This weekend was a long weekend where I live so we had an extra day off today. The weather has been hot so it was a great time to enjoy the last days of summer and get out of doors and away from the computer! Here is a run down of some of the things that happened this weekend from our finances point of view.
Visit to Library.
I requested Dave Ramsey's book "The Total Money Makeover Workbook" for our local library. It came really quickly which was great from me as I have been able to start reading it this weekend. There is something comforting about reading a book! I don't know what it is but from my prospective the internet would never completely supercede books.
In any case, I have read a few chapters so far and have found it:
- easy to read
- thought provoking
- a good source of discussion ideas for this blog
Is eBay worth it?
The budget was in need of an injection of cash so I thought why not list a few items on eBay and make a few bucks. Ha! I can still hear myself saying, 'Yes, that's a great idea. I can declutter the house and pay off some of my debts at the same time."
That was LAST weekend. THIS weekend it's a different story.
My listings have ended and I have sold 2 items out of 9! Break out the champagne!
I have managed to collect $9.48 including postage and spent $6.40 on eBay & Paypal fees including listing fees for the unsold items. That will leave me with $3.08 and I still have to post two parcels which will cost about $3.90. Now I know I am just selling some old comics that I didn't want anymore so I shouldn't have expected a huge return but why is it when you research your stuff, everyone else is getting great money for those same items?
I now have less money than when I started and to rub salt into the wound I don't have the items. Not to mention the TIME invested in the exercise! This was a bit of a trial run before I listed some of my more valuable items such as my English porcelain collections. I must say I am in two minds now...
I will look into a couple of other options to sell items that don't take such a big slice of the pie but eBay seems to have the traffic so let's hope my other items attract more interest.
Stayed on budget for the week and weekend
I am extremely please to say I was $17.40 UNDER the grocery/food budget this week! How very exciting! I have decided to drop the budget by $10.00 to $70.00 in light of that result and see how I go. After all, we are only 2 adults and 2 cats ( who don't eat that much) so really it should be adequate if I stick to meal planning.
We also stayed under our entertainment budget as well. While we did go to the pub to meet some friends we stuck to our guns and only took our predetermined cash amount and once that was gone we said our farewells and came home. Dinner was already prepared so it was a successful evening from all angles. In the past we would just go to the ATM, withdraw more money, drink more than we needed, spend money on takeaway food and wake up with a hangover and a big dent in our pocket! Well, that didn't happen this time so the benefits were many. Saved on Panadol as well!
Today we walked down to the Yarra River where the Moomba Festival was in full swing. We are lucky to live very close to the city so the walk is easy as well as a good way to get some exercise. Anyhow, we took some filtered water from home and filled up the bottle at the water fountains provided once there as the cost of drinks at these outdoor events are always highway robbery. But the greatest rip off I saw for the day was in the fairground!
A new ride which lasted about 20 seconds was $30.00 per person! No, that's not a typo, 30 bucks! It was basically a car for two people suspended on an elastic band which was released from ground level and then bounced a couple of times until it lost momentum. Don't get me wrong, it looked like great fun but c'mon it wasn't worth $30.00. Most of the other rides were $10.00 - $15.00 a ride and lasted a lot longer. That's still a LOT of money. How do families afford these prices? I do feel for you if you have young kids these days it must be really hard...
I'd' love to hear your comments on this post
3 comments:
We have sold many things on ebay in the past, and we have found it to be highly dependent on what you are selling. We usually investigate what other similar items were being sold for previously to work out if it is worth while selling it on ebay.
I found that unless I was selling something quite valuable that it was not worth my time as they fees and postage took most of the profit. may be you could have a garage sale instead.
Thanks for the feedback on eBay tehnyit and louise.
I most likely will give it another go but just try to cut down on the listing fees. If they don't sell on eBay then off to Oztion as they don't charge the listing fee.
Garage sale is definitely a possibility though
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