Learning to Live on Less!

White_Iris

Quick money update while tea is cooking...

So, dentist done (£47 on the credit card), eBay fees and postage taken out of PayPal and remainder (from eBay sales and surveys) to be transferred out (£55 off the credit card), so currently card stands at about £497. It's payday tomorrow so there will be some more payments to be made on Thursday once the money has transferred out of DHs current account and in to our joint account (where all the bills get paid from). By the end of the week the credit card should be around £375 :-)

...now to go hide the cards so they can't be used again...

White_Iris

Done the first day of the month banking - all good! I'm trying to pay off the credit card by Christmas, with our usual payments taken off it leaves me with about £60 a month to pay off - a challenge but I'll try my best :-)

I've just done some more OnePoll surveys - I seem to remember saying I was aiming for another £40 payout by September...I'm currently at £5.90! Oh well, I'll keep plodding on.

I also want to get our emergency savings back up to £500 by the end of the year - not so tricky, just need to find an extra £18.75 a month on top of the usual payments. Once it's back up to £500, I'll re-direct the money we were saving to the credit card, as £500 covers the excess payments on all our insurance policies. Ideally I'd also like a few thousand sitting in the bank as a rainy day/emergency fund but that's not going to happen any time soon so £500 will do for now.

I've got LOTS of childrens clothes to get listed on eBay over the next few months, so that should help but it does mean I need to get back to work and write up all the listings on turbolister so they're ready to go live. I am picturing a day in front of the laptop...

debtfreesomeday

Hi White iris

I also have loads of children's clothes which I was considering selling on eBay but didn't know the best way of doing it. Do they sell? Is it best to put bulk lots together or sell items separately as BIN's?

I hope you don't mind me asking, we really need to make some money from now on as our bank account is overdrawn already this month and the savings are running out to top it up!

Thanks in advance x

White_Iris

debtfreesomeday wrote: »

Hi White iris

I also have loads of children's clothes which I was considering selling on eBay but didn't know the best way of doing it. Do they sell? Is it best to put bulk lots together or sell items separately as BIN's?

I hope you don't mind me asking, we really need to make some money from now on as our bank account is overdrawn already this month and the savings are running out to top it up!

Thanks in advance x

Hi debtfreesomeday :wave:,

I don't mind you asking about eBay at all!

I tend to sell outfits (dress/top/tights), small bundles (3 x tops or 2 x trousers) or with bigger things like coats (or if it's new with tags or was quite expensive to start with e.g. Mini Boden) I'll sell them individually. I start everything at 99p and have never used BIN as I always live in hope that there'll be a bidding frenzy and I make much more than I expected (and this has happened once or twice on quite ordinary things ).

I remember reading on another diary that someone was selling their childrens clothes in large bundles of 20+ items but listing them in the "Wholesale & Job Lots" section rather than clothes (I think because of postage cost restrictions in the other categories). From what I remember that did quite well but I really can't remember the specifics (I read a lot of other diaries!).

Now that I'm at home with the children I see this as my new 'job' and it really does help - everything sells eventually and as long as you're clear and honest with your descriptions, it's a relatively pain free process. If you've got lots to do I'd recommend downloading turbolister from the eBay website, so you can write up the descriptions in small chunks rather than have to stay glued to the computer - it's a lifesaver for me, as I can leave a listing halfway through writing it up to go pacify a grumpy toddler or make lunch, then finish it off later. It also means I can write up 20/30 listings through the week and then upload them to eBay at the weekend all in one go.

I hope this helps - good luck!

Iris .x.

White_Iris

Got a bill from our sewerage company today - they're going to increase our monthly direct debit by £10 :-(

Got an email from eBay telling me it's free listings this weekend - re-listed some items (scheduled to start tomorrow) and hopefully they will sell and make us at least £75 :-)

White_Iris

Yay - £3 from a survey site on the way to my PayPal account!

White_Iris

Oh, forget to mention earlier that when I told DH about the target to clear the smaller credit card by Christmas he was all for it - even suggesting using some money from the additional hours he's working this term to help clear it!

He always gets behind the quick, short-term money saving (pay off £150 in 3 months or save 20% through a voucher/cash-back site) but it's the bigger stuff he struggles with - pay off £10k in 3 years, it'll never happen so lets not even try! He has had his LBM but I think it could still shine a little brighter LOL!

debtfreewannabe321

hi white iris

You've reminded me how useful the turbo lister is on ebay, i had it on my old laptop but when that died i just never got round to downloading it on new one! Didn't realise it was free listing either so thanks for that will try and get some of my bigger bits on this weekend xx

debtfreesomeday

Thanks so much for this White iris! I am away staying at my
Family home for a little while, but I can't wait to get back and start listing Ds's 'too small' clothes now. Hopefully we can make a little bit of money to help us through!

Rubbish news about the DD increase, but great news about the CC- sounds like you will be rid of that one by Christmas for sure!

Best wishes
Xx

White_Iris wrote: »

Hi debtfreesomeday :wave:,

I don't mind you asking about eBay at all!

I tend to sell outfits (dress/top/tights), small bundles (3 x tops or 2 x trousers) or with bigger things like coats (or if it's new with tags or was quite expensive to start with e.g. Mini Boden) I'll sell them individually. I start everything at 99p and have never used BIN as I always live in hope that there'll be a bidding frenzy and I make much more than I expected (and this has happened once or twice on quite ordinary things ).

I remember reading on another diary that someone was selling their childrens clothes in large bundles of 20+ items but listing them in the "Wholesale & Job Lots" section rather than clothes (I think because of postage cost restrictions in the other categories). From what I remember that did quite well but I really can't remember the specifics (I read a lot of other diaries!).

Now that I'm at home with the children I see this as my new 'job' and it really does help - everything sells eventually and as long as you're clear and honest with your descriptions, it's a relatively pain free process. If you've got lots to do I'd recommend downloading turbolister from the eBay website, so you can write up the descriptions in small chunks rather than have to stay glued to the computer - it's a lifesaver for me, as I can leave a listing halfway through writing it up to go pacify a grumpy toddler or make lunch, then finish it off later. It also means I can write up 20/30 listings through the week and then upload them to eBay at the weekend all in one go.

I hope this helps - good luck!

Iris .x.

White_Iris

First day of term (for staff at least) and so DH has gone to work, leaving me alone with the twins until tea time :eek: he has had a few days in work over the summer so it's not too much of a shock but getting up at 6.20 this morning was painful! So today will be dedicated to getting the house ship-shape after 6 weeks of very sporadic housework and lots of neglect.

The children have been playing beautifully together for the last hour and so far I've...

• hoovered downstairs
• hung out one small load of washing to dry
• started second small load
• cleaned kitchen
• emptied and re-filled dishwasher
• tidied upstairs

My aim is to be finished by about 10am, so after I've caught up on a few diaries and finished my coffee I will...

• get the children dressed and nappy changed
• dust downstairs
• tidy living room
• hoover upstairs
• get children's laundry ready for washing
• change bedclothes on our bed

Whew, tired already! Quite a list but I'm feeling motivated this morning so best to keep going while the feeling lasts!