Earlier this fall my son and daughter-in-law told me about a way of selling stuff locally; maybe all of you have heard of it, but when you're 50+ you need your kids to keep you cool. What's new, what's up, a new way to do an old thing, or how to program your cell phone! So Dan and Janae have done some buying and selling on something called Craig's List. Anyone who reads here regularly knows I'm going through a major purge, anything without a heartbeat is up for possible elimination! The local consignment store did a 50/50 split plus I had to haul it there, and return it back home if it didn't sell. I figured Craig's List was worth a try.

So I went and checked it out - got an account. Easy, easy. I found out from a magazine I recently subscribed to, that featured Craig's List, that they don't charge any fees, ever. Interestingly, Ebay recently bought out 25% of the company to get in on what they were missing out on. Craig's List will sell or trade or barter, but it's all local. People in your town who want to buy or sell something. You can set up the meeting place, tell them if your price is firm, and that you want cash, not checks.

So I went around the house, picked out the extra pieces of furniture we didn't need, shot a few photos, measured them, and it took me maybe an hour to do six listings. The listings are good for 45 days and you can extend them if you want to, or delete, update, whatever. It's really, really simple. In the past I've taken stuff and set it by the curb, but this is so easy I'll at least try to sell it from here on out.

I got my listings posted around 10 pm. Before bedtime I had an inquiry on a desk and chair, and another one this morning. (The emails can come to you anonymously so they don't have to even have your email account if you don't want to put that out there.) I also had an email on a baker's rack I'd decided to get rid of, she emailed me at 6:30 am! I emailed her back, then she phoned me, made an offer, and within an hour was at my house, the cash was in my hand and the baker's rack was in her little car.