Saturday - Day #8
Today is my birthday! Who-hoo!! My wish for today is that at least 5 more items sell on eBay so I can ship them out/get them out of the house on Monday. Woke up and put 11 more items on eBay (mainly jewelry). Out of my house you go! (Update: 5 items did sell and $58.24 went into my minimalist fund).
Temptation - I received an e-mail from shopliasophia.com advertising their rings (including these two that I've wanted for over a year now) are on sale today for a fraction of their original price. I almost caved, but in the end, I reminded myself of the hastle of getting rid of my excessive belongings and stayed the course. Proud of myself for doing so!
Sunday - Day #9
Had a nice dinner at my favorite Italian restaurant last night with my parents and husband. During conversation my mom and I discussed my attempt to become more minimalist. She shared she's been on a similar journey and said she hopes I stick with it. She and my husband both wonder if this is just a fad. (I do have a tendency to have a 30-day attention span when it comes to sticking to new "projects"). Only time will tell, but I hope this is something I stick to. Doing this daily blog post adds to my accountability.
I just read an encouraging comment that Rachel left on my Week #1 post (you can read it here) and am going to check out her recommendation of a new website that you can sell clothes to. In the mean time though, I keep listing things on eBay (20 more items today). 5 more things sold. Yeah!! Each item I sell/get rid of feels SO GOOD!!! I find myself not wanting to continue inventorying though b/c I don't want my % of items eliminated (right now it's at 10.5%) to go down when I add more items to the count of what I own. Instead I would rather just keep eliminating items from what I've already counted.
Monday - Day #10
It made me so happy to wake up and be able to put all these packages in the mail! (Thank you Lord)!!! Something sold while I was at work too, so that puts the total at 17 items sold and $126.16 made back (after paying all eBay and Paypal fees). Who-hoo!! The profit isn't huge (I'm pricing to get rid of more so than to make a ton of money), but it's more than these items were bringing in just sitting in my closets! I'm 15.2% of the way total to my $1000 goal and it's only been a week, so that's great!
After work I packaged up what sold today and called it a day as far as eBay goes. I was planning on putting at least one item per day on the site, but I did so much this weekend I'm cutting myself a break tonight. I did finish my spare bedroom inventory though after work. I'm debating on finishing the kitchen next or starting to do my hall closet. Both will be tedious for sure!
Tuesday thru Thursday - Days #11-13
Where has this week gone?! Tuesday and today I worked late, so by the time I got home, I just wanted to take a shower and lay in bed. I did actually find a new blog though Tuesday night that I immersed myself in called "The Minimalists". Simple enough right?! It included a great idea about putting all your belongings in one room and over the course of 21 days, only pulling out what you actually need. At the end of the 21 days, one of the bloggers either sold, donated, or threw away everything else that was boxed up. It's a great concept, but I have a lot to sell and go thru, so it wouldn't really fit my process. I need more time than that. Still though, it encouraged me to go into my main closet and start pulling out even more items. I basically just asked myself with each piece, "Would this make the 21-day cut"? If it was a definite "no", out it came. If it was a "yes" or "maybe", it stayed. Needless to say, there's a lot more items now to photograph and put on eBay. Some items went straight to the trash or to the Goodwill donation pile too!
Yesterday I went to the dentist and got my teeth cleaned. Then the husband wanted to go get massages when he got home. Since date night is an approved expense, I said OK and we went and got an 80-minute couples massage at this little place by our house. It was SO nice!! Hubs loved it so much he wants to make it a once a month date night for us.
My co-worker texted me a picture this morning of a great deal she found on a cute purse set and it didn't phase me too much. Baby steps! :)
Over the past three days I did cross the "500 items eliminated" thresh hold. I'm proud of myself for that too! I'd love to get to the 600 item mark by tomorrow night at midnight but I'm not sure that will happen. (I'm at 518 right now).
Friday - Day #14
So happy the work week is over! That same co-worker from yesterday sent me another picture of a purse today she found at a second hand store. Here's a picture of the little temptress:
It's the bigger version of a Vera Bradley purse I'm carrying now. I said no at first and then she told me it was $24.99 and she would pick it up for me. I was hurrying up to try to get to a work meeting and I said yes (and used my birthday money for it). Now I'm kicking myself for not having will power to say no! I bought it using birthday money, so technically it was allowed. I didn't need it though. (I have 41 other purses according to my inventory including wallets and wristlets). As punishment for not staying strong and not making a better decision, I'm going to force myself to list items on eBay tonight (which I'm totally not in the mood to do).
On a positive note though, I came right home and shipped out what sold today and looked for items to purge so I could hit the 600 item mark. As of right now, I'm at 602 items, which is really good in my opinion! My goal is to inventory the hall closet, the rest of the kitchen, and at least get started on the living room this weekend. (It wouldn't take me so long if I wasn't trying to list things on eBay and logging all my belongings in an Excel spreadsheet as I go).
Totals for this Week:
Current Inventory - 3748 (Again, I still have some counting to do though)
Items Purged - 313
Items Donated - 338
Items Used - 119
Items Sold/Returned - 32 (This number doesn't include the 28 items currently listed on eBay. Hopefully they'll sell soon and this number will go up).
TOTAL ITEMS ELIMINATED = 602
(602/4350) = 13.8% of items inventoried have been eliminated so far
That percentage will definitely drop as I focus on completing more of the inventory. I can't wait to actually have everything counted so I can really focus on getting rid of things!
Next week's goal: Focus less on eliminating items and more on getting things counted so the overall inventory is complete. If I hit 700 items eliminated overall, I'll be happy for Week #3.
XOXO,
Stephanie
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