Working to a ten year plan

caeler

I've popped some stuff on ebay, only 4 items but fingers crossed. I rarely sell on ebay, I do find it stressful but most of this stuff is collection only so I won't have the drama of posting and things not arriving/things arriving broken to cope with!

Ninno820

I know what you mean - if someone pays straight away then its relatively easy to pack it all up and send it - its when they take a few days and then I'm nowhere near a post office.

I'v tried to take full advantage of the free listing weekend and have some finishing tonight, some strating tonight and finishing next snday, some starting the next sunday and finishing the following w/e. I've had to pay the 6p to delay the start but I'm sure that I read somewhere that the optimum time for ebay to finsih an auction is 8pm on a sunday eve so I try to aim for that time. Not sure it works tho!

Currently I have a ridiculously expensive handbag with 2 hours to go and no bids. They retail for over £200 and this is brand new with tags, dust bag etc. I put it on at £70 but have been offerred £45 inc postage. Its tempting but might just try my luck for a scond week at £60 - every penny counts here!

caeler

Fingers crossed on the handbag. It would be too much of a shame if it didn't go, now you made the step to part with it! I've read about bids ending sunday too so hope that strategy works. I did mine on 5 day listings so they end on Friday, meaning that I can post on Saturday but that may well not sell because of it needing to be convenient for me!!

Cialilerin

I think you have to consider who you're selling to. If you're aiming at the teenage, young adult market then Friday/Saturday evening is a no no, but if it's baby clothes and stuff, i haven't found an optimum time (and I have tried every thing!) Think moms just go on ebay when they finally get a child to sleep for a nap or at nursery etc and look at what is finishing soon. But then I have a child that never sleeps so who knows. Good luck anyway. (And remember no one has much money in January (even for ebay!!) so might be worth waiting til end of month - pay-day time!!)

Itsadogslife_2

Isn't it criminal when you think how much you pay for things that people don't want to purchase for a third of the price I feel a bit this way about DVDs (I know they are not a £200.00 handbag ) but when I think that they are all about £10.00 each and how many I have got -I will be lucky if a get a £1.00 per DVD at the carboot we are planning to do in the spring Hope you get some last minute bidders on the bag. If it doesn't sell then I would perhaps try again maybe in a month or two - January is notorious for being a tough month for everyone and lots of people selling things like unwanted Christmas presents.

Since we have had a recordable box, we have so much stuff to watch anyway, putting a DVD on never really crosses my mind. Although I do have some "classic" (well they are to me ) DVDs that I love that I will never part with, the Transformers Trilogy, Bad Boys I and II, Les Mis, Phantom (such random tastes in film..... :rotfl:)

Ninno820

I agree - ebay is such a random machine that you just have to keep trying - yu just need one person (preferably two to drive up the price) to want your item and you are okay.

Ninno820

Well its time for a weekly catch up and, to tell you the truth , I have not been brilliant with the groceries. I have been seduced by the "buy £40, save £5" offers. However I have tried to offset it with the small amount of ebay proceeds - we are up to £60 so far. I have also taken a good hard look at my Barclaycard account. The limit was £7500 but they reduced it to £7000 and , no matter what I pay, it never seems to be reduced to below the £7000 therefore incurring a £12 penalty. I ahve decided to focus on that loan this mnth - paying a small amount now and then - and paying above the requested monthly payment. If the interest etc charges are the same this month compared to last then the total is currently looking like £6960 but I would like to pay another £60 in to make extra sure.

Ihave also booked a table at a table top sale in april - the basic idea being what doesn't sell on ebay may go there instead. Mum is sharing the cost with me as she is tying to declutter and this is a guilt free way of doing it.

Ninno820

Not much to report by the way of savings - I have got the Barclaycard total down to approx £6946 by making some small payments. But my efforts were hampered by a flat tyre last sunday - £76 spent in one fell swoop! So instead I have been focussing on raising money through ebay and have made £56 since last weekend so am nearly there.

On friday I went to M&S - not because I needed much but because I had a number of vouchers that were running out. A wedding present for October plus £25 of food later and it cost me £1.79 - result!

Today I am snowed in so am focussing on freezing lunch ideas to take to work. So far I have frozen 6 pots of chilli and rice (chilli made from mince combined with 1/2 packet of quorn that was lurking at the bottom of the freezer and some lentils to make it go further) and will make a weetabix cake from some left over weetabix. Also aiming to make a rice pudding -comfort food!

Progress is slow but I am loving the change in perspective that I have.

HappyNow

Hi Ninno, just having a catch-up on your diary . Well done on the changes to your mindset which is what really makes the difference.

I know you said progress is slow, but looking at your signature you've paid off 1.23% of your debt in such a short period of time. I've only managed 0.5% of mine, but I'm actually satisfied with that! Until December 2011 my debts (and I suspect yours) were going UP every month. If we hadn't confronted it, they'd have STILL been going up, so we've actually acheived much more than that percentage.

I think progress will be slowest in the early days, then speed up. Firstly, we're still learning! Secondly, as our debts reduce so will the interest charged and our payments will take more off the capital. And thirdly, if you're using the 'piggy bank' technique (which I will be starting next payday) there will be small pots of money to off-set hiccups like your flat tyre.

Hopefully your lower barclaycard balance will mean they won't slap you with a £12 charge now, but that's definitely the one to keep an eye on until you're sure. £12 takes a lot of scrimping for!

And well done on all the lunch-making. Not only cheaper but healthy too - you'll soon be in your flashy 'smaller wardrobe' that you mentioned earlier and everyone will think you've splashed out on a load of new clothes !

Ninno820

HappyNow wrote: »

. And thirdly, if you're using the 'piggy bank' technique (which I will be starting next payday) there will be small pots of money to off-set hiccups like your flat tyre.

!

Thanks for the pep - talk! Whats the "piggy bank" technique? I'm still learning and everyone is so helpful.