KATIE'S ADVENTURES WITH THE POST OFFICE

How embarrassing.

So, remember how I told you I sold my first item, the whiskey decanter? Well, I wanted to make sure I shipped it out quickly since my eBay status is riding on it. Damn Paypal is holding my funds for 21 days or until I make more sales. Why? I guess I understand. I have to prove myself as a seller. I've had my eBay account for 11 years and only ever used it to buy things. I have a perfect score card with that, mind you. Anyway, my funds are frozen for the time being.

So.

I already had the perfect box here in the house to ship the decanter AND the inflatable bubble things you sometimes receive in packages. I was all set. The only thing left to do was to print off the shipping label and I'd be on my merry way to the post office (after bathing and clothing-ing-ng..ng... two small children along with myself). I had already put in the (approximate) measurements of the box, along with the weight. Ebay had confirmed that the best course of action was 2-Day Priority Mail. I'll nod my head and pretend I understand that. (warning: Shipping Noob).

The customer paid for his purchase, along with $9.75 in shipping. Hooray. I went to print the shipping label and realized I would receive a bit of a discount for shipping through eBay - heck yeah! It was going to be around $8.17 to ship. The only problem was..... we're out of ink in our printer. No biggie. I needed to go out anyway ("off the mountain" as we call it - we literally live on a mountain and it takes 20-30 minutes to get anywhere so we try to combine trips). I knew I would need to swing by the library and print off my label and then head for the post office. Again, two small kids? Yeah. Some call me wonder woman.

But just to make sure, I wanted to go ahead and double-check with the USPS website and see if there was an even easier way to ship the package and save a bit on postage. What I discovered was that there was a second option - Regional Box A - that would save me an additional $2. I thought HECK YEAH (this time in caps) and proceeded to get the kids ready. I decided I would go ahead and leave my box open since I didn't have tape here (I told you I was a shipping noob ... or idiot. Or both) and have them tape it at the post office for me (NAIVE shipping noob alert) and then send it off in either this package or switch everything over to the golden Regional A box.

An hour and a half later and two meltdowns per child later (and one by me, not gonna lie), we were out the door and on our way. We arrived at the post office and to my horror, the line was damn near around the corner to the grocery store. The weather here has been a cool 65-70 degrees and apparently nobody works in this city so everyone's been out and about at 2:00pm in the middle of the week. I was annoyed to say the least. So here I was, standing in line, holding a rooting newborn looking for a boob in one hand, my awkwardly-open package in the other and trying to answer all 500 of my 3-year-old's questions while trying to keep my huge-ass purse/diaper bag on my shoulder.

"Mommy, where are we?"

"Mommy, look at all these boxes!"

"Mommy, look what I can do!" (picks nose)

"Mommy, when are we going to the library?!"

"MOMMY YOU SAID WE WERE GOING TO THE LIBRARY."

"MOMMY."

"MOMMMMMMMYYYYY."

"Mommy, I need to go to the bathroom."

"Mommy."

"MOMMY."

"Mommy, I touched your butt."

"MOMMY I'M SO HUNGRY AND THIRSTY."

Oh sweet Jesus my patience was tested. I even called upon the Lord for help a few times and I'm not even religious. Thankfully the man in front of me could see I was struggling and offered to hold my package for me. I'm sure if I was a guy, that line could have been a little sexier. Sorry, distracted. ANYWAY. The line moved slower than an old bitty with a checkbook at the grocery store.

Finally, it was my turn. The guy looked like he just wasn't having it. The baby was grumbling at this point ("Grumbles," again, is her nickname). I told the guy that I was a bit new to the whole mailing packages thing (New? I've literally never mailed more than a letter in the drop-down box). He sighed rather loudly. I continued. I told him I was an eBay seller and this was my first package to ship and that eBay was offering me a shipping discount but I didn't print the label because I wanted to see about this Regional A box as a second choice. I could tell he was trying his hardest not to roll his eyes. He informed me that HE couldn't offer me the eBay discount (No fucking duh, dude... I'm not that dumb.) and that he didn't carry the Regional A box in his store AND I was going to have to package up the box on my own, fill out the package slip and get to the back of the line. I damn near wanted to cry. How could I be so stupid? I was under the very incorrect assumption that he could at least tape the stupid box for me. Nope.

Not only did I have to step aside, lose my place in line and look like a dejected moron, I had to pull some overpriced tape off the sales rack and use it to package up my poor box. I had to grab a spare outfit from my diaper bag and lay the baby's head on it as I dealt with my situation. Thankfully a lady on the other side of the island took pity on me and offered to tape the box up while I held the baby. How sweet of her. Much sweeter than the post office employee, that's for sure.

What an ordeal.

But the good news is this - I've made my first sale and successfully shipped the package off to the (hopefully) happy buyer.

Now it's 2:43 am, the house is quiet, the baby is due to wake up at any minute and demand boob and I'm basking in the lack of sound.

Good night!

I MADE MY FIRST SALE!

I'm acting like a giddy idiot over here but damn, this feels good.

I made my first sale!

I might just get a tattoo to commemorate this day.

I'm overdue for a tattoo anyway. ;)

Item: 1967-1970 era whiskey/liquor glass decanter 

Purchased at: Goodwill

Purchased for: $2.99

Sold for: $16.95 + shipping

Profit: $13.96 before fees

I'm actually quite sad to see this item go. I have a soft spot for vintage things and this one really caught my eye. I put in the description that it would be a great addition to a man cave. If only I had a woman cave I could escape to and be away from the kids ... this would be sitting on my mantle! Oh well. It needed to be sold. 

WEEK ONE: WHAT I HAVE UP SO FAR

I'm going to start archiving the items I put up for sale just to see what I've done so far. 

ESTATE SALES ARE FOR THE BIRDS

I'm pretty sure I'll take that title back at some point but for now it stands true.

Story time!

My first estate sale was 2 weeks ago. I was actually at a local antique shop and saw a handwritten advertisement for a local estate sale and it was ending in 45 minutes.

I high-tailed it to the event and was slightly disappointed. I guess I always expected estate sales to be a bit more ...... cheap? I don't know. Are they usually? The estate sale team seemed to have the majority of their items priced at about what they'd go for on eBay from people who thrift and try to turn a profit. I was getting discouraged 'til I came across an old green vintage box from the '60s packed to the brim with old-ass postcards. I knew I was running low on time and I was the only one there aside from a middle-aged woman who wanted to talk me up and down about Kennedy (my newborn daughter), who was snoozing away happily in my baby wrap. 

I need to sidebar for a second.

I used to be one of those people who would try to talk to you about your baby. I now see why, oftentimes, people were short and sweet or just flat out cold. I love babies. In fact, I have two of them. They're hellions but I adore them. Sometimes I just want to get in and get out and I'm getting to the point where I am absolutely sick and tired of people asking me 50 million questions about my baby like they've never seen one before. Then turning to my 3-year-old and asking her a million questions about what it's like to be a big sister. Before having kids, I'd get the hint if someone didn't want to talk about their baby. I'd move on. But now it seems I was one of the only people who'd catch the hint. I try to be as direct and nice as I can be but make it obvious I have things to do. Why do people keep talking to me when it's obvious I need to get going?!

Sidebar over.

So this lady, who I'm sure was fully aware of the time constraints, kept talking to me about her own kids and nieces and nephews and all their kids. I nodded politely and made a comment here or there but overall I kept moving. She followed me. Talk about obnoxious. 

I was carrying the box of postcards, debating in my head if I wanted to pay the $12 and try to sell the postcards on Etsy or eBay. Then Kennedy started to whine and grumble. (Her nickname is "Grumbles" for this very reason).

At this point the lady had followed me down to the basement but was finally leaving me alone. Kennedy began to cry harder. I knew I had to feed her. I found a chair in the darkest corner and began to nurse her. I decided this was likely one of the lowest points of my life: Sitting in a dead woman's mildew-ridden basement with my tit out with only crickets and spiders for company and trying to console an angry newborn while I contemplate the purchase of an overpriced box of postcards.

What had my life come to?

Thankfully Kennedy finished quickly and I was able to leave without disturbing the estate sale team's time. 

My second estate sale was this past Saturday.

I saw the listing on my local Craigslist around 1:30pm. The sale was going on about 25 minutes away from my home and was going on until 4:00pm. I decided I had enough time this go 'round to actually look at things, but I had my oldest daughter with me instead of her spending the day with her grandma.

Sigh.

I managed to get the kids and myself dressed and out the door in a little under 20 minutes. Record time. I deserved a cookie for that miracle.

When we arrived, I noticed that a lot of the items in this estate sale were, again, overpriced. Or so I assumed. Lots of breakable glassware and kitchen items and a million wicker baskets. Why so many baskets? What do you put in all of them? All your ridiculous kitchen pieces?

I wandered to the back, carrying the baby in my baby wrap and trying desperately to make sure my 3-year-old didn't touch anything. I managed to back into a shelf full of breakables with my own ass and almost broke a ton of overpriced crap but thankfully got away unscathed. Of course my child called me out on it.

I came across a $5 with two interesting objects.

Not the exact item I saw - this is from Google

This Mickey Mouse pin seemed to be pretty old and possibly valuable. A quick Google search brought up little to no profit if the pin was being sold for $5. What a disappointment and a rip off. I'm learning quickly ... to be cynical. Or is it a realist?

The next item that caught my eye was one I ultimately purchased.

Again, this is from Google. I'm lazy.

What is this?

Well, it appears to be an antique/vintage attachments case for a Singer sewing machine. 

It was on the $5 table. I decided to take a gamble and buy it. My internet was being an asshole and didn't wanna load and the back room I was in was without air conditioning and I thought I was gonna have a heat stroke so I grabbed it and went on my merry way.

We decided to move to the upstairs.

Wow, talk about stuffy and hot. You'd think if you were having an estate sale you'd at least make it appealing enough that your visitors/potential buyers weren't roasting in your upstairs bedrooms. 

I found a bedroom full of clothes and went to town researching (I had better service with my phone in this room). In the meantime my oldest was lolly-gagging around and trying to play with everything. I was losing my mind. My poor tiny baby was sweating profusely since she's against my body in the wrap. I decided that I'd have to hurry.

I came across a couple pairs of vintage Levi's Dockers and they're currently up for sale on my eBay page along with a pair of Vintage Dickie's pants.

Finally - an actual photo I took.

I bought four pairs of them and received a small discount at checkout. They came to $2.50 a piece and I was quite proud considering my local Goodwill charges $4.79 for a pair of pants. It turns out my uncle didn't agree... he said the Dockers are a hard and slow sale and I might make a small profit. The Dickie's weren't great either.

Damnit.

Moving on, I found a very interesting pair of vintage men's shoes. I'm into vintage things, can you tell? Anyway, a quick Google search told me I could get as much as $40-$60 for them so I decided to gamble for $3. They're currently up on my eBay for $45.99 after I spiffyed them up a little bit. Here they are in all their glory:

Nice, huh? I thought so.

All in all, I was happy with my purchases. I'm still researching the sewing machine parts. It looks like I might be able to sell them for around $25-$30 on eBay if I'm lucky. Not a bad profit. Wish me luck on that. I also bought some vintage Old Spice after shave bottles.... I bought five of them @ $1 a piece. The biggest one looks to be selling for around $25-$45 on eBay. Again, not a bad profit. I'm hoping to get that one up soon. I did end up buying what I thought was a vintage quilt but I was told it was quite new and just vintage-inspired. Bummer. I paid $10 for it and that's a good price if I wanted to keep it but I'm hoping to flip it. 

On to the next sale!

INTRODUCTORY POST

So here's my obligatory "About me" and "Why I started this bullshit" post and blah blah blah. I feel there's a stepping stone in this and I'm gonna go ahead and mark it. 

My name is Katie, hence the name. I am 28 years old and the (most of the time) proud mother of two adorable daughters - Scarlett and Kennedy. Scarlett is 3 and Kennedy is newly hatched, born February 1 of this year. This blog is going to catalog my journey as a thrifty re-seller .... hopefully.

It was around this time 5 weeks ago that I went to my grandparents' house to visit and to see my uncle who was in from out of town. I toted along my brand-new baby girl so he could meet her. I had left behind my oldest, loudest child with her grandmother for the day so I could have at least a little peace and quiet (any other moms out there know what I'm talking about). Sometimes a break is a break, you know? Sometimes five minutes of shhhh is enough to keep you going.

It was then that I got to catch up with my uncle and find out what he'd been up to. Apparently he had become an avid eBay re-seller and was absolutely killing it in the profits department. He decided to take me under his wing and teach me the ropes since he figured I was smart enough to do it too.

At least he had faith in my abilities. Here I am, 5 weeks later, no closer to making a sale than I was a year ago. I'm definitely confident and holding out hope.... but damn is this shit hard.

Yeah, I cuss. Fight me about it.

So I'm sitting pretty with several items listed on eBay - some are Buy it Now and some are auction. I'm dipping my toe in the water since I approach most things with caution these days. I've invested a little bit over $100 into this adventure and way too many hours of my time... but time is all I have these days. I'm fortunate enough to be a stay-at-home-mom. 

All you other ladies staying at home with your little ones ..... have a beer. Have a whole case of beer. 'Cause this is the hardest thing I think I've ever done. You truly don't get to clock out when you're a stay-at-home parent. I always knew it was a pain to take care of kiddos all day long but I didn't truly admire stay-at-home folks til I became one. Kudos to you all. You deserve a sticker and some wine.  Going back to work seems like a luxury at this point but again, I am blessed. I really am. I won't have to return to work until my youngest is in preschool .... or ever. We're not sure yet. But in the meantime, I'm on grocery duty. And laundry duty. And cleaning up the house duty. And shitty diaper duty. And boob-feeding duty. And it continues on into the night ... it's never a dull moment.

And thank you to those of you who nod at me understandably with sheer pity in your eyes as I'm pushing a cart through the snack aisle at the grocery store while the newborn baby wails like she's being tortured and the 3-year-old child is insisting on pushing the cart and manages to run over my toes, all while screaming out "MOMMY MOMMY, YOU FORGOT TO GET ME COOKIES. CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES. MOMMY WE HAVE TO TURN AROUND WE FORGOT THE COOKIES MOMMY ARE YOU LISTENING?! MOMMY MY BABY SISTER IS CRYING"

Yes, beloved daughter of mine ...... I am well aware. Trust me. 

I always swear I'm never taking them into public again.

So here I am, believing I may be out of my damn mind for wanting to take on an eBay business. The hubs is supportive and thinks if this thing takes off, we'll have extra cash to throw at bills or to save for fun stuff down the road. Fun stuff involving screaming, unhappy children like a vacation. What's a vacation? I can type the word but I'm unsure I truly understand the meaning.

With all that being said, I hope you enjoy my blog as much as I enjoy writing it. I have a feeling it's going to help me vent and blow off some steam .... I can't drink right now since a tiny infant relies on me for nutrition so what else is a girl to do? ;)