I had two items end this afternoon. Both sold!! I have another $13.50 to add to the 2009 Ebay Challenge.

February Total to Date = $21.25
January Total = $4.95

I had hoped to find more to sell, but thus far I am coming up empty. Remember how much I sold last year? That kind of explains it, but I will keep looking.

I'm excited for all of you that are doing so well. Keep up the good work!!

I'm excited both of my items I have listed on ebay this week will sell!! They each have bids. One has several people watching, too.

I still have over 4 days until the listings end. I hope to find a few more items to sell and post before the weekend ends.

Good luck everyone!

I sold two of four items on Sunday for a total of $7.75. Those items have been shipped.

Today I added two more items. One already has a bid...within the first hour of listing!

February Total To Date: $7.75
January Total $4.95

I did get a late start, but my January total stands at:

$4.95!

I have four items ending tomorrow. A bid on one and a few watchers on the other. The other two may not sell.

It's a start. I'm sure I'll make up for it in later months! Keep up the good work everyone.

I sold my first item for 2009 on ebay today!! A pair of girls jeans for $4.95! This could be my total for January. I have one other item that could sell early. Out of the four items left, two are being watched.

The other challenge? Mooshocker has started at 2009 Mortgage Payment Challenge to see who can pay the most towards principal. I'm in. We are paying extra on our home equity loan already. The minimum we will pay off is $7,000. But we just might pay the whole thing off. Wouldn't that be cool!!

I will track the extra principal paid each month on the sidebar. Good luck everyone

Today I completed two more things on my list. I worked out at the gym and cleaned out the kitchen cupboards.

[x] Workout everyday at the gym (M-F)
[x] Clean out kitchen cupboards
[x] Clean microwave
[x] Clean kitchen blinds
[x] Clean bathrooms
[x] Whiten dishtowels and washcloths
[x] Write thank you notes
[x] Weed out magazines
[ ] Paint laundry room (?)

At the gym, I burned an even 500 calories on the elliptical and the stationary bike. I lifted weights and left plenty of sweat in the sauna.

The only thing left on the list is painting. I don't think it is going to get done this week. It turns out, I just don't feel motivated. Maybe tomorrow will be better, but I think for now the list is accomplished. Turns out I should have put a few more things on the list, huh?

I did pick up a few necessities at the grocery store. Spent $20.02. My grocery store is SuperTarget. I didn't go looking around for sales or deals. I just picked up what was on my list. I feel I'm doing pretty good so far in the not spending on after Christmas markdowns.

I joined Steve's Ebay challenge. I hope to average $100/mo from sales. I was close to this average last year if I remember right. Time to find some things to sell!!

I'm going to try to get all my Christmas shopping done this week. I crossed 4 people off my list yesterday when I shopped at Sears with my Land's End gift card. $0 out of pocket!!

I will be out again today to finish up a few more. I have to wait until at least Thursday to finish the kids. I'm going to a Scholastic warehouse sale on Thursday so I can get some good deals on books they want. You might check their

Wow! I hit the jackpot with ebay sales this weekend. I had 8 items up, many of them girls holiday dress wear. All 8 items sold, with many far exceeding my expectations.

Gross sales: $72.11

I am thrilled with the outcome and look forward to adding the net sales to our home equity loan payoff goal later this month.

We made it to our goal, with one day to spare!!

Old Balance = $733.01
Nov Interest $26.39
Pinecone $3.00
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New Balance = $762.40

The goal was $750, so we exceeded that by $12.37! Any excess after completing our shopping is going to the home equity loan.

I have 8 items up on ebay, with four that have bids. The other 4 look like they may sell as well. This money would have gone to my holiday challenge fund, but now it will be set aside to make a payment to the home equity loan in December.

It's going to be a debt free Christmas!! I'm thrilled! How about you?

I had my first paypal dispute. Buyer felt I misrepresented the item. I did make a mistake, but it was unintentional. In my opinion, it was minor...but apparently not to the buyer. Buyer was asking for a $27 refund. That was half the cost of the item!

I decided to counter offer. I asked for the item back at my expense and I would refund all but original shipping charges. I figured I could relist item without the error and still get a bid better than his offer.

In the end, because we communicated we decided to leave the transaction as is. Buyer does believe that I made the error unintentionally. I sure wasn't out to defraud anyone. It did and does pay to communicate!!

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I turned on our gas fireplace on Saturday night! This is not exactly a utility savings measure. I had turned the pilot light off back in late April or early May...I think I probably saved some gas by doing that. Does anyone know if our home heating cost are going down like auto fuel is?

I have 8 items ready to start on ebay this evening. Two are new with tags! Most of the items are children's holiday dress wear...perfect timing, huh?

If I sell all items I will gross a minimum of $36.60. I'm starting most of them pretty low, hoping for some hot bidding wars! I'll let you know how I do in a little over a week.

I expect this to be some of my last sales for 2008. Did you know I have grossed over $1000 on ebay this year? I only sold things we have around the house and no longer need. Just think what you could do with a grand! If you didn't alreay have one, you could have a baby emergency funded by this time next year...or sooner if you have lots of stuff!! Start that pile, today!

Several posts back, I explained that I have been trying to accumulate the cash for the holidays outside our regular budget. Most of the cash has come from ebay sales. The goal is $750.

Currently, I have accumulated $549.11! I am short only $200. I will continue to put items up on ebay until at least December 1st. I also will add the interest that is earned in our savings acccounts at the end of the month.

I only started this challenge for myself back in late September after I made $60 at our garage sale. I decided to stash the cash away for the holidays. I honestly never thought I would get so much cash outside our regular budget...but I did.

If I can do it, so can you! If not this year, maybe next year. If not for the holidays, then maybe some other goal.

Just a note: I have actually started shopping in small amounts, so the amount I have on hand is less than the amount above...but I'm keeping track of everything so I know whether I meet my goal or not.

I also have a small goal not to spend the whole $750...the extra can go to our home equity loan!

I listed 10 items for sale on ebay a week ago Sunday. I sold 6 items! I'm a little disappointed that the others didn't sell...several people were even watching them. Sign of the economy?

The gross total was $50.02! I have yet to figure the net, as I am still waiting on payment for one item.

All of this money will help fund the holidays. Tomorrow I will update my holiday fund for everyone. I mentioned in an earlier post that I am attempting to find $750 for holidays outside our regular budget. So far most of the money is a result of ebay sales. It's been a fun challenge.

I will be putting more items up on ebay this week, or by Sunday, at the latest. I think only one of the items that didn't sell will be relisted. The new items I have are a girls coat and a girls holiday dress. Every bit helps!!

I'm trying to keep track of money flowing in. As of now, I have received money from the garage sales, ebay sales, DH travel, and a gift card.

In the next few days, I expect to see some interest payments and some cash from craigslist sales. Several of those are pending today and I just put them up yesterday. Today I plan to get more things ready for ebay.

I am also saving all the mysurvey points towards $30 cash. Our debit card gives us cash back and we should be getting $50 in a few weeks.

All totalled up that is over $400 in cash flowing in, besides our regular paycheck. I'm saving all this money to purchase gifts for Christmas. It is definitely not too early to start thinking about that, right?

I've sent $400 towards the principal on our home equity loan!! It feels great to have the balance fall below $15,000.

The next goal is to get it below $14K. I hope to do this by the end of the year.

I'm going to just keep stomping on it.
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Updates:

Getting ready for the garage sale that starts on Thursday. I don't have a lot, but helping my neighbors get rid of their stuff is fun!!

The reason I don't have much for the garage sale is...I'm selling most of it on ebay. The return is a little better. My paypal account has over $120, with more sales ending this Sunday.

In the process of moving our emergency fund savings to another online bank. I'm going to try FNBOdirect. It is affiliated with our old bank, so I feel confident it will work out well. The rate is 3.5%!! That is almost double what I've been getting with our primary bank. Why did I wait so long? I'm looking forward to seeing larger interest payments.

September has only seen 2 days with air conditioning...also no heat. Wonderful. That means the bill next month will be even lower than last. Yipee!!

I'm still reading the blogs...even though I don't take time to post myself. I hope to be back more after this garage sale.

Wow, it has been a little while since I've posted!! Here's a few updates.

Our A/C has been off since Sept 2nd, since the temperatures have fallen drastically. This morning it was 67 degrees in our home...I almost wanted heat!! I really want to wait on that one, though.

I am selling some items on ebay. I have netted over $100 so far.

Along with two other neighbors, I am coordinating a community garage sale for our neighborhood. It is just over a week away. It looks like we will have at least 10 families participating out of 40 households. I'm looking forward to making a little cash, but I don't have quite as many items as I did in the spring.

That is it for now!! Keep up the great work everyone...I am reading even when I'm not posting!

Really! Thanks to HelpMeFriend for the great tie in to add to this post. Okay, where to start.

Well, yesterday after spending the day at a local amusement park I came home to find that I sold three items on ebay for a gross total of $62.75!! I am thrilled with the results since one item sold for $49, when I was expecting about $30. Must have been my lucky day!

Today, I hopped on my bike to deliver those ebay packages to the post office. That is my first time ever doing an errand like that on my bike. Cool...gas savings and exercise. I also went to the gym after dropping packages off. Must be my lucky day!

I'm home now, recording some debit transactions and checking my bank account online. I noticed that I have been charged less for Netflix and the local paper. Netflix is lower because they had some shipping problems over a week ago and reduced our bill by 15% to make up for it. The local paper is less, because of credits for papers not delivered. Four days of no newspaper. Total savings $4.20. It must be my lucky day!!

Weather is perfect again, so no air conditioning here! It must be my lucky day.

The rest of my day will involve stripping a dresser. Again...a first for me. I've had this dresser for 6 years...just waiting to be redone. It was my father in law's and it is such a nice size to put in a corner or near a door. It must be my lucky day.

I wish you a lucky day, too!!

Thanks to this week's ebay sales, I have $24.04 more in my pocket!!

I have listed another 5 more items tonight. One already has a bid!! That is within a couple of minutes of listing the item.

I will have several more items to list after Labor day. These will be primarily military items my husband no longer needs.

I would encourage anyone who hasn't tried ebay to check it out and consider selling something. I had more items sell than not. There is a learning curve, but it is well worth it! Best of luck if you do try it...and let us know of your successes.

I'm selling my daughter's jazz/hip hop shoes on ebay this week. I already have bids with numerous people watching. On zappos.com these shoes retail for about $40 with shipping. A pair the same size and style sold for about $20 on ebay last week....so I'm hoping for gold here!!

Now is the time to list fall school clothes, scout items, dance gear and other items associated with back to school. What back to school items are you selling?

Yep, I'm kicking the home equity loan with another $12.00. This is interest from our money market account for this month. Can't wait until rates go back up!!

I also sent away for another $10 mysurvey check. It will be here in a few weeks. It will also go to the loan payoff.

My daughter turns 8 on Saturday. This means a $1 increase to her monthly allowance. The girls receive $1 for every year old they are. So, starting this month I pay out $19.00 instead of $18.00! I should teach them to save their increases...hmm, I wonder if that would go over?

Anyone remember way back to April when we bought our new HDTV at cost from my BIL? We'll today the $200 rebate finally came in the mail.

I've never had a rebate come back so slowly. Or, maybe I have. When it's $200, you keep track of it just a little closer than if it was $2.00. Well, I do anyway.

Thrilled to finally have it, too. It is arriving at a great time, with a few travel trips ahead of us and a birthday this weekend. Just a nice cushion of cash to have available if needed.

I would really like to see it go to the home equity loan, but I will need to wait to see how a few things shake out.

Off to put it into the bank...via online deposit. I love it!!

I'm fired up!! I made another payment to the home equity loan today in the amount of $5...yes, $5.00.

Why such a small amount? It's my Pinecone survey check I received in the mail yesterday. All survey money is going to the home equity loan.

In the last 7 days, I have made three extra payments to principal on the loan. Two for $25.00 and one for $5. My regular payment on this loan is only $118...so I've almost made an additional half payment.

I'm so excited to get moving on this, even if it is just a small dent at this point. Having paid off some debt in the past I know that the small payments make a difference, too!!

Some of our goals for 2008 are:

1)Save 15% of gross salary - retirement
2)Save $2000 for each child - college
3)Save down payment & purchase newer van
4)Begin to payoff home equity loan. (Really would like to pay off by May 2010)

We are on track to meet goals 1 & 2. We make contributions monthly to meet our yearly goals. Retirement is automatically. I do write checks for the education accounts...same time every month.

Goal three was accomplished last month with the purchase of a 2007 Honda Odyssey. We've been waiting over a year to make this happen.

I began working on goal 4 as of last week when I made my first extra principal payment of $25. Today I sent another $25.00 payment towards the loan. By the end of June, I hope to be able to send over $350 extra per month. I also intend to put any extra money on I make on ebay, craigslist, garage sales, and surveys toward this loan as well.

Final take home for the 5 items I sold on ebay will be $25.75! Pretty good average.

I still would like to find another $25 worth of items to sell. This may not happen until August. I have dance shoes to sell, but I think I may get a better price on them in early August when people begin thinking about such things.

I also have a few dance clothes that have been outgrown, too. I need to start searching garage sales for new dance shoes and leotards.

My ebay sales ended yesterday. Out of 13 items I sold 9. I don't think I will relist the other items at this time. Some items were mine others were my neighbors.

My 5 items grossed $29.65...not too bad. I will take a break from sales for a few weeks while I find some more items to sell. I know they are in this house somewhere!!

The listing for my couch expired yesterday, so I have relisted it for $100. I had it down to $125 before. I'm dropping it again in hopes of getting it out of here, while getting a little cash, too. I need to get the couch out since it is now a bit crowded with the new to us piano I purchased last week.

I have a Land's End couch cover that I was selling with it, but have decided to sell it separately on ebay.

We had my best friend and her family here for a visit this past weekend. She wrote me a check for $50 to cover food, gas (since I drove them around) and other incidentals. It definitely helps me and I know they appreciated not having to stay in a hotel two nights.

Weekend spending was a little high because of the guests and outings. Seemed to be mostly snacks for my kids.

Upcoming expenses, small increase to insurance premium because of new van. We owe $26.76 for the remainder of the period which ends in October.

Youngest daughter will have a birthday in July. She wants a hamster. We will probably have a party of some sort. On this one, it may be out of town with the grandparents. Decisions still have to be made on that because it is more costly to travel than stay home for obvious reasons.

Youngest daughter is in Bible School this week. They have a mission project to collect toiletry items for kids and young adults. Going out today to buy a few items to donate.

DH was paid recently and I have put $675 in our slush fund. I think some of this may get spent before the next pay period, but the goal is to hang on to at least half of it.

Sign up for dance lessons is this coming Saturday. I have the cash set aside for this. For the whole year, it will be either $730 for two classes or $1025 for three. One daughter is still deciding if she wants to take the extra class. I'm wishing she doesn't...but will be fine either way.

Next month we will begin searching for piano teachers. The budget will need to be updated when we add this new expense. It may be a bit costly because the 7 year old and husband both want to learn.

Spending, spending, spending!! I really need to find more things to sell or get a job.

I listed more items on ebay for the week. I put 13 items up and one sold almost immediately as a Buy it Now.

I took a break from ebay for awhile as it is time consuming. But since my garage sale leftovers are not moving too fast on craigslist I decided to put the best items on ebay.

Some items are my neighbors, I should get a cut of the profits since I'm doing the work.

I think I'll set another ebay goal for June. Since not all the items are mine to claim profit for, I will go for $50. Maybe I'll find a few more things to sell...in fact I'm thinking of some now!!
Daughter has outgrown her dance shoes and leotard.

Ebay profits here I come!

I put my garage sale leftovers up on craigslist. I sold two children's sleeping bags and one yoga video. Grand total $7!

I have quite a few things still listed, but not too many inquiries. I will be listing many of them on ebay this weekend in the hopes of getting a few sales that way. Craigslist is just too slow for me.

Even my couch is still up for sale! The listing is going to expire pretty soon, too. I guess my price is too high.
I will probably relist and hope the right buyer comes along. I'm really not in a big hurry on it anyway.

Kids are out of school now...so, I will be looking for inexpensive, educational and fun things to do with my girls.

Tonight we played the game of Life together. I'd rather be outside, but it is very humid...so I'm sticking to indoors.

This has been a fabulous month for me with Pinecone surveys. I have completed 5 surveys for them. I received a check yesterday for $5.00 that I will add to the challenge.

New Balance = $168.42

Our regular home equity payment of $118 was posted yesterday. Only $23.22 went to principal. There will definitely be more money hitting that account in May. We are just waiting to pay for a few large dollar items before we start kicking in down.

I just realized that I did not add in the April ebay funds to the challenge. So that creates a new total of....

$520.86

Remember my ebay goal of netting $100 in the month of April. Well, I far exceeded it!! With four more sales last week, we netted out for the month at $352.44 after all the shipping, ebay and paypal fees.

I have never done so well on ebay. I think I only had one thing that didn't sell. I have to give credit to the type of items. Surplus army gear from my husband's stash of stuff. Do you have any idea how much gear we store at home? He has been in the Army for almost 17 years...so it adds up over time, especially when the Army changes uniforms!

For now, I'm taking an ebay break. It's time to gear up for the garage sale. My pile has been building. I'm so good at getting rid of things that I don't usually net much more than $100 at a garage sale, but I'm hoping to get close to double this year.

Oh, I finally branched out and sold internationally this time, too! I sent items to Argentina and France. Now I'm an international seller!! I think it helped sales, too.

I cashed in my points for surveys a few weeks back. The check arrived yesterday for $30! Mysurveys are a little slow getting their checks out, but they always arrive.

This will count towards the $20 Challenge.

New Balance = $163.42