Got yogurt?

Well holy moley, I sure do. I saw that my grocery store had clearanced certain varieties of yogurt. At only $1 each! Yes, $1 for a 12 pack of Dannon Activia - which of course I had a $1 off coupons for. $1 for Stonyfield. (Secret coupon tip - stay alert to find coupons in odd places. I scored a bunch of Activia coupons because they had a display in my doctor's office! I also got a bunch of coupons for Jack Links jerky when I took Jacob to Great Clips for a haircut - they had jerky coupons just sitting there on the counter. Great Clips and Jack Links are doing some sort of cross promotion. The jerky coupons came in handy when Walgreens had a BOGO deal on them recently. Anyhow, I digress)

Without further ado, here is my wall of yogurt with awesome receipt.

Shutterfly Long Live Summer Contest

I recently found out about a facebook photo contest thru Shutterfly. Thru August 12 they are having a multi-week summer themed photo sweepstakes with instant win prizes.

It's call the Long Live Summer – Facebook Photo Contest (US residents only) from 7/9 – 8/12/2012.

Just go here click here to get all the details on Facebook and to enter.

PRIZES:
Instant win prizes just for submitting a photo!
Weekly prizes (contestants can enter one time/week)
Weekly featured photos: up to 5 weekly entries will be selected from the gallery and featured on the Facebook fan page.

Grand prize: trip for 4 to Bahamas, 4 nights, family photo shoot

If I win, I will take my husband, my son and my boyfriend Drew Lachey. If my husband has a problem with that, he can just stay home and sulk. Personally I think Shutterfly should just save some time and declare me the winner cuz of my awesome photography skills that routinely grace this blog. Have I ever mentioned that I am a published photographer and my work has appeared in a national calendar that people actually bought? Well that my friends, is another story for another time. (I did not take the photo below, but if I had I would have told that boy to quit making a silly "too much cheese" face)

Oh hell no. A definite yard sale don't.

A yardsale don't. I hope I don't need to explain why.



And a follow-up to my post from the other day about pencils become obsolete supposedly. I was at yardsale today when an older male customer asked a seller what something was (it was an electric pencil sharpener). The customer responded - "people still use pencils??"

The world needs more Garage Sale Song Music Videos

Here is garage sale song video for your viewing and listening pleasure.



and again, here is my favorite thrift store video (if you missed it back in Feb. 2009 when I shared it with you)

Pencils are obsolete

"Pencils are obsolete" - that is what one yardsale seller told me yesterday as he sold me an electric pencil sharpener for a quarter. Personally I believe pencils will be around for at least 2 or 3 more years, so I bought it.

I did do some decluttering the other day. I recycled Jacob's baby wipe containers that I've had stored away for the last decade. And my husband thinks I never get rid of anything. Yeah right.

Vacation pic - what do you see?

I will try to get my pics organized from our recent trip to Los Angeles and Las Vegas. I took over 400 pics and I don't think you want do see them all. So maybe I'll just show 350+. Until then, here's one of the pics I took. What do you see? If you answered the Mandalay Bay hotel, you would be correct. If you thought of something else - shame shame on you!

Finally - here is Bret Michaels

Finally - here are the Bret Michaels pics I promised. (You may remember that I saw him back in May, but in case you haven't noticed, I am an expert in procrastinating.) Maybe in a few months, I'll show you the pic of my gorgeous red Kitchenaid blender that I bought for $40 at a yardsale a few weeks ago. (I will probably resell it since my vintage avocado green Kitchenaid blender ($8) works just fine).  This is probably the first time in history that Bret Michaels and Kitchenaid blenders have been discussed in the same paragraph.













This is not Bret Michaels, but I loved the pic.










Me (circled)


and a few videos:

Dos and Don'ts for Throwing a Successful Garage Sale or Yard Sale

The subject of whether to price things or not price things at a yardsale was recently a popular topic on my message board so I thought I would just publicly state my sage advice on pricing and some other Do's and Don'ts.

Do's:

Price things. People want to know what things cost without having to ask. Buyers like seeing prices. As a seller, it's a waste of time to have people constantly asking you prices on every little thing. And then there are the people who can't be bothered in asking prices, so they won't and they will leave empty handed. You can put group prices on things that you have a lot of. A sign that says "cd's $1, hardcover books $1, paperbacks .50" and so on.

Visit yardsalequeen.com for tons of info on things you should do and don't do when you throw a garage sale.

Don'ts:

Don't price your suede leather coat by writing on it with a permanent marker like this:



Don't leave your old yardsale signs up littering up the 'hood after the sale. Take your signs down, otherwise the yard sale gods will send you some bad karma.

Don't say your sale is "huge and multi-family" when it's just you and your mom sitting out in your yard in front of a card table of dollar store items.

Don't just start leisurely pulling boxes of stuff up from your basement at 8:05am, when your sale should have been all organized and ready to go at 8am.

I am back baby - from Vegas and Southern California

I haven't purposely been blog-lazy - but I will partly blame it on vacation. I just returned to Maryland this morning from Southern California with my entourage. We were gone a week and a half and part of that was spent in Las Vegas.

I got to see my boyfriend Drew Lachey again in Las Vegas. And had fun partying with the folks from Storage Wars - Dave Hester, Nabila Haniss, and auctioneers Dan and Laura. And a trip wouldn't be complete unless of course I popped into the Now and Then Thrift Store to do some shopping. While there, I got to met Jarrod.

more later,
chris

Woman's World magazine July 2

Just a quick note to let you know that yardsalequeen.com is in the July 2 issue of Woman's World magazine (usually seen at supermarket checkouts) - page 23.

Easy way to haggle (for those who hate haggling) and Bret Michaels tease

There weren't many yardsales in my area yesterday so instead I went to the county fairgrounds - which turns into a Saturday-only flea market. My fav find of the day was the above lighter (for .75). That's another great thing about yardsales, you see stuff you never knew existed. The flame comes out of the tip of the middle finger. I could tell you what the inscription on the ring says, but I like to keep this blog family friendly ;)

Anyhow as I was walking around browsing the various vendors, twice I had a seller lower the price on something, without me saying a word. I would pick something up that I wanted - asked the price - and then after hearing the price I set it back down. Two different sellers were quick to offer a lower price than the price they just told me. I'm going to start doing that at every yardsale (where stuff doesn't have a price already marked) and see how I do. Of course I wouldn't do that when another customer is nearby hovering - just waiting for me to set something back down - but it may be something to try at uncrowded yardsales.

In case you didn't recognize me with Bret Michaels in my previous post, here's a pic that will make it easy for you to spot me amongst the commoners.

I will post some more pics of Bret, but until then, here's just a few (stay tuned for more)

Photo of Bret Michaels and me

I did my volunteer bartending last night for a Bret Michaels concert. My bar area had closed up early so I was able to enjoy the entire show (right next to the stage.) For some reason Security did not shuffle us along like cattle in the photo line like they usually do. So here's a pic of me and Bret Michaels (unfortunately a few others got in the photo too). Let's play where's waldo, but instead where's the yardsalequeen? (hint: next to stage, camera & black bracelet on right hand). More pics to follow.

JC Penney's - I told you so!

Back in February I blogged that JC Penney's new pricing strategy would stink. But were they smart and listen to my unsolicited advice? Nope, and what do you know - "Bottom line? Customers accustomed to bargain hunting don't much care for the changes the former Apple impresario has wrought." Well duh. You can read the entire article here on MSN Money

Got cheese? Why yes, yes I do.

I stumbled across a cheesy deal today at a grocery store - Cracker Barrel cheese cuts (7 oz packages) at a buck a piece! Plus I had a $1 off any Cracker Barrel product (boo hoo, just had the one coupon). But even at a buck a piece, it was an awesome deal. I heart cheese.

I didn't clear the shelf (I came close) but I did leave some for others. The shelf price said it was discontinued product and had a $2.47 price. But when I scanned them, they scanned at only $1 each, so obviously the price had been lowered but it didn't have a new shelf tag. I love using the scanning guns at my grocery store.

NYC pics - and goodies

Well finally, here are some pics I took last month. One day my sister, Jacob and I took a train to NYC for the day. We left my mom's house around 8am and got back at around 11pm. Busy day! I haven't been to NYC in many, many years. It was Jacob's first time and he loved it. We couldn't see it all in one day, so the only things I definitely had on our "to-do" list was to go to Times Square and also go to the observatory at 30 Rockefeller Center.

Outside Good Morning America studios.  Jacob watches GMA every morning before school. No, I hadn't read the news of the day when I took the pic.

Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant on the Hudson River.  You know I love me some nuclear power plants!!! I saw this on the train ride down. (I don't dare try to re-arrange the photos here (after the fact) since I hate the way blogger has changed the editing feature here)

Walgreen's Times Square

Directions to Sesame Street please.

Grand Central Station (no, we didn't have time to go to the Statue of Liberty, but Jacob wanted the foam hat anyway)

Not NYC but in upstate NY.  An awesome,  authentically vintage bakery. Note to self: buy more poppy seed stollen bread!!!

Kelly Ripa - call me

I am willing to volunteer my services to be a semi part-time research production assistant to LIVE! with Kelly (as witnessed below). I would have to work from home though, since even though NYC is great, I don't want to move far away from my favorite thrift store. That reminds me, my NYC pics will be posted shortly.  And when I say that, I mean sometime this month.

Still on planet Earth

Yes, I am still around. I haven't fallen off the face of the Earth.  Blogger changed the way it works and I don't deal with change very well.

Last week was pretty exciting. I got nipped by my neighbor's pitbull dog.  He has two.  I have the best of luck when it comes to neighbors /end sarcasm.     Here is is over a week later and I can still see the mark.  I can't imagine the damage an actual bite would do.

well I have a busy day planned for today but I just wanted to check in and say hey.  Hey.  Make sure you come back tomorrow and bestow all kinds of wonderful birthday wishes to your ysq.

My cheap & awesome Bose Wave Radio

Yesterday's yardsale shopping will go down in yardsaling history - it's a story my future grandchildren will be telling to their grandchildren. For decades now, whenever I've been asked what is the one thing I want to find while yardsaling, I've only had one answer. A Bose Wave Radio (for $20 or less). Well yesterday was the day I scratched it off my Yardsale Bucket List. I found (and bought) a Bose Wave Radio for $5.

Yes, the color is the ultra rare Nicotine Yellow version - but it's Bose and it sounds awesome.

Such a strange combination of circumstances yesterday - and it all fit together perfectly. Halleluiah - my prayers to the yardsale gods have been answered.

On Friday night, I was lamenting the fact that even though the weather was going to be perfect on Saturday, there were NO advertised church yardsales or any yardsales in my town for the next day. And DH was borrowing my car so I would have to drive his truck and bring Jacob yardsaling with me. I figured - of course - I could spot some unadvertised yardsales so I drove my usual route. And I spotted none. Zip, zilch, nada.

So I made the decision to go to the fairgrounds (about 15 miles away) where it turns into a flea market on Saturdays. Many of the sellers are dealers so they don't have any bargains, but regular people wanting to have a yardsale also sell. That's where I found the Bose Wave Radio. It was meant to be since I wasn't even particularly early - the sellers/dealers set up at the crack of dawn (or earlier) and then they all the pick thru each other's stuff before actual customers show up. Had there been any yardsales in my town for me to go to, I would not have gone to the fairgrounds.

I also bought some other stuff, including this vintage Pearl-Wise toy chest for $1.





Now to create a new yardsale bucket list, since you know there has to be other things for me to find.

Solomons Island Tiki Bar Opening 2012

Today was an extra busy day for me. Today is the day of the annual Tiki Bar in Solomons Island, Maryland re-opening for the season. I stopped in for a bit, signed up to be a designated driver (you can win prizes for being a DD) and talked to some friends who had their boats there. (The bar opened at noon. I got there around 12:30 and left a half hour later after socializing a bit with some friends. I asked if anyone needed a ride, but they all declined. Hey, I tried. Last year I won a $100 prize for being a DD. I want the grand prize this year.

I didn't stay long because I had places to go! Like a live auction that was starting at 2pm. And at the auction, I couldn't stay long either since I had to be home for Jacob coming home from school. If they had auctioned off the weird white monkey statue when I was there, I may have bid. But it wasn't meant to be.

Yes, I know, I haven't put up any pics of NYC yet. Still to come.

I can tell you how to get to Sesame Street

As it turns out, it's very close to Times Square in NYC. I kept looking in all the garbage cans, but I never found Oscar.

More later.