Mommy Life: Tips to Simplify- Sell Sell Sell

I don’t know about y’all but sometimes I just feel overwhelmed with all of the STUFF. I don’t just mean things to do, I mean the physical stuff: too many clothes, too many toys, too many books, too much stuff I don’t use anymore. Here’s some tips to simplify:

 

Sell, Sell, Sell

 

Do you have boutique or higher end clothing items? Threadflip will mail you a bag and you can ship those items to them to sell for you. Note: they will determine the price, but if you don’t really care about much money you get back or just don’t want the hassle of selling on your own or at a local consignment shop this is a winning way to go. Simplify, Mommy.

 

Books. I swear, I’ve got more books than I know what to do with. You can go local and sell to a shop like my local one: Gottwals’ Books. Or you can go the Amazon route. With Amazon you can list items and hang on to them in a corner of your house OR you can go the simplify route and go with Amazon Fulfillment. This way you ship items to them and they list them etc etc etc. I haven’t tried this route but something that does concern me is having to tie my credit card to it and of course their service agreement says they can charge you fees and whatever. I’d rather go to my local bookstore and sell straight to them. When you stop in they will give you a ticket with how much you have earned in store credit. Or if you have textbooks you can get cash.

 

Kid’s clothes. I haven’t found an online consignment site I like- but there is a local store and there’s also other local options in my area. Sweetpea’s has been around forever in Macon, Georgia. A simple online search led me to reBlossom in Athens, Georgia- their website looks pretty awesome and they also offer equipment rentals and photography for parents. And classes, too!

 

 

 

For the Savannah, Georgia area the Coastal Kids Market comes up first in a Google search.  This event is coming up from September 11th-13th, 2014.

 

Some general tips on consigning kids clothes (and, really, any clothing):

• be sure to keep a stain stick or spray wash bottle on hand, go ahead and pre-treat clothing…. let’s be honest, you never know when you’ll actually get to wash a load
• when washing clothes, wash on a gentle cycle, cold wash- I find the cold wash preserves colors better
• before putting items in the dryer check for any stains that didn’t come out, then pre-treat again if a few are still stubborn
• once dried take out of dryer immediately and fold or hang, I hate ironing with a passion so I will take out of the dryer immediately
• Storage: I will buy large tupperware containers and store clothing until the next season if I have to and put dryer sheets in the boxes to keep items fresh, label boxes according to season of clothing and gender of clothing

 

Be sure to call your local consignment stores/events to find out when they are accepting clothing and make an appointment if you can!

 

I’m a big believer in taking care of the items you have, mainly because it’s the right thing to do but also because if you don’t you can’t get the best resale value. I’ve made a LOT of money back from my kids clothing by purchasing nice items for nice occasions- and many times I bought them on consignment and then resold them.

 

The same principles can be used for books, electronics, anything- really. And when you need to simplify your life it helps to get some cash back.

 

But what about when you have items that can’t be sold?

 

I just cleared out a ton of items that we can’t use, like a potty-training seat and bath toys, that can’t exactly be sold. What to do? I donate to Crisis Line and Safe House, primarily. There are all kinds of things they can put to good use over there.

 

 

Hope this helps you simplify your life, Mommy!

 

 

Love to all y’all,

 

Molly