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.

Friday, April 10, 2015

Let's Go to The Booth!

I spent the most part of the day out at my big booth on Thursday.  I have BIG plans of reworking it - moving shelves and setting it up all different.  But, I get there and see that it works pretty well the way it is, so I just end up putting in new things and just reworking all the merchandise.  I pulled all the Spring and Easter of which I had only sold two things for a grand total of...wait for it...three dollars. Totally not worth trying to sell Spring stuff for me.  The entire booth has been 25% off for about a month trying to clear out some things.  But, 25% off plus the 10% commission left little for me, so I took my sale off today.  My prices are pretty low to start, so why give it away?  I sold a $22.00 set of books and after sale and commission, I only got about $13.00 for them.  I only paid $1.00 for the set, so I still did okay, but I sure would like to have had that whole $22.00!

Let's go on a tour - ready?

I bought these HUGE Raggedy Ann dolls for $1.00 each.  They are handmade and really sweet.  But they are really, really BIG!  That's a metal COSCO kitchen stool they are sitting on - so they really are BIG!  I am hoping some little girl will flip and the $10.00 price tag will seal the deal.  

This is just a mumble jumble of vintage kitchen stuff.  
I sell a lot of old utensils, cookie cutters and glassware.  I passed on a bunch old of red and green handled utensils today for $2.00 each and now I am sort of kicking myself over that.  

Put stuff in every crevice, I say.  
Lots to see.   I know I have a lot in there, but it's never too junky or crowded looking.  My booth is set up so you go in like a tiny store and have a look around.  All the other booths are set up so you just look as you pass by.  The shop owner says that people spend more time in my booth than any other booth since I have so many things and it is setup so they have lots to see.

More kitchen stuff - the linens all got neatly folded and organized today.  I would be surprised if they aren't already a hot mess.  (I may need to bring home that bread box and plant some geraniums in it.) 

That damn globe.  I can't sell it.  Everyone swoons over it.  It is huge - I can just almost get my arms around it.  I keep lowering the price, but it just sits there.  Someday it will sell, and I like the look of it, so it will just stay there.  *Edited Saturday at 4:00......THE GLOBE SOLD!    Wooohooooooo!)

I sell a lot of those dictionary page bundles.  And sheet music bundles.  I don't know what people do with them.  But I will GLADLY buy a $1.00 old dictionary and separate it into 50 bundles for $2.00 each.  ALL DAY LONG!  I see my flash cards are a hot mess.  Guess I forgot to straighten those up.  

Toy box in the corner full of vintage toys.  I usually have a box of "kid Junk" grab bags, but I am out of them.  Since the thrifts stopped seling toys, I never find anything.  I need to find a big box full of junk at a garage sale so I can make up more bags.  The kids like them.  

While I was working, a lady came by to browse.  She said she just loves my booth.  She said I like all the things you have and I almost always find something that I didn't know I needed!  That is one of the reasons I like selling at the Junk Ranch because you get to interact with people and get comments on your merchandise.  

Cubby full of mugs and smalls stuck in the corner.  I bought that to store The Bean's Beanie Babies in a LONG time ago, but then I saw how very cool it was and it was MINE.  Sorry, kiddo.  

Frames and things up high.  

Jesus.......and some frames.  That Jesus print has the most ornate frame.  It's really gorgeous.  I know everyone likes painted frames, but Miss Monkeybox is lazy and sells them AS IS.  What if I paint it aqua and it just sits there forever?  Why not leave them as is and let some over achiever paint them themselves?  Each one has the Hobby Lobby price of $29.99 on them.  They are nice heavy duty frames.  


I cleared out one of my collections and took it to the booth.  Can you believe I did that?????  I started collecting dishes shaped like fruits and vegetables when I had my college apartment.  The first thing I ever found was a set of Holt Howard tomato bowls on lettuce plates.  I paid $1.00 for a set of four - and I was IN LOVE.  Then I found another vegetable dish and so on and so forth as all good collections.  I got things for presents and even in our wedding gifts.  I have a big old wardrobe in the corner of my kitchen with a screen door on it and that is where the collection lived.  But I rarely every looked at it and there was too much of it.  So, I pulled it all out, washed it and only kept the sentimental pieces and the pieces that I do use occasionally.  (And, yes, I kept the Holt Howard set!)

One of the things I enjoy about having a booth is that I still own these things.  They are still mine. They are on display and people can admire them.  Hopefully, they will sell to people that will enjoy them and appreciate them.  It's like a storage unit that looks pretty and makes money instead of costing me money.  Does that make sense?


Thanks for coming on a tour with me.  I enjoyed spending time with you!  :)

15 comments:

  1. I highly doubt that anyone who knows everything you do and sees all the things you create would call you lazy. I always love seeing your booth and what you do with it. I believe like you do that the goal is to get people in the space looking around. It always seems to me that the booths that you can see everything as you pass by always have those same things because people are just passing by. One day, I shall shop your booth! This I swear!

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    1. I will be waiting in the booth for your arrival! I had a $105.00 day at the booth today AN I SOLD THE GLOBE! Woo hoo!

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  2. J and I were just joking, that if nothing else we have a 'Nice, heated, storage space' ;-) !! Your booth is so you, and I love when you give us tours!

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    1. We need a tour of YOUR booth! I sold the globe today! Woot!

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  3. Thanks for the tour. (I could spend alot of time in there!) I've said exactly the same thing about my own booth...Its like free (usually) storage for my junk. If I can cover my rent plus a little more $ on the side, I can continue my addictions! Love rosie

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  4. Yours is the kind of booth I LOVE and will spend time in and yes finds something I have to have! Love looking around with you!
    hugs,
    Linda

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  5. I loved the tour and I understand EXACTLY what you mean in that last paragraph.

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  6. love your booth I can see why people linger
    Cathy

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  7. Your booth looks like a lot of fun and I'm sure I'd find lots of things there that "I didn't know I needed" until I saw them! But I wonder if you could get more for the Raggedy Ann & Andy dolls? They seem to be fairly collectible but I'm really just guessing. I bought a pair of much smaller ones recently at a church sale for my sister, they are older and in need of a good cleaning and repair and I think I paid about $5.00 for the both of them. I've seen them priced higher in places.

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    1. I think the dolls are worth more than I have on them - but they are just so darn big and hard to display. If that stool sells, I don't know how I will display them. They are handmade, and newer, but still really nice. If I still have them, I am going to take them to the Junk ranch and put vintage aprons on them. Hoping the sell before then....

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  8. I'd love to take a tour of your booth in person. It's just filled with loads of eye candy. I'm sure I'd find all sorts of things that would need to come home with me.

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  9. I loved the tour of your booth. Exactly the inspiration I needed for mine. It is inviting with lots to look at and you do such a great job of displaying. I love love that shelf full of fruit and veggie dishes. It looks so colorful and fun! God job on selling that globe! Don't you live when something big sells and frees up space? Also, you NEED to keep that flower tin bread tin...so cute!

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  10. I said God but meant good. It is Sunday so maybe that was divine intervention :)

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  11. Love your booth! And a $4 globe?! I would've snatched that up in a heartbeat. I have a few old dictionaries that are falling apart. I never thought about bundling pages together like you have. Hope you don't mind if I steal that idea! :) I also think about my booth as a pretty storage unit that makes me money! I have a 20ft x 10ft booth and that size of a storage unit would cost me more than I spent in booth rent!

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  12. Your booth is exactly the type of booth I love to look through. Lots of great things.

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