Maybe I Should Have Bought More

I’m sure we have all done this in the past. You see something and aren’t sure how well it will sell. Do you buy it or not? I usually do as long as the price is right. A few weeks ago I went to a garage sale. All clothing was 50 cents. Great price but none of it was name brand so I grabbed only two tops. I figured for a $1.00 investment I should be able to make something on them. I was planning on putting them in a lot but realized once I got home that the shirts were not the same size. So I listed them each for $12.00 and thought “these will never sell”. Well sell the both did and within a week of listing. I should have bought more. I didn’t make a lot of money but they were a quick sale. And that’s what I need right now. Here is the top that sold. It is really cheap material but a big size so I think that helped.

This past week has been the slowest I have had since I started a store on eBay. I only sold $77.00. It makes me so sad I could almost cry. Don’t buyers know that I have a vacation to pay for? Hmm maybe I can put that on my listings. "Please buy my items. I'm going to go party in Vegas in a month and need gambling money". Probably won’t help though.

So I am setting another goal this week. That always seems to help. Like somehow envisioning my goal makes it somehow happen. So here it is:

Sell $250.00 (need to make up for last week)

List 30 items

After the disappointing week I’m not very motivated but I have to keep trying. So far I have already sold $15.00 and listed 5 items. And it’s only Monday.

Goal Update

I always have great intentions. Follow thru not so much.

Goal:
List 40 items. Actual listings were 7. Oops
Sell $250 to put into my Vegas fund. Actual sales were $225!!! Can you believe it? I can't. Imagine if I would have listed.

Now on to the excuses. I usually list the most on weekends. I went to an A's game on Friday. Yesterday was a family friends birthday. Today we went to the mushroom festival. I have tons more excuses. But I have a out. This is technically a long weekend so if I list tons tomorrow I will still be ok. So if anyone needs me tomorrow I will be in my garage/eBay room.

Happy Memorial Day to all.

Goal Update and Yard Sale Finds

I made my goal of selling $300 in two weeks. Woohoo!!! I actually sold $318.00. I will be honest though. My second goal of listing 5 items per day didn’t go so well. Last week I only listed 10 items. Oops. I was sick with the flu and not very motivated. I’m just happy that I was able to reach my goal without listing daily. But just imagine how much I would have made if I did list daily. OK lets not think about that cuz then I will get sad. Tonight I am going home and listing. Promise.

My next goal will be saving enough money to take my Princess to Disneyland. I don’t know if I want to make the trip before or after the new little one comes. Since I don’t have a date it’s hard to plan. But for now I’m concentrating on making my baby’s 3^rd birthday the best ever.

I work this Saturday so that meant no yard sales for me. It actually hurts knowing how many sales there were that I was missing out on. So Sunday morning I woke up mom at the crack of dawn (Translation in my world: 9 am) and out we went yard saling. I was so exciting. It was a beautiful day. I had visions of finding the next big thing that was going to make me enough money to retire from my eBay earnings. How did I do? Well I’m still working. I did find some interesting items though.

I finally found my first American Girl doll. She didn’t come with any clothing and her hair has seen better days. But for $2.00 I figured I could take the chance on buying her.

I found this frame. Kinda corny but I saw it and imagined it sitting on my desk with pictures my Princess and my beautiful doggies (who swear they are human). And it only cost $1.00.

I also purchased a couple of Air Jordon sneakers. I’ve never sold shoes before much less tennis shoes. And since I never wear anything but sandals I'm far from an expert. But I know these aren’t cheap shoes and they were in great shape. Best part, they were only $1.00 each pair. I figured I could turn some kind of profit on them. No pics of those though because they are being cleaned.

I hope you scored better this weekend then I did. But like I always say, every little bit counts. It all adds up.

Weekly Update

I reached my weekly goal!!!! I sold $175.00 my first week of my two week $300.00 goal. I am so happy. I started the week out really sloooooow and didn’t expect much. But I kept listing daily my goal of 5 items. I was very proud of myself because I hate listing (I know that’s not a good thing when I sell on eBay).

Week 1

Goal #1:

Sell $300 in two weeks. I sold $175 the first week so that leaves only $125.00 to reach my goal. And to make matters better my sister and mom are pitching in for my Princess’ gift so I only need to raise $150 and since I already sold $175 I have enough to buy her gift now. But I still am following through with my goal of selling $300.

Goal #2

List 5 items daily. I actually did this. I listed 35 new items this past week. For me that is a HUGE accomplishment. I’m going to keep it going this week.

My favorite sale of the week I think was this Dragon Fly shirt. It’s so UGLY!! I sold it for $17.00. I only paid $1 for it so that is a great profit. My niece always tells me I sell ugly stuff. That my might be true but at least they sell.

Goals

Why do you eBay? Here is the reason I eBay:

My Princess. As a single mom living on a single paycheck with a mortgage, bills, and growing baby I need all the extra money I can get. And I have another little one on the way (sorta). But even knowing all this I haven’t found myself very motivated to list lately. I have the merchandise. Just not the drive. I actually haven’t listed in almost 2 weeks (gasp!!). But all that is going to change.

I’ve been told that if you have a goal you should say it aloud and tell as many people as you can because you will be more likely to follow through and fulfill that goal. No one wants to look like a loser to their friends and family. So here is my goal. I need to sell $300 within the next to weeks. My exact dates are April 23^rd thru May 5^th. The reason for this is that my little Princess will be turning 3 (sigh. They grow up so quickly). And the gift I want to buy her cost $300. I know this is a lot to spend on a 3 year old. But it’s something she’s going to use for several years and so will the new little one. In order to accomplish this goal I need to LIST LIST LIST!!! My goal is 5 items per day minimum. I know I can do it. When it comes to my Princess anything is possible.

Goal #1

Sell $300 in two weeks.  I’ve already sold an item for $17.00 so that leaves me with $283.00. I’m getting there (thinking positively).

Goal #2

List a minimum of 5 items daily. I didn’t list anything yesterday so that means I have to do 10 today (starting to lose some of the positivity).

Wish me luck.

Weekly Goals and Update

I guess it's time to see how I did on my goals this week. I'm not looking forward to this.

Motherly Goals:

1) Work more on colors. Find better strategies.  We have been working a lot on this but we still have more work to do

2) Go to the pumpkin patch this weekend   We made it to Swank Farms in Hollister this weekend. The kids and I had a blast. I was glad there was plenty to do for both the little kids and the older ones.

3) Spend quality time with my Princess  I did spend quality time with my Princess but I won't cross this off since it's a never ending goal.


Saving Goals:

1) Put more money in my emergency fund  I added $30 more dollars to the fund. That brings me to $325.00. Only $675.00 more to go!

2) List 40 Items on eBay total (minimum) I didn't do this (again). I had 35 listed and then I sold 8 (HOORAY!!!) and 2 ended without bids (boo) so I have 25 currently.

Personal Goals:

1) Organize garage (this sounds familiar) Don't ask. Just notice that it isn't crossed off (again)

2) Try to contact April I was finally able to talk to her and I think we both feel better for it. I miss my BFF

3) Wake up 30 minutes early to have some alone time Let me start out by saying that I'm not a morning person. I did manage to wake up 3 times 20 minutes early. That's a great start for me.


This weeks goals are:

Motherly Goals:

1. Work on fine motor skills with Princess.

2. Take Princess to her appointment. We have a speech assessment next week so hopefully that goes well.

3. Spend quality time with my Princess

4. Find more indoor activities to do with Princess since it's raining here and we aren't able to go out and play.

Saving Goals-

1. Add more money to my emergency fund

2. Have 40 items listed on eBay

3. Go coupon shopping at Target. I always forget my coupons when I'm near there.

Personal Goals-

1. Organize garage

2. Wake up 30 minutes early at least 3 times this week to have some quiet alone time (more manageable I think)

3. Make time to reconnect with old friend in Sac

Hopefully you did better on your goals this past week then I did.

Goals

So I set weekly goals last week. I tried really hard to get them all completed. But I fell a little short. Here is how I did:

Motherly goals -

1) Take my Princess and niece and nephews to Santa Cruz Boardwalk this weekend (been trying to take them all summer) Didn't make it to Santa Cruz. They decided on Monterey instead.

2) Work on Colors with Princess. We aren't doing very well on them We worked on them but we still have more work to do

3)Take Princess for a walk after dinner (trying to take advantage of the nice weather). This also helps with the colors (red truck, green tree, blue car ...)
4) Spend more quality time with Princess. There never seems to be enough time

Saving Goals-

1) Actually make it CVS and Walgreens this week to use my coupons and build stockpile I actually made it to both stores last week. WOO HOO!!

2) List more things on eBay. If I'm not listing then I'm not selling. My goal is to have 40 things listed this week. I have 19 so far I didn't complete this goal. I only got to 32 items. My Princess didn't nap on Saturday and that was when I was planning on doing most of my listing.

3) Put more money in my emergency fund. I have $250 so far. My goal is $1000. I was able to put $45 dollars into my fund!!


Personal Goals-

1) Attend Monthly cluster group for concurrent parents I did attend and I'm glad I did. It's good to be around people that understand what you are going thru.

2) Organize garage I didn't even attempt this

3) Get my hair done (I need it). Sometimes I forget to take time for myself Done! No more grown out roots or dry ends.

4) Send thank you note to Patty Done

5)Work on on dealing, forgiving and letting go of hurt feelings caused by Princess's family criticizing my parenting skills. I will pray on this. I feel much better about this

6) Check in with April. Her recently had a heart attack. Miss them both so much. She's my sister from another mister. My BFF. I haven't been able to make contact with her. But I will keep trying.


This weeks goals:

Motherly Goals:

1) Work more on colors. Find better strategies.

2) Go to the pumpkin patch this weekend

3) Spend quality time with my Princess


Saving Goals:

1) Put more money in my emergency fund

2) List 40 Items on eBay total (minimum)

Personal Goals:

1) Organize garage (this sounds familiar)

2) Try to contact April

3) Wake up 30 minutes early to have some alone time

Hopefully I will do better this week.

Goals

I met with Parents As Teachers for my Princess' twice monthly meeting. Before Diane (the wonderful PAT teacher) left she asked me what my goals for the next two weeks are. I paused and had to think. I have goals in mind but I never bother to write them down or even speak them out load. She reminded me that you are more likely to try harder to reach your goals if you don't keep them to myself. So I'm going to share mine:

Weekly Goals:

Motherly goals -

1) Take my Princess and niece and nephews to Santa Cruz Boardwalk this weekend (been trying to take them all summer)

2) Work on Colors with Princess. We aren't doing very well on them

3) Take Princess for a walk after dinner (trying to take advantage of the nice weather). This also helps with the colors (red truck, green tree, blue car ...)

4) Spend more quality time with Princess. There never seems to be enough time

Saving Goals-

1) Actually make it CVS and Walgreens this week to use my coupons and build stockpile

2) List more things on eBay. If I'm not listing then I'm not selling. My goal is to have 40 things listed this week. I have 19 so far

3) Put more money in my emergency fund. I have $250 so far. My goal is $1000.


Personal Goals-

1) Attend Monthly cluster group for concurrent parents

2) Organize garage

3) Get my hair done (I need it). Sometimes I forget to take time for myself

4) Send thank you note to Patty

5) Work on dealing, forgiving and letting go of hurt feelings caused by Princess's family criticizing my parenting skills. I will pray on this.

6) Check in with April. Her husband recently had a heart attack. Miss them both so much. She's my sister from another mister. My BFF.

Not too big of a list.

Hopefully I can cross something off my goals list next week.