Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Nothing a pot of coffee can't cure

Sunday night I went to bed at 7:15 (before Claire) and that uninterrupted stretch of, I guess, almost 11 hours of sleep worked wonders. When I woke up yesterday morning I was still tired, but like a normal person is tired, not like a zombie who might actually fall asleep standing up.

Being somewhat rested felt so good that last night we were in bed before 10, but if I had to guess, in another day or two we'll be back to our old ways. I tend to forget very quickly how much sleep matters.

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I've been spending a lot of my "free time" lately listing items on eBay (they now allow 50 free listings per month). The main thing I've been selling is clothes -- lots and lots of clothes. I'm learning what works: well-known brands, lots of measurements, stupid-low start prices. Then the market does its thing.

Buyers seem to love a robust bidding war. I can start a skirt at $7.99 and it will sit and sit and then expire, but if I start it at $2.99, it will get eight bids and sell for $10. I'm pretty fascinated by the emotional and psychological components of pricing, buying and selling.

It's interesting that I would drive across town to save $20 on a $40 grocery bill, but not to save $20 on, let's say, a $10,000 car. $20 is $20.

Also interesting that I spend hours and hours each month clipping, organizing and using cents-off coupons -- yet I hardly bat an eye when we decide to (yet again) drop the price of our house by thousands of dollars.

And don't even get me started on money spent eating out and my (mostly) irrational justifications for it. That's fodder for a whole 'nother post.

Time to sleep. 10:36 p.m., for the record.

1 comment:

Sonya said...

I need you to teach me the ways of ebay. I think I have a few items that would do well on there, but have never sold anything on there.