The Consignment Blues

Yes, it's time for the Consignment Blues! The tags system for the big February sale (Spring 2010) closed today before I could go through my kids' shoes this afternoon and get some more pairs to add to the sale. The sale is already full at 33,000 items. I really hate having to have all the final, detailed tags written for a consignment sale that does not take place until February 20th. What happened to doing it at the last minute like you are supposed to?


I participate in this big Divine Consign sale twice a year, although I skipped it for two seasons this past year. Bliss not having to do it. Had plenty of other things to do that were more fun. Even doing it this year will be hard--I will have to drop off the night before, which I hate, because Girl Scout World Thinking Day, which is the day of the daytime drop off, is the 20th. Since I am in charge of that for our troop I guess I had better go to Thinking Day, huh?

I hate the night before drop off because a lot of the working people come then and it's pandemonium. Plus most of the stuff isn't there so you can't case the place to see if they have anything you want to come back and try to get. I prefer to drop off first thing in the morning at the morning drop off, but that is not happening this year. I could make my husband do it (others have) but he is probably going to have to go with me anyway the night before because I can't carry the damned Lego table. Believe me, in this economy, he will not be the only man there. And so I guess we will go together. We could make it a family affair but that's a bad idea because then the girls will want to pull their toys and other items out of the sale, so they have to be smuggled out of the house sometimes. They already decided they won't let me sell the damn Barbies!

Last season I just couldn't handle the stress of staying up half the night doing tags, ironing used clothes etc so I didn't participate in the big sale. (I guess I'd rather stay up half the night and blog). But the clothes, toys, shoes and miscellaneous crap piled up and up toward the ceiling of my husband's office, and it was time to say goodbye.

In the past I have done pretty well from this Consignment Sale (I mean, $500 to $600 for selling a bunch of used kids' toys, clothing and equipment, without having to have a garage sale here at the house). Well, I had to basically DUMP a lot of really nice winter things at Once Upon a Child this winter since I missed the fall sale, and I know I got ripped off, so this time I am determined to do the f****** sale, come hell or high water. I mean, OUaC gave me $2.50 for dresses they are selling for $10 each!! That sucks! I could have made $7 on those dresses through consignment and believe me, people, when you have twin girls it adds up.

Can you tell I'm cheap? Can you tell that I should be in retail?

Couldn't help it though. In August when it was time to get ready for the fall and winter sale, Amelia could still wear her winter clothes from the prior years. Go figure. And it's really hard to get kids to try on winter clothes when it is 100 degrees outside.

So now I am trying to do the Consignment Sale again to make a little extra money and get rid of all these clothes that Amelia has now outgrown. Miranda outgrows clothes first, then passes them to Amelia. We do Hand Me Ups to the Older Twin. Amelia has both new clothes and secondhand clothes, so for a tom boy who isn't that interested in clothes, she is a regular little clothes horse. Miranda usually only has secondhand clothes if they came that way to begin with, but I usually only buy secondhand clothes for Miranda, because Amelia will get them all eventually anyway.

Yes, having identical IVF twins who are two different sizes is interesting indeed. No one else has this issue. We are unique!!! The one pair of identical IVF twins that I have met in 10 years look identical and are the same size. What a concept. When we would take A and M out as babies people would say, "But one is bigger than the other!" Like we didn't know that already. My husband would look at them, act surprised and say, "But they were the same size when we left the house!!!"

(OK, he didn't really say that; he just wanted to. But he isn't as rude as all those other people were. Now they just say, "they're not twins, are they???" When I tell them that they are indeed twins, and even identical twins, they just look at me like I must be lying).

Oh, you twins parents out there will appreciate this one if you haven't already heard it: What do you say when you have boy-girl twins and a stranger asks if they are identical? "No, he has a penis!!!" My kids, at least, think this is hysterically roll-on-the-gound funny, but then any joke with the word "penis" or "balls" in it gets them going right now. It's fun to be 10.

Well, back to Consignment World. These consignors are SERIOUS. I mean, these ladies are the Nazis of the Consignment World. They are very nice in person but they have ice water in their veins. If you present them with any merchandise that has stains, rips, tears, etc. they can issue a strike against you. Three strikes and you are out!!! Then, no more Consignment for you! (doesn't this remind you of Seinfeld, seriously?) Since my eyesight is not so great any more, the only thing the strike system does for me is strike terror in my heart. If I get thrown out of the Big Consignment Sale, how else am I going to get top dollar for all my used crap???

And I would never, ever, ever try to get someone to buy something from me secondhand that isn't in perfect, pristine, like-new condition, as if the orginal tag were just removed and it was waiting all this time just for that one particular buyer who has come to visit the House of Liz, the designer store for barely used children's merchandise.

I mean, give me a break!

Well, I wouldn't try to pass off stained merchandise at this sale on purpose--the lighting is too good. I used to pass off all kinds of stained junk at the Lake Cities Mothers of Multiples Sale but that one was held in a parking garage. As far as I am concerned, everything is sold "as is, no refunds."

Everything for this Consignment Sale has to be washed, ironed, and hung a specific way on a wire hanger with the printed tags that have no written additions on them and are printed on a specific weight of WHITE cardstock. Don't you dare use any blue cardstock to make your crap stand out from everyone else's crap. And don't use a laser printer either--they don't like the way the bar codes come out. And Don't you dare put a battery operated toy in the sale without changing the batteries! They will check the batteries before the sale and if they find that your toy is not working, they will pull it. (It is beside the point that once the sale starts all the obnoxious kiddos playing with your toy will run the battery down, then it will get pulled and it will be coming back to your house! And if you want to sell it the next time you need to add--guess what?-NEW batteries!)

You would think we were selling precious metals or something at these sales. The competition for spaces in line to purchase is awesome. Shopping at it is extremely stressful--you just load up a laundry basket as quickly as you can and start going through the stuff more carefully on the side.

This year with so many people out of work, the breakdown shift (usually reserved for Dads and Strong People Who Can Break Down Clothing Racks Without Breaking a Sweat)--well, this shift filled up the FIRST day in a few hours. (If you or your hubby works Breakdown you get to shop FIRST at the sale--it's the only way in the past they could get anyone to do it because it is quite the job).

I volunteered a few years ago to get a pass so I could go in a bit earlier than the rank and file Consignors (sale opens to the public after the consignors have gone through it). Well, I had lots of fun organizing old baby toys and such and surreptitiously casing the joint for clothing for my older kids. I did go and shop and I did buy a bunch of used crap, most of which we are just now getting rid of. I am not sure that I am going to shop this year though--I find I do better if I just buy really nice brands at 40% off and then re-sell in Consignment. The used stuff that I get there is just too worn out by the time that I am done with it because of our Hand Me Up system.

So I am not volunteering. I am just trying to get psyched to iron a bunch of used clothing that I didn't ever iron when the kids were actually wearing it!!

So I wasted my time doing the Barbies (who still aren't completely done)--should have done shoes instead. I also abandoned the Beanie Babies but I found a place that will take Beanie Babies but is generally paying between fifty cents and a dollar for most of them, even the older ones. Interestingly, they are paying between $3 and $5 for the plush ones that I had years ago for the girls when they were babies (these were unloaded a long time ago). There are a few Beanie Babies worth more, but not many. I might have one that they are paying $60 for so I wonder if I could ebay it and turn it into college tuition? Also, I wonder if they would notice if I cut the wings off my Quackers (worth $1) to turn him into the wingless version (worth $200)???

Of course the Beanie option assumes that all the hangtags are attached and undamaged, so parents, don't ever take the tags off any stuffed animals that you buy!!! Especially TY products!!!

OK, hope I haven't bored you to tears today, but there's nothing all that funny about ironing used clothes for a consignment sale when you have a law degree. It's just pathetic. The things I do so I can be a stay at home mom!

Pleasant Valley Mom