In just two short months I'll be graduating from college. Although there are a lot of exciting feelings that come with graduation, it also means that my student loans will be kicking in.
I've always been told about the importance of side hustles since I'm a business student. It really is true though that it makes the thought of paying things off a lot less intimidating when you know that there is a passive income that can help to pay off these things rather than dipping into your savings. Developing a side hustle was really important to me because although I graduate in May, I won't be starting my job until August.
So what exactly is my side hustle?
I sell the stuff I don't need anymore on Poshmark and Mercari. I started doing this after I came back from my school's winter break and realized that the clothing I left at school I had not only forgotten about but also could 100% live without. Fueled with the passion of getting rid of things and mixed with the desire to keep things out of landfills, I took to selling platforms.
Before break I had already been selling some stuff on Poshmark and Mercari which are second hand selling platforms. I highly recommend using these platforms to buy and sell items. You can use my referral code @ameals12 for $5 when you sign up.
Like I said I had started by selling clothing that just came out of my closet that I wasn't wearing anymore. I've been making about a sale or two a week since I have started posting things. Since it was all just from my closet, the largest effort I had to put forth was taking and posting the photos. After that, I let the items sit and wait to get offers and sales.
Over break I really cranked up sales. I stayed at home and with my mom went through a lot of things that we don't need anymore. My mom and I are basically on the same page about getting rid of things that we do not use anymore. I posted a lot of video games which was new to me. To my surprise they sold super fast, but when I think about it it makes sense.
Video games are something that are semi persistent and really only go out of demand when the platforms change. This really only happens every year or so. Fashion used to be a quarterly change when we would have four seasons. With the decreasing cost of creating clothing and our increasing appetite to have the latest and greatest, fashion has more seasons than we can count in a year. This means half of the clothing I'm selling isn't in style anymore, meaning it probably won't sell anytime soon.
Although I really do have my fingers crossed that some of my stale clothing will sell it's really been through my added tech efforts that led me to this extra income.
So what exactly did I sell over break?
You can see a breakdown below that includes what I sold, where I sold it, for how much, and what actually ended up in my pocket.
Selling these items over break was fun to me because it really did become a habit. In the morning I would look through my sales, place the items into a package, print the label, and head off to the post office.
All of the money that I made will be going towards paying off some of my private loans so that I can become a step closer to becoming debt free (even if just a teeny tiny step). I'm hoping to continue to sell more things until most of my closet is cleared out.
I highly recommend selling anything that you no longer need. Stop holding on to things that you think you may wear one time and give it to someone who will actually get use out of it. Plus you can make some money in the meantime. What's holding you back? Think you don't know what to do?
Here are some quick tips I learned from selling so far:
Cross post your items on Mercari and Poshmark. It's best to give your items the best shot, and it really takes minimal effort if you do the postings at the same time.
Make thorough postings so that you don't need to spend too much time answering questions. Make sure to include an accurate description, the size, any relevant measurements, and anything else you might ask about the item if you were viewing it.
Don't do free shipping on Mercari unless you have a scale and know what you're doing. Yes, using PayPal shipping makes it super cheap, but if you're not confident don't bother. You can get charged lots more if you forget the tracking code or don't use the right weight.
Go to the Dollar Store for cheap shipping supplies. They have boxes, bubble mailers, tissue paper, and more.
Get free shipping supplies when you ship Priority Express here. These boxes work for when you sell on Poshmark.
Honestly, don't spend too much of your time sharing, following, or reposting people's things on Poshmark. Unless you want to be a full time seller it really doesn't matter.
Post the items you think someone would actually buy. Nobody really wants your faded shirts or beat up shoes.
Want more tips? I started a board on Pinterest that you can follow that has lots of tips I found useful here.
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