I've got a few auctions on eBay which are ending this morning, so I am hoping for a flurry of last-minute bidding activity. To be honest, any bids received will be gratefully received, even if it seems that it is more hassle than it is worth to pack the items up and get them out of the house. At least that will be fewer things cluttering up the house.
I am currently going through a minimalism course; I say I am going through it, I am reading the weekly emails and reading the Facebook posts. I did actually stumble across a live Q&A on Facebook with the author Josh Becker - his answers were live, but the questions were typed or sent beforehand. What he was saying made sense, and actually got me thinking.
The book he has written is called "The More of Less" and is the first Amazon Kindle book I think I've paid full price for, because this 12-week course is now free, as a benefit of me buying the book.
Anyway, he was talking about accumulating stuff as a result of hobbies or pursuing interests, and he said that when the accumulation of stuff got to the point where it was actually preventing you from enjoying your hobby, that was when it was time to re-evaluate, and maybe take a more minimalist approach.
This is a picture of my comics bookcase. These are all unread comics, and when / if I ever try to read them, I do find my time is taken up trying to organise all the issues in the series, or looking for a missing issue in the piles of unread and random comics, or didn't I have a variant of this issue, with a stunning cover? I wonder if that is worth anything; I know, I'll check eBay... And the next thing I know, I've wasted 40 minutes and I've not read a single comic. I also have several boxes (about 4) containing organised series of comics which I have read. I don't know why I am keeping them, I thought they might be worth something one day, I suppose, but when I look on eBay the grim reality becomes clear - no-one is interested in paying thousands of pounds for my old tat, even if it is boarded and bagged, and carefully handled and as good as new. I can put a read comic on eBay for 99p, but have to charge for postage, and unless the comic is a special issue, you can probably buy it new from a dealer for £2.20 or so, so actually there is no point in me keeping them.
I have occasionally made some money, but only rarely - Nowhere Men springs to mind, and a few weeks ago I sold a twelve-part series for £20, which meant I was only £5 down on the deal, but it's no way to make an income.
So here is the new approach; for limited series, collect all issues, read them, and put them on eBay as a collection. Have them auto-relist one time, and if there are no watchers or huge amounts of viewers during those two weeks, to the bin they go. I'm not planning to add any more to the boxes already filled, and I may even try to empty those boxes. If I can get a hold on this collection, and reduce it, I may turn some of it into cash, even if it is only pennies.
Once all this is gone / under control, the girls had better watch out, because I will probably then try to reduce the number of toys / dolls / games they have lying about, especially what's on the floor of their bedroom...
TTFN.
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