.jpg)
It's that time again -- a day when I go window shopping for beads and it ends up with the should-I-destash-or-not dallying that I do every now and then. As a hobbyist, I can't just buy beads all the time. Not selling anything, destashing it one of the ways I finance my bead addiction.
I've thought about doing something drastic and sell beads I've kept for some time and never used, mainly as a way to focus on the type of beads I love the most and build up a stash of beads that work well together, not just look pretty on their own. Out with the aqua fired agate rounds and rosequartz, in with the stone picasso beads and aged seeds.
It can feel so good to destash. Out with the old, in with the new. It's both a physical and mental spring cleaning. While keeping most of the stash (it's big), it's still a bit like creating a clean slate, a new start.
So why don't I destash? It's often a matter of doubting there's an interest and buying and a matter of time as it means you have to take photos, set prices, consider making bead soups or not, posting it online -- and then once the orders come you have all the administration around that. Putting the order together, letting the person know if someone else just bought that bead, wait for payment, buy stamps (which isn't that easy when living in the countryside with no bus lines and no driver's licence) and package everything. Last time I did a big destash I made a whole set of blog posts, as you can still see as I haven't taken the blog down.
I mean, it's fun too as you get money and more space for new beads. It's just that I want to feel certain it's worth all the work.
The one side I don't like about destashing is calculating the price -- and, yes, I know that with my education it should be super easy. I just hate the idea of overpricing and feel worried no one is going to buy unless I sell it cheap. Now you might say "well, why don't you go the auction route and let the buyers set the price"? But I don't feel confident that I'd get enough bidders interested -- or indeed that there'd be more than one or two finding my auctions.
One thing I've thought about is making lots -- everything from cheap bead lots to "premium style" with more expensive beads and supplies -- as it keeps the amount of work down a bit. But then I run into the problem of combining lots and making interesting mixes that'll attract buyers. I don't want to end up with people not buying because they just want one piece or two in a lot.
Unfortunately, the last three or four times I've thought about destashing I've gotten stuck in those kind of thoughts and never got around to destash. Now I feel like I can't let that happen again. I should take a day to just sit down a cull beads. Go through every box, jar and bag. Really ask myself if I should hang on to that or that bead/finding/cord. Yes, you might find that it was a good thing to save one day, but some beads will just work their way to the bottom of the stash and stay there forever unless you sell them or give them away.
Fingers crossed I get further than this old verbal rehash this time...
