Tuesday, December 30, 2008

It is All Relative...

Despite the fact that I had a wonderful Christmas and a financially successful December, this has been a tough week. The worst item of all was work related - my company had to lay off three employees yesterday. Two of them worked for me, so I had to let them know personally. These were long term employees and I've been having a rough time with it. We did great severance packages and all that for them, but somehow, it doesn't help. I still feel rotten. The decision was made because of the economy, basically we just had too many employees for the amount of work. Even in my present financial situation, I offered to take a pay cut if it meant we could keep folks. My boss, however, said that that can be a great financial strategy if you expect a quick recovery - but in our situation we don't see anything changing anytime soon, and we can't ask everyone to take a pay cut for what might be years or recovery.

It doesn't help dealing with all this that I have a cold. Seems like the virus was sitting in wait for me until the day after Christmas - my first day of rest - to hit like a sledgehammer. Usually colds don't last very long with me, but this one has been sticking around. Fortunately I am well stocked in juice and vitamins. I wish I could shake it off though.

Some good news, however, is that I am working on making one of my goal for 2009 happen - selling items on eBay. One of the reasons I think I have a harder time with my eBay sales, despite their lucrative nature, is that I don't have it well organized. Every time I want to sell something, I have to set up an area to take photos, get out my rulers, scales and packing materials and so forth... basically it is more of a process than it should be. (Especially since everything is scattered hither, tither and yon around my house.) So, last night I started working on putting together an area where I can keep everything together - items for sale, boxes, bubble wrap, etc.. I think that if I can make it even easier to do, I will be more likely to do it.

This past weekend I had a little basement flooding. Not too bad, fortunately, and everyone I know had basement problems. It's what happens when mountains of snow melt overnight and then are followed by 2" of rain. Anyway... last night I spent some time in the basement cleaning up the mess and at the same time doing some organization. I picked out an area (near where I store the books I have for sale online) that could be "eBay central." A friend of mine offered to lend me some clip lights and I have a big roll of newsprint craft paper, so I am going to create a little photo booth down there. My sister and brother-in-law (bless them!!) bought me a new camera for Christmas, so I should be all set and have no more excuses!

In addition to eBaying, I still have more furniture to sell. I've been a bit quiet on that lately since I didn't think too many people would be shopping Craig's List over Christmas. Plus, I've had something going every night that there hasn't been a snowstorm! However, the weather seems a tad more under control and I know my schedule is, so I'll be able to get back to that. I also have a few more books that were given to me to sell that I need to post.

So, despite the rotten end to this month - I'm looking forward to a brighter 2008.



Photo by: destabee (Who also has some other great bird photos!)

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

What a depressing way to end the year. I'm so sorry you had to do that. Good luck with your new ebay selling area. I'm trying to revamp my ebay selling by setting some monthly financial goals. "Getting rid of my stuff" was, evidently, too vague! Here's to a wonderful 2009 for you!

SP said...

Keep your head up, it is hard have a bad week and be sick as well.

Anonymous said...

it's awful how many people are losing their jobs, it doesn't sound like it's going to improve any time soon either.
I agree with you about getting organized for the ebay selling, I trying to get my act together and sell of 'stuff' as well, a specific area sounds good and with specific days to list.

Dawn said...

SimplyForties - Thanks! It has been a rough couple of weeks. I really miss the people that worked here. Good luck to you on your eBay stuff - maybe we can encourage each other!!

Converting - Yeah, it was a rough week. I spent the 31st pretty much in bed the entire day. Things are starting to look up now though.

Louise - I hate layoffs, especially right now when there just aren't other jobs out there for them. The ebay area is coming along - a friend lent me some lights for it this weekend.