Decluttering, Part 2

My last post (over a month ago, oops!) Decluttering My Home listed some of the tips I'd found useful as I began to declutter my home.

I've already got rid of anything that was rubbish, that is anything that was broken, worthless or just plain trash. I've also set aside some things that can be donated to charity. this includes things like clothes and any free gifts that came with magazines that I have no use for.

There are of course some things that I didn't want to give away or throw away even though I didn't really want to keep them either. These were the things that I had paid a lot of money for, or that I knew were worth some money. I've decided to try and sell some of these things myself. Obviously I don't want to hang onto this stuff forever in the hope of making some quick cash, so I'm going to set a time limit. That way if I haven't managed to sell something within a month I'll feel less guilty about giving it away.

So where's a good place to sell these things? I don't have a car, garage or yard so car boot sales, garage or yard sales are out. I do however live in a block of flats where people are always moving in and out. This makes it very easy to sell the larger household items that I no longer need, all I have to do is put a notice on the noticeboard. I have also found some local groups on Facebook which are useful for selling items locally, however I did have some issues with trying to get the group administrators to approve my posts quickly and I also encountered a few timewasting buyers.

However, I intend to sell most things online. I am using Amazon for selling books, DVDs, CDs and games. Although I'm not likely to make much money through this because their fees are quite high, there is quite a quick turnaround and I managed to make 3 sales in the first 24 hours.
For craft supplies I'm thinking of using Etsy and/or Folksy as I have had good experiences with these in the past.

For everything else I will probably turn to Ebay. One issue I have with Ebay is that listing items can be a lengthy process, also it can be hard to get your items noticed.

I think I'm going to concentrate on using one selling site at a time. For the meantime I'm quite in love with the simplicity of listing on Amazon. I love that all you have to do is type in the barcode and all the information is already there for you.

In case you're curious here's my Amazon storefront.

Review: Craftseller issue 26

Craftseller issue 26 and free gift

I really love Craftseller magazine. It's different to other craft magazines because the projects inside are designed for you to make and sell. The magazine also gives loads of advice on opening and running a craft business either online or offline. This issue contains lots of fab craft ideas including: Russian dolls, crochet puppies, tea cup pincushion and some yummy baking recipes. There are also some interesting articles including upcoming trends, interviews with craft business owners and information about crafty courses. The free gift with this issue was some ribbon which could be used to make tags for your handmade items. Also each issue contains some free scrapbook papers and ideas on how to use them.

I would highly recommend Craftseller magazine, even if you don't have your own craft business yet. It is very inspiring and will give you some great ideas.

Folksy Shop

I finally took the plunge and set up a Folksy shop. You can find it at http://folksy.com/shops/ElsieLayton, I haven't got much listed at the moment but will hopefully be adding more over the next week or so.