by Tricia
I paid an additional $300 towards our credit cards today and our credit card debt is now down to $28,310.  Of course I would love to see the balance below $28,000 by the end of the month, but I’m pretty sure I can’t wing that unless I sell a few things and quick. I just don’t have the spare time at the moment to sell things (I wanted so bad to have a garage sale but it didn’t happen).  This winter I may try eBay to sell some of my son’s old toys (hey – anyone want a V-Tech video game system for kids? lol).
Next month will probably be a rough month in terms of our finances. We have some repairs that MUST be done before the snow flies. And where I live the first snow is usually in October so next month is ideal. The repairs will probably run $600-800. I don’t have the money yet for it, but with our next paychecks we will. I try to set aside $850 extra a month to go towards the credit cards. The repairs will have to come out of that.Â
It will help tremendously that I will have some income from my blog at the end of next month.  I’m not sure yet how much that will be, but all of it will go towards reducing debt.  A thank you to all of my sponsors and to my readers for that 🙂
Speaking of income, at the end of this month expect to see some changes with my reports. I will be including income as well as our expenses. I will discontinue the “How Much I Make” post because it really isn’t accurate enough for looking at things on a monthly basis.Â
It can be hard sometimes to explain exactly what I’m doing, so if at any time you have questions, feel free to ask.Â
Oh, and I’m doing some housekeeping on my blog to try to make things a little easier to locate and to make navigation easier. Please pardon my dust for the next few days 🙂
Hey Tricia, I don’t know who is doing your repairs, but if your husband isn’t and you are hiring an outside business, try looking in your local paper.
In our area we have many “handymen”, these are generally older men that are very good. Their fees are great. It just may save you money on labor. If you start calling around today, you can request references, try to get 3 and call them all. Maybe even ask if you can drive by and look at the guys handy work.
I think this could lower your costs. Note I have no idea what services you need.
Don’t tell my husband, I’m recommending this – LOL This is his livelyhood, I would not be able to do this. Good thing he loves me so.
I work for the post office, and a woman comes in once a week with about a dozen or so packages to mail. They are all of her kid’s old clothes, toys, etc., which they have outgrown and she has sold on eBay. I think that’s a great idea to sell some of your kid’s old things. You’d be surprised what people will buy…..one man’s junk is another man’s treasure.
D – heh, my husband will not be doing the repairs. Actually, there is a business and a handyman that used to be my clients. Both are great people and I know they will give a decent price. My father-in-law would like to come and visit to do it (he’s a retired carpenter), but it’s quite a drive for him.
Chris – I’ve bought things on eBay, but I haven’t sold. I was worried it would be too much trouble to learn with learning what to charge for shipping and to make sure you are paid, etc. This winter I should have some time. I really do have some things that I know would pull in money. And probably better money than a garage sale. I have the bad habit of pricing my things for what I would buy them for. And that’s pretty cheap. The last garage sale I had, all clothes were under 25 cents a piece.