Jayzilla

Book Experiment

December 5, 2010 By jason Leave a Comment

I may have mentioned this before, but just before going down to Paraguay I stopped to drop off some clothes at a thrift store in town. I happened upon their book section and *went nuts*. I think they were even having half-off sale or something. I found several books by authors I really wanted to read so I ended up buying a bunch.

Fast forward to recently. I found out selling books on Amazon is a good idea. The two thoughts merged into one: what if I could sell books on Amazon using the thrift store as my supplier?

So I decided to do an experiment. Last weekend I went to the thrift store and found hundreds of hardcover books in *near mint* condition. Mostly the only defect was the price stickers they put on them. I had decided I would spend $10 on books to see if I could at least break even. I went just over $8. I got several by authors I knew and a couple by authors I didn’t and headed home.

At home I listed the books on Amazon and immediately felt I had made a poor decision. You see, if you’re a piddly seller like I am, Amazon charges you $.99 per sale plus a percentage of the sale price. They charge more for shipping that you end up paying, so in the end you get some of that in addition to the price of the book. So someone might end up paying $3.98 for a book, including shipping, but Amazon takes out enough that you get about $2.70. Then you have to ship it, so by the time you buy the envelope and mail it, you’ve made a dime. That’s how it is for books that sell for $.99.

Almost all of the books I listed have a couple hundred listings on Amazon, dozens of which were $.01. That works fine for sellers who can afford the $40 a month sort-of membership fee. I can’t, so Amazon takes $.99 per book. Maybe you see where I’m going with this.

I’m basically losing money. For example, today I sold the first one I listed from the thrift store. I paid $.99 for it and it sold for $.49. I get $2.07 from Amazon, and I still have to ship it. It’ll probably ship for $2.20, but I also need an envelope. In the end, I will have paid $2.75 for the ability to receive $2.07 from Amazon. That’s a net loss of $1.18.

Like I said, it was an experiment. Some of the books I ended up listing for more than the minimum figuring *eventually* the others would be gone, but unless I can get like 10 books for $1, I probably won’t do this again. I may end up breaking even when it’s all said and done.

http://www.amazon.com/shops/jayzilla

-j

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Adventures in Giving Stuff Away

November 25, 2010 By jason 1 Comment

In my last post, I talked about different ways I’m making a little bit of extra money (stress on “little bit”). In this one I want to talk about a couple other things I’m doing to remove the clutter from my life, but I think in a more meaningful way than just throwing it out.

Paperback Swap(www.paperbackswap.com)
I came across this website probably three years ago and thought it was a brilliant idea. Quite simply, you list books you have that you wouldn’t mind giving up. In return for giving up books, you get credit to ask for books from other members. The only thing you pay is shipping on the books you send. PBS even has you print the packaging! With two sheets of paper you can generally wrap any book. The address is printed, and you can opt to have PBS figure out your shipping and you drop it in your mailbox, or you can just take it to the post office. I’ve gotten some really good books from PBS. The “paper” is a misnomer; you can also get hardcover and audiobooks. Listing your first 10 books gets you two free credits. At this point, it’s US only.

They have two sister sites, swapacd.com and swapadvd.com. The processes are slightly different, but the idea is the same.

Goodreads (www.goodreads.com)
Goodreads is like Facebook for book readers. I mention this site because they also have a swap feature. The main differences in terms of money I have noticed between this and Paperback Swap is that you don’t need any credits to request a book, and you only pay for the shipping of the books you request.

Freecycle (www.freecycle.org)
Freecycle is probably just how it sounds. Different cities have Freecycle groups, and it works pretty simply. You post something you want to get rid of but don’t want to throw out, and you get a bunch of requests. Who gets your stuff is totally determined by you. Nearly everything I’ve ever posted to Freecycle has been removed from my clutter (this came in very handy before going to Paraguay). Additionally, if you are able to keep track of the list of offers, if something comes up that you need, you can request as well.

Most cities organize their lists themselves. For example, the Richmond group uses Yahoo Groups to handle the listings and requests. Here, at least, the admins are very good and keep the riffraff out. I think it’s pretty safe, and generally the folks on Freecycle are friendly.

Goodwill
Finally, if you’ve got things you can’t get rid of, you can always take it to Goodwill. Everyone knows this; it’s no secret. What most people probably *don’t* do is keep track of what they donate to itemize on their taxes. Before I went to Paraguay, I catalogued everything I donated, and my tax preparer asked me for the list. I ended up donating over $450 worth of deductions from my taxes. That’s a win-win!

So between these several avenues, I’m successfully removing Stuff from my life and feeling good about it. Sometimes it takes a bit of effort, but if you decide it’s worth your time, then it becomes an investment in a more peaceful future.

-j

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Adventures in Retail

November 17, 2010 By jason 4 Comments

When I came back from Paraguay, I realized I had a lot of Stuff. Stuff, capital S, is the things you have that you don’t need, never use, and probably never will again. Some might call it “clutter”. Piles of CDs, shelves of books (stacked 2 deep), movies, games, toys, the list goes on. Stuff is actually more stressful than we realize (think about the last time you had to move), and I decided I didn’t want to deal with it anymore. As I unpacked my boxes upon arriving back home, I knew there were really only a couple things I wanted to do with it, and one of them was not ever move it again.

So I started selling things on ebay. You may be surprised to realize what people will actually buy. For example, I sold a CD on ebay for $152. No, the decimal isn’t missing. A single CD I had sold for one-hundred and fifty-two dollars. Currently I have some pogs listed. Out of the 25 items I listed this week, including a poster of Babe Ruth, the pogs are the hot item. They have more views than the rest of my items combined and are selling for much more than I expected. I’m even selling a used calendar from 1995 that people actually put on their watch list.

I’ve learned a few things during this adventure. One, I *love* selling things. Part of that is because two, I love removing the clutter from my life, and three, I like making money from it. Now, I’m not making much, but it’s more than I had before. I’m using it to pay down debt. I also like the fact that if I ever move again, I don’t have to take these things with me.

The point is this: if you have lots of Stuff and you could use a bit of extra cash, try selling it online. Books, CDs, DVDs, and games can go on Amazon. Everything else (I even sold an empty box…no lie) goes on ebay. I can talk more about it in a different post if I get asked about it, but it’s really not that difficult. Try it; you might be surprised how things turn out.

-j

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Reader poll: New Blog Name

October 18, 2010 By jason 4 Comments

Let’s pretend I’m starting a new blog about the garden I’m going to grow next year. Which name is catchier:

barelyfarming
or
barelyafarmer

Please to weigh in in the comments.

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Amazing

October 13, 2010 By jason Leave a Comment

The 33 miners who have been stuck for 69 days 2300 feet below the surface of the earth in Chile are being rescued today.

When I heard a couple days ago that they would begin pulling them up this week, I praised God. They got stuck in August, and for a long time no one thought they would be able to be rescued until November. I couldn’t imagine being shut off from everything for that long. They say you go crazy after a month in pitch blackness. These men don’t look crazy.

I don’t know why I’m being so emotionally affected by this rescue. But the whole thing makes me give glory to God. The reporters tell us that the miners held chapel in the shaft, that they say there were 34 people in the mine (themselves and the Lord). And when miner number 9 came out and after hugging his wife he knelt down and prayed for a good while. Tears started coming to my eyes, and all I could do was say “Amen” with him. A shirt was made especially for these miners and they are all wearing it as they come up the shaft. When I realized that it says “Thank You, Lord” I almost lost it.

Yesterday I heard something interesting. The number 33 is significant for at least three reasons, and I think one of them is the number of days early they are being rescued. I would imagine that the spiritual significance of that number hasn’t been lost on the miners either.

God is very good. In the middle of catastrophe He can be found, especially when He is called upon. They have called upon Him, and I believe He is being glorified today.

Just in case you have no idea what I’m talking about, here’s a link:
Miracle at the Mine

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For The American With Only Slightly Paraguayan Tastes…

September 27, 2010 By jason Leave a Comment

If you can find this, I recommend trying some. I’ve seen several different kinds of bottled mate around here, and so far Honest Tea has the best. Still, I’d say go for the original if you can. However if the loose yerba and water doesn’t appeal to your North American sensibilities, this is a viable second option.

Honest Mate

-j

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Unnecessary, Yes. Delicious, Absolutely.

September 25, 2010 By jason Leave a Comment

Today’s lunch marks the end of the first annual Rib Weekend. Take a walk with me, will you?

My first attempt at smoking ribs

About 3 weeks ago Steven and I were at his house watching the Travel Channel and saw Man vs. Food in Richmond. He went to Buzz & Ned’s, a famous local barbecue joint. Really good food, and the ribs looked amazing on TV, so we decided to go there the next time he was in town.

Tonight is the pancake supper at church and he came down for it, so we chose this weekend to patronize Buzz & Neds. I had found some country ribs on sale, and since he was coming on Thursday I decided to try my hand at some smoking. The turned out really well; Steven said it was the best food I’ve ever served him.

Friday we ate at Buzz and Neds. We got two meals and split them to sort of sample the fare. Really, really good. But I knew there was one more place we had to go before he left.

Ronnie has a parking lot, a trailer, and a smoker. That’s his “store”. Ronnie also makes the best ribs you will eat in Richmond. He makes the best ribs I’ve ever eaten. We took it easy at lunch, only getting a few bones each, but Steven said they are the best in town also.

We decided by the end of lunch that we would have a Rib Weekend every year. So this marks the first annual. Next year we’ll be in Waldorf seeing if they can match up.

If we had been thinking about that earlier, I would have taken photos of each. We’ll save that for the second annual.

-j

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Not Enough Time

September 19, 2010 By jason 1 Comment

I have too many ideas for projects and not enough time to do them. One thing I’m working on is a tool for modeling agencies. I did one, and it is immensely valuable to the agent, so I’m trying to sell more. I feel like that one should get the most of my attention because it could pay back big.

But I also want to write. I want to write well. I would love to sell a book, but I also think I could potentially make some side money from blogs. I have two ideas for informative blogs, but to make them worthwhile, they would require a lot of extra research for articles and such. One is sort of a gardening blog. I want to have a garden next year to grow my own veggies and such, but I know nothing, and I’m sure there’s more of me. So I could blog it. The other is a book blog, but that also requires that I read several books in short periods of time. I think that one would be exceptionally fun.

I also want to get really good at photography, but I don’t have the time or money for that.

But before any of that, I need to make more time for prayer and Bible reading/study.

The point is there’s so much I want to do and not enough time to do it. Nor do I have enough brain cycles to keep track of it all.

At least in November I will write. I’ll be posting here as I do, if I like what comes out.

I wish we had more hours in a day…

-j

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Sunday Night Fish Fry

September 12, 2010 By jason Leave a Comment

We had our annual fish fry tonight. I took a few photos, and here they are. I mostly took them for Kathy, but feel free to enjoy them anyway even if you’re not her!

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New Take On A New Breakfast

September 12, 2010 By jason Leave a Comment

I’m enjoying posting about healthy food. It perhaps has made this a generally healthy week. Yesterday I went to the store and found myself enjoying, maybe too much, the gathering of vegetables. I had three grocery bags at the end, and two and a half were solid fruits and veggies. It’s gonna be another good week.

I tried something new with my banana breakfast shake that I’ve grown to love. I thought I had posted about it, but now I think that was limited to Twitter. Basically, a frozen banana + a cup of milk + peanut butter = a really great tasting and healthy breakfast.

I tried something new. Banana + milk + instant coffee. It’s not as good as it seemed in my head, but that only means I need to work harder to find the perfect blend. The coffee was too strong (I used a packet of Starbucks Via), so maybe it needs some splenda. I’ll try again later.

For those of you who need either a super fast and tasty breakfast, give the banana shake a shot. Or if you want something sweet but healthy, it makes a great snack as well.

-j

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Book Experiment

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Adventures in Giving Stuff Away

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Adventures in Retail

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Reader poll: New Blog Name

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Amazing

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For The American With Only Slightly Paraguayan Tastes…

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Unnecessary, Yes. Delicious, Absolutely.

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Not Enough Time

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Sunday Night Fish Fry

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New Take On A New Breakfast

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