De-cluttering for 2012 = Timeless

Now this isn't something that I handcrafted. It is a watch that I purchased years ago. It never fit me quite right though, so it sat in my jewelry box...abandoned & lonely. Being the ebay seller I am and re-evaluating EVERYTHING we have in our home, I decided this little treasure needed a place to feel loved & cherished. So to ebay it went.

I had checked into completed listings to see about what they were going for, and I was a bit disappointed but thought..."Hey - I am not wearing it anyway, something is better than nothing." So I listed it as an auction item. Little did I know there would be a bidding war starting on it two days prior to the end of the auction. This raises the sales price obviously. It was so fun to watch. My dear hub and I had a fun time watching it go up and up. At the end it sold for 2-1/2 times what I had started it at. Zippity-doo-dah!

Why do I post this you may all ask? Well - cleaning house, de-cluttering, and organizing for the New Year may just help you be more prosperous as well. With ebay, etsy, and Craigslist you have a lot of options to sell your unused items...and come out ahead yourself. 

I can make a couple of suggestions to help you decide where is the best fit to sell your goods based on my experience: 

• Etsy is the place to sell vintage wares (decor, kitchen, jewelry and apparel mainly) & all things handcrafted. It is a fun, artistic, creative group that admires all things beautiful. Vintage really moves here.  Everything is a fixed sales price (no auction option) so if you don't know the value you may want to try ebay first. 
• Craigslist is great for LARGE items that are heavy for shipping - or things that you know will go better locally. 
• Ebay is for everything else... items too recent to be considered vintage or don't have an etsy category. Ebay is also great for some vintage & antique, designer clothing, bags, brand name housewares, and man stuff. Yeah - I said MAN STUFF. What I mean by that is equipment, manuals, tools, sporting goods, etc. I realize that is generalizing and possibly offensive to some. In my life these fall under the HUBBY category though. Ebay also has auction option or fixed price (buy it now). It costs more to list as an auction item but as you can see with my watch sometimes it is well worth it. The bonus on my watch was I listed this item with a free listing promotion ebay put on for three days. SCORE! 

Well I hope this inspires you to start de-cluttering, re-evaluting and organizing your home. There are so many incentives to start, I hope one of them gets you going!