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Tyler Hand Me Ups

January 8th, 2010

Tyler Hand Me Ups is located in Tyler Texas close to Tyler Junior College. The store is just a couple of lights down on your right in a little shopping area with another store surrounding that. Hand Me Ups is a used clothing sale where you can find lots of good deals for very low prices.

The clothes are in very good condition and many are name brands. A lot of the time the store runs lots of sales store wide anywhere from 20% – 25% off the original price. There have been many times where I found clothes for $2 or $4 per item on really cute kids clothes. Trust me I love clothes and shoes so I would not lead you astray when it comes to clothes.

Besides clothes you can find shoes and I have seen name brands there and again for a reasonable price. You can also find, purses there, belts and some jewelry. They even have perfume.

If you are looking for baby clothes, usually they have very cute items that you can find there for your children, teens or adults. If you have no money to spend on clothes, then they have an opportunity for you to where you can take your clothes there and they will sell it for you and you give them a percent and you make some also. It’s a win, win situation, I think.

Anyways the people there working are very friendly and always ready to help you find what you are looking for. You can also choose to be put on their mailing list. And anytime they have a sell or something going on they give you a notice and sometimes they send you a card with an extra 10% off. I am truly a fan of this place. I seem to be able to find great deals, nice clothes for a price that I can afford.

If buying clothes that are second hand does not bother you, I would go and check it out. There have been times that I found items that still had their tag on it. Either way you can have fun, just going and checking it out, just to see what they have. It won’t hurt going by and besides you actually might end up liking it and finding lots of new stuff for yourself or for others.

Just like any other place you probably have to go there more than once. What I mean by that is, if you go and don’t find anything to your liking, I would not give up. I would go back several times again before you decide that the place has nothing for you. Like I said in the beginning, I love it and it suits me, and my price range. But you will have to go see for yourself to see if you like it or not. Everybody likes to look nice and I don’t think too many people like to spend more than they have on clothes.

I am a girl and one that loves to be girly but don’t have lots of money to spend on it so I look for good deals and they seem to have it.

Canton Trade Days Close To Tyler Texas

January 7th, 2010

Most of us from East Texas know about Canton Texas about 30 minutes from Tyler Texas. This place isn’t your typical flea market. In fact I wouldn’t use the word flea market when talking to a vendor at Canton trade days or they might just have to set you straight. Canton goes way back historically as being a gathering place where people would come to trade goods and services. The tradition goes back over 150 years and is a source of pride for the city of Canton TX known as “First Monday”.

First Monday trade days had to do with stray horses believe it or not. On the first Monday of the month when the judge in Canton arrived to convene his court. Canton at that time was an open range full of wild horses. The judge setup the first Monday as they day people could arrive with their horses in a horse auction. People would come from far and wide to trade and this auction is what has now turned into Canton trade days first Monday.

Please don’t get confused as if you come to Canton on the first Monday of the month there will be no gigantic flea market. The weekend prior to the first Monday of every month is when the Canton trade days extravaganza begins. This isn’t a run of the mill flea market but something you will need all 3 days to explore.

There are antiques available for purchase that can be had for good deals as well as marked up beyond what would be considered reasonable. It all depends on what you are looking for and how quickly you want to find it. If you do enough digging you will be able to pick up some pretty unique items for cheap.

At one time I was in the process of building a log house and I needed some old triple block pulleys. Ebay had them for sale for a little bit more than I wanted to pay so I went to Canton to see what I could find. I was able to get the triple block pulleys I needed for about half of what it would have cost on ebay. I bought a Yao Ming action figure still in the box for $1.00 and I believe this was a few dollars cheaper than what it would have cost new.

Many people are at Canton trade days behind a vendor booth almost as more of a hobby than to make a good living but they keep coming every month and some actually do make a good living. Depending on where you go in Canton will determine the type of stuff you will see and for what price. There are indoor and outdoor areas and places completely offsite that are open all month rather than just on first Monday.

Some businesses business model like Paul Michael have used Canton to capitalize on this hot spot for buying junk for the house. Paul Michael is offsite from Canton trade days and gets daily shopping traffic rather than just 3 days in a month. In fact I bet Paul Michael has siphoned a way a good deal of the shoppers that normally frequented Canton trade days. Pretty savy business sense if I do so say myself.

On our last visit to Canton we did visit Paul Michael but their stuff is quite pricey and so they pretty much serve the well to do. If you want to get good stuff for a cheaper price we recommend sticking with the trade day grounds.

Last visit to Canton we picked up all our cabinet hardware from their from a vendor booth called Cabinet Jewelry. We ended up saving about $2.00 per knob and handle that we used on our new cabinets than if we had of used Lowes or Home Depot.

When in Canton trade days you will want to eat something. There are a lot of fair food type places but pay special attention that you skip that corn dog and turkey leg and instead go to Cookin’ Cajans. This place was gone for a few years do to the owners having some health issues but is back in business again. This is one of those places that people drive an hour or two every month just to eat at so don’t forget to try it while your there.

I am not sure if Cooking Cajan’s is under new ownership as the original owner may have retired. While getting your food I recommend their crawfish etouffee, a Cajan egg roll, and some bread pudding. Hey go ahead and buy it all and if you can’t eat it all you will have leftovers for lunch tomorrow.

If your not a big bread pudding fan go over to Taylor’s homemade icecream and try that stuff. I always go to gets me some of that Taylor’s homemade icecream. Very good!

I personally go to Canton to browse the puppies for sale, eat some Cajan Food, buy an old farm tool, get a small toy for the baby, and look at some of the East Texans that rarely come out of the house (pretty fascinating moo,moo outfits worn by both men and women.)

Thrifty Nickel In Tyler Texas

December 15th, 2009

Learning About Better Online Classifieds Than The Thrifty Nickel

Like many in East Texas I have used the Thrifty Nickel for years. From what I hear they may have changed their name to the American Classifieds but I will always know it as the Thrifty Nickel. I moved away from Tyler back in 1999 and lived in Colorado for a season. While there I started using an online service called Ebay. The Thrifty Nickel lost a lot of appeal for me when I came back to Tyler TX because I was now familiar with just how well a service like Ebay worked for me. I sold a lot of ski and snowboard equipment I no longer needed while back in Tyler and I did it all on Ebay. In the past I would have used the Thrifty Nickel because there was no such thing as Ebay.

Classifieds East Texas

I used the Thrifty Nickel to find things I now find on Craigslist like motorcycles, furniture, personally owned used cars, odds and ends you would find at a garage sell, and the back bumper for a Ford F150. These larger items are too expensive for people using Ebay to ship but the Thrifty Nickel was full of stuff like this. These days the jobs section is full of work from home ops like the envelope stuffing scheme, MLM businesses and such. The merchandise area where I used to find personally owned cars has much less to select from and the Nickel is full of car dealer ads everywhere. Blah! I don’t use the Nickel for car dealers. I would just go to the dealer and cruise around the lot if that is what I wanted. I am looking for good deals and I get more frustration from the Nickel than satisfaction. Back in the good ole days the Nickel was something I always grabbed along with Autotrader but those days are over. Autotrader is still a good magazine but what happened to the Nickel?

Order Of Greatness

1. Amazon.com
2. Craigslist.com
3. Ebay.com
101. American Classifieds (Thrifty Nickel) blah!

Differences Between Popular Online Classifieds Like Ebay and The Thrifty Nickel

The difference between Ebay and the Thrifty Nickel back in 2000 was night and day. I was able to sell really obscure items every time I listed them and many times at retail prices on Ebay. Many of my ski gloves were old used retro gloves but people in Europe loved them. They would buy old used ski gloves for $40 a pair and higher. Many Europeans were buying my ski goggles and other ski equipment for nice sums of money on Ebay. After selling a bunch of ski junk on Ebay I managed to make about $3,000 on unwanted ski items my friends gave me to sell. The Thrifty Nickel back in 2000 was good for unloading a used car or selling an old refrigerator for a decent sum. Because these larger items can’t be shipped affordably you had to sell this stuff using the Nickel to someone local. So Ebay remained an online place for selling smaller items to anyone in the world in order to make a handsome profit and the Nickel got you about what you deserved for an old used car. The Nickel remained your local marketplace to sell and buy items that were not easy to ship. Now I use Craigslist to buy and sell most of those larger used items.

10 Years Later The Thrifty Nickel Is A Much Different Animal

Now it is the year 2009 and we are almost approaching 2010. 10 years later after using Ebay for the first time my interests have changed a bit. I will still pick up the Thrifty Nickel from time to to time but what I have noticed is that the magazine has way too many national spammy advertisements in it. They may have changed things since a few months ago but I saw a lot of car dealer ads that were not from local people selling their automobiles. I also noticed that the jobs in Tyler Texas that were posted in the classifieds section were spam type junk job ads selling opportunities and get rich quick schemes. Some of these ads resembled envelope stuffing work from home schemes and other related waste of time job classifieds.

Giving The Nickel A Few More Chances

After picking up the Thrifty Nickel in different cities throughout East Texas while on my way out of a gas station or other convenience store I finally began to see that there was not much appeal to the Thrifty Nickel anymore. The classifieds magazine has way too many car dealers and national job seeker ads. The few and far between real ads are sparse and you really don’t get the selection that you used to. I would think that the reason the Thrifty Nickel has lost a lot of its quality may have to do with Craigslist.com website and Amazon.com taking over this market in a large part. Ebay still competes as well but for large local items like cars and furniture you will find that Craigslist.com has many local Tyler Texas residents selling anything from a filing cabinet, office conference table, to a used Volkswagon Rabbit. Ebay is also a very good website for finding local automobiles but as far as furniture and other large local items I would stick with Craigslist.

What Is So Great About Ebay?

Ebay remains a great way to pick up some unique antiques, home accesories, gadgets, and replacement parts but I would be wary of power sellers selling you something used you can get new for cheaper elsewhere. Amazon.com is a much less frustrating Ebay with no auctions only competing prices on new and used items. I consistently get a less hassle free experience at a cheaper price when buying merchandise from Amazon.com. Craigslist.com is the king of cheap prices on large items you couldn’t possibly have shipped to you. I have bought cars, filing cabinets, desks, and you name it on Craigslist. You can also get some good deals on used engagement rings on there from awkward local break ups but I imagine it would be weird buying a used ring from someone who just broke an engagement. Anyway this gives you an idea about how online services compare to the Thrifty Nickel. The Thrifty Nickel is online also but they don’t have the type of things you see on Craigslist so I don’t see the point.

If You Like The Thrifty Nickel Or American Classifieds Let Us Know

I challenge local Tyler Thrifty Nickel enthusiasts like I once was to look at a recent addition and see if it has changed for the better. I would love to write up a positive review about a paper that used to be one of my favorites but I have been disappointed just one too many times. Maybe I have missed some of the great positive aspects of The Thrifty Nickel. If I have missed something please tell me. There is a comment section at the bottom of this article for providing your two cents about the Thrifty Nickel. Feel free to leave a response.

How to Buy Office Furniture in Tyler

November 9th, 2009

If you are a Tyler business working from a commercial office space or even if just working from home I have a few tips on buying your office furniture that should help you save some money. There are a couple of places in town that sell used office furniture. There are also several stores that sell office desks, chairs and furniture for high prices. There also happen to be some little spots in town where you can get excellent condition office furniture for half or more off the retail price. One of my biggest pet peeves is when you go to a used office furniture store only to find the used furniture discounted off retail by 10 – 15 %. This isn’t a savings. You can save that much simply by shopping around and several retail locations selling new office furniture.

My best luck in buying high quality office furniture at an affordable price was by using the Tyler Texas Craigslist classifieds. The online classified are free for inviduals and businesses to use which allows a lot of merchandise to be posted on there for people like me to see. I am always finding very good deals on used desks, chairs, filing cabinets, and similar office type furniture. There will always be people on there trying to sell stuff for way more than it is worth but for the most part it is easy to talk people down on price.

I have usually found a filing cabinet or desk that was reasonably priced and was listed a week to 3 weeks on the craigslist board to go for much less. When the seller has listed their merchandise on the board the longer it sits out there the cheaper they are willing to let it go. Think about it, these businesses don’t want it any more and the last thing they want to have to do is haul it off somewhere. You are basically hauling it off for them. In some cases I have been able to get modern looking furniture for absolutely free simply because I was willing to haul it off and they just didn’t want it.

This I don’t want it syndrome is a known phenomenon often found on the Tyler Texas Craigslist. Craigslist is my favorite choice for finding the best deals although if you are not an online person I would suggest checking out the newspaper. No matter what I recommend completely avoiding attempting to buy used office furniture from a used office furniture store. You will end up with terrible outdated furniture at retail prices. Don’t waist your time and money driving out to one of these used office furniture stores it really isn’t worth it.

Another option when trying to get affordable office furniture that doesn’t rely on the newspaper or online is going to Sam’s Wholesale club. You can usually get new office furniture there about 30 % cheaper than what you will find at Office Depot and other stores. Sam’s also has an office furniture catalog where you can order the office furniture you want and they will deliver it to the nearest Sam’s Wholesale club near you. In my opinion Craigslist and Sam’s Wholesale Club are the top two spots for getting the cheapest nicest looking office furniture in town.

Tyler TX Craigslist

September 18th, 2009

For those of you like me you may have been brought up using Ebay to buy your good deals and merchandise on the internet I think you will find Craigslist to be less of a headache. I absolutely loved ebay for years and years until things started to happen that became a real nuisance. After I had enough with Ebay because of several different issues I tried out Amazon and Craigslist. I found that Amazon allows you to buy everything immediately without having to take it to auction. Since many of Ebay’s auctions seem fake because of fraud I moved over to Amazon and started buying several things from the cheapest verified seller offering what I wanted on Amazon. This setup on Amazon worked very well and I could pick between used or new. I immediately decided that in almost every case Amazon was a better choice over Ebay. There are exceptions to the rule and a great example is when I needed to buy an antique triple block pulley. I could only purchase a used item like this at an affordable price on Ebay. Amazon did not offer used or new triple block pulleys. Antiques like the triple block pulley example are why Ebay is still needed. Ebay really needs to create a separate place to go for those who want to completely avoid the whole fake auction experience. It just has become too much to want to deal with.

Craigslist fills the gap between Amazon and Ebay by being a place for those wanting to find good deals on larger items that cannot be easily shipped for an affordable price. For instance, I bought a large wooden filing cabinet that originally retailed for $500 for $100. It was a great buy and all I had to do was drive 5 miles, load it up in my truck and deliver it to my house. It was worth it as I would have to deliver a new item like this anyway if I were to buy something like it at Office Depot. Tyler Texas Craigslist has also allowed me the ability to buy a bicycle, a car, bike rack, and several other items at discounted prices I could not find on Amazon or Ebay. Rather than fight it out over a week in an auction only to see the auction go to retail price for some used junk I can go on Craigslist and buy the same thing at a negotiated price that does not have to go to auction.

Tyler TX Craigslist has had its opposition mainly due to its adult section and I agree that Craigslist should really shutdown that sleaze but the rest of the site is really amazing. You can find jobs, very cheap merchandise, free classifieds for selling your own junk, and some interesting money making opportunities. I will warn that most of the “too good to be true” opps on Tyler TX Craigslist really are too good to be true and you should consider getting a real job or at the very least attempt to go about doing an opportunity without handing your money over to a swindler.

Craigslist Tyler TX is a place where you will find what is known as “I don’t want it anymore” syndrome. I have actually participated in this syndrome when my 1999 Saturn was sitting in my front yard for over a year not running. I took the car to the shop and although they were able to get it back to running with little repair they showed me that it had many issues. The cost to get the car back up to a reliable standard would be more than the car is worth. I decided I didn’t want the car anymore. I found a city employee here in Tyler Texas that would buy the car knowing about all issues wrong with it for $300. Now the car probably had a few years left in it and I think it was worth more but I really wanted the car gone. I could just see the car back in my yard sitting there filling in that white trailer trash stereotype that I seem to immolate every so often. I thought I would do me, my neighbors, and my family a favor and get rid of the car ASAP. Craigslist is full of cars, and merchandise like this where the person just really doesn’t want it and you can usually haggle the price down further once you show up with cash in hand.

It is important when considering using Craigslist that you are not being tricked into coming to some perverts house, or a robber of some kind. If you are a woman I recommend bringing a guy along with you when you pick up your item. As a woman or man if you are paranoid about the other seller you could agree to meet at a local Coffee Shop or something and exchange money and goods there. You really want to be careful especially if you are being offered an iphone for $50 or something as chances are the guy is setting a trap for you to come to a location where he can then steal your cash. As long you follow some common sense when using Tyler TX Craigslist you can get some really good deals. Between Ebay, Amazon and Craigslist I think you will come up with a really good guage on where prices are at for what you want to purchase. There is no place like Tyler TX Craigslist as it is the impulsive buyers paradise for used I dont want it anymore local Tyler Texas merchandise.