White French Provincial Dresser + all my freebie finds!

Ah... free furniture.  It doesn't take too much to make this girl happy.  Here's a piece I found in Burlington last week.  It had a horrid paint job on it, so I freshened it up with some lovely white paint.

Isn't she pretty!

 

 

I have a small business tip to share.  Lately I have stumbled upon Dave Ramsey's radio show.  I love listening to it and hearing all the different stories.  Dave loves small business owners, however I find he is quick to be hard on them for this reason: people tend to SPEND too much on their businesses.  They are concerned with having the latest equipment, and spending unnecessary money on supplies.  When doing the year end financials for my little home business, I found that, I too can be guilty of this.  So, in the past couple months, I have been very conscious of how I spend my business funds.  Finding free furniture on the side of the road is an obvious win, however; I'm quick to pass it by if it needs a little bit of work.  So instead, I've been focusing more on fixing pieces I've found, rather than spending hard-earned cash.

 

This being said, I've found another way to ramp up the cash flow: selling things I find on Kijiji.  It's awesome!  Very simple way to make some extra cash.  My friends and family are becoming fascinated with my finds.  I thought I'd share some photos of the scores we found this week.  Of course every item comes with a small story...

 

Beautiful actual wood wicker chairs (not the plastic kind).  In perfect condition.

 

 
Our friend Jeff mentioned that he wanted a new fire bowl.  Well, we found him a copper fire bowl.  It's maybe been used 2 or 3 times.  It retails new for $399.

 
We find lots of bar stools, and they sell quickly.  Here's a beautiful white leather one.

 
We actually found a Samsung stainless steel stove.  It was filthy, but after I spent a few hours cleaning it, we found there wasn't a scratch on it.  Plugged it in, and everything works.  It retails new at Sears for $1,499.  I delivered it to Toronto today for $400.

 
An Arda stainless steel glass range hood.  It retails for $999.  It's never been installed.  In fact, the price tag was still on it!

 
A modern wood vanity with a glass countertop, porcelain vessel sink and spout faucet.  I suppose it wasn't high end enough for this Oakvillian...

 
Another really lovely dark wood vanity, with a square porcelain sink and a moen faucet.  Nothing wrong with it.

 
We often find walkers.  Most of the time they are in perfect working condition.  They can sell from $40 - $75, depending on the brand.  These sales typically take a little extra time and patience... and usually involve going for a test drive down the street with a little old lady...

 
I found a new laundry basket for the girls' room this week.  It's in brand new condition - it wasn't even dirty.  I made a liner for it out of free fabric donated to the Sewing New Hope circle.  It's perfect for their room!

 
This was a pair of leather bar stools.  Mark sold these to a Caribbean bar on Barton Street for $50.
 

 (as I write this, Mark just sold a set of Bongo drums to a guy who drove here from Grimsby).

This fireplace and surround worked when we plugged it in, but it didn't blow hot air.  Upon removing the front panel (4 screws), Mark found a singed wire.  He crimped it back in, and now it blows hot.  He delivered it to a therapist's office in Dundas for $200.

 

Dog crates are always a guaranteed quick sell.  The smaller ones sell for $40, this large one I sold for $80.  They are a little bit nasty to clean, though.

 

 

Mark saw this couch and thought it was beautiful.  He modeled it for my picture.  It hasn't sold yet.  Couches are a harder sell on Kijiji.

 

 

So my tips for selling items on Kijiji?
1.  Take GOOD photos!

2.  Put your number on the ad, and say "call or text before you come!"  E-mailing back-and-forth sucks!

3.  Don't wait around for people.  Half the time I leave the item on my porch and tell them to put the money in the mailbox.  I have yet to be ripped off.  People are generally honest!

4.  Be honest about the item - I tell people I found it on the side of the road, and this is how I make some extra cash while staying home with my kids.  You know what their response it?  "That's awesome! Good for you!!"

5. I usually barter with people.  However the line "well, I have a lot of people interested in it, so I'm pretty firm on the price" typically has people quickly handing over the full amount.

6.  Offer delivery.

7. Have the item on the front porch, ready to go.  Don't make people go into your house.

8.  Finally, sell up your item.  Point out the features, not the negative aspects. 

Hey - if you want to save up for a trip, buy a new car, pay off debt, or whatever the case may be - chances are you probably have a couple thousand dollars worth of STUFF lying around in your home you just don't need. 

 

We installed a hot tub recently, and found 40' of hot tub wire a month later.  Because we are handy, we knew that the wire was worth about $400.  We were able to sell it on Kijiji for $100.

 

And just one last find to share...

 

We found these beautiful pendant exterior lights.  Mark installed them on our garage. 

 

 

Well, that's all for this post.  I always think my only blog readers are my Mom and my sister-in-law Laura.  I guess they may be more people out there who read my random thrifty ramblings.  Happy 100,000 page views for my blog to me!