Apron Thrift Girl

Share Exchange Clothing Swap

2012-01-27T05:24:34-08:00

We are lucky to have what we call The Share Exchange in Santa Rosa, California. This is a fantastic and inspiring model that includes frugality, thrifty living and community building in the Share Exchange.

Here's what they are about:

"The Share Exchange Innovation and Incubation Center is Sonoma County’s first coworking space. We offer an affordable place to work during the day and hold community events in the evening.

In addition to having a physical cowork and event space, we are big proponents of LOCAL and SHARING. Often these things can save money and resources.

As such, we are home to the first Made Local Marketplace where everything in our store is made here in Sonoma County. We represent almost 200 local artisans!

If you are short on money, you'll be interested in the Sonoma County Time Exchange which is an hour-for-hour exchange of services.

We find effective resource sharing tools and promote them locally:

Rentalic -- peer to peer sharing of goods

Urban Garden Share -- matching urban farmers with land owners

Neighborhood Fruit -- helps you find and share fruit locally

Santa Rosa Tool Library -- a local lending library for all kinds of tools

This coming Saturday they are having a Clothing, Jewelry, Book and Exercise Gear Exchange. For a small fee of $5.00 you can bring a bag of good, usable items and trade them for something New To You.

I love the entire concept of Share Exchange and hopefully will attend the Swap this Saturday.

Do you have something like this in your community?

Store Closing Sales

2012-01-26T06:02:03-08:00

Various Flea Market / Craft Fair Supplies

There are those moments while thrifting that I really try to suppress some of my emotions. I do this often at Estate Sales. When I arrive at a home of someone who has died you see their entire life around you. You see their clothing still hanging in the closet, you see their collection of perfume they may have had since they were a young bride, or there may even be food still in the pantry. I do try to connect with the previous owner and piece together a little of their life in my mind. I also whisper small words of gratitude as I shop when I find something that is dear to me. I don't shop in an oblivious bubble that these things didn't once belong to someone full of life.

Today I stopped by a toy store in Petaluma that is closing it's doors in the next few weeks. I love to shop a Store Closing sale and yet at the same time, I don't like it. It's so sad to see someones dream and passion end. I realize that sometimes they go on to better things but often, especially in this economy, they close because they can't stay in the black. Each time a physical store closes, we lose something that is part of our local community.

With that said though, Store Closing sales can be a very good source for inventory, fixtures and supplies. The items above: spinning rack, bracelet display, ring display, jewelry holder, and table sign holders came to $20. They will be a part of my upcoming Flea Market booth.

The thing that I try to do when shopping at a family estate run sale and a Store Closing sale is to be respectful and kind. They deserve that much.

How to find a Store Closing Sale?

A great source for finding Store Closing sales is Craigslist. I simply type in Store Closing into the search bar and typically 5-10 listings appear. Sometimes you can get an idea of price in the individual listing. Another suggestion is reading your local paper, especially if the establishment has been in the community for years. The other way is by word of mouth. What's been your best find from a Store Closing sale?

By the way, the store in Petaluma has a lot of Manequin supplies which are great when taking photos of clothes. If you'd like the address, please email me.

Did you enter for the Shoppee App Giveaway?

Here are the winners:

Here are your random numbers:

12 domestic diva 
21 Pamela 
27 JosephineTomato
19 Amy Stark
5 Leah
2 Karen Therese
10 Melissa
24 Karen
11 Shana Stein
23 Heather

Timestamp: 2012-01-26 13:46:38 UTC

If the winners could email me, I'll send you your free codes for the App.

Here are your random numbers:

Timestamp: 2012-01-26 13:46:38 UTC

Thrift Share Monday - January 23

2012-01-23T07:15:28-08:00

Cathrineholm Bowls

It was a very wet weekend in Sonoma County. After a couple months of sunny and sometimes warm days the rain was very welcomed. It also meant that there were only a few sales to attend. I did go to one on Friday where I found a set of Cathrineholm Lotus Bowls.

Set of 3

They are in beautiful condition, so yellow and very cheerful. They can do really well on eBay and Etsy. This set on eBay sold for $172. Some of the rarer colors are the blue & white, pink & white and orange & white. I think this set might do well because it includes 3 pieces.

Mercury Glass Beads

These were from a few weeks ago but I found them in my Office Reorganization of 2012 and just can't resist how beautiful they are.

Last week I decided to simply clear my desk off and ended up rearranging my entire office. Does that happen to any of you? I do like the change though and each step forward with organization helps me feel more efficient in my job.

This is my first full week back to work since the children got out for winter break in December. Cerys finally goes back to school and I can finally start working on eBay again. I posted a recipe on Flavorstitch for an Immune Boosting Smoothie that I gave to Cerys every day.

Here's to a productive and healthy week for all of us.

Did you go thrifting this weekend?

Thrift Share Monday celebrates the Art of Thrifting. As a community of readers and bloggers we are able to connect through the process of buying second hand, selling and sharing.

We Thrift - We Share

Here are some guidelines if you would like to join Thrift Share:

Your Thrift Share Monday blog post should include your thrifted finds from the weekend.
Create a blog post with photos of your items.
Link your Thrift Share Monday post back to Apron Thrift Girl.
Link to your Thrift Share Monday post on Apron Thrift Girl using inlinkz below.
If you participate with Thrift Share Monday regularly, please add a button to your side bar so that we can build our Thrift Share Community.

Don't forget to visit Her Library Adventures for Flea Market Finds.

Lenka - Everything at Once

2011-10-27T09:44:32-07:00

This is dedicated to those of us that connect to Barbara Sher's definition of a Scanner. I heard this song for the first time early in the week and can't get it out of my head.

I'm sure any scanner can relate to wanting to do everything all at once.

Lenka is a fabulous musician that I discovered on Pandora.

October ReSellers Listing Challenge - Week 4

2011-10-26T06:32:48-07:00

Apron Thrift Girl's - ReSellers Listing Challenge

Are you ready for week 4 of ATG's - ReSellers Listing Challenge?

Here's what I'd like you to do in order to take part in the challenge:

Comment and tell us your Listing Challenge Goal.
Add a link to your ReSelling Venue/Store. (optional)
Begin to List your items - don't forget to tally up your listings since items hopefully will start to sell.
Grab a Button and spread the word. We want to motivate & inspire.
Check in every Tuesday until November 1st. Share your progress in the comments.
Share your link every Tuesday to show us how busy you've been. (optional)
On November 1st, share whether you've reached your goal and if you wish, share how many of your Listing Challenge items have sold.

Button

This challenge isn't just about what you can list and how many items you might sell. It's about taking a step back and reviewing your business.

Last February I realized how inefficiently I work. I can't tell you how easily distracted I am. Seriously, just that soft ping of an email coming in send me to my inbox to see what has arrived. And then since I've left my listing it means I can quickly check my gmail account. Then I may as well see if anything new is on Craigslist. I'm completely and utterly distractable.

My work day is very short. In fact my listing days are really just Tuesday and Wednesday. Monday I work on sorting through everything. Thursday is a half day at school and I usually just do bookkeeping, organizing and maybe a bit of listing in the morning. Friday I'm back out in the field scouting for new inventory.

Eight months after the February challenge I realize that I work differently. I'm still not terribly fast at listing but I am definitely able to list more. I still get distracted from time to time but I CLOSE down the facebook page so that I won't even be tempted to pop in and take a look. As you all know, one peek and you get sucked into watching another funny cat video.

What have I learned this month?

I have too much inventory.

I have too little time to list.

I want to increase the amount of money that I sell each month.

It's really just a simple math formula that I need to evaluate and solve. I need to find balance between selling and listing big ticket items (between $150-$800) and small items ($15-$75). I need to stop buying anything that I can sell. It's very hard for me to see an item at a garage sale that they have priced for 50¢ that I can sell for $12. I need to walk away more. I want to keep my focus on Mid Century Modern.

Remember that we don't have a boss that keeps us on track. We usually are the boss, the secretary, the bookkeeper, the employee, the delivery person and so on. Most of us are a one man/woman show.

It's important to look at our business often and see how we can be more efficient.

Now back to the challenge. Although I'm not near my goal of 200 items in my store, I have sold a lot of items. I've also organized my office which means that I will be able to work better in November and December. I currently have 128 items in my store. My sales for the last 30 days is $1967. Overall I'm really pleased with October.

What has been the biggest insight into your business during the October Challenge?