I don’t know about you, but I think that my kids grow right after a season starts and I buy new clothes, just for fun. However, they look like they never grow. But it never fails. A new season rolls around, and two weeks into it, and they need new EVERYTHING. While I do love going out to a store and buying them new pretties, when I have to buy entire wardrobes for THREE people (and that big kid I have) my house starts to look like a department store. I’m sure that I have clothes in every single size that was created for children from birth to size 14. It’s kind of awesome and scary.
Usually going into a thrift store, or a resale shop is the thing to do,to donate the clothes, but have you ever taken two four year olds and a six year old out to donate clothes? Together? Alone? While I know that I am a fabulous mom, there seems to be an internal guage that they all have that lets them know NOT to be cooperative. Also, trying to fully explain that we aren’t just throwing their clothes away “OMG MOM! Not my FAVORITE rainbow skirt!” can be a bit difficult. I’ve taken to wanting to sale online, but sometimes online swap groups, or garage sale groups can be a bit sketchy. You have to deal with your money not coming through, or worse yet, someone trying to double cross you. Getting the product, but saying they didn’t. Since there is no middle man, it’s hard to know what’s what.
That’s why when my friend Brandi of Mama Knows It All told me about the TotSpot App, I wanted in. This was a way for me to get rid of the clothes that were taking up space in our home AND a way to make money on the side as well. Mr. Houseful certainly loves the business model, and the kids love helping me choose the clothes that are great for selling. They’ve even taken to pointing out if something is too old-looking to sell to another mom, or if there is a small rip that wouldn’t make it worthy of being listed. Believe me – kid eyes see EVERYTHING!
The app makes it easy peasy to complete the upload of your photos. Overall, it’s up to you to choose a great background, and clothes that people actually want to buy. For a moment, I thought about using my children to hold up the clothes, but we all know how the Houseful of Littles act when a camera comes out. It would be all about them. Instead, I let them “take” some of the photos and called it a day. I also let them scroll through some of the clothes for sale – since I was able to preset the sizes for each of them, and guess what happened? The little IT experts started favoriting items that they wanted. They even saw a dress for Lil’ Miss and everyone exclaimed OOOOOOOOHHHHH!
SIGH
Who thought it was a good idea to teach my 4 year olds the magic of smartphones and fashion?
Selling on TotSpot is a piece of cake. All you have to do is click on the sell tab, take a picture of the item you want to sell, and fill out all of the pertinent information, then list. When your item sells, you are notified via the TotSpot “Alert” system, which is also connected to your email, and you can get it in the mail to your buyer. TotSpot credits your account in the app, which you can use to purchase other items, or cash out into your linked bank account.
I’m looking forward to being able to lighten up the clothing load in our houseful (while still looking to see what I can snag from TotSpot – you didn’t think that I wouldn’t SHOP did you?!) while allowing someone else to benefit from the cuteness of the clothes that my children can no longer fit.
How about you? Would you participate in mom-to-mom or dad-to-dad or parent-to-parent selling? If so, make sure you download TotSpot (available on iOS and Android) and get to listing!
That dress though…..OOOOHHHHHH!!!!!
Michelle,
They happened to find the most expensive items in each of their profiles. Already high maintenance. It’s SOOOO cute though!
I just taught one of my 7 year old twins how to swipe my credit card at the market, a big mistake! I have to make sure my children do not find out about this app. I will use it for them, but I must keep them away.