Enough of the Stuff…
A quick run through all the Stuff we have sitting around our houses, two car garages (which has no room for cars) and storage units…we realize most of us are severely infected with stuffitis…and some of us are really paying for it. While you may not be able to turn it back into it’s original value or inflated value (if bought on a credit card you are still paying on -0uch!), the reality is it’s probably just sitting there collecting dust.
Crates of Stuff - Storage
If our stuff is electronic, exercise or style related, they are probably losing value as we speak (there goes another .2 cents). Good news is technology is affording us easier ways to get rid of our stuff and make some $$. Money that we can use to Get Out Of Debt, put towards an emergency fund or add to the savings/investment/giving pile….Companies like Gazelle, Craigslist, ebay, Freecycle, to name a few offer us up ways to turn your stuff into the kind of stuff we don’t mind having around…aka… mula. So lets do the 1,2,3,4 on everything on the house, garage, etc.: 1 to Keep – because we use it, 2 to sell – because it has value, 3 to give away /recycle – because while it may have some value it may not translate into much $$ and not worth the effort of selling and the last hopefully less used; 4 to trash – hopefully we can recycle it but somethings are unfortunately destined for this pile. We should always make a diligent effort to recycle in some way, if possible, remembering this the old adage is still true today – “One man’s junk is another man’s treasure”
Now off to start the 1,2,3,4….and make some $$….
…so far to date: Craigslist.org has been a huge help..
Sold my 1990 18′ Wellcraft Center Console with a bad cylinder for $2000…
Sold my Bowflex sport for $300…
Now to see how some stuff does on ebay.com
Getting It All Started…With Less!
I know I know it sounds a little gaudy, like I have all the answers: IGotGoodIdeas.com, etc….To be quite frank, I don’t, but then again, who doesn’t have a good idea from time to time. Well goodideas.com would have been great but unfortunately it was taken by a domain squatter, as many good domains it seems these days…so…this was the next best thing, I hope. This all came about as a means of me (we) taking a hard look at ways to save and make money and ultimately get our financial house in order to to speak. Our first step was to get out of debt…hence a G.O.O.D. idea. Any idea that gets us out of debt or has the potential to, by either reducing the debt or increasing our income (to pay down the debt ) are welcome ideas, as long of course as they are sound in morals and principle. Not all will work as desired, I am sure or be applicable to you or I, but as long as it is a G.O.O.D. idea, it’s a step in the right direction.
1and1.com Domain registration and Hosting
Setting up igotgoodideas.com was fairly ways as 1and1 has some of the least expensive domain registration and hosting packages around,$6.99 for .com registration for the year with a basic template website included. If you get a basic linux package you are looking at about $4/month and the domain registration is included…since I already have a hosting package already through them for my side business, I just added the new domain for $6.99 for the year. They are great to work with and even thought they are one of the largest around, they have always been easy to work with if questions or trouble arose. The blogging portion is running for free of WordPress and I am sure for now that will suffice. I logged int to 1and1.com’s admin panel and set the domain to point to my WordPress blog…presto. DONE! …and all for less than $7 a year. Let’s get started!!!
The Winning Ticket…
This GOOD idea may or may not be something of use but it may at least get the ball rolling or the mind turning as far as other ways to save $$…and any money saved is more that can be put towards Getting Out of Debt. An avid moviegoer these days can expect to spend upwards of $9 per ticket and that’s being modest. Multiply that by 2 adults and 2.5 kids (national average), not sure how the admission for half a kid works, but nonetheless that is 4.5 x $9 = $49.50. Throw in some popcorn and drinks and you have an easy $60 spent on an evening. Now time spent with family is priceless, don’t get me wrong, yet on a budget it’s hard to thoroughly enjoy knowing, in the back of your mind, that it is hurting the bottom line. Now honestly, unless you were talking to each other through the whole movie (highly unlikely), it was time together rather than 1 on 1 quality time (but that’s another subject).
Let’s look at another alternative. We have the rental kiosk wave that is hitting our nation and it’s not a bad way to save some $$ if you don’t mind driving to pick up a movie, you hopefully reserved online (the only way to really guarantee you get a good pick of the most recent ones), and save time driving all over town trying to find a Redbox that has the one you want. Oh, and make sure you are good about getting it back soon, each day away is a $1 more to the tab. With this option you can rent quite a few movies and still save over the one time evening at the movies splurge. Another thing to avoid is the bargain movie bins at your Walmart or Kmart, etc. I can’t tell you how many times I have succumbed to picking up a movie or two at those “great “ prices, only to watch it a few times, if even more than once. It then sits around collecting dust, taking up space and ends up being sold off at a tag sale for a fraction of what I payed. Unless it is a die hard (no pun intended) favorite that you plan on spending several hours of you life (that you don’t get back by the way) on it, walk on by, you will feel good about…I promise. One avenue that I have found that has allowed us to save a decent amount of cash is a very basic Netflix account.
For less than $10 month we have access to hundreds of movies (including educational ones, indies and informationals, like The Beautiful Truth, Food Inc.) via the internet/ home pc any time of the day, up to 2 concurrent connections (2 movies) at a time (so you and the spouse can watch one, while the kids watch theirs). We also get the option to rent one cold hard DVD at a time, which equates to about 4-7 DVD movies a month if you are good with getting it right back in the mail after watching. Benefits: no late fees (they can eat you alive…even at $1/day)….a set monthly expenditure that you can budget and track…less time traveling and save gas (it’s green). So…. let’s make it an at home movie night…put on your PJ’s….pop some homemade popcorn (much healthier…depending on what you make it with of course). PS. if you talk through the movie…no one besides you family will get upset…;).
Sounds like a winning ticket to me……
Please keep in mind this is if you and you family enjoy movies…..if you can do without….you can save even more $$$. Figure 2-3 times of movie going a year can tally up to $90-120 fro the year, or a year of Netflix = $120. Some might be better off budgeting to few Redbox movies a month…or even better. None. It’s all up to you, the more you can live without…the less you will find yourself spending and the more you can use to pay down debt and eventually the more you can start saving/giving/investing. (More on this later)
On a side note if you really, really must go to the movies….make a celebration event (when you pay off a debt).
