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LOL. How funny this forum is! Look at the time and date of our posts, Retro, – yours is a whole day after mine, but mine shows after! π
You know, you are brilliant! I was photographing first and then listing after. I love the idea of listing before I even start cleaning! What a time saver! Then I’d know up front if it was even worth the trouble of cleaning or photographing at all. There have been several times when I’ve gone to the trouble of cleaning and photographing, only to discover it’s a low-dollar item. And then listed, because after all that work, it hurts to just donate it back to Goodwill. And then no judgement from me for when you do your uploads. I’m a huge believer in using every available minute of the day!
Oh, that reminds me! I went in for a waxing one day and was on a deadline for costumes. (I wax because it’s cleaner for longer, and with my dance classes, fuzzy legs are kind of a no-no.) I’m a long-time client of my salon, so I arrived, stripped down the nether half, and pulled out my sewing. “Please continue,” I invited. “I just have to get this done because I’ve got to have it finished for class tonight.” I sewed while they stripped. They thought it was the funniest thing ever, and it still comes up in laugh sessions a couple years later.
Back to listing – I shall change my format to listing first when I start listing next week. I’m actually getting very excited to start and make a HUGE dent in my DPs. My listing numbers are 100 for the whole year. I wonder if I can double that in a month? *rubs hands together with evil chuckles!*
Zero for me, for last week and will be zero next week too.
My Student Showcase is on Saturday, I have 4 days to finish one bra, two shirts, one belt, one skirt, one pair of pants and half a dozen 15 ft backdrops. Then I have to print 100 programs, a full set of direction posters (Restroom -> or NO ENTRY signs, etc.) and buy catering supplies for the refreshments in the Intermission, and paper rolls and painters tape to block out the wall size windows in the room that will be our changing room, and pack up the full costume closet which includes costume items (pants, skirts, tops, bras, belts), jewelry, headdresses, hair accessories, mirrors (both full length and table top), make up, and hair tools such as heating irons. I have to finish creating my solo choreography and buy sand to support the candles in the brass cups (the sand stops the brass from overheating and also raises the tea lights so that the flame is above the lip of the cups) and some other accessories for my costume. Oh! I almost forgot. I need to do a count to ensure I have enough coverups, or I will have to make a few more of those too before Saturday.
My husband’s business is still running, as is my eBay stuff, so I need to create invoices and do machine drop off and pick ups, and pack orders and get them to the post office, and, of course, the ranch and the menagerie need some time too. I did take a break this weekend as I had arranged a surprise birthday party for my husband, but I cheated and catered it with HEB Party Platters and used my “fine china” plates that could be just tossed in the trash at the end. LOVE that option! The guests were highly amused that I sat in my chair during the party, participating in all the conversations and occasionally jumping up to serve drinks or fetch napkins or whatever, but for the most part sewing a bra top. Hey… I gotz PRIORITIES! π
Hmmm… now… what have I forgotten?
Thanks Retro, nice to know I’m not too far off the mark. I have bins sorted as clothes, shoes, books & anything else flat (puzzles, prints, etc.), caps/hats/bags, and anything else. I also have an E category for anything extra large, that doesn’t fit into a bin and has to stand alone on a shelf, and a Q category for clothing items that are stored on a hanger, like winter coats or formal dresses.
Vintage Treasures – you’re on! Starting the week after June 8th, that is! *wink* We have a professional photographer this year, so I can post the link to all the photos of the event.
06/02/2019 at 3:25 pm in reply to: Study: βWhat You Need to Know About the Modern Online Shopperβ #62818Amazon Prime for folks that only use the shopping aspect isn’t much of a saving. I’ve had it for years now and wouldn’t give it up for the world! Not only do I have free and fast shipping, but my items are cheaper (I pay $19.99 for a t-shirt and get it in 2 days, a non-Prime friend paid $27 and it took a week – actual history.) Also, I have an Echo and get free music, podcasts, radio stations, books, and a host of other stuff. I have Amazon Prime video, Prime Books, First Reads, Prime Day, Prime Music, Prime Audio Books… I’m sure there’s more, but as I use it all the time now, I don’t think I register it any more.
That $119 is paid for over and over and over again. If I had to pay for everything I get out of it, I’d be paying a lot more. It’s a huge saving for me.
I recently introduced a friend to Prime and all it has to offer. She’s astounded by how much she didn’t know it had.
Sorry for the delayed response, I’m crazy busy with costume making and down to the last 5 days!
Almasty – having stock and having death piles is too different animals, in my mind. Stock is a stash of items set aside for listing, usually curated and or sized in a manageable amount. Like a couple chickens in the backyard – daily egg supply, but they’re not taking over the property. Death piles is when your stock has babies like a pig and all of a sudden you’re overrun with mini oinkers, who grow into big porkers that have babies of their own!
My guesstimate is that my stash of items to list outnumbers my active listings 3 to 1. I have a set of shelving next to my listing and packing table. It’s about 5 shelves high and about 15″ deep. It will hold quite a lot of stuff. My goal is to have that shelf consistently full of stuff to list, and hit a minor listing sprint when it overflows.
Currently it is full, as well as several square feet on the floor in front of it, a 17 ft x 30 in shelf, several closets, all the space under my desk, next to my desk, and behind my desk. I have totes in the bedroom, the bottom shelf of my walk in closet is packed, and the spare room looks like I added a bed to my storage shed.
I’d like my home back. I’d like a stash of items to list that lasts me one to three weeks, but anything more than that is Death Piles and needs to be got rid of!
This video was the first practical, actionable idea that resonated with me as something that I can do. So I shared it, for those odd folks who think like me. π
ε³ means labor or work in Chinese, which looks similar to the top 3 symbols. If you look at the photo, it looks like the 3 are all joined, as in one character. The bottom symbol looks like the Chinese character for 4th (fourth) It could be a play on words T = tea, or Workforce. Or it could be fake, as you’ve noted.
I have only a week left until my Student Showcase, then I plan to hit eBay HARD! I have used bins, but separated by type, like clothing all in one bin, books in a different bin. I’ve read about using one bin for everything, like Retro Treasures, but wondered how that works in terms of digging for stuff. I can pack a LOT Of clothes into a bin, but one large item, like a lamp, would make digging difficult. I’m wondering if rummaging through a bin could result in a mug accidentally being knocked out and broken. Or am I complicating things? Perhaps I should have just two types of bins – clothes & shoes, and everything else. It might make my life a lot easier! You may have just been the last straw that tips this camel over, Retro! LOL
Well done, Vintage Treasures! After next week, if you like, we can pair up for accountability. And then we’ll wipe the floor with the heavy hitters over on the Listing Challenge! π π π π
Here’s your kick up the keister!
The Challenge is to go read the article I created (link below) and set this up.
Report back on this thread when you hit #8!
Yeah, I bit the bullet on the first one, but the difference on this one was over half my profit. No bueno!
Hahahahahahaha!
The program REALLY didn’t like my “drawing” skillz!
Ladies, you probably “sew” while I “put pieces of fabric together using tricks”! LOL
For example – harem pants. Lay fabric out with selvedges out to the side, in two layers with fold at the top and the 2 layers the desired finished length. Use my template to mark off and cut out a front crotch on one side of the fold (top of the waistband against the fold) and a back crotch on the other side. Then hold the fabric flat to cut along the fold to create 2 leg pieces.
Like this
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^ sideCut 2 rectangles approx 3″ wide by approx 15″ long = cuff. Finish one long edge. Fold in half and mark half point on the unfinished long edge. Fold from one edge to the half point and mark quarter point. Fold quarters to mark eights. (Total 9 marks.) Mark bottom of leg pieces in the same way. Thread a needle and sew a long line along the length of the bottom of the leg pieces, then gather tightly. Match unfinished edge of the marked cuff onto the same marks on the leg pieces. Pin each mark together. Sew both pieces together, gathering the leg pieces in between each mark and keeping the rectangle smooth. I usually then serge that seam.
Join the 2 sides of a leg piece with a seam from crotch join to the edge of the new fitted cuff = one leg. Repeat for the other leg. Turn one leg right side out and slip it inside the other leg, then sew down the crotch from back to front, joining the two legs. Finish crotch seam.
Cut elastic to fit over the foot and join into a circle. Slip over the cuff, then fold the cuff in half so that the finished edge covers the seam with the elastic in the fold, far away from the seam. Sew over the finished edge to encase the elastic and all the sewing. Neat, clean finish.
Create an elastic waist in the same way as the cuff.
Total sewing time, start to finish, is about half a day, unless the fabric is a total bitch or your machines decide to act up. I probably spend more time fighting with the machines and tensions than I do sewing, to be honest.
I’m wondering if having Free Returns is a good reason to offer free shipping too? You’re paying for return shipping anyway – perhaps build in an extra 50c per item (or something) to cover the returns cost. I’m seeing more and more comments on how buyers are actively going for free shipping. In fact, I noticed that when I changed my fridge magnets to free shipping, they sold fast.
P.S. Sheesh, Sharyn, and I thought I was crazy! An 8 hour drive in the middle of the night moves you to the front of the line! π Glad your daughter is sorted, though. I really do want to visit Canada some time. It’s a LOT more than 8 hours away for me, though. We’ll probably go by train.
Oh my word! I TOTALLY forgot about the weekend, as I’ve been working flat out. I was writing up my TDL for today and asked Alexa for the date. I think my face would have made America’s Funniest Home Videos when she said “Tuesday” Wait… what?!? LOL. Costume crazy, I tell you. This weekend I finished and made 3 pairs of harem pants, two tops, and one wrap shirt. Down to the wire now. Two bras, one pair of pants, a panel skirt and a belt still to go. I may have to do another 2 tops, one bra, and one skirt, depending on how the tryouts go tonight.
So… zero for me.
Vintage Treasures, you win the week by default, as nobody other than Sharyn remembered to post numbers either! LOL
Post your numbers, folks, I’ll update the spreadsheet.
LOL. Vintage Treasures, I forgot it was a long weekend. I shall have to be good and hold off, but stand by.. I’ll surprise you all with a Challenge soon!
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