame, let it set a minute and wiped. AMAZING! That crap wiped right off. WONDERFUL! My life is changing because of this stuff. I’m thrilled. Honest. It’s called Super Clean and comes in a purple bottle in the cleaning section. I got mine at the farm store. Here’s an Amazon link in case you can’t find it in your area or if you’re a Amazon nut like I am.
I tried it out on my kitchen cabinet around the handles where dirt builds. It was great. I am making this my new go-to product for anything with grease.
So the junking life isn’t all that glamorous. It’s not the beautiful pictures in the “Flea Market Finds” magazines. It’s not the DIY projects on Pinterest. It’s a lot more of junk laying around everywhere that needs to be cleaned or processed.
All I can say is it’s a good thing I like doing this…and thank heavens for audio books. They keep me busy while I do this work. I know most people would cringe….honestly, I love seeing a piece of junk for 25 cents turn into a $7 sale. There’s a bit of a challenge in it all.
The estate sell crew that sorted, organized, and sold items in my parent’s house put everything in the dishwasher including crystal, ceramics, dishes, and some plastics. I was amazed at what they washed and how clean the item become as the hot water was turned off so cold water was used, and air dry.
I am with your husband…I love insulators!! They make great weights in your quilting room to hold down a panto that wants to curl because it was rolled – I used mine the one time I did a panto. You’ve just been marketing them wrong!! LOL
My mom sold at the flea market for years with me as her girl Friday. Glass was her thing. She still knows so much about it. Mine is a drop in the bucket in comparison. I’m curious if the dish on the left is cut crystal or pressed glass. Maybe we’ll get an update…. either way, someone will be happy to turn them into something. Loved this post. Brought back fun memories. Thanks!
I am an insulator lover but from afar as I don’t own any. I just like the look of them I have seen them for sale from time to time over priced for me as I truly have no use or need of them
I just looked up glass insulator ideas on pinterest. There are many ways to use them. They were painted to look like snow men or pumpkins, made into little bird feeders, a lot of different lamps and a couple of different trees. But then it would require a lot more work than just cleaning. Maybe you could group like ones together and show pictures of what people can make from them. Just a thought. Thanks for sharing.
I’m curious about the glass piece with the curled pink edges. That looks like it might be old carnival glass. Some of that (old Fenton) can fetch a good price.
As an interior designer, I can see those glass insulators arranged attractively on a mantel or shelf. You can use risers, small blocks of wood or columns to set them on an raise them to different heights. Use them on a book shelf as a book end. They are pretty colors and cleaned up, will sparkle. Sell the like colors as a group.
There is a lot of work behind the scenes to keep that booth rolling along with stuff.
We’ve been going through my parents house as they moved into assisted living. Alot of stuff with old dirt and grime. Hard to decide what might be worth trying to sell or just take to our local thrift store.