The garage and estate sales here truly pay my bills
.


when my husband became ill around 2000, also the 1st year of youngest son's dx of Tourette Syndrome etc, and then 2001 after 9/11 and the trickle down in loss of business killed our little biz, I had to scramble to think of ways to support the family, as my formal education & experience meant for nothing at that stage of our lives, I HAD to work from home to be caregiver to both at that time.

a friend casually mentioned how a single mom she knew was making money on eBay by "yard saling" and reselling, and so I thought hey! I have been a collector all my life, so let me start using a lot of that extra stuff and start selling it.

That was the beginning and now I have the eBay store, plus my own website, as well as online shops on three of the web's malls for antiques, art & collectibles.

here in Florida,as we are dubbed the "retirement capitol" of the world
.

there are a lot of good things to be found by either heading for specific estate sales or those held (last 1/2 day is usually 1/2 price or offers so great stuff to be found then) or one can just go "cruising" the sales with a little help from map point on the laptop and the local paper's classifieds
.
I spend most of my Thursday, Fri and Sat from about 7am till around 10-11am traveling the sales, especially this time of year as people are cleaning out or selling stuff to make money to blow over the holidays

it's a fun business cos I get to shop, and keep stuff on display and then sell what I dont decide to keep LOL to pay bills and have some leftover to buy more stuff
.

My husband helps run the online auction side of our business, which fits with his health limitations, and I manage the retail stores, invoicing, packaging all that glass you see behind Shadow's photo
.
and shipping it safely to hopefully happy customers, plus Customer Service, answering phone, replying to emails, doing newsletters, and of course staying tuned in here and at Latitudes, plus the antique forum and blog etc.....LOL, yup,busy but I love it
.
cos I am doing what I enjoy
.

My home looks like an antique store, which is brave with four cats!! but they seem to instinctively save their antics for other areas than the glass and china
.


Our youngest son is showing a lot of interest in the business, and helps hubby with the maintenance of the online auctions, and is getting his own little ebay biz started


soooooooooo
that's my life with garage sales
.

(ps and finding those "specials" like the kitty tree condo, or even great potted plants and stuff for meeeee
.
is the cherry on the top!)

.

.
AAAHHHH!!!

I was thinking that
.


I have/had only a few pieces from my Mom and my Grandmother. My son and my various assortment of kitties have managed to take care of that problem for me
.
Thankfully, I still have my amethyst glass vases. There was an unbelievable struggle between my Mom and her Mother for possession of those. Every time my Grandmother came to visit she'd 'steal' them back again
.


My Mother and her older Brother (who got killed during World War II) used to go to a dump in back of a rich lady's house when they were kids. The lady was Mrs. Schraft of Schraft's Candy fame. When she got tired of stuff, she'd just toss in on top of the dump. My Mother had one lead crystal bowl valued at about $500 over 40 years ago. I don't have that; I think my Brother has it.

I love the amethyst glass. I was born in February. Amethyst is my birthstone
.


I LOVE your gray kitty. I always wanted a gray kitty. Hasn't happened YET!!

Have a nice day
.


Barb