Connecting with Craig's List!!

We are into our second day of packing.  It is unbelievable the amount of stuff (can't call it by any other name)  we have collected in 14 years.  While most of it is coming with us, we did have a few big items that we needed to dispose.  And thus started our close encounters with Craigslist.  My first hurdle was to convince my husband who believes that this is like extending a personal invitation to the dark side and that we are asking for trouble.  However, when I told him that we would leave in 2 weeks and the dark side would have a long way to travel to reach us, he relented.  As a parent, I am always looking for real life opportunities to teach my children.  so I presented my 16 year old son,Tarun with a project.  Establish a Craiglist account, take pictures of the items to sell and post it.  If we get any takers, the money was his to keep.  Of course, being the typical teenager with expensive tastes, he embraced the project with open arms. 

Tip #1:  When you place ads on Craigslist, be prepared to check your emails every few minutes.  Craigslist shoppers are an impatient bunch and I was chided for not responding immediately to their inquiries.  (of course, due to my lethargy, I had one guy bid $10 higher for the same item just to 'close the deal' as he thought I was holding out for more money) 

Tip #2:  You know you priced an item too low when you have a dozen takers within 10 minutes of posting.

To date Tarun has sold 5 of the 7 items he posted on Craig and pocketed a $150.  Not bad for a few minutes of work.  Of course, now he is scouring the house looking for items to sell and his brother's (Rahul) toys are fair game.  After much debate, he finally accepted defeat and retired gracefully.  Now he is making plans to go to the mall to dispose of his 'hard-earned' cash.

Keep tuned in for the next blog post which will introduce you to some of the characters the Giridhar household encountered during this whole saga.