Soooooo, it turns out that last year I made little enough money to barely pay my bills, but more than enough money to get the taxman all aflutter. Faced with the option of selling my car or selling my things to pay my taxes, I chose my things.
Well before I knew about my “tax situation,” I decided to sell all my Coach purses on Facebook to help justify buying handmade purses from Italy.  In hindsight, I should have done my taxes first, as I could have used that money to take care of the problem, buuut what’s a procrastinator to do?
Anyhow, once I said goodbye to items that were essentially my beloved children, selling the rest of my crap was a lot easier.
Right around when I started getting serious about becoming the eBay Queen, I stumbled upon an article about a guy, Dave, who decided to minimize his life to 100 items, with great results and personal happiness.  I decided that instead of calling my project “Pay the Taxman,†I would call it “Minimize My Life and Be a Responsible Citizen as an Added Bonus.â€
It took away a bit of the sting.
The article has made my farewell process easier.  While it’s been great moving all six still-shrink-wrapped seasons of Sex and the City to seven different apartments (true story), I can probably stand to part with them.  And my gorgeous Nine West python platform pumps that are a half size too big and have never been worn (except around the house 50 times while I begged them to shrink)?  Well, it’s time to send them to a loving home where someone with slightly bigger feet than me can rock them with a pair of medium-dark skinny jeans with a quarter-inch cuff.
Which, coincidentally, is in the listing description as a requirement for whoever purchases them.
The good fantastic news is that it turns out the lies I’ve been feeding to my mom for years (she’s a stellar financial planner and is always on my case about my shopping “problem”) have been true, and my insistence on purchasing name-brand goods “as an investment toward my future” has actually gotten a great return; I’ve raised nearly all the money I needed to pay my dues to society.  In return, I want one patched pothole somewhere in the United States with my photo and a sign that reads, “Visions by Carlene paid a lot for this.”
Here’s a link in case anyone else wants to learn more about the 100 Thing Challenge, or is sweating their tax bill and need to come up with some creative fundraisers.
Casey
Mar 27, 2012 at 9:19 am
I would love to pair down all of the stuff in my house. I’d have a lot more room and it’d be easier to keep it clean and ‘in it’s place’. Think I can sneak random broken garbage out of the house without anyone else noticing?
Erika S.
Mar 27, 2012 at 9:31 am
Interesting article and thanks for the link to the blog! It reminded me I have bags of books/VHS tapes/old cell phones I keep meaning to get rid of….not to mention an apartment full of items I don’t need/use.
Courtney
Mar 27, 2012 at 10:39 am
Good for you! A friend recently told me that most people have enough unused stuff around their house to make around $1000 on ebay. I know he’s right and keep meaning to get on that gravy train. There’s a time investment but great benefit 1) Cash in your pocket, 2) A less cluttered home AND 3) Environmentally responsible. He said one thing that can sell surprisingly well is old remote controls since if a model is no longer made you can’t order a new remote.
Lisa
Mar 27, 2012 at 11:41 am
When I first saw the title to this post I thought, “so that’s why she sold her Coach purses!” But alas, no. I was the Craigslist Queen for a whole to pare down our belongings before our trans-Atlantic move sober are enjoying a minimalist of lifestyle with a lot less ‘things’. At this point, we’d rather spend our money on travel.
the Original Colleen
Mar 27, 2012 at 4:42 pm
I always get a refund, pay taxes you say…never heard of it. But, I like your idea of downsizing, I always feel that way right after I watch one ep. of Horders…eeek!
Carlene
Mar 27, 2012 at 4:44 pm
@the Original Colleen – I run a small business, so until I start paying myself through a paycheck system that automatically takes out taxes for me, it’s my responsibility to pay up when April 15th rolls around.
Jeff
Mar 27, 2012 at 5:16 pm
Great post Carlene!! On FB, there was a conversation about filing an extension to file taxes. In case this might help someone, I figure I would contribute that contrary to popular belief, an extension to file taxes is NOT an extension to pay taxes. From IRS Form 4868 -
Although you are not required to make a payment of the tax
you estimate as due, Form 4868 does not extend the time to
pay taxes. If you do not pay the amount due by the
regular due date, you will owe interest. You may also be charged
penalties. For more details, see Interest and Late Payment Penalty
on page 2. Any remittance you make with your application for
extension will be treated as a payment of tax.
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f4868.pdf
Carlene
Mar 27, 2012 at 5:26 pm
@Jeff – I love how knowledgeable my friends are!
Jon
Mar 27, 2012 at 6:36 pm
@Casey- No.
@Carlene- you were talking about the brand name thing- I’ve found it a lot easier to find the couple things (mainly talking food here, but it can work for most things) that you know you HAVE to have brand name stuff in and go generic/store brand for the rest. Many things are essentially the same, but if there’s one or two things you need the “nicer/brand name” ones, so be it. You’ll still save a bunch in the long run.
Shirneen
Mar 28, 2012 at 4:49 pm
I almost threw up when I got a bill from the IRS telling me I owed them $16,000. No that is NOT a typo. $2600 of that was penalties and interest. That is the very last time I do my own taxes. It was a mix up by my financial adviser when he “sold” some of my funds instead of “rolling them over”. Obviously, I no longer employ him. The IRS is scarey to say the least so I understand your need to take care of this! Good news for me was that I really took some losses on those rollovers and the CPA that I hired found they actually owed me $500!! :-) Can you teach us all how to sell on ebay? Please………
JennC
Mar 28, 2012 at 11:22 pm
We somehow owe $8K and the federal gov’t provides a monthly payment plan, NYS on the other hand, not so forgiving. We have to pay up now or have our wages garnished. I learned a lesson from my 2011 (and 2010 taxes) and I might look into selling off some gently used items! Great post.
Jay
Mar 31, 2012 at 2:31 pm
Makes me glad my taxes come out of every paycheck. Because I don’t think I would have the control to save up the money and not blow it on an impulse buy.
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