retail therapy and ebay woes

It's July already and I am feeling a little stuck in time. I had hoped to have so much more accomplished by now, but I know what happened and why. Without giving too much away, I became seriously sidetracked by an idea and I am amazed at how the situation in my silly-head parallels the situation in June 2007. Maybe I should start catching up on my astrology, something emotional, romantic and insane must be going on with the planets for me when Summer hits!! Words are so powerful. If not for a compliment given to me in a sequence of 16 words, my head would be relatively clear right now. I suppose I am easily flattered when it comes in bold form.

I have been humbled by selling on ebay. I rarely sell on my ebay account. But I became overly ambitious one day two weeks ago as my youngest son's 2nd birthday loomed and I decided to immediately clear away some baby gear by way of ebay auctions. I listed 8 items in one day, while basically placing the kids in front of Disney DVD's and Noggin all day! The house was a mess...okay, well more of a mess than normal. I believe that on that day, I picked up fast food for two meals. Anyway, it was not something I will take on in that way again. Silly me, I didn't realize that USPS shipping costs on large items like an exersaucer is ridiculously expensive. I underestimated the shipping cost, or actually, the dimensions of the box (which I hadn't even found yet). Well, after buying an $8 box, I realized that USPS was not going to work and that I basically could not afford to sell the item to the buyer afterall. I sent her a refund and an apology, with a humble offer to continue with the sale if I could charge her to ship the thing via DHL...which was a great deal on DH's business account, but still twice as much as the buyer was quoted. The buyer still wanted the item, so she paid again with the new amount and I sent it with DH the next business day and it's outta my hair! Now I wait for her to tarnish my rep with some negative feedback. Even though she got this thing for a STEAL! I later find tons of people locally on craigslist who are asking upwards of $50 for this particular exersaucer. I sold it for $12...minus the flippin' $8 BOX!!!!

The good news is, all the other items were shipped within my shipping estimations and a few items sold for better than expected. All in all, I think I made out better than I would have in a garage sale. But the whole shipping mess with all of it was a mess I don't want to do anymore. I will be listing really big items like carseat, stroller and pack-n-play on craigslist, priced to sell. I am seriously tempted to just haul it all to Goodwill as it's just 1/2 mile from my home, but I could use the extra cash.

I am on a mission for black strappy heeled sandals. I realized last month, while dressing nice for an anniversary date, that I had NO black heeled sandals! I donated my old ones probably last Fall. They were hard to part with, as they were adorable and had been such the go-to shoe for so long. I hadn't bought any other black strappies because I hadn't needed anything else! But they were worn, the weather was cold, I rarely go out, so I told myself to let them go and I would be on the lookout for another pair. Then I completely forgot. I have to buy the BEST ones out there, so I went to zappos.com and a few other sites and now have a list of about 5 that were perfect enough to choose from. I also checked out places I never shop, like Ross, Marshalls and TJMaxx, because DH had the kids one afternoon. I didn't find perfect black strappies, but I did find perfect casual brown leather flips and a brown leather pair of wedges.

Then on a whim, after taking ANOTHER look at these fabulous shoes that were being showcased on a blog, I drank a glass of wine and suddenly I just HAD to buy the last pair in my size of powder blue platform stiletto peep-toes at 6pm.com for 1/2 of original retail. I LOVE THEM, but I truly have nowhere to wear them appropriately and nothing that really goes with them. Still, they are beautiful and sexy and bold and they make me happy to look at and imagine myself out in public in them. I'll be 6 inches taller, which I remember from earlier days is an eye-opening experience to little me, a 5'3 girl who generally doesn't have a reason to wear heels anymore.

So what have I learned this summer? That decluttering 4 years of accumulation doesn't happen in a month unless you truly just haul it away in a truck. This process is going to take a while, the whole ebay experience is bittersweet because it did feel awesome to rid myself of a few big items, but the process took time away from my kids and took quite a bit of energy from myself. Babysteps are the way to go. Now, if I could just allow myself to have patience and let go of the crash and burn ambition that seems to come over me in cycles.

~Peace