With my goal of buying secondhand for my home and closet for a year— that meant I need to diversify my shopping options outside of just my local goodwill. I had heard of the app Poshmark floating around for a while, and started browsing... But that led to much more than just shopping for secondhand items.
Part of my journey in being a more conscious consumer, and creating an intentional space and closet was taking good look at the things I already owned, what I actually used and didn't use.
Now, there are elements of minimalism and the concepts around tidying up that really resonate with me. I think there's a lot to say around the minimalism movement and why generations today are so obsessed with things...Because they represent wealth? They distract you from elements of your life you don't want to think about? My mind gets clouded with crazy marketing messaging in my work life, and I want nothing more than to purge my brain of sale messaging.
There could be a lot of reasons we like things. In that same vein, I knew that I wasn't going to work for me to jump in and just purge everything I own and turn my own style to match that of a minimalist. I do like things. I like to be surrounded by beautiful things that set a mood and cast a feeling across a room. Things do make me happy
Money is also big motivator to me as I'm sure many people can relate. So, a big dump to goodwill may have been a previous tactic, I wanted to see what would happen if I tried to sell the things I was ready to get rid of online?
My thought: sell an item online, and save up those funds to buy more quality things I really love.
Sounds simple...
It was. I downloaded Poshmark, snapped photos of the items right on the app, added a name, description, price and voila! Press publish and made a listing in two minutes. The next day I had made my first sale and then within a week got money deposited in my account for that sale.
It's so easy because once something is sold, you get emailed a shipping label (which I then print at work), stick it in a USPS box which you can order for free online, and the schedule a USPS pickup at your home so you don't even have to drop off at a post office.
I'll admit, I'm a lazy lady and if it's not convenient, it very likely won't be happening. But this was so easy it made even just a $5 sale worth it. Especially after seeing all the smaller sales adding up after a couple months.
I got so into it, I actually made a trip to the goodwill bins to try and find gems that I could re-sell on Poshmark to make a profit. It had always been a dream of mine to own a shop and sell vintage items, local and handmade items. This felt like a little step towards that when I started selling things that I bought for just a couple bucks to re-sell!
Since I started selling more frequently, I decided to keep track of what I was making so that I could start thinking more intentionally with how I was going to spend the money I earned. Currently, I'm saving up just through those small profits to buy things on Poshmark that will freshen up my Spring and Summer wardrobe I've profited just over $450 so far just from items that were sitting in my closet, and a few things I spent less than $3 on each at the Goodwill bins.
I think I'm so excited about that number is because the items that I was selling I knew weren't going to get sold at your traditional resale places like Crossroads Trading or Buffalo Exchange. A lot of H&M and fast fashion items that were just sitting in my closet. I truly would have just donated them, but instead now I have a good chunk of money to put towards whatever I want moving forward.
And I still have more I want to sell! I'm constantly making realizations and finding things in my closet that I haven't worn in forever, or have just decided don't suit me anymore, and it's been an amazing option to sell those things even for just a little to put towards buying other second hand items right within the app.
I've had some hits and misses with my own purchases on the app, but the great thing is that if it doesn't fit or you don't like it, returns are easy. Or, you can turn around and just re-sell it! I'll do a post on what I've purchased on Poshmark another time.
If you're on Poshmark, come join me!