Goals and Plans for 2013

Whew, what a year it has been! I have learned so much this year about thrifting and reselling.
While I haven't reached my goal of being able to become a stay at home mom next year, I was able to double what I made last year.  I'm going to keep reaching for my goal and hope that year next will be the year that I can stay home. I hope to double (or more) my sales next year.
Things I learned in 2012.
1. tried FBA on Amazon for the first time- love it!
2. reselling is much easier with a smart phone
3. if something is really cheap, buy it, everything sells for the right price
4. sometimes things have to sit in your store for a while before they sell (this Christmas I sold a lot of items that have been sitting in my store for almost 2 year!)
5. pintrest helps sell things
6. starting out organized would be a lot easier than trying to get organized

So here are my goals for the next year:
1. deliver a healthy baby girl in March.
2. increase the listings on ebay from 450 to 1000.
3. increase my listings on etsy from 225 to 500.
4. get all of my Amazon stock sent in to FBA
5. buy less, list more ( I honestly think I could list for a year without having to buy new stock)
6. restructure my ebay room for easier shipping and finding items.

And I'm going to start working on these goals tomorrow.  I am still having some trouble with my back and the baby. I was finally able to trade my walker in for a cane, and I am able to stand or sit for up to 10 minutes at a time, but I am still not back to my old self. So, I talked to my stepdaughter who loves photography as a hobby and she is coming up tomorrow to talk as many photos as possible in the next 3 days. I am hoping to get at least 500 pictures taken so I can list, list, list. I am hoping that she'll be able to come up a few days a month to take pictures and I can list in between. I am also hoping that I can have a bunch of photos ready to go when the baby is born so while I am stuck in the house I can at least list. Bonus: once I have the photos taken and measurements written down I can put my items away until they are sold. The most I list the bigger the pathway thru my shop gets!
I will keep you updated at to how things are going.

What are your hopes/goals/plans for the new year?

A sad day

As a parent and a kindergarten teacher, my heart breaks for the children and families affected by the Newtown shooting. As teachers our job is to love them, and teach them, and when it comes down to it, protect them with our own lives if necessary.  I don't know any teacher who wouldn't have done the same thing to protect his or her students.  My thoughts and prayers are with you Newtown.

Sales for the week

Thought I would share my sales for the week:


I got some strange looks at my Local Goodwill when I bought over 50 ugly Christmas Sweaters, in August, at one time, but it's that time of year. . . .

paid 3.00 sold for $20.00 plus free shipping

paid 3.50 sold for $20.00

paid 3.50 sold for 25.00 (within 1 hour of listing it!)

have had this thermos for a while, after revising my listing and taking out all of the HTML it sold within 30 minutes for $16.00

love the mug sales this time of year!

pd. .50 sold for 9.95

paid 4.00 sold for 13.00

pendelton women's wool vest 

paid .10, sold for 15.00

paid 1.00, sold for $15.00

paid 6.99 sold by auction for $60.00 (unpaid case has been opened, not holding my breath on getting paid)

paid 3.50 sold for 20.00

still have about 30 christmas sweaters to photograph and list. Next year my goal is to have all of my Christmas stuff listed by July. We'll see how that goes with a new baby!

Happy listing-

melissa

Can you still shop with a walker?

I've been spending the past month packing boxes and sending them to Amazon FBA.  I've sent a total of 55 so far.  Trying to get all of my inventory sent in time for Christmas sales, and it's paying off. I've never had so many sales and pending sales in my whole life.   And I'm glad that I put my time into that because Wednesday of this week threw me a bit of a curve I wasn't expecting. Let me preface this by saying baby and I are just fine.

I've been having some pain in my lower back and leg for about a month now. I asked the doctor about it but was told it was just ligament pain from the baby growing. It's been getting worse, especially after standing all day at work. Wednesday I was sitting for about an hour having reading groups and I went to stand up to take the kiddos to lunch and couldn't stand up without what felt like a huge charlie horse in my right leg from hip to behind my knee. After trying desperately to "walk it off" I ended up being sent home and my mom had to come and pick me up and we went to see the baby doc. He didn't have much to go on and sent me to see my regular doctor the next morning. The final decision was made that I am having some back/hip and nerve  problems from the baby and where she is positioned. So, for the next four months I have to use a walker and go to physical therapy 2-3 times a week.

As for the other "little old ladies" using a walker, I think they are very confused by me. They look at me, then my stomach, then my right leg and then back at my face. I think they are trying to figure out if I am just fat, or if I am pregnant why I need a walker. I had an old man holding the door open for an old lady yesterday, the old lady stepped out of the way to let me thru- and my doctor says he has never seen a pregnant women who needed a walker.  Why do I always have to be the special case? On the upside, one of my co-workers said she'd get me a horn for my walker in the hallway. It might be cool to honk to get those big 5th graders out of way! :)

I'm glad I got most of my inventory sent to FBA before I was hurt. It's nice to have my MF listings closed but still be making money.

So, for now, my hubby is bringing me in small piles of Christmas stuff to list ( which I should have had done in July!) and I am taking photos a few at a time from a chair and listing when I am confined to the chair (and heating pad). I've closed my etsy stores for now and my mom has been helping with the shipping. I  don't think it will be the sales rush I was hoping for, but at least I can still list a few things.
I think it's going to be a long four months. But on the up side, I won't be able to do any shopping (hoarding) for a while, so maybe I can make a small dent in the huge stack that is my too list pile!

So please, feel free to comment, it appears I will be having a lot of time to read them and comment back :)