Monday, March 21, 2011

Homestead Priorities Must Come First



I have come to a decision today. Actually I have been thinking about it for days now. I am going to stop selling online. Today I am taking off many of the books I have listed in my Bonanza booth. The reason isn't so much that sales are slow, though they are. It is just that I am spreading myself too thin. I have way too many things to take care of on a daily basis. Packaging up things and getting them in the mailbox is just one too many things for me to deal with.


Spring cleaning and planting is coming up and that is really more important to me than spending time trying to get people to buy my items. One thing I don't want to cut back on is writing my blogs and working on my book. So the place I have to cut back on is the area of selling. Selling is not as easy as everyone thinks. They think you just list them and wait. But there is a lot more to it than that. It takes a lot of time, effort and hard work.


Books are hard to sell. Once you cover the Bonanza fee, the Paypal fee, the postage, the envelope you pack it in, the ink and paper for printing the label, and then you try to make something on the sale. Profit! Profit you ask? Well Amazon has almost every book you can list and their sellers usually sell them for a penny or not much more. So how can I compete with them? They win.

I am more concerned with our homestead chores to tell you the truth. This year I am going to be doubling our garden production as well as foraging for wild foods and medicines. Planning on stocking up on lots of food since the price of food is going up and up. So I hope to be doing a lot of canning, dehydrating and storing fresh.



Plus I am planning on spending time with my horses this year. Especially taking Tawny out of the paddock and doing things with her. She needs my attention.

Working on the pantry and root cellar and helping my husband get them in place and usable. The same with my upstairs.

So I will be cutting out the unproductive parts of my life. Selling just happens to be the first. Otherwise, I will be here writing my blogs just like usual.





Copyright © 2011 Kathleen G. Lupole
All Photographs Copyright © 2011 Kathleen G. Lupole

8 comments:

Linda Foley said...

Ya know Kat, that is probably a sound decision! I often buy used books from Amazon for $0.01 plus postage which makes the book cost me, $4.00. Not bad, right? I figure whoever is selling it must just want to get them off their shelves. but it is helpful to me.

katlupe said...

Yeah, that's what I think. I am happy with this decision now that I have made it.

Lori said...

Sounds like you've given this much thought. Funny, I've been getting my priorities straight too.

Last week I fell very sick with high fever, chills, bad sore throat, and just feeling yucky! I usually still function just fine even with a high fever but this was bad. It made me realize though that I need to slow down and I need to get my priorities straight.

I can't wait to see pictures of your garden this year and more pictures of those beautiful horses of yours. They are lucky you'll be giving them more of your time, I bet you both get a lot out of that!

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Marlene said...

I love the idea of re-evaluating what works and what doesn't in my life...

I am SO looking forward to spring and summer and reading all about your garden and canning time!

Paula & Skip said...

Must be in the air, the air of Spring. We made a lost of priorities last night too!

Patti Hanan said...

It is so important to have our priorities straight. I think you are making a wise decision. How fun that you will be foraging for wild foods and medicines. That sounds like a lot more fun than selling books :) Hope you are enjoying the beginning of spring. The pictures of your homestead are beautiful!

Anonymous said...

I love your blog, I truly enjoy reading about your life and daily thoughts. I would of made the same choices, enjoy the farming