She Thrifts

Thrift. Flip. Repeat.

BOLO ~ Oswald the Lucky Rabbit

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Oswald, the Lucky Rabbit

My family got back from California a few days ago, where we spent a week playing at Disneyland, Legoland, and Universal Studios.  Our boys are 10 and 7 years old, which is such an awesome age.  They both love all of the thrill rides, and we played hard the whole time.  But now we’re back in the real world, and I am REALLY struggling to get back in the work groove.  Before we left I was getting my listings up consistently, day after day.  Now – I’m just not.  I really need to get back in the swing of things … starting tomorrow?  Ugh.  Motivation, discipline, come back!

Anyway, when we were at Disneyland a few people had Oswald ears (instead of Mickey ears).  I only had a fuzzy recollection of Oswald, so I did some research.  Oswald was actually the first Disney animated cartoon character to feature in their own series.  What followed was a messy series of events in which for many years (1928-2006), Universal Studios actually had the rights to Oswald.  But he has since returned to Disney.  Of course I found all of this very interesting, and took my curiosity to eBay.  Check out Oswald completed listings HERE!

eBay encounter

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My family is on a little vacation in California, and yesterday we ran into the State family at Disneyland.  (Which is actually kinda funny because although we had never met before, in real life we actually only live an hour apart.)  It’s a small world after all!  ♪ ♫ ♩

If you are not familiar with Nicole State, she has a popular eBay reselling Youtube channel called State’s Place.  Her main focus is women’s clothing.  I sometimes watch her haul videos while listing.  I’ve picked up a number of BOLO brands from the videos, as well as some great descriptor key words.  We operate our businesses pretty differently, but I appreciate her positivity.  And she and Joe were very nice in real life too!

Getting out of vacation mode

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Lorelai and Rory’s house!!!!
(Any Gilmore Girls fans out there?)

So, just after writing a post about my goals in 2018, what do I do?  Take off on a kinda impromptu vacation, of course!  My husband and I both celebrate our birthdays in January, and this year is a BIG one for me, so I used it as an excuse for us to slip away for a few days.  We hopped a plane and headed to sunny … Burbank.  Yup, Burbank.  This is actually a vacation I have been wanting to do for awhile, and we finally did it.  (I pulled it all together in less than a month.)  The highlights include attending a taping of the CBS show MOM, going on a Warner Bros Backstage tour and getting to see most of Star’s Hollow (seriously, I was freaking out!! – I was (kinda) inside Lorelai and Rory’s house!)  We got sorted by the sorting hat (I am Ravenclaw, my husband is Gryffindor), we sat on the couch at “Central Perk”.  We also got to see the actual sets of the Big Bang Theory and Ellen.  We spent a day and a half at Universal and enjoyed the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and the back lot tour (Wisteria Lane actually exists!) and all of the more grown up rides and attractions we wouldn’t have been able to do with our boys (like the Walking Dead).  We attended a taping of Jimmy Kimmel Live and got to see Gerard Butler and Supergirl Melissa Benoist up close and personal.  And we topped it off by heading back to Warner Bros to attend a live taping of The Big Bang Theory.  So much fun packed into just a few days.

I feel incredibly lucky that we got to go on this trip, that our boys have grandparents who enjoy having them around which made us leaving for a few days possible, and that after 15 years of marriage I still love hanging out with my husband.

But. Now it’s time to kick vacation mode to the curb and GET! TO! WORK!

Reaching a goal

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Oh, what a summer.  I can’t believe it’s slipping by so fast.  I’m slowly starting to make the mental shift towards fall, my boys starting back to school, and having a more regular routine.  But that doesn’t mean I am wishing away the last few weeks of summer!

Every week I think about doing a “what’s sold” post and a “what I’ve found yard saling” post.  While I find good items here and there at yard sales, and the prices are generally unbeatable, I feel like the number and quality of yard sales this year has gone down.  Maybe because of all the FB and other newer online selling venues, maybe because it has been unseasonably hot, maybe for reasons I haven’t even thought of.  BUT ~ this weekend there area a couple big rummage sales, as well as a “neighborhood” sale in my area.  I put neighborhood in quotes because it is actually dozens of streets.  My boys wanted us to have a yard sale too, but I said heck no!  This is the weekend to shop.

I’ve kind of gotten into a listing groove recently.  I have been listing 12 items every day.  A small, consistent, doable goal.  And my sales are improving.  In fact, I hit a goal I’ve been eyeing for quite awhile.

My sales are up over 100% over the same time period last year!  I’ve been watching the % creep up, but it finally tipped over the 100% mark today.  Yay.

 

How is your summer?  How are sales?  Trucking along or summer slowdown?  I’d love to hear about it!

 

eBay Goals, 2017

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New year, new goals!  I just looked to see what my goals were at the start of 2016, wondering if I had come close to hitting them, but it doesn’t look like I posted any.

I love the new year, the feeling of starting off fresh, all the possibilities.  Goals are fun, but of course they aren’t anything more than wishes unless I’m willing to put in the work to make them happen.  Here are my current goals for 2017:

List 100 new items/week

This is actually a slightly toned-down goal from the start of the school year.  I had HUGE expectations of what I should be able to accomplish with both boys being in school.  I thought I would be able to use all of the time they were in school to list.  Reality – notsomuch.  I spend most of Monday volunteering at their school, and there are some other weekdays that I work at my “real” job, so I get little to no listing done.  Also, there is shipping, photographing, and other life things that take up time I would like to be using to list.  So, I am starting 2017 with a workable, achievable listing goal, with the knowledge that how many items I am able to list each day will probably change day to day, week to week, depending on how our schedules go.  And that will be okay, as long as I am hitting 100 by the end of the week.

Sales average $150/day ~ $1000/week 

I was hitting this for awhile, notsomuch lately.  It’s totally doable if I am consistent with my listing.

Get organized, stay organized  

I need to reorganize my office, it looks like an explosion of packing materials.  And I had been letting my inventory creep back into our living areas.  No more.

Inventory all totes  

This is a long-term goal, because I usually wait for the obscene number of free listings to pop up, and then I go through totes and end listings, tweak listings, add Best Offer, sell similar, or just end them for good.

Keep blogging

I’ve neglected it.  I know it.  I enjoy blogging, and want to feel like I have the time to dedicate to it.  But it requires me getting my listing done first, so I can focus on more fun things guilt-free.

Become a morning person?

I think I’m gonna try it.  I used to be a real night owl, but I feel like I am getting very little actually accomplished in the late hours lately.  I’ve been moving my bedtime earlier and earlier, and I think when the boys start back to school I will head to be shortly after they do, and get up at 5 a.m. to get some work done before they get up.  I am usually most motivated first thing in the morning.  (We’ll see how this one goes.)

What are your goals for 2017?  I would love to hear about them!

Thrift Fast

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I have started a thrifting fast.  I am actually already over two weeks in and holding (fairly) strong.  I thought about writing this post a couple weeks ago, but the irony of posting about being included in a list of top 10 thrifting blogs, only to turn around a couple days later and say that I am no longer thrifting . . .  right?  Doh.  But it has to happen.

The thrift fast is happening for a couple reasons.

Reason #1:  I have too much unlisted inventory!

Actually, maybe it’s happening for just one reason, and that’s it.  I have too much unlisted inventory.  I knew during the summer that I was buying more at yard sales and thrift stores than I was able to list, but I thought that once school started I would be listing soooo much more, and that I would catch up quickly on all my backlog.  Reality: nosomuch.

I thought I would basically be eBaying full time.  Reality: notsomuch.  On a day that I can completely dedicate to eBay, I have just shy of 6 hours of time to work.  The ideal would be to spend 100% of that time listing.  The reality is that I usually have to spend part of it shipping sold items, cropping photos, chatting with my mail lady during pickup, eating lunch, washing dishes, starting laundry, etc.  So even on my eBay-only days, I’m not getting as much done as I think I should.

Reality check:  6 hours isn’t full time anyway, it’s 3/4 time.

Reality check:  I spend most of each Monday volunteering in both of my boys’ classrooms at school.  Which is awesome.  I know I am lucky I have the option to do it, and my kindergartener especially LOVES it.  I usually have less than two hours left to get work done after volunteering, before having to pick the boys up from school.  So, that’s certainly not a full day’s work.

Reality check:  I’m getting called in to work more and more at my “real” job, and am working pretty much every Wednesday during school hours, and some Thursdays and Fridays too.  Nice to have that money, but it equals more days that I am not getting in my full 6 eBay hours.

The result: Of course I’m not getting as much eBay work done as I had planned.  I’m not getting my inventory listed as fast.  (I’m not making as much money as I had planned.)  I’ve let the backlog of inventory creep into our living spaces, which is really not okay.  So I’ve cut myself off.  No more thrifting in 2016.  Honestly, maybe no more thrifting until Spring Break.  We’ll see how it goes.

I have unlisted inventory sitting where our Christmas tree will go.  Gotta list, gotta list, gotta list!

3.1 miles. It’s a small world after all!

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I think I feel the need to report it every time this happens, which is silly.  I live in a town of 150K+ people, so two or three times a year I sell something on eBay to someone who lives in the same town as me.  Last night I was shipping items and up popped an address in my town.  Out of curiosity I looked it up, and it is 3.1 miles from where I live.  A tad further away than the Post Office it will be dropped off at, but not by much.  Still curious (and at the risk of sounding like a stalker) I put the buyer’s name in FB and, whaddya know, we have a couple FB friends in common.  It’s a small, small world.

Who Am I? Bunny Rabbit (?) ID

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Anybody recognize this guy?  I have had luck in the past selling these character potholders, so I picked him up.  I thought he would be easy to ID, but so far no luck.  It is dated 1989.

Are my blog friends still out there?  Both my boys started back to school last week.  They are both in full-day school now, so I am giving myself a year to eBay full time and see how it goes.  I’ve been thinking about writing more here, if there is anyone left to read it.   I was so busy over the summer I wasn’t reading eBay blogs either, but I would like to get back to it.  If you know of any new good ones (or oldies but goodies I may have missed) please let me know!

Update / P.S.

Can anyone tell me what kind (breed) of dog is this?  It’s a My Twinn Poseable Pet, absolutely beautiful, and I can’t find another like it.

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My trip to a “boot sale”!

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And I’m not talking about footwear.

We are currently visiting my brother’s family in the UK.  Knowing my love of yard sales, my brother decided to treat me to their version!  Basically, sellers all come to the same predetermined field and sell their goods next to their cars.  Of course I loved it.

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It was an interesting experience.  Other than the fact that they were all in the same place (which is awesome), it wasn’t that different than yard saling in the states.  An interesting mix of kids items, baby gear, tools, housewares, books, tons of DVDs, etc.  I noticed a couple different people selling new in package items, one selling vegetables, but the majority seemed very yard sale-y.  Most stuff wasn’t priced, which was kind of frustrating, but the things that were priced seemed super cheap.

If we didn’t have to worry about getting things home on the plane there were more than a few things I would have been interested in buying.  (We pack super light, even with the kiddos – carry on only!)  But even at that I couldn’t pass up this canvas at only 50 pence.  (The seller said she was moving to Egypt, and was practically giving things away.)  I can’t wait to hang it on our wall, but getting it home is going to be a pain.

All summer my oldest has been collecting the books in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series.  He now owns all but #2 and #10.  He asked me to keep an eye out for them.  I thought it was a long shot, but whaddya know:

A fun morning spent!

2015 Goals ~ Looking Forward, Looking Back

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I know, I’m a month late in the goal setting for 2015.  Better late than never?

I took a look back at the goals I set for myself last year, and many are very much the same as what I would like to accomplish this year.  2014 goals are in italics, 2015 goals are in bold.  They are:

#1)  Keeping up with the boys.   

(2014) I am still a busy mama with two young boys (ages 6 and 2), and they will always be my priority.  I know how lucky I am that I am able to stay home with them full-time.  I am very thankful to have found a way to contribute to the family budget while being with them, but I also know eBay could take over my life if I’d let it.  Sometimes I will need to put eBay on the back-burner of life, and just let it simmer.  And that’s okay.

(2015) I am definitely still a busy mama (boys now ages 7 and 3), and they are still my priority.  But, things have changed in our family (most significantly my husband’s job), and I find myself needing to step up and fill some of the gap.  The good thing is that I already had this in place as a way to earn an income.  I now need to work on transitioning my thinking from being just a fun hobby to an actual job.  The good thing is, keeping up with the boys doesn’t really have to suffer.  I have two mornings a week when they are both in school, and usually have at least a couple of other mornings each week when my husband works later in the day so he is able to hang out with our youngest while I list.  I try to keep our afternoons listing-free, but will often go back to it after the boys are in bed.

#2)  Continue growing my eBay store.    

(2014) I know it will be a slow grow.  But, I would like to eventually get my store up to 1000 items, and then try to hold steady.

(2015) I can’t remember when I hit 1000 listings, but it was months ago.  I have been holding steady, but would like to work up towards 1500.

#3)  Continue to branch out, but also list what I love.  

(2014) It’s gotten to the point where I feel like I could list pretty much anything, and I do.  And while I am always happy to find a hot item that sells for big bucks, I also enjoy some smaller sales too.  Some kids clothes or plush may not bring in a lot of money, but if I enjoy buying and selling them – then it’s worth it.  I want this “job” to stay fun as well as profitable.

(2015) This attitude worked well when eBay was more of a hobby job.  Now that I am transitioning my thinking to a real job I will try to focus less on the smaller sales and more on items that can bring in bigger money.  I will be very, very selective on anything new I purchase.  Some of my unlisted inventory though will probably fall into the more-fun, less-profitable category.

#4)  Tackle Amazon!  

(2014) I’ve procrastinated long enough.  I’ve sold a few things myself, but still haven’t ventured into FBA territory.  This is the year.

(2015) Other than a few MF sales, I didn’t do anything with Amazon last year.  For some reason I am feeling less and less motivated to get started with Amazon.  Probably just resisting the unknown, maybe afraid of change.  I should just send in one box and see how it goes.  Maybe I’ll like it.  Maybe this is the year?

#5)  Continue attending my local eBay sellers Meet-Up group.  

(2014)  I found it on a fluke, and have been attending regularly for almost a year.  Even when the topic of the month isn’t something that I am especially interested in, I am always happy that I showed up.  There’s something great about sitting in a room with like-minded people who totally get the eBay/Amazon/Etsy draw to selling online.

(2015) The time and date of the meetings changed at the beginning of 2014, so for quite a few months I wasn’t able to attend.  Now, with my husband’s new schedule my ability to attend changes from month to month, but I have made it to the last few meetings, and still enjoy being able to go.  

#6)  Continue to write this blog.  

(2014) I love reading the blogs of other sellers, and I am always happy to be able to pay it forward when I come across a BOLO.  I value the connections and friendships this blog has afforded, and for that I thank all of you.

(2015)  Ditto.  I still enjoy writing this blog, and reading all of yours.  I’ve got a bunch of ideas for new posts for both this blog and my new one.  Now to find the time to get them all written!