eBay Selling Update: Two Months In

Hello all and Happy Good Friday! I have the day off work today, so I will be headed to town this afternoon to run a couple of errands. For now, though, I'm back with another monthly update about selling things online (See my first one here). Warning - It's about to get a little technical and financial up in here, 'cause I'm sharing all the juicy details.

I started at the beginning of February, so have been selling my old, unwanted stuff online for about 2 whole months now. I posted my old, gently used clothes, wallets, shoes, etc. on both Threadflip and eBay. To date, I have not sold a single thing on Threadflip. On the other end of the spectrum, I am selling things almost daily on eBay, and it's been really successful for me so far.

During the months of February and March, I've netted about $360.00, but that doesn't mean I profited that much. There are also Selling fees that eBay charges and invoices you once a month - this could be .40 or so every time you list an item for sale. Then there are shipping fees and supply costs to factor in, too. I've paid about $30 in seller fees, and about $200 to ship my packages out. So with those expenses, I've estimated that in the past two months, I've profited about $120.00. Not too bad, right?

I'm definitely going to continue selling things on eBay as long as I have things I want to get rid of. It feels good to clean out my closet and get rid of clutter that's just sitting around taking up space. That $120.00 was just sitting in my closet! Here are just a few items I've been able to sell and make some cash on so far:

What's really helped is that I've been keeping a spreadsheet to keep track of expenses, and eBay also keeps track of sales for you, too. Here's what it says I've sold over the last 30 days:

I know it's only been a couple of months, and it was hard to get going at first just learning all this stuff, but during the month of March I really got into the swing of things. By now, I pretty much feel like a professional. ;) In February, just starting out, I sold about 10 items. In March, I sold 30 items. My goal is to continue selling this spring, then in early summer, have a yard sale with what's left. After that, we'll probably take most of it to Goodwill.

Selling my unwanted stuff not only clears up space, but it gives us a little extra cash for the honeymoon, and to do extra things, which is always nice. I've profited about $3 per item, where I would have made maybe .25-.50 per item at a yard sale. Plus...I got a gold star. :) Check it out:

That's due to my customer feedback ratings, which are 100% positive. And, I couldn't have done it without Trent, who's been taking every package to the post office to be shipped, since I'm not able to because of work. I'm trying to figure out a method where I can do it all online, but since I don't have my own scale, it would be almost impossible to figure out accurate shipping costs. I may have to invest in a scale if I want to do it longterm! I'm hoping I'll only be selling seriously for another month or so, though.

On the bright side, I'm helping out the local town post office, which I know the post master appreciates. I met her at the gas station the other day, and she thanked me for my business! Always good to support the local post office. :)

I'm sure I'll be back with another eBay update sooner or later....Have a great Friday everyone!

Young Living Essential Oils, eBay and a Healthy Eating Update

It's another nice day! This week has been the first week it's really felt like spring everyday. And with the time change, it stays lighter outside longer, too. It's been getting us really excited to start spending more time outside and working on outdoor projects. Who else is with me??

In the mean time though - yesterday I spent the day in Bloomington, Illinois for another work conference. This one was more informational than anything. A selection of holistic veterinarians gave presentations about holistic health and Young Living Essential Oils. I haven't had any experience with essential oils before, but I learned a lot about them at the conference.

These oils are derived from natural herbs, and they can assist in numerous health issues. They work both physically and psychologically. Some can have calming properties, some can give you energy, some can give you confidence. Others (peppermint, for example) have heating and cooling properties, and can assist if you're having a fever. Most are so potent, all you need is one drop.

Young Living is the best on the market by far, for essential oils, or so I'm told. Everyone I talked to said that there weren't really any other brands out there that compared. YL's oils are the purest of their kind, and they're selected from the best sources all over the world.

Since Trent and I have started kind of a detox for the past week, I decided to get a couple of oils and try them out. When I got back from the conference I bought a couple of bottles on eBay for cheaper than you can get on the website, so I can't wait to get them and try them out. I decided to try the Lavender and Peppermint to start. Lavender is one of the most versatile oils, and can have different effects depending on where you apply it on the body. It can be calming and relaxing, or it can give you energy. Plus, it smells good! 

Left: Lavender - from here                Right: Peppermint - from here

Peppermint can improve concentration and digestion, and it's very potent, so one drop is definitely all you'd need. I also bought a little sample 1 ml bottle of Valor, and a bottle of Thieves hand soap. They had this soap in the bathroom at the conference, and it smelled so good! The next thing I want to buy is the Thieves household cleaner. I just love that scent. Thieves is a blend of herbs with healing properties, so there are a bunch of hygiene and cleaning products available with this scent. Valor is strengthening and empowering. I'm getting a small sample of this, since I've never smelled it before, but thought it'd be cool to try. 

So crazy to think that these smells can literally change your mood and have an effect on you psychologically. I've never really been into aromatherapy before, but these vets swear by the oils and use them in their practices. They're not only for human use, but can be used for animals, too. I thought about Saleen during some of the talks, and how we can even use the oils to enhance her health and mood. Young Living actually has a whole line of products for pets, which is pretty cool. I'm excited to get my oils in the mail and start using them! 

Speaking of getting things on eBay, I'm continuing to sell old clothes, wallets, etc. on eBay. I've netted about $115 during March alone, but of course with shipping costs, I've only profited about half of that. That's not bad though, considering that's around 20 items that I've sold this month, and if I would have put them in a yard sale, I maybe would've made only 25 cents to $1 for each item. So, it may take a little more work to get each item to the end destination, but I'm also making a few more bucks for each item, too. And I'm slowly but surely cleaning out my closet! And what doesn't sell, we might have a yard sale in the summer, then I'll probably take what's left to Goodwill. I still have yet to sell anything on Threadflip, so I will probably discontinue trying on there and just stick to eBay, which has been 1,000 times more successful for me!

And a little update about our healthy eating cleanse - as you may know, last weekend Trent and I picked up a bunch of healthy foods to start adding to our diets. We've been trying to detox a little, stay away from processed foods a little more and eat more natural and fresh food. Trent has gallstones, but hasn't gone to the doctor yet, and is trying to see what he can do for it naturally and by changing his eating habits first. He has been doing a lot better just by changing his diet, and he feels a lot better, too. I'm proud of him for changing his diet so fast, and we're trying to make it a habit and continue the healthy eating.

Yesterday, Trent sent me these photos during lunch time:

Those are shrimp bites, but it could be worse. It's a lot better than bacon, or those horrible Chef Boyardee cans or frozen burritos he used to eat. Mixed with Bell peppers, avacado, and "veganaise". Ha. It looks like a lot of food to me, but hey, at least it's healthy.

We've both been drinking tea, and Trent hasn't drank any beer in a week. We'll see how it goes with the healthy eating I guess, before seeing a doctor about the gallstones. If they get worse at all, he will have to go to a doctor, but he says that they're a lot better than they were a week ago. Apparently, Trent's sister and mom had both had gallstones, and had to get their gall bladders removed. But they hadn't done anything about it or changed their diets, and Trent's sister even had them for two years before getting something done about it. So, I guess we'll play it by ear! I'm not sure how long they normally last, but I'm hoping he doesn't have any issues by the time the wedding rolls around... 

My Birthday Weekend: More Wedding Stuff, and Other Random Adventures

It's been a few days, I know. The last couple of nights our internet was acting up, and then there was the Bachelor finale on Monday that had me glued to the TV for 3 hours....Yay Whitney! Was rooting for her the whole time..wonder why ;) haha.

We had a pretty busy weekend. Of course, Friday was my 27th birthday. I worked all day, but that night we went out to eat with my parents at Thunder Bay Grille, a place I had never been before but have been wanting to try for a while. It's kind of a seafood/steakhouse restaurant. But they had a variety, and I even had a few pastas to choose from. I got the pesto pasta, and we each tried a dessert. Trent and I both got the tiramisu...which was amazing!

The night would not have been complete without some photos of us all to remember my birthday night! Not the most flattering lighting (for me anyway), but we got a couple of decent ones.

The next day Trent and I went shopping in the cities all day. We started the day out at the Antique Fair that was taking place at the Expo Center. I have been to one of these before, and everything was really nicely displayed in each individual booth, but they bring their best stuff to these shows! And you know what that means...lots and lots of variety, but everything is pretty pricey. It was no different at this one.

We saw several cake stands, but they were all more than I wanted to pay, and most were too small. These two were $68 and $58. A little more than I want to spend for a cupcake display at my wedding.

This booth got the award from me for the sparkliest...look at all that crystal! It was so shiny I didn't want to look away. So I took a picture so I wouldn't be the weird person staring at the shiny crystal all day. I can stare at it at home now. :)

This was one of the weirdest items I think I saw that day:

A cigar holder? Never heard of it. Then there was this really cool gold bull statue I told Trent he needed to have for his dresser. (He is a Taurus ya know). He disagreed, though.

One of the coolest things I saw was this blue glass poodle:

How in the heck do you make one of those?? That booth had colored glass everything.

The idea was that Trent was going to buy me something at the antique fair for my birthday, but even with all of the booths and thousands of items there, I didn't find anything I absolutely wanted or needed, so he just took me make-up shopping instead! We went to Beauty Brands, which I had never been to before, and I got some nail polish and an eye shadow palette. This one, to be exact:

(Image from here)

It's the Semi-Sweet Chocolate Bar palette from Too Faced, and I'm loving it so far. Thanks, Trent! :) We also went shoe shopping at DSW, and I got a couple new pairs of dress shoes for work. I have another conference to go to on Saturday, and I've been wanting new dress shoes, since I hate wearing tall heels. The new shoes I got have smaller wedge heels, so they're more comfortable and most likely won't make my feet sore at the end of the night. (Gotta be all about comfort at work conferences, ladies, let me tell ya!)

We then went to the mall where we did a little more suit shopping for the wedding. I say "suit" now because Trent is fairly certain he wants to buy a suit instead of renting a tux. And...he wants a navy blue one. Which I was a little scared about at first, but seeing it on, it didn't really look that bad. Maybe with a different vest, but this one at JCPenney actually made me kind of open up to the blue suit idea....

We're still going to keep looking a little, but we tried some different tie and vest colors, etc, just to start getting some ideas. So we're starting to narrow it down some.

We ate at one of my favorite places afterward - Panera. Love it. Does anyone else pick out all the onions from their sandwiches, or am I the only weird one that does that? Just me? Ok.

Trent's been having stomach/side pains, and he thinks he has gallstones. We've done some research, and he's fairly certain. And it's not pretty. But, he refuses to go to the doctor, because he's stubborn like that. He's passing them though and has been feeling better the last couple of days. We're trying to eat healthy together before the wedding, so we're doing a detox and trying to introduce more fresh foods into our diets like fruits and veggies, and eating more organic. We got groceries Saturday night, and this was our haul:

Trent's been cooking a little with the organic apple cider vinegar, and even drinking a little mixed with apple juice and lemon juice. We've also been eating greens every night, like green beans, asparagus, and peas. We're taking multi-vitamins, Trent's trying a couple of supplements, and I've been getting more into green tea. There's some weird stuff in there, but Trent is much more adventurous food-wise than I am! Kefir and Kombucha? Don't think I'm ready to try those things yet...

In other news, I'm still selling my old clothes and stuff on eBay, and March has been pretty successful for me so far! I've sold a ton of things already, and I'm almost running out of packing and shipping material...

Oh, and I did end up finding a couple of new cake stands for the wedding at Marshall's for $12.99 each. Compared to those at the antique fair, this was a much more reasonable deal, and they have a vintage/antique look to them, too! I think the mismatched cake stands will look pretty cool with all of our cupcakes on top.

So that was my weekend-slash-week. This coming weekend is the St. Patrick's Day parade and festivities, but I will be at a another work conference in Bloomington, Illinois all day on Saturday, so this may be the first year in a while that we'll have to miss it! Trent is wanting to stay home and get some rest, too, since he hasn't been feeling the greatest lately. Another week, and more adventures! Always something new....on the bright side, it's been feeling like SPRING this week! Hallelujah, I thought it would never come.

Selling Stuff Online: My First Month

I may not have worked on many crafty or house related projects lately, but I've been doing a lot of two things: wedding preparation, and getting rid of things! I've recently started an attempt to get rid of old clothes and items that are just laying around the house. An early spring cleaning, if you will. I've put some of my nicer, brand name clothing on a site called Threadflip, and I've been putting pretty much anything and everything on eBay. Not a whole lot, but maybe 8-10 or so items at a time, during a 5 day period. I could have just taken everything to Goodwill, but I figure, why not try to make a few bucks on things that are just lying around the house? I've never sold anything online before, so I thought it would be fun to try.

I decided against Craigslist or local swaps, since I'd rather not meet strangers in person to exchange items..I know a lot of people use those methods, but ya never know what shady stuff can happen out there! So I just decided to put things up for sale online and ship it out. I started at the beginning of February. I put clothes on both Threadflip and eBay. The verdict? I have yet to make a sale on Threadflip, but I've sold 6 items on eBay so far! I've netted almost $100 on just 6 items, and with shipping costs, I've profited about $50. Not too bad for items that were just laying around the house not being used!

I've found that I really like selling and shipping things on eBay! It's such an easy way to make some extra cash, and it takes a lot less time than I thought it would.

On the other hand, I was kind of bummed that I haven't been successful on Threadflip this first month. I've found myself taking things off of Threadflip and putting them on eBay instead. I really like the clean look of the website, so it's kind of disappointing, but eBay has been much more successful for me!

Here's a peek at my Threadflip closet - much cleaner than eBay, right? Super disappointing, but eBay just has such a larger market.

I'll admit it was a little challenging when I first started a few weeks ago, and it was a learning experience once I made my first sale. But, it was something I learned as I went, and I'm now beginning to get the hang of it. It was pretty exciting to see that first email come in saying that I got my first sale!

Trent's been a big help, taking all of my packages to the post office after I get the items all packaged up and ready to ship. I don't get home until 5:00, so the post office is closed by the time I'm off work. Nothing like that relief to let go of something that's just sitting around taking up space!

Still thinking about having a yard sale this summer, too. Of course the items that don't sell in the end, I will probably end up taking to the local Goodwill...no sense in holding onto them any longer. 

So, that's my latest hobby. Kind of fun finding things to sell, and even more exciting when they actually sell. I highly recommend it! It doesn't have to be intimidating. I've been wanting to do it for a long time, and all it took was just taking photos of the stuff and posting it. Maybe I'll have another update in a couple of months. We'll see what happens!