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Jim’s Monthly Ski Trip May 2014

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RentElectricOilVerizonAuto/Renter Ins.
January 2014$600$105.44$1019.79$76.35$369.28
February 2014$600$84.46$388.90$76.59$134.52
March 2014$600$89.10$358.90$76.54$118.48
April 2014$600$109.67$359.90$76.54$126.50
May 2014$600$103.98$200.00$76.61$126.50
June 2014$600$128$$76.60$126.50

Seems my electricity monthly budget plan I set up at the beginning of the year went up a good bit.  My guessing is to catch up for months before so I don’t end the year owing a hefty amount.  Other than that everything seems in line.

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APRCurrent AmountLast MonthPercentage of ChangeAmount Paid
Store Card #124.99%$0
Store Card #222.9%$206.09$420.69-51.01%$275
Credit Card #113.99%$3147.45$3190.65-1.35%$80
Personal Loan15.5%$1427.61$1526.64-6.49%$119.77
Car Loan #110.19%$1725.63
Car Loan #212.99%$17656.24$17827.30-0.96%$361.47

This month hasn’t been good in my budget and debt reduction.  A very sad event, a very close loved one passed away.  On numerous occasions we found ourselves traveling a hour and half away to the hospital, spending the day and eating at the cafeteria.  So without even looking into the numbers yet, I know we went over our dining out and gas.  We also had to use our charge card for the first time in two years to get diapers and other miscellaneous things, when I forgot to grab our envelope when we were down there.  I also accidentally bounced our checking account, so will be having to pay back some fines next month.

Ugh, seriously felt discouraged in all the events that happened over the last month.  But it’s about to be a new month, and with new months comes new opportunities.

Here’s to June!

Selling Stuff

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Since getting serious about debt reduction, I have been meaning to clean out some closets and sell some stuff. I would love to have a garage sale, but my husband is working basically 7 days a week and there’s no way I could pull one off on my own. So I’ve been planning on selling stuff online and just hadn’t gotten to it….yet.

A couple weeks ago I was basically forced into the process. My girls have figured out how to open doors (and the world is over!), and now they will go into their closet and tear into all the boxes of outgrown baby stuff that I’ve been hoarding for the last year. It was just the push I needed to do a little Spring Cleaning. Last weekend I pulled out all the boxes, organized everything, took photos, and started posting in online Facebook baby/garage sale groups.

At the end of the weekend I had sold 6 items and earned an extra $64.

But was it worth the time investment?

I think it can be. But there have to be rules and boundaries in place. Even though I’m only one weekend deep into this side-gig I’ve got going on I think I’ve learned that, as a seller, I need to make everything at my convenience.

What does this mean?

  • I pick the time.
  • I pick the location.
  • Short turnaround only.

Most of my sales were relatively effortless. I post an item, a buyer says “I want this, let’s meet!” We set a time and place, and the transaction occurred seamlessly. But one buyer was an absolute pain! She asked if I had other items for sale (in addition to those posted), so we went back-and-forth a million times discussing additional items, taking and sending additional photos, discussing pricing, etc. etc. etc. It was the entire weekend! I asked at four separate points when she wanted to meet and she kept dragging it out (e.g., “I need to borrow my Mom’s car” or “I love it, but my daughter is being really fussy right now!”). I get it and I don’t want to be heartless, but at some point its just not worth my time anymore. It dragged on and on and we ended up eventually meeting on Tuesday (after literally spending all day Saturday-Tuesday texting back-and-forth) and I made a sale for $7. Not worth all the hassle, effort, and time.

But if I were to enforce these rules (saying:  this time, this place, no holds), then either I would have made the sale or not, but I wouldn’t have wasted 4 days in the process.

I’m taking a little break for a bit and spending time with my family this Memorial Day weekend. I still have more baby-related items I plan to post and try to sale, but when I do so it will be with this set of “rules” in place.

Any tips for selling things online? Do you have any “rules” you set for these transactions?