How Much Makes You Happy

What makes you happy?  That is the question of the day.  You know the whole Mari Kondo question of what sparks joy.

Well roller blades seem to bring the family quite a bit of joy when we are using them and not spending our time sorting through things.  So I think we can keep them, right? Not so fast.

Now let me see, there are  5 of us in this family.  Yes, there are 12 pairs of roller blades....let's do some math here....

There may be some things in life where some is good and more is even better.  Maybe oxygen and money?  Studies have shown that an increase in income increases happiness, up to a point!  I know, if you are like me you are rolling your eyeballs, and wondering how there could ever be too much money. And while I am not there personally, I have witnessed enough media to think I can believe this data.  All those ultra-rich people you see making seriously bad decisions, and you end up thinking, 'well at least i don't have that going on".  

Rollerblade are not like this, I don't use them up, so it's good to have more in reserve, and personally I find wearing more than one pair at a time impossible.  I have to admit, i do have both roller blades and quads, and I think I might be guilty of having a 3rd pair in the pile.  Of course MY 3rd pair, can be justified by the fact that right now my son can wear it, and that it won't be long before they are adopted by my daughters as they grow.  However, one pair should be enough for everyone else ;)  That is said only slightly sarcastically.  As I am the only one with a different type, and ultimately the '3rd' pair is being reassigned to another family member, which should leave about 5 pairs of skates that no one will wear.  Owning things no one will regularly use, will congest the garage, actually decreasing my happiness.

It seems that with most things that there is a place of balance, a place of happiness, this place is called enough.

EBAY To Sell or Not to Sell a.k.a. Is it worth it?

EBAY: ARE YOU REALLY GOING TO MAKE MONEY?

Almost every declutter source at some point suggests selling your stuff, and most mention ebay.  Don't get me wrong, I love being able to buy stuff on ebay.  Might be looking for some random part, or in need of an item I don't want to buy new.  So it makes sense that I should participate in this market, not only as a buyer, it needs sellers to work.

And so I have posted a few items.  However, in my frustration at the rising cost of shipping, I have taken a slightly closer look at the bottom line.  That bottom line is what I take away from the arrangement. Yes, me, the one who purchased the item, took the time to list the item, and then has to deal with shipping and possibly be responsible for any shipping mishaps.

This post is spurred by my recent sale of 2 brand new pairs of shoes, unworn with tags in box that my children outgrew before wearing (long-story).  One pair of Jambu sneakers cost me about $60. My husband posted them for $15 stating he just wanted them out, he put $10 shipping. His goal was to stay under the $30 half price point.  Of course they sold with one bid for $15. I want to say that in my previous foray of ebay selling, all 10 items sold with 1 bid or 2 for a couple which means that they sold within $1 of what they started at.

So the buyer has spent $25 for a new pair of shoes that would have cost about $60 in-store or on amazon. That seems reasonable.  Now for me, on my end of things.  First, I know this is a loss, and I should purchase only from LLBean-where I could return these new items even though it has been 3 months--and I could get the size that fits. BUT I didn't, soo I eat a loss, that is a given.  The only thing to decide is whether it is worth trying to make someone else happy and make a few dollars on ebay--meanwhile these things hang around my space.

Here is the breakdown:

 $15.00      sold
 $10.00       shipping charged
 $25.00       amount charged

-$15.00      shipping costs
-$ 2.50        ebay selling fee ***they charge their fee on the selling price + shipping,
-$1.05         PayPal fee of 3% total amount charged  + $0.30
 $6.45         Amount I receive for my $60 shoes & the time I spent listing, packing, & getting to USPS

The way I see it, is that I put in probably 20 mins of time, getting shoes listed,  and then another 15 finding a box and packing, then a half hour to drive to and from the post office, and however long I stand in line (or time and resources to print label)  so, yup better off working minimum wage.
If I donate all of the shoes and rest of things that might go on ebay I can write them off for more than I will make on them, the benefits will be that I can support a charity I believe in, help the local community out, get the stuff out of the house almost immediately and save myself a lot of frustration. Honestly, if the cost of shipping were more reasonable, it could almost be fun, but the recent rate hikes in USPS just pushed it over the edge.  Another option would be to gift them to friends.  As a side note I had the same shoes on several local selling sites/apps  for over a week, before going to ebay, again, there is still the hassle of meeting up with someone to sell in person-though I try to meet at the grocery store, even so timing is not always convenient.

American Dream - Everyone Has The Right to Own Things

AMERICAN DREAM

So I am sitting here going through my bedside table area. Thinking that maybe having a clean room will make it easier to get up in the morning. I found an old notebook here something that I've been using the rest of the pages up just writing notes for the day, or at least I was doing this at one point before it became buried. So I'm just going through this Notebook thinking can I just toss it.  I only NEED one Notebook.  I wanted to make sure there's nothing I really needed in it. Of course one might say that it's been sitting there for probably more than a year, the content in it was either daily tasks, or my notes from high school, so I really did not NEED to go through it.

Looking through, I happen to stop on a page titled The Great Gatsby. In the middle of the page where the ink turns from black to blue, the first line there reads,

American dream everyone has the right to own things.

Well, there you have it ladies and gentlemen, we are taught in high school by the classics and our school system that we should dream of owning stuff, the title alone Great Gatsby says it all.  We need lots of stuff. Therefore I am successful and I learned it in English class.

And so the question remains what do I do with a notebook?