You might've read my previous blogs about getting rid of my books and how I shopped only second hand for a full year, and it wouldn't surprise you to know that I still generally shop second hand, for most things. But when it comes to listing and selling my own items? That's a different story.
I started buying things second hand when I was in primary school. I've always found it more interesting than buying new things, and I love getting a bargain. I routinely visit charity shops, second hand shops, online sites, and was at a car boot sale at the weekend. I check Vinted at least once a week for Native American beadwork, particularly earrings, which I started collecting last year. You'd be surprised how many people buy them on holiday then no longer want them! They are, rightfully, expensive new.
I have boxes, and piles, of stuff I'm keeping a hold of to sell. I used to occasionally have a vintage stall at the craft and vintage markets I ran to pass on the things I no longer wanted, but that was my safe space, selling them now online is causing me such anxiety! To the point that I'm just stuck doing nothing.
It's not that I want to sell them because I need the money, although at the moment there's few of us who would turn down a tenner, but I'd never want to throw good things into landfill and donating items to charity shops doesn't guarantee that's not where it's going. Gittemary Johansen made a very short, and eye opening, video on YouTube about the environmental impact of thrift shops which covers what happens to the items that don't sell, or what the shop workers think won't sell. In short, those items might not end up in landfill here, but may be shipped to "poorer" countries to become their waste problem.
Selling on items yourself is the most ethical way to get rid of them. Now, as ever, I don't say that to shame anyone who isn't or can't do a thing, we all have our privileges and limitations, but selling an item on means that you're helping out someone else who needs the item, who may not be able to afford it new, and you're saving it from landfill. I got a knitted jumper the other week which was over £200 new. I paid £30. That jumper will be worn by me for years, because it will last for years being a high quality item, but £200 would have been a stretch. Not only that, but it saved the creation of a new jumper and the materials used to make it. And the seller got £30 to put to whatever she needed to.
I know all these things, so why am I stuck?
I did take some photos and post in a Facebook group I'm a member of the other day and I sold a couple of things - which looking at how things have been going in that particular group isn't too bad at all, and it got rid of 2 items out of my house! Now I have to post the remaining items on Vinted...but why am I stuck?
Perfectionism. The thief of joy, and the stopper of doing things. In my head, my Vinted photos have to be the same quality as my knittykittybangbang jewellery photos. I even bought a new blanket (which is in a bag to keep pet hair off it) to photograph my clothes items on. It's been there since autumn. Cos I'm stuck.