How I made $10 an hour yesterday

One of my 2010 resolutions was to unload more stuff out of our home than I brought in this year. That is why I have set goals such as those you have read about this year like the couples getaway in early June and the family camping trip in July, all were goals to help me put my energy into de-cluttering our home.

Now with just 2 more months of 2010 left I am stepping things up a notch. My goal, to keep Jack busy on once family home, now soon to be rental, while he is waiting for his work visa to come in.

We have several big items kicking around the old home that needed to be dealt with. Yard sale season is over, and they were to big to eBay so I ventured into the land of Craigslist. I had great success renting our last rental on this website but I have never listed anything else.

We have tried to buy things off it, but it has always been a wild goose chase, as the item has either already been sold when we got there, or its not like it was pictured. Still those goose chases have turned into great date time.

So last Saturday I spent the day dusting off all the big items we no longer use, then I took pictures of them all then I took measurements. That afternoon I posted them all on facebook for one week, so as to give my friends first dibs. Often I have sold things before only to have my friends say "hey, I wanted one of those I would have bought it off you!" so now I try to give them first dibs..

That week I sold a propane heater, which netted me about $5 an hr return for my time. Then this Saturday I sat down to about a 7 hr day of searching craigslist , then listing. So far just 24 hrs later I have sold our old washer for $80 or about $10 an hr when you add in jacks time to rewash it off (he was renovating yesterday so it got dusty) and meet the guy who bought it.

So far I would say I give Craigslist about a 7 out of 10. One great benefit, is it is free to list, and very simple to do. One major downfall, you get no shows (one lady said she would call me back this afternoon to pick up an item she looked at yesterday and she is now 3 hours past when she said she would call for pick up). I have also gotten a really weird e-mail that seemed like a scam to me, so I declined that offer.

For safety reasons, Jack and I choose to post our cell numbers and not our land lines so the kids don't answer potential weird callers. We also took all the items to our renovation home, so that we don't have to give out our home address. We also agreed that I would meet with lady buyers and he will meet with male buyers.

Still my opinion of Craigslist selling over the last 24 hrs is that it is worth it for larger items only.