Throughout our marriage, Susan and I have been looking for something that we can do together. She has no real interest in golf, I hate “chick flicks”…you know the drill, right? You love the woman, but you just can’t seem to find an activity that doesn’t drive one of you nuts. What’s a couple to do? Well, I think we may have finally hit on something.
We’ve discovered a way to share an activity AND supplement our income through Ebay. It began when we were trying to find a way to come up with the money for Susan and Eric to go to a debate tournament at the University of Michigan. Garage sales are OK to a point, but after you’ve had a couple, they really become a pain in the ass. It’s tough to make any real money, and people will nickel-and-dime you because, well, that’s just the way the game is played. It’s like being nibbled to death by ducks. At the last garage sale we had, a woman pleaded poverty, and convinced Susan to come down from $.50 to $.25 on some forgettable tschotschke. She then pulled a $20 bill out of her purse and asked Susan to make change. WTF???
We’ve started going to garage sales and looking for things that we can buy for a buck or two and then turn around and make a reasonable profit. It’s been a learning process, and we’ve made a few mistakes along the way, but we’ve been surprising successful so far. For example, Susan found a children’s game for $.50, and we then sold it for $51.00. We’ve made a bunch of money off of Legos. We sold an old pair of Eric’s shoes that we originally bought for $19.95 last year for $40.00. If you know what you’re looking for, it’s possible to do that with surprising frequency. Susan knows toys, so we’ve concentrated on that. As time goes by, we may try and expand our horizons a bit. For now, Susan is the brains behind the outfit. I am looking for things that I enjoy that we can make a profit on, but I’ve not been particularly successful.
I suppose it’s true- one man’s trash really IS another’s treasure. I am constantly amazed at the things that people will pay ridiculous sums of money for. The potential to make some very good money is there; we just have to figure out how to take advantage of the possibilities.
For now, we’re using the profits to pay for various “projects”. Eric got his trip to Michigan. We’re now working on LASIK surgery for me. After that, we’ll work on getting Susan the new furniture she wants (hopefully, it will be something the cats won’t be able to shred).
The good thing is that we finally have something that we can do together. I’m not a big fan of spending my Saturdays trolling garage sales, but I do enjoy making a profit. Being successful will make weeding through people’s crap enjoyable.
