Garage Sale-ing

Was waffling yesterday about whether or not we would have enough stuff to make a decent garage sale. Pulled out more stuff from who knows where to sell and actually had a good deal of it. I checked for tips from garagesalequeen.com and got started pricing, labeling and sorting things. Our computer ran out of ink last night at about ten so husband and I were handmaking signs and consequently high on permanent marker.
Got up bright and early this a.m. and placed my signs about the neighborhood. I sold for a couple of hours then it was off to ballet to take daughter to her class. Husband manned the garage sale while we went. Daughter was so cute, she asked if I was outside "sale-ing."
We got a few people. We got a few drive-by's. Great thing was that the people who did stop all purchased something. I guess I priced things better than last year because last year I had so little sales it was sad.
So I made $44.75 today and then immediately took the left over stuff to Goodwill so it would not sit in the garage for another year.
Well, I am exhausted now and off to bed with a good book.

I am now reading I Am The Messenger by Markus Zusak. He is such a great writer. I love the way he expresses things.

Dreaming of the Lotto

I woke up this morning planning on what I was going to do with the THREE HUNDRED THOUSAND dollars I won in the lottery. I was so happy to pay off my house and bills and remodel and do the backyard. I was talking about building the wall I wanted and I was telling my family all about it. Then I woke up.
My husband had a dream we won a million dollars in the lottery last week!
I buy a ticket whenever I think about it but I am going to think about it a lot more. I have to say that I know people think it is a big waste of money but I like it. I like gambling a little. I am a miser when I go to casinos giving away only twenty or so dollars and I am fine with it because I go very rarely. I enjoy the thrill of what might happen. So two dollars a week is not that bad. I think it is fine.
What a great feeling it was to wake up this morning thinking of getting out of debt. That is the feeling I get reading I Will teach you. I feel like I am really going somewhere.
All these years just buying things on a whim and now I am looking around and selling these things for so much cheaper than I paid. I want to surround myself with only things that I really love, that are totally beautiful or have sentimental value for me.
I am hoping to get my husband on this money making bandwagon and start earning 100 extra per month. Together it will be easier. I think that we did a really good job in June and are starting out July great. Funny that it took a twenty-eight year old (Ramit) to make a thirty-five year old and forty-one year old grow up!
It is The Fourth Of July. Happy 4th everyone! I am off to ready the house for our family barbecue!

I like the way you work it!

Back to reading and applying all the wonderful information from IWTYTBR. According to RAMIT your categories of spending should go something like this:
Fixed costs (utilities, debt., ect. = 50-60% of your pay.
Investments (401K, Roth IRA = 10%.
Savings (gifts, unexpected expenses, vacation) = 5-10%
Guilt Free Spending (ining Out, movies, clothes etc.) = 20-35%
I have not applied these numbers to my life just yet. I am off to vacation and just put some money into my car (to get to the vacation) and I am not there yet. It sound good though.
Investments scare me. I can't wait to do it but it scares me.
I am waiting for my autopayments to come out today too and that scares me.
I am a big FINANCIAL CHICKEN!
On my money making quest front I have sent out more books and am expecting more money soon. One place I sent books to is seding me a check for $1.00. How funny is that? I also am going to host a garage sale next Saturday. Pray that I price well and that people buy!

Personal note: I am going out to eat tonight. We decided to either take my daughter to dinner tonight or go to the amusement park in the neighboring town. I decided that dinner would be much cheaper and besides we are going to a BIG amusement park on our vacation. That is amusement enough!

Earn $100 extra Per Month Challenge - June

In one of Ramit's emails he talks about how it is important to try to earn extra money. He does consulting/freelance and so I think it is MUCH easier for him to do this. As I mentioned I am a teacher and so I think it is difficult for me to do this unless I am interested in getting a second job- which I am not because I am also a wife and mother.
So I challenged myself this month to try to figure out how to come up with extra money. I did not start out by trying to come up with $100 like Ramit recommends but as I started doing it I figured $100 was a good goal.

Now it is not recommended by Ramit to sell things as a continual method of earning more money (unless you are making things) because eventually you will run out of stuff. Unfortunately I make nothing so I did sell stuff to earn money and this will have to be my option until I run out of stuff. I have a lot of stuff so we will see how far this gets me.

I started out by selling books online through bookscouter.com. It scouts out places that buy back books (such as Amazon.com) and then links you to their site.

So book selling so far:
-$2.25
-$9.50
-$16.00
-73.20
Total - $100.95
Then, I went on Craigslist and did a beta test on a website and got:
-$20.00
So for June, my total thus far is: $120.95!
I think I still have a couple of book orders still out there that are coming soon so my total for June might to up. If they get here in July I am counting them towards my July total.
I am also planning a garage sale for two weeks from now to help me with my July sales.

I know this has nothing to do with money but it is my release and so I write about it anyways. I love to read and I started reading my Maeve Binchy again. I am starting from the beginning so I am starting with Light a Penny Candle. I have read all of her books two or three times each and I just love them so I am starting again.

Two Part Plan

I am of course reading . I also checked out Ramit's website: iwillteachyoutoberich.com and signed up for emails. One of the emails linked me to another site he has called scroogestrategy.com (this boy is getting rich before our eyes!) Anyhow, I have not signed up for that site and not sure if I will. It sounds great but my goal right now is to get a grip on debt and not start something where I will be paying $30/month or whatever the cost is. A one time $13.95 for the book is fine but I am not ready to commit to Ramit just yet.

So my two part plan for this summer vacation of mine is to get our monthly budget under wraps AND to start earning extra cash. As I mentioned, being a Kindergarten Teacher does not allow for overtime or extra pay. Occasionally I do go to workshops but it is $16/per two hour workshop (workshops last 2 hours) and then minus the tax. So it is few and far between...not really a viable source of income. I go for my own professional development as a teacher however and not for the money.

Ramit's email for his Scrooge Strategy site today had a list of things that could possibly help you generate more income. One was start a blog (here I am and it is all monetized etc.) I also have started to purge. I do it every summer just to help get the house back in order but this summer my goal is money.

I spent last week (during my daughter's nap time - even though she is not really napping but instead singing and playing - if she would at least be quiet then I could pretend she took a nap!) finding out which books from our overflowing bookshelf could be sold. I figured that when I have my garage sale I would sell my paperbacks for 25 cents and my hardbacks for 50 cents. I decided that if a site offered me more than that for either type of book it would be worth it. I found a great site called bookscouter.com where you could research a number of bookseller sites that might buy your books. I found that most pay with check or paypal, pay for shipping and let you print the labels out right then. Amazon.com offers a good amount of money but gives the return in gift card exchange.

Anyhow, I sold a boat load of books (and am consequently out of packing tape) and I am not finished. Of course my husband's geeky gaming books packed in the money but he let me sell them so that was great. I had a couple of books that I kept after I got my Masters and now four years later decided that I was never going to use them again and that brought in some nice dough. I LOVE books and am a book junkie but I decided aside from not having the space for them there are just books I will never re-read.
So there you have it. My first endeavor to make money - step one. Done.