Packing and Shipping and Paypal, Oh My!

Learning this new etsy business and all the details that go along with it feels a little like I'm learning to write with my left hand. I'm clumsy and slow and it's just going to take getting out there and learning by doing. This is not something that comes naturally for me. I like to know every tiny little detail of who, what, when, where and why in everything I do. Spontaneity and new experiences make me so tense I feel like my shoulders might tighten enough for my head to pop right off my neck. I have been working very hard to get over this and having kids is a big inspiration for self improvement. I already look at my 3.5 year old having trouble transitioning from one activity to another and getting peeved anytime something new messes up his little routine and I think "My baby is already uptight and stressed and it's all my fault!" So I'm doing my best to ditch the over researching and just jump in and learn from experience.

Now that I've sold an item I'm realizing that there are so many things to consider. I spent most of the day Tuesday trying to get set up on Paypal, something I thought happened automatically when I set up shop on etsy, and running back and forth from Walmart, the UPS store, Hobby Lobby, Walmart again, and back to Hobby Lobby (with a side trip to the grocery store for diapers and milk) just trying to figure out who had the best boxes at the best prices to fit each of my differently sized items and how I could make sure these items survive the US Postal Service without being bent, warped and drenched with rain but still be appealing to the buyer.

Bit by tiny bit throughout the day I reluctantly went through the painful process of letting go of my earth conscious (translation, overly frugal, ok, down right cheap) idea of putting the items in a ziplock bag from the grocery dept (to protect from water damage), shredding up old junk mail and bills for packing material and shipping in the boxes our boys' diapers came in and traded it out for the more business conscious idea of wrapping the items in the nice cellophane used to wrap gift baskets, shredding up nice, new, crispy white craft paper for the packing material and shipping in --gasp!-- brand spankin' new boxes. I have to admit, the revised plan was so much better. I kept stealing glances at this beautiful package, so tidy and clean, thinking this was worth the work. This will make the buyer feel like they're opening a gift to themselves instead of feeling like they found a pretty cool thing in the dumpster that you can't believe someone would throw out because, with some work, it could be really nice.