A new season has begun here at Ravenwood and, oh, what a relief it is.
First, all the snow from the record-breaking dump in February finally melted two days after spring started. Here's what it looked like the first day of spring in the front yard, where the shadow of the house blocked half the yard from melting:
Second, we are no longer in the self-employment struggle which gave us a loss of $6k last year, and more likely than not other losses in prior years. Making money is not the same as managing money, and I have always preferred making it over managing it. So I have made it my goal to be better with managing the money, because I have to get better.
If we ever want to be better with our finances, I have to master my bookkeeping and money management skills, especially because it is not my money now but my husband's earnings that support our household. So, now that I have been keeping records the past couple years, my home bookkeeping data tracks every receipt and bill, which is how it should be but in reality not everyone does it or knows how to do it; and this time I went over the numbers in closer detail.
I discovered that the $6k hole almost perfectly matched the business costs associated with being self-employed as a contractor in Washington State. Once the numbers proved that more self-employment would only bury us out here more, it was evident what was actually needed to make our goals happen -- full-time employment.
After a winter of an excruciating job search that left us feeling hopeless on most days and discriminated against on others, an offer finally came through. Now my husband has an excellent position as a construction quality specialist with an established builder who provides more work than there are hours in a day to get it all done; perks include the usual benefits but also a company truck, which is a major relief for our one-truck household, plus a Costco membership where we already do 90% of our household shopping -- the absolute best perk ever!
(For anyone else going through a job search in a rural area: Keep going through the hell, keep faith in what you're doing, and you'll get through it; revamp your resume as many times as you have to; just keep going and do not settle for less than you know you are worth, or less than you can economically afford to get out of a hole.)
So our ducks are finally lining up and we are moving on up so that we can move on out in a few years, which segues into my third seasonal relief announcement:
Along with melting snow and blossoming careers, my rural virtual snail-mail moving $ale on eBay has helped us move more stuff out of our home and lives forever; it also helped us get through a lean winter thanks to money made from sales, over $800.
All the money came from buyers in other places, for which I am very grateful. I can state with absolute certainty, having experienced the local market here for 4 years, I never would have made that much money with local sales due to the demographics. The reality is people out here spend good money on building custom homes, not on buying other people's old stuff of which there is an overabundance due to all the seniors who vie to be the one with the most stuff when they die.
While I don't enjoy living somewhere with so little community outreach, I am thankful to have a satellite internet connection that lets me reach out to the huge world beyond this peninsula through eBay and e-commerce. The results from the 2018-2019 Winter to Declutter are as follows: 34 sales in 89 days with 140 items sold weighing 61 pounds (equivalent to an 8-year-old); packages were mailed to 19 states, 2 countries, and 1 territory.
I started doing the seasonal sales in the summer of 2018; here are my totals through the end of winter 2019:
244 Days
107 Transactions
330 Items Sold
223 Pounds
$1,309.05 Net Profit
To give you an idea of the weight, 223 pounds is roughly 101 kg, which is the weight of an adult caribou or reindeer.
Had I known a few years ago what I know now, we would not have moved so much stuff to the peninsula where getting rid of it has proven to be a harder and longer process than becoming a court reporter. A moving tip for anyone who wants it: Before moving to a rural area, get rid of excess stuff in urban areas where there are an abundance of donation centers and where people are likely to pay more for it if you try to sell it.
With that being said, everything happens for a reason and I have learned a lot from what has happened. If you find yourself in a similar situation, with too much stuff that has value to people in places where you don't live and you want to make money on your stuff instead of losing money by driving it to donation centers or paying to dump it, start listing it online so more people in more places have a chance to buy it at the price you believe it's worth.
For all the challenges we have gone through the past few years, eBay has given us a huge relief in this forgotten rural area where the revolutionary impact of e-commerce can help people live, work, and be productive, without having to be subsidized farmers.
We have moved 223 pounds of stuff out of our lives forever, with me doing the listing and packaging, and my wonderful handy husband doing all the delivering to the post office; everything went to people who wanted it and were happy to pay for it; and moving it out the door didn't wear us out as much as it did when we moved it here. My eBay experiment has been eye-opening and rewarding in two ways: the money earned and the economics learned.
Finally, the fourth consecutive season of my eBay moving $ale -- the 2019 Spring Fling Revelry -- started off on the right foot with a massive bundle of 48 books, weighing 63 pounds, selling on the first day of spring.
Since April has started, I have averaged one sale every day, with three packages waiting to be mailed in the morning. Sales are hit and miss, of course, but every time something goes out the door I hope the buyer will be as happy with it as I am to see it go.
And now, with steady full-time employment attained and things finally heading in a better direction, I am taking April off from listing anything on eBay, so I can enjoy my first official month of housewifedom. I imagine it's what parents feel like when kids go back to school; suddenly there is a schedule in place and instantly a new daily routine begins which brings a calm relief over the house while tending to duties; and everything is as it should be.
Below are screenshots of some random eBay sales the past couple months to give people an idea of what sells and to encourage anyone who wants to get rid of stuff to start getting rid of stuff now; on each screenshot I marked the date sold, the page views, and the listing start time; click the pictures to enlarge them.
Stop procrastinating and start today; your future self will thank you for it in 244 days.
Thanks for reading!
First, all the snow from the record-breaking dump in February finally melted two days after spring started. Here's what it looked like the first day of spring in the front yard, where the shadow of the house blocked half the yard from melting:
Second, we are no longer in the self-employment struggle which gave us a loss of $6k last year, and more likely than not other losses in prior years. Making money is not the same as managing money, and I have always preferred making it over managing it. So I have made it my goal to be better with managing the money, because I have to get better.
If we ever want to be better with our finances, I have to master my bookkeeping and money management skills, especially because it is not my money now but my husband's earnings that support our household. So, now that I have been keeping records the past couple years, my home bookkeeping data tracks every receipt and bill, which is how it should be but in reality not everyone does it or knows how to do it; and this time I went over the numbers in closer detail.
I discovered that the $6k hole almost perfectly matched the business costs associated with being self-employed as a contractor in Washington State. Once the numbers proved that more self-employment would only bury us out here more, it was evident what was actually needed to make our goals happen -- full-time employment.
After a winter of an excruciating job search that left us feeling hopeless on most days and discriminated against on others, an offer finally came through. Now my husband has an excellent position as a construction quality specialist with an established builder who provides more work than there are hours in a day to get it all done; perks include the usual benefits but also a company truck, which is a major relief for our one-truck household, plus a Costco membership where we already do 90% of our household shopping -- the absolute best perk ever!
(For anyone else going through a job search in a rural area: Keep going through the hell, keep faith in what you're doing, and you'll get through it; revamp your resume as many times as you have to; just keep going and do not settle for less than you know you are worth, or less than you can economically afford to get out of a hole.)
So our ducks are finally lining up and we are moving on up so that we can move on out in a few years, which segues into my third seasonal relief announcement:
Along with melting snow and blossoming careers, my rural virtual snail-mail moving $ale on eBay has helped us move more stuff out of our home and lives forever; it also helped us get through a lean winter thanks to money made from sales, over $800.
All the money came from buyers in other places, for which I am very grateful. I can state with absolute certainty, having experienced the local market here for 4 years, I never would have made that much money with local sales due to the demographics. The reality is people out here spend good money on building custom homes, not on buying other people's old stuff of which there is an overabundance due to all the seniors who vie to be the one with the most stuff when they die.
While I don't enjoy living somewhere with so little community outreach, I am thankful to have a satellite internet connection that lets me reach out to the huge world beyond this peninsula through eBay and e-commerce. The results from the 2018-2019 Winter to Declutter are as follows: 34 sales in 89 days with 140 items sold weighing 61 pounds (equivalent to an 8-year-old); packages were mailed to 19 states, 2 countries, and 1 territory.
I started doing the seasonal sales in the summer of 2018; here are my totals through the end of winter 2019:
244 Days
107 Transactions
330 Items Sold
223 Pounds
$1,309.05 Net Profit
To give you an idea of the weight, 223 pounds is roughly 101 kg, which is the weight of an adult caribou or reindeer.
Had I known a few years ago what I know now, we would not have moved so much stuff to the peninsula where getting rid of it has proven to be a harder and longer process than becoming a court reporter. A moving tip for anyone who wants it: Before moving to a rural area, get rid of excess stuff in urban areas where there are an abundance of donation centers and where people are likely to pay more for it if you try to sell it.
With that being said, everything happens for a reason and I have learned a lot from what has happened. If you find yourself in a similar situation, with too much stuff that has value to people in places where you don't live and you want to make money on your stuff instead of losing money by driving it to donation centers or paying to dump it, start listing it online so more people in more places have a chance to buy it at the price you believe it's worth.
For all the challenges we have gone through the past few years, eBay has given us a huge relief in this forgotten rural area where the revolutionary impact of e-commerce can help people live, work, and be productive, without having to be subsidized farmers.
We have moved 223 pounds of stuff out of our lives forever, with me doing the listing and packaging, and my wonderful handy husband doing all the delivering to the post office; everything went to people who wanted it and were happy to pay for it; and moving it out the door didn't wear us out as much as it did when we moved it here. My eBay experiment has been eye-opening and rewarding in two ways: the money earned and the economics learned.
Finally, the fourth consecutive season of my eBay moving $ale -- the 2019 Spring Fling Revelry -- started off on the right foot with a massive bundle of 48 books, weighing 63 pounds, selling on the first day of spring.Since April has started, I have averaged one sale every day, with three packages waiting to be mailed in the morning. Sales are hit and miss, of course, but every time something goes out the door I hope the buyer will be as happy with it as I am to see it go.
And now, with steady full-time employment attained and things finally heading in a better direction, I am taking April off from listing anything on eBay, so I can enjoy my first official month of housewifedom. I imagine it's what parents feel like when kids go back to school; suddenly there is a schedule in place and instantly a new daily routine begins which brings a calm relief over the house while tending to duties; and everything is as it should be.
Below are screenshots of some random eBay sales the past couple months to give people an idea of what sells and to encourage anyone who wants to get rid of stuff to start getting rid of stuff now; on each screenshot I marked the date sold, the page views, and the listing start time; click the pictures to enlarge them.
Stop procrastinating and start today; your future self will thank you for it in 244 days.
Thanks for reading!
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