Caroleen’s Treasures

So the Laziest Blogger award goes to ME!!!! BOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

I am sorry for the lack of updates. We were hooked on our small business since last year that went to nowhere. LOL We had opened a store here in Digos last May and opened another two in a span of 4 months. Things are going very well until last September, a supplier from Manila ventured here in our area. Before she came here, we are the only store that sells ukay-ukay from the US but she came and offered every store owners US bales. This badly affected our sales and so we decided to just close the stores and focus on selling pre-loved toys from the US.

Last September while looking for Baby Alive doll that Ella wanted to Christmas, I came across toy sellers. They sell pre-loved from the US and I started buying from them. After three purchases, I decided I wanted to sell too. Since I know where they are getting their toys in Davao, Donald and I visited the store (we are shopping at this store for over two years before we started selling) and studied the system. Going to the warehouse to get toys became a family bonding to us. My sister Crislyn and BIL were also going there to help us pick toys. Since my sister loved kitchenwares, she has bought pieces of Pyrex and Corningware there. After several weeks, we figured a strategy on how to get the best toys and that is to go there very early to get a good post infront of the door. When the door opens, everyone runs like they are in a bull race in Spain. LOL Read more… »

Yesterday as I was going to toss my clothes in the washer, I called Donald to check what I got from the last bale of ukay-ukay that we opened. He was looking at it one by one and saying, “Oh, you hid all the nice stuffs!” and “You kept telling our customers that there are tubes in the bale but I only hung two, you hid the rest!” I was giggling like a kid. I honestly don’t have anything nice and decent clothes in my wardrobe so when we opened the “fashion tops” bale, I grabbed all the nice stuffs in my size. LOL But since most of them are sleeves and I got one backless top, Donald asked me a couple of times if I sure could wear them. Well during regular days no but for special occasions, I could brush the last batch of dusts of shyness just to make myself look more human. Donald has asked me one time why I wanted to wear stuffs like that when I don’t actually wear them when I was still single. I explained that I am already married and have kids so there is no reason to be conservative. And it is not only about that thing, it is actually more about trying to look younger. Read more… »

Since we moved again to our new place, I never had any problems on how to get rid of dark circles under my eyes because we don’t travel far everyday, therefore I get longer sleep and lesser stress. I am totally enjoying the life of getting to bed earlier than we usually do. I can see a big change too with our sleep pattern since we decided to turn the AC on before we sleep and just turn it off in the morning when we get up. No more 30-minute AC cooling because we have higher ceiling, larger bedroom not to mention we are in a hotter place on the face of the earth.

Donald and I’s dream house is not mansion, nor any concrete house but something small and made of native materials. It’s because we wanted to have a home that looks and feels like we are in a farm or somewhere up in the mountains. But then our soon to be home will not be like that. If we will be blessed, I would like to purchase a lot where we could build our dream house with bamboo or log furnitures and have a garden where we could grow our favorite flowers and vegetables. Ella could also raise rabbits, chicken and other animals she love. I so wish this dream could come true.

I am so sore!!!! My body and my throat…and that made me want to just lie down but I can’t. Donald is bugging me now to wake the kids up so we can go to Digos early. I am not tired of traveling everyday. In fact I am loving it. But Donald sometimes feel tired because aside from driving, he sets up the tent and all. I just do some fixing of the stuffs on where this and that should be hung and selling. Eman stays at the car playing with his toys while Donald rests. When it’s time to go home, he again folds down the tent and do the sacking. It is his workout everyday, no need for him to take creatine supplements…in fact he has a shirt that says: I WORKOUT EVERYDAY. Soon he will be a hunk. LOL

So we are back from Digos City and we are happy that we have good sales again. Although it did not break the record last Wednesday, I am still thankful that we have additional moolah for another bale. We spent the night at the camp of 1101st Brigade based in the city. My uncle offered us to stay at his place and we gladly accept it. Shila, his daughter, was there too and that made us feel more comfortable. I hope we can find a room for rent or maybe a house where we could stay overnight during weekends. Shila is also based in Digos so it would be nice if we can get a house and have her stay with us during weekends. Ella had a grand time biking and so is Eman. Read more… »

Since last week, we have been going to Digos City, an hour drive from Davao, to sell ukay-ukay. It was unplanned but it turned out a good strategy in making the return of investment faster. This is how we sell our goods the first few days.

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Last Holiday Season I see a lot of fruits on a basket lined at SM grocery section. It comes in different basket sizes. The bigger the basket the more expensive it gets because it has more fruits inside. It has grapes, apples, oranges and pears. I asked Donald to buy one for our New Year’s celebration but he said we’d rather buy fruits at Uyanguren or Bankerohan because it is a lot cheaper there and we could just buy a basket along Gempesaw. Well he’s right and I agreed….but New Year came and the fruit basket has forgotten. LOL Read more… »

For how many years that we are into ukay-ukay business, it’s only now that I am feeling there is really money in it. I never entertained the idea of selling the goods to a wholesaler. In this kind of business, the first customer who buys in bulk is called “selector”. They have a quota, usually half the amount of the bale. Sometimes the owner of the bale has three or more selectors who dig in the bale. This set up is not very good since they tend to grab at something that catches their attention resulting to damage of the item. For me, I wanted to open the bale….sort each piece according to price and label them all. The last bale I opened has 1,050 pieces of children’s clothing. This has been my style since we started this business when Ella was still a baby. This way we can monitor if we already have regained the capital. We sell the good ones at a good price but I realized the return of investment takes a very long time. Around 30 days. Read more… »

We joined the weekend midnight bazaar at Matina Town Square last Friday and Saturday. It was equally fun and tiring. The bazaar starts at 6pm but we were there as early as 3pm. The first day we were lucky the little guy was asleep while we set up the booth.

The Teddy Bears kept him company and rested as well because they will be working later. Read more… »