a half.com sale and things to do today

I did pretty good with my to-do list yesterday and having it posted on-line, I think, encouraged me to work harder to get things crossed off!

Here's my list for today:
Drink 64 oz water
any kind of exercise - tennis for 1.5 hours
Eat 5 servings of fruits/veggies - 4 so far w/my Green Monster
Clip coupons for The Grocery Game
log my spending for April
vacuum upstairs
get snacks/drinks for son's baseball game
Prep movie to mail for half.com sale

In the past I've always listed my things to be sold on e-bay.  I've read that many bloggers use half.com to get rid of stuff.  Last week I posted a Danielle Steel book, but haven't had any takers yet.  Yesterday I listed (and priced to sell!) 2 movies that I watched over the weekend.  (At Blockbuster I bought 3 movies for $20.  One if for my son and he loves it and wants to keep it.  The other 2 were for me and I didn't like the movies well enough to want to watch them again in the future.  I started to put the movies in the donations box and remembered half.com!!!)  Anyway, I listed the movies for $4.99 each and have already sold one!  So, that'll be about $5 to add to our Family Fun Fund when the $$ comes in!  We should have a nice little amount in the fund by the time fall rolls around!

Last week my youngest son and I weeded out his baby books that he doesn't want anymore.  Several of them are hardbacks and in great condition.  I think I'll check half.com and see if there is any demand for children's books.  It may be worth it to list a couple just to see if anyone wants to buy them!

we "found" $40 this week!

I mentioned the other day ways I was trying to "find" some money and contribute to our Special Family Fun Fund (SFFF). I sold 2 things on ebay this week! A pair of youth snowboots and a great ski jacket (both outgrown by the boys). Between these two ebay sales, I netted about $40. Add the $52 cash that we got in exchanged for our rolled coins and our "SFFF" is up to $92! Not too bad...

What are some ways that you've been successful in "finding" extra money?

Edited to add...my neighbor just brought over my earnings from her garage sale last weekend. $15! Whoo Hoo! Not much, but that will put us over the $100 mark on our SFFF!

special family fun fund

Rolled coins, ebay sales, garage sale profits...where should the money go? This question came up over the weekend when we put a few things in my neighbor's garage sale and also listed some items on ebay. My boys asked if they could have some of the money from what sold. I told them I'd think about it.

My thought is to give them a couple of dollars once them items sell. I think this will give them some immediate gratification and some positive reinforcement to look around their rooms and see what they have that they don't use anymore. Things that we could get out of the house and sell.

But, I think that it also would be very rewarding to SAVE some or most of the money that we get and put it towards doing something fun as a family. Something extra fun!

In our family budget, we have a line item for Recreation/Entertainment. If we wanted to go to the movies, to a museum, or another special outing, this is where we'd get the money. But, what if we want to go on a weekend trip? Then we'd have to save a few months from the Entertainment/Rec area. I've decided to start a new fund - the SPECIAL FAMILY FUN fund and will deposit money into it that we get from our ebay and garage sale profits. We also have a jar where we deposit loose change at the end of the day. I'll put the loose change we collect towards the fund as well.

I'm starting out the fund with $52. We rolled a bunch of coins several weeks ago and this is the amount that we rolled. I'm going to take it to the bank this week to exchange it for real cash and get the new envelope/fund officially started!

It'll be fun to see how much the fund grows and to decide as a family how we want to spend it!

ebay sales

On a whim, I decided to try selling some things on e-bay. My neighbor next to me is having a Garage Sale and I took over a few things to have included in it. I have some ski clothes the boys have outgrown and I struggled with putting them in the Garage Sale or not. I decided to post them on e-bay and see what happened. I had only 3 things, but all 3 are really good brands and all are (because we live in the south) barely worn.

This morning when I checked e-mails I got a note that not only had I sold the ski jacket, but I'd already been paid for it! I was ecstatic! The jacket (which my wonderful parents purchased for my nephew and was a hand-me-down to my kids) was originally $150+...but free to me. I sold it for $30. The boys asked me if they could each have a couple of dollars from the sale. I told them I thought the best thing would be to save it and put it into a SPECIAL FAMILY FUN fund. I have a feeling that come fall, we'll be ready to head to the mountains for a long weekend, and it would be so nice to have money, outside of the normal budget, set aside for us to spend and have some great quality time together.

I still have a pair of snow boots and ski pants to sell. We'll see how they do and if I can add to my new fund. I'll have to add a sidebar to the blog for it! :)