Estate Sale Analysis and Info - Bettina Network's Blog

Archive for the ‘Estate Sale Analysis and Info’ Category

Thank You for Your Support!

Monday, May 8th, 2017

A very big thank you

for all the support we received

as we went about managing

the Bettina Moving Sale

in Watertown, Massachusetts.

So many of you came out and looked and bought and ate cookies – horrible store-bought cookies made without the benefit of organic flour, organic cocoa, etc.  I warned them not to do that, but, next time we will do better!!

We had a few ‘newcomers’ to Bettina Network, inc’s sales, who felt being ugly was the way to go and to get the price and item they wanted, but they ran into our buzz saw called ‘Marceline’ and that was that.  To balance them off we made many new friends who we will look for at future sales.

You all met Frances, who was working her first Bettina Sale and who was a bit nervous at the beginning, but relaxed and by the end of the sale had joined in and did very well.  If you or someone you know would like to work the Bettina Sales, please call and let’s have a conversation.  Toll free at 1-800-347-9166 or 617 497 9166 or email us at bettina-network@comcast.net.

The children who came were the gems – the very young person who looked to be about 8 or 9 years old, and who was with her grandparents, very ably translating for them because they did not speak English.  She did not hesitate to correct Frances when she made a $2 mistake in our favor, making sure her grandparents’ money was correctly handled.  And then there was the pregnant mother with her baby in a sling over her shoulder – with such a presence that you knew the future was secure if there are many more young people building families like theirs. There were many realtors coming and going with their clients looking at the house.  We loved the fact that a couple of the realtors just couldn’t resist and put their business aside to participate in ours. The outstanding buyer was the family who purchased a piece of furniture and found a one ounce gold bar stuck in the back of one of the drawers and brought it to us.  Where else do you find that kind of honesty except at a Bettina Network Sale?

We are so grateful for your friendship, your business, your suggestions,  your warmth and love and look forward to seeing you next time at a Bettina Sale.

We added several new members to Bettina Network’s Lifestyle Community and hope you use your password and join in as we move to grow this organization.

Thank you seems so inadequate, but it is truly and seriously and deeply meant and felt.

From,

All of us at Bettina’s

_________________________________________

Learn More About How We Use Your Donation!

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Everything talked about in this blog and in any other blog in the Bettina Network, inc. is the opinion of the person who wrote the blog and does not necessarily represent the opinions of Bettina Network, inc. It is the property of Bettina Network, inc. and/or the person who wrote the original blog.

Want to join us? Have a home that you want to open to become one of Bettina Network’s Hedge Schools? Call us and lets talk – or email us.

Ed. Note: Members of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community can contribute to the Bettina Network Blog whenever they have anything they want to say and be heard by this fantastic group of people. Send your blog to bettinanetwork@comcast.net or mail it to us at P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 or call us on the telephone at 617-497-9166 to tell us what you want to say and we will write it for you.

Send your event information to be included in Bettina Network’s Menu of Events to bettina-network@comcast.net

A Bettina Network Moving Sale

Friday, May 5th, 2017

A BETTINA MOVING

SALE

IN WATERTOWN, MASSACHUSETTS

104 Coolidge Hill Road – Unit 6 (A Town House)

           May 6th – 10am through 4pm

to

May 7th – 2pm through 6pm

You are invited for tea from 4-6pm on May 7th when all prices for the remaining items will be reduced by 50%

For pictures check out the following:

https://www.estatesales.net/MA/Watertown/02472/1515447

Bettina Network, inc. invites you to shop at a Bettina Moving Sale instead of going to the mall or retail stores.  Spend $20 and you might wind up with $100 worth of merchandise and with some items you cannot currently find in stores – items which become treasures for your family to inherit years from now.

At a Bettina Moving Sale you can add great pieces to your wardrobe, discover that incredible piece of jewelry you can’t live without; find birthday presents – holiday items – the perfect items for yourself at a fraction of what you would spend otherwise.  Necessary and ordinary items which one needs to keep a house running smoothly; elegant decorations to make your dining table go from nice to spectacular without breaking your pocket book; and amass a collection of the world’s most outstanding books, CDs, etc.  At the prices you find at a Bettina Moving Sale you can afford hundreds of books in your library – and tools to keep your house repaired along with items you don’t need, would never buy if they weren’t at rock bottom prices and which you take home to put in your basement waiting for your moving sale to happen.

The Town House is also for sale!

Hope to see you there!

__________________________________________

Learn More About How We Use Your Donation!

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__________________________________________

Everything talked about in this blog and in any other blog in the Bettina Network, inc. is the opinion of the person who wrote the blog and does not necessarily represent the opinions of Bettina Network, inc. It is the property of Bettina Network, inc. and/or the person who wrote the original blog.

Want to join us? Have a home that you want to open to become one of Bettina Network’s Hedge Schools? Call us and lets talk – or email us.

Ed. Note: Members of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community can contribute to the Bettina Network Blog whenever they have anything they want to say and be heard by this fantastic group of people. Send your blog to bettinanetwork@comcast.net or mail it to us at P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 or call us on the telephone at 617-497-9166 to tell us what you want to say and we will write it for you.

Send your event information to be included in Bettina Network’s Menu of Events to bettina-network@comcast.net

 

A Bettina Network Moving Sale

Thursday, April 30th, 2015

Sale happens Saturday May 2, 2015    –   Look for the Bettina Network Flag flying in front of the house to know you are in the right place.

Starts at 10am and ends at 3pm

An Exciting Event Always

Bettina Network Lifestyle Community Members will be allowed in at 9am on May 2, 2015.

The address of the sale is 65 Huntington St, Milton, MA. 02186.

There are interesting items for sale:

IMG_20150429_132608132

 

An elevator chair, which goes up and down the stairs.  The company will take it off the wall and we are sure for a small amount of money they will reinstall the chairs in your home.  There are two chairs.  One goes from the first to the second floor.  The second goes from the basement to the first floor – where the two stairs are not contiguous.

Many of the items we could not picture because Word Press only takes pictures up to 2MB.  So next time we will click accordingly – once we learn how.

IMG_20150429_132544509

There are two lovely Tiffany-style hanging lamps which are quite old and beautiful.

Dining room table and chairs.  Porcelain dinner service.  Stem glasses.

Opalescent glass figures.  Book cases.  Bedroom set with queen-sized bed – real wood.

Mahogany book cases.  Pine book cases stained mahogany.

Miscellaneous items that will look lovely in your living or dining room where you need an extra something.

Clothes.  Fur coats.  A collection of 1930’s mink and fox throws for over the shoulder – remember the kind with the head, feet and tails intact – well come and see these (No conservationist comments please – this was the 1930’s and there were not many of these made).

Off-white Pinch pleated thermal drapes – lots of them.  The way they conserve heat and cold in your home will make up for the fox and mink shoulder stoles.

Nylon curtains – some with frilly ruffles for just $5.00.

An old sewing machine case – a little rubbing with coconut oil will make this case look lovely.

Oriental-style rugs – one for $25 and it is room size – the second for $125.

Pots and pans.  Kitchen miscellaneous.

Basement items, including professional floor cleaning equipment ideal for someone just starting a new business.  Use these until you have earned enough to buy the new, super shiny, over-priced machines that will take away most of your profit.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

As in all Bettina Network Sales, whatever is left after the sale is donated to Bettina Network Foundation, inc.  A 501 ( c ) 3 organization and the family gets a tax credit for the amount of the items so donated.  The Bettina Network Foundation, inc. gives all of these items to people who are recently homeless and are beginning to furnish their new permanent home and/or to people in difficult situations who these items can benefit and make their lives a bit easier.  We work with Therapists and Social Workers to determine who can best use the items available.  They are not stored they are taken immediately to their new home so volunteers at the end of each sale are crucial.

If you are a Social Worker, Therapist or someone working with the homeless and would like to volunteer to help in this effort to eradicate homelessness as best we can, call us.  We send you an inventory of items available and you let us know which ones your clients can use.

If you would like to volunteer some of your time to work with the Bettina Network Foundation, inc. we welcome you.  Speak to one of the people working the sale and they will give you more information.  It is fun -a good learning experience – and who knows where it will lead for you.  We need photographers, designers to help those receiving items have an idea as to how to place them for maximum beauty, those who like to clean and work with others to help them learn how to keep up what they now own, etc., but especially those who enjoy giving – being creative – finding a way where there was no way, etc.

=====================================================

Learn More About How We Use Your Donation!

[give_form id=”3763″]

______________________________________________________________

Want to join us? Have a home that you want to open to become one of Bettina Network’s Hedge Schools? Call us and lets talk – or email us.

Ed. Note: Members of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community can contribute to the Bettina Network Blog whenever they have anything they want to say and be heard by this fantastic group of people. Send your blog to bettinanetwork@comcast.net or mail it to us at P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 or call us on the telephone at 617-497-9166 to tell us what you want to say and we will write it for you.

Volunteer with Bettina Network Foundation, inc. to work estate sales; to help move items from one home to another; to contribute your ideas on how we can better use our resources in this effort to relieve and eliminate homelessness and poverty. We also need photographers; designers; and more. However much or little time you have, we are grateful.

Send your event information to be included in Bettina Network’s Menu of Events to: bettina-network@comcast.net

This is a curated blog so you cannot write your responses at the end of each entry. TO RESPOND TO THIS BLOG email bettina-network@comcast.net or info@bettina-network.com

TO LEARN MORE try www.bettina-network.com

A New World Order

Tuesday, April 21st, 2015

copyright Bettina Network, inc. 2015

We first heard of a “New World Order” when George Bush was president and let those words slip.  We want to pick up those words and expand and change what that means – just a little.

We live and see others prosper as we recapture the past and move into the future world order.  Some of us see the past as that place full of light and goodness.  Others see this new technology creating that place full of light and goodness.  We think they are both wrong and totally destroying what they are trying to achieve and capture.  How does that happen?  How did and do they get it so wrong?

We have to go back to the old world understanding that we don’t own anything on this earth.  We contribute those ways of thinking to the ‘primitives’.  Those groups of people who didn’t understand and were very ‘unintelligent’ in their ways of thinking.  Their basic belief was that we don’t and can’t own anything in this world.  All of that changed.  But did it really or only in new constructs we chose to use to define who we are and how we live!

When we enter this world we do so with nothing except the body we take on at conception.  When we leave it, we leave with nothing – not even the body with which we have identified for as long as we have lived on this earth.  So how have we gotten everything so messed up, mixed up, confused and just downright wrong?

We need to go back to accept the fact of who we are instead of who our leaders have created us to be through their mythology – which we have accepted – and look at and accept who we really are and what we really own, if anything.  Once we do that, the Bettina Lifestyle is simple – it is a “New World Order” based on our shared humanity – and a joy to live.

Whatever we receive in this life is a gift and something we own only temporarily.  It really belongs to the earth – whatever that means.  So we should take care of every pin, every dot, every tittle and iota that comes into our possession because it is not permanent and it is not ours.  We keep all of these things for a second and then pass them on to someone else, unless we have ruined all of what we have possessed in the meantime and then we throw our things into the landfills.  Those things we claim to own came from someplace else and are going someplace else when we no longer have use of whatever we have acquired.

Enter the Estate Sale – the Yard Sale – the Garage Sale.  All ways we use to get rid of our ‘old’ stuff’ that we no longer want nor think we can use.  The thought of taking care of our things because we are passing them along in the future very seldom enters our minds.  We are the throw away society.  We use it and throw it away.  And what happens to those waiting to receive those throw away items?  Sorry, but they were trashed, discarded, uncared for because the person using them interrupted the cycle by their inability to recognize their humanity and the need to share everything with those waiting to receive.  We have dehumanized those waiting to receive to justify the way we have dehumanized ourselves.  We have re-created ourselves in the image of the god we created who would put up with our sins, and wastefulness and uglinesses to ourselves and to others.

If we had taken good care of what we ‘owned’ temporarily, and understood that what we have must be used by someone else, those things would continue their lives and would continue to be useful someplace else and to someone else.

Some people can only buy and use “new” stuff.  Some of us delight and cherish the ‘old stuff’ that we find at Estate Sales.  It is like winning the lottery to find something wonderful for a fraction of what we would have to pay for the same item “new”.  It is living on society’s throw aways, but what a luxury life.

Clothes are the best example.  If you wear your clothes carefully, you can pass them on to continue to be used by someone else.  So Bettina provides for that.  Bettina Network, inc. has estate sales.  Bettina Network Foundation, inc. gives away that which is given to us to those who need the give-aways to be able to participate in this society.  How wonderful to find those give-aways in good condition.

There is no understanding of the ugliness and selfishness of the society in which we live until one becomes homeless.  You can understand it on a very small basis as you interact and see the political fights, the petty jealousies, the coveting thy neighbors belongings. You can understand it only so far, if you also have a position which pays you money to work; friends in the same or better position of whom you can be jealous; belongings which don’t quite measure up to those of your neighbors.  Homeless,  you are cut off from all of that and are standing outside alone or with children or with other family or with friends- all of you alone -it is a stark emptiness, fear and feeling of what was it all about and what is it all about now that I am on the street!  But oddly enough, that tendency to create negative structures in which to live is so strong that the homeless recreate the same scenarios only on a different level from that which we find in the society at large.  What stops that?  What intervenes to get rid of all the myths which we have created to continue this insanity?

To be homeless raises the question as to what got me in this place? Did I do something or not do something that I wound up homeless and cut off from everyone and everything except those in my condition?  There are a few people who reach out to help, but they are not my friends.  They are making themselves feel good as a part of their “belonging,”‘  enhancing their position in society; reaching out to ‘do good’, but going back into the lifestyle and the society which created the underbelly of people that are not doing so good.

Why do we throw away our children onto the streets?  Why do we cast our elderly into buildings which harbor and collect all of the germs and diseases one gets as one gets older and keeps them from being seen and interacted with by others – the normal younger ones?  Why do we eliminate youth and family from these buildings and put those who are only one step above the elderly in such places to ‘care’ for them?  Is there something about youth who don’t tow the line and the elderly who shouldn’t be seen with the rest of us that makes us segregate?

As racism subsides are we so quickly replacing it with this form of elder-ism and creating more isms – so we don’t run out and might have to acknowledge our equality?  Separate and unequal now true for the elderly and for our children?

It is interesting that one sees, on the streets, people active until about age 70 and then it is rare to see those much older unless we see them amongst the homeless.  We have to go out of our way to these elder-buildings to see anyone older than 70.  Why do we so desperately need to be better than, that we will destroy other human beings to fill our need to be better than?

Marketing and advertising create the image of being stunned by those over 40 who look good (translate young) – who are not ill – who are active in society.  We just gasp at a 50 year old who looks younger and is still very active.  Corporations almost totally refuse to hire anyone over 45 and we go along with that.  Somehow, wisdom does not count.  And we can see that in how our society operates.  If wisdom were allowed in, and we commonly shared the experiences we have acquired  from having lived many years through much,  that might change the structures of our world and those who are busy creating this horror might have to give way to others who understand, acknowledge and act out of our common humanity.

If we treated our possessions as being with us only temporarily would that change all of this?  If we consciously understood that when we leave this earth we would not even be able to do so taking our own bodies?  Would that make a change?  If we passed on what we now own and use when we either no longer want or need it and we passed that on in good shape to others would all of this change?

As of now, wearing clothes someone else bought and wore and now throws away is not considered great.  Many of us won’t wear other peoples’ clothes.  We expect to immediately get sick and die from some terminal disease we catch in that process.  This need for new stuff and only new stuff has been created by a marketing and advertising campaign which has made us deathly afraid of each other and sometimes of ourselves.  We must feed the “growth through throw away” societal structure.  The faster we can get others to discard and throw away the faster new industries and companies can grow.

Look at this, –  we can’t stand to be around someone who has an odor. That has created a whole industry, which is thriving.  Try it sometimes and see how repulsed your friends and even your family can be if you smell.  And we all smell.  The exception is those who temporarily get rid of their smell by using chemicals which in the long run are harmful to one’s health.  Maybe those products need the addition in their television commercials to list all the bad things they do to the body, if you use them, as soothing music plays in the background.  Your smell is as unique as everything else.  Get used to it.  Can you walk into a room and know any of the people who just exited by the odors left or do you know the odors left by the brand of the chemicals used by the individuals?

We prefer to be around those who have more than we do and we will do some strange things to each other reaching ‘up’.  We cater to those who seem to have more, hoping they will acknowledge us and pull us ‘up’ with them.  And those already ‘up’ are doing their best to distance themselves from those who have less because they don’t want their ‘position’ compromised, especially by the unwashed.

Take a look at what keeps us without an odor – full of chemicals.  Take a look at what  keeps us clothed – chemicals, oil, especially in the middle classes and you will find these  chemicals and processed oils giving off gases into our bodies.  The food the chefs, who now make millions of dollars for the prattle produce, – can be really fowl, only we claim it to be exquisite because we repeat what we are expected to repeat to stay a member of the group.  Once upon a time these Chefs touted Olive Oil as the only Oil to cook with if you wanted to be healthy.  Slowly, too slowly, word got out that one can’t really cook with Olive Oil because it goes rancid as the temperature in the pot goes up and it doesn’t have to go up very far for the rancidity to appear killing all of the B vitamins in our system.

Try life in this New World Order.  Take good care of what you currently own,  with the thought that it will be owned by someone else in the not too dBettina Trademarkistant future and you want to preserve it so it can continue to be used and enjoyed.  Pass your belongings on to those who either won’t or can’t pay the top dollars required of the people buying new stuff.  What is this new stuff they are buying?  Shoes full of chemicals way into four figures; New pocketbooks which show off a certain status costing into five figures.  Instead of landfill, make sure those items with which you currently live are in such good condition they can be passed on to others to enjoy.

Find someone homeless and bring them into your social circle.  Include them in your parties, your dinners, your outings, your vacations.  You don’t have to provide them with permanent housing.  When dinner is over they go back to their homeless state.  When you return from vacation, they go back to their homeless state.  When you pass someone homeless on the street – smile and speak.  When you pass anyone on the street – smile and acknowledge your common humanity.  What will that do?  Possibly cure this society’s penchant for creating homelessness and then not taking responsibility for what we have created.  How? By acknowledging our common humanity.  If I have a lot in common with that person on the street how can I do otherwise than to at least speak.  Maybe one day……………..

As the homeless are more included in your life and the lives of your friends and family maybe they will see another way to move out of the state they are in.  Maybe doors have been opened for them and within them to help move them off the street.

Try this beginning of a truly New World Order and see how far it takes you and us.

============================================

Learn More About How We Use Your Donation!

[give_form id=”3763″]

______________________________________________________________

Want to join us? Have a home that you want to open to become one of Bettina Network’s Hedge Schools? Call us and lets talk – or email us.

Ed. Note: Members of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community can contribute to the Bettina Network Blog whenever they have anything they want to say and be heard by this fantastic group of people. Send your blog to bettinanetwork@comcast.net or mail it to us at P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 or call us on the telephone at 617-497-9166 to tell us what you want to say and we will write it for you.

Volunteer with Bettina Network Foundation, inc. to work estate sales; to help move items from one home to another; to contribute your ideas on how we can better use our resources in this effort to relieve and eliminate homelessness and poverty. We also need photographers; designers; and more. However much or little time you have, we are grateful.

Send your event information to be included in Bettina Network’s Menu of Events to: bettina-network@comcast.net

This is a curated blog so you cannot write your responses at the end of each entry. TO RESPOND TO THIS BLOG email bettina-network@comcast.net or info@bettina-network.com

TO LEARN MORE try www.bettina-network.com

How Exciting is This!!!!!

Tuesday, June 24th, 2014

Sometimes life gives you lemons, sugar and beautifully clear water all at the same time and all mixed together ready for you to drink.

That is how we feel this morning in Bettina Networks little community.

Why?

Something very small, but very important in the way we live and are with each other.

At the end of a Bettina estate sale, everything left goes to the Bettina Network Foundation and we look for those who are in need and work with them to help them establish a better, more productive lifestyle.  We prefer helping those who are recently homeless, because they have the greater need.

Well, one such person established a new policy with these sales.  It is called “When you are given something, give back.”  No matter how little you have you can always find a way to give to others.

One young woman, in difficult circumstances, was given a dining room table and chairs from one of our sales – something that didn’t sell.  She called the person from Bettina’s who gave her the gift and said “I would like to help on your next sale.”  And help she did.  She didn’t help in the actual sale, she helped during those evening hours after the sale when we pack and move what is left to clean out the house and leave it ‘broom clean’ for the next inhabitants.

We couldn’t have finished our last sale without her help.  What she did was to make it possible for someone else to receive a gift as she had and to make sure the gifts could continue to be given because we were fulfilling our obligations to those who were ultimately providing these gifts.

At the end of her work evening – and she worked unbelievably hard – she decided she wanted to join our small band permanently.  She liked what we did – the way we were with each other – and felt she had a lot to contribute.

She also wholeheartedly joined the rest of us who do this work for the benefits of weight loss and the exercise it provides.  We don’t have to join a gym to work out we have our own calisthenics and weight loss machines to help us reduce fat and move it around the body from one place to another:)   I won’t give her name.  You will see her around Bettina Network activities and hope you will reach out to embrace another human being who has decided it is time for all of us to look out for each other – without agendas.

We all need to give back.  No matter how independent we think we are and no matter how strongly we consider ourselves ‘self-made’.

Sometimes, we just don’t know how to give back or to who.   Well, Bettina Network Foundation is providing a way for you to do that.  Join us and help us to help more people get their lives on a new footing.  We are lawyers, doctors, management, sales people, bankers, therapists, psychiatrists and the very young learning to live in a way that we thrive realizing and committing ourselves to make sure that others thrive also.

________________________________________________________________

Learn More About How We Use Your Donation!

[give_form id=”3763″]

______________________________________________________________

Want to join us? Have a home that you want to open to become one of Bettina Network’s Hedge Schools? Call us and lets talk – or email us.

Ed. Note: Members of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community can contribute to the Bettina Network Blog whenever they have anything they want to say and be heard by this fantastic group of people. Send your blog to bettinanetwork@comcast.net or mail it to us at P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 or call us on the telephone at 617-497-9166 to tell us what you want to say and we will write it for you.

Volunteer with Bettina Network Foundation, inc. to work estate sales; to help move items from one home to another; to contribute your ideas on how we can better use our resources in this effort to relieve and eliminate homelessness and poverty. We also need photographers; designers; and more. However much or little time you have, we are grateful.

Send your event information to be included in Bettina Network’s Menu of Events to: bettina-network@comcast.net

This is a curated blog so you cannot write your responses at the end of each entry. TO RESPOND TO THIS BLOG email bettina-network@comcast.net or info@bettina-network.com

TO LEARN MORE about Bettina Network, inc. try www.bettina-network.com

IF YOU ENJOY OUR BLOG, USE OUR SERVICES TO BOOK ACCOMODATIONS WHEN YOU TRAVEL!

1-800-347-9166 inside the U. S. or 617 497 9166 outside or inside the U. S.

Another Bettina Moving Sale

Friday, June 20th, 2014

COME AND SPEND THE SUMMER SOLSTICE WITH US.

Saturday, June 21, 2014 is the day.  From 10am-4pm is the time.  And if you miss that we will do it again on Sunday, June 22 from 3-5pm.

We would love to add pictures, but the ones we have are larger than the 2MB limit Word Press allows so if you would like to see more go to

www.estatesales.net/estate-sales/MA/Waltham/02452/661158

The address:  24 Mallard Way – Waltham, MA. 02452.  Look for the flag blowing in the wind.  That is where we will be.  Come by to say hello; to look around; and to buy something you can’t do without.

Instead of going to the mall, come and spend your money with us.  We take American Express, MasterCard, Visa, Discover Cards – what more could you want?

What will you find?

Oriental Rugs – room size and scatter rugs; dining room table and chairs; lots of miscellaneous in very good condition – they have been well cared for; interesting collectibles; clothes; very large cabinet for your very large television set as well as other technical-electronic pieces; sheet music from popular songs of years ago, Schirmer Publishing collections, Organ music, xerox copies of special arrangements; pocketbooks and sportsbags; silver serving pieces; pots and pans – some brand new still in the box and more.

________________________________________________________________

Learn More About How We Use Your Donation!

[give_form id=”3763″]

______________________________________________________________

Want to join us? Have a home that you want to open to become one of Bettina Network’s Hedge Schools? Call us and lets talk – or email us.

Ed. Note: Members of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community can contribute to the Bettina Network Blog whenever they have anything they want to say and be heard by this fantastic group of people. Send your blog to bettinanetwork@comcast.net or mail it to us at P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 or call us on the telephone at 617-497-9166 to tell us what you want to say and we will write it for you.

Volunteer with Bettina Network Foundation, inc. to work estate sales; to help move items from one home to another; to contribute your ideas on how we can better use our resources in this effort to relieve and eliminate homelessness and poverty. We also need photographers; designers; and more. However much or little time you have, we are grateful.

Send your event information to be included in Bettina Network’s Menu of Events to: bettina-network@comcast.net

This is a curated blog so you cannot write your responses at the end of each entry. TO RESPOND TO THIS BLOG email bettina-network@comcast.net or info@bettina-network.com

TO LEARN MORE about Bettina Network, inc. try www.bettina-network.com

IF YOU ENJOY OUR BLOG, USE OUR SERVICES TO BOOK ACCOMODATIONS WHEN YOU TRAVEL!

1-800-347-9166 inside the U. S. or 617 497 9166 outside or inside the U. S.

Bettina Network Foundation

Thursday, June 19th, 2014

We are working with an attorney to finalize the Bettina Network Foundation and to shepherd it through a 501(c)3 filing.

If you have asked Bettina Network to manage your Estate Sale, or Moving Sale or Scattering Sale or Antique Sale you know there are two parts to the sale and when it is over everything left is handled by Bettina Network as we work towards leaving the house “Broom Clean” because either it has been sold; the people have deceased and this is one step in the process of settling an estate or etc.

What happens to those ‘left overs’.

That is one of the exciting parts of the sale.  At the end of the sale Bettina Network takes everything left and oversees those items getting directly to people who are newly in a home from homelessness.  We make sure all of the items go to help furnish the new home of someone or several someones who need all of the things which make life comfortable.

That is a very important step for those leaving a life of living on the street to living in an apartment or other kind of home.  They need everything and we try to help provide that by working with those who have vetted people to whom we give the items left over from a sale.

Hopefully, when our 501(c)3 comes through we will be able to give a receipt to the people who have given us their items left over from a sale, which they can include in their federal tax return as a deduction.

There are those who have reached the status of “Gold” members of Bettina Network Foundation  because of what they have given and the spirit in which they have given to others.

To know more about what we do to give back – click on the Foundation link on the Bettina Network web site.  It is in the process of being updated, but should contain more information shortly.

________________________________________________________________

Learn More About How We Use Your Donation!

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______________________________________________________________

Want to join us? Have a home that you want to open to become one of Bettina Network’s Hedge Schools? Call us and lets talk – or email us.

Ed. Note: Members of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community can contribute to the Bettina Network Blog whenever they have anything they want to say and be heard by this fantastic group of people. Send your blog to bettinanetwork@comcast.net or mail it to us at P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 or call us on the telephone at 617-497-9166 to tell us what you want to say and we will write it for you.

Volunteer with Bettina Network Foundation, inc. to work estate sales; to help move items from one home to another; to contribute your ideas on how we can better use our resources in this effort to relieve and eliminate homelessness and poverty. We also need photographers; designers; and more. However much or little time you have, we are grateful.

Send your event information to be included in Bettina Network’s Menu of Events to: bettina-network@comcast.net

This is a curated blog so you cannot write your responses at the end of each entry. TO RESPOND TO THIS BLOG email bettina-network@comcast.net or info@bettina-network.com

TO LEARN MORE about Bettina Network, inc. try www.bettina-network.com

IF YOU ENJOY OUR BLOG, USE OUR SERVICES TO BOOK ACCOMODATIONS WHEN YOU TRAVEL!

1-800-347-9166 inside the U. S. or 617 497 9166 outside or inside the U. S.

 

Bettina Network Estate Sales

Tuesday, June 10th, 2014

I had to send in this blog and hope you will publish it.  I really had second thoughts about sending it because I don’t want too many people to know what I have discovered – don’t like the competition, but you have an openness that I have seldom found in this world so  I will depend upon your wisdom because of the many benefits I am receiving from being a part of Bettina Network’s Lifestyle Community.

We recently asked you to manage our parents’ estate sale because we have inherited a houseful of furnishings and I thought you would be the best person for the job.  When we asked you I was a little taken aback by your ending requirement that what is left over after the sale be given away, first to those who are members of Bettina Network’s Lifestyle Community and then to those who purchased at the sale.  My natural instinct is to want all of what is mine and give away very little to others.  In addition, I want others to give to me.  I don’t know how else to put it.  That makes me sound pretty bad,  but it is true and clearly my sentiment is shared by many.

My wife and I talked about this and we realized that we have benefited from your ‘give away’ policy.  There are several items we needed to furnish our apartment when we had very little.  I went to one of your sales with $5 to spend looking for a birthday present for my wife.  I bought a pocketbook.  You wrapped it beautifully in the wrapping paper that you gave me and my wife was delighted.  More recently, we wanted a microwave.  When we received the invitation to come back for the free part of your sale, there was a microwave and we brought it home.  That is when we realized the genius of what you are doing and we want to be a part of your business so I called this morning to ask you to take on the management of our estate sale for my deceased parents and whatever is left over at the end of the sale we will gladly give to whoever comes along who needs or wants some of those items that did not sell.  At first, we wanted to limit you to only giving away small items and you would not accept the sale under those circumstances.  We realized we would not have our microwave oven if that were the case so yes, we want you to go ahead under your terms and just drag us along albeit kicking and screaming all the way.

We were also at your sale when a couple came along looking at the rosary beads you had on the table with other things for sale.  They were not priced.  When the woman eyed the rosaries, picked up one and asked for the price we were floored when you said you would not sell a rosary, but she was welcome to accept it as a gift from the owner.

What do I know now?  I will be more giving and I know when I need something I will look for one of your sales, bring my Bettina password and just maybe there will be what I need waiting for me when my money is short and my need is large.  It takes a lot to survive this life to the end.  It takes even more to thrive.  With a little help from my friends I will get through.  I certainly didn’t expect genuine help to come from a commercial business.

I think I will just hang-out at your next sale.  I loved those moments.  Keep up the good work and may God bless what you are doing.

A fan and now a follower – Xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Ed. Note:  We removed the persons name because we are hyper about privacy and would like to respect the privacy of others.

Thank you very much for those kind words.  It is nice to know someone gets what we are doing and not only approves, but enjoys the process.  We will do our best to continue to earn your respect and will work very hard for you with the distribution of your parents lifetime collections.

________________________________________________________________

Learn More About How We Use Your Donation!

[give_form id=”3763″]

______________________________________________________________

Want to join us? Have a home that you want to open to become one of Bettina Network’s Hedge Schools? Call us and lets talk – or email us.

Ed. Note: Members of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community can contribute to the Bettina Network Blog whenever they have anything they want to say and be heard by this fantastic group of people. Send your blog to bettinanetwork@comcast.net or mail it to us at P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 or call us on the telephone at 617-497-9166 to tell us what you want to say and we will write it for you.

Volunteer with Bettina Network Foundation, inc. to work estate sales; to help move items from one home to another; to contribute your ideas on how we can better use our resources in this effort to relieve and eliminate homelessness and poverty. We also need photographers; designers; and more. However much or little time you have, we are grateful.

Send your event information to be included in Bettina Network’s Menu of Events to: bettina-network@comcast.net

This is a curated blog so you cannot write your responses at the end of each entry. TO RESPOND TO THIS BLOG email bettina-network@comcast.net or info@bettina-network.com

TO LEARN MORE about Bettina Network, inc. try www.bettina-network.com

IF YOU ENJOY OUR BLOG, USE OUR SERVICES TO BOOK ACCOMODATIONS WHEN YOU TRAVEL!

1-800-347-9166 inside the U. S. or 617 497 9166 outside or inside the U. S.

We Invite You to Another Bettina Moving Sale

Sunday, June 8th, 2014

-3Sunday, June 8, 2014 from 3pm to 5pm AT:

19 Maura Drive

Woburn, MA. 01801

You will find furniture, crystal, microwave, washer, dryer, books, clothes, shoes, pocketbooks, and all the miscellaneous you need to better equip your home for comfortable living.  Some are very unusual – some traditional – all in immaculate condition.  You could take the dishes home and eat off of them the house and its contents have been so completely and cleanly kept.

Of course, with this sale – as with any sale –  it is a bit disorganized as we empty closets, drawers and the basement.

Come and help us clean out the house so this move can happen in a quick, comfortable and, of course, elegant way.

No reasonable offer refused AND there are special deals for members of Bettina Network’s Lifestyle Community.  Please identify yourselves and come bringing bags, paper and whatever else you will need to carry away your purchases.

This is your opportunity to become a part of this Lifestyle Community – simply by purchasing and asking that your name be added to the membership list.  The membership roles are not open very often, but sometimes, in special circumstances we do add new members.

-1

Mirror with two sconces

Two Antique Rocking Chairs, 10 x 14 foot Oriental-style rug

Two Antique Rocking Chairs, 10 x 14 foot Oriental-style rug

________________________________________________________________

Learn More About How We Use Your Donation!

[give_form id=”3763″]

______________________________________________________________

Want to join us? Have a home that you want to open to become one of Bettina Network’s Hedge Schools? Call us and lets talk – or email us.

Ed. Note: Members of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community can contribute to the Bettina Network Blog whenever they have anything they want to say and be heard by this fantastic group of people. Send your blog to bettinanetwork@comcast.net or mail it to us at P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 or call us on the telephone at 617-497-9166 to tell us what you want to say and we will write it for you.

Volunteer with Bettina Network Foundation, inc. to work estate sales; to help move items from one home to another; to contribute your ideas on how we can better use our resources in this effort to relieve and eliminate homelessness and poverty. We also need photographers; designers; and more. However much or little time you have, we are grateful.

Send your event information to be included in Bettina Network’s Menu of Events to: bettina-network@comcast.net

This is a curated blog so you cannot write your responses at the end of each entry. TO RESPOND TO THIS BLOG email bettina-network@comcast.net or info@bettina-network.com

TO LEARN MORE about Bettina Network, inc. try www.bettina-network.com

IF YOU ENJOY OUR BLOG, USE OUR SERVICES TO BOOK ACCOMODATIONS WHEN YOU TRAVEL!

1-800-347-9166 inside the U. S. or 617 497 9166 outside or inside the U. S.

Class in America

Wednesday, April 9th, 2014

copyright 2014 Bettina Network, inc.

We run into this ‘issue’ so often in a covert way we thought we would make it overt and write under the title of “Class” to try to help all of us distinguish between quirks, ways of being, personality…..and class.  This will be a serial because we think too much of ‘class’ information can give us indigestion – a little at a time is better.

First let’s make a difference between ‘class’ and ‘elegance’.  Elegance is an aesthetic and way of living that crosses all classes, races, ethnicities, financial standing, whether we are male or female, etc.

Class is a definite way of being because of our family, finances, history, country of origin and more AND has a very long history in this world.

Don’t take any of this personally.  It is being laid out generally so we and our children can either read it and weep; read it and have a hilarious good time in the process; or take it seriously and self-evaluate – how do we make decisions about the concrete world around us and our way of being in it –  spending money, making vocation choices, clothes choices, what we eat, where we go….based on choices other than class.  It is no accident that there are crowded spots in the world where we all try to move in and exquisite spots that no one even thinks about visiting or living.

Bettina Network, inc. puts an emphasis on ‘elegance’ – class be damned!  But we have had a few questions,  comments and great breakfast conversations around this issue, so lets clarify all of this:

Estate Sales are a great place to observe and understand class.  They are phenomenal  educational tool.  Want to understand class better?  Go to as many estate sales as you can.  Look around the houses.  See how the family lives.  Understand their taste in furnishings, etc.  That tells all – as far as Class goes.  You can look around a fairly poverty stricken home and understand quickly that poverty is first generation or long standing.  Either the generation prior to the one that has fallen on hard times was from an upper class or the current generation is one of the fallen warriors.

Particularly, it becomes clear if the family is of substantial means.  Class screams at you when you enter the front door.  For starters lets look at what we will call Third Class English-style class.  The house is full of new – expensive – and generally bad taste furnishings.  Very little is ‘real’ – wood-like items are not really wood, glass-like is not really glass and on and on.  All of the things that the current marketing and advertising people have been selling as “upper class” are present and shows  a Wannabe Family or one that is what we used to call Nouveau – very Nouveau.

Many things will be missing – particularly items from the previous generation.  This Nouveau/Wannabe generation has sold all of the furnishings, clothes, trappings from their family – as those family members died – and they generally looked down their noses at the items left to them by a generation or more of family.  Just about everything in the house will be NEW – VERY EXPENSIVE – in fact, outrageously so – and any antiques will be reproductions, probably from Korea or China.

You won’t find pictures of past generations of family – those were thrown out.  You won’t find files of papers with information about past generations, which cultural and other historians would love to get their hands on – those have also been tossed as worthless.  The value in this house is on the artifacts and preferably from the top stores in pristine condition.

That is generally, a group of people who came from a lower class family and have lots of shame about their beginnings.  Wipe the slate clean and maybe no one will notice or even talk or ask about their family, their childhood, their upbringing, their values. – all of which are copied and adopted from the marketing/advertising media as great style/design that you need to be that person in the pictures.

This group is trying hard to climb that ladder – or several ladders at the same time.  Consequently, they have no time or patience for those on the bottom – who might, actually,  in many cases be above them class-wise.

Those homes are generally filthy.  They look pristine upon entering, but they are mostly the ones which support the huge industrial complex of products which make you sick over a long period of time because of the off-gases from the cleaning products used, and the chemical ingredients in the other products used.

We should add, that what we are describing is the English class system, not the French.  That is a whole other story for another article.  Let’s call this Third Class English as our discussion progresses on Class.  And lets expand this class discussion from America to American plus the rest of the world.

Chime in with an e-mail, if you dare.

________________________________________________________________

Learn More About How We Use Your Donation!

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______________________________________________________________

Want to join us? Have a home that you want to open to become one of Bettina Network’s Hedge Schools? Call us and lets talk – or email us.

Ed. Note: Members of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community can contribute to the Bettina Network Blog whenever they have anything they want to say and be heard by this fantastic group of people. Send your blog to bettinanetwork@comcast.net or mail it to us at P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 or call us on the telephone at 617-497-9166 to tell us what you want to say and we will write it for you.

Volunteer with Bettina Network Foundation, inc. to work estate sales; to help move items from one home to another; to contribute your ideas on how we can better use our resources in this effort to relieve and eliminate homelessness and poverty. We also need photographers; designers; and more. However much or little time you have, we are grateful.

Send your event information to be included in Bettina Network’s Menu of Events to: bettina-network@comcast.net

This is a curated blog so you cannot write your responses at the end of each entry. TO RESPOND TO THIS BLOG email bettina-network@comcast.net or info@bettina-network.com

TO LEARN MORE about Bettina Network, inc. try www.bettina-network.com

IF YOU ENJOY OUR BLOG, USE OUR SERVICES TO BOOK ACCOMODATIONS WHEN YOU TRAVEL!

1-800-347-9166 inside the U. S. or 617 497 9166 outside or inside the U. S.

A Thanksgiving Gift

Wednesday, November 27th, 2013

copyright Bettina Network, inc. 2013

We thought carefully over all the breakfast conversations lately and the one that seemed to be ideal for Thanksgiving was the one about how important it was to sterilize your forks, knives, etc. – especially since we all cook and eat with great gusto on this Thursday –

That has been a growing conversation and it is becoming louder when we all assume the utensils which we use to eat -most, -if not all of our meals, must be sterilized if we are not to come down with diseases from the germs, bacteria, viruses they carry from one person to another.

This particular breakfast conversation had a different twist.  Lacking interest at several breakfasts about the great issues of the day and our opinions of them we asked why is the din growing so loud about sterilizing eating utensils?  Could it have something to do with the metal, alloys, other materials, being used to make these utensils?  Is something being covered up which is important for us to know?  After all, our ancestors used utensils for eating and cooking for generations without sterilizing them so why the fuss now?

What was pointed out to all of us was the anti-bacterial properties of some utensils and the lack of such with others;  the mythology of the marketing and advertising being pushed out to us with its half-truths, hidden information, unpublished research which could damage what is being advertised, etc.;  and the changes that have taken place and foisted on a very ignorant public for the benefit of the manufacturers, inventors, retailers and more.

For many generations silver was used for pots for cooking and for knives, forks, spoons, etc. There was no need to sterilize because silver has anti-bacterial properties.

Today, we use stainless steel, aluminum and other metal, other alloys and plastics for eating utensils and for cooking.  That has totally changed how we have to clean and store these utensils after use.

Since we were not paying attention to our grandparents wisdom, most of that good and simple home keeping information has been lost.  Add to that  this past generation which has been so busy with other things they succumbed to the marketing and advertising mythology being spread around for the benefit of the processors and inventors of these new and different things  Those simpler tried and true methods of the past  are being lost at a fiercely aggressive rate.

This little bit of wisdom is given to you this Thanksgiving in the hope that you will cherish it, use it and pass it down to your children.  Please move away from the technology for a minute.  Please step away from all the ads and marketing thrown at you for your use to incorporate in your and your family’s lifestyle and please, please pay attention!!!!!  Just a few seconds of your time!!!!!

After all, isn’t that how Martha Stewart became so famous so quickly? She was passing on to us things we were never taught.  She was passing along the basics of living in a reasonably cultured society and we were all eyes and ears.  Our parents were too busy trying to cope with a very fast changing society.  They raised their children as best they could in places where historical role models were taken down and new ones put up to benefit the manufacturers of really questionable items.  Our eating utensils are just one group that has suffered from this newness of information.  Information – sometimes really questionable in what it says and purposely leaves out – with ads created in song, dance and sex –  to get you to buy.  Reject that and look for  information which passes along truthful nuggets of how to best live a long and healthy life making choices to promote that lifestyle.  How do you develop an antenna to tell the difference?  Cultivate discernment – a powerful ally throughout your life as it changes and you grow in knowledge with expanding wisdom.

Check out your kitchen.  Are the knives, forks and spoons therein silver or some other strange material, previously unknown and which should be banned for eating utensils because they can be dangerous to your health?  If so, replace them immediately with silver plate or sterling silver place settings – serving utensils – and more.

Are your pots aluminum? Or perhaps an unknown and untested alloy – and we mean untested over generations of family use?  If they are, step away from the stove and seriously consider replacing them.  Aluminum became popular as quickly as it did because we were accustomed to silver pots and aluminum looked like silver, but cost much less.  Now there are rumors it may play a part in the Alzheimers epidemic and we discover it is used in everything from pots to deodorant and no one really knows its longterm affect on your body.  You put aside money for other things – think of your health and start putting aside money for silver pots, forks, knives, spoons, and more.

Estate sales have wonderful forks, knives, spoons and other service pieces at prices much less than the prices for new stainless and other fancy looking eating utensils – at very reasonable prices.  Sometimes you can even get a set of sterling in a silver box or in a piece of furniture designed to hold such lined with silver felt to keep them tarnish free for a very long time.  They are worth the investment.

You don’t have to sterilize silver because it has anti-bacterial properties which are much better at killing the germs and bacteria and other such things which get on our utensils. Other materials might still have problems even after sterilization.

Go the way which has been tried and true for our ancestors, we feel you won’t regret the extra effort.  In fact, your health will improve and you will certainly then send blessings our way.

Have a very Happy Thanksgiving and keep tuned in to breakfast at Bettina Homes to continue the conversation.

________________________________________________________________

Learn More About How We Use Your Donation!

[give_form id=”3763″]

______________________________________________________________

Want to join us? Have a home that you want to open to become one of Bettina Network’s Hedge Schools? Call us and lets talk – or email us.

Ed. Note: Members of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community can contribute to the Bettina Network Blog whenever they have anything they want to say and be heard by this fantastic group of people. Send your blog to bettinanetwork@comcast.net or mail it to us at P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 or call us on the telephone at 617-497-9166 to tell us what you want to say and we will write it for you.

Volunteer with Bettina Network Foundation, inc. to work estate sales; to help move items from one home to another; to contribute your ideas on how we can better use our resources in this effort to relieve and eliminate homelessness and poverty. We also need photographers; designers; and more. However much or little time you have, we are grateful.

Send your event information to be included in Bettina Network’s Menu of Events to: bettina-network@comcast.net

This is a curated blog so you cannot write your responses at the end of each entry. TO RESPOND TO THIS BLOG email bettina-network@comcast.net or info@bettina-network.com

TO LEARN MORE about Bettina Network, inc. try www.bettina-network.com

IF YOU ENJOY OUR BLOG, USE OUR SERVICES TO BOOK ACCOMODATIONS WHEN YOU TRAVEL!

1-800-347-9166 inside the U. S. or 617 497 9166 outside or inside the U. S.

 

How to Live Elegantly Spending Less

Saturday, November 2nd, 2013

copyright 2013  Bettina Network, inc.

Estate Sales – Yard Sales – Home Liquidations – and many more names which describe a family or individual or group of people selling what they can’t use, don’t want, need money so they sell the things they own, etc.

These sales provide you with an opportunity to really buy what you need and what you can’t find elsewhere because it is probably not sold anymore.  It is also your opportunity to buy something “real” instead of the pressed paper furniture, plastic made to look like glass, really expensive clothes which don’t last the season, etc.  Try the book sections in estate sales instead of the library.  For $1 or $2 you can snag really great books and sometimes first editions.  Although the first editions may cost as much as $5.  And then pass them along for others to read.

How do you live like this?

Instead of shopping at the mall – make a list during the week of what you need and would shop for-  at the mall, the big box stores, the discount houses, the really upscale designer original shops, the one of a kind furniture stores – to continue to live well and comfortably.

Look up the sales – usually over the weekend – map them out so you can easily go from one to the other without doubling back – and off you go to this new lifestyle.

Many sales by professional estate sale people take credit cards and some even take checks.  When you hit one by owner you probably will need to have cash, although some private sales also take checks.

A real find is the liquidation of an estate which includes all the things the person used in life and now must be ‘scattered’ to others.  All the basics you need for your home you will probably find at these sales.  It is like shopping all the different departments at the stores you may now frequent and which max out  your credit card and ruin your credit.  The estate sales will let you live in the same or better style and you will find your credit card bill much reduced and very manageable at the end of the month.

I wanted a bread baking machine, but didn’t want to spend the $100 plus dollars it cost to buy one – and I tend to have very high end taste.  I will sniff and look down my nose at anything not well made with less than top quality materials.  Especially those items copied from their beautiful, elegant forebears.  But I also have a very low end budget so I shopped for three week-ends until I found my bread baking machine.  It was brand new, still in the box, still sold at the Bloomingdale’s of the world and I paid $20.

My neighbor was going to a very elegant birthday party and wanted something with lots of bling to wear.  She found a beautiful Valentino dress – in her size and with the sales slip and price tag still hanging on the dress.  It was beautiful.  Not as much bling as she wanted, but it screamed luxury and fit her perfectly.  Because she found this at the end of that particular estate sale she paid $18 for a dress with a price tag over $500.  She bought shoes to match, at the same sale, which didn’t fit her 9 1/2 feet, but fit my 7 1/2 feet very comfortably.  She bought them for me for $5 as a ‘thank you’ for turning her on to the estate sales.  She went off to her birthday party beautifully dressed with her old shoes, which still looked great with her new dress.

That goes for every part of your life.  You have to be patient, but in the end patience is rewarded as you find that what you want always turns up at one or another sale.

My kitchen is total testimony to this lifestyle.  It is fully stocked with every gadget around, none of which cost me over $1 or $2.  I profited from our American penchant to buy what we think is really great and will make our lives easier, put it in the drawer or closet and never use it – content with the fact that we have it  ‘just in case.’  I imagine what the person who owned the gadgets I bought was thinking when they went to the store to buy these items – which at the time they couldn’t live without.

I just foolishly bought two shelving units for my attic – to store an ever increasing stash of clothes (my weakness – probably coming from my modiste grandmother).  I bought them brand new from a very upscale hardware store.  They cost $120 each for the component parts I needed to put together the kind of shelving that would help me store these clothes carefully so I could reach whatever I needed in seconds.  At the very next estate sale I went to, there were several shelving units just like the ones I had just bought.  I bought two more at this sale – took them apart – washed them because they were in the basement of the home where I was shopping – put them together the way I wanted them to be and WOW – I had two more units for which I paid $10 each.  What a difference.  My impatience cost me $220 which would have been much better spent on something else, or given to someone who needed a little lift in life.  Having to wash the units didn’t bother me.  I took them apart so I could re-assemble them into my storage needs and carefully washed each piece.  Since they were very good quality stainless steel and beautifully made – not the flimsy kind one finds in the stores these days – they looked like new when I re-assembled them into closets for the attic.

Now I am looking for glass containers for flour, sugar, rice – all the things that need storage in the kitchen, but elegant storage.  I am looking for antique glass or porcelain or any other kind of container which is easily cleaned and looks very elegant to add to what I already have in the kitchen.  I don’t expect to pay more than $2 or $3 per container – for a really great one I will go up to $5 so when I get home from the grocery store I can ‘decant’ my primary cooking ingredients into them and have them within reach.  Because they are going to be very beautiful they will look just fine on the counters in the kitchen.  They will also be home to  the organic teas and spices that I love – and it will keep them fresh and constantly used because I won’t have to reach around and behind other stuff  only to  find them moth infested because they are still in their paper and other kind of containers.

That goes for every part of your life.  You have to be patient, but in the end patience is rewarded as you find that what you want always turns up at one or another estate sale.

I think you get the message.  Happy hunting – maybe one of our blogs will suggest a way for you to use all of the money you are going to save with this new way of life.  It certainly brings ‘recycle’ to new heights.

Ed Note:  For the purposes of full disclosure, Bettina Network, inc. manages estate sales across the country.   The sales will soon be a benefit to those who belong to Bettina Network’s Lifestyle Community.

________________________________________________________________

Learn More About How We Use Your Donation!

[give_form id=”3763″]

______________________________________________________________

Want to join us? Have a home that you want to open to become one of Bettina Network’s Hedge Schools? Call us and lets talk – or email us.

Ed. Note: Members of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community can contribute to the Bettina Network Blog whenever they have anything they want to say and be heard by this fantastic group of people. Send your blog to bettinanetwork@comcast.net or mail it to us at P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 or call us on the telephone at 617-497-9166 to tell us what you want to say and we will write it for you.

Volunteer with Bettina Network Foundation, inc. to work estate sales; to help move items from one home to another; to contribute your ideas on how we can better use our resources in this effort to relieve and eliminate homelessness and poverty. We also need photographers; designers; and more. However much or little time you have, we are grateful.

Send your event information to be included in Bettina Network’s Menu of Events to: bettina-network@comcast.net

This is a curated blog so you cannot write your responses at the end of each entry. TO RESPOND TO THIS BLOG email bettina-network@comcast.net or info@bettina-network.com

TO LEARN MORE about Bettina Network, inc. try www.bettina-network.com

IF YOU ENJOY OUR BLOG, USE OUR SERVICES TO BOOK ACCOMODATIONS WHEN YOU TRAVEL!

1-800-347-9166 inside the U. S. or 617 497 9166 outside or inside the U. S.

One More Time in Dracut

Tuesday, May 21st, 2013

                              Come help us empty the house!!  

          Saturday, May 25th from 10am-4pm

                                         Lovely possibilities –

Many desks, chairs, long tables, file cabinets, tons that could be used to start a school, great for a rental co, chairs for a wedding and more.

Basketball hoop – large, sturdy and very good.

Beautiful Oriental-style carpets – barely used, purchased from Jordan Furniture about 7 years ago.

Come and see and buy from a carefully edited selection of items accumulated by one family over some  7-8 years, so most things are fairly new and very well cared for.

           8 Presidential Circle, Dracut, MA. 01826.

You will find bark paintings from Kenya which tell of the traditional life of the people of Kenya.

You will see an elegant and very large chandelier for sale – iron and crystal – delicate and perfect for that entrance foyer.

IMG_0646

beautiful iron and crystal chandelier

 

 

 

 

Some crystal – some gold rimmed china dishes – many lamps – and a room for just sitting and enjoying which could be purchased intact to be removed to your home to create a similar environment.  All worked out for you with the right drapes – chairs – lamps – tables – pictures and more.  Who could ask for better!

Drapes which will keep you from ordering those custom drapes into five figures – one pair long enough for windows two stories high and still in beautiful condition – in a very neutral color to fit any decor. – Window shades very soft with off white color and horizontal pleats which are not quite pleats, but beautifully rushed shades – wooden windows to fit a contemporary home in condition good enough to be transferred for their windows to your windows.  Bring your window measurements.  Beautiful custom cornices, well made and also in a condition good enough to just transfer to your windows.

Elegant home - beautiful drapes

Elegant home – beautiful drapes

 

A brown leather sofa, plus other sofas which just might be what you need for that empty space.

And tables to match everything – glass and brass – glass and wood – inlaid wood – marquetry round tables with lamps to upscale any space.

 

 

 

 

Endless desks for a school

Endless desks for a school

A round mirror for that hard to deal with space, tall vases with some over 3 feet

– and much more for those decorator touches that don’t cost a decorators budget.

IMG_0682

 

And in the basement – start your own business with desks, tables, chairs, filing cabinets, safes, a gurney of all things – conference tables, and much of what is needed to start a School, but which can be transferred to your office.

Need furniture for that new space in your office you have looked at but haven’t done anything about?  There is a little of everything in that basement.  Well kept, clean and ready for use, including chafing dishes and other serving pieces one would use in an office for entertaining

IMG_0698

Endless desks for a school

 

IMG_0664

IMG_0665

 

 

 

IMG_0553

IMG_0698

 

             Directions to Dracut, Massachusetts

     Try Mapquest.com and  put in the address from which you are coming.

Basically, the address follows:

Take I-93-N toward Lawrence.Concord. N. H.

Take the Rt.-110/RT-113 exit 46 toward Lawrence/Dracut

Enter next roundabout and take the 3rd exit onto RT-113 W/RT-110 W/Lowell Street

RT-113 W/RT-110 W/Lowell St becomes RT-110W

Turn right onto Wheeler Street

Take the 1st left onto Lowell St

Lowell Street becomes Methuen Street

Turn right onto Presidential Circle

to 8 Presidential Circle.

________________________________________________________________

Learn More About How We Use Your Donation!

[give_form id=”3763″]

______________________________________________________________

Want to join us? Have a home that you want to open to become one of Bettina Network’s Hedge Schools? Call us and lets talk – or email us.

Ed. Note: Members of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community can contribute to the Bettina Network Blog whenever they have anything they want to say and be heard by this fantastic group of people. Send your blog to bettinanetwork@comcast.net or mail it to us at P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 or call us on the telephone at 617-497-9166 to tell us what you want to say and we will write it for you.

Volunteer with Bettina Network Foundation, inc. to work estate sales; to help move items from one home to another; to contribute your ideas on how we can better use our resources in this effort to relieve and eliminate homelessness and poverty. We also need photographers; designers; and more. However much or little time you have, we are grateful.

Send your event information to be included in Bettina Network’s Menu of Events to: bettina-network@comcast.net

This is a curated blog so you cannot write your responses at the end of each entry. TO RESPOND TO THIS BLOG email bettina-network@comcast.net or info@bettina-network.com

TO LEARN MORE about Bettina Network, inc. try www.bettina-network.com

IF YOU ENJOY OUR BLOG, USE OUR SERVICES TO BOOK ACCOMODATIONS WHEN YOU TRAVEL!

1-800-347-9166 inside the U. S. or 617 497 9166 outside or inside the U. S.

The Morning After

Monday, April 29th, 2013

copyright Bettina Network, inc. 2013

Estate Sales should be staffed by psychiatrists and psychologists who are looking for material to use in writing a book about all of us.

At some time or other we all pass through – either an estate sale or a bed & breakfast.  We pass through as a guest or as proprietor of a bed & breakfast (defined in the old fashioned sense of a private home which welcomes guests) or the owner or executor of items sold via some kind of estate sale.

Our goal, the Bettina Network’s goal, in this business as in our lives is to be truly responsible to the environment; to quality in all our offerings and the way we offer them; to diversity, acceptance, equality and especially respect of others.

That said – we would like to pass on to you some of the lessons we have learned – and we will certainly take them to heart and do our best to incorporate them in our lives going forward.

One incontrovertible fact – the estate sale, scattering sale, antique sale, moving sale, art sale are social events.  Many people come to meet and greet; to see what is offered; to talk about themselves and their lives; to travel-in-place exploring the neighborhoods around the sales finding new places to eat – to visit – to enjoy.  What has been obvious to us for decades is the fact that antique people, estate sale people, artists, bed & breakfast people have some very similar personality and character traits in common.  So much so you can spot a ‘newbie’ in a few seconds.  Interestingly, that ‘newbie’ gains experience and moves up in the ranks very quickly.

Estate sales have three kinds of merchandise – the ‘real’ antique and old masters art, the collectible items, the new stuff being sold so it can be replaced with more new stuff.  Mostly, or should I say historically, those items are segregated into “classes” and sold separately in different sales.  Our way of doing business is to offer them all at once so you have the experience of seeing what one person has deemed important and collected over a lifetime or over the time they have spent in a particular house or profession.  One of our goals is to break those barriers and offer a Rembrandt and stainless steel spoon in the same sale.  We now have enough appraisers, art historians, consultants who are expert in just about every item out there working with us to be able to do that with confidence.  We hope as we move forward, you will gain enough confidence in us and in our ability to bring to you the best way of selling your art, furniture, collection, musical instruments, jewelry, cars, houses, stocks, bonds, other financial instruments and more, that we are the first and last people you call to engage to sell any and all of your earthly possessions.

Currently, the  ‘real’ antiques and old masters art works are the joy of every collectors heart.  They don’t even have to be able to afford the prices, they just like to look – to touch – to feel – to smell the items they have read about, would love to own but can be satisfied just being there to hear about the owners – where the items came from – how they were acquired – how they were taken care of, etc.  These folks love a bargain, but will pay a fair price because they know what they are buying will only increase in value over the years and they hope it will become a family heirloom and their inheritors will cherish those items left to them and will pass the stories surrounding the items down through the generations.  These are the dream clients.

The collectible items in sales appeal to a whole other group of people.  These are the people who are looking for that big score.  Finding that item for $1.00 which will sell for $100,000, but they will be content adding the 999th item to their collection of Disney, or old spoons, or interesting picture frames, or Victorian furniture which used to be in their grandmother’s house or…..  These are good clients, but their conversation is very different and their approach to an estate sale is very different from those looking for that exquisite work of art.   You don’t have a community forming with this group.   That strong bond forms with those looking for the antiques and old masters art works.  But you also don’t have the intense competition and extreme jealousies which can form around those looking for those antiques and art works even as their sense of community forms.  You do, however, have a lot of bragging going on about 195 items collected with only  804 to go to have an entire “collection”.  Out of this group can come those in whom a switch is flicked and the hoarder appears.

The third group is problematical – both those who own what is being sold and those who buy.  These are the people looking to furnish and add some luxury touches to their homes and generally they want to do it as cheaply as possible.  No problem with that, nor is that a negative.  Some of the people selling have bought items for their own comfort and enjoyment and want to recoup some of what they spent as they move on.  Others have done the same but want those buying this used merchandise to pay close to full price because they have their faces turned around and are so focused on ‘taking’ that ‘sharing’ is an unknown and unknowing concept to them.  There is not often a two way street here and there is very little recognition of anything except their need to squeeze everything and everyone around them dry, leaving nothing behind and even taking from those who don’t have much to give.  These tend to have bought and are selling poorly manufactured merchandise, have lived with it very hard so it can be quite damaged and want others to pay a lot of money for their – no longer new and well worn goods.

Once you walk out of that nicely decorated store with its offer of interior decorators to help you place the items, choose colors, materials, window treatments which they make and more, the value of what you have bought and are probably having delivered drops immediately in value by at least 50% and each year thereafter that you keep that new merchandise, the worth of it drops ever more sharply.  The penalty for purchasing merchandise which is not beautifully crafted; not able to withstand the test of time over its design attributes; is poor material camouflaged to look like something it isn’t is the low price you get on the resale market.

To not recognize that fact and want others to pay for your enjoyment of goods you purchased which are not worth what you paid for them in the first place and which you have worn hard is a very unrealistic place to be and is either a naive or ignorant expectation.  This group is usually made up of those who are up-from and who turn a hard cold face to the world – responsibility and respect are not attributes which can be used to define their character.

And then there are the customers.  These are the ones who make psychiatric history.  Some of the antics we have observed should only be in books – fantasy books, unreal books, novels when one needs to create drama, or really – Ripley’s Believe It Or Not.

The customers who are most intriguing are those who come in to a home, find what they want, take out cash – usually about 10% of the price of the item – and wave it around in front of your face saying something like  ‘look, I have cash money for you right here, right now”.  I am never sure of their expectations.  Is the response to that supposed to be one where you put your tongue out as you hyperventilate because you are so eager to grab the cash you will do anything?  Are you supposed to follow their waving the cash around with longing looks in your eyes?  Do you faint on the spot because you are so close to cash and its affect is so overwhelming you just lose all control and all consciousness so they can rip you off before you can recover?  Or maybe you are expected to dance around them excitedly because they are so willing to pay so little to get so much?  Whatever the expected response, what they are showing are the really negative character traits we all recoil from and what is so, so sad – they don’t even realize – the emperor has no clothes and his/her real ugliness, rudeness, arrogance, disrespect of self is showing and neon signs are flashing out all kinds of messages for the world to see.

It gets even better!  An estate sale is the place to go to understand what large retail corporations have done to American Society and to other societies around the world in the name of competition, branding, marketing, advertising, selling strongly to people who don’t need what you are selling -can’t afford what you are selling – have lost the ability of discernment in things they think they need and struggle to buy and don’t know about the secrets some retailers are hiding behind those fancy packagings.  The need to bring non-profits into the picture, which is so commonly done today, blows smoke into your eyes. You need to gain back that lost discernment, but not yet – this feeling of your giving to those in need while buying what you think you want continues to cover the emptiness in you with the money you are spending for so very little in return.  The non-profts, in return, are losing their soul and their mission in that same process.  Their real, direct contributions drop.  The number of people knowing about their mission, committed to it, working to help bring about their goals drops dramatically in this process, but the mirage has been created and we all fall for it like 16 year olds whose hormones are raging.

It is at the estate sale where the customer goes to project upon those selling their feelings of anger, anxiety, being ripped off which they acquire when they are buying retail.   Some go to the estate sales to gain back the power they have lost in the greater society by parading around like the great and powerful of yesteryear, treating others as though they are the servants and have the job of mopping up what they leave behind.  It is to the estate sale we go to crap on the people selling because we can’t do the same to the large multi-national retailer ripping all of us off in the name of making a profit, because we don’t have the strength of character to be able to put blame where its due.

At the same time, the loveliness of shopping happens at estate sales because they are very personal and at the sales are the customers who have beautiful spirits and share some of their lives.  They share who they are, what they are looking for and why and who want to stay within their budgets and pay as little as possible but also want you to thrive and make sure, as best they can, that what they are buying and what they pay for what they are buying seems fair to all.  Sometimes, they share some of their dreams and visions of the future, what the world could be like, their problems, their great families, their ungreat families who have sent them out to strangers to share what’s in their hearts and I could go on for quite a few paragraphs.

Accordingly, having learned these lessons and a whole lot more, we are responding in a way which lessens the pressure on those selling with us (our staff) and which makes our days in this business much less stressful:

1)  We have established a “watch list”.  No we aren’t watching for thieves, they are the least of our worries.  We put on our watch list those who are ugly in spirit and want everything for themselves and enjoy ripping off others to get it.  They can’t do this in a larger context because it would be defined as a criminal act and they would have penalties to pay through loss of their freedom.  So we will use our “watch list” to exclude them from all future sales;  spend no time with them and discourage them from coming to Bettina Network Sales.

 

2)  The only people we will put on our ’email’ list, a list of those to whom we send notices of our sales – invitations to special events – invitations to previews of sales before they are open to the general public – will be people who are fully human; who understand and promote equality and diversity; who have reasons for buying other than to hit the jackpot by ripping off others.  How will we know these people?  Experience.  Work an estate sale for a few hours and you will also know!!!

 

3) The last day of our sales will be split in two.  The first half, items left will be half-price to those who have previously purchased items from our sales and the second half will be entertainment, refreshments and what is left given free to those who have receipts for having purchased previously or who have checked with us about people they know who are in need and who could use some of what is left.

 

4)  As time goes on, this list will get longer.  But for now it is a beginning.  We hope it is a beginning of the Reformation of retail in this world.  I can’t say in this American Society because it is not limited to the U. S. A., it goes across the world and is getting stronger.  An ethical, responsible, strong and good character is what is needed to overcome the greed, avarice, jealousy, obscene profits, now driving this and other industries.  If that is what you have – join us!  We would love to manage your sale; house your travelling guests; be a lifestyle reference.

________________________________________________________________

Learn More About How We Use Your Donation!

[give_form id=”3763″]

______________________________________________________________

Want to join us? Have a home that you want to open to become one of Bettina Network’s Hedge Schools? Call us and lets talk – or email us.

Ed. Note: Members of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community can contribute to the Bettina Network Blog whenever they have anything they want to say and be heard by this fantastic group of people. Send your blog to bettinanetwork@comcast.net or mail it to us at P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 or call us on the telephone at 617-497-9166 to tell us what you want to say and we will write it for you.

Volunteer with Bettina Network Foundation, inc. to work estate sales; to help move items from one home to another; to contribute your ideas on how we can better use our resources in this effort to relieve and eliminate homelessness and poverty. We also need photographers; designers; and more. However much or little time you have, we are grateful.

Send your event information to be included in Bettina Network’s Menu of Events to: bettina-network@comcast.net

This is a curated blog so you cannot write your responses at the end of each entry. TO RESPOND TO THIS BLOG email bettina-network@comcast.net or info@bettina-network.com

TO LEARN MORE about Bettina Network, inc. try www.bettina-network.com

IF YOU ENJOY OUR BLOG, USE OUR SERVICES TO BOOK ACCOMODATIONS WHEN YOU TRAVEL!

1-800-347-9166 inside the U. S. or 617 497 9166 outside or inside the U. S.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Bettina Network Moving Sale and Celebration

Friday, April 26th, 2013

 

Elegant home - beautiful drapes

Elegant home – beautiful drapes

On Saturday, April 27 from 10am-4pm and Sunday, April 28, 2013 from 2pm – 6pm  you are invited to a wonderful Moving Sale with a Celebration at its end.

Come and see and buy from a carefully edited selection of items accumulated by one family over some        7-8 years, so most things are fairly new and very well cared for.

The address for this sale is 8 Presidential Circle, Dracut, MA. 01826.

You will find bark paintings from Kenya which tell of the traditional life of the people of Kenya.

You will see an elegant and very large chandelier for sale – iron and crystal – delicate and perfect for that entrance foyer.   And you will see a nice selection of new oriental rugs in a home beautifully cared for so that the rugs look as if they were new.

IMG_0646

beautiful iron and crystal chandelier

Some crystal – some gold rimmed china dishes – many lamps – and a room for just sitting and enjoying which could be purchased intact to be removed to your home to create a similar environment.  All worked out for you with the right drapes – chairs – lamps – tables – pictures and more.  Who could ask for better!

Drapes which will keep you from ordering those custom drapes into five figures – one pair long enough for windows two stories high and still in beautiful condition – in a very neutral color to fit any decor. – Window shades very soft with off white color and horizontal pleats which are not quite pleats, but beautifully rushed shades – wooden windows to fit a contemporary home in condition good enough to be transferred for their windows to your windows.  Bring your window measurements.  Beautiful custom cornices, well made and also in a condition good enough to just transfer to your windows.

IMG_0575

A brown leather sofa, plus other sofas which just might be what you need for that empty space.

And tables to match everything – glass and brass – glass and wood – inlaid wood – marquetry round tables with lamps to upscale any space.

 

IMG_0698

A round mirror for that hard to deal with space, tall vases with some over 3 feet

– and much more for those decorator touches that don’t cost a decorators budget.

IMG_0682

 

And in the basement – start your own business with desks, tables, chairs, filing cabinets, safes, a gurney of all things – conference tables, and much of what is needed in a Nursing School, but which can be transferred to your office or   school.

Need furniture for that new space in your office you have looked at but haven’t done anything about?  There is a little of everything in that basement.  Well kept, clean and ready for use, including chafing dishes and other serving pieces one would use in an office for entertaining.

 

IMG_0665

 

IMG_0671IMG_0611

Endless desks for a school

Endless desks for a school

IMG_0696

No Comment!

And at the sales end – on Sunday from 2-6pm broken into two parts- from 2-4pm eveyrthing will be half price and from 4-6pm whatever is left will be given away to those who purchased during the sale.  That is a gift of thanks from the home owners.  The gift of thanks from the Bettina Network is a concert/recital by Albino Mbie.  To learn more about Mr. Mbie check him out at this web site which gives a little preview of his music  www.albinombie.com

________________________________________________________________

Learn More About How We Use Your Donation!

[give_form id=”3763″]

______________________________________________________________

Want to join us? Have a home that you want to open to become one of Bettina Network’s Hedge Schools? Call us and lets talk – or email us.

Ed. Note: Members of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community can contribute to the Bettina Network Blog whenever they have anything they want to say and be heard by this fantastic group of people. Send your blog to bettinanetwork@comcast.net or mail it to us at P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 or call us on the telephone at 617-497-9166 to tell us what you want to say and we will write it for you.

Volunteer with Bettina Network Foundation, inc. to work estate sales; to help move items from one home to another; to contribute your ideas on how we can better use our resources in this effort to relieve and eliminate homelessness and poverty. We also need photographers; designers; and more. However much or little time you have, we are grateful.

Send your event information to be included in Bettina Network’s Menu of Events to: bettina-network@comcast.net

This is a curated blog so you cannot write your responses at the end of each entry. TO RESPOND TO THIS BLOG email bettina-network@comcast.net or info@bettina-network.com

TO LEARN MORE about Bettina Network, inc. try www.bettina-network.com

IF YOU ENJOY OUR BLOG, USE OUR SERVICES TO BOOK ACCOMODATIONS WHEN YOU TRAVEL!

1-800-347-9166 inside the U. S. or 617 497 9166 outside or inside the U. S.

Looking for Staff at our very unusual company

Tuesday, April 16th, 2013

Bettina Network, inc. is looking for people who are passionate about estate sales and want to join our team a part time person working estate sales.

There is much space for progress up the ladder of a fun, demanding, exciting, innovative company.

We are also looking for people who code/program/web design/e-commerce.  Same thing – start as a part time person and work your way up the ladder of success.

call us at 617 497 9166 or 800 347 9166

________________________________________________________________

Learn More About How We Use Your Donation!

[give_form id=”3763″]

______________________________________________________________

Want to join us? Have a home that you want to open to become one of Bettina Network’s Hedge Schools? Call us and lets talk – or email us.

Ed. Note: Members of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community can contribute to the Bettina Network Blog whenever they have anything they want to say and be heard by this fantastic group of people. Send your blog to bettinanetwork@comcast.net or mail it to us at P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 or call us on the telephone at 617-497-9166 to tell us what you want to say and we will write it for you.

Volunteer with Bettina Network Foundation, inc. to work estate sales; to help move items from one home to another; to contribute your ideas on how we can better use our resources in this effort to relieve and eliminate homelessness and poverty. We also need photographers; designers; and more. However much or little time you have, we are grateful.

Send your event information to be included in Bettina Network’s Menu of Events to: bettina-network@comcast.net

This is a curated blog so you cannot write your responses at the end of each entry. TO RESPOND TO THIS BLOG email bettina-network@comcast.net or info@bettina-network.com

TO LEARN MORE about Bettina Network, inc. try www.bettina-network.com

IF YOU ENJOY OUR BLOG, USE OUR SERVICES TO BOOK ACCOMODATIONS WHEN YOU TRAVEL!

1-800-347-9166 inside the U. S. or 617 497 9166 outside or inside the U. S.

A Great New Year’s Resolution

Monday, January 7th, 2013

copyright 2013 Bettina Network, inc.

We encourage you to follow our example.

OUR RESOLUTION FOR 2013:  we will no longer buy at retail stores, shopping malls, etc. – except on that very rare occasion when we can’t stop ourselves – but as time goes on we hope our faith in the system sustains us and we can make it through with this new way of life.

In 2013, we are only going to buy from Estate Sales, House Sales, Yard Sales, etc.:)  Fantastic.  It is about time someone tried that.

While this may sound a bit self-serving, since a part of the Bettina Network is about managing public and private sales, this idea has been hanging around far longer then our business.

Society looks at people who try this as those who do it out of desperation and can only afford to buy at “used goods” sales.  Even those who can only buy this way feel sorry for themselves and pine for the day when they can shop the malls and all the other retail places to shop.  They have been pitied by most of us for having to live on such merchandise. Those who are wealthier tend to buy at “antique sales” – showing their upward mobility and class status change, especially if they are buying at antique auctions of the New York and California variety.

We used to go to such sales to buy the choice pieces which couldn’t be found anyplace else.  And then one day we noticed there was a screw driver – practically new for only $1.00.  The exact same item was much more expensive in the Hardware Stores because I had been looking and pricing them trying to figure out average, better and best –  so – hey – why not buy it here, especially since the one I was looking at was one deemed the “best”.

And then we began to notice other things and began to really enjoy the sales.  We buy all of our clothes at estate sales now and we dress beautifully – mink coats, rabbit jackets, racoon long coats practically dragging the floor (because they were made for someone taller, but it looks much more lush on us), fake fur capes, leather gloves and more.  We even buy our stockings and undies at sales.  AND – before you make ugly comments, they are all brand new with the price tags still attached and with the stockings, they are still in the sealed plastic wraps.  Most people seem to buy more than they need so they won’t run out – and they don’t – death catches them before they run out of stockings or other such things.  We even find an enormous amount of clothes – brand new – with price tags still attached – and some are more than 30 years old.  They have been in someone’s closet forever and never worn.

I love to find houses where the people who lived there for years had their everyday items, which they used all the time – and their “good” items, which were never used.  I can go through those houses and come out needing help to carry stuff to the car and have spent about $70 to $90 instead of the four figures such things would cost at the retail and luxury stores.  The luxury stores are where most of  the “good stuff” comes from.  The everyday heavily used items have come from the discount stores and aren’t good for much except discard.  The “good stuff” has generally been purchased at great personal cost because it shows an upward movement and is not used because the people buying it and using their everyday stuff while saving the “good stuff” know they can only afford to buy such once in a lifetime so it can’t be used.  A dilemma which has shown up some interesting new habits throughout this consuming society.  The “good furniture” in a middle-class home was traditionally covered in plastic.  That habit has come in for many jokes and for much poking of fun, but think about it.  If you can only afford to buy a beautiful sofa once in your lifetime and know you can’t afford to have it recovered and it can be cleaned only with great difficulty and high expense you have to do something to preserve it.  The alternative is to live with a lesser item and that doesn’t work in this upwardly mobile, consumer ridden society.  We always aspire for more then we can afford – and generally overlook real gems under our noses which would give us a better and more elegant lifestyle.

We also began to notice we could buy all of our cleaning needs at these sales for $1.00 and sometimes even as little as $.50.  We found Gel Gloss – new and unopened, which costs much more than the fifty cents we paid for it. And on and on and on.

And then we started picking up all other kinds of things we hadn’t thought about buying at house sales.   – Last week at a sale there was a new piece of heavily quilted and tufted aluminum foil.  We didn’t know what it was for,  but it looked ideal to be cut into pieces to put behind the radiators to keep the heat reflecting back into the room – thereby saving energy.  It cost us $2.00.  As we were leaving the woman who organized the sale said – “hi, are you going to insulate your hot water heater”?  Wow – we realized that is what it was for,  so instead of cutting it up, we went home and wrapped the hot water heater so it would be insulated and reduce our gas and electricity bill.  Wouldn’t have known that – and before arriving at that particular sale, I was thinking about calling a plumber to get our hot water heater wrapped.  As we were leaving the sale, an elderly gentleman, realizing we knew nothing about wrapping hot water heaters, and was observing when we discovered I didn’t even know what it was that I was about to buy, gave us a lesson on how to do wrap the hot water heater when we arrived home.

So now, we are really on the look out for EVERYTHING and realized – if we went to the sales with a list of what we need – we might not find it at the first sale, but shortly thereafter we will turn up what we need at a fraction of the cost.  All of my Christmas presents came from house sales.  That was fun and I didn’t have to break the bank to celebrate Christmas – and my love is giving handcrafted, unusual items as gifts.  The sales let me do all of that.

History buffs should love this way of buying.  I have learned so much history in the process, that I can’t believe  I have come so late to this way of being a consumer.  And the real treat is to be able to look around other peoples houses to see how they live.  I have picked up decorating ideas, organizing ideas, – have seen lifestyles I didn’t dream existed and more from traveling around to house, garage, yard and estate sales.

I guess you might say we are becoming estate sale addicts.  Can’t go the week without finding a sale.  And you know you are addicted when you buy a size 9 boot when you actually wear a size 7 because it was $5.00 and you saw the same boot at Neiman Marcus for over $300.

There is – surprisingly – a community that forms around these sales.  You get to know other people at the sales because you travel around shopping this way and they are far friendlier than the people I see at Bloomingdale’s.  Even the store clerks at Bloomies treat me arrogantly and I bathe every single morning.  When they talk down to me I almost want to say – ‘I have more money than you do – so there’.  But I am far too old to let my inner urgings take over.

The people selling at estate sales are quite a different crowd then the retail clerks at the Macy’s of the world.  They know more – for one thing.  They generally can tell you all about the merchandise they are selling because they are collectors of antiques and other items and have to love and know history to do that.  I have learned so much about life at these sales.  There is always an anecdote that has to be told.  The sales conducted by the family are just as interesting because you get to know when and where particular items were collected and how grandmother loved that vase and you hear the story of the clock grandpa bought or the piano where they had to have soup for years thereafter because they spent so much money on it, but they wanted their children to have a piano and the best they could buy – and now were selling it because the grandchildren weren’t interested in it – they wanted a new piano, much more poorly made, with a lesser sound, but which looked “new and modern”.  A little olive oil rubbed into that ‘old’ piano for a few months would make it look beyond ‘new and modern’, it would look old, treasured and exquisite.

One of my grandchildren expressed the appallness of her parents about my buying shoes someone else had worn.  So I have developed a recipe for all of you to use when buying used shoes, boots, clothes, etc. and it goes like this:

For shoes, take cotton – or old newspapers – and sprinkle it liberally with essential oil of lavendar – preferably organic essential oil of lavendar.  Stuff the shoes with the cotton or whatever you are using.  Drop them into a plastic bag, of which you have many from the store – don’t go out and buy new bags – and let them sit on the side of a storage room or other out of the way place for a couple weeks.  Anything in that shoe will have vanished when you take it out of the lavendar-scented bag and your shoes will smell heavenly.

For used clothes – we buy “dryel” or “woolite”.  We buy “dryel if it is something we think needs to be cleaned in a plastic bag or “woolite” if we just need to purify the items.  Put the clothes or afghans, draperies, or whatever you have purchased that needs cleaning,  in the “dryel” bag and put it in the dryer for a turn on the “normal” setting.  When the dryer stops, immediately take them out of the bag or the dryer and let them hang until the odor of the dry cleaning substance begins to fade.  Then you can either send them to the dry cleaners if they need spots and such removed or they are ready to be put in your closet without fear of whatever contamination by another human being worries you.

Essential oil of lavender, which you use in the shoes,  is a disinfectant and can be used in many other ways.

I needed a stand for my television set and nothing I found seemed to fit.  Everything I liked was over $100 – way over – and made of pressed paper.  However, browsing an estate sale I found a beautiful Oriental cabinet, just the right height – with bamboo trim, beautifully lacquered and painted with semi-precious stones worked into the painting for $45.  That was my final sign that this was the way to go.  I was thrilled – brought the cabinet home and it was perfect.  It had drawers in the front so I was able to put all of the things I stored in the present tv stand I was using, in the drawers and the look dressed up the room unbelievably!  The old tv stand that I needed to retire was made of pressed paper (that imitation wood) and was beginning to just fall apart – as such things do after only a few years.

I could go on for pages.  We have converted several Bettina Network host families to stop shopping in retail stores – so we will tell you the stories of their adventures or misadventure as they happen and will also try to introduce the topic at breakfast to see if any of our guests find this a great lifestyle or if they find us crazy.

Hopefully, we will come up with tips to help you as you take up this new passion.

________________________________________________________________

Learn More About How We Use Your Donation!

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______________________________________________________________

Want to join us? Have a home that you want to open to become one of Bettina Network’s Hedge Schools? Call us and lets talk – or email us.

Ed. Note: Members of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community can contribute to the Bettina Network Blog whenever they have anything they want to say and be heard by this fantastic group of people. Send your blog to bettinanetwork@comcast.net or mail it to us at P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 or call us on the telephone at 617-497-9166 to tell us what you want to say and we will write it for you.

Volunteer with Bettina Network Foundation, inc. to work estate sales; to help move items from one home to another; to contribute your ideas on how we can better use our resources in this effort to relieve and eliminate homelessness and poverty. We also need photographers; designers; and more. However much or little time you have, we are grateful.

Send your event information to be included in Bettina Network’s Menu of Events to: bettina-network@comcast.net

This is a curated blog so you cannot write your responses at the end of each entry. TO RESPOND TO THIS BLOG email bettina-network@comcast.net or info@bettina-network.com

TO LEARN MORE about Bettina Network, inc. try www.bettina-network.com

IF YOU ENJOY OUR BLOG, USE OUR SERVICES TO BOOK ACCOMODATIONS WHEN YOU TRAVEL!

1-800-347-9166 inside the U. S. or 617 497 9166 outside or inside the U. S.

Estate Sale Finds!

Sunday, December 9th, 2012

copyright by Bettina Network, inc. 2012 for Marceline Donaldson

Estate Sales are one of my passions.  I have been involved with them since about 1965, having owned an Auction Gallery in the Sheraton Ritz Hotel years ago and have barely missed a weekend without some stop at an estate sale in some city.

I haven’t been to a mall nor any other kind of retail store spending money for a very long time and we are doing quite well, thank you.  My money goes further and the ‘things’ that I have acquired are much higher quality than I could afford otherwise.

In spite of that long history, it never ceases to amaze me when I find something extraordainary – like this weekend.

Saturday was full of stopping at different sales in the Greater Boston area.  My best find was in Belmont where I bought a basket full of stockings – not knowing if they would fit, but knowing they were all still in their original plastic wrappers and I know enough people of different sizes that I could share what I couldn’t use.

Going over the packages – which cost about fifty cents each – there were several under the “Sears” name.  Therein was my amazement.  They were called “Cling-alon”.  Now, as old as I am and having seen as much as I have seen in life, I had never come across stockings which one could wear out to an event,  find a run in one leg, change that leg with a “replacement nylon” and keep going.  Did women have these replacement legs in their pocket books in case one leg got a run and they didn’t want to look kind of messy?

There were two kinds of nylons in my many “Sears” packages.  One kind was called “Replacement Hose” – those are one leg and the original cost on the package said $1.47 with a sale price of $ .49.  So the woman who bought these originally – now dead – must have bought stockings by the gross.  Another package is called “Spare Parts” and cost $1.35 originally with a sale price of $.69.

The marketing plug on the package says “if one hose runs re-match with hose from another pair.  Reversible and interchangeable to fit either leg.  Two separate seamless hose with opaque panty-type panels…open at front and back.”

Where were these panti-hose all of my adult life, especially my young adult life when I was raising three children and scrapping every penny to make ends meet?  Going without stockings in a Minnesota winter because it was either my stockings or something my daughters needed was no fun.  Could these stockings have eliminated a few of the colds I caught in that horrendous weather?

And why did the industry give up these kind of panti-hose to give us two legs permanently attached to the panti part of the hose necessitating our buying a new pair if we get runs on only one side of the panti-hose, which is often what happens to me.  I suspect it happens to a lot of women because we tend to be harder on one side of our bodies than the other.

Before this “find” I didn’t even think of such a possibility.  Now, I want to know why the panti-hose industry is making me spend money unnecessarily so they can make more.  I can’t think of any other reason as to why they would integrate both legs into one panti and make me buy ‘new’ before I had totally worn out the ‘old’ because they found a new-fangled way to create an expensive and short-lived necessity for women.

I notice they are reversible – neither todays’ panti-hose nor stockings are reversible.  If you wear them on the wrong side you have an obvious seam at the tip of your toes where it will show if you are wearing open toe shoes.  How come with all of our technological advances there could be “reversible” stockings years ago and today only stockings with the seam on the ‘wrong’ side and the smooth finished part on the ‘right’ or outside side?

A second pair of these panti-hose is a replacement for the panti-part of the hose.  Were women more conscious of what they spent on such things years ago and were not ready to throw out a perfectly good panti-hose just because the left leg or the right leg had a run in it?

I remember girdles with the hooks on the bottom for stockings to be hooked to so they wouldn’t fall down, but I don’t remember anything like this.  What a fantastic find!

Now, maybe it is time to get these modern companies to become more cost conscious about women’s underwear.  They are fast becoming the most expensive part of a woman’s wardrobe and the part of our wardrobes which wear-out, break, run very quickly necessitating immediate replacement.

Panti-hose can range from about $4.50 all the way up to $20-30.00 and beyond and you can’t take off one leg of those expensive hose and replace them with another leg at a fraction of the cost if you run or poke a hole in only one leg.

Sears, Roebuck and Company was very popular at one time.  With this estate sale find, I understand why.  These stockings were sold by – Sears in Chicago, Ill. 60607.  The package for the two parts has an original price of $2.27 on sale for $ .49.

In the end, however, it looks as though both kinds of panti-hose were sold for the same amount when they went on sale, with the “Spare Parts” being a bit more expensive.  As I take the packages apart, the “Spare Parts” is more flexible because you can either use them as one side of the panti-hose or they are stand alone with the panti part of the panti-hose being replaced.   One can hook these “Spare Parts” onto the panti part of the panti-hose or onto your girdle with what looks like some kind of precursor to todays’ velcro.

I paid fifty cents each for these stockings at the sale.  They are worth the money.  I will probably never wear them, but I will put them in my ‘clothes history’ file which I have put together for my grandchildren so they can see a bit of what was, to judge for themselves the value or lack of value for what is.  Did we live up to our history and move onward and upward or did we learn from that history how to rip-off the next generation.

At the risk of being trashed I will speak truth to power by saying – todays’ fashion industry is about as bad as todays’ food processing industry.  All for the company – taking as much money as possible from the consumer, while giving them either the ridiculous or the empty.  With the cost of the equipment today to get into either industry it is unlikely that a competitor with the real deep-down interest in the consumer will surface.

Because we follow a leader like sheep, such outrageousness by such industries are not only possible, but thrive.  All they have to do is spend millions on marketing to get all of us sheep to follow their latest trend.  They can tell us we are not ‘smart’ ‘fashionable’ ‘one of the beautiful people of the world’ if we don’t follow and we go crazy with the amount of money and time we will spend trying to imitate.

Our paths do diverge however.  They go to the bank where they are welcomed with smiles and open arms, we go to the poor house where everything we have managed to accumulate, save, keep, is stripped from us so we can start all over again trying to dig out of an unnecessarily deep hole.  Who are you?  Want to wear ‘replacement parts nylon hosiery’ or content with more expensive and easily ripped contemporary hosiery?

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Learn More About How We Use Your Donation!

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Want to join us? Have a home that you want to open to become one of Bettina Network’s Hedge Schools? Call us and lets talk – or email us.

Ed. Note: Members of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community can contribute to the Bettina Network Blog whenever they have anything they want to say and be heard by this fantastic group of people. Send your blog to bettinanetwork@comcast.net or mail it to us at P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 or call us on the telephone at 617-497-9166 to tell us what you want to say and we will write it for you.

Volunteer with Bettina Network Foundation, inc. to work estate sales; to help move items from one home to another; to contribute your ideas on how we can better use our resources in this effort to relieve and eliminate homelessness and poverty. We also need photographers; designers; and more. However much or little time you have, we are grateful.

Send your event information to be included in Bettina Network’s Menu of Events to: bettina-network@comcast.net

This is a curated blog so you cannot write your responses at the end of each entry. TO RESPOND TO THIS BLOG email bettina-network@comcast.net or info@bettina-network.com

TO LEARN MORE about Bettina Network, inc. try www.bettina-network.com

IF YOU ENJOY OUR BLOG, USE OUR SERVICES TO BOOK ACCOMODATIONS WHEN YOU TRAVEL!

1-800-347-9166 inside the U. S. or 617 497 9166 outside or inside the U. S.

Dr. Alice Amsden’s Commemoration at MIT

Saturday, November 3rd, 2012

Dr. Alice Amsden, Barton L. Weller Professor of Economic Development, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Over the weekend of October 20, 2012 MIT held a commemoration/memorial for Dr. Amsden and it was recorded and published.  One of  the Bettina Network Community members called to ask that we post the email on Bettina Network’s Blog that we sent to those who purchased at Dr. Amsden’s Scattering Sale.  She had forwarded the link to a couple friends and they said the content of the weekend should have a wider ciculation and encouraged her to have the commemoration put on the blog.

In that spirit, the link follows and we invite you to take a look.  It was a tremendous couple of days and an opportunity to both pay tribute to Dr. Amsden and to learn about her ideas, work and family.  We came away with a much greater understanding of what she was about and a different set of ideas about how the world could work.

We sent the following message to those who purchased items at this sale and decided to share it with the Bettina Network’s world.

http://amsden.mit.edu/program/

http://ttv.mit.edu/videos/21431-alice-amsden-commemoration-part-1

“A couple months ago you purchased items at a Bettina Network Scattering Sale which were from the estate of Alice Amsden.

There was a memorial service for Ms. Amsden at MIT recently, which is now on-line.  We have included, at the top of this email, the link for you to use to see this service.  It is a fantastic tribute to Dr. Amsden and it gives you an idea as to who she was, her work, ideas, colleagues and more.

Some of us keep as much of a provenance of the items we buy as possible.  We assume you are one of us and would like to have this information that you can peruse as you wish.  There are six parts to the video and it is excellent.

Thank you for being a part of the Bettina Network Community and for the purchases you made at the Alice Amsden Sale.  We hope this video becomes a part of your collection and you keep it with the items you purchased from Dr. Amsdens estate.

At Bettina Network we are working on building a research library which would include such information on all the items we sell so the next generation will be able to search for and find the art, furnishings, everyday items and more of those who meant a lot to them.  I still wonder what happened to some particular items from my grandmother’s estate.  I would very much have appreciated being able to search for those items, so we are working to give others that opportunity.

We also hope the research library will be used by researchers, appraisers, historians and others to gain an idea into who owned what, why, its value when it was sold and its history before it was acquired by that particular person.

We hope this video is as meaningful to you as it was to us.  Besides the ideas and discussion in this Commemoration, the video about Alice Amsden from baby to the end of life was beautifully done as was the tribute to Dr. Amsden by her family.

We commend it to you with our best wishes and thanks!”
_______________________________________________________________

Learn More About How We Use Your Donation!

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______________________________________________________________

Want to join us? Have a home that you want to open to become one of Bettina Network’s Hedge Schools? Call us and lets talk – or email us.

Ed. Note: Members of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community can contribute to the Bettina Network Blog whenever they have anything they want to say and be heard by this fantastic group of people. Send your blog to bettinanetwork@comcast.net or mail it to us at P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 or call us on the telephone at 617-497-9166 to tell us what you want to say and we will write it for you.

Volunteer with Bettina Network Foundation, inc. to work estate sales; to help move items from one home to another; to contribute your ideas on how we can better use our resources in this effort to relieve and eliminate homelessness and poverty. We also need photographers; designers; and more. However much or little time you have, we are grateful.

Send your event information to be included in Bettina Network’s Menu of Events to: bettina-network@comcast.net

This is a curated blog so you cannot write your responses at the end of each entry. TO RESPOND TO THIS BLOG email bettina-network@comcast.net or info@bettina-network.com

TO LEARN MORE about Bettina Network, inc. try www.bettina-network.com

IF YOU ENJOY OUR BLOG, USE OUR SERVICES TO BOOK ACCOMODATIONS WHEN YOU TRAVEL!

1-800-347-9166 inside the U. S. or 617 497 9166 outside or inside the U. S.

Who Won the Prize at the Bettina Sale?

Sunday, August 12th, 2012

copyright Bettina Network, inc. 2012

The Bettina Scattering Sale for Dr. Alice Amsden has come to an end.  It was a great experience.  Many lessons learned to carry forward to the next sale and many, many people to thank.

First, we want to thank all of you who came, looked,  bought and those who clicked into the ‘on-line’ part of the sale and put in bids.

As you know, everytime you put in a bid your name was put into the computer box which keeps such and today we had the computer tell us who it picked to win the night at a bed & breakfast in a Bettina Network home in Concord, Massachusetts.

That person was Christine Gilbert.  Congratulations!  We will be in touch with you to tell you how to collect your prize.  The family of Dr. Alice Amsden and the Bettina Network, inc. thank you for bidding. We appreciate your participation and we appreciate everyone who helped to make this a success.

We look for you at the next sale.  Make sure you are registered on the Bettina Network’s web site so you can be the first to be notified when the next sale takes place.  Lots of changes coming with the next sale.  This was our first sale using the new software and it worked beautifully.  We had a couple glitches in the beginning, but it took only a few minutes to get it fixed.  Susan Buck and Nicole Noll of Web Start Women did an outstanding job with the software.  They are off putting their heads together to make the program we use that they wrote – better, easier, and of course,  elegant.  You must come to the next sale to see their changes.

We also want to thank Louise Botero and Alexandre Hawley for playing wonderful duets on the viola da gamba on Sunday afternoon at the Amsden house.  We have security cameras that we set up all over the house during our sales.  Maybe we will try to figure out how to use one to make a video that we can post to the blog to share with all of you.  A small buffet followed the recital and in the process we learned how to make the next event, at the end of a Bettina Sale, a really special time.

Thanks also to all of you who inundated us with suggestions for the next sale.  I had no idea we had so many friends who want us to succeed and who have taken a special interest in what we are doing and how we are doing it.  It will take time to sort through all of the suggestions, but I know you will see some of them implemented soon.

________________________________________________________________

Learn More About How We Use Your Donation!

[give_form id=”3763″]

______________________________________________________________

Want to join us? Have a home that you want to open to become one of Bettina Network’s Hedge Schools? Call us and lets talk – or email us.

Ed. Note: Members of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community can contribute to the Bettina Network Blog whenever they have anything they want to say and be heard by this fantastic group of people. Send your blog to bettinanetwork@comcast.net or mail it to us at P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 or call us on the telephone at 617-497-9166 to tell us what you want to say and we will write it for you.

Volunteer with Bettina Network Foundation, inc. to work estate sales; to help move items from one home to another; to contribute your ideas on how we can better use our resources in this effort to relieve and eliminate homelessness and poverty. We also need photographers; designers; and more. However much or little time you have, we are grateful.

Send your event information to be included in Bettina Network’s Menu of Events to: bettina-network@comcast.net

This is a curated blog so you cannot write your responses at the end of each entry. TO RESPOND TO THIS BLOG email bettina-network@comcast.net or info@bettina-network.com

TO LEARN MORE about Bettina Network, inc. try www.bettina-network.com

IF YOU ENJOY OUR BLOG, USE OUR SERVICES TO BOOK ACCOMODATIONS WHEN YOU TRAVEL!

1-800-347-9166 inside the U. S. or 617 497 9166 outside or inside the U. S.

 

 


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