Trash to cash....again!

Once again, my neighbor has come through for me! If you read my blog back in January, you'll remember the story. For reasons unknown, my neighbor doesn't want to donate his household goods to Goodwill or hold a garage sale. Instead, my neighbor takes perfectly good stuff he no longer needs and kicks it to the curb for trash pick-up. He's done it so often that I am beginning to think he's messing with me. Maybe the guy gets a chuckle out of seeing me go head first into his trash can? Well let him laugh, because whatever his reasons for throwing away good stuff, the guy is making me some coin!

Are you kidding me? 

Ironically, it wasn't long after I posted my last blog piece about his throwaways, when the guy was at it again. As I drove down the street, I saw something big, bright and colorful sticking out of the top of his trash can. Slowing down to take a closer look, I realized it was a baby exersaucer. If you're not familiar with them, the saucer helps a baby "exercise" by standing in a harness and safely rocking in place. I know from experience that these big hunks of plastic are a fairly common sight at garage sales. Because of that, I wasn't thinking it had a whole lot of value. But with a good track record of flipping my neighbor's trash into cash, I was willing give the baby saucer a shot. After all, who can turn down a freebie sitting right across the street? Not this dude, that's for sure! So just as I did in my previous trash runs, I waited until the cover of darkness to salvage the saucer.

At around 9 PM, it was go-time! Not just for me, but for my dog too! I figured if anyone spotted me, I'd look like I was just out for a nice walk with my dog. After Poochy did his business, we discreetly walked up to the treasure...I mean, trash can. I am not gonna lie....I was pretty slick. With one hand holding Poochy's leash while using my head to keep the lid open, I yanked the saucer out of the trash can. It was now mine! Walking quickly back across the street, I learned something very important - baby saucers are kinda hard to carry with one hand! Making matters worse, as I grappled with the saucer, a neighbor drove down the street. His headlights lit me up like a spotlight, and I could only imagine what he was thinking. Probably something along the lines of, "Why is that dude walking his dog and carrying a huge baby saucer? I felt like an escaped convict in a prison break movies when the big spotlight hits him - so busted!

Soldiering on, I sheepishly nodded at my neighbor as he drove past, then hauled the saucer into my house. Taking a close look at it, I discovered it was an Evenflo "Triple Fun" Exersaucer. Despite the fact that it was in the trash, the saucer was in excellent condition. Using Google's "shopping" search engine, I found tons of listings for the saucer, ranging from Amazon to Walmart. Just about all the sites were selling the saucer for over a hundred dollars! However, there was one small problem. An arched wire with hanging animals was missing! I then remembered that in my rush to pull the saucer out of the trash can, there was something bright and colorful hidden underneath it. It had to be the arch! What good was an Exersaucer without it's arch? There was only one thing to do - I had to go back for that arch! Armed with my flashlight, I snuck back across the street and opened the trash lid. Shining the flashlight into the can, I spotted the missing arch and grabbed it! My Saucer was now complete!

Now that I had everything, it was time to see how much dough I could make. As I've done with past Craigslist ads, I copy/pasted the catalogue description to save me time. Why re-invent the wheel when you don't have to? Check out the listing....

Evenflo Triple Fun Exersaucer ! - $40

EvenFLo Exersaucer in very good, clean condition. Retails for $100 in Target. Below is the catalogue description:

The Evenflo Triple fun Exersaucer offers 11 fun learning activities that help your baby achieve important developmental milestones. Rocking, spinning and bouncing actions strengthen your little one's leg, back and neck muscles. Fully loaded with toys and activities, this height-adjustable exerciser converts to a playmat and activity table. Take With Me Toys transfer to other Evenflo items, and the seat pad removes for easy cleaning. With its Life in the Amazon theme, this colorful entertainer is sure to keep Baby engaged.

Lots of fun for your little one...Hurry before it's gone!

As mentioned earlier, I've spotted many an Exersaucer at the thrift stores and garage sales. Generally, I've ignored them, thinking they're not big sellers. But I may have to re-think that in the future. A few days after posting the exersaucer, I sold it for my asking price of $40 dollars. If you're keeping score, that's a total of $120 dollars pulled from my neighbor's trash over the last several months! Crazy, but true!

Have you sold a baby Exersaucer? If so, how much did you make? Share your flip in the comment section below.  

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