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With millions of people making music for thousands of years, non-repetitive, unsafe, uncategorized, top notch music should be the norm.

Time – David Bowie (1972)

Time – He flexes like a whore
Falls wanking to the floor
His trick is you and me, boy
— David Bowie

David Bowie
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I spent most of Saturday working on a way to set up a schedule using the apps currently on my computer. Started in the morning, by 3:30 pm I was looking at apps to buy although I already have at least 4 or 5 task schedulers and have tried out another 4 or 5 in the past. 

OCD in action – It had to be a certain design, I won’t go into details – it’s silly, a  piece of paper would work. I found an app I liked but when I went to purchase it I saw I would have to purchase it twice, once for the desktop and again for the phone. Aww.. fuck it. I made my own.

It worked, I’ve had 2 days of getting things done. Not so much because of the schedule but it’s because I invested enough into the schedule that I am currently using it. It’s an emotional thing not a logical thing. 

I already knew what I needed to get done, didn’t need to schedule it anyways. 

— David

Time – Pink Floyd (1973)

Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day
You fritter and waste the hours in an offhand way
 — Roger Waters

Time - Images of clocks
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I’m putting a schedule together setting up specific times to work on things, thinking that will get me organized and into a routine. 

The truth though – that also gives me an excuse not to work on the things I should be working on. I can work on them tomorrow, today I’m working on my schedule to help me get things done.

Putting something down on the schedule gives me such a feeling of accomplishment. It’s like I actually did something. 

— David

I’m all lost in the supermarket
I can no longer shop happily
I came in here for the special offer
Guaranteed personality
— Joe Strummer and Mick Jones

The Clash Live
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Made some good buys, some bad buys but should be able to break even after 3 days of estate sales, garage sales and thrift stores. It’s a lot harder than it appears on YouTube. I’m luckier than a lot of flippers that are starting out as I already have a huge collection of DVDs, CDs and Cassettes pretty much ready to sell so I can take my time as I learn and not feel pressured to buy.

With Google Lens and the eBay app. everything has changed, sellers are able to look up things by picture so they’re searching the listings and unfortunately pricing things by what people are asking for. They don’t realize or just don’t care that the items people are trying to sale are generally priced higher than the ones that have actually sold. 

I also see a lot of buyers walking around with their phones and looking everything up, I’m one of them but it’s not as easy as it looks. Besides the “sold for” prices, you need to check for the sell through rate (how many sold over a specific period compared to how many are currently listed), and be really specific on the item you’re looking up (size, model number, color etc). It’s hard to do in a crowded area and even harder to do it quickly. It’s exciting to find something new in box for $2 that retails for $20. Then you get home and see only 1 has sold in the last 90 days. Not exactly a high demand item.

As I mentioned before, I’ve been scouring reddit for reselling information and watching a lot of YouTube videos. A lot of information conflicts – YouTube resellers are into clothing while the reddit posters are saying it’s oversaturated and has too much competition. And the reddit people still hate on all the people I follow on YouTube. 

You do need to pick some categories and learn them. Learn them well. I was at an estate sale this weekend that had a table full of ties for $1 each and women’s clothing for 50¢. I had to pass on everything because I don’t know anything about clothing. While there’s a good chance everything good had been picked over already (and don’t discount the estate sale people involved in shenanigans) there’s also a decent chance that they missed something.

I’m finding I’m doing best on things that aren’t priced and having to ask “how much do you want for this”.

Similar to the table of ties and closet of clothes oftentimes books, DVDs, VHS etc. are priced the same instead of individually so if you know what you are doing you might be able get some good deals. I am finding the quality of a lot of these things are on the lower side though so even if it’s a good title it still might not be worth picking up.

I haven’t listed anything I bought yet on eBay, that’s the least fun and most important step.

We’ve got 6 estate sales on our list, from local to Dallas. I don’t expect to be able to hit them all but we’ll see.

Will update as time permits.

First stop – everyone including the people holding the sale had their phones out looking up prices, talked to the sellers, they were using Google Lens and using the “for sale” prices not “sold” prices. Asking too much. I didn’t buy anything.

2nd stop – was better, still didn’t buy anything. Learning that I need to learn about – digital cameras, kitchenware, books – lots I don’t know.

3rd stop – almost bought something. Artsy coffee mug. Was selling for $2, retails $15-20 online used but it was damaged.

4th stop, another no go. Nothing today for me. If I knew more about buying certain things I’d probably have more to show for my efforts. I’ll add a bit for context when I get home.

3:00 pm – Lunchtime – We’re done

Coffee Cup

Going over the day:

A couple things – I was trying to update the website off my phone and so was posting “live”.  I was able to do that but looking at it now it was just unnecessary and got in the way. 

The $2 cup, part of an experiment – Was trying to see if I could do and what I could with just $20 for the day. A $2 cup would have fit in great. As far as the experiment, the $20 unexpectedly lasted all day and went home with me.

It’s becoming more and more apparent that there has to be some specialization. Lots of things have possibilities but the more informed you can be in specific areas is crucial, no exaggeration – small details make huge differences. Clothes, electronics and artwork stand out as areas where there are a lot of opportunities, there is so much out there. I’m hesitant to go into those areas for various reasons but from looking at the “successful sellers” that are on YouTube – it looks to me that they all sell clothes, other things too but lotsa clothes. 

While it’s not always the case, many of the professionally run estate sales out here follow a three-day pattern:
Friday – everything is full price (and overpriced)
Saturday – 25% off
Sunday – from 50-75% off depending on time – the later it gets, the better the deals.

— David