In praise of Craigslist

Part of keeping my home office in working order has centered around trying to keep the surrounding area, you know, the house, in order. Like a lot of folks, we’ve accumulated a lot of stuff, and I challenged myself to do something about it.

So, I put up the biggest things in our basement for sale: The exercise equipment I never use, an electric piano I’ve never used, an exercise bike we just upgraded, the SIX DVD PLAYERS we have sitting around, unused (we went through a spell where we won a DVD player at every function we attended — weird), etc. I even sold the toddler bed that our son used until a year ago, and had become bedrock for toy-stack in the basement.

One of the keys to motivating myself to do all the posting, photo-taking, etc. involved in CL-ing properly was that I planned to buy a toy for myself (of course via CL) once I had enough money. And now that most of the above has sold, I just picked it up (at right): A Burley Canto recumbent bike!
Now I get to exercise on the bike trails around here and take the kids for some rides, all while looking like a complete goof (albeit a comfortable one).

Some links:

• Help-Key: How to Buy and Sell on Craigslist without being an idiot - No-nonsense tips, including “use common sense” and how to spot scams easily.
• Xinsight: Painless Selling on Craigslist - Great tips on setting up an account, taking photos, controlling your contact info, and helping folks find you easily. Great advice on terms: “All sales final. Cash and carry. First come first serve.”
  
• eHow: How to sell on Craigslist - Great how-to, focusing on common sense, neutral thinking and street smarts.
  
• Unclutterer: Lots of ideas to unclutter your life
• Get Rid Of Things: Clutter post - Great ideas for getting rid of the junk in your life