£3k by 1st September

crapwithcash82

I haven't been on here in such a long time - but had the urge to start a "diary" to help keep me on track with my savings target.  We have lots we want to do in our house, and I've decided that if I keep a diary of it here, I can keep myself accountable.  

I have set myself a target of £3,000 by 1st September, because realistically we won't be doing anything over the summer DIY-wise, and £3,000 will hopefully be over what we need to do the first job, which I think will be replacing the upstairs bathroom.  We both work full time, I have a side hustle which pays quite (well when I push it) and I have a tonne of stuff to ebay / marketplace due to not being able to carboot for almost 2 years!!

My hubby is very handy and so saves us a fortune in tradesmen, but I will do a breakdown of cost over the next few weeks to see what we are looking at for the house projects.  

It's also to prove to myself that I can actually save - it has never been my strong point, hence the username on here!  Feel free to say hello, or read from a distance, and I'll keep updating and hopefully keep myself accountable. 

Misslayed

Good luck!

24Tweezers

I am in dire need of a total knee replacement operation.  I had a date for the procedure, April 2020 BUT along came the pandemic and it was cancelled, a matter of days before I was due to have it done.  I have struggled since to remain motivated weight-wise as I am in constant pain in my knee, with the cartilage being worn away and I have been down to bone-on-bone for over two years now.  Heaven knows when I will get my knee sorted with the NHS, so...  Cutting this long story short I have been selling off my possessions, collections, clothing garden ornaments, to put money away to get the op done privately.  My husband is an avid football shirt collector and he too has finally after twenty years of collecting his football memorabilia also selling them on,  too for my cause - mainly via ebay, but also on fb marketplace.
It has been going better than we anticipated, and fingers crossed will continue.  I know if I eventually go down the route of a private op, the fees don't end there and each follow-up appointment has to be paid privately, too.  But what other option is there other than to sell on the belongings.  They are only objects after all, and the money is going to benefit me/us more than something that collects dust, is outdated, etc.

crapwithcash82

Good Luck with your selling 24Tweezers - I find it quite therapeutic, clearing out stuff!!  I hope you manage to raise enough to get your op and your follow up appointments.

So I've started small, with one ebay sale, which was a pair of catapillar boots I have had for years and worn about 3 times.  Sold for £21 after ebay fees and postage so that's a start!  Have listed a few things, but trying to only list things with a reserve of no less that £10 because otherwise with fee's etc it can be a little bit of work, for not much profit.

Also had £30 sitting in Quidco to transfer to a bank account so I have requested that today, so a grand total of £51.

I have a couple of sales to follow up on from my side hustle.  Was thinking about it last night and if I can come up with 15 sales of minimum £150 each then that is £2,250.  I like to put aside around quarter for tax, so that leaves me just over halfway to my target.  I like to break it down so it seems more manageable to hit the targets, so going to try and focus on that over the next few weeks.


Current Balance: £51 of £3,000 (1.7% of my target)

soolin

crapwithcash82 said:

Good Luck with your selling 24Tweezers - I find it quite therapeutic, clearing out stuff!!  I hope you manage to raise enough to get your op and your follow up appointments.

So I've started small, with one ebay sale, which was a pair of catapillar boots I have had for years and worn about 3 times.  Sold for £21 after ebay fees and postage so that's a start!  Have listed a few things, but trying to only list things with a reserve of no less that £10 because otherwise with fee's etc it can be a little bit of work, for not much profit.

Also had £30 sitting in Quidco to transfer to a bank account so I have requested that today, so a grand total of £51.

I have a couple of sales to follow up on from my side hustle.  Was thinking about it last night and if I can come up with 15 sales of minimum £150 each then that is £2,250.  I like to put aside around quarter for tax, so that leaves me just over halfway to my target.  I like to break it down so it seems more manageable to hit the targets, so going to try and focus on that over the next few weeks.


Current Balance: £51 of £3,000 (1.7% of my target)

Just a note, you mention a reserve on ebay - if you are actually adding a reserve then that’s a very expensive way to sell as you pay a fixed percentage fee for a reserve that you pay even if item doesn’t sell. Always cheaper to just start at the minimum you will accept, so if you want £10 minimum start item at £10 with no reserve.

if you look at the ebay board here on MSE there is a thread that updates whenever there is an offer day for cheap or free listings. 

crapwithcash82

Thanks for the tip soolin, I'll have to check how I have listed the items.  Have a load of things to list, so going to aim for 10 listings per day so I don't loose the will to live!  

Nothing else to report on the extra income so far, will have to see what I can come up with today other than ebay.  

[Deleted User]

soolin said:

crapwithcash82 said:

Good Luck with your selling 24Tweezers - I find it quite therapeutic, clearing out stuff!!  I hope you manage to raise enough to get your op and your follow up appointments.

So I've started small, with one ebay sale, which was a pair of catapillar boots I have had for years and worn about 3 times.  Sold for £21 after ebay fees and postage so that's a start!  Have listed a few things, but trying to only list things with a reserve of no less that £10 because otherwise with fee's etc it can be a little bit of work, for not much profit.

Also had £30 sitting in Quidco to transfer to a bank account so I have requested that today, so a grand total of £51.

I have a couple of sales to follow up on from my side hustle.  Was thinking about it last night and if I can come up with 15 sales of minimum £150 each then that is £2,250.  I like to put aside around quarter for tax, so that leaves me just over halfway to my target.  I like to break it down so it seems more manageable to hit the targets, so going to try and focus on that over the next few weeks.


Current Balance: £51 of £3,000 (1.7% of my target)

Just a note, you mention a reserve on ebay - if you are actually adding a reserve then that’s a very expensive way to sell as you pay a fixed percentage fee for a reserve that you pay even if item doesn’t sell. Always cheaper to just start at the minimum you will accept, so if you want £10 minimum start item at £10 with no reserve.

if you look at the ebay board here on MSE there is a thread that updates whenever there is an offer day for cheap or free listings. 

Are you able to change your listing if you have already set the reserve?

soolin

Deleted_User said:

soolin said:

crapwithcash82 said:

Good Luck with your selling 24Tweezers - I find it quite therapeutic, clearing out stuff!!  I hope you manage to raise enough to get your op and your follow up appointments.

So I've started small, with one ebay sale, which was a pair of catapillar boots I have had for years and worn about 3 times.  Sold for £21 after ebay fees and postage so that's a start!  Have listed a few things, but trying to only list things with a reserve of no less that £10 because otherwise with fee's etc it can be a little bit of work, for not much profit.

Also had £30 sitting in Quidco to transfer to a bank account so I have requested that today, so a grand total of £51.

I have a couple of sales to follow up on from my side hustle.  Was thinking about it last night and if I can come up with 15 sales of minimum £150 each then that is £2,250.  I like to put aside around quarter for tax, so that leaves me just over halfway to my target.  I like to break it down so it seems more manageable to hit the targets, so going to try and focus on that over the next few weeks.


Current Balance: £51 of £3,000 (1.7% of my target)

Just a note, you mention a reserve on ebay - if you are actually adding a reserve then that’s a very expensive way to sell as you pay a fixed percentage fee for a reserve that you pay even if item doesn’t sell. Always cheaper to just start at the minimum you will accept, so if you want £10 minimum start item at £10 with no reserve.

if you look at the ebay board here on MSE there is a thread that updates whenever there is an offer day for cheap or free listings. 

Are you able to change your listing if you have already set the reserve?

You can but it doesn’t affect the fixed charge you have already paid for the reserve. 

crapwithcash82

Little update to the "diary" / progress record.

So I signed up for a trial of "Numbrs" app, which lets you take all your bank accounts into one app, so you can see spending etc.  You get a free entry into a payday draw which happens each Friday.  I came across it on a money saving profile on Instagram.  So I won £20 on that on Friday which is great.  You can win anything up to £10,000 I think which would be amazing!  {Text removed by Forum Team}

Have listed a few other bits on ebay, was going to try and aim for 10 listings per day so did 10 books on Saturday, none have sold yet, but we'll wait and see.  Going to list 10 pairs of shoes today, as I have LOADS of shoes I don't wear.  

Have an enquiry for my side hustle into August, which would be a great little bonus, I think it would make me between £300 and £500 so after tax still a nice little boost if it goes ahead.  

I know I'm off to a slow start, but still confident I can get to my target - in reality I would be happy with 80% of my target, but if I don't set it at a higher level then I won't push!!


Current Balance: £71 of £3,000 (2.37% of my target)

crapwithcash82

Popping on for another diary update, so I have a bid on an ebay item (yay!) the universe must have been listening to my observation about the ebay items not having bids!   

Almost there on 2 of the sales on the side hustle - in my head I had thought around £150 each would be the ideal mark.  As it stands, 1 I think will come in at around £100 the other, I think a little over the £150.  I had another enquiry that I'm just waiting to hear back from, which would be great if it goes ahead, and I think that one would be £300 but not confirmed yet, still at enquiry stage - keeping my fingers crossed.

Hopefully my next update with be some solid sales from the above!!  

Current Balance: £71 of £3,000 (2.37% of my target)

crapwithcash82

Update to the total, have had a payment of £100 which brings the current total to £171.  Hoping to have a few little boosts this week with a few bookings/sales pending, and perhaps a little bonus at work.  Updated signature below....

£171 of £3,000  (5.7% of my target)