We have an overseas moving coming up in the future, with a stop in D.C. along the way for a few months. Although we don't know exactly when we will be moving (it could be 2-7 months), we decided it would be better to sell our large furniture items now. After all, it is garage sale season, and we will get better prices now than later. Also, if we move in the middle of winter, it would be really hard to move them in the snow and ice. So, now is the time.
I started by listing the items on Craigslist.com, and then put up garage sale posts on various websites.
http://minneapolis.craigslist.org/csw/gms/3782180210.html
http://www.yardsalesearch.com, http://www.tagsellit.com and http://www.atgaragesale.com. I put notices in that our garage sale is from May 15-18, but that some furniture items are available for pre-sale at full price. These sites are all free, but some offer highlighted listings that stay at the top for a price. One site offers this premium service for a fee or for free if you advertise their site on your blog. You can see that one in the sidebar.
If you are interested in some furniture, you can check out my listings on Craigslist. Remember that I am in Waconia, MN, and I'm selling locally only.
Master Bedroom Set:
http://minneapolis.craigslist.org/csw/fuo/3781853797.html
Children's bedroom set:
http://minneapolis.craigslist.org/csw/fuo/3781926691.html
Bunk & Twin bed set:
http://minneapolis.craigslist.org/csw/fuo/3782009824.html
If the listings are no longer there, that item has sold.
Friday, May 3, 2013
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Saving by Selling
When my son was going into 5th grade and starting percussion in band, we bought him a bell kit. It was a rental return, just a year or two old. We purchased it for $130. Six years later, we still had the bell kit laying around, but our percussionist had no use for this practice instrument anymore.
My husband and I thought we would try to sell it back to the music store. It had no mallets or sticks with it anymore, one of the stand screws had been replaced by something from the hardware store, and one of the keys was missing the little rubber things that keep it from wiggling around. Had it been a newer model, these things would not have been an issue, but they didn't want it. They gave us new rubber things, a new screw and a new set of mallets for about $3.50 and told us to try our luck on Craig's List. There was a set of sticks lying around the house, so I added them, took some pictures of it all and loaded it up on Craig's List. That was a week ago. Yesterday, someone purchased that bell kit for $115. That's like renting a bell kit for $2.50 per year. Wow!
If you don't remember why I am so bad at posting regularly, it is because I have gone back to college. Along with college comes textbooks. Once upon a time, if you wanted to buy or sell a used textbook, you were bound to the college bookstore. Not anymore! I always check the prices at both the college and on Amazon.com before I buy. Unless the school is using a special edition, I can almost always do better on Amazon. This summer, I took an Intro to Management course. The textbook had just been published this year, but since it was summer session, I was able to find a used copy in good condition from an Amazon Marketplace vendor. At the end of the course, I turned around and sold it to Amazon.com in exchange for a gift card. They took it back for $25 more than I had paid for it! That isn't always the case, but I often sell back books for not much of a loss. One key is to sell them back right away after your term to minimize loss from new editions coming out and from too many students flooding the market with returns. If Amazon doesn't want to pay much for it, I will put it up myself as a Marketplace vendor (but always check the current selling prices from other vendors first).
My husband and I thought we would try to sell it back to the music store. It had no mallets or sticks with it anymore, one of the stand screws had been replaced by something from the hardware store, and one of the keys was missing the little rubber things that keep it from wiggling around. Had it been a newer model, these things would not have been an issue, but they didn't want it. They gave us new rubber things, a new screw and a new set of mallets for about $3.50 and told us to try our luck on Craig's List. There was a set of sticks lying around the house, so I added them, took some pictures of it all and loaded it up on Craig's List. That was a week ago. Yesterday, someone purchased that bell kit for $115. That's like renting a bell kit for $2.50 per year. Wow!
If you don't remember why I am so bad at posting regularly, it is because I have gone back to college. Along with college comes textbooks. Once upon a time, if you wanted to buy or sell a used textbook, you were bound to the college bookstore. Not anymore! I always check the prices at both the college and on Amazon.com before I buy. Unless the school is using a special edition, I can almost always do better on Amazon. This summer, I took an Intro to Management course. The textbook had just been published this year, but since it was summer session, I was able to find a used copy in good condition from an Amazon Marketplace vendor. At the end of the course, I turned around and sold it to Amazon.com in exchange for a gift card. They took it back for $25 more than I had paid for it! That isn't always the case, but I often sell back books for not much of a loss. One key is to sell them back right away after your term to minimize loss from new editions coming out and from too many students flooding the market with returns. If Amazon doesn't want to pay much for it, I will put it up myself as a Marketplace vendor (but always check the current selling prices from other vendors first).
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Costco Savings - Not So Much
Costco used to be one of my favorite places to shop. Okay, it still is, but I refuse to go there more than once every month or two. The problem is that you can't coupon there. If you buy anything there that you could get with coupons elsewhere, you are spending more. There are a few items that are still cheaper there than I can get elsewhere, but I find that just walking into the store creates a massive hemorrhage in my budget if I am not extremely disciplined going in.
What will I allow myself to buy at Costco, then? Well, produce rarely has coupons, so I can get some of that there. But I have to watch out. No convenient little packages of baby carrots to put in the kids' lunches, for example. It seems like it has a pretty good price when you are there, until you consider the cost of a 5 lb. bag of carrots. If there aren't juice boxes on sale anywhere, those are reasonably priced at Costco. Some baking ingredients in bulk are okay to get there, as well. But really, I think I will be letting my membership expire at the end of the year. It isn't really worth the cost. It might be if I lived closer, but it costs about $6 in gas round-trip, so I think it is more of a burden on my wallet than a help.
If you do have a Costco membership, you might enjoy the free samples they occasionally offer to members. Here is one that is being offered right now. It is a sample of Dove deodorant. http://www.costco.com/Browse/ProductSet.aspx?Prodid=11764061&search=free+sample&Mo=2&cm_re=1_en-_-Top_Left_Nav-_-Top_search&lang=en-US&Nr=P_CatalogName:BC&Sp=S&N=5000043&whse=BC&Dx=mode+matchallpartial&Ntk=Text_Search&Dr=P_CatalogName:BC&Ne=4000000&D=free+sample&Ntt=free+sample&No=0&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&Nty=1&topnav=&s=1
What will I allow myself to buy at Costco, then? Well, produce rarely has coupons, so I can get some of that there. But I have to watch out. No convenient little packages of baby carrots to put in the kids' lunches, for example. It seems like it has a pretty good price when you are there, until you consider the cost of a 5 lb. bag of carrots. If there aren't juice boxes on sale anywhere, those are reasonably priced at Costco. Some baking ingredients in bulk are okay to get there, as well. But really, I think I will be letting my membership expire at the end of the year. It isn't really worth the cost. It might be if I lived closer, but it costs about $6 in gas round-trip, so I think it is more of a burden on my wallet than a help.
If you do have a Costco membership, you might enjoy the free samples they occasionally offer to members. Here is one that is being offered right now. It is a sample of Dove deodorant. http://www.costco.com/Browse/ProductSet.aspx?Prodid=11764061&search=free+sample&Mo=2&cm_re=1_en-_-Top_Left_Nav-_-Top_search&lang=en-US&Nr=P_CatalogName:BC&Sp=S&N=5000043&whse=BC&Dx=mode+matchallpartial&Ntk=Text_Search&Dr=P_CatalogName:BC&Ne=4000000&D=free+sample&Ntt=free+sample&No=0&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&Nty=1&topnav=&s=1
Thursday, May 24, 2012
Paying With Cash? Discuss!
I know that Dave Ramsey says to use cash instead of credit cards. I haven't been able to make the switch, though. Don't get me wrong - I don't have credit card debt. I have cards with no annual fee, and I pay them off every month. I use the envelope system, but it is through Mvelopes online. If I switched to cash, I would no longer know where every penny went. Sure, I would use physical envelopes instead of the electronic version, but there wouldn't be any way to see what stores I went to without digging through receipts. I would also be giving up my cash back rewards, which are normally around $30/month. I apply these to my credit card balance before I make my payment, and it really helps.
Another thing I worry about is how to allocate the money between my husband and myself. I do the majority of the grocery shopping for the family, but he does pick up milk, bread and bananas when he gets gas sometimes. He also does a monthly - or so - stop at Cub for food to stock his fridge and cupboard at work for lunches and snacks. I never know he is going to make this trip until I see it in Mvelopes. I don't think he ever knows he is going to go do that trip until he has a day where he doesn't want to go to the gym at lunch, so he decides to take care of that instead. I guess we could give him his own envelope for his groceries and for his sporadic stops at the gas station, but from month to month, the amount he does changes so much, I don't know how to plan for it.
My next concern is about losing cash. When we do have cash around, we tend to lose track of where we spent it - that or else we lose it. I think I would do pretty well with it. I have a coupon binder, and it has a zipper pouch inside that would hold several envelopes, and I think I could easily start using cash out of envelopes and stick the receipts into the envelopes. But my husband does not have a coupon binder. He has a money clip. I don't think he would want to start carrying around his planner all the time. He says he would like to try going to cash, but I am pretty sure he would want some cash in his clip, and there would be little categorizing or saving of receipts. Sure, they could go in his pocket, but then they could either end up on his desk at work or in the laundry at home.
I understand the concept that if you only have the cash that you take to the store with you, that is all you spend, so you save by not impulse buying. But what about when you see a great deal on something that you would like to stock up on, but can't because you didn't know about the temporary price reduction or clearance and don't have the money with you? For example, when I find my favorite spaghetti sauce for $1 per can, I buy a dozen cans of it. Is the trade-off of not having the money with you for times like those worth the money you save?
I have a weekly grocery budget. I am sticking to it fairly well. Not perfectly, but fairly well. Dining out used to be a category that we struggled with, but we are doing better since we started focusing on it. The only category that consistently is over budget is the home maintenance category. Something is always breaking around here, and we really can't wait to have the money in that envelope all the time, so we transfer from another envelope to cover it. Will switching to cash really make a difference? Or will I miss out on my cash back rewards and great sales and spend extra gas going to the bank for cash and risk losing my cash and not see a benefit?
I want to know what has worked for you. What struggles did you have with using cash? Did you just transfer money from other cash envelopes when you wanted to go over budget? Was it the envelope system that really made the difference, or was it using cash that did it, or a combination of the two? How did you work with a spouse on it? Do you both have to be committed to using envelopes in order for it to work?
Another thing I worry about is how to allocate the money between my husband and myself. I do the majority of the grocery shopping for the family, but he does pick up milk, bread and bananas when he gets gas sometimes. He also does a monthly - or so - stop at Cub for food to stock his fridge and cupboard at work for lunches and snacks. I never know he is going to make this trip until I see it in Mvelopes. I don't think he ever knows he is going to go do that trip until he has a day where he doesn't want to go to the gym at lunch, so he decides to take care of that instead. I guess we could give him his own envelope for his groceries and for his sporadic stops at the gas station, but from month to month, the amount he does changes so much, I don't know how to plan for it.
My next concern is about losing cash. When we do have cash around, we tend to lose track of where we spent it - that or else we lose it. I think I would do pretty well with it. I have a coupon binder, and it has a zipper pouch inside that would hold several envelopes, and I think I could easily start using cash out of envelopes and stick the receipts into the envelopes. But my husband does not have a coupon binder. He has a money clip. I don't think he would want to start carrying around his planner all the time. He says he would like to try going to cash, but I am pretty sure he would want some cash in his clip, and there would be little categorizing or saving of receipts. Sure, they could go in his pocket, but then they could either end up on his desk at work or in the laundry at home.
I understand the concept that if you only have the cash that you take to the store with you, that is all you spend, so you save by not impulse buying. But what about when you see a great deal on something that you would like to stock up on, but can't because you didn't know about the temporary price reduction or clearance and don't have the money with you? For example, when I find my favorite spaghetti sauce for $1 per can, I buy a dozen cans of it. Is the trade-off of not having the money with you for times like those worth the money you save?
I have a weekly grocery budget. I am sticking to it fairly well. Not perfectly, but fairly well. Dining out used to be a category that we struggled with, but we are doing better since we started focusing on it. The only category that consistently is over budget is the home maintenance category. Something is always breaking around here, and we really can't wait to have the money in that envelope all the time, so we transfer from another envelope to cover it. Will switching to cash really make a difference? Or will I miss out on my cash back rewards and great sales and spend extra gas going to the bank for cash and risk losing my cash and not see a benefit?
I want to know what has worked for you. What struggles did you have with using cash? Did you just transfer money from other cash envelopes when you wanted to go over budget? Was it the envelope system that really made the difference, or was it using cash that did it, or a combination of the two? How did you work with a spouse on it? Do you both have to be committed to using envelopes in order for it to work?
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Saving with Homemade Laundry Soap
Laundry detergent is expensive. I spent the past couple of years timing my detergent purchases for when I had a Target coupon, a manufacturer's coupon and there was a sale on Tide all at the same time. I cheered when I got my 92 load bottle for $16. Those days are in the past. Now, I get about 920 loads for under $20. I have been using this formula for a month now, and find no difference in the cleanliness of my clothing. I even love the scent!
1 bar Kirk's Castile Soap, shredded
1 c. Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda
1 c. Borax (20 oz. box - $4.86)
1 c. Oxy Clean (optional)
Mix together and store in an airtight container.
Use as little as 1 Tbsp. per load!
Use white vinegar for fabric softener.
Some people use Fels Naptha soap instead of Castile, and this is okay if you don't have an HE machine. If you do have an HE machine, you need to be aware that Fels Naptha is made with animal fat, which can cause accumulation in your drain and lead to clogs. Castile soap is made with vegetable fats and will break down more quickly, especially with the use of vinegar as fabric softener.
I can hear you asking, "Vinegar? Isn't that going to make my laundry stink?" No, I promise you that you won't be able to smell it after the laundry is dry. The scent dissipates completely, and you will be left with the light fragrance of the Kirk's Castile soap.
If you have heard about homemade laundry soap on other web sites, you may have read that people normally find these ingredients at the hardware store. If you are in Waconia, you won't find them there. I was able to find a miniature bottle of Borax that cost more than a large box should at Hardware Hank. The only place I found all three ingredients was at Mackenthun's. The Borax and washing soda were right next to each other (and the Fels Naptha - homemade laundry soap must be pretty popular around here), and the Kirk's Castile soap was in the personal care soap aisle near the checkout aisles. The prices were good. I happened to already have a box of Oxy Clean laying around, but I know they carry that, too.
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
I LOVE Kwik Trip
Have I mentioned recently how much I love Kwik Trip? Well, I do. Where else can you get four 1/2 gallon bags of 2% milk, a .5 pint of strawberry milk, an apple, approximately two pounds of bananas and an M&M cookie for $4.79? Not at Mackenthun's or Target; that's for sure!
How did I do this, you might ask? First, milk prices there are the best. At the moment, milk is $1.99 per gallon when purchased in 1/2 gallon bags. This is a sale price, but it is always at least $.20 less than the other stores. If you aren't familiar with bagged milk, what you do is slip the bag in a 2-quart pitcher and clip the corner off the bag. They have pitchers at the store that is shaped like the bag, but I just use a normal pitcher that I have on hand. When purchasing milk, make sure you get a Gallons for Gallons card punched. For every half-gallon, you get one punch. When all 20 punches are filled, you get to use it for $1 off your next gallon of milk. I got four punches today, but did not have a full card today. Oh, don't forget to save your bag tops. They have Milk Moola logos on them, worth $.05 each when you give them to your child's school.
Banana prices are also wonderful. They are $.37/lb.
The other items were obtained for free. My children each have a Kid's Club card. When I buy a gallon of milk, the child accompanying me has his/her choice of a free cake donut, cookie, bagel, apple or orange. Any kids ages 2-12 can join for free. Check out this link if you want to sign up: http://www.kwiktrip.com/kidsClub/ On the child's birthday, they get a coupon for a free .5 pint of milk and a free cookie. We used the .5 pint of milk coupon today. We saved the cookie coupon for a later date, as it doesn't expire, and I had a coupon for a free cookie that does expire. I got this coupon from their circular.
In case you don't know about their circular, it comes in the Star Tribune on the first Wednesday of the month and also in the Gold Miner the first week of the month (or maybe the last week of the month? I can't remember the delivery day of that one). Also in the circular are several gas discount coupons. This month, there was one for $.10/gal, one for $.07/gal and several for $.05/gal. Frequently there are coupons for $.99/dozen eggs, free donut or cookie, free first lb. of bananas or potatoes and there are normally $5.99 car wash coupons.
The other way that I save with Kwik Trip is through their Kwik Card. There is no annual fee, and I pay it off every month, avoiding interest charges. The benefits to this are 3% rebates on gas (5% promotional rate for the first four months) and 10% rebates on in-store purchases. Quarterly, I receive a check in the mail of my accumulated rebate amount to use on a future purchase. So, you could say that my purchase today only cost $4.31, as I earned a $.48 rebate. If you are the type of person who is accustomed to paying off your credit card each month, having one of these could save you money. Go here to apply: https://www.kwiktrip.com/kcaccess/
How did I do this, you might ask? First, milk prices there are the best. At the moment, milk is $1.99 per gallon when purchased in 1/2 gallon bags. This is a sale price, but it is always at least $.20 less than the other stores. If you aren't familiar with bagged milk, what you do is slip the bag in a 2-quart pitcher and clip the corner off the bag. They have pitchers at the store that is shaped like the bag, but I just use a normal pitcher that I have on hand. When purchasing milk, make sure you get a Gallons for Gallons card punched. For every half-gallon, you get one punch. When all 20 punches are filled, you get to use it for $1 off your next gallon of milk. I got four punches today, but did not have a full card today. Oh, don't forget to save your bag tops. They have Milk Moola logos on them, worth $.05 each when you give them to your child's school.
Banana prices are also wonderful. They are $.37/lb.
The other items were obtained for free. My children each have a Kid's Club card. When I buy a gallon of milk, the child accompanying me has his/her choice of a free cake donut, cookie, bagel, apple or orange. Any kids ages 2-12 can join for free. Check out this link if you want to sign up: http://www.kwiktrip.com/kidsClub/ On the child's birthday, they get a coupon for a free .5 pint of milk and a free cookie. We used the .5 pint of milk coupon today. We saved the cookie coupon for a later date, as it doesn't expire, and I had a coupon for a free cookie that does expire. I got this coupon from their circular.
In case you don't know about their circular, it comes in the Star Tribune on the first Wednesday of the month and also in the Gold Miner the first week of the month (or maybe the last week of the month? I can't remember the delivery day of that one). Also in the circular are several gas discount coupons. This month, there was one for $.10/gal, one for $.07/gal and several for $.05/gal. Frequently there are coupons for $.99/dozen eggs, free donut or cookie, free first lb. of bananas or potatoes and there are normally $5.99 car wash coupons.
The other way that I save with Kwik Trip is through their Kwik Card. There is no annual fee, and I pay it off every month, avoiding interest charges. The benefits to this are 3% rebates on gas (5% promotional rate for the first four months) and 10% rebates on in-store purchases. Quarterly, I receive a check in the mail of my accumulated rebate amount to use on a future purchase. So, you could say that my purchase today only cost $4.31, as I earned a $.48 rebate. If you are the type of person who is accustomed to paying off your credit card each month, having one of these could save you money. Go here to apply: https://www.kwiktrip.com/kcaccess/
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
4/11/2012 Mackenthun's and Household Energy Savings
This morning, I did two of those twice-a-year maintenance projects that save money on energy. I vacuumed out the dryer vent and the coils under the refrigerator. Not only does vacuuming out the dryer vent save on energy, but it also reduces the risk of a fire. If you don't have a good tool for getting all the way through the dryer vent, check out http://shop.flylady.net/pages/FlyShop_dryer.asp. This kit works really well for me.
I went to Mackenthun's today for training pants and produce.
23 training pants - $5.99
2 avocados - $3.18
2 tomatoes - $3.84
head lettuce - $1.59
2 bags of croutons - $3.00
I brought a used paper grocery bag with me and got a nickel. The total was $17.55. Produce is expensive at Mackenthun's, but the gas to go out to one of the big chains would have evened the price difference out, and I just didn't need to go there this week. I could have bought Roma tomatoes and paid less, but they didn't look very good. I was surprised to find that the organic tomatoes from Iowa were the same price as the regular tomatoes that were labeled "USA." They were both vine-ripened. The cheaper tomatoes were all from Mexico, and I figured that the ones from Iowa, organic and grown so close to home (even if in a greenhouse, most likely), would be the more nutritious choice. I am up to $46.23 for the week. Even if the produce was expensive, I'm doing really well.
I went to Mackenthun's today for training pants and produce.
23 training pants - $5.99
2 avocados - $3.18
2 tomatoes - $3.84
head lettuce - $1.59
2 bags of croutons - $3.00
I brought a used paper grocery bag with me and got a nickel. The total was $17.55. Produce is expensive at Mackenthun's, but the gas to go out to one of the big chains would have evened the price difference out, and I just didn't need to go there this week. I could have bought Roma tomatoes and paid less, but they didn't look very good. I was surprised to find that the organic tomatoes from Iowa were the same price as the regular tomatoes that were labeled "USA." They were both vine-ripened. The cheaper tomatoes were all from Mexico, and I figured that the ones from Iowa, organic and grown so close to home (even if in a greenhouse, most likely), would be the more nutritious choice. I am up to $46.23 for the week. Even if the produce was expensive, I'm doing really well.
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