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This is the 1st thread for 2023. Post your Challenge numbers here each week on Monday. You do not need permission to join, just post your numbers and I’ll add you in.
For information and rules on the Challenge, go here.
First week of the year begins on Monday Jan 02, numbers must be posted on Monday 09.
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2023 Challenge: Next in Line!
This year’s challenge is all about the small wins! We’re all aiming to be tortoises this year and get the big win at the end of the year.
Last year, I asked you all to do a major mind dump of everything you had to do. I gave you an example of my method with a few tips. Then I asked you to consider reasons why you haven’t completed these items. Are they because of time, tools, or terror? Or do you have issues with Willpower, Won’t Power, or Want to Want to? I asked you to find solutions to your problem areas. Get the tools, work out your schedules, delete stuff you shouldn’t have.
Now we get down to the grindstone!
Each week, choose a minimum of one and a maximum of 3 items off your To Do List (TDL) PER DAY. If the item is big, break it down into the smallest possible components you can. Write these down. If the item is big and will take multiple days, each of the small steps count as one for your daily TDL. Then check these items off as you go.
The goal is to use your Sunday to outline your 5 – 15 items that you plan to work through during the week. Set them up in whatever method works for you: easiest to hardest; like items together; by area you work in. And you’re going to check each item off, one at a time. So you’re doing the items next in line.
You know what you need to do. You have spent time on the factors to identify what you need to get, do, or understand to clear these up. Now you’re going to play like skittles, line them up, and knock ’em down!
Some weeks, these “skittles” will end up being part of your listing numbers. For the WIN! Some weeks, they will be stuff you need to clear so that you can get to your listing. Even if the items are non-eBay related, they all add to your sense of accomplishment. Line ’em up, whack ’em down!
Post how many “skittles” you have each Monday, let us know how many you managed to clear the following Monday. We’re going to cheer you on! Each tortoise is going to become a champion bowler in 2023!
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Wooooot! I’m back on the listing board. Off to a blistering start with a whopping 10 listings! Beat that, y’all! 😀
My skittles for this week number 17 in total. Yes, I did exceed my 15 by only two, but they’re two relatively small items related to one of the bigger ones, and once the bigger one is done, the smaller ones will be able to be crossed off very quickly, so I thought it was worth the effort to include them.
I’m using Google Keep for my lists. It’s extremely simple to use and allows me to create a digital checklist, than I can check off as I finish. I can also move the items up and down in the list to rearrange them in order, if I choose. I can also highly recommend the To Do app as one of the simplest apps for a To Do list you could ever hope to find. I love it! Unfortunately, it seems to be Android only at this time.
This year I am super motivated to clear a lot of TDL items. Not just eBay related, general decluttering will be my biggest focus, which includes my eBay Death Piles.
How many skittles do you have this week?
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Listed 5 items last week. I’ve got some life chaos so short term need to do my bookkeeping for taxes. I love to buy and sell textiles but don’t enjoy listing them. I’ll be focused on that and then break it up with some smalls that are easy to pack I think. I also have some paper stuff but I’m even less excited about listing that stuff. It’s weird how you can appreciate something but then kind of hate listing it. I mean, these aren’t items I don’t personally value.
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I listed three this week. Just so much going on.
I created a TDL, but have not broken down things into skittles. I did get some help from my husband on one of them, so just getting him to take a look was one skittle. I guess another skittle this week will be just to check out the Goggle keep app and see if it will help.
I recall my suggestion last year to break down challenges into smaller bites, so I hope for more success for everyone in this group. Most (all?) of us have too much going on in our lives to tackle big challenges all in one big gulp.
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10 new listings for me last week. My January is off to a very slow start, my eBay sales have been in the toilet.
I did just get the Google Keep app and I set up my skittles for this week. I have 5 items on my list. Thanks for that tip Amatino, it makes keeping up with the lists easier and so handy!
Happy bowling everybody!
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Good morning, all.
I have NO idea what happened yesterday. I had the spreadsheet on my TDL, I was working… and poof! The butterfly brain flew off to a new flower with nary a thought to my faithful elves waiting on the updates! So sorry! LOL
Well done, Julie, on a great win. Wonderful numbers to start the year. Did you send me your new weekly goal number? If so, I’ve missed the post. Please tell me again.
Sharyn won last year, so she’s in blue this year and cannot win again. She’ll just get an honorable mention if she posts the highest number.
The new spreadsheet auto updates the average number each week, so you can see how you’re doing on a weekly basis and view your YTD total, both at a glance. I hope this helps you with monitoring your progress.
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Not as bad a week as I’d feared, but still below my goal. I had forgotten it was tax week, and so had 3 extra skittles added to my Keep that I hadn’t planned for. It blew my week out of the water, but I still managed to get 4 listings up.
Skittles completed last week: 11
Skittles for this week: 15 (again), but again 3 of them are related, and I can knock them over like… skittles! 😛
For those of you using Google Keep, as you hit the check box, it will move that line down to a section called Checked Items and give you a running count. If you want to reset your count for the week, you can delete the checked items. Just press and hold on the first item and hit the X on the right next to it. It will auto-delete and provide an X next to the item immediately below. It’s very quick to clear. If you find an item needs to be returned to the checklist above, press on the grayed out check mark on the left. It will move it back up for you.
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25 new listings for me. I achieved my goal #!
Skittles completed last week: 14 – I’m really loving the skittles challenge and using Google Keep. I’ve completed lots of small tasks that I’ve put off for years. It really helps to have the to do list on my phone.
Amatino thank you so much for the Google Keep user tips. It’s really helped me to be able to start using it immediately.
Wishing everyone a productive week!
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I listed 7.
My daughter agreed to do some photography for me. I’ve got lots of drafts ready to go so next week will be higher. I suppose I’ll be making much less paying her, but I’ve got to move this stuff!
I’m still working with my TDL on a piece of paper and keeping my small stuff in my head, so I have to work on the whole skittles thing.
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58 listings – nothing like a bunch of huge bills coming due to motivate me to list!
I completed 11 out of 13 of my “skittles.” There’s something about calling them skittles that make them seem easier to do. I guess that was the point of naming them that, hehe. My goal is to knock out 12 skittles this week.
Amatino – for the weekly goal number – is that just one number that I want to average each week or do I declare a listing goal number weekly? If its one time average than my weekly goal is 30.
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Spreadsheet updated and Julie clocked a very impressive win!
Jules, yes, it’s the amount you want to list each week, so one number. In the spreadsheet, you will see that there is a goal for the week that updates for the YTD, so you can see at a glance your actual YTD total and your goal total. There’s also an average for weekly numbers, so that you can see by the average if your goal is realistic.
Skittles are fun, aren’t they? And if you can line up a few every week that are consecutive, you can knock done a lot in very little time!
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Oh, one more note! For Google Keep, you can actually access your Keep online, if you find it easier to work on a PC. Go to https://keep.google.com/
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2 items listed. I’ve got some stuff going on and my heart is not into it. No thrifting either so at least I’m not getting further into the hole. I was feeling pretty good after I got rid of a bunch of stuff last summer but now I’m thinking a lot about the piles I have left. It’s still a lot.
I should focus on large items when I get the cast off I think. -
Hello y’all, sorry for being out of touch. I have SO much on my plate, including hand-holding my 89-year-old dad (who has hearing and vision problems) through a complicated divorce. It’s really something. I have been doing a little bit of listing, but other things took preference. Truly hoping to get back to a steady listing schedule.
I really love the skittles idea and hope to implement it this week. Yet another great idea from Amatino!
I haven’t posted numbers for 3 weeks, but please put me down for 6 listings two weeks ago, 15 listings a week ago, and 5 listings for last week. Sorry for the extra work.
Here’s hoping everyone has a great week ahead.
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I listed 39 items. I kinda cheated because my daughter did some photography for me this week. She is starting back at college today, so I don’t know if she will be able to do much in the upcoming weeks.
Oh, Vintage Lacy, this must have been the elder abuse situation you mentioned previously. That would be a situation where he was really stuck and needed an intervention. Family first; good luck with everything. eBay will be waiting for when you are ready.
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Vintage Lacy – thank goodness your father has you! Here’s hoping the process starts to go more smoothly.
36 listings. Sales have been scary bad for me this month. As Jay and Ryon used to say, when sales are bad, get to listing. Its the one thing we can control.
I completed 10 of 12 skittles this week. I am being a little bit ambitious with 15 skittles on my plate for this week.
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I listed 21 items and knocked down 12 skittles. I’m disappointed not to meet my listing goal for last week but I’m still loving the skittles challenge.
This week is my husband’s birthday. We’ll be out of town for a couple of days so I’m not too confident about making my listing goal this week either. Fingers crossed!
Vintage Lacy, how lucky your Dad is to have your support! Divorce must be even more difficult at his age.
Wishing everyone a great week ahead!
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Morning, y’all!
Christine, you’ll get there. We have ups and downs, if you keep going, you’ll end up on top. You should see my Death Piles before you get depressed. I live on a ranch, storage is no problem. That’s the worst possible thing that can happen when you aren’t listing a lot! If I list 10 items a day for every day this year, I doubt that I would clear my DPs. Kid you not!
Ah, Lacy, you are such an amazing daughter! Sending you virtual hugs and strength and support for this time. Numbers are updated, no problem.
Sharyn, that’s not cheating. That’s work smart, not hard!
Wow, Julie! Way to go on those skittles! That’s almost a full strike!
Welcome back, JR!
For me, listed zero this week and only 2 skittles down. Bah humbug! We had a quilt group meeting this week to set up our program for the year, my husband’s business has now expanded to cover four towns and I had to set up the new shop that is our authorized drop off, and drive out there to deliver paperwork, tags, etc. It’s almost a 100-mile round trip to go to them, so we have set only two runs per month, vs the weekly runs for the other 3 places which are 20 miles in opposite directions from us. We’re getting so many requests for business, I think we’re covering something like 8 counties now, being the only sewing machine service and repair center in the area. A lot of folks come to us because they don’t want to go to San Antonio. It’s reaching a point where we’re threatening to put a limit on the number of machines we can take from the new drop off point, as they’re gung-ho to advertise in EIGHT quilt guilds. With just Himself and I running the business, we can’t handle that much business! On top of this, I’ve been sick in bed since Friday. Urgh!
14 skittles for me this week. Praying I can get on my feet enough to knock some down!
Top listing this week was Sharyn, but as she’s on Honorary Mention, the win goes to Julie for the 3rd week in a row. Congrats, ladies, and wishing you all a great week!
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Forgot to give you your Google Keep Tip.
Color-coding your notes is a useful way of bringing some order to your Google Keep experience. But there’s also the option of adding background images to those notes you really want to stand out.
Open the notes you want to color. Tap the background options button (it looks like a painter’s palette), and alongside the standard choice of pastel colors you can also pick from nine images, each designed to fit a particular theme, like recipes or music. (I used the fireworks background and changed my background color to indigo. Sweet!)
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I listed 21 items.
I’m still working off the top of my head as well as several to do lists, so I’m still not counting up skittles. But I did make one step towards figuring out what I need to fix this one lamp, and I’m closer (1 skittle closer?) to knowing what I need to order.
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Only 4 listings and 5 skittles completed last week.
Today I cleared out my antique booth. I’ve decided not to work with it any more. In my new position, I was making money, but not enough to justify working an 8-hour day, with over an hour’s commute, and destroying my knee in the process. Not only that, the new management is not very pleasant to work with. In the end, I decided it just wasn’t worth the hassle. Now I have all the stuff that I brought back to either list or donate.
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Thank you everyone for your kind words last week. Sharyn, you are SO right. Family is everything.
I’ve been thinking a lot about something I read recently. It’s about giving yourself grace, because of the challenges in your current life. Instead of thinking….I am not doing my best….. think instead …..I am doing my best, given the circumstances.
My best right now isn’t what my best would have been a year or two ago. And I am trying to be okay with that. When I think about the time I am giving right now to both my parents (and gladly,) there’s no way to have the normal expectations. Add to that I still have a great deal of fatigue from the double dose of Covid in Nov/Dec. I am exhausted after very simple things that would have been a breeze six months ago.
It’s hard because my sales are way down, because I am not listing. And I am very competitive so kills me to confess little or no listings. Ha! On the other hand, I did accomplish several skittles last week, including the very large skittle of clearing out a storage unit completely, that had been dumped into at the beginning of the pandemic. That felt VERY good. It’s a win, in my book.
All this to say, no listings last week. I’ve already done a few for this week…so yay!
Hope everyone has a good week ahead, and thanks again.
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Spreadsheet updated – well done on the great win, Jules!
It seems to be a tough year for everyone. Several folks I’ve spoken to lately have commented on how unimpressed they have been with the new year – it has not brought the new beginnings so earnestly hoped for. Think of it this way: all the crap for the year is being dealt with in advance. From now on, things will only get better!
Google Keep Tip: did you know you can put reminders into GK? Yep. In your note, there is a bell icon with a + in it. You can use a preset reminder day/time (create these in Settings) or go to a custom setting. So, for example, you could add a reminder for Monday at 8AM (9AM?) to post your Skittles on the forum. Or, if you create a note about an Estate Sale, say, with address and time, you could set a reminder so that you don’t forget to go to the sale.
Caveat: the reminder is for the NOTE, not for the line items within the note.
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Heyup! Forgot – @Sharyn. Apologies for the delay on your prize. The lady who does my printing could not take my order until the new year and has several major family issues. I got it back and spent an hour and a half yesterday selecting fabrics to go with it. Hopefully it will be done within the next couple weeks.
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@Amatino – You crazy or somethin? Headin out to Versace to select the finest fabrics and reserving an artist time? All for a trash elf? Come on.
Love you 😍
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48 listings.
I think I only completed 3 skittles, but then I deleted the rest and remade my skittles list for this week. The skittles I deleted were too ambitious to be skittles and I was actively avoiding the to do list because of it. So I’m starting fresh this morning with a new list.
I’ve been enjoying researching and listing vintage barbie clothes. I got a huge bag full for $15. They are from 1959 thru the mid-70s. At first I was just going to sell the whole lot for probably $150 but decided to go thru it to clean what I could and in doing so I started identifying some interesting pieces. I joined a FB Barbie collector group specific to 1959-1972 barbies and I ended up buying a book so I could better identify the clothes I have. I’ve been having fun matching what I have to the outfits in the book. I’m spending more time on it than I should (especially on the cleaning/stain treating) but I’m definitely learning something that will help me if I come across Barbie clothes again. And I found a rare piece that I’ve listed for $99.
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25 listings for me. I’m excited that I finally met my weekly listing goal for the first time in 2023. (Sigh.) I also completed 14 skittles.
I have some skittles I repeat every week eg: work out 3x per week and throw away one extra item every day. I’d already been doing both since December in an effort to build positive habits. It seems to have worked – I now automatically do both those things, just like I brush my teeth every morning. I don’t really think about it, I just do it. Now I’m exploring how I can make DP listing a habit – lol!
Julie B: thanks for mentioning vintage Barbie clothes. I have a bag full in my DP that I’ve been meaning to list forever. I’d already identified a couple of outfits that are worth decent $. Of course at this point I’ll need to figure that out all over again since I now don’t remember the specifics.
Wishing everyone a productive week!
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12 listings for me and 3 skittles. Amatino—I am going to reduce my weekly goal to 15 listings, as I think 25 is too ambitious for me this year, with everything that’s going on with my parents. I am planning on accomplishing 3-5 skittles a week…all things I keep putting off doing.
Julie you are my icon. You manage to get so much done, and I know you have challenges in your life too. I also have a pile of vintage Barbie clothes somewhere in my DP. Who knows where. What is your best solution for getting stains out?
I also have Barbie clothes my mom made for me, many years ago. I hung onto them in the hopes of passing them onto a daughter or grand-daughter, but didn’t end up with either. Do vintage hand-made Barbie clothes sell?
Here’s hoping everyone has a good week.
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Thank you for saying that but I certainly don’t feel like I’m getting much done when you consider this is supposed to be my full time job. I watch so many resellers on Youtube and Instagram who claim to list 30-50 a day! I saw one instagram post this morning where the person said they photographed something like 25 pairs of shoes in 20 minutes and I just don’t see how that is possible.
As far as getting stains out of barbie clothes: First, I have not yet attempted to clean anything red/pink as I’ve heard that red clothing from the 60s can be problematic. For other colors, I have had some success in creating a paste of hydrogen peroxide and baking soda. I slather it on the stain (sometimes the entire piece of Barbie clothing) and let it sit overnight then rinse off. I’ve been stunned with how that has worked on some things. But it hasn’t worked on every stain. I’ll have to try Borax or the Folex on those.
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I listed 13 items. My daughter is in school now and doesn’t have time for photography, so I’ve been getting items ready, but nothing photographed yet.
I FINALLY researched the lamp parts I needed (with the help of my husband and customer service from the online lamp parts company), ordered what I needed, and received it at home!! This is huge as I have had these lamps for about five years. I also have three others that just need new wiring. The two that needed the special parts are unique, and I’ll post them here when they are finally listed. I just need to open that box and get to work!!!!
I recall (a few years ago) someone on the forum posting that they sold a vintage pair of Barbie shoes for $40! I can’t get that for some full size adult shoes! I loved my Barbie dolls back in the day, and I do recall that shoes were not plentiful, and they were easy to lose. So, if you find those in your DPs, make sure to price optimistically!
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@Sharyn. ROFL Versace. I wish! 100% cotton, my friend, my budget doesn’t stretch to even getting to the front door of a Versace. I worked on it this weekend, but as it’s my own design, I blooped on the quantity and have to go back and get a little more of one fabric. I’ll get it this week, then finish up next weekend. (I hope!)
@everyone This will be my last year of handmade prizes. I’ve been looking at my expenses and they are getting so expensive to make and ship. Last year I had three of them! It has been six years of prizes, so you’ve all had a good run. Future prizes will be an Amazon gift card or something small. Something digital that I don’t have to ship. Apologies, but the time and money investment is becoming overwhelming. I love making them, but I think I’m done.
No listings for me this week. I’ve had so much happening. Firstly, two days were taken up with clearing out my booth. Last Monday I cleared out the smalls, as mentioned, the 2nd day I went back with Himself and cleared out the furniture. The furniture in the booth is high-ticket good quality, so I swapped it for the thrift store specials inside the house and ferried all the cheap stuff down to Goodwill. I had been working on decluttering in my house, so I had a lot of stuff to drop off at GW at the same time. Yay for decluttering! We had one day power outage, the power only came on at 4AM the next morning. And we had our Winter Storm blast in like Thor riding the wind. Great fun!
Skittles, however, knocked out 7 of them. I’ve been arranging our new sunroom into our sunroom/my sewing room (per Himself’s instruction!) and it’s taking shape. Lots of organizing and shuffling, which not only frees up space inside the house, but has opened up options for decluttering too. It’s motivating to see spaces clear up!
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@VintageLacy Have you tried Folex? It’s a carpet cleaner, but it’s magic for stains on almost anything fabric. No need to wet and blot either. My standard method is to place a cotton cloth over the mouth of the bottle, tip the bottle to soak that section of cloth, then blot the stain with the wet cloth. Allow to dry and admire. No washing, scrubbing, vacuuming, etc. Great stuff!
One day my grandson spilled a large to-go of strawberry milkshake all over the car seats on a trip. It was several hours before we got to where we were going and the best we could do at the time was mop up the mess with the to-go napkins. It was about 4 days before we got home. Folex cleaned up the mess with no problems, and I had no rotten-milk-spoiled smell in the car either.
Dunno how it would work on Barbie clothes, but it’s cheap. I bought a gallon for about $11. You can get it at Home Depot or Walmart, or a bunch of other places. It’s expensive on Amazon.
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@Amatino – Just to be sure, I was kidding you since making a special trip to buy fabric seemed a bit much for your little Trash Elf competition here. Mentioning winners online is about all that is really needed. Any little gift is most appreciated, but absolutely above and beyond on your part! It is a reflection of the person you must be.
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Whaddya know? Got to the cabin this morning and I actually DID list two items last week! I honestly had such a rough week, I didn’t even realize it. Good job I log my listings on my calendar!
@Sharyn, you are such a sweetie! I know you were kidding. I consider every one of you Elves special enough to make it worth it, so it’s not about that. However, you have won so many times that you have had pretty much everything, so I came up with something completely new and different for you. Your color preferences did not match what I had had printed, which is entirely my fault, because I got the printing done before I thought to match the fabrics. It’s on me – not you! However, I know I did good in the end because Himself, who is the pickiest person I know, admired it and said it’s pretty. Woot! -
21 items. I should have good listing time this week and hope to put up a lot.
I’m laughing because I too have some vintage Barbie clothes and a few dolls in my death piles. Our neighbors with older girls gave some of these to me to play with back in the early ’70s so they are well worn and I don’t have complete outfits but there are some cool pieces with the black label. I recall a grand pink cape and a gold jacket with fur cuffs in particular. I think only one of the Barbies with a helmet head was worth a little bit. I also have Marie Osmond, Cher, and my favorite – the Bionic Woman – hanging around. Julie please let us know if you find there are very many pieces that are worth good money.
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I’m far from an expert but it seems that the Barbie clothes that were sold exclusively at Sears in the 60s are big money. I don’t think there is anything on the tag that will identify the item as a Sears exclusive but if you do an ebay Search for Barbie Sears Exclusive you’ll see a lot of high dollar listings.
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Spreadsheet updated and Julie has a slamdunk for this week’s win!
VL, goal adjusted as requested.
This week, I’m not going to give you a Keep Tip. Instead, I’m going to challenge you to take another look at your To Do List and see if you can clear some out with the One Minute Rule.
The rule is simple. If a task is going to take you less than one minute to complete, do it now – don’t let yourself put it off until later.
So many things can be accomplished in 60 seconds or less: sending a quick email, putting those dirty dishes into the dishwasher instead of the sink, opening the mail instead of leaving it on the counter to deal with eventually.
By making yourself take action quickly, you prevent these small tasks from adding up and ultimately overwhelming your TDL.
Bonus: any task you knock off using this rule counts as a skittle at the end of the week.
Ready? GO!
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I can second that Folex is amazing. I purchased it on Amatino’s advice and it works better than anything else I’ve tried, plus it’s a complete breeze to use. I haven’t tried it on Barbie doll clothes (yet) but if I can find them in my DP I’ll haul them out, treat them and let you all know.
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Thanks for the Folex cleaning idea…I am excited to try it!
Julie, please don’t be too hard on yourself. This is my full time job too, and look at how many listings I’ve been able to accomplish lately. More power to the people that claim to list 30-50 items every day…but I am skeptical. My guess is that they list a certain category that’s quick to list, all the same kind of thing, and perhaps they throw up a stock photo, or a single photo. We’ve all seen those kind of simple listings. Speaking for us elves, my feeling is that we are more thoughtful and careful with our listings, and thus take more time.
When you think about listing one item, think about all that goes into it. First sourcing, then researching, cleaning , photographing and listing, then properly storing (hopefully.) Plus the time in shipping once it sells. I spend a couple of hours a day at least, on the shipping part of it. We also sell a wider variety of items, each with it’s own unique research and challenges.
If I could get 40-50 listings up a week, I would be thrilled! So yes, Julie, you are an icon!
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Aw shucks (blush), thank you VintageLacy. 🙂
I think you are right about the resellers who claim to list 50 items a day – they probably are only taking one or two pics. It seems almost anytime I look for something to buy on Ebay the listing will have only 1 picture. I never buy those items.
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27 listings this week. I couldn’t get into the swing of things this week – I think its because my office is so cluttered.
I completed 5 of my 11 skittles. The funny thing is I put in a few super duper easy quick skittles on my list to help me knock some off the list quickly & motivate me but those are the ones I didn’t get to this week, d’oh! All this talk of skittles, I almost bought a bag of Skittles the other day. But the store only sold a king size bag and it was crazy high priced. Of all the groceries that have increased in price over the last few years, I’ve noticed that candy bars have gotten astronomical. When I was a kid they cost 35 cents!
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A big fat goose egg for me this week. However, I DID finish Sharyn’s prize for winning last year! It will go in the post today or tomorrow (not sure if I’ll make it into town today) so you should have it by the end of the week. I’m hoping it will go First Class, but if not, it will be PFRE.
Skittles, quite a few. The guys came in to replace the window in the sunroom that was the wrong size (their error) so it’s finally done. Did I tell you Himself said I am to use it as my sewing room? I have, accordingly, been moving “all this crap out of the house!” LOL. I’ve got some shelving in and packed and I’ve arranged a lot of stuff. It is such a great feeling to be able to put stuff away in its place, and find it again instantly! Clearing stuff out of the house doesn’t always mean it goes into the sunroom – I’ve done a fair amount of decluttering too, so Goodwill has more junk to sell.
Everyone knows the upside to decluttering. One of the unexpected downsides, though, is how much it motivates you to do more. I’m finding that I’m beginning to look at stuff through rather cynical eyes. Do I really need this widget? I mean, really really? Do we have to have two plates? How about we just have one and share? It would be great for the diet! 😀
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Only 8 for me. Plan for better this week. Ordered some Folex online and Amazon broke it in transit.
Sadly I don’t recognize any of the Sears exclusive outfits for Barbie from my youth. I do have some single pieces from some early black label outfits. Some of the items are pretty ripped up.
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26 for me, I met my goal! Only 8 skittles knocked down though.
Julie B thank you so much for the Sears Barbie outfits info. I didn’t know that. I’ll have to see if any of the outfits I have are Sears Exclusives. I have a feeling they aren’t though.
I just finished a day of jury duty, it was scheduled for at least 5 days but there was a mistrial – thank goodness. I have a really bad head cold and I don’t think I could have lasted for 5 days.
Wishing everyone a productive (and healthy) week!
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I listed five. Not sure why the number isn’t higher, but I do have a number of vintage clothing items ready to go.
Am I the only one that doesn’t have Barbies in my death pile? LOL
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Spreadsheet updated, Julie takes the win again! It was close, though, VT only one short.
Nope, Sharyn, me neither. I had a HUGE bag of Barbie clothes a couple years ago that I sold as a single lot. Now I’m kicking me. It had a lot of really cute stuff in it, like shoes, handbags, coats, but I didn’t know that Barbie clothes had any value.
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POP UP CHALLENGE!
Inventory time! No, not stock. Time! Yep. I want you to pick a task and write down all the sections of it (could use Google Keep for this.) Then time yourself as you do it. You don’t need to be exact – “around 8 mins” is perfect.
The aim of this task is to work out how much time you actually spend on what you do. For example, my average photography session goes like this:
1. about 20 mins clearing my photography area and prepping
2. approx 10 mins setting up lights and getting them correct
3. around 30 mins taking actual photographs
4. roughly 10 mins cropping all photos to square
5. less than 5 mins downloading to PC (Android updates to cloud as I’m working, so there’s no upload time)
6. over an hour editing.You see why I absolutely HATE photography?
If I was to do this over a period of several days, I would have a more accurate time for each task, because I could average it out to give me realistic data. This allows me to go over the task breakdown and work out how to get better. For example, after a lot of agonizing, I invested in an i7 Apple phone and changed to taking photos with it. It has an automatic Square option, which has reduced my editing time #4 to zero, and has also reduced my editing time #6 because with Vivid, the colors are more true than my Pixel. (Sometimes!) However, it doesn’t auto upload photos, so #5 has gone up to about 15 mins, or even longer. I spend this time packing up my items and putting on the SKU numbers. If I really don’t have time to waste, I just take the photos and let them sit until the next day, when it’s only a few mins to download. Knowing my numbers helped me substantially change 3 of my 6 sub-tasks. Still room for improvement, but my photography time has reduced from an entire half day, to only a couple hours. Now I’m working on having a permanent set up so that I don’t have to spend so much time with set up and lighting. And trying to clear my space so that I’m not having to clear away all the clutter to get to it.
You don’t have to do this for photography. You could do it for cleaning, or packing, or sourcing, or research, or listing, or a part of listing (like those danged Item Specifics!) If you really want to be an overachiever, you could do your entire eBay process!
Pop up challenge: everyone who does this and posts an ACTUAL timeline gets one point towards the annual prize. Latest post about it on Monday evening, and I’ll update the spreadsheet on Tuesday. Discussion during the week is always welcome.
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Pop Up Challenge
I timed how long it takes me to put away my listed inventory. It requires I bag and label clothing, bubble wrap breakable hard goods, find bins that have room in them to store each item, write down the bin of each item in a notebook and then enter the bin # in the custom field on ebay.
Individually polybag & label clothes – 11 mins
Put away clothing in bins & record bin # – 12 mins
Prep (if needed) and put away hardgoods & record bin # – 14 mins
Update custom fields in Ebay – 15 mins (connectivity issues slowed this down)
This was an interesting exercise. I don’t know how long I expected these tasks to take but they took me longer than I would have thought. At the same time, I probably completed them faster than I normally do because having a stopwatch going kept me from getting distracted.
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25 listings for the week and 8 skittles. It felt great to have Sunday as a free/fun day since my listings for the week were already completed. I’d like to replicate that every week.
Pop Up Challenge: I timed how long it took me to end and sell similar. For 50 listings it took me 11 minutes and 30 seconds. It used to take no time at all but there’s been a change in the amount of characters available in a field I’ve previously used. So now I have to edit about 20% of my listings when I sell similar to relist. Once I get through all 855 listings it’ll be quick again. Unless eBay makes another change – lol!
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40 listings and completed all 11 skittles.
I have 12 skittles on my list for this week. One of my recurring skittles is to list 2 items from this ugly death pile I have in my office. You can see it from the kitchen and it makes the whole room look trashy. It’s all stuff I hate to list so its been sitting forever. Committing to just 2 items from that pile a week sure helps.
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I listed 7 items. Just lots of stuff outside of eBay plus a software update gone wrong at work; basically totally took up Thursday’s plans.
For the popup challenge, my listing process includes:
cleanup/processing of new items: (I didn’t do this last week)
Photography: It took 34 min for 8 clothing items, so about 4.25 min each
Starting the listing: (I didn’t time this)
Uploading photos via eBay app: (I didn’t time this)
Completing the listing and posting: Timed three clothing items at 7 min, 5 min, 2 min
I timed one clothing item for the last three steps above: 17 min
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Listed 12 items this week. Not a brilliant week for me, unfortunately.
Such fun to see you all have given the pop up challenge a go. Did you find it interesting to see how your times compared to what you thought they were? And I loved Julie’s comment about them going faster because they’re timed – it sure does bring the exercise into focus! If you try doing this every day for a week, by the end of the week you’ll be more in tune with “normal” practices and you’ll get a better idea of your “real” time.
I’m also thrilled to see you all still working on the skittles. So satisfying to cross them off, especially when they’re things that have been hanging over your head forever!
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Ladies and Gentlemen,
May I show you the latest Trash Elf fashion? Created by Amatino herself for little ole’ me for winning the listing challenge for 2022.
She has really outdone herself! It’s made of a thick fabric and hand sewn. I really like the longer strap.
Thank-you so much!
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Apologies for posting late, I was out the whole day yesterday and, to be honest, didn’t give it a thought when I got home, I was exhausted.
All your bonus points have been added onto the spreadsheet. Julie takes the win again this week. Don’t despair, everyone, it’s early days yet. Although, as Sharyn has demonstrated over and over (and over) again, consistency is a major factor in winning the year!
Speaking of… adore the Fashion Statement Sharyn! 😀 I’m glad you love the straps, I was concerned they were too long. It’s fully quilted and… fully washable! Yep, chuck it in your washer and dryer like any other laundry item. The first time you put it through the wash, use Dawn Dish Detergent instead of laundry detergent and add a color catcher or two. These colors shouldn’t run, but I always do that just in case. Dawn’s special ingredients have a dye stabilizer that causes colors to lock. After that first wash, just add the bag to your usual laundry load, no special care needed.
For extra specialness, the bag is ecofriendly too. The batting is polyester made of recycled plastic bottles! I love the stuff, it quilts up great and is so easy to care for, plus it’s helping the planet. I hope you get lots of use out of it.
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Impressive quilted bag, Amatino!
I had a terrible week as our dog died unexpectedly on Tuesday. We thought we’d have several more years with him and my husband and I are crushed. Due to that, i didn’t get any skittles marked off of my list but did manage to get 8 listings up.
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I listed 11 items this week.
@julie-b: Oh no, so sorry to hear of the loss of your dog. May his memory be a blessing.
@amatino: Thanks for the suggestions on cleaning! I like to have purses that I can wrap from one shoulder around the underarm of the other. I feel more secure that way. I imagine I can do the same with the bag for maybe shopping at a flea market or garage sale, which would be the perfect use for it! I might want to place the “Trash Elf” side towards my body in that situation, though!! -
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17 listings for me and 7 skittles. Amatino, can you please check that my 10 skittles from the previous week were posted…thanks!
Sharyn, thanks for showing us your lovely bag, and so nice to see your face! Well done, Amatino on a beautiful prize!
Julie, I am so sorry to hear about the loss of your dog. What a terrible shock that must have been. Sending you a hug and sympathetic thoughts.
We’ve had snowmageddon here so I haven’t left the house much! You would think that would mean more listings for me, but I concentrated on pricing for my 2 antique mall spaces and my upcoming spring show…it was a big skittle that needed doing.
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Ahhhh…. that hurts so bad, Julie. Hugs to you in this time of loss and sorrow.
Lacy, we don’t log the skittles. We put up our numbers each week for the accountability and to brag to others who understand how much work it takes to get even one skittle crossed off!
Spreadsheet updated, VT takes the win!
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MARCH MADNESS CHALLENGE!
Yes, yes, it’s the 2nd of the month. Sosumi!
Okay, for this challenge you’re going to find a category that bugs the ever-lovin-cr*p out of you! It’s that one category that you have stuff that you totally, utterly, completely, irredeemably HATE to list. You don’t like to photograph, or you hate the returns, or you don’t know how to research. Whatever the reason, you have these things that are Death Pile Lifers because you don’t want to list them.
The March Madness Challenge is to find ALL of the items in that category that you have. All the stuff you have lurking in closets, stuffed into drawers, hidden in boxes on the highest shelf, cuddling with the dust bunnies under the bed, or covered with as much junk as you can possibly find in the hopes that they suffocate and you don’t have to deal with them. Now list those suckers! Or donate them, if you absolutely cannot bear to deal with them. You have two options: list, or gone. Not sort-them-out-later, not but-i-have-to-repair-a-widget, not even i-know-there-is-a-piece-missing. List them as-they-come-out, or list-condition-needs-repair/missing-a-piece. Or they go to Goodwill. We want these items OUT OF HERE!
It’s a madness challenge because we have to be stark raving loony to deal with these things!
For each week that you LIST OR DONATE items (note, not find them) you will get a bonus point towards the end of the year.
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I’ve tried 3 times to post now, and I keep being told I’m a Spammer. I use BitDefender and they have a really fierce anti-tracking and security feature. I can’t browse Etsy AT ALL unless I disable it, and various other websites give me hassles. It’s so annoying.
Zero for me. I chose women’s clothes as my MMC and spent the entire week finding everything I have hidden everywhere! I’ll post the photo that I’ve tried to post in the last triple attempt if I manage to get this post up. I’m getting tired of re-typing the same things.
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Wow, okay, it posted! Yay! Let’s see if the photo uploads now.
It’s rather embarrassing to post this, but for the sake of the group, here you go. If I’m this bad, hopefully others will feel empowered… or I’ll just look awful. *cringe* Do you think I should run one of those raffles – you know where you have to guess the total number and the one closest wins a prize? LOL There are over 150 items hanging on the round rail and I still have boxes to unpack and the cart full. Notice there are clothes on the quilt frame at the back!
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12 listings for the week and 3 skittles.
I’m doing my own version of the March madness. Here’s my confession…… We have a very large carport and since last fall items keep getting dumped in it and while I have worked to get rid of piles they never seem to go quite away. My goal this month is to have the carport completely cleared. We did quite a bit of work on it last weekend and it’s about half gone already…can’t wait for it to be completely finished. We all have our own embarrassing piles Amatino and my neighbors get to see mine…yikes!
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For three years I was tracking my rookie death piles around New Year’s. I did have a large garage sale to help, but I’m pleased it doesn’t look like this any longer. I’ve been very good to get ahead of my purchases but do have a two boxes of recent stuff by my desk now. That needs to get out of the living space first. Then I’d really like to clear next what’s in my guest room closet, which is about a quarter listed inventory and half personal stuff. Some is pillows. I need to stop buying pillows until I make room in the garage storage even if I can make money on them. Perhaps that should have been my March Madness item. Despite the improvements from the Pinterest situation, I feel like the construction guys are still thinking hoarder in the garage. LOL
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32 listings, only 2 skittles.
My March Madness challenge is to list costumes. I don’t have that many but I hate listing them. I can get them pretty cheap at the liquidation store and while they are usually good for a $20-$40 profit, I hate listing them so much that I’ve stopped picking them up.
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I listed three items. I had many other distractions, both personal and work. It’s all good.
Amatino – I can match your boxes and clothes rack; maybe even more. As I’ve mentioned, I’ve been helping my neighbor downsize so that he can sell his house. There is SO much stuff that I can’t get to all of it very quickly, so I have to store everything until I have the time. My IMGUR link below shows the boxes in the first photo, the two clothes rack in the second (the photo shows the one that is not listed yet, the other is mostly listed), and a bin of wool clothing with moth damage that I’m going to sell for crafts.
Actually, I don’t consider these death piles. These are being stored with the knowledge that I don’t have the time to take care of all of it right away.
My March Madness challenge is shown in the last photo. Yes, again, electronics. I have two items there, both of which are partially tested, but, damn it, I can’t get myself to fully check out every little function. I’ve just got to list them for parts and say that it turns on, looks ok, etc. Just get them out of sitting underneath a cabinet through eternity. I’ve got two items there and few items downstairs. I also have those lamps, but I don’t know if I will get to them this month.
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Wow, you guys are the greatest! I don’t feel so bad now, and I feel very motivated to clear these clothes. If I could just list all of them, I’m going to guess about 300 items, and sell them at an average of $10 each, I’d have enough to afford a trip to visit my family in England! I think I should put on of those goal boards on my fridge, you know the ones that look like an old-fashioned mercury thermometer? Then I can track my goal! LOL
Here’s to us all moving out our massive mountains of money-making miscellany in March!
Spreadsheet updated. Congratulations to Julie for another win!
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59 listings – I didn’t realize I listed that much and surprised myself so I went back and recounted. I’ve been trying to list 10/day. Sales have been scary bad so I’ve been motivated to list.
I listed one costume for the March Madness challenge and threw away a 2nd one that was a bad buy.
I completed 7 skittles.
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12 items.
The fabric for March Madness is out here next to my desk but I’m trying to clear my recent purchases first – a deal I made with myself. There is only one more rummage sale I think left so I should be able to climb out of the hole soon. It may be April madness for me unfortunately. Kind of depends on how the rest of the week goes.
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One big fat listing!
I’ve finally found all of the clothes and shoes I have and am prepping for the Modeling Party we’re having this Saturday. I’ve started to sort them all: washing, ironing, checking for damage, etc. It’s a HUGE job! Sharyn, kudos to you for doing this for your neighbor! Sheesh, it’s a lot of work. I’m excited to get rid of all of this. You need to see how much space it has cleared! Hopefully I’ll have big fat listing numbers from next week when the items start getting listed.
When is the Spring Sale, Lacy? Sending good luck wishes.
Sharyn, hope everything is okay. Sending vibes for whatever you need: happy, healthy, ability to not kill somebody. 😉
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0 listings because I was on vacation visiting my parents in Florida.
I don’t like to announce online that I’m going on vacation, so perhaps it sounded like something else was going on. Sorry about that. The week before, I was finishing up our vacay plans as well as having additional work at my part time job. The owners at my company decided to sell to a larger company, and I attended an informational Zoom meeting and had some general adjusting to do. I think it will be a good change, but there was/will be some adjustments.
It’s all good. I hope to get to some listing this week, but I’m not expecting a big number.
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2 listings for me. Neither of them were for my MMC, but I did have my Modeling Party this weekend. We had an absolute blast and it was a total madhouse, with outfits coming out like a high-paced runway show! Now the big haul of doing all the flat-lay and creating the listings. Most of my listings for the next couple of weeks will be the MMC items that I photographed on Saturday. Unfortunately, in all my extensive planning, I completely forgot to plan what to do with the clothes AFTER they had been modeled! Now I have a huge jumbled pile of everything on the futon in my living room – which means all my neatly pressed and sorted items need to be neatly pressed and sorted again! I’m such a silly twit!
Fun story! When I was a toddler my gran called me a silly twit and I was SO offended. I put my little hands on my little hips and advised her seriously “I’s not a silly tit!”
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I listed six items. Three of them were from my March Madness challenge, so that is a win. I pulled out some electronics that had been stored for YEARS and listed them as for parts/repair. They are in working condition, but, if I wait to fully test them, they’ll sit there again for who knows how long.
I think my numbers will be somewhat low for the next several months. One issue is my job and other family stuff (good stuff). The other is that my neighbor agreed to allow me to setup an online auction after he is moved out but before he sells his house. Work to setup the online auction take time away from eBay, but the one week the auction goes live, my number will be very high!
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Last Monday of the month AND of the quarter! Don’t forget to put in your shipping supplies order!
Listed 10 this week, of which 8 were my MMC. I’m not going to finish all my women’s clothes this month, as hoped, but at least I’ve got it moving. I’m going to push through until I clear it, and hope to be clocking at least double what I did this week going forward. ooooh… wouldn’t it be great if I could double my listing numbers every week? 😀
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@Amatino – I feel for you. My aforementioned online auction will have a significant amount of clothing so that I don’t have to list all of them!
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35 new listings for me and 10 skittles accomplished. It was a productive week for me but mostly because my husband was out of town for several days. That spouse-free time afforded me a lot of listing time.
This week won’t be as productive, we have home remodeling work going on. And April is going to be a very low listing month for me. We are scheduled for two out of town trips this April.
I didn’t sign up for the MM challenge because I knew I’d have a zero for it. My challenge would have been purses, but I absolutely hate listing purses. They are worse than clothes IMHO. I knew I’d list zero and yes, I listed zero purses this month.
Congrats to all of you who accomplished the MM challenge!
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24 listings for me. Unfortunately did not do the MM challenge since I was working on the overriding rule of new purchases first and the rummage sales came up. We were out of town for a big one this past week so I only have one large box left from the recent sales and thrifting to list and then it’s back to the death piles.
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@Sharyn, you and I must have been writing at the same time. When I logged in, there were no posts for the week and I thought I was the first one! LOL. Wishing you a great result for your online auction!
@VT, have you tried wreath hangers for purses? I bought a pack of 2 clear ones from Amazon for about $6 +- and I stuff a purse with paper, hang it on the wreath hanger and take photos. Because the hanger is clear, it “disappears” and the purse looks good in the photos. It’s the easiest way I’ve found of doing it.
As this whole (work) week is still March, I will take next week as the last week of the MMC.
Wow, another week of just one point between the top players – only this week it’s positions 2 through 4, as VT got a very deserved win. Well done to you all for great numbers this week. Spreadsheet updated. Next week I’ll go over the averages for YTD.
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Only 3 listings this week, 2 of which were MMC. I will be working on my MMC stuff for the month of April too, so will it become my April Absurdity Challenge? Hmmm… perhaps my April Adherence Challenge, because I sure hope I stick to it!
Unfortunately, I ended up being very busy off-eBay and didn’t get as many listings up as hoped. The week looks clear, so fingers crossed it’s a good one this week.
I did get my taxes in, though, so one more headache resolved until next quarter. Sigh! I wish my taxes paid for things like good roads rather than overpaid politicians.
And, having reminded y’all last week to buy your shipping supplies – I forgot. Head… desk… repeat!
New month! New year – for me, as it was my birthday yesterday. New beginnings. Wishing you all a great start to Q2
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Thanks, Lacy!
Seems to be a rough week for us, but we still got listings up. Julie, you won again. Well done!
Sales are so bad, it’s beyond the pale. However, it is just before taxes and I remember that the month (or so) before taxes is always tight. My feeling is that if I continue to list, I’ll have good stock for when folks start spending again.
As promised, it is the new quarter, so here are your averages for the year to date:
Goal Actual
Amatino 10 4
ChristineR 13 9
Julie B 30 35
Junque Redux 1 1
Sharyn 20 9
Vintage Lacy 15 12
Vintage Treasures 25 18If you want me to revise your goals in the next quarter, let me know.
We will be starting a new thread for the new quarter. However, I’m going to leave this thread open for a couple days so that you can post amendments if you need any.
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