I'm done with my grocery shopping for the month, and Walgreen's has already started their new month, so I might as well just call it October. I've already switched my Calendar, too. I promise I'm not trying to rush the month, just preparing myself for the new one! Ha.
Anyway, Septemeber was a really good month for us. I started my new budget of $300 for groceries and we paid off our credit card. I have to admit, that was definitely the highlight for me. I was also relatively worried when it came time for me to do my grocery shopping last week, I was afraid that I would totally blow my budget. I did go over, if you notice on my sidebar, but I have an explanation. And it is valid. Atleast I like to think that way.
Saturday we had a hayride at church, and I was asked to provide a pot of chilli and to bring a dessert. The dessert that I chose was not frugal, but it was definitely worth the price tag. I think the final tally on the dessert was close to $9, and that doesn't include the milk to make the pudding. I guess I could have chosen a more frugal dessert, but this one feeds a lot of people, and everyone really likes it. And I used the pudding to get me free OM beef hot dogs with the kraft coupon from All You magazine. They were going to expire soon..so I had to use them for this dessert. right?!
Nonetheless, that is alot of money for a dessert! And, I had to buy extra hamburger and chilli beans. So, considering I had all these extra expenses and I only went over by $2, I still think it was a success. Considering this, I really hope that I can come in under budget for October. I'm still leaving it at the $300 mark for a few more months, but I do plan to have it around $200 by January.
We have a lot of projects going on around here (finishing the neverending laundry room makeover, living room redo, and we have to finish removing the downed trees from Ike) so we are using some of the money we were throwing at the credit card to get these stresses out of the way. When these are done, we will throw all of it at the truck with gazelle intensity.
If everything goes as planned, and God willing, our debt (everything but the house) will be gone at the end of next year! Yay! Then we will be able to do the addition to our home with little to no debt added. I've really tried to be patient with this, and hopefully I can continue to be patient. When we bought our home 4 years ago we bought it knowing full and well we would have to build on. We were going to do it right away, but we were not smart with our finances, and we bought a brand new vehicle instead. Thankfully, we went through FPU shortly after that, and instead of borrowing the money to build on, we decided to wait until all of our other debt was gone. Which is why I have been waiting so long. It is for the best though, and I know that...I guess I just get selfish sometimes. :)
Here is my plan for October:
- Since our baby EF is funded, and we don't miss the money we alotted to go in there, I'm going to keep saving it. I'm wanting to get a "stash" up to the tune of our max out of pocket for medical expenses. It is a hefty amount ($1500), but having this will prevent us from using our extra money, or our regular EF for medical bills. I'm hoping that this will be fully funded, amongst other "funds", with our tax return next year. Honestly though, not holding my breath for it.
- Keep throwing any and all extra money at the truck debt. We should have all our "stresses" out of the way this week and be able to fully focus on the debt for the rest of the month.
- Keep the grocery budget set at $300. I'm really thinking that I can get this atleast $25 under. That is my own personal side goal.
- And, I really want to get over my fear of selling on Ebay. Honestly, I don't know why it frightens me, but it does. The part that gets me is calculating shipping. That sounds strange, I know, but I don't want it to cut into my profit, and I want to do it efficently.
So, with that being said, if you sell on Ebay, and have success...share your shipping tips with me please! I have tons of childrens clothes/toys and misc. household garb. I've tried CraigsList, but I've had no luck. I think mainly because the town or "area" I live in doesn't have its own listing. I would love to get rid of some of our things and make some additional money.
Help me, please!!
6 comments:
Hi, I happened by your site thru MPM. I just wanted to help you with the Ebay question. We've sold a couple of things on Ebay and it always went well. If you look at some other online stores for comparable products you can get a pretty good idea of how much it'll cost to ship. So if you have something big and bulky you can see about how much it weighs. Or if you have clothes you can see what other clothing stores charge. You can also take something into the post office and have them weigh it and see about how much it will cost to ship to someone on the other side of the country. But also, some people are more inclined to bid on free shipping auctions. Yes, technically it comes out of your profits, but it might make the bidding go higher than without. And also you might not need a full seven day auction, because most people only look at the auctions ending within the next 24 hours anyways. And Sundays are the best days to have auctions end. Since more people are home and available to check, you get a lot more last minute biddings on Sundays.
I don't calculate shipping - I list a set shipping cost. A medium size box packed full of clothes (which end up being heavy) would be about $20. I include insurance in the shipping costs as well as the cost of the packing materials (i.e. box, tape, etc.)
If you send parcel and have money left over you can either upgrade to priority (they'll get their item faster) or you can send them the rest back either by paypal or however they paid you.
You could also get a shipping scale for like $30 and calculate exact postage on the USPS.gov website.
I would start out by shipping only to US residents until you get comfortable with it.
You can make a lot of money from kids clothing.
Thank you both for your tips! Do you all buy your boxes from the post office or wherever, or do you use an old one? Isn't there like a flat rate box, just whatever will fit, or did I totally just make that up?! Ha.
Congrats on sticking to your budget and paying off your credit card.
You've been tagged.
I've sold on ebay quite a bit and, actually, you're right! I was going to give you my little tip for shipping which is just use the flat rate boxes! It's easy! Break your clothes up into lots, make sure it all fits and then your shipping is set! And if you pay for your shipping label through paypal you get free delivery confirmation. Also, I picked up a super cheap postage scale at Walmart in the shipping isle and anything that is too small for a flat rate box (people don't like it when you over charge for shipping either) you just get some cheap envelopes and weigh them on the scale and then the USPS website has a place to put the weight and it tells you how much it costs. I try not to buy boxes...look around the house, use shoe boxes or misc ones and wrap them with a paper grocery bag turned inside out. Hope this helps!
cathy-
Thank you so much for your tips! I always wondered how everyone knew how much something weighed....never thought to check Wal-Mart for a scale! Hopefully next week I can list my first item.
Phoebe
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