Big steps, little steps & the Side Money Tracker!
November 15, 2014
A five minute geeky money chat with J.Money inspired this post. Most of the time, I just take our savings as a routine thing and forget that creative stuff to bring money back in that’s not just job-centered is fun.
Yes, I’m still all about the big wins in money:
- Increasing salary (then increasing it again).
- Building a solid professional reputation that helps catapults you from one serious promotion to another.
- Slashing costs for things like cell phones, cable, internet.
Over 15 years, spanning retail to professional office work, busting my butt on those bullet points resulted in killing off a huge pile of debt and then making savings happen. This is Excellent.
But I absolutely do not scoff at the little money. I’ll take a minute to:
- Ask for a discount.
- At checkout for items that are imperfect.
- Get a refund on a late fee or whatever fee.
That stuff adds up quickly over time if you ignore it which is antithetical to my policy of My Money is My Money. Note: Fees are no longer the absolute devil BUT if I’m going to pay one, it’ll be for something of value like a travel rewards credit card that makes rewards redemption easy and is stellar at handling disputes.
While we are somewhat conscientious about not buying crap we don’t need, over time, you find that “need” was really a “want” or that people gifted you things they thought were needs but were really “eh?” etc.
And so Crap Accumulates. In getting rid of it, mostly I’m happy to donate the little things but we have a lot of bigger things this round, and so PiC took on the job of Craigslisting. Craigslist is where he lives on the internet.
So add to the list, for entertainment’s sake:
- Earning via programs like Swagbucks and CC rewards.
- Craigslisting!
Y’all, that man has been on a ROLL unloading the stuff we unearthed during The Purge (still ongoing).Ā He does all the work, brings me the cash and I log it in Mint. And now I’ll log it here!
We didn’t set anything like J. Money’s Craigslist Rule (List 1 item for sale on Craiglist every week) since this is more of an EVERYTHING MUST GO approach.
Benefit #1 is the cash coming in, of course.
Benefit #2 is the space it’s clearing up.
Benefit #3 is the demonstration the cost of buying things (new) that you don’t actually need. Resale is not what you’d generally call competitive. Though, probably just to needle me, PiC decided to call it “renting” goods. *scowl*
After setting this page up, I was inspired to add a couple tables of my own.
For those, on a much smaller level, I’m recouping some change by selling little things and earning non-taxable gift card rewards as part of my daily routine.Ā As much as buying discounted gift cards saves some cash for important things, so does earning gift cards outright for those piddling household things that add up. As much as the masochistic part of me likes to wander through say, Target, and gawk at things I really don’t need, we’re all better off if I spend that time doing something else.
Nice job!! I still haven’t had time to do a major dig through and see what I can sell, but I have some free time this afternoon and tomorrow afternoon so I planned on doing that. Any extra money is nice right now!
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Thank you thank you! It’s been a pleasant surprise (and fun!) seeing how much we can make back. Of course we’ll end up spending the equivalent š
Good luck with your digs, come back and let me know how that goes!
Yeah girl! Work it! Still gotta add up my tracker – been slacking over here š But I did sell 3 items this week on CL so I’m on fire!! More $$$ and less things – can’t get better than that.
Thank ye sir! Just waiting to see your beautiful tracker š But go you, selling three things in a week!
Nice. We all must be on the same wavelength–I just made a list of everything I have to sell and listed my first item on TradeMe (our Craigslist)! I am going to need the extra $$ this month (and next…and next)!
Excellent! Good luck with the sales – let me know how it’s going!
LOL! I’ve always thought of buying things on time — whether by credit card or through a car or mortgage loan — as essentially “renting goods.” You don’t own them: the creditor does. You just pay for the use of them.
Emptying out the junk makes you feel lighter doesn’t it? š
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Yeah, buying on loans drives me a bit batty – and even after the mortgage is paid off, we’ll still have property taxes. Bah.
But we do what we can!
Coolbeans!
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I think it’s cruel that you posted this right after (ok, I read it right after) I stocked up on canning supplies for probably the next five years. The balance between too much crap and affordably doing things I’m doing away is a tricky one.
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Hah but the point was to get rid of things that we DON’T use and haven’t for years, so this doesn’t totally contradict what you’ve done. You’re going to use those supplies, after all. So you could still do it if you wanted, with other stuff!