Craigslist Crazy

Is there a meeting I can go to? I'm thinking CA. It's not the abbreviation for the bankrupt state of California. It's the group meeting to cure addiction to Craigslist. If it exists, please sign me up. 

For those of you not familiar with Criagslist, here's the Wikipedia definition:

Craigslist is a centralized network of online communities, featuring free online classified advertisements– with sections devoted to jobs, housing, personals, for sale, services, community, gigs, résumés, anddiscussion forums.

Craig Newmark began the service in 1995 as an email distribution list of friends, featuring local events in the San Francisco Bay Area, before becoming a web-based service in 1996. After incorporation as a private for-profit company in 1999, Craigslist expanded into nine more U.S. cities in 2000, four each in 2001 and 2002, and 14 in 2003. As of April 2009, Craigslist has established itself in approximately 570 cities in 50 countries.

As of 2009, Craigslist operates with a staff of 28 people. Its sole source of revenue is paid job ads in select cities and paid broker apartment listings in New York City. 

The site serves over twenty billion page views per month, putting it in 28th place overall among web sites world wide, ninth place overall among web sites in the United States (per Alexa.com on March 27, 2009), to over fifty million unique monthly visitors in the United States alone (per Compete.com on April 7, 2009). The site receives over one million new job listings each month, making it one of the top job boards in the world.  The classified advertisements range from traditional buy/sell ads and community announcements, to personal ads and services.

Now that the introduction is out of the way, I can tell you that I've been frequenting Craigslist for years. I've predominantly sold baby items, such as strollers, a swing, or any large baby gear that the kids have outgrown. I think I've sold everything the kids have outgrown, except clothing. I've sold one car and, I've also sold a lot of furniture on Craigslist. We used to have garage sales, but now I just frequent Craigslist when we have items to purge.

A couple of months ago, I set out to re-decorate and furnish both Abigail and Cooper's room. However, I challenged myself with not spending anything I didn't earn by selling items I wanted to get rid of in their rooms. I started off with Abigail's bedroom set, which I sold for what I wanted to spend on her room in just a few days. Now, she has all new Pottery Barn bedding, a chair rail installed around her room and freshly painted walls. (She also received Cooper's bedroom furniture to replace her sold furniture. Her new bed was our guestroom bed.) I came in just a few dollars over my Criagslist budget in her room, which was a success.

The past week, I've been working on Cooper's room. I picked up a gorgeous antique dresser and mirror from... You guessed it! Craigslist! And, today, I listed Cooper's crib and various other baby items like our pack and play that we no longer need. It was just a few minutes after posting, that I began receiving emails from people wanting to buy my items. It looks like I'm going to be able to come out in the clear with my budget for Cooper's room. I think the $40 in paint may be over budget of what I'll end up bringing in from my sales, but I'm pleased as punch with that result!

Daniel regularly advises the kids to keep moving. He says that I'll sell anything that sits still long enough around our house. He may be right, but it's fun!