Monday, September 7, 2015

What's Been Selling and Ambient Noise

Sales have been okay this week. They continue to improve on etsy as I add more and more to my etsy store. I'm up to 150 listings on etsy. My ebay store has about 1800 listings. Yay!

Some of my best or most interesting sales were:

This vintage Cardinals jersey was really cool. I had it listed for a while at $39.99 and took a best offer of $24.99 plus shipping. My mom's maiden name is Cardinal so it was sort of a sentimental item to me. She had a collection of things with cardinals on them.




I found this wooden shadowbox house in my basement last weekend. I don't remember when I got it or how much I paid but I think I bought it prior to being an ebay seller. When I saw it in the basement I thought it would look real cool decorated for Halloween. I put it up for sale and sold it for $34.99 plus shipping within a few days on etsy. I love that kind of sale. 

Vintage glasses are a new thing for me. I've purchased about 4 pair in the last few months. I like to pick them up if they are a buck or two. I paid 50 cents for these at an estate sale this summer. They sold for $29.99 plus shipping. They are super easy to store, take pictures, and ship. These were prescription. It doesn't matter if the lenses are scratched because the buyer will likely be replacing the lens with their own prescription or a non rx lens. 


I purchased this large metal Yamaha sign this summer at a rummage sale. I paid $15 which is a lot for me. I took a best offer of $110 with free shipping. Amazingly the shipping with my discount was under $10 for priority. This thing was 3 feet long. It was nice to not have to find a box for it. I just took priority boxes and frankenwrapped them around it. 



Something else I want to share this week is something I found on the internet. My absolutely favorite way to work/list/pack etc is to have a new podcast from Jay and Ryanne at Scavenger Life playing while I work. After that I alternate between several things including Pandora, Youtube, and other podcasts. This week something directed my attention to ambient noise. I can't remember what spurred my interest. First let me back up and say I have a long history of sleeping with a fan on. I like the ambient noise. So whatever it is that spurred my interest that I can't remember made me try listening to ambient noise while I list. I found this great site that has a bunch of sounds that you can listen to separately or layer. It's so cool. You can listen to a gentle rain, or add some thunder and wind or maybe listen to a campfire with some thunder in the background. Or how about a campfire with some crickets? I swear I got overheated listening to the campfire on a hot day while I was packing but it gave me a nice nostalgic feel of times spent with my family around campfires. The website is called A Soft Murmur. I read that ambient noise frees up your brain to be more creative vs listening to music or podcasts. One thing I noticed is that if I am listening to a podcast and working I have to stop the podcast when I'm reading something so that I can concentrate. The ambient noise doesn't bother me that way. t wouldn't want to only listen to rain and campfires but it is a nice change now and then. According to the forecast we may be getting real rain today. I hope so. We could use some. 

So what are your feelings about ambient noise? Can you sleep in a silent room? Have you ever tried working with a nice rain playing in the background?




15 comments:

  1. Congrats on your sales! I had to smile at the ambient background noise. My ambient noise is my children arguing with one another :)

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    1. I think you just need to blast some crackling fire or rainfall and drown them out ;)

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  2. Ooh I like the ambient noise website! Thanks for that link!

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    1. Isn't it cool!? I don't really like the cafe sounds or the singing bowl. The cafe sounds make me nervous LOL

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  3. We call it "white noise". We have a fan on in the bedroom at all times when we sleep. Sometimes, I put the fan on in other parts of the house — sometimes for keeping cool and sometimes so I can hear myself think! It comforting. I don't listen to music much any more. It becomes cacophonic and chaotic and causes distress.

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    1. I agree, the fan is comforting. Maybe it sounds like womb noises LOL. Hey I wonder if womb noises would be nice to listen to… :)

      I used to listen to music a lot but now just in shorter lengths of time. I like it when I need an energy boost. Like when I'm doing dishes :)

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  4. We have to sleep with a white noise machine. You can buy them on eBay. When traveling, we use an iPhone app that creates white noise.

    And you should try some ambient music. Boards of Canada is a great duo who make some beautiful ambient music.

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    1. Hi Jay. I didn't know there was a thing such as ambient music outside of like elevator music. I'll check out Boards of Canada. Thanks for the suggestion.

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    2. Ambient music is a huge, cool genre. One of my favorites.
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambient_music

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  5. Nice sale on the sign Nancy! I'll have to check out the ambient noise..that sounds so interesting.

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    1. I'm thinking the ambient noise may be a little too relaxing for work time. More trials needed :) The other day though I was playing a nice mix of rain and thunder and I ended up wanting to go lay in bed and read a good book haha. I switched to twittering birds and that helped.

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  6. Congratulations on all your listing. I remember when you were trying to get to 1000, look at you now! I'm the type of person that needs things quiet when sleeping or working, I'm too easily distracted. :)

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    1. Thanks! And thanks for keeping up with my journey.

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  7. oh wow I love that soft murmur website, thanks for sharing !

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