Selling on Amazon

In a quest to get rid of some junk that is lying around the house, I have listed a few things on Ebay and for the first time, I listed some books on Amazon. I only listed about 7 and I have had them for several years.

The process is very easy and I did not have any problems. After listing the books, I ate dinner, watched The Amazing Race and then checked on my Amazon site. Lo and behold, I sold a book!!! Yep. In less than two hours, I sold a book!!

This is very exciting, I am slowly meeting my goal of earning 200.00 (net) with online sales and or auctions! Now, to make more time to list a few more books...And I need to put a weekly menu together too. That was suppose to be one of my other monthly goals....

Ebay

I was at the Salvation Army Thrift Store today. I always can find something there I "THINK" I need.... Cheap Retail Therapy. What I did find was 5 sets of Stampin' Up Stamp sets. They were brand new, never mounted and not currently being made. Awesome! I bought all 5 sets for 15 dollars and now have them listed for sale on Ebay. I am hoping to net(after fees and cost) about 70 dollars. Fingers crossed that they sell!! Now to find more items to list. I need to meet my goal of raising 200. 00 dollars this month on EBAY.

Grocery Shopping At Aldi's

Today I went to Aldi's and spent 39.00 dollars.

This is what I got:

New Orleans Rice (2)
Chrushed Pineapple
Chili w/o beans 2
Kidney Beans 4
8oz monterey jack chunk cheese 2
hummus 8 0z
fresh garlic
cream of chicken soup 4
Gala apples
Hazel Nut creamer
eggs
whole grain chips 2
buttermilk biscuits 4
gum
mixed nuts
slice cheese
shredded colby jack
coconut flakes

November Goals....One Week Late

A week late in posting goals for this month, I guess is better than not posting any goals at all! Here are a few of the things I want to accomplish this month.

1. Spend less on groceries. In order to accomplish this, I will attempt to plan out a weekly menu, coordinating with the weekly flyers and what I already have on hand. I try to budget about 500.00 dollars per month, and I would like to save 100.00 this month. So far this month I have already spent 67.00 dollars...... Gonna be tight People!!!

2. Reduce my electric bill by continuing to hang clothes outside, and on my Ikea drying rack for inside drying. Currently my bill is on the average billing plan, and I am obligated to pay about 176.00 per month. My bill is up for re evaluation every 3 months, so I want to work on lowering that.

3. Start shopping for Christmas. I am going to budget (for right now) about 500.00 dollars. Is that a lot? It might be.... but I like to get giftcards for most of the adults in my family because I don't really know what else to get them that they will use.

4. Start listing some items on Ebay that I no longer use. My goal is to net a profit of 200.00 this month.... I better get started on that right now!!

That is all I can think of for now. I am sure there is more, but I will keep track of these goals for you and you can follow along and see how I do!



Oh yes.... I forgot. I need to budget in Thanksgiving Dinner too! Oh Dear!

Budget and My iPhone

Not too long ago, I indulged and bought myself an iPhone. These little gadgets have a lot of technology and best of all, A lot of apps (applications). I found a particular application that I downloaded to help me track my spending. It is called a "checkbook" application and with it I am able to track my spending and keep myself on track. No need to worry about overdrafts and such. Yeah... that can happen on occasion. I dislike using a real checkbook register, and the one on the phone is really helping me.

I did have a little overage in my checking, about 16.00 dollars, so I sent that to my credit card bill. Am starting from zero this payperiod and am going to stay on track using my iPhone and all of its handy dandy applications.

Million Dollar Club Update

When I joined the Million Dollar Club, sponsored J over at Budgets are Sexy at I pledged to increase my biweekly automatic withdrawal from 55.00 to 60.00. I will stay at this amount for at least 6 months. It is true, when you do an automatic withdrawal right out of your paycheck, you just don't miss it at all.

I have reduced my credit card balance from 2100. 00 to about 1200.00. I had some money in another savings account and I decided to try to eliminate the debt on that credit card by the end of the year.

I may have another part time job very soon, so that will help to eliminate the rest of the debt. Emphasis is on "may" have another part time job. I have not yet decided if I can commit to it or not. I will be really exhausted if I do decide to take the position.

Couch Time

Today is one of those days to do nothing. It seems that the week is jammed packed with so much to do, that it finally catches up with you. Or at least that is what is going on with me. Nothing is getting done today except watching a few movies and putting some family pictures on facebook.

It could have something to do with the fact that my checkbook is low on funds and If I can stay out of the stores I will not exceed my budget. Of course I still have 5 days until payday..... so anything can happen. :)

Hope you are enjoying your Sunday!

Small Indulgences Add Up

Yesterday, Friday, I was getting ready for work, and realized I needed to get gas before I even thought about driving to work. The warning light was on, and I did not want to chance running out of gas. So, this meant I did not have time to fix my breakfast, which is usually two scrambled eggs, with some wilted spinach.

After, gathering up my purse, work tote, coffee and cell phone, I went to get gas, which by the way is getting more expensive again. So, then I decided to go to McDonald's for a couple of bacon egg and cheese biscuits with a diet coke. I was not going to eat the biscuit, just the protein so I would have some energy until lunch.

Well, I ordered the food and drove up to pay for it,and Danng...it was a little over Eight dollars! What the Heck!! Since the is not a payday week, I am counting my pennies until next Friday.....Next time I am going to have to prepare better! Eight dollars was way to much money!

Ikea Clothes Line

The Ikea store opened near us about two years ago. I finally went to Ikea about two months ago for the first time. In general I will stay away from big huge-o-mongous stores because they tend to overwhelm me. I like smaller stores, like the "old" Wal-Marts. You remember them, the nice small stores that were normal, and were not the size of Airplane hangers? Yea, the Super Wal-Marts kinda freak me out too.

So, when Ikea did hit town, they sent out catalogs to just about everyone and their brother. I looked at that catalog for months. I studied each page and was fascinated by all of the items that they could shove in that little catalog, and then cringing at the thought of actually having to go into the store... so I would take comfort in the catalog and be happy with that.

One day while browsing through the Ikea catalog, I stumbled upon a fancy-dancy clothes drying rack. I thought that this little clothes drying rack would really work well for me. I do have an outside clothesline, but the Florida weather during the summer is not always sunny, and it is just plain freaking hot if you must know.

So I eye ball this cute clothes drying rack for several months, ( you see I really want to avoid the crowds at Ikea) and I even check online to see if I can order it. By the way, this drying rack has 20 yards of drying line, Isn't that just wonderful?? I am in heaven! Back to the story.....Oh Nooooo..... I cannot order it online, I have to go to the store to get it. Crap.

Hubs and I go one evening about 3 months ago. And when I say evening, I mean about 8pm. We get there, and the parking lot is pretty quiet and not crowded at all. And why is that you ask? Well Ikea closes at 8pm on Friday night!! Are you serious??

Well, I had to go back when it was open. I checked the hours and was aware of when they were open and planned accordingly. We went back to Ikea on Labor Day. Oh yeah... A Monday and a Holiday. Talk about being overwhelmed!!! After parking out in the back forty of the lot, we walked in and I immediately asked for directions on how to find the clothes drying rack of my dreams.

The lady quickly pointed out on the store map where I needed to go, and hubs and I quickly and with focus used the map to locate the drying rack. We had to go upstairs to go back downstairs to weave our way back into the bowels of the Ikea Store.... And yes it was freaking crowded. Note to self, no more shopping at Ikea on Federal holidays.

So, I or we managed to find the rack, and I grabbed it, put it in the cart, which by the way is not that easy to steer. We map quested our way back out of the store and found the registers. You are definitely a captive audience when you go to Ikea, no doubt about it!

After paying for the drying rack, which was 19.00 before tax, we hiked back out to the back forty of the parking lot, loaded the car and headed back home. I use the rack daily. It is in the spare room out of the way and I enjoy it to no end. Thrifty and Fun. Who could ask for anything more?

Phone Interview

The phone interview that was scheduled for yesterday was postponed at the the last minute. I will now have to wait until next week to have the interview. I guess it will be Christmas before I find out if I get the job or not :). It is okay, I am kinda relieved that I have an extra week of freedom. I want the money for working Saturday nights, but I really don't want to give up every Saturday night either. I am sure God has a plan for me so I will wait patiently.

Hubs did go to the store for me, and he stayed pretty close to the list. It is a relief to not have to go grocery shopping this week.

I am enjoying my iphone. It it taking some time to get use to it, but overall I am glad I did get it.

This Week's Agenda

This week is going to be crazy busy for me. My class started again, it is a mini semester class so that means a full 16 week class is scrunched into 8 weeks. It is an online class, so that does make it more manageable.

I am still doing my observations for the online class every Monday morning for 3 hours and I only have today and next Monday to observe and my 15 hours required observation will be fulfilled.

Today, at 11:30, I have a one hour phone interview for the per diem job I have applied for at a local hospital. So many hoops to jump through for this job. So far I am on track to secure the position.

I assigned the shopping to my hubs today, I will not have time to get to the store for the next few days. The list is ready for him and that errand certainly helps me a great deal.

The rest of the week is the same. Work, work, work. And I am grateful for my job, so no complaints here!

Walgreens

Went to Walgreen's last night to pick up some cold medication for my better half. He is fighting a cold and we were out of everything! So.... I was hoping to find some Nyquil and Dayquil on special. My stockpile has dwindled down to nothing. I need to get back on track with that, but I just have not had the time.

Alas.... they were not on sale but there were register rewards available when you purchased two of the required items. After purchasing one of each I did get a five dollar register reward!

Today is a work day at the church so we are up early and getting ready to spiff up the church gounds. We are hoping to beat the heat as it is still hot here! It is suppose to be in the high eighties with high humidity. We are gonna be sweating!