Creditcardfree's Personal Finance Blog

Our regular payment on our van loan was processed yesterday. We paid $439.26 towards principal reduction.

New Balance: $17,262.29

Next month we will be under $17,000!! I'm looking forward to that.

I'm happy to report that our garage sale was a success. We did really, really well on the first day even though it was cold and rainy. We still had good traffic today as well, however, the sales were not as brisk!

I did this sale with two of my neighbors. They brought in more than I did. Our combined total for the two day sale was $914.80!

My sales, which will be added to by ebay challenge goal, equaled $245.55. I'm thrilled! I was hoping for over $200. I made that goal and then some.

2010 Ebay Challenge Totals
January: $201.89
February: $46.40
March: $55.50
April: $4.74
May: $245.55

My average is now $110.82 per month. I'm exceeding my $100 average per month goal.

Okay...here are two photos of our garage sale set up. I took them pretty quickly, so they really may not do the sale and all my talk of organizing it justice.

Here they are:





We had lots of traffic. I'm not sure what our totals are yet and we have another day to go! I think we are suppose to have sun all day tomorrow...which should bring out some more people.

The garage sale begins tomorrow. We are all set. The three of us are almost pros at setting these things up!

It is raining like crazy here today. We will likely have rain in the morning, but it should clear off a couple hours into our sale. Somehow we packed it all into a three car garage. A few things can be pulled out into the rain if needed. Friday we expect a full day of sun!!

The free craigslist ad is up and running. Bring on the buyers!

I've been busy with out of town guests, school performances and not feeling quite up to par. No spending the last two days!

It's going to be a cool and rainy week here. I think the garage sale is still on! There is plenty to do this week. I'll check in when I can.

I have priced nearly all of our garage sale items! I have about 12 boxes worth of stuff. I have been finding a few more items each day as well.

Garage Sale Tip #4: Keep the change

We start our sales with $60-70 worth of change, in quarters, ones and fives. Five to ten dollars in quarters, and $25-30 in ones and fives.

Many people use a cash box for change, but this is actually a bit dangerous unless someone is able to literally sit by the money the entire time. We use a fanny pack! One of us gals wears it around our waist, so that the cash is with us even if we need to help a buyer with something. It can be so easy to get distracted and walk away from the money opening yourself up to possibility of it being stolen. As the cash accumulates from the sale, we pull the large bills out every so often and put them inside the house.

We also try to keep the bills in order inside the fanny pack, so that it is easier to make change. Ones in front, 20's in back and change on the bottom. It works for us!

have your house painted! Yep, the first step in the painting process, power washing, is scheduled for Monday. Our garage sale doesn't begin until Thursday and Friday and it isn't even at my house. Thank goodness for that.

It is forecasted to rain quite a bit next week, so they are likely to get delayed during the process. I guess that means I have more time before I have to pay them!!

Next week is the last week of my girls dance and tumbling classes. They have recital rehearsal next Friday with the actual recitals on Saturday.

How many votes that my next week is a little more stressful than usual?

There is no completely wrong way or right way to have a garage sale, however certain things just lend to a better sale! These tips are just based on my experience and I'm thrilled that you have been adding your suggestions along with me.

Garage Sale Tip #3: Setting the Stage

First a clean garage is very important. Of course, it is not possible in most cases to empty the garage completely. However, most things can be moved to one side, the back or a corner. I like to then cover those things up, so they can't be seen. I don't want to explain 50 times that my lawn mower is not for sale! I have used a tarp hung from nails to cover our things up. You could use duct tape if you didn't want to put nails in the wall or ceiling. If you don't have a tarp, consider a sheet, blanket, shower curtain, table cloth or painting drop cloth as alternatives.

Sweep your garage floor to eliminate much of the debris that tends to accumlate. If a clothing item is dropped on the ground it will get less dirty. Dirty clothing is hard to sell!

Set up tables. Personally, I avoid garage sales that are primarily boxes lining the driveway because I don't want to dig through boxes. I like to browse tables! Borrow tables from neighbors or relatives. You can make a table from a pieces of plywood and sawhorses. Maybe you don't have sawhorses, but can find something else that would prop up a piece of wood nicely. If you want to get fancy, cover the tables with plastic table clothes. We usually skip this, but it does make a sale a bit upscale.

Group like items with like items. It is easier for the buyer to look at things when they are grouped together. It's hard to find clothes for your child, if they are set up with toys and books. Seperate clothing by type, size, and gender. It is okay to use boxes or plastic bins to help group like things together. If they are small enough they can be put on the tables, otherwise it is okay to put them out on the driveway or under a table.

My neigbor's husband made a clothing rack primarily out of 2x4's and a clothing rod. It's a bit unstable, but it works great to hang the adult clothing. We have hung clothes from the garage door rails. This helps buyers see the really nice items you have. I've noticed that putting the items up sells them better, we just keep restocking those hanging items! You could buy a clothing rack, or use a tension rod somewhere in your garage. I think we have even hung clothes from a tall step ladder! Think outside the box and look for places to hang the clothes.


Remember to set up a table for where you will accept payments. We prefer to have ours near the front of the garage where we are in the shade, but can see everything happening during the sale. You'll need a calculator, notebook, pens, tape, sissors, safety pins, additional price stickers, dust clothes and plenty of grocery bags. Put the items you will use the most on the table in a container, the remainder in a box or basket nearby. A small garbage can is very handy, too.

I like to use the slow times to reorganize the merchandise too. Things get moved around while buyers are looking and contemplating their purchase. They often just lay things back down anywhere. I put like items back together and fold clothing.

Don't forget safety! You want wide aisles for people to browse without tripping. If you don't have room in the garage, you will have to move those things to the driveway or yard.

What other tips do you have regarding setting the garage sale stage?

Single Guy commented on my last garage sale tip, regarding sale signs, that one must always take down your signs immediately after the sale! Please remember to do this for the safety of your neighborhood, your home and the beauty of your community.

Garage Sale Tip #2: Price to sell

My neighbors and I each price our own items for the most part. I'm a little more organized and have my pricing done before we begin set up. This year we each have a different colored dot. In past years, when we had white dots, we used a different colored marker to write the price on with!

We price everything to the nearest quarter. We really try not to price items for nickels or dimes. If something isn't worth a quarter, combine it with another item to make it worth a quarter. Otherwise, you should add it to your 'free' box. People love a free box. Last year, one man took the entire free box!

Pricing to sell, also means that you should be willing to accept a lower offer. With this in mind, just price each item and know that someone who is interested in the item will pay your stated price or will ask to buy it for less. Always say yes to a reasonable offer, or at the very least counter their offer.

You will get rid of more stuff if you say 'yes' to a lower offer. One of my neighbors doesn't say yes often to offers. Guess who still has some of those items in her house? Yep, she still items someone was interested in her home because she wouldn't take $5 less! I think she's getting more motivated to move things on this year.

We pull all stickers from our items as we sell them. Each person has a page in a notebook, marked with our name and divided with a paperclip. We stick our corresponding sales stickers to these pages. This makes it very slick to total each person's sale items at the end of the day. Personally, it is one of my favorite parts, counting the money! I'm sure that doesn't surprise you.

What are your pricing tips?

The garage sale I'm holding with my neighbors is next week. I am looking forward to the cash, but really looking forward to getting rid of a pile of stuff! Over the next week I will post my favorite garage sale tips:

Tip #1: Make bright easy to read signs.

I use fluorescent green, yellow or pink posterboard and a broad tipped black marker. I only use one color per sale. I fill the entire board with information. Include address or intersection, days and times. A large arrow on the bottom of the sign is also very helpful. Make sure the letters on your sign are thick and bold. In fact, aim for two inches thick and 4-8 inches tall.

I actually use two pieces of posterboard per sign and tape them together on the top and sides with clear packing tape. I slide it over an old realtor sign or a large piece of cardboard with a stake attached and then tape the bottom of the posterboard together. This makes for a very sturdy sign.

If you think it might rain, you can cover the entire sign in clear packing tape! Put the signs out during the late evening before the sale on nearby intersections. We live off a major street, so we put about 3 signs at major intersections about a mile away each. We also put one right at our main corner and a smaller one in our yard, so people know they found the right place!

Good looking signs are important. If you are not getting compliments on your signs from buyers, you are doing it wrong!

I didn't spend any money today. Yipee!!

I spent my day at the gym and baking chocolate chip bars. Seems contradictory, huh? The bars are my contribution for the teacher appreciation lunch at school. I did eat a couple extra ones.

I am going to lunch with a friend tomorrow and helping at school, so my spending will be minimal. I think I can make it through Friday without any big expenses.

The water bill arrived and it was less than normal. I think this is a result of last month's being higher. I think it was a billing date change, so it just evens out really.

I so rarely do this. Spend money on me. And the money spent today were on needs. But it felt good! $17 worth of good!!

Oh, now you want to know what I spent money on. You'll be a bit disappointed. Remember. Needs.

I bought three pairs of white no show socks, primarily for working out in. I do wear them other times with my sneakers. This means I can throw out a couple pairs that are really worn.

Second, a new tube and shade of lipstick. I don't wear makeup very often, so it takes awhile to go through one tube. I'm hitting the bottom of my current tube and at my age I needed an update in color as well.

A pair of cotton shorts to sleep in. My last pair was very worn. I bought that pair at a garage sale, so there were like a hand me down pair. I tossed those old ones out last month when I came across them. It is now getting warm enough to need something other than pants to sleep in.

It was definitely happy spending, with no guilt!

I made my homemade laundry detergent yesterday. I think it looks like it will work great. It seems like soap anyway!!

I also prepped our garden for planting. It was becoming overgrown with weeds and grass. Luckily, my girls were up for digging in the dirt. They dug out the grass and weeds, while I pulled much of the dirt off the roots. It felt good to get my hands dirty! I'm also glad the garden is only 64 square feet because that did take a couple hours. I have yet to decide what to plant. We have really enjoyed beans and peas in the past. They are plentiful, delicious and always available for picking.

I also made cookie dough last night. Butter, sugar, vanilla and flour. We are going to wrap the dough around Hershey's Kisses to make Secret Kisses cookies. The girls recieved a Hershey's cookbook as a gift and this is the only recipe that I had all the ingredients for and probably the easiest!

Only spent money on haircuts for the girls yesterday. If only I were that much of a homesteader!! I've tried cutting their hair before, but I'm never satisfied with the results.

I'm only adding the small amount of interest earned in the month of April to our emergency fund goal. The amount $11.52. New total $1,419.52.

Since April was spendy due to our many before deployment projects and the purchasing of an airline ticket, I was able to save $293 from yesterday's paycheck. Oh and it was a smaller paycheck by about $225. I'm going to save that money for the house painting.

Happy May Day!!

My neighbor decided to make her own laundry detergent on Earth Day. She loves it! She made a kit of ingredients for me to make my own batch.

The batch will make two gallons of detergent. I think she said the cost per load is $0.07! She didn't say how much the ingredients were but they had to be fairly inexpensive.

Here's the recipe that I plan to mix up this weekend:
1/3 bar Fels Naptha soap
1/2 c. washing soda
1/2 c. borax powder

You will also need a small bucket approximately, 2 gallons in size. I purchased mine yesterday with a lid at Home Depot for about $5. I sure don't want this stuff to spill!

Grate the soap and put it in a sauce pan. Add 6 cups water and heat it until the soap melts. Add the washing soda and the borax and stir until dissolved. Remove from heat. Pour 4 cups hot water into the bucket. Add soap mixture and stir. Add 1 gallon plus 6 cups of water and stir. Let the soap sit for about 24 hours to gel. Use 1/2 cup detergent per load of laundry.

This recipe is from this

Mother's Day is just over a week away. It is on Sunday, May 9. Time to start thinking about how to acknowledge your mother.

Personally, I'm not a huge fan of this Hallmark invented holiday. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate my mom. But why do we all have to thank and appreciate them on the same day? I'm a mom myself, and I'm still not a fan of the holiday!!

I do usually get my mom a card and a small gift. This year she will be receiving 4 handmade (by me) coasters and some loose leaf tea. I'm guessing this will cost me less than $15.

As I write this, I realize I bought her coasters about three years ago that have pictures of my daughters in them. I think she uses them as small framed pictures instead of coasters.

This year, the coasters are the right thing. She was eyeing the ones I made for myself. So I think she will enjoy that I made some for her, too. I hope she likes the fabric. If not, more can be made. And she loves tea, so I can't go wrong there!

Are you buying or making a gift for your mom to celebrate the day of mothers?

My husband will be getting an allowance of $200 each pay period for the next year. We are paid twice per month. His need for cash is very minimal while overseas.

Secretly,(Unless he's reading this blog today. Hi, honey!) I hope that he will not spend it all. Last time his expenses included some pop, lots of cigars and Subway sandwiches (one does get tired of DFAC food), haircuts and occasional postage for packages.
Two hundred dollars seems like plenty don't you think?

Right now my plan is to take this allowance from our regular spending. I think this is possible because of all the things that we won't be spending money on. Less will be spent on fuel and groceries here at home for sure!

My husband's travel expenditures from his last trip were finally paid today. If I didn't harp on him about someone approving it about 10 days ago, we would still be waiting.

Half the money went to pay the balance on his government credit card and the rest into our checking account. It doesn't feel like a windfall, considering how much over the reimbursed travel expenses he spent.

It is what it is!

In an effort to keep our spending down this week, I have stayed home today except for my trip to the gym.

I have spent my time cutting out pieces to make four placemats and four coasters. The coasters are a gift for Mother's Day! The fabric is pressed and pinned together. I will actually sew tomorrow afternoon.

It's been a spendy month.

There is something about wanting your about to be deployed husband to get whatever he wants, even if it isn't in the budget! I've been out to lunch three times in the last two weeks and bought too much wine, beer and coffee. Oh, and the family went out to dinner and ice cream, too.

I only regret it from a financial standpoint. We did enjoy ourselves. It also isn't going to hurt us in the long run. Too much!

I'm really looking forward to payday on Friday to get back on track. I hope to keep the spending to a minimum this week so it doesn't get worse! Unfortunately, the Army has already made a paycheck error in their favor by at least $70, maybe more. Someone is looking into it, so I hope to have that money back by mid May.

Are you having a good month financially?

Deployment begins today. He's still in town for a couple more days, but the Army is in charge of his days now. We are counting down 400 days until he is back home.

I wanted to buy a used Apple USB wall charger for my daughter's ipod. I went to ebay. I was the only bidder, so I won the auction. I spent $10.

It arrived on time. However, it isn't a USB wall charger. It is a firewire adapter/charger. It will not work with a 5th Generation Ipod. I knew this and was looking specifically for a USB wall charger.

Buyer does not accept returns. I'm okay with this because I knew this upfront. The model number in the auction is correct. I should have checked it though and I would have known this wouldn't work. The description was wrong. It should not have stated USB in the title. Ugh!

I'm out $10, until I can sell this on ebay. Disappointing. But it can be corrected.

listen to this story.

We are having our house painted in about 3 weeks. One of our gutters was seperating away from the house enough to allow water to run between the house and the gutter. This caused water damage to the paint and over time would cause damage to the siding.

Gutters are attached to the facia with some sort of long bolt. It seemed like something specialized, so I hired a gutter company to repair it. Turns out it is a very easy repair and didn't really require any special skill.

Our repair involved three new nails placed under the gutter to attach the facia to the soffit. The gutter is attached to the facia and since the facia was pulling away so was the gutter! (I think I have my terms right. Sorry if I'm off a bit.) They also added a bolt to the end of the gutter where it meets the another side wall of our house. I think this was just an extra safety measure to hold it in place.

Honestly, I don't even want to tell you what this cost me because I am disappointed that it only took three nails to fix the problem. Nails that I could have probably installed myself.

When I called the contractor, I said I wanted it repaired and replaced, if necessary. I did ask for a quote over the phone. I ended up paying the quoted price. The disappointing thing is I thought the quote was my maximum if I had the whole piece replaced. Nope. It was my minimum.

I will take it as a lesson learned, which is also why I'm mentioning it to the rest of you. I probably should have had the contractor out to give an estimate in person, rather than over the phone. A trip out probably would have told me that it would have been an easy repair. Next time my gutters are pulling away from the house, I will nail the facia back to the soffit by myself!

We received our second paint estimate today. Not exactly the nice figure of the first. $3,900. Nearly double the first. The second estimate does offer a second coat of paint, but no repair work included. Strange. We asked for a small repair to be included.

Two coats of paint seems like a good idea, but we are moving in about two years (or less). The main problem is the bottom edges of the lap siding, which will be scraped, primed, spray painted and then back brushed. I think this proceedure will correct that problem. We are also staying with the same colors.

Final decision: first estimate hands down.
Savings: $1,825

We made a deal tonight with our out of town relatives. We will sell them our Ford Taurus for $2500 in October of this year. I think we would get less as a trade in, but more if we sold it privately to a stranger. So we met in the middle! Good for us. Good for them.

I will still have it sitting in the driveway for the next 6 months, but at least we have a plan. I guess they would probably like it if I drove it around once in awhile! I should make a weekly date to drive it for ice cream.

Hmm...can I put this towards my Ebay Challenge money? If so, I don't have to sell one more thing to meet my $100 per month average. No. I will continue the challenge and keep the car sale out of it!

The money will definitely go towards the emergency fund goal. That will help quite a bit considering I'm about to dip into the 'new' emergency money to fund part of the house painting.

My post was lost. My first time ever. I wrote it pretty quickly too. I went to an area I don't think I've been before...maybe the forum login? Not sure.

Our spending is up! It was up last month. Now this month. And I expect in May as well. It's beginning to effect my ability to add to our 'new' emergency fund.

We are literally getting a gutter repaired or replaced this week. Ballpark estimate $150. This is preventive maintenence for the new paint job. I would hate to ruin it because of a bad gutter.

Turns out I will have to dip into the new EF for some of the paint costs. Darn. Once we sell the car, I can instantly replace the money. Yipee!!

If I haven't already mentioned it, our spending is way way up there this month. And last month. And it looks to be up in May, too! How is this going to help my emergency fund goal?

This week we are literally spending money on gutters. I'm hoping a repair or at most the replacement of one strip of gutter. Do them call them that? Strips. Line of gutter? Whatever.

The over the phone estimate is about $150. It has to be repaired at least otherwise the next paint job is going to fail in the same spot. I guess it is all about maintenence or at least keeping up appearances.

This is an example of home maintenence for all you renters out there that might want to buy a home. It's another reason to have an emergency fund for these repairs that come up that you might not be able to plan for. I didn't plan for this one. I'm sure the signs were there. I just didn't look!!

Some of the money for these gutters and the paint will come from the 'new' emergency fund. Darn. Once we sell the car, it will be instantly replaced. Yipee!

We have our first home painting estimate in our hands. Including tax and a small siding repair, the first estimate came in at $2,075.82. My husband guessed $2,500 and I was really hoping for less, so I win!! No just kidding. I'm just really pleased.

The salesman said that we don't NEED to paint this year, but it is definitely showing signs of wear and would definitely need it in two years. We are positive in two years we will be moving, thus the need for a nice paint job! He also said that if we waited even another year to paint, it would require more labor because the areas that are already beginning to peel away would be worse. More labor, more money. Likely an additional $300-400.

We are scheduled to get one more estimate tomorrow. Once we compare, we will decide and get it scheduled. Before this man arrived, I was starting to think we should just wait to paint. However, I think it is in our best interest to stay ahead of the problems that are developing.

Our van needed an alignment because it was pulling to one side and three out of four tires were showing wear on the sides. I was notified of this about a month ago at the Honda dealership. At the time, I declined the work.

We decided to take the van to another auto store for the alignment since it would be less expensive than the quote from the dealership. We bought a lifetime alignment for double their normal charge. Out of pocket cost: $151.

I would have spent just a little more at the dealership for the tire rotation and alignment. That would have been a one time charge.

Do you think it was a good idea to get the lifetime alignment service? It is a national chain. We expect to have the van for quite some time.

We are going to sell our paid for car. A 2002 Ford Taurus with nearly 120,000 miles. We bought it used in 2006 for $8K. In the last 4.5 years, we have spent nearly $4K in repairs. It has been pretty reliable, but it seems every time we turn around that something needs to be fixed or addressed. Yes, some of it is maintenence, but much of it is failure of the original design. I'm not even going to get into the problems here.

The deployment is prompting our desire to sell it. It is really hard for one person to drive two cars! As a stay at home mom, I'm not driving that much. We will save on car insurance and registration for a short period of time. The sale will also bring in some cash. Oh, and DH has been salivating over getting a truck for over a year now. He will get one when he returns.

We are pretty sure we will sell it to an out of state relative. They have a Taurus and love it. They will have a 16 year old in October. We are going to take it to a dealer to see what their offer would be and use that as our spring board for negotiations with them. Yes, we have checked a couple online sites, but the prices are a bit varied. We also want an opinion from someone who actually sees and drives the vehicle.

If we come to an agreement on price, I will actually have to hold the vehicle for the relatives until October. They don't need it until then. They are also still saving the cash for it. Of course, I'm pleased with that, since they will not have a loan.