The New Selling Used Crap Economy
It sucks.
We are trying to get rid of 75% of our stuff before we flee to Europe and selling on Craigslist is slow and infuriating. I had someone offer $50 for my $300 jogging stroller because the brake (a bike-type brake) needed to be adjusted. People hem and haw about a $5 purchase. It is flat out not worth it.
Taking books to the big used bookstore near me is almost as bad. On my last trip, I took 2 big boxes of books and had over an hour wait for an offer. There were seriously more sellers than buyers. I asked the guy that helped me about the wait time and he said it has been really busy all summer. Cleaning and decluttering, I guessed? No, the economy. People are broke.
A recession is the wrong time to sell all of your stuff. Dave Ramsey might want to update his advice for this new, sucky economy.
Make Extra Money Mystery Shopping
When I was out of work a few years ago, I earned a little bit of extra cash (and free food!) mystery shopping. Generally the pay is pretty low per visit but it is fun to do and if you are opinionated like me, it is a good part time gig. Last night someone pointed me to a big, free list of mystery shopping companies. I signed up for a few and have already found a couple of shops.
With gas prices as high as they are, I am only signing up for shops near my house. Fortunately there are several.
