What is a monkeybox?

When I was a little girl, we had a pet monkey named Amanda. My Dad worked in the produce business, so each night he brought home that days culls in a big box - spotty cucumbers, pithy apples, limp celery, moldy oranges and the like. We called it a monkeybox. It was really just trash, but my Mom would take each piece of fruit and trim it, pare it and cut it up to make a beautiful fruit platter for Amanda. Even though it was deemed trash by one, it still had life left in it and was good for the purpose we needed it. That's how I live my life - thrifting, yard saling, looking for another's trash to be my treasure.

Sunday, September 09, 2012

The Week in Junk 9/10/12 & A Booth Report

Alternate Title - Check to make sure your photos aren't blurry before you come in and look at them six hours later.  :(

Wednesday I returned to my thrift that is looking for a new home.  They have a slew of merchandise and a date of 10/1 to move, so they are still putting lots of new items out - including Christmas, Easter and Halloween.  They usually hold holiday merchandise until the correct time of year.  every thing in this post came from that thrift store and I feel strongly that it all came from the same family.  Everything is form the same date range and has the same general cuteness factor.  

My favorite find - a "Baa Baa Black Sheep" musical sheep.  He is make of a leathery plastic material and has a big jingle bell at his neck.  His musical winder is wound too tight, but sometime I can get them to unstick.  I haven't worked on him yet.  He was 75¢.

(*No need to get your eyes checked, this one is blurry to say the least!)  A Bible Lotto Game for 25¢ - headed to the Booth.


I found a slew of 1950's Children's books.  They were priced 4/$1.00, but I bought about forty books and they only charged me $4.00.  This is just a sampling.  The rest are headed tot he booth.  these need to be researched a bit and will probably go on my vintage book shelf.
I spotted this sweet old baby quilt top hanging on a rack and about fell over myself trying to get to it before anyone else did.   

 Never mind that no one was even in the same area let alone looking at it. 
 I saw all that cute embroidery and those sweet little baby animals.  
 And fell in love.  But, I was worried about the price.  Would I be able to afford it?
 The price?
 50¢.
I can afford THAT!

I also bought some vintage baby clothes to resell and a dress or two for Hazel.  Baby clothes were 3/$1.00 and there were some sweet vintage outfits mixed in with the regular clothes.  I took some photos, but they were too blurry to even make out.  (The sun was shining off the screen on the camera and I couldn't see what I was doing.  That's my story and I and I am sticking to it!)

Thursday morning I ran to a Church Sale and bought a stack of old school readers - the Dick and Jane type.  They aren't in the very best of condition, but they often hit a nostalgic nerve with the flea marketers, so I sell them quite well.  I only paid 25¢ each and I will sell them for $5.00, so it all adds up.  

I had my best month ever in my Flea Market history in August.  Our little store is really taking off and getting a great reputation for having unique items at affordable prices.  I sell a lot of smalls and a few higher ticket items.  By higher ticket, the most expensive thing I sold last month was $25.00.  Some of the Vendors sell furniture - they buy it, paint it, distress it, replace the knobs, haul it in, work it into their booths, etc.  It is a LOT of work.  Some of them think my little booth of vintage things is sort of funny.  Ha ha to them when my check is double theirs and I don't have to schlep furniture in and out the door.  Not trying to be mean, but I would much rather prefer to have my booth chock full of smalls and have everyone that walks in find something they like than have one or two pieces sitting there waiting for just the right buyer.  My sales for the first three days in September equal half of my August sales - in three days!  So, I am in for a good month.  I hope it doesn't sound like I am boasting.  But, I am proud of our store and that my booth is doing well.  It makes me feel good to contribute!

So, did you find any good loot this week?

5 comments:

  1. That lamb is SOOOO ADORABLE!
    I also love the wall hanging.
    *Very cute*

    ReplyDelete
  2. Keep on, selling on!!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Love the vintage books. I found some this past week and love them! That baby quilt top is adorable! These things make me smile...such cute embroidery! Congrats on doing well in your booth. It's a lot of work and you deserve to make a profit from all the great stuff you find! Hugs, Linda

    ReplyDelete
  4. even having a booth of "smalls" is a huge undertaking. Hunt,gather,clean,price,schlep to booth and foofafy it all. Kudos for making money doing something you love.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I am really glad to hear your booth is doing so well! I think you're right on the money (no pun intended, OK, well, maybe a little intended) selling lots of stuff cheap rather than a few things high ... especially with a booth, and there's no photographing and listing to worry about.

    ReplyDelete

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