I need an accountability partner, cheerleaders, and/or a kick in the butt

[annettemarie]

We just finished paying off $35,000 in consumer debt, thank God and Dave Ramsey but we are really trying to Gazelle intensity our way out of a car loan, student loans, one last credit card and bunch of medical bills from my two miscarriages last year. I have a huge amount of books to get rid of and I would really like to see them if I can and not just give them away.

Exhibit A (Now that's not so bad, is it?)

Exhibit B (Um... yes. Yes it is that bad.)

I've tried selling them before, but I get really overwhelmed and end up missing and eventually outright ignoring :ban emails and PMs. But I am Highly Motivated this time.

I'd love tips on keeping it all organized and help making a time table to just dump this crap if I can't sell it.

I did separate them all into groups this time around and am going to work on making documents with the titles and prices and a link. I'm leaning against taking pictures because holy crap, that's a lot of pictures.

I don't know if it's better to post a lot of places at once or just one at a time. That's part of what is overwhelming to me.

Places I could post:
MDC
Natural Mama Barter
VegSource (but to be honest, I don't usually get any nibbles there so I might skip it. Then again, I have some Christian stuff that might sell there)
Waldorf Curriculum egroup (for the specifically Waldorf stuff)
CathSwap (for the specifically Catholic stuff)
Ebay (as a last resort)

People always recommend half.com and amazon, but I've listed stuff both places and never got a bite.

I also need someone who will say to after a certain amount of time "Give. It. Away. because no one wants to buy it."

[Aeress]

I am going to guess that the part that keeps you from getting this out of the house is the time involved in prepping it for sale.

Even in categories, it would take a bit of time to get this ready for sale.

Is there a used book sale for homeschoolers in your area? You can sell the books by the box/category. This would eliminate the need to take pics, write titles and post - plus keeping track of what goes where for shipping.

Ok, now to be a cheerleader-
You can sell your books or become your library! You can do it, you just need a pan.

[hopefulfaith]

I had a similar number of books for sale a few years back, and it was an enormous amount of work. I'm not trying to be a downer, but I live rurally, so online sales were my only option.

Do you live somewhere that you could simply have a "book garage sale" in the spring time - advertise in the paper, etc. - to reach homeschoolers and the like? I would think that with a huge amount like that, it would simply be easier and faster to sell it all in person.



Here's my cheerleading:

You can do it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


You can. $35K is such a HUGE amount of debt to clear that I believe you can probably leap tall buildings in a single bound if you can do THAT kind of amount.

GO, ANNETTEMARIE! WOOHOO!!

[mkksmom]

What if you commit a set amount of time per day or per week and stick to it? You could do the flylady thing and set a timer for 15 minutes per day. Also, if you post on here as you go and update your progress, maybe that will help.

[annettemarie]

The nearest homeschool book sale is about two hours away. I'd love to do it, but it's quite a trip and a little hard to do with 4 kids.

I got all the homeschool books done today! That and picture books are my biggest pile, so I think I am off to a good start. Thanks for the cheerleading! I'm going to try tackling one group at a time, I think. Off to post the homeschool books...

[CeciMami]

I will cheerlead for you!!! As a PP said, if you can get rid of $35K, you can get rid of these books!

I also second the idea of having a garage sale (once you get to your time limit on selling them by other means) to just unload them, along with anything else that is cluttering your life presently!

[Shellie]

I've been there too. I would vote for listing at one place, that seems most appropriate for each category of books you have. And then donate anything that doesn't sell in 10 days or so. That should make it easier to keep track and also allow you to move on to the next batch in a timely way.

Honestly, I often go through and separate out the ones I know will bring at least a certain amount...and not bother with the rest. I've had a lot of books I cannot resell for more than $1-$3 or so and when I factor in the amount of time and what it ends up costing to ship and sell (in PayPal fees, shipping supplies and the occasional overage on shipping) it's often not worth the time it takes.

[LaughingHyena]

I think dividing into categories is a good start. I'd tackle one category at a time, especially if you think they will sell in different places.

The things that I have sold via the local free adds paper have gone pretty quickly so I give it 2 weeks. If after that I don;t have a buyer then I list on freecycle. Again after a couple of weeks (and probably 3 listings) I will either take them to a charity shop or dump it in the recycling. I think the key here is watching similar items and seeing how well things sell then use that to decide how long you will list things for.

I like to keep to listing a few things at once, otherwise I end up overwhelmed arranging collections, keeping track of who wants what and so on. For freecycle I often set a time when I will be around for collections. eg everything must be collected on Sat afternoon.
I would do the same with posting, so all items sold this week will be posted the following Mon or whatever.

I keep a box of stuff that I;ve advertised then as it's sold/promised I package and lable and stick in another box waiting for collection.

Now if I could stop DH and the kids taking things out of my boxes I'd have the perfect system. So far I haven't managed that part

[umsami]

Is there a used book store in the area which might buy the lot of them?

[annettemarie]

We don't have any used book stores, let alone one that would appreciate homeschool books.

So, I'm going to list them here and on Natural Mama Barter, and then the Catholic ones on CathSwap, the Waldorf ones on Waldorf Curriculum Swap, and the Christian ones on Veg Source.

And I asked DH about the homeschool book sale a couple hours away. It's $10 for a table and you can bring other stuff too, so I asked if we could make a day of it and maybe he could sit at the table long enough for me to check out other people's stuff (last year I got a great double set of Widgets for $3!) and then he could take the kids to visit the State College visitor center/Beaver Stadium or something. They're all huge Penn State fans. And the kids could sell some of their books or something if they wanted to as well.

So that's my two-pronged plan. After that, I may just give the rest away.

[umsami]

I think that sounds good. One thing that comes to mind is timing. I would think that homeschooling stuff sells well in July-August-September, when people are getting ready for the new school year (or procrastinating.)

You could try doing listings then... eBay or whatever. I would title them like Christian Homeschooing Books--Grades 3-5 or whatever. Try and be as broad as possible.

If they don't sell by September 1st, then I'd donate them to the local library, women's shelter, or Goodwill/Salvation Army.

[annettemarie]

That's exactly the sort of thing I need- a deadline! September 1 it is.

[annettemarie]

OK, it's been two weeks and not the one I was hoping for, but I'm doing great! Sold quite a few of round 1 and have moved on to round 2. Today I'm going to post to the email loops.

Also, our homeschool co-op is trying to do some fundraising so one of our moms who is certified can do all the standardized testing for the group. So I decided to organize my own book sale closer to home. We're getting a fire hall w/ tables for free (hopefully, just waiting for the date) and will charge $10 a table, plus hopefully have a bake sale. Go me!

[mkksmom]

Wow! I'm impressed.