Thrifting for eBay -- Christmas Sweaters
I ran a number of dull errands yesterday, but still carved out a few minutes to stop at the S.E. 82nd Avenue Goodwill to hunt for hidden treasure. As always, I scoured the Christmas aisle for a letter "V" stocking holder for my "Oy Vey" dreams, but as can be expected, I struck out.
However, I made out in the Christmas sweater aisle, as there were two different H. Moser & CIE "holiday jumpers" priced at just $7.99 apiece. (I learned that H. Moser & CIE is a high end Swiss watch maker.) How did I know what they were? I didn't, but the quality stood out and they were different enough to justify an eBay "Completed Listings" search. And since that last two eBay listings sold for $75 and an offer from $275, picking them up was a no brainer!
There were zero of these sweaters listed on eBay, so I got mine listed immediately to take advantage of this moment in time. You can see that I priced them at $200 apiece, with the option to "make an offer." I've already turned down a $100 offer on the reindeer one, which I may later regret, but I need to take a deep breath and trust the process.
Edit: I decided to turn off "offers" before I went to bed and woke up this morning to one of the sweaters having sold for $200 and a message from someone else offering $120 for the other one. I'll decline the offer and see if I can sell it for the full price.
In case you think no one would pay $200 for a used Christmas sweater, may I present exhibit A:
The people who covet this brand might not bat an eye at $200!
Will they sell at this price? Possibly, but it's definitely worth a shot. Now I'm thinking I should've looked in the jewelry case!
Here's one of my listings and here's the other one. *
Katy Wolk-Stanley
"Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without."
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* These are eBay referral links.
Oddly enough, I found a reindeer sweater myself last week at the Salvation Army superstore (Norwegian cardigan, handknit). I probably should have picked it up. But I don't sell on eBay, I have no use for one of these myself, it was $20, and the eyes of a very young man behind me lit up when he saw the sweater--so I let him have it. He'll probably win the sweater contest at his next Xmas party, hands down!
That sounds like a much better sweater than either of these ones.
Wow, those sweaters are really something. Fingers crossed for you!
Let's see, I'm not feeling it today, but here's where we are at:
1) Researched additional gear for our NZ hiking trip, and started searching on eBay, so we can find these largely single use items (for us, at least) & buy used. We will re-sell them once we get back. This is stuff like gaiters & a very specific light weight rain jacket that can fold up into a tiny pack, but is also the most water proof you can find. Those items are not needed for 99.99% of our daily life even when traveling, so we will buy used & then pass them along again. We did buy other hiking gear that we expect to re-used numerous times.
2) Booked a hiking trip using hotel points for our anniversary in October. Reasonably confident that we will go to Sedona, but booking early with points means that the availability is there.
3) Added up all of our savings from miles, points, etc for 2025, and it was just over $25k! This was a very unusual year, as we cashed out almost 9 years of work travel miles for a business class ticket from SFO to Christchurch ($9900) & then used years of DH's miles from a now retired British Airways card to buy two economy plus tickets from SFO to Athens for me & my sister in June ($6000). The others were just making good use of hotel points for peak travel weekends in Boulder (move-in, orientation, etc), which had a lot of cash value. And, cashing out my credit card rewards for a few of our nights in Greece. This is definitely not something we can replicate, but aligns well with two big milestones/trips - our 20th anniversary & my 50th birthday.
4) Made a meal for DS19 before he went to his study group. He's capable, but it ensures that he used up things that need to go. One package of naan out of the freezer, the remaining mini cucumbers used up, all of the chicken noodle soup is now gone (minus what I froze) & the salad olivieh we were sent home with from a party is also gone. It was a good "clean up the fridge" meal.
5) I'm driving my electric car to/from the office today. I don't want to go (it's a long complainy-pants story that I'll save you from), but I will get free food & snacks.
Great job on using rewards and points to fund your travel expenses.
Katy,
I'm happy for you and your sweater find. I can't wait to hear how much you sell them for.
One sold overnight for $200!
I'm happy to see that the blue sweater already sold. I really like the other one but have no need of it. I'm sure someone else will grab it.
Crossing fingers!
1. I baked three loaves of bread yesterday, now they're just waiting for me to slice and freeze them.
2. I received $2 and a survey request in the mail yesterday. The survey was only for $5 but took about 3 minutes.
3. We still have plenty of Harry's products left, we really like their razors and my husband uses the shave gel and taming cream, so I bumped our 'subscribe and save' order out another month.
4. I used the back of a floss picker to scrape the last dregs of toothpaste from a thoroughly squeezed out tube.
5. Scanned another Ibotta receipt, got around $7! There was a "buy any flour, get $2" so naturally I found a generic 5lb bag for $2.38. Ahh, victory. I normally get flour in 25lb bags so this will be perfect for getting me to the next shopping trip but not a second longer.
So smart to be on the ball with remembering to adjust your "subscribe and save" order!
I'm impressed that you found that Ibotta deal!
@Shyla - you freeze the entire loaf sliced or do you package in smaller amounts?
Wow! Great buy on the sweaters!
I followed Katy’s lead and picked up some Christmas tree trimmings from my local tree lot. I also found some holly in a brush pile in front of a house that had just had a visit from a landscaper. So far, I’ve made a low-effort bouquet. Later, I’ll work on a wreath. I use the same wreath form every year. When Christmas is over, I’ll put the foliage in the yard waste bin, and the wreath form will hang on its peg in the storage closet.
I found an alpaca wool beanie in an intersection, so I took it home and washed it. It’s a bit risky doing something like that, because I suspect there are hats out there that have critters living in them, but this hat seemed too high-end for that. Fingers crossed!
Hooray for free Christmas tree trimmings!
So how did the hat turn out? Remember when I found a nasty roadkill knit cap and sold it on eBay for $44?
https://thenonconsumeradvocate.com/five-frugal-things-543/
Hope you get a zillion dollars for that eBay sweater, Katy! But before you buy one of those mega-expensive fancy watches with the proceeds (oh, sure!), remember that Dave Ramsey said he wears cheap watches, too.
Speaking of, I got my store manager, whose hobby is jewelry making, to replace the battery in my Walmart wristwatch. Due to my difficulty seeing little bitty things, I couldn't see to do it myself. A $3 watch battery is cheaper than a $10 watch. (Or are they $20 now?)
After calling my Medicare Advantage hotline, Social Security, Medicare Help-Line, Social Security again, the Congressman's office, and finally getting a callback from Social Security, I got the answer I had been seeking. All I was asking was "How much will my take-home Social Security check be in 2026?" You'd think I was trying to get into something top secret, like the combination to Fort Knox's vault or Jeffrey Epstein's diary, the way they hem hawed around. But I finally got my number (after waiting 4 hours for a callback)! And yes, I will get more in January than I did in 2025. Enough to be reasonably comfortable. (It turns out the joke was on me: during the government shutdown, those offices were still operating, albeit with a skeleton crew. I could've asked back then. But I didn't know!) I needed this info prior to the Dec 7 deadline for signing up for Medicare Advantage.
While waiting for the Social Security folks to call back, I fixed a feast of a lunch: ham from Aldi, the sweet potato dish from Aldi (that I'd intended to take to the potluck), canned asparagus, and a slice of cornbread. The uncured but fully cooked ham I bought is good until February, so I'll have plenty more meals. Snuggles got some ham trimmings and was a very happy pup.
Frugal fail: although I got off work in time last night to attend the free feed "Feast of Caring" that HEB (supermarket chain) put on in our town, when I drove over there, the traffic was unbelievably heavy. So I turned around and went home and fixed a sandwich. Didn't get a free hot meal, but then again I didn't get exposed to anyone's flu germs. In an overcrowded convention center, I'm sure plenty of folks were coughing and sneezing.
I have a feeling that Dave Ramsey's idea of a "cheap watch" would be different from my idea of one, which would be one sourced from Buy Nothing!
I may not have made a "zillion" dollars, but I did sell one for $200 and turned down a $120 offer on the other one. And I approve you not exposing yourself to all the germs!
Those sweaters are amazingly expensive! I'm so out of it.
Tomorrow we are going to get an Arctic blast that will last at least two days, so I'm going to be staying inside. Today I went to the library to pick up the book I'll be reading -- Circle of Days, by Ken Follett -- then went to Target and bought some creamer and butter and makings for salad. At Target I shamelessly grabbed a number of receipts from the trash to scan to Fetch.
I decided to take the train rather than drive. The train is free, and although it's cold, a walk to the station is preferable to cleaning the snow off the car yet again.
I filled out the application to work for Data Annotation. I have no idea if this will go anywhere, but a little income stream would be nice.
I updated my financial spreadsheets, and that reminded me that I have to pay property taxes by December 15. I put a reminder on my calendar.
I found a sealed package of lozenges and thought how delightful! Free cold medicine! Turned out they were nicotine polaceilex lozenges, so as a non-smoker I have no use for them. Perhaps I'll put them in the little free pantry when it's warm enough to go out again.
I had to look up the brand, it's not like I'm savvy about luxury watch brands!
Where do you live that the train is free?
Thanks to the reminders from Katy and her followers (y'all) I was on the ball when at the dump getting rid of garden trimmings. Someone backed in with a trailer full of cedar cuttings, and before he was out of his truck I pulled my hander clippers out of my pocket and approached the riches.... He helpfully pulled a few nice branches out for me, and I threw everything into the back of my just-emptied truck. Haven't done anything with them, yet, though.
I love the sweaters, Katy! Great story, hoping the second one sells at top dollar.
1. I upscaled some veggie/squash/lentil soup by heating, blending, adding chili, cumin and smoked garlic, then some black beans and corn. It isn't my best effort however it is hearty and satisfying, so I'll take that for a win.
2. Another visit with the llama, still thinking but we might try walking him over to see how he does with the sheep. Could be an entertaining walk to get him here!
3. Found a nest of stolen eggs (darn chickens have been laying in a shed). Almost 4 dozen eggs! I have floated and washed them, and now am putting my head down and using them up. Each egg needs to be cracked into a small bowl to inspect prior to using. I've only found one that was questionable, that went to the dog who was thrilled. 8 went into a hash brown pie, and while the oven was on I pulled out a spice cake mix and used another 3. I neglected to use the half squash that is the downstairs fridge in the spice cake, so am kicking myself. Oops. Am now trying to find ideas for what to do with another 2+ dozen eggs that really need to be investigated prior to cooking. More baking is probably the plan, woe is me.
4. I spent some time in my various emails unsubscribing from a lot of different groups and individuals. I am going to do my ADHD self a favour and reduce temptations. While doing that, I also spent time looking at my lists of donations and updating them so I know where each donation comes from (direct from my bank account, from my credit card, or through a special donation site 'CanadaHelps' that is used by a lot of smaller charities – which then comes from my bank account but the recipients requiree a bit of research). I have a few charities in my at-home list that don't appear to be funded, so I will do some thinking about whether I want to sort those out. I'm doing some inner searching to determine where my priorities should lie, and noticing that there are some shifts in my interests, so I will be working to ensure my donations match my heart.
5. My Daughter came up to visit with her visiting boyfriend, who is a chef. As a fun treat they brought me a taco bowl maker that I had found on Marketplace and sent her the link for, (as a Joke, I thought). We ended up having fun making taco bowls with tortillas (which were too big so required trimming...). Meanwhile, the boyfriend roasted a chicken (one of mine that she was 'returning' from her freezer as she isn't going to be a cook any time soon) and we pressure cooked some black beans I had soaked, he cooked up some tomato rice, used the avocado and more tomatoes for a guacamole, and he sliced up a mess of onions and (hugely discounted) yellow and orange peppers, which he then slowly sauted until they were ¼ the size. The chicken was sliced and added to the fajita base, and we then filled our SUCCESSFUL taco bowls with deliciousness.
I came home the next day to inhale another taco bowl (one of the leftover bowls, filled with fridge leftovers) and although there are still many containers of food in the fridge the roommate and the son who lives here are doing a great job of taking lunches every day and eating leftovers for dinner in the evening.
Okay, now I'm craving a taco salad!
Ecoteri, I have beaten two eggs at a time and frozen them with good results. Also I send my condolences for the loss of your sheep.