Sorry for the sound of crickets, this past week: I got lost on my way to my office, and ended up accidentally taking a few days off at Christmas. Oops.
During this time, I did zero “proper” writing. Instead, I read half a dozen books, played with LEGO, and ate a whole lot of amazing food.
Okay, it was mostly chocolate. I ate a whole lot of amazing chocolate. Basically, a lovely respite on which to end 2025.
Rest assured I wasn’t entirely idle during this time. I have also been working on relaunching my eBay store. “Relaunching”, because the last time I sold anything online was about twenty years ago, when I flogged a load of toys and other things the Top Banana had grown out of.
As I have previously mentioned, I was incredibly fortunate to have been a stay-at-home mummy for her first twelve years. During that time, it was less of a hassle (and more lucrative!) to have a barn sale a couple of times each year, in the pole barn we had on our property at the Victorian farmhouse in Wisconsin.
These low-key sales were how I got rid of our old stuff back then, until I rejoined the workforce and simply did not have the time — nor the energy — to host those big barn sales any more.
So here I am. Full circle. Only this time around, I’m not getting rid of plastic Little People toys for $10 a box. Instead, I have decided to free up some space in my crowded closet, and am selling clothing I no longer wear.
Frankly, a lot of it is clothing that no longer fits.
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The girls or Mummy Dearest always get first dibs on the stuff I pass along, but the sad thing about being of tiny-footed petite stature is that a lot of my XS clothing doesn’t fit my family members or girlfriends.
As a result, we end up donating a lot of unwanted items to charity every year, which I am happy to do. Not just clothing: books, household items, furnishings, etc.
However, there are certain items which I have been unable to part with, and these wind up remaining stashed in the closet, unworn, until the next purge… And so, this is the stuff I have decided to list on eBay.
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As with everything, one project creates another, doesn’t it. (Well, it does for me!) The basic task of purging one’s closet can easily turn into a three-day ordeal involving refolding, rehanging, and reorganizing.
The discarded items then need to be scrutinized (are there any holes? Missing buttons? Loose hemlines? These problems all need to be addressed!), before taking a few decent pictures to post with the online listing.
Taking these photos is yet another time-consuming endeavour. It seems like half of my time is spent shooing the dog out of the damn way.
For my listings, I like to add some pictures with the tape-measure stretched across each item, rather than taking measurements myself, which would then need to be transposed on the listing. Same thing if I’m selling shoes with a heel.
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Great news: I sold a Brooks Brothers suit within the first 24 hours of going live. Hurrah for me!! Other items are also being snapped up, as I gradually add new listings. Fingers crossed this continues…
The final step of Maximalista global retail domination is the launch of the new shopping page on my website. (This can also be reached via the homepage.)
The SHOP link on the homepage will also take you directly to the new EnglishMaximalista eBay store.
Take a look and let me know if you have any tips or ideas to help me with my sales — I am all ears!!
Lots of love,
M xo
The English Maximalista 
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