Downsizing...Again!

 My eBay inventory and art supplies--all of my work life--

ready to be transferred into the "basement" of the Beluga

I've been looking back at my blog posts from just over two years ago, when I was getting ready to leave Oregon and travel indefinitely (or so I thought at the time) in the Guppy, my 22-foot 1982 Toyota Dolphin Class C motorhome.   

It was hard to downsize then, and it's still hard now, even though I have less stuff and I'm more experienced with the process.  

Fortunately, I have learned a lot about how to do this over the past couple of years.  An essential thing I've become very aware of is the need for self-acceptance.  

I am not, by nature, a well-organized person in all aspects of my life.  Some, yes.  I'm really good at organizing my eBay inventory and getting the stuff that sells packed up and mailed pronto!  I'm good at organizing my kitchen cupboards and coming up with creative ways to use up food.  And, once I actually get around to making myself do it, I'm good at filing important papers.

But in the more creative parts of my life, such as my art supplies, ooh, boy!  That's a different story.  

Being a mixed media artist, I see the potential in all sorts of odd stuff.  An empty banjo case discarded in an alley is a treasure, even though I don't play the banjo.  It's the armature for a collage/sculpture tribute to Steve Martin.  A tired old rococo shelf can be brought back to life with some papier mache and gilding.  You can add legs to antique glass windows and make them into fabulous shabby chic coffee tables.   

So...in one year in my Truth or Consequences apartment, I managed to amass the goods to make at least 20 cool art projects that never happened.   

Now, in anticipation of moving into the Beluga, my 35-foot 1991 Holiday Rambler Class A motorhome and traveling for the summer, I've had to get rid of a lot of the things I'd hoped to make into art.  

I've become okay with the fact that I drag home things that I dream of making into artwork, and I've become equally okay with the fact that I sometimes have to later say goodbye to those same materials and fantasies.  That's just who I am.  It may make my life more complicated, but there's no shame or sorrow in it anymore.  Just a little frustration until I remember, "Oh, yeah, this is just what I do."

I've learned a lot in these past few years about taking responsibility for myself and my possessions.  My boyfriend Steve has more clear and healthy boundaries than anyone I've ever been involved with before.  Even though he's a guy with a pickup truck, he doesn't jump to rescue me when I need my stuff moved from one place to another.  He gently points out that I make my own choices.  And this has helped me to really grow up, finally.  

I made a decision today that some of my heavier art supplies will go into storage here in TorC.  The Beluga is big enough to handle everything I own, even my mosaic tiles and drywall mud carving materials, but I don't anticipate using any of the heavy stuff while I'm on the road.  I have a couple of solo art shows coming up next winter for which I'll be doing some lighter work (collage and painting) while I'm on the road. 

Another aspect of self-acceptance I've had to learn about downsizing is that I need to stay entertained while I'm doing it!  So I've watched lots of DVD movies these past couple of weeks while sitting and sorting through my stuff, and I've picked out some lighter reading than usual for when I need a break from packing.  

I've also been doing what I can to make the rest of life easy while I go through this process--I've had simple-to-prepare foods available so I can throw together a meal quickly, and I've gone out to eat more often than usual. 

Steve has had the Beluga at his place in Arizona since I purchased it last month, and he'll be bringing it here to TorC in a few days.  My landlord has already found another tenant, so the sooner I'm out of the apartment, the better.  I'll get a little of my rent back, plus the deposit once the place is all clean.  

The plan is that we'll spend about a month here, getting acclimated to the new rig and how everything works, and then hit the road.  I'm excited!  I'm looking at maps, asking people about places they've been, and daydreaming. 

We do not have a set itinerary.   We may make it up to the Pacific Northwest to see family and friends there, and we may get over to Minneapolis for my 40th high school reunion in August.   

However, if we find someplace along the way where my Verizon internet connection works really well for my eBay work and where Steve is happy fishing or treasure hunting, maybe we'll just sit in one place for the rest of the summer.  We're planning to truly take our travels one day at a time.   I do know that we will aim first for the Mogollon Rim.
         

Don't forget me, Mom!

Starting the New Year as a Self-Employed eBay Top-Rated PowerSeller

 CULINARY ARTS INSTITUTE 1969 "250 Ways to Serve Eggs" Booklet

I closed my last blog entry with the news that I have decided to no longer have a part-time job so I can put all of my time, energy and skills into self-employment as an eBay seller, antiques consignor and artist.  

I've been busier than ever since quitting my job.  Self-employment is highly motivating.  I've listed more stuff on eBay than I have in a while, so now I have to start being better organized.  Until a few days ago, I could manage all of my current inventory in just a couple of boxes, but now I have more stuff than the boxes will hold.

Yesterday I bought bankers boxes and today I will start putting my eBay inventory into boxes marked "Listed at auction," "Listed in eBay store," and "Not yet listed."  I will also start keeping a list of what's in each box, so I can find the items when they sell.  

 

 Cool Retro Midcentury Japan MERRY CHRISTMAS Glass Miniature Tray

I'm also starting out 2013 with good recordkeeping.  The IRS only requires Paypal to report income if a seller takes in over $20,000 and has made over 200 sales.  I definitely qualify for the over 200 sales part, but I've never (yet!) made anywhere near $20,000 a year on eBay.  But this could be the year.  So I am tracking all of my expenses from the outset of this year, including what it cost me to buy those bankers boxes.  

So far, I've just been jotting my expenses down in a small notebook while deciding what sort of system I want to use.  I've looked at various types of personal finance and business accounting programs, and they all seem to be more complex than what my needs are.  So I am planning to use a simple paper ledger sheet instead.  

 

 Not yet listed Yoke Planter

 

I went looking for a ledger book yesterday.  We no longer have an office supply store in TorC, and Walmart didn't have what I needed.  So I went online and found out that almost any sort of paper you might need can be printed free from Printable Paper.  This site has lots of types of paper I might use in my art and music, as well--graph paper, postcards, music paper, etc.  If you're a knitter, quilter, or beader, there are layout sheets here, too.  I was able to print out exactly what I needed.

Figuring out your actual profit on eBay can be complex.  There are fees taken by eBay when you list the item, relist it, and if you sell it.  Paypal also takes a percentage.  Depending on how I've structured the transaction, buyers may pay for the shipping, but I often throw in free shipping as an enticement to buy small items that are inexpensive to ship.  Then there are shipping supplies, office equipment and supplies, and mileage or other travel expenses.  

 

CANYON COLORS Cotton Western Shirt Sz. S Burgundy Green White

Even something like the eBay fees can get a little complicated.  I usually first list an item in a 7-day online auction.  Then, if it hasn't sold, I look at how many "hits" the item got (how many times people looked at it) and decide whether it's worth relisting at a fixed price in my eBay store.  There's a small listing fee for each month that the item sits in my store.  So, by the time an item sells, I may have paid listing fees on it a half-dozen times.  I haven't yet figured out an easy way to keep track of this particular phenomenon.
 
The hardest thing to determine and track can sometimes be the price of the item itself.  Sometimes I buy "box lots" or "job lots" of stuff at live or online auctions.  Simply dividing the cost of the lot by the number of items in it isn't always a realistic basis for determining the cost.  Some items in the lot are worth more than others.  

Also, some items, whether purchased individually or in a lot, need some work to make them sellable.  For instance, I may take a tray that I bought for $1 at a garage sale, paint and collage it and seal my work with a sheet of acrylic, and then I have a $25 tray.  But certainly not $24 in profit.  

And what about the item I bought for my own use at full price, but then sold for less when it was no longer something I needed?  If I bought it for $90, used it for a while, and then sold it for $25, am I selling at a loss?   

So, I can only do my best at trying to solve these little issues.  I keep hoping that some smart eBayer will come up with a great piece of software that's easy to use and takes care of all the little problems.  Until then, I just have to find whatever information I can to help me make decisions and trust my gut.  I have years of experience, and I've made myself a Top-Rated PowerSeller, after all!  I can do this! 

 

 TCO. Sz S Cotton 3/4 Length Sleeve Yoga T-Shirt~Lime, Blue, Metallic Gold

Besides eBay recordkeeping and inventory management issues, my self-employment presents some personal challenges.  I do love the freedom of self-employment, but some days I can get obsessive and spend too much time working or too much time by myself without enough interaction with other people.  A friend commented that I probably have more time for artwork now that I am home more, but so far that hasn't been the case.  Carving out time for friends, art, music, exercise, housework, and cooking healthy food is pretty much the same, whether I'm working for myself or someone else.  

But I remind myself, this is just my first week back at relying solely on self-employment.  I will be able to incorporate more fun stuff as I get myself more on track with the business.  Next week, my son comes to visit me, and I'll be driving up to Albuquerque to pick him up at the airport.  I definitely want to include some sightseeing (and not just thrift shops!) on the trip to pick him up and also a week later when I take him back to the airport.  

Which brings up the topic, too, of traveling.  Now that I'm completely in charge of my own schedule, I can begin making some eBay buying trips in The Guppy.  Like the old days (2011), before I got so settled down (2012).  That's a big part of my motivation to get things going really well with this business.  I'm looking forward to taking it on the road again.  I want to maintain my apartment here in TorC as a home base, but get out to other towns and cities throughout the Southwest to find stuff to sell.  I'll definitely be getting up to Albuquerque a couple of times this month, and maybe next month I'll head over to Phoenix, a thrift store mecca.
                    

      

Vacationing Along the Jemez Mountain Trail

Ahhh, it feels good to be on the road again.  Steve and I are on a vacation in northern New Mexico.  As one of my friends observed, I really NEED a break from the stress of working one day a week at a spa.  Yeah, whatever.  I know I need to get out of town sometimes or I get a bit cranky and maybe even boring.

This trip has been anything but boring.  We hardly planned it.  We're going with the flow, taking things as they come, playing it by ear.  

On Wednesday, our first day out, we thought we'd get north of Albuquerque, but the brakes on the Guppy were mushy, so we added brake fluid.  When that didn't help very much, we overnighted at Kiva RV Park and Horse Motel, where I'd spent several nights last year before I first went to Truth or Consequences, and then had the brake lines bled in Belen by a mechanic whom we've gotten to know all too well on trips between TorC and Albuquerque.  Fifty dollars and a great breakfast later, we were back on the road.  If YOU ever break down south of Albuquerque, check out Mike's Auto Detailing (he's actually full-service) and Frances' Restaurant (menudo every day, but, no thanks, I'll pass on the tripe).  They're on Main Street, you can't miss 'em.

We still had plenty of time on Thursday after the brake repair to head up to Coronado State Monument in Bernalillo.  This is one of the pueblos that was probably visited in the mid-1500s by Francisco Vasquez de Coronado on his famous trek to find the Seven Cities of Gold.  All he found were Indians, but they were living an abundant, usually peaceful life.  Unfortunately, Coronado and his 1000+ followers stuck around long enough to change this pretty drastically.  (They wiped out at least two pueblos that got tired of feeding the entourage, and many more people died of illnesses to which they had no immunity.)  

The Coronado State Monument was established after WPA workers accidentally dug into a beautiful, rare, painted kiva in the 1930s.  Painted kivas were not so unusual a few hundred years ago, but they're rare today because they are so difficult to preserve.  

The paintings are done in a kind of fresco with natural dyes, and they are painted over and over many times.  It's thought that the process of painting pictures in a kiva was a sort of meditation or prayer.  So, in the one we saw, there were probably six inches of paintings that had been done over several hundred years.  Most of the preservation was done by an anthropology graduate student, who tried to isolate some of the most complete drawings and preserve a single layer.  

The paintings we saw inside the kiva were reproductions done by an Indian in the 1930s who got thrown out of his tribe for being willing to share something so sacred with the rest of the world.  You can still see some of the original paintings, dating from the 14th to 16th centuries, in another building where they are preserved.  

All very cool.  But the Coronado Campground just outside the Memorial was not so cool--they wanted $18 for us to park on a bit of gravel right next to a really big rig.  So we took a chance on what we'd find up the road, and it paid off!

We headed north up to Highway 4, a winding road through the Jemez Mountains that offers lots to see and do.   We got to see people still living in the old Jemez Pueblo, and we stopped at their visitor center, where they also provided information on National Forest Service campgrounds in the area.  So we ended up at a really nice little campground that cost us only $5 (Steve has the Golden Age pass).  We were surrounded by red rock mesas and we were close enough to Jemez Creek to hear a little waterfall.

After spending most of this summer in southern New Mexico, the cool evenings in the north are very welcome, as are the sights and scents of different vegetation.   We slept among the junipers on Thursday night, and then among pines last night (Friday).

Yesterday morning, we headed into the town of Jemez Springs.  It is a spa town, sort of like TorC, but smaller and up in the mountains.  It has some great little collectively-run art galleries, where I bought a couple fun things and learned lots about a top secret newly-invented media that I'll try working with once I get home.  We stopped for coffee at Hwy4 Coffee, which had free wifi.  That was great, because I hadn't had phone or Internet access for a while. 

 
We did not go sit in the mineral springs--we can go for free when we're home, and also the ones up here have a distinct sulfur odor, which we don't have in TorC.  In fact, when we were driving by that stretch of Jemez Creek, I sniffed and looked askance at Steve, because I was pretty sure the odor was his fault; but then we stopped to look at a natural dam that is the result of many years of mineral deposits caking up in one place, and that's when I realized, "Oh, it's the creek that smells."

We drove up mountains on scary roads yesterday to see about staying at Fenton Lake State Park, but the campground was full, so we just ate lunch and headed back to Highway 4.  Then we found another nice NFS campground where we slept last night.  Steve heard wild turkeys and had brought along his turkey call, so he tried to attract them closer, but there were too many people in the campground for these skittish birds to come visit us.  We did see a few other smaller critters, though, and we heard lots of barking dogs. 

I was ready for a different sort of campsite tonight, after being woken by the dogs this morning, and we have found it.  We spent part of today at Bandelier National Monument (which was, disappointingly, mostly closed due to rocks on the road), and the rest of the day at the science museum in Los Alamos (owned and run by the Los Alamos National Laboratory, just so you know what to expect if you go there yourself--very informative, but don't expect to hear ANY criticism of nuclear weaponry or energy).  Even though we weren't really thrilled by the attractions in this area, the drive itself was amazing.  Lots of switchbacks and scary mountain roads.  I love that sort of thing!  

When it came time to find a campground, we were near Espanola, and the only "RV park" in town is one of those places where people tend to live full-time.  Really run down and right in town.  So, after driving around north of town and asking some questions, we found ourselves at a fishing lake at the Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo.  We don't have hook-ups or showers, and it is way overpriced, but we are also the only ones staying here overnight (so far), I'm writing this about 10 feet from the lake, and there are no dogs.  There's a nice breeze and the evening promises to be pleasantly quiet and cool.  


We left Sonja at home in this little tiny basket (and arranged for daily visits by our friend Kelly, who is a great pet sitter!):

We plan to continue our vacation for another five or six days, so I think there will be another blog post about this trip.  We're thinking of heading east next, through some of the mountains south of Taos,  catching up with our friend Bridget at her ranch or somewhere nearby, and then circling back to Santa Fe where we know a few nice folks.