Declutter Challenge October Update: Successes and Failures

I am really glad that I jumped on the declutter wagon again this month and moved additional items out of the house, but it is really hard to keep up with my declutter challenge when there is so much other stuff going on!

First, I have to talk about my failures: I didn't get around to selling anything on Craigslist as I had planned. I find Craigslist overwhelming to deal with. You post your item for sale, and then you have to comb through your email to find the responses. Typically at least one response is from someone who is talking about something you aren't selling (ex. someone was interested in my stove once when I was offering some free tickets to a consignment sale...????). It's difficult to determine who is really interested vs. someone who isn't serious. Some people want to meet you at a location in between, and then they don't show up, or want to meet at a strange time, such as early in the morning (horror stories from friends).

I haven't figured out a smooth way to deal with Craigslist Chaos, so I'm reluctant to do a lot with it. If I am going to sell something on Craigslist before the end of the year, it will have to be this upcoming weekend. Stay tuned next month to find out if I get motivated...or not!

I had an opportunity to sell items at a friend's yard sale over the holiday weekend, which would have been a great way to move the items I am dreading posting on Craigslist. Unfortunately, I had too much going on that weekend and I had to bypass the opportunity. I love that people are getting together and sharing yard sale opportunities, though, and I look forward to participating next time!

I had a steady, tiny stream of book sales on Half.com this month. I am going to count only the transaction that I already received payment for, and count the 3 other sales for November, which means that my Half.com total is $7.75.

I also pushed myself to consign approximately 100 items, and sold over 60 of them, with the rest being donated by the consignment sale to several different organizations. (You can read here about how I track what I sold/didn't sell without picking up the unsold items) Since most items were small and I priced them to sell, I earned just $121.13, significantly less than the big earnings I saw at the spring sale, but better than nothing!

I scraped up 11 items to sell on Ebay, including a few seasonal items I had put aside earlier in the year, thinking they would sell better in the fall. The list included a few Halloween costumes, NFL Football kids' clothes (Steelers stuff, if you care to know), and some little baby shoes, in addition to my newborn cloth diapers, which were so cute and so little they were hard to let go, but sell them I did.

10 of 11 items sold (a couple for only 99 cents, but at least I found someone who wanted and could use the item!) and I made a total of $107.45 after shipping and fees. I have another short list of items for Ebay to sell in November, because so far I find it to be the most convenient way to connect nicer items to people who want them and can use them.

All of these totals added together bring me to $236.33 for the month of October. Two more months to go, and I can tell already that December is not going to be a big month. :) It's time to shift gears and get organized for the holidays!

Check out additional declutter reports at The Finer Things in Life!

Declutter Challenge July Update: Easing Back Into It

Something is better than nothing! I love looking at a nice pile of packages, ready to be shipped out the door. It's so satisfying!

I'm distinctly relieved to report that I made my sales goal for July. It wasn't an amazing month, but at least there are 6 fewer items in my home that have now been connected with others who have a use for them.

It wasn't until halfway through the month that I was able to focus on selling some items. I was getting ready to go out of town and didn't have a lot of time to work with, so I decided to do what has become easiest for me: selling on Ebay. To make things work with my schedule, I reduced my auctions to be 5 days long instead of the standard 7 days. I also started all 5 of my auctions at $.99 to attract as much interest as possible.

There seems to be a psychology to starting auctions at $.99 which makes items attract bids more than other items that have a higher starting price. People can't resist a great deal, apparently, and bid on the items, which increases the perceived demand for the item, or some such. At least I've noticed that my $.99 items get a lot of attention and sometimes sell for higher than identical items' Buy it Now prices. (Also, Ebay collects lower fees on $.99 auctions, so it's win-win unless the item isn't in demand and the item ends up selling for $.99!)

My total sales amount on Ebay (after shipping, fees, etc.) was $119.28. I also sold a book on Half.com (even easier than listing items on Ebay!) and made $6.05, bringing my total for July to $125.33!

All of my buyers paid promptly except for one, so I had to haul that package along to the beach while waiting for payment. I prepared the package and used the Wifi connection at the beach house to obtain the address--and the location of the nearest post office. It was a bit of a pain, but I'm glad I took the trouble to make the sales despite being crunched for time.

Maybe one of these days I will actually sell something on Craigslist. I haven't figured out the secret yet, but I hope to make some attempts in August.

August is Toy Purge Month in our household, due to upcoming birthdays. I don't know if I will actually get around to selling many of the toys, but I hope to get a good supply together to sell/donate/get out of my house this fall!

Another area I need to focus more on is recycling. I have various appliances and other random items that need a new home one way or another that I hope to get to in the coming weeks/months.

Visit The Finer Things in Life to fine more decluttering inspiration!

Declutter Challenge May Update: Nothing Much

Decluttering activities got a bit derailed this past month. In fact, I didn't do hardly anything to try to reach my goal this month, and my numbers reflect my lack of initiative!

I sold a nice maternity dress on Ebay, using the Buy it Now 30-day listing feature, which gave me $15.93.  The fees for this type of transaction are higher than for the auction. I think I should have auctioned the dress instead.

The exciting thing about this transaction was that it took place right after I left town for a few days. The timing was amazing. (Thanks to my sister for helping me out with shipping the item!) Lesson Learned: Don't forget to put your selling items on vacation when you are on vacation!

Here's a photo tip I discovered for my dress pictured above: I stuffed the bosom of the dress with crumpled paper towels to make a more flattering shape on the hanger (then used the towels for other purposes afterwards, of course). Another neat thing: a dress made of thin material can be carefully folded and fitted into a flat rate shipping envelope. I tucked it carefully inside a gallon-size resealable bag and pressed the air out first.

I also managed to sell two books on Half.com, netting a total of $12.89 after shipping costs and fees. I'm fudging a little here because I haven't recieved payment of one of these books yet; one just sold last week. My total book inventory on Half.com is still a grand total of two books, and I've been selling approximately one per month. I'll have to look around and see if I have anything else to list; these transactions are really easy to do!

We have a large outdoor shed that we are not going to use, so I made a half-hearted end-of-the-month attempt to sell it on Craigslist. It didn't sell yet.

And... that's it! My Grand Total for the month of inertia is $28.82. It's better than nothing, but nowhere near my $100 goal. I will have to use other funds to cover my minimum payment for my loan this month, and hope for better results next month.

The best part about getting derailed is picking yourself up and getting back on track. I have plenty of ideas on items to sell for the month of June and beyond, as well as two piles of items that have yet to make their way out the door to Goodwill. I have a variety of larger furniture items to offer on Craigslist, and some items to auction on Ebay as well... including the final batches of cloth diapers that we own. Somehow the toy situation that I thought I had under control is NOT under control. I think the toys are replicating exponentially when we are asleep! I'm hoping to get a better handle on the volume, location, and storage challenges this summer.

I'm linked up to decluttering progress reports at Amy's Finer Things In Life. Be sure to stop by and check out others' decluttering progress, which is hopefully more inspiring than mine!

Declutter Challenge March Update: Building Ebay Experience

I haven't forgotten that it's past time to report on my decluttering progress in March. After a busy month in February... blah blah blah. I toyed with the idea of listing some items on Craig's List, but ultimately I decided to focus on Ebay listings.

I followed the strategy I had worked out and it went well. Listing auctions with no reserve on Ebay makes me anxious, and many people prefer to avoid the fear of an item selling for a low price by raising the starting bid price or pricing the item as Buy it Now. I've observed that auctions with higher starting bid prices appear to attract fewer bidders. I could sell items using the Buy it Now feature, but I wasn't sure exactly how much my items would be worth in the end. One buyer actually contacted me about an auction, wondering if I would be willing to change it to a Buy it Now transaction. I'm glad I didn't because the item ended up selling for more than the buyer would have offered.

I also struggled with the mail rates. The cost to mail the larger items were easy to justify, but the cost to mail some of the smaller items across the country was exhorbitant. In some cases the flat rate envelopes and boxes worked well, but in other cases the value of the item I was trying to sell wasn't worth how much it would cost to safely ship it anywhere in the country. I ended up added additional shipping options on several transactions.

In the end, I sold 7 of the 11 items, resulting in $155.47 in sales after Ebay and Paypal commissions and fees, which I've finally figured out!* Several of the small items sold for only $.99, so I'm not always right about what items will be in demand. I didn't mind very much because I had great success on other transactions, and I still moved items that were no longer useful to my family out of my house and into a home where the item is needed.

I also sold an additional book through Half.com, making $5.59 after commissions and fees. I only have a small handful of books listed, but it's nice to every once in a while pop a book in the mail to someone who would like to own it.

That's all I sold! It was a smaller month, but still well ahead of my earning goal--I earned a total of $161.06.

As for my other decluttering projects, I could have made more progress. The pile for Goodwill that I made when decluttering the basement laundry room is still in the house, unfortunately. I did successfully recycle my worn, flaking, non-stick cookware. April is set to be a high export month due to the yard/consignment sale strategy.

*You might recall from last month that I wasn't sure what my Ebay fees were. After a bit of research, I figured out that my Ebay fees totaled $18.26, and were not paid before I posted my numbers for last month. Paypal must also be paid when you are a seller--I'm learning so much!--and their total fees were $8.60, but these fees were deducted from each transaction as they were processed. This all means that I overstated my Ebay earnings for February by $18.26, so I've deducted that amount from the loan payment that I'm sending for March. This is a bit complex to keep track of, yet another reason I am limiting my Ebay activity to 1 week per month! I don't know how accountants keep up with this stuff!

To Ebay or Not to Ebay... An Update

As I mentioned last month, I'm still trying to decide whether it is worth it to sell on Ebay as a very small-time seller. I've made a handful of sales now that have contributed nicely to my personal Declutter Challenge, and have a bit more perspective on the whole process.

I'm continuing to select items to sell on Ebay following a strict criteria. The item must:

• Have Value If I look up a book on Half.com and someone is selling a copy for 75 cents, I don't list my book. If there are a number of auctions on Ebay for an item I am considering selling, and no one is bidding on the items, I don't list my item. It is not worth it to me to ship an item that is worth only 75 cents or 99 cents across the country, and I want to avoid doing that as much as possible. (On the other hand, it's important to be prepared to sell your item for $.99 if only one person bids on your item. If your item does sell for $.99, ship it gracefully and tell yourself that you have provided a much-needed item to a cash-strapped family who desperately needed a great deal. That's what I did when it happened to me last month!)
• Be hard to find in stores (or no longer sold): Be sure the item hasn't been recalled, of course.
• Be easy to ship:  I am trying to avoid selling bulky or breakable items
• Be in demand for a hard-to-reach group of people who shop on Ebay: To find out if my item is a potential 'hot item', I just do a search for it as if I am trying to purchase it myself, and see what turns up. I keep in mind that certain items probably sell better at different times of the year. You can also do a search here to find out whether items similar to yours have recently sold.

Following this criteria is working well for me so far. What it means is that I have only a handful of items each month to sell! I see this as a good thing--I can focus my energy on preparing a small group of items for sale, and have a better chance of actually selling each item, maximizing my profit for the time I am putting into the project. I'm managing my time on Ebay by following this process:

• First Week: Collect and assess items to sell. Does it meet my criteria above?
• Second Week: Prepare items for listing: cleaning, selecting shipping box, photographing, and deciding how to list the item (Auction vs. Buy it Now? More than one photograph? Additional services?)
• Third Week: List Items for sale. I'm listing all of my items for the month at once. This means that there is only one week out of the month that I have active listings on Ebay, and they all close around the same time. I can focus on tracking the listings, respond to questions asked by buyers, etc. Buyers can win more than one of my auctions and request to combine shipping.
• Fourth Week: Collect payments and ship items. I have figured out how to process all my shipping transactions from home. If you use flat rate shipping boxes and envelopes, you can ship all over the U.S. for the same rate, whether the item is traveling 300 miles or 3,000 miles. By ordering USPS shipping boxes online for free, purchasing and printing shipping labels online, and arranging pickup with your local postal carrier, you can completely avoid having to take your kids to the post office!

This is probably old information to all the Ebay experts out there, but it has been really helpful to determine how this process can work most effectively for me and my family. By managing the time I spend selling on Ebay, I can free time to focus on some of the other decluttering projects going on around the house.

Declutter Challenge February Update: Building Momentum

My Declutter Challenge really picked up some momentum this month! I felt like I barely got my feet wet in January with the two larger transactions I completed. This month I branched out a bit and had income coming in from all sorts of places!

• My first book shipment to Powell's Books in January went so well that I decided to put together a second shipment. This box contained fewer, less valuable books, but I made $19.75. Another easy transaction!
• I had a few books that Powell's was unwilling to purchase, but that I noticed were selling for worthwhile prices on Half.com. I listed three books, and one book sold, providing me $7.33
• I also got my feet wet with my very first listings on Ebay, which I was a little nervous about, but everything has gone smoothly thus far. I sold four small items as well as two dozen cloth diapers, which were in high demand and ended up selling for quite competitive costs. Total sales for February: $198.81 (I am so new I don't even know if Ebay has extracted their commission/payment from this amount. I may be accounting for that next month when I have more of a clue what I am doing!)
• I also had an unexpected opportunity to clear some broken bits out of my jewelry box and earn some cash for gold as described here. My total earnings to report: $140.00

 Total for February: $365.89!!!

The little things sure do add up! This total amount will be applied to my loan payment this month--over 3 times my goal payment.

 I'm hoping this momentum will continue into March, as I have a beautiful new basement workspace in which to organizing my declutter projects (I will reveal this soon!). I have some recycling research projects to complete, as well as a few more thoughts to share about selling on Ebay. A yard sale project is in the works, as well as a consignment sale.

These projects are keeping me busy, but it is very satisfying to connect all of these items to people and places where they will be needed and used. And not only did we gid rid of the sale items listed above, we also compiled a Goodwill donation, and I found a good home for a few small items.

Ebay Update: Take Note if You Plan to Sell Cloth Diapers

When I mentioned my plans to sell cloth diapers on Ebay, a commenter observed that some people have had their cloth diaper listings removed with no notice. I didn't want this to happen to me, so I decided to do a little research and find out what the regulations are regarding cloth diaper sales.

The answer: http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/used-clothing.html

"Used cloth diapers can be sold, as long as the listing states clearly that the item has been cleaned per manufacturer standards."

I'm really glad that I checked this out in advance; otherwise my listings may have been pulled! I appreciate the heads up about this potential problem, and I hope this info is useful to my cloth diaper selling competitiors out there as well.

Happy Selling!