Monthly Archives: April 2014

Day 6 of Money Challenge #2: Everyday Listing/Selling for 31 days – The Eye of the Needle

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My college boyfriend taught me how to knit. His mom had taught him as a kid and he was quite good. While he was knitting complicated patterns for cabled neck sweaters and intarsia hats, I was still knitting scarves and wash cloths.

In fact, I never graduated from the scarves phase of knitting. The only thing that progressed in my knitting hobby was my super human power to accumulate knitting gear. Knitters know how addicting buying yarn can be. I even bought sets of needles in various colors and sizes, including vintage knitting schwag:

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That’s right! Vintage 1950s Made in America knitting gear by Marcia Lynn – and still in original packaging.

Unfortunately, they don’t sell as well as I’d hoped. So I’ve combined them into one listing to increase their odds of selling. Starting bid is only 5.99.

So far I’ve put 9 listing on ebay and only one thing has a bid (the Avon locket necklace) and even that’s only going for $2.99!

I keep telling myself that at least the stuff is listed and not just wasting closet space. *sigh*

Day 6

Listed thus far: Sarah Coventry brooch, vintage candelabra, Springer spaniel belt buckle, Cabela’s socks, Avon necklace, vintage ice cube tray, viking like candelabra, and vintage Looney Tunes DEKA plastic mug, vintage knitting supplies

Total sold: $0

Day 5 of Money Challenge #2: Everyday Listing/Selling for 31 days – DEKA

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Surely you’ve seen cutesy plastic mugs around ebay and etsy such as this one that I listed today:

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They were widely massed produced in the late 70s and throughout the 80s with popular trademarked themes of the day that are now super nostalgic, such as Looney Tunes, Strawberry Shortcake, He-Man, Pac Man, Smurfs, etc.

And they were all produced by DEKA Plastics in the USA. The company was known for high quality plastic goods and their nostalgic mugs have stood the test of time, making them a great collector’s item and fairly easy to sell. You can find DEKA mugs in most thrift stores, buy them for 30 cents and resell them for $6 on ebay. Not a bad profit.

So I’ve listed my 1983 Looney Tunes DEKA plastic mug on ebay for $5.99.

It’s cute, right?

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I grew up with a Sylvester doll from which I was inseparable. These nostalgic items speak to our Generation X or Generation Y childhood experiences. Maybe that’s why they’re pretty reliant best sellers.

Day 5

Listed thus far: Sarah Coventry brooch, vintage candelabra, Springer spaniel belt buckle, Cabela’s socks, Avon necklace, vintage ice cube tray, viking like candelabra, and vintage Looney Tunes DEKA plastic mug.

Total sold: $0

Day 4 of Money Challenge #2: Everyday Listing/Selling for 31 days – It’s storming outside

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That’s right, it’s storming outside. A classic Spring Midwestern storm that’s kept me mostly inside. But I did muster up the energy to visit a nearby thrift store just for fun and found these:

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Cabela’s Men’s socks. They retail for $12.99 and I got them for much much less than that. A friend at work recently made a profit off some Cabela’s clothing by listing it on ebay, so I decided to go ahead and take the chance. Plus, if they don’t sell at least The Beard can wear them.

Then I felt guilty for buying something to list when I have stuff at home that I should be listing. And since it’s a stormy day, I made the most of it by listing three additional items:

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A costume jewelry necklace, a weird kind of viking candelabra, and an old ice cube maker. I’ve listed them all.

So far the most views one of my items has gotten is nine. NINE! That’s it! I don’t know why I have a bad luck streak with ebay going but I hope it ends soon.

Day 4

Listed thus far: Sarah Coventry brooch, vintage candelabra, Springer spaniel belt buckle, Cabela’s socks, Avon necklace, vintage ice cube tray, and viking like candelabra.

Total sold: $0

Day 3 of Money Challenge #2: Everyday Listing/Selling for 31 days – Dog days of ebay

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So far there’s no buyers for my vintage candelabra or brooch so I found something random that is so random it just might sell!

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Behold! A vintage springer spaniel belt buckle!

Somebody has to be into Springer Spaniels enough to want to keep them near their button fly, right?!

I can only hope. I listed it starting at $4. We’ll see if I get an interest over the next 7 days.

Day 2

Listed thus far: Sarah Coventry brooch, vintage candelabra, Springer spaniel belt buckle

Total sold: $0

Day 2 of Money Challenge #2: Everyday Listing/Selling for 31 days – Friday night candle lights

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I got home from a long day at work and was unwinding with a good documentary and a full craft beer with a dog on my lap when I realized that I hadn’t listed anything to sell for today. So I went upstairs to the storage room and found this gem:

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A 3 tiered dark wood vintage candelabra. I bought it at a thrift store a while ago for only $2 and haven’t used it since then. But ebay enthusiasts now have 7 days to bid on my shortcomings. Let’s hope they go for it.

Day 2

Listed thus far: Sarah Coventry brooch, vintage candelabra

Total sold: $0

Lessons Learned from Money Challenge #1….and new challenge!

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It’s been a week since Money Challenge #1 ended. It was quite humbling to come up short by almost $200. But I learned some valuable lessons to help aid me in accomplishing future challenges:

1. Don’t stop the winning streak. I quit collecting money everyday on Day 12 of my last challenge and never fully got back on board. That was a mistake. Taking a break made me lose the momentum needed for achieving the objective. In the future, there should be a daily blog post to stay motivated.

2. Be reasonable with goals. The Beard thinks it was silly to set a random dollar amount in the last challenge. When I told him I wanted to somehow make $500 in 31 days, his response was, “How did you come up with that amount as a goal?” I didn’t have a good answer. I guess it’s better to set smaller, more realistic goals.

3. Stay motivated. I could have psyched myself up more to help myself stay motivated during the last half of the challenge.

So I’ve decided to take on a similar challenge with different goal points. Plus, this one combines my love of accruing extra money with my desire to downsize my belongings in hopes of embracing a more minimalist lifestyle.

So the new challenge is:

Everyday Listing/Selling for 31 Days

That’s right. I have to list or sell something every day. Every day, I need to put something on Craigslist or Ebay or Facebook to sell or I need to somehow sell something by taking it to a resell shop.

Although I haven’t created the rules of the challenge yet, I’ve already decided to list something. So, as of Day 1, I’ve listed this brooch on Ebay:

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This kickstarts Day 1 of the challenge. Hopefully with a daily goal as part of the challenge I’ll actually be able to achieve it!

Responsible couponing – weekly shopping trip

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Couponing. It’s not my favorite word. It implies an activity done by greedy hyped up consumers who somehow get a rush out of getting 6 bags of croutons for free. You know who I’m talking about.

They keep personal stock piles the size of a small grocery store.

Dozens of containers of toothpaste, shampoo, canned goods and boxed meals. They seem to have everything but enough.

Like millions of Americans, I hopped on the speeding coupon train in 2011. Not to create a stockpile, but to tighten my grocery budget by a couple hundred a month.

That first year of clipping coupons had some pretty embarrassing moments. Amateur mistakes such as forgetting expiration dates, buying things I didn’t need because “it’s such a great coupon!” and spending hours crafting the most efficient coupon friendly shopping list only to realize at the store that just buying the generic versions were a way better deal than using my coupons.

I’m much better now. I no longer aspire be one of those extreme coupon people who pay only $2 for $900 worth of groceries. Yes, it would be a nice rush. But in the end, you’re left with more than you need and that’s just silly to me.

Instead, I have fun planning a weekly trip to Target to get the best deals for our household of the things we need or will certainly need in the future.

This week, I had one of my best values yet! Here’s my loot:

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8pk of Bounty paper towels (3); 2liter of soda (5); loaves of bread from the bakery (2); 24ct Ibuprofen (2); 32ct foil muffin liners (2); Degree deodorant; Chocolate-covered almonds.

Total: $20.47

It’s no extreme couponing, but it’s a nice rush to see the total on the register drop from $75.05 all the way down to $20.47.

 

Day 31 of Money Challenge #1: $500 in 31 days – Final hours

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Last night, I came across a birthday gift from last year that I still hadn’t used:

I remembered that there’s a website where you can buy/sell gift cards: http://www.cardpool.com/

So I sold my $25 gift card for $18.75. Not a bad deal considering I forgot I had it.

So my ending total is $ 306.89

Exactly $193.11 less than my goal.

I’m a little disappointed. Yes, I could have sold my plasma twice a week, participated in a medical study, or made it a point to list something every day on Craigslist. But I didn’t. I’m a little regretful about it. I think I could’ve done better. Granted, I don’t have expensive stuff lying around my house to sell and I work both a full time job and a part time gig. So I made only an average of about $10 extra per day. I can live with that.

Now here’s a picture of my cat Bazzy with all the money:

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He wouldn’t sit still.

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Day 31

Total amount accrued: $306.89

 

 

Day 28 of Money Challenge #1: $500 in 31 Days – Dare to Chair

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As far as furniture goes, I got off pretty easy until age 24. When I went to college, my dorm room came furnished with a bed and desk. Then I moved in to an apartment with a friend who already had the place pretty well furnished. And even when I moved out into my own apartment, a friend who’d lived there before had moved across country and left almost all of her furniture for me. 

It wasn’t until I moved to Kansas City that I was faced with furnishing my own apartment. I slept on a mattress on the floor in an empty room for 8 months. 

Until I bought these babies: 

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Two golden brown accent chairs. They were on sale at the furniture store for $120 plus a small end table between them. I was so broke but so desperate to have some kind of seating in my new apartment that I signed up for a credit card at the furniture store to finance the purchase. Not a wise money move, but it was 0% interest for the first six months and I paid them off in two so there was little harm done. 

If you’ve ever owned an accent chair, you’ll know that they’re not entirely comfortable. Just a plain cushioned chair. Now that I have a houseful of furniture, I found little use for these kids. They sat unvisited in the sun room and the cat was beginning to use one as a scratching post. So I decided to list them on Craigslist.

And they sold for a whopping $30 cash! They were picked up this morning by a nice lady in a minivan. I half hoped some poor recent college grad would nab them to carry on their tradition of first furnishings for desperate kids.

But alas, $30 more. Finally, a little money gained.

Day 28

Today’s gain: $30

Total amount accrued: $288.14

Left for the win: $211.86

 

Day 26 of Money Challenge #1: $500 in 31 days – Bookin’ it

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While I have no bidders or watchers for my ebay listings, I figured I’d better find a different way to get some funds. I had read about Powell’s, the online book buyers, a while ago and decided to give them a try. Apparently, if you enter the ISBN of a book you want to sell and it meets their condition criteria (no rips, markings, water damage, etc.) then they’ll pay you for the books via PayPal and they’ll even pay the shipping costs!

I ransacked the bookshelf for things I either already read or could do without.

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Yes, Bossypants is an awesome book and everyone should read it. 

I went to Powell’s and listed all the ISBNs to see how much money I could get for the lot.

I was optimistic.

And I was let down. They didn’t want my books. Not even Bossypants.

I think I’m just gonna try my luck again on Craigslist….