Top Ten Things You Forgot You Had: Spring Cleaning Edition

Spring cleaning isn’t just about keeping up appearances. You might have a spotless foyer and dust-free living room, but what’s inside your closet and garage? Below are ten things you forgot you had and might want to get rid of — or maybe even turn into cash!

10) Baby Stuff

Newborn to 5T clothing haul via UsedPei

Are you still holding on to countless baby sweaters, shirts, pants, and shoes? No one is asking you to rush them out the door, but it couldn’t hurt to pick and choose the items that are particularly important to you and shed some extra weight.

9) Old Costumes

Is it unfashionable to wear the same Halloween costume two years in a row? Ask any costume snob and the answer will be a resounding “no!” Dig into the tickle-trunk and put a price tag on your Harry Potter and Twilight costumes… you won’t be needing them anymore.

8 ) Plant Pots

Various planters via UsedGatineau

Ceramic or terra cotta, plastic or cement, everyone with a green thumb has a plant pot or two that they just might need one day. Keyword: might. Think of the extra space you’ll have when you send them on their way.

7) Kids Sporting Goods

Sparring gear via @UsedNanaimo

You know that smell coming from the closet? It’s emanating from the sports equipment that your kids don’t fit into anymore. It can’t be vacuumed or washed, nor can it be Febreezed away. The only remedy is to pass it off to the arms of an up and coming athlete who doesn’t mind slipping into stinky gear.

6) Books

A couple of lovely encyclopaedias via UsedEdmonton

Aside from the gem or two that you can’t bear to part with, you’ve probably got loads of novels and novellas that absolutely must go. The underwhelming murder mysteries and the cheesy tales of romance are no exception.

5) Golf Clubs

Ladies golf clubs via UsedVictoria

Golfing is a sport for gentlemen and gentlewomen that is, unfortunately, very expensive and time consuming. It comes as no surprise then, that lots of those who try the sport aren’t ready to fully commit. If you fall into that category and you’re ready to reevaluate your decision, you may want to ditch the clubs for something for accessible.

4) Men’s Ties

7 wacky ties via UsedVictoria

Ties are often cited as a fantastic present for dads, and they are. Nevertheless, they will inevitably pile up over time, and every few years you may need to cleanse your rack of the ties that aren’t quite timeless enough to keep.

3) Unused Bicycles

Bike for sale via UsedPQB

Bikes are often one of those things that you use or you don’t. If yours is collecting dust, you may want to put it up for adoption. They always seem to be in high demand, so you’ll have no trouble getting a pretty penny for it.

2) Winter Jackets

Coveted Canada Goose jacket via UsedGatineau

Who doesn’t have five jackets in their closet they could do without? It’s not Summer yet, so pick your favorite and sell the rest before it’s too late.

1) Kids Toys

Motherload of babystuff via UsedVictoria

Have you seen the movie Gremlins? If you answered yes, then you’ll probably share my bewilderment at to why people willingly brought Furbies into their homes. If you answered no, then heed my advice and get rid of it asap. Furbies aside, kids toys are notorious for collecting dust. Your kids may think they’re out of style, but there are likely some out there that would love to get their hands on your lightly used playthings.

So, that’s a lot of stuff you can pass on to someone else and make a little coin in the process. Re-gift, donate or post it for free on your local Used Site. Win, win and win.

Online, Brick & Mortar, or Both?

Has the pressure gotten to you yet? With only 3 days left before Christmas morning, it better have. We’re in the last stretch, which means the malls are packed like sardine cans until close, the shelves are empty anyway, and it’s too late to order from Amazon. You might argue that squeezing through a sea of bodies is a staple of the holiday shopping season, and more power to those who manage to survive the ordeal.

My personal solution is to take the best of both online and brick & mortar shopping and mash them together. Yeah, yeah, I work for UsedEverywhere.com, so obviously I’m going to plug the site in a biased blog post on their corporate site. Not so, holiday shopper. My time here is almost up, so what do I have to gain by pushing product? Reason this one through with me and I think you’ll agree that it can be a life saver for last minute shopping.

Benefit #1: We get a surge of items posted to the site during the holidays, so there’s a cornucopia of stuff to browse through in the comfort of your living room.

Benefit #2: You don’t have to wait for your purchase to come in the mail or worry about it arriving in time, you just fire off an email and drive a couple of blocks to pick up the gift. No sardine can, no worries. Let me know if you agree or disagree with my logic in the comments section below, and check out a few last minute gift ideas on the way down there (click on the picture to see the ad itself).

Mama Bear – Lulu Lemon Gear

Papa Bear – Digital SLR Camera

Sister Bear – Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling

Brother Bear

Happy Holidays everyone!

4 Interesting Nuggets of UsedEverywhere Information

Working at UsedEverywhere for the past year has opened my eyes in a way to the vast scope of the Internet. For many, including myself, it’s the future of newspaper. We get up in the morning and surf our favorite websites with a cup of coffee and a bagel, but we don’t necessarily think about all of the other people who are doing the exact same thing. I didn’t at least, until I saw just how many people browse and post ads on our site, and we’re just a small slice of the Internet pie. Below are a few facts about UsedEverywhere.com in 2010 that I hope will blow your mind to the extent that they did mine, or at least just make you think a little. Enjoy.

4) The top 3 most searched words in 2010 were:

1. Free – Everyone likes free stuff and many of you were searching for it. What most people don’t seem to know is that you can see everything that’s listed as “free” on our site with the click of a button. Check out our Advanced Search Options tutorial from way back when.
2. iPhone – It’s no surprise that in 2010, the year of the iPhone 4, everyone was out to get a piece of the Apple pie. Our website happened to be a platform for the selling and reselling of the coveted product, which was the second most searched term across Canada and the UK.
3. Ps3 – The Playstation 3 was released in 2006 at an incredibly high price-point and with only a small selection of games. It may have had a slow start, but in the last year or two it has gained the traction that it needed to (arguably) outperform its competitors. On our sites at least, the Ps3 is the third most searched word.

3) The Most Viewed ad of the year is:

This poor gent is still looking for his dog. Almost a full year and 61,262 people later he’s still trying. Kudos to Neil for not giving up.

2) The most expensive car posted in 2010 goes to:

1) The total value of goods sold on UsedEverywhere.com in 2010 was:

$5,031,628,792 (that’s over 5 billion dollars, didn’t you know)

Have a great weekend everyone!

Customize Your Own Holiday Paper

Last week Andrea impressed with a creative little customized gift box. I really liked that you could rip a page out of just about anything you could find, from National Geographic or Adbusters to a clipping from your local newspaper. Then I got thinking, how could you do the same for all of your holiday gifts? The answer that I found wasn’t necessarily orignal, but it’s something that my family hadn’t done before. You see, we would end up buying several rolls of expensive paper and in the end, everyone’s gifts would look the same. I never complained about it at the time, but it would have been so nice to get something that was created just for me.

So here’s an idea for customized wrapping paper that I’m sure has been done a thousand times before, but that I nevertheless found inexpensive and endearing.

Step 1) Supplies You’ll Need:

• Craft Paper – I found a huge roll of brown craft paper at the local post office for $5, you’ll be able to too. It’s about 10 times larger than your average wrapping paper and 10 times cheaper. This will last you through Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa.
• Sharpie Pen – Simple enough, right? There’s really all the room in the world to play around with your weapon of choice. Crayons, pencil, markers, whatever.
• Tape – For wrapping purposes of course.
• Gifts!

Step 2) Wrap Your Gift

You’ve done it year in and year out, so I won’t go over the basics of gift wrapping. The important thing to keep in mind here is that you want to wrap before you draw. Placement is everything and you’ll have a tricky time lining up your swords and princess dresses if you do it in reverse.

Step 3) Draw, Paint, Sculpt, Sketch.

Ok, we sort of cheated on this one. Alfie happens to have a Graphic Designer brother, so we pulled him in for some wrapping paper handy-work (check out Ryan’s other work at www.designrb.ca, it’s definitely worth a look). You certainly don’t need a professional to do the deed. In fact, rough sketches and bad drawing can be even more endearing. The goal here is to pick up a utensil and try your best (and no one said tracing is a sin).

Step 4) Present the Presents

When it comes time to reveal your masterpiece, present the gift to your kids, significant other, or whomever and take note of their reaction. If all goes well, they’ll spend just as much time admiring the box as what’s inside.

If you’re feeling adventurous and you’d like to try it yourself, take some shots and send them in (michaelc@usedeverywhere.com). I’ll post whatever I get on the blog to inspire the next group of DIYers.

Selling on our Facebook Page

Since the inception of the UsedEverywhere Facebook Page there have been people posting their goods for sale on our wall. Fair enough, I say. We’re an online classifieds site, so why wouldn’t you be able to hawk your wares wherever we are on the net?

There are a few complications however, when it comes to posting on Facebook as opposed to your local Used site. For example, when you post to one of our sites, you are bound by our ad placing requirements. In other words, we won’t let you post an ad if you don’t include the necessary information (ie: price, location). On Facebook, you can post whatever you want in whatever format you want. What we’ve seen so far is that a lot of people are forgetting to post their price and/or location, which sort of defeats the point, don’t you think?

Another concern is that our Facebook Page is for everyone from Victoria to Ottawa, from the U.K. to Australia. Even though there is a select group of people from your city that may be interested in what you have to offer, there are a lot of people who aren’t. With all of this in mind, we need your help to decide how to handle all of these ads. Here are the options that we’ve come up with. Let us know what your vote goes to in the comments below.

Option 1) Allow ads that include an item description, location, and price, while deleting ads that are incomplete or that contain personal information such as phone numbers and/or email addresses (just looking out for you!).

Option 2) Delete all ads posted to our Facebook Page. No exceptions.

Option 3) Don’t mess with it. People will post what they want to post and ignore what they want to ignore.

Your opinion matter. Post it in the comments section!

Where Do You Find Your Holiday Trinkets?

The other day our office was invited to join a “pod decorating contest.” We were told that we had 2 hours to glitz up our space with whatever trinkets, bibelots, and gimcracks we could find. Everything seemed simple enough until… wait, I don’t even know where to find baubles, gewgaws, and trifles, let alone trinkets, bibelots, and gimcracks. Where does one even start!?

Growing up I celebrated Christmas with my family, and over the years my parents built a large and eclectic ensemble of ornaments. We had small German dolls from my grandparents, cinnamon sticks from the kitchen, an ugly cat that was given as a gift (and reluctantly hung every year), and an electronic Christmas tree train that I’m sure was bought to halt my tears. For better or worse, every piece seemed to have it’s place in our family history. But now that I’m on my own, am I doomed to spend the Holiday season without a collection of my own? Am I even allowed to buy ornaments in bulk? Is it kosher to buy used or do I have to wait for someone to gift me ugly cats and other miscellaneous treasures?

In the end, the Used Crew approached the situation from just about every angle. A few brought in heirlooms of their own (or in Charlotte’s case, a trunk of heirlooms), we all spruced up our computer monitors with crackling fireplaces, and Jose bartered on UsedVictoria.com for a fancy piñata. It was a hodge podge of family histories, but it certainly worked.

My question to you is, no matter what Holiday you celebrate, where do you get your holiday trinkets? And if you were to buy used, would you go for the classics or is a light-up Star Trek Enterprise more your style?

Does the environment matter when we're cold?

As Summer ended and the snow began to fall, I noticed something strange on our blog. The number of posts discussing the environment, climate-change, and the like gradually declined. It wasn’t intentional, and as an organization we’re still very much invested in the reusing and repurposing of goods for the betterment of our small planet. So why the change? I have a theory that when the snow hits and the wind chills, our mammalian priorities shift. After all, how does one find the time to worry about global warming when one’s eyelids are frozen shut?

Winter means using more energy to heat your apartment, more gas to drive your car, and ultimately more money to stay comfy. Conveniently enough, being conscious of your Winter footprint will often lessen the season’s impact on your bank account. But what takes precedence, your creature comforts or a small contribution to the environmental cause? Below are a few ideas that could help you save a tree and some money. The comments section below is specifically designed to house your thoughts, so let me know what you do to save the snow-covered Earth.

• Take the bus to work/school. Carpooling is a good idea anytime of the year, but in the Winter it has the added benefit of reducing the number of cars on the road (and reducing emissions).
• Buy a blanket instead of a heater. A cozy blanket will keep you warm for the nightly news while saving you loads on your heating bill.
• Buy ‘experienced’ presents and wrap them in newspaper. We wrote a blog a while ago on buying used at Christmas and a few of you seemed to be into the idea. Save a treasure from the landfill and wrap it in paper you already have (we’ll have more on this later in the week).
• Use lamps, not lights. It’s becoming darker outside earlier than ever, but that doesn’t mean that your entire house/apartment needs to be lit up like a Christmas tree. Lamps generally use a lot less electricity than ceiling lights, so try to use more of the former and turn off everything when possible.

Have ideas of your own? Drop them in a comment below!

Go RoughRiders!

The Grey Cup is this Sunday! The Used Crew wants to give a shout out to the Riders before they play off against Montreal. We’re all wearing green and cheering them on, and a few of us will be at the game to represent in person.

If you’re a fan yourself, be sure to take a gander at all of the RoughRiders gear on UsedRegina.com and visit their official website.

5 Canadian Songs of Winter

Canada sometimes gets a bad rap in the international arena for having cold weather and too much snow. But rather than feeling sorry for ourselves or responding with contempt, we embrace our below zero degree temperature (in celsius, of course) and in true Canadian fashion, we write songs about it.

Below is a selection of 5 Canadian music videos, from Vancouver to Montreal, that capture the Winter vibe as we know it. You won’t find any Michael Bublé or Diana Krall here though, this is Winter music at the grassroots level. Enjoy!

JP HOE – Snow Plow (Winnipeg)

Hilary Grist – Branch’s Arms (Vancouver)

Winter Gloves – Factories / Plastic Slides (Montreal)

Said The Whale – This Winter I Retire (Vancouver)

Winter Equinox – Two Eyes (Waterloo)

Let It Snow!

The quintessential sign of Winter is here. On Monday, November 22nd it snowed in Victoria, British Columbia (See the UsedEverywhere.com HQ being smothered to your right). Now for those of you who don’t live on the isle, you should know that it takes the perfect storm of temperature and humidity for the clouds to dump a load this close to the ocean. So it’s not a stretch to assume that if it’s snowing in Victoria, it’s snowing everywhere… and by golly it is.

Canadians that live in the interior are prepared for such things, but living in snowy Victoria presents an interesting scenario. Buses shut down and cars don’t work, so what does one do under house arrest? How do you handle the weather and what would you do if you couldn’t go outside?