Making Extra Money with Garage Sales and Goodwill Finds

One of my favorite movies is National Treasure. It's one of the only films I enjoy watching time and time again. History intrigues me and when you couple history with treasure hunting, it's all the better!

I consider my free time spent at Thrift Stores and Goodwill's a treasure hunt. I enjoy the aspect of finding that "diamond in the rough." Today, I want to share with you some of the items that I have bought for a few dollars and ended up making 3 or more times that much in reselling. My all-time favorite place to shop to this day is Goodwill. And on one item, I actually made forty times my initial investment.

About four months ago, I dropped in at my local Goodwill and browsed the shelves, looking for items of value that were under priced. Not finding anything to suit my fancy, I turned my attention to a cart just rolled from the back with newly sorted goodies. One item that caught my eye immediately, was a white cat. Upon further inspection, I realized it was cast iron and in its heyday had been used as doorstop.

A few days later, friends of mine and fellow re-sellers showed the cat to a local auctioneer whose expertise was antiques. He determined the cat wasn't a Hubley (the gold standard in antique cast iron doorstops), but a very early and very good reproduction. I was a bit disappointed it wasn't a Hubley, but it still had value.

A day later I listed the cat on the Facebook Marketplace, submitting several photos highlighting the cat's detail. Within a few days, a lady in a neighboring town expressed interest and purchased the cat for $80.

Oh, I haven't shared how much I invested in the cat. I paid $2.

This proves it is possible to find items to resell and make a substantial profit. Other goods earning significant returns are vinyl albums. Records are making a revival in popularity. Granted, not all records will sell, but when homeowners tag them for fifty cents at a garage sale, the odds of making money are significant. Recently, I snagged five Elvis records at a garage sale for one dollar per album. A couple of weeks later I sold those same five albums for a total of $30 in my flea market booth.

I will continue to post articles, giving tips on what to look for when thrifting and shopping at yard sales. I hope this gives helpful insight.

Now, go treasure hunting!