Yesterday afternoon, my saucy sidekick and twin sister Cindy and I travelled to Palo Pinto County to evaluate a trade for services and were shocked at the amount of stuff loaded into every possible nook and cranny.
Digging through all of this trash to find a treasure isn’t as easy as you might think- it’s time consuming and often an “adventure.” My husband thinks that our treasure hunts are similar to his favorite show- American Pickers and they can be but with a different twist since we aren’t buying these items. We are bartering for services offered at my sister site Wendy Wortham and Cindy Daniel Will Dig Through Your Stuff video of myself and my sister is how the Pawning Process of bartering services with us works when taking trades from mamy of our clients who have no money.
Occasionally, we find a few surprises in barns, trailers and homes that have us running out of the building! Last week a pig chased us out of a trailer.We don’t understand the whole “hoarding” phenomenon of these folks or even our Aunt Shirley or Uncle Albert who keep 20 or more Malibu cars along with who knows how many lawn mowers and other items in their back forty. Our entire lives my Uncle Albert has “collected” a huge amount of what we think is junk! When my Aunt would send him with a truckload of junk to the dump, he came back with a truckload of new junk!
We are often called Pickers, Pawners and Flippers because we refurbish items and sell them but I’m pretty picky regarding trades and while “one man’s trash is another mans treasure,” may be occasionally accurate, a room full of old newspapers and empty boxes has no value to me.
Our twins love to dig through old toys, games and electronics and find the unique aspect of taking trades for wedding and event services fun and exciting.I don’t like clutter and especially old junk around my house because I run a tight ship at my home aka WorthamWorld but my twin is married to Steve Daniel who could easily “cross over” into a collector/hoarder because Steve finds value in just about anything much like my Uncle Albert.
You may not even realize you’ve married a “collector” until years later with overflowing rafters in your garage and stacks of stuff.
My husband hates garage sales and I love them because I know what I’m looking for. After watching American Pickers, he thinks he does too LOL.
Finding something “flip worthy” involves a certain degree of risk because you now must find a buyer who is interested in the item.
Since we were in the area yesterday, Cindy and I stopped in for a visit with my Aunt and Uncle who still live in the same farmhouse they’ve owned nearly 40 years. There are more barns and buildings in the pasture to house the treasures my Uncle has amassed throughout their marriage.
My husbands father was a hoarder and after his death my husband was asked if he wanted any of the treasures his father had spent years collecting- his answer was no because we had nowhere to keep these things and because (unlike his faher) he saw no value in the hodge podge collection.
Picking isn’t easy- it requires knowledge of the item and the market.
We don’t always “hit a lick” but, we are pretty good at making a living at it because we have a history of flipping stuff and because we have a few hoarders in our family!
If you’d like to shop my treasure chest of items, visit his link Refurbished Flips-Texas Twins Treasures all of the furniture has been painstakingly “brought back to life” by me as I redesign the items taken in trade.
As we go through yesterday’s “haul” from that old barn and prepare to plan our next event, the client asks about our estate liquidation services, this is going to take my team of family members several days to orchestrate ya all…
Wendy M Wortham Entrepeneur
Comments by Wendy Wortham