My Entire Shipping Station Fits In My Bedroom (and You Wouldn’t Even Know It’s There)
One key component of operating an efficient resale business is a shipping station - that is, a dedicated space where you keep all of your shipping supplies. But some shipping supplies, like boxes, can present a storage challenge when you live in a small home.
When I started my Ebay business a year ago, I had absolutely no idea how many boxes and other shipping supplies I would need to keep on hand. And I never would have thought I had space in my condo to store it all!
The reality is that I’ve made space as I’ve gone along. It’s been that way with every aspect of establishing my business - I’ve just made adjustments as needed. When you live in a small home, you don’t have the luxury of dedicating a basement or spare bedroom to your business. You must work with the space you have - even if it’s a corner here and a shelf there.
I run my Ebay business out of my bedroom, and have set up my shipping station in such a way that everything is within a few steps of everything else.
My desk doubles as my shipping station.
I already had a desk in my room, and it made for a natural choice for my shipping station. I store packaging tape, scissors, and a tape measure in the drawers. The printer and digital postal scale sit on a shelving unit a few inches away. It works really well to have everythingI need right at my fingertips.
Pro tip: Make sure you put everything back in its place when you’re done. Keeping your space tidy is key to making a resale business run out of your small home work.
My desk is my shipping station. I store supplies in drawers and on shelves, along with a box of brown packing paper underneath.
I found space for 25 boxes beneath my bed.
I keep 25-30 boxes of all sizes on hand at any given time, plus a fairly large supply of brown packing paper, bubble wrap, etc. (You can read about what shipping supplies I use here. [link])
“25-30 boxes, including some that are very large! I don’t have enough space for that,” you might be thinking. Well you just might be surprised at how much space you can find when you are determined.
I flatten all boxes and store them in a pile under my bed. I try to keep them organized by size, which allows me to find the one I need fairly easily. I keep very large boxes in my bedroom closet, up against a wall (specifically, tucked behind the hamper). In this way, I am not looking at them all the time - because let’s face it, boxes are unsightly, and you don’t want your resale business to create visual clutter in your home (sometimes it just will, but my aim is to help you create systems to fight back against that).
I keep flattened boxes under my bed.
An empty suitcase makes a happy home for bubble wrap.
I use a lot of brown paper sheets for packing. I reuse materials whenever I can. This keeps my costs down and packing materials out of landfills. Because of this, the packing paper I use is often not flat, but already scrunched and a bit unruly. I stuff it into a slim hamper (like this one), kept in my linen closet. And I store other packing materials in a suitcase, kept in my bedroom closet. Remember what I said about getting creative?
A slim hamper is a great storage solution for loose packing materials.
I store miscellaneous packing materials in a suitcase.
Other ideas for small space shipping stations
It might not make sense for you to set up your shipping station in your bedroom like I do. Other places to consider are your dining table, your kitchen counter, a corner of your living room or a den or spare bedroom (if you’re lucky enough to have one).
Keep in mind that you don’t need to be able to store all items in one place. As described above, I store different items in areas across the same room. Everything is just a few steps away from everything else, which keeps shipping easy.
At a minimum, you’ll need space for these things:
A computer
A comfy chair
A printer
Storage for shipping supplies large and small
A rolling cart can be a great option for storing smaller items and even your printer. It can be tucked into a corner when not in use. Scissors and tape can be stashed in a kitchen drawer. And a hall closet can be perfect for storing boxes and mailers. You could even use an over-the-door shoe organizer to contain smaller items. My best advice, though, is to keep everything you’ll need on the same floor for easy retrieval.
A corner of your kitchen can work well for your shipping station.
Final Thoughts
Finding places to fit everything for your small home reselling business can be a bit like solving a puzzle. You have to find ways to fit inventory and supplies into a home that is already full of all the belongings that make up your life. The old adage “where there’s a will, there’s a way” comes to mind. There’s a certain beauty in setting up a business that fits within your home and your life. It’s completely unique and not like anyone else’s.
I went to an estate sale the other day in an enormous home in my neighborhood. They had a music room and a tv room and an art room and a very large home office with an entire wall unit dedicated to office supplies. It was glorious to behold. The reality is, though, that when you live in a small home each room must be multifunctional.
I tend to organize areas of my home according to use. So for example, I will look at my bedroom closet and say, “I use this space to store clothes, shoes, bags and purses, luggage, and also inventory for my store. I’ll write it all down. Then I’ll go in and create spaces for each of those things. Sometimes that means I have to get rid of some stuff to make space for the items that are important.
By doing this I’ve been able to create small spaces for my Ebay business all around my home. And you can, too. I guarantee you’ll be surprised at all the little pockets of space you find once you put on your problem solving hat and start looking for them.
