What type of shops are your favourite?

@Musicman I like to browse tool stores, especially Harbor Freight. They have some neat things there that are very functional when the need arises. I have had the urge to buy a large tarp when they go on sale or I have a coupon. Tarps can be so useful in many ways. Landscapers are laying them on the ground and raking leaves or cut grass or cut weeds and piling it up to haul them off. Could also do that and dump them easier in a yard waste cart I think. They can be made into tents when strung up between a couple trees, they can cover roof leaks, and cover cars before an ice storm. I think I just talked myself into getting one. Will check for coupons now, hehe. I browse all of the led lights…switch lights, under the counter lights, flashlights, etc and buy one sometimes. The switch lights I love, easy to use and the light bulb lasts a long time. One sticks to metal and I put it on the refrigerator when the power was out all day. It’s fun to bring the boy with me and let him pick out something useful. He likes to carve on cedar and make little things with the pieces. I got him a carving knife there once. He also bought several things for a birthday present for one of his friends he went and spent the afternoon at a party. They live in the country and he bought several survival items that he really liked.

@cherokeepatti I love Harbor Freight. They must like me too. They sent me an email saying they miss me and gave me a 25% off coupon for any one thing in the store.

@Musicman I’ve used some of their coupons. It’s nice to get a discount like that. Big Lots issues those coupons sometimes. I have a 15% one for this month that I haven’t used. And you can combine them with the sale or clearance prices too. I got one for 20% off of everything in the store that I wanted to buy, had to be $20 or more total. I bought gluten-free baking items like Bobs Red Mill gluten free flour, and spices, and Himalayan sea salt. All were great buys, couldn’t buy them or less anywhere.

@cherokeepatti Good deal. 🙂 I would love to use the coupon, but I don't need anything.

@Musicman I always scroll through their site to see what I might want to stock up on. Usually get snacks for the boy and ginger pop if I can’t think of anything else, check the sales and clearance aisles too. Got a lot of clearance items once last year as the summer was winding down.

@cherokeepatti I love sales. 🙂

@Musicman I used to go Goodwill as soon as it opened every Monday morning for over 6 months. They put one color of tag of clothing on sale for half-off (or they did a couple years ago, I don’t know about now. I would go to the clothing and start looking for those colored tags in our sizes and sometimes find new with store tags still attached or nearly new items all half price. I bought so much stuff that I had to stop, ran out of room. Probably 50 or more items for all of us. Many were sold in mall stores especially button-up shirts and such. I lost weight and was needing a new pair of jeans and bought one pair with tags still attached for $8…I looked online and they were selling for $24-30 and they fit very well, dark indigo like I like too.

@cherokeepatti Oh wow! That is some serious shopping. Even I am not that bad.

@Musicman well everything was a small fraction of the store prices, even their sale prices….so it was worth it even for just a year of use and the boy outgrew it.

@cherokeepatti Kids tend to do that. ☹️

@Musicman When I focus on sales and put my mind to it I can do very well. That Goodwill is only a mile from the house so didn’t waste gas money either. The summer that I retired there was a new used book warehouse in the industrial park area. They traded books, you bring in one and got to choose 2 on their shelves to take home. I went to yard sales and bought books for little money, especially ones that had themes about things Okies are interested in….dogs, Harley-Davidson motorcycle, do-it-yourself, children’s books, recipe books, Spanish language books etc. Would take the newer ones to Hastings and sometimes get store credit depending on if they were buying those books, and then took them to the flea market in a big box…always someone scouring through books every time…Mexicans loved buying children’s book because their children were learning English in their early years, others liked recipe books, and anything to do with camping and survival issues. I would take the books I got 3 times and sell over half of them. The unsellable ones I would take to that used book warehouse and trade them in each for 2 books apiece. And start the routine over again. I got about $1000 in store credit at Hastings total and bought new books, reference books about alternative and herbal medicines especially, Jim Marr’s books, travel books, etc. Also bought a lot of new DVDs and used CDs, and an IPod and speaker for my CD music, it was good while traveling and played little videos too. Some other things too like toys for the boy etc. I don’t know how much I made from them at the flea market. But found it useful to bring a wide variety of items for the repeat customers to browse through, some always stopped and bought things from me when they saw me and my table sitting out.

@Musicman him especially. I think he grew twice as much as a few of his classmates. When he was in 6th grade some were wearing the same sizes he wore in 3rd grade. He was much taller too.

@cherokeepatti I am seriously impressed. 🙂

@Musicman Selling at the flea market would wear me out every single time. I would gather things together in bins and boxes and load my car the afternoon before. Go to bed early and get up about 4 a.m. to get ready. Leave about 5:30 and drive to Spencer Oklahoma to Mary’s Flea market, quite a drive up there on the north side. The flea market didn’t open till 7 and would get there in the dark to unload my tables and upright clothing rack. Load up the clothing wrack and pile the tables up. Put out boxes of books etc. and even use the hood of my car to display some items for sale. As I was unloading different vendors would walk around with a flashlight and peak at the stuff in my trunk and on the tables and as if I had certain things for sale. One older man wanted to buy musical instruments, told me I had 2 violas at home that I bought for my daughter. He said to bring them the next time I came so I did (gave me $100 for both and it was a bargain for home and me both. My daughter had scratched both up badly and they needed to be sanded down and refinished, needed the bows to be restrung etc.)…some wanted cast iron and survival type items like camouflage clothing etc….some wanted crafting items, or large-size clothing. I did go to garage sales and buy up some stuff cheap, one neighbor was selling everything for a quarter each so I bought up some of that stuff and sold it for $1-$2 each to sell it quickly. If people picked up something every time at one of my sales and put it down and walked away I learned after 3 times they did that to raise the price. I had things marked for $1, would raise it to $2 or $3 and the next time they’d buy it. I guess they were thinking some useable items selling for $1 must have had a defect or something. I’d drive home usually a bit sunburnt and have to unload the car to the garage. Go inside and eat something and go to sleep. Exhausted the rest of the day and part of the next. Haggling with some of the customers and standing on my feet so long was probably part of that problem.

@cherokeepatti Did you make decent money?

@Musicman Oh yes it was worth all the effort. I made money every single time, took out about $15 each trip for the entrance fee and gas going back and forth. Some of those items I sold were discarded by students after move-out. I had several yard-waste size bags of that stuff that I didn’t use for myself. Disinfected and cleaned everything before taking up there. A bag of tennis balls, frisbees, tennis rackets, softballs and other sports items sold really good to the boys. Small cooking appliances, odds & end dishes, coffee cups, little jewelry items, small fans, clothes irons, clothing items, books, little stuffed animals & other gifts, etc. Mostly girls items because I was in the athletic coed dorms for the last 5 years that I worked. They would discard items that didn’t fit in their vehicles on the trip home or the luggage as they were returning to their city or country. I think the first time I made $150 dollars and sold about 3/4 of what I had to offer, didn’t have much to pack up. Each time it got a little less though. Towards the end I did good to sell half. Always brought a bin of 25cent items that sold well but not everything. I think the 9th time I went I sold about $60 and decided it was time to sit it out. Went once more in the spring after it warmed up. Not bad for a retired person who needed to clear out the garage and I didn’t have to pay tax on it either. I packed up the stuff I didn’t sell. Some of them things I found that I later needed. A teapot for example after I broken the one that I had, and cast iron stove trivets, they are good on top of my rocket stove.

@cherokeepatti How long did you do this?

@Musicman during the summer before I retired as soon as that industrial park used store opened and I could go to yard sales and buy books cheap, and buy cheap stuff at local yard sales towards the end of their sale, I think it was Mid-May when the industrial park bookstore opened so I was accumulating quite a bit of books and other old books like some of the discarded textbooks that students threw out. I did it till fall that year and then when it got too cold waited and did it once or twice more the next spring.

@cherokeepatti How long ago was this? Have you considered doing it since being retired?

@Musicman it was 15 years ago. I have thought about it but didn’t do it. I did have a big garage sale for 3 days about 9 years ago and cleared out a lot of stuff. Was wanting to do it a five years later but something always came up and then it got too hot to do it. I got sick this year and loaded up bags and boxes of stuff I intended to sell but wanted to clear out the garage quickly so donated them to a Christian thrift shop here that helps out charities with some of their proceeds. I still have a lot of good clothing in larger sizes that I can’t wear now and would love to sell them and make some money. Thinking about doing it on Facebook but don’t want to risk having a lot of people coming by the house right now with me getting treatments and risk getting a virus etc. Larger clothing in good condition usually sells quickly. I probably have 60 pieces or more of that in hanging zippered closets and in my coat closet. A lot of jackets and coats, sweaters, shirts, jeans and some capris too. I would give them to someone who needed them if I knew that they needed them. Sometimes donate to fire victims or tornado victims if the need is put out there. I gave away about 30 pieces of clothing to a lady that was going to a Bible college here. A student social worker major was getting in contact with people who had needs and this lady needed smaller clothes as she had lost a lot of weight and needed things suitable for going to class. She told me that the lady’s mother had sent her two outfits from Texas and they were swallowing her up they were so large. I had the size she needed as I had lost weight and collected up the things…jeans, a raincoat, shirts, etc. and loaded the back seat of my car and met the social worker student at a 7-11near my home. She and I had a nice little chat and she told me about the student and that she had been on welfare and was trying to get educated and start a career and had no money for clothing. It made me feel so good to help that woman.

@cherokeepatti That is really nice. I usually donate our stuff to Goodwill, but sometimes we know someone and we will give to them.

@Musicman I like this local charity better. A husband & wife owns two of these stores. I think their family members work in it. They keep an ice box stocked with dairy, fruit & veggies for the poor. They walk in take want they want, milk, eggs, etc. and walk out without paying or going to the cashier. I believe they are doing other charity work as well. Maybe donating some of the clothes to the homeless if they need it…. Goodwill has a CEO who makes big money and they’ll only pay a small pittance, nowhere near minimum wage to the disabled people that they hire to sort and hang clothing. I think they are on disability as it is and they get by with it due to that.

@cherokeepatti I definitely don't doubt that. Sadly we don't have any small places like yours so that's just where I donate stuff. 🤷‍♂️

@Musicman these stores have been in business here since 1997. I can’t believe it’s been that long, it’s a couple with grown children that own them.

@cherokeepatti I like seeing businesses passed down and doing well. 🙂🙂🙂