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Archive for July, 2010

Not Much Spending

July 29th, 2010 at 05:43 am

Not very much spending, just haircuts for the whole family, including the dog, this week. I've sold another book on Amazon and have a watcher on the ebay auction of my mom's things.

I'm taking off for the weekend to meet up with some girlfriends, and then am hosting a party for another friend's birthday next week. I predict my plans of making most of the food will change, but right now, I'm planning a Greek-style tortellini salad and a chocolate raspberry cake. Yum!

Hazy, Lazy, but not too Crazy

July 27th, 2010 at 10:29 pm

I don't know about the rest of you, but money is about the last thing I want to think about during the summer.
I want to think about gardens, books, movies, peaches, relaxing, swimming, traveling, and a lot more pleasant things than the state of my 403b.

We're headed out on vacation soon, so listing more things on ebay seems difficult, and I have loads to do before we leave. So on that lazy note, I'm taking some time off from scrutinizing my budget carefully, and I'm just going into a holding pattern till school starts.

I've got courses to plan and promotion files to compile, so money will have to wait a bit.

We started watching "I Claudius" on library DVD. It's been years since I've seen it, and it's pretty enjoyable. The trials of ancient Rome make it seem even more idyllic around here.

I've been reading a fair amount of new fiction, most of it pretty lousy, but a great new biography of Jane Addams of Hull House. Now there was a woman who DID something with her money!

A Few More Sales

July 22nd, 2010 at 01:35 am

I'm not enjoying these "no paycheck" months. Although I intellectually know that we'll have to pull money from savings over the summer--especially with child care and vacations--it's always hard for me to have so much spending and only DH's paycheck. We usually live on his salary alone, but holidays and home remodeling come out of my saved salary.

But I sold another book yesterday and got the ebay sale posted, and I have bids on two of my new listings.

I've signed on to do some copy editing for a new textbook starting next week; I just wish it would start now. I'm such a sad case; I really like to work!

An Ebay Sale and School Supplies

July 19th, 2010 at 08:21 pm

I'm a happy gal today because I sold some of my great aunt's dishes on ebay. Not for a lot, but it's a start.

And we had a very thrifty trip to Walgreens to begin
some school supply shopping. My favorite pens (I'm such a pen freak) are on sale, and we got about half the stuff DD needs for third grade for $6--and made a buck on the Colgate toothpaste with my coupon.

I also got a load of clothes on the line and am now inspired to list some more dishes.

Nothing succeeds like success, as my mom used to say.

An Allowance Question

July 16th, 2010 at 10:29 pm

DD is now officially 8-years-old, and we're thinking it's allowance time. I've read and pondered many things about kids and allowances, but mine was tied to chores. Should they be? How much? I have no idea.

I welcome any allowance guidance from those
who have been through the fire.

Starting Slowly

July 15th, 2010 at 09:14 pm

We had gallons of rain last night, almost 5" at our house, so much of the morning was devoted to righting plant pots, retying tomatoes, and picking up branches.

I finally got a few things listed on ebay yesterday, but my book selling continues strong. DH ordered a "print on demand" book that came late, and they sent him another free which sold immediately on Amazon as did a few other books. I've found I need to check my selling prices regularly to make sure I have the low price on them.

I've noticed conflicting economic signals lately--more and more storefronts in the local strip malls seem to be empty and a long-time sushi place has gone out. I honestly don't know how the smaller boutiques make it work. But I can't get a teen-age girl babysitter anywhere around here. Granted we live in an affluent suburb, so many of the girls don't need the spending money and spend their days at the local pool and mall. I've called the youth director at church, asked everyone we know--nothing.

I babysat most summers from ages 13-16 and did dog walking and everything else my mom could sign me up for. She has very adamant we had summer jobs.

Adding another $35 to my ebay challenge from the book sales.

Cheaper Day

July 13th, 2010 at 08:37 pm

I've been trying to think of lots of small ways to save money since it's been an expensive summer. Today I took DD to the mall where they had a special kids' event with the local nature center, science museum, and arts camp offering a visit with raptors, a slime-making sample, and a flag craft. It whiled away a couple hours and cost nothing since we brought our own snacks and ate them in the food court. Plus the nature center had free passes that will come in handy. We're members there, but they're great to give to friends who hike with us.

We had a visit from the electric company who installed a radio control sensor on our a/c. It will allow them to switch off our a/c occasionally and give us $50/year.

I hung out some laundry, and we're eating last night's leftovers at lunch with some more at dinner.

I sold another book for $7 and netted $120 Sunday night at my rich folks book club. I'd still like to list some ebay items in the next few days. Maybe this afternoon?

The Birthday Spendies

July 13th, 2010 at 04:17 am

DD's birthday has been an expensive week--between the upcoming party and the various gifts etc. I'm just biding my time until we can get back on the ole budget bandwagon.
Tonight we took DD our for the traditional California Pizza Kitchen birthday meal. She got her dinner free, thanks to their birthday club, and we got a free "small craving" appetizer. I think the waitress thought we were crazy, but we took the appetizer home. We had a coupon for it, but really didn't want it. Looks like pita and hummus for me tomorrow for lunch.

My goal for the week is to photograph and list some of my mom's things that I retrieved from her house. Wish me luck!

To go with my last "foraging" post--I sold another of the discarded books on Amazon. I'll add that $30 to my total sales.

My own kind of foraging

July 1st, 2010 at 04:42 pm

Reading Jeffrey's posts about foraging food has got me thinking about what natural foragers most of the folks on this list already are.

Here's my example:
Faculty at my university have a "free books" table in our department office. They're meant for department employees, not students. Many of them are slightly used textbooks, and sometimes they sit there for months. While ordering sample copies of textbooks and then selling them is clearly wrong, these are used texts and other books that folks just don't want anymore. So here's my foraging. I've been picking them up and listing them on Amazon and half.com. Is that bad? I pick up one or two--I never walk out with a huge stack. If they have no value on the reselling websites, I donate them to Goodwill, the Salvation Army, or wherever I'm dropping things off.