Declutter: Sell Used Books

For most of two years I've been selling used books and CDs on Amazon as an independent seller. Once shipping costs are factored in, it nets a few bucks a month that have been snowflaked into our Adoption fund. It's kind of a hassle to package everything and get it to the post office during open hours, but my wife's schedule has made it possible. (And I soooo much appreciate that.)

Business has been kind of slow recently. The other month I reduced all my sale prices to match the lowest amount for that item (often $0.01 plus shipping). We sold a few more and shipped them off. And then the other day I deactivated all my listings. All gone!

Weekend Catch-up

I know this blog's become more about life stuff recently. Groceries and meal planning, frugal living, and personal achievements aren't the only things going on for me right now, but I'm out of library school and there's not much library stuff I can talk about right now. I hope to come back to it in a while. In the meantime, here's what I've been up to this weekend!

Movin' On Up!

Just a little groove to get you set for the big news.

Kitchen Storage for Small Spaces

As I've mentioned before, I live in a very small apartment. Thankfully, the largest room is the kitchen, and it has a fair amount of wall space (once we got rid of the sofa and moved the bookshelf into the new office) as well as a large closet. We've had to get creative with storage, especially working in a rented space where we can't make structural changes. (I indulge in fantasies of built-in storage shelves.) I'm so pleased with the recent additions of secondhand kitchen furniture!

Reducto! Decluttering resumes.

Thankfully, the stuff in our apartment isn't stacked that high. Quite.

Goals check-in: November

Read 100 books in 2012.
This month I re-read quite a few books, without time to go to the library. A nice chorister handed me a couple of books he'd finished, and I devoured those even though I wouldn't have chosen them for myself. The list is up to #111. 

Exercise for 90 minutes per week.
Still just a lump in front of the computer. I am so looking forward to winter break.

How's married life?

Someone asked me that at work yesterday. I paused a moment before responding, "The apartment is such a MESS." I've been scrambling to catch up with homework since the honeymoon, and that combined with recent developments has made for an exceptionally busy domestic atmosphere. (I've started this blog post three times, for example, and had to come back to it later.)

October Bonus Round

In addition to my goals for 2012, I add month-long bonus goals.

For October:

Office Space, part 1

The whole point of that desk was to have a space to do homework in my new HOME OFFICE-slash-LIBRARY! Wooooooo!

Only it's... still in progress.

Peak pageviews!

Woo-hoo! August closed strong, sweeping past that target of 3000 pageviews to almost exactly double May's 1650. Total at the end of the month: 3293 pageviews.

Feeding the Grad School Monster by Selling Textbooks on Amazon.com

We all know that textbooks are expensive. But plenty of classes still require them -- so I usually rent instead of buying. But what if the textbooks you need aren't available to be rented? Then, friends, I suggest you head to Amazon to buy a used copy. If you're interested in graduating debt-free, or with a minimum of student debt, keep this in mind as a cost-saving tip: you can resell your textbooks from the previous semester for credit toward your current textbook needs.

August Bonus Round

In addition to my goals for 2012, I add month-long bonus goals.

For August:

Bargain-Basement Prices for a Thrifty Wedding

Yesterday I was home sick from work, and when I finally woke up and had something to eat, the condition of our bedroom bothered me. We have too much stuff in the apartment. And I just haven't had any time to clean or organize it.

So my sweetie and I packed up two big piles: one to take to the storage unit (extra luggage, art supplies, and some glassware of our housemate's) and one to donate to the thrift store (the housemate's rolling chair, the books and clothes I've been meaning to get out of the way, an old printer that was given to us months ago).

Joining the Declutter Challenge

I had some exciting news over the weekend: an apartment on the top floor of our building is vacant, and we just might be able to move into it! It's a 3 BR (as opposed to our 1 BR where we're sleeping in the living room -- that's really not as bad as it sounds -- and the sofa's in the kitchen), so there'd be a LOT more space (and one more housemate coming to join us... when we figure out who is the best fit). And even though it will entail a bunch of stair-climbing, it's still a really easy move! So keep your fingers crossed.

That brings me to today's resolution: I'm joining the Declutter Challenge inspired by the Single Saver.

My original decluttering goal was too small. I said I'd get rid of 80 things, but in January alone I managed to donate 46. Well, that's a prompt to set higher goals! I'm now committed to removing 366 things from my life/space by then end of 2012.