Store Your Sh*& on Craigslist
Sometimes I really drive myself crazy with buying and selling gear—what I need, what I don’t need, and what I thought I needed last week that I don’t need this week.
Over the years, I’ve been able to really pay attention to what’s real and what’s not. But oftentimes—honestly, basically never—I don’t have enough gear. I always have a little bit too much. Right now, if I was to rate it, I’d say kind of a little bit too much.
There are some pieces that I’ve had and kept, and I’m certainly glad I have them. But as I sit here today, I’m thinking about selling all the little stuff.
Last night, I was feeling bad about owning a few too many things. Anything that’s not directly benefiting my family, or that I’m able to make money off of through live gigs or production work, I’m not crazy about having. It feels incorrect. If I was a single dude, it’d be different.
But I've reframed all of that into this: I have my own music store. Is everything on the floor yet?
So I’m going to list all the little stuff. It’s going to be a little too expensive, but not crazy. If it sells, great. If not, I’ll keep it.
I heard something a long time ago—and I think I’ve mentioned it before in this blog—that the best place for stuff storage--and I’ll amend this to say gear storag--is Craigslist. And I’ll amend it further: Facebook Marketplace, or eBay. Store all your stuff here.
There’s no way I need two KO samplers by Teenage Engineering. So I’m going to keep one @ home and one in the cloud. On Reverb or wherever. Also going to see how many things I can keep there. If I need them, I’ll just buy them back. If I lose a little money, fine. One thing for sure—I’ll forget about it the $$ win/loss.
Most of my stuff I bought right, so I may even make a little money on the losers. And cash is always KANG!
So don’t feel bad about all the garbage you have hanging around. And if you're in "need?" I have a theory that’s mostly true: just watch for two weeks.This does two things. One, something always shows up within two weeks. Always. And two, maybe after two weeks, 50% chance you won’t want it.
Use that next time. It really works.
I have a real love/hate relationship with gear, and I bet everybody else who reads this does as well.
But it’s way more love than hate.
But I also hate it.