What to do with what won't fit...(Craigslist and Consignment)

"4 to 6 inches," they said.  "The snow will roll in on Saturday," they said.  Well, it is Saturday morning and we are headed into day three of basically continuous snow fall.  Our deck is holding roughly two feet at this point and my car, which I assume is frozen shut, has not moved since my early arrival home from work on Thursday.  With the hubs, little miss, and I snuggled in for the past three days the reality of our space reduction has fully set in.  Luckily, we are a pretty good team so we're making constant progress in finding everything a home.

I have never heard anyone say, "I love to move, its so much fun!" so I will not pretend like I am the only one who loathes this process, but between the hunt for a new place, deposits, packing, hauling, and unpacking, its been a stretch to keep anything straight.  But through trial and error I have learned a few valuable tricks this time around which will hopefully come in handy in the future.  As previously mentioned, this move involved a considerable amount of down sizing so we decided that selling some of our larger furniture would not only give us more space, but also help offset the cost of moving...I love this dog, but for a rescue she has been quite the investment in pet deposits!

We had everything from a kitchen table to a dog kennel to get rid of and in the end we were able to turn our junk into about $1000!  Prior to this season I have hated any of my previous Craigslist experiences, refused to put on garage sales, and ultimately ended up just donating whatever needed to go.  This time I was determined to make it work and here is what I learned.

Craigslist Tricks....my UN-scientific experiment.

1.  Posting a Treadmill two days before New Years will guarantee a quick sale.  In fact, this posting was up for only 2 days and I received about 10 offers.

2.  $300 listing price is a hot number for scams.  (Like I said, this is unscientific, but I started three different items for $300 and were contacted by scammers within 24 hours on all three!)

*How do you know it's a scam?

•   -They ask questions about your "furniture" but aren't specific about the item.
•   -They are out of town and will "send you the money and arrange for pick up shortly after"
•   - The return number has an area code that is not local (this is not always the case, but is a good signal to ask more questions.)
•   -They will text or e-mail immediately after you respond to their initial inquiry a long message (that they couldn't have possibly written in the time it took them to read your response and hit reply) 
•   -Ultimately, trust your instinct.  If something seems fishy, it probably is.

3.  When you are setting up a time for someone to come take a look, don't let more than a full day go by (people will change their mind or go with something else and not let you know they aren't coming.)

4.  If you have multiple people interested in your item, respond to all, even if it is to just tell them that someone else is planning to take it, but you will let them know if the sale falls through...this way, if the sale does falls through you aren't starting at square one.

5.  Write down the name and number of the person who is planning to come look at your item.
....funny side story- I had A LOT of interest in our refrigerator which involved several text messages, e-mails and phone calls (lots of names, which I am really bad at remembering!)  We had set up a time for a women to come by, but had something come up and had to leave.  I called the missed call number I thought belonged to this women to let her know and accidentally called someone else who was interest.  What did the other person do, you're wondering?  She pretended like she was the original women!!!  I didn't put it all together until later that evening and still feel terrible for the original women who I am sure came by our empty house and was not pleased...which is likely why we never heard from her!  Luckily I had already learned number 4 so we were able to sell it to someone else the next day! 

6.  Take multiple pictures and include a picture of anything damaged (scratches, dents, etc.)  People want to know the truth and will try to lower the price when they show up if they feel you were not forthcoming. 

7.  Have the dimensions on hand. I personally think posting a picture will bring people in and then they can ask you for dimensions if they are interesting (its a good ice-breaker.)  

8.  Update your post regularly.  There are new items being posted all the time which will continue to bump you to the bottom of the list, so renewing the post will ensure your add is seen by more people.

9.  Decide on your bottom line. I priced everything with some bargaining in mind, but let people know what I was hoping to get out of my item.  Most often people would agree with that amount.  Example, I had a women send an obvious low ball offer on our washer and dryer.  I told her that I was hoping to at least get $250 for both and sure enough, she could make that work!

10.  Try to do the negotiating prior to seeing the people in person.  If you are anything like me, I have a much harder time saying no or sticking to my guns when someone is standing in front of me with cash in hand.  That also eliminates the excuse "Oh, all I have $50." 

11.  Let people know your expectations.  Will you deliver?  Do they need to pick it up? Does it have to be gone by a certain day? Are you only able to respond to messages in the evening?  Is e-mail or text better for you? Are you open to offers or set on your price? etc.

12.  Finally, get the Craigslist App!  It is so much easier because you are able to post without having an account, take pictures with your phone while you're creating a new post, and add multiple posts with a couple of easy to follow prompts.  

As for what was left...(Consignment)

As our moving day quickly approached I had unloaded almost all of the items we wanted to sell, but was still left with my HUGE Hutch and Kitchen table.  I was starting to get a little anxious about having to move them or bite the bullet and donate them so I starting looking for other options.  I am no stranger to wandering through consignment shops, but knew nothing about consigning so I thought I would educate myself.  What I learned was that if you have good stuff, this is a no-brainer!  Basically I could either go through the hassle of moving and storing these things or let someone else do the hard part.  Here's how it works:

1.  Bring in a picture and dimensions of your piece.  The who's who of the shop will look them over, decide if your piece is a good match for the store and if they have room for it.  They will want to make sure they don't have multiple similar pieces and that your furniture is in good condition.

2.  Set up a drop off time.  They will need to move things around and find you're items a spot...its not like clothes consignment where they put a hanger on it and a price tag and hope for the best.  You're taking up valuable real estate so they want it to show well.

3.  Get all the details. i.e. how long will they keep it, how much of the sale do they get, what happens if it doesn't sell, etc.  The shop where I left my things is a non profit who funds the Assistance League so the percentage that they will keep is actually considered a donation which will come in handy at tax time. 

4.  Finally, they will work with you on how much to price the item.  The ladies where I left my hutch were open to my suggestions and gave great feedback from their experience. They were also mindful of future price reductions.  They work on a schedule where the price will decrease every 30 days if the item hasn't sold meaning them and I  both lose more money the longer the item sits, so finding the right price from the beginning is a huge benefit.

And now I wait...(check back for the update...and hopefully the positive outcome of my adventures in furniture consignment.)  

Now that we're moving past the clean out process, the plan for the furniture that was lucky enough to make the move with us, is to give some of it a little face lift while we find a happy medium between sticking with our spending fast and enjoying our home! (Remember the coffee table incident...)

January Recap

Wow, lets remember back to that time I said I'd probably get in over my head and I'd gladly admit it...yes, moving, working, mommy-ing, and blogging has been a lot to keep up with.  I'm about two weeks behind on this post because we've been trying to figure out how to not only move, but do a major downsize and attempt some organization, all with a seven-month-old in tow.  With every move I have this vision of everything being neatly packed away in boxes, stacked nicely in categories and ready to go on moving day.  We back in the truck, load it all up and it arrives at the new house, ready to be quickly put away; everything having a spot.  

This is reality...every damn time!

So over the next month I will update you on my organization progress, but for now I thought I'd do a little recap of the first month of my comeback season.

The quick version:  January involved eliminating about 800 square feet of living space, 8 pounds, 12 inches of hair, 2 cats, and traditional cable while gaining about $650 in monthly savings, a carpool partner, and a long to-do list for the weeks to come.

With all that said, this comeback season has been fun! The hubs and I have developed a little process for letting go.

Digging through all of our stuff and parting with things I've moved from place to place over the past 10 years hasn't been the fun part, but we've had lots of opportunities to begin the brainstorming and dreaming for our next season. It keeps our eye on the prize! 

This process has allowed us to make two closets become one...

And Goodwill now has acquired TWO trucks full of our treasures...

So where did the $650 come from?

1. As previously mentioned, TV was the first to go. After a quick Facebook Survey from my brilliant friends we traded Direct TV and all it's goodies for Netflix and Hulu Plus. I've been kicking myself for not doing this sooner when I found out that between these two apps I can see all my favorites for $15 a month!  We were even able to stream the Super Bowl on Sunday so this is far from the sacrifice we thought it would be!  Total Savings: $100/month

2.  I really should be calling this, "why didn't I come up with this stuff before", but I guess "better late than never" will work. I started carpooling with a coworker that lives along my route to work. We trade off weeks which keeps me from needing to fill up once, sometimes twice, a week. Total savings: Estimated $75-$100.

3.  The move was obviously our big source of savings but it didn't come without a little anxiety. This has been the place we spent our first year of marriage and brought our sweet girl home from the hospital so while I knew this was our best way to accomplish our ultimate goal, It did take some deep breathing to get this ball rolling. We set two budgets for this move. One for the ideal and the other was worst case scenerio. Ideally I wanted to cut $400 from our rent and when we found a place that hit $350 and covered water/sewer and garbage I equated this with hitting the jackpot! Total savings:$450!! 

Finally, where did that 8 pounds go?  Between packing a lunch to save money, cutting out 24/7 TV in the background, and the calories burned in the move, I'd say I found my own jump start program! I'm hoping this "weight loss program" will give me a couple more pounds lost before a workout routine will need to bump itself up on the priority list. 

How'd everyone else do in the 1st month of their season? Any helpful hints to share? 

What I didn't know...and the new do!

As previously mentioned, I'm a new mom of a smiley, yet spunky little lady who has introduced me to all the things I had previously thought I knew (but had no idea) about being a parent. More than anything is the fact that I don't know what I don't know. I'd heard this before, but like most expectant parents, I thought I had a pretty good grasp on the ways my life would be changing. With her so sweetly giving me an extra week of pregnancy, I mastered the art of nesting. I spent weeks washing, folding, and organizing. I really felt ready! And then, that reality thing hit again!  I have learned more about myself in the last 7 months than in the last five years combined! 

Here's a small example:

One thing that I new about pregnancy is that your hair and nails get stronger and shinier and as someone with thin stringy hair, this was SO exciting! When I started to notice the thickness of my ponytails increase it made the thickness of my ankles bearable! 

What I didn't know was that this perk of pregnancy would also have me spending the better part of the first year of motherhood managing the clumps constantly falling off of my head! I didn't know I'd need to be worried about my little one losing a finger or toe as a result of getting tangled in my lost hair and I didn't know that Drain-o needed to be worked into the budget! So not only have I returned to the land of straight and stringy, I'm also battling the fall out!

Since this problem is not fitting in with my current lifestyle, I decided it was time for a change. My hair needed a revival...or comeback, if you will! 

I've been growing my hair out since my engagement and now with my wedding over two years behind me I'm not seeing a need for an up-do anytime in the foreseeable future so why not go all in?!... No, this does not mean I'm shaving it off! I'm thinking more of a perfect opportunity to do something I've always wanted to do. 

With it being a substantial amount of time since I've had any kind of style, I don't have a go-to hair dresser so I started on Groupon...some might have said Google or the Yellowpages there, but I'm on a strict budged and a new hair style doesn't exactly fall under necessity so I needed to be creative. 

Luckily, the girls from B. Suites Studio Salon had both a killer Groupon and a fancy website that made me feel confident I wasn't walking into a hack job! 

On my list of "someday I'd like to's" has always been to have long enough hair and the guts to chop it off for Locks of Love. Today I had both so I thought I'd figure out how that works. 

It's actually really easy. On this website you can find all the details, but I thought I'd give you the basics. 

*  10 inches is the minimum length needed for a hair piece. 

*  Make sure your hair is clean and dry prior to cutting.

*  It must be in a braid or ponytail before it's cut. 

*  After, just put the ponytail inside a plastic bag. 
*  Put the plastic bag, with the donation form, in a padded envelope and mail it to Locks of Love: 

             234 Southern Blvd

             West Palm Beach, FL 33405-2701

I also should mention that if the hair is less than 10 inches, it can also be donated and used to off set the cost of making the hair pieces...pretty cool, huh?!
 

This is the picture I sent to my husband without explanation...have I mentioned I think I'm really funny? 

There are so many pieces to this comeback season, many of which will be a slow and steady transformation. I was really wanting to find something that felt like a kick start; something that made me feel like I was building momentum!  So here you have it.  A new look to accompany the growing me! 

The checklist...and adventures in Laundry Soap

I've been trying to make this my mental checklist for anything I decide to put time into these days and it has actually started to be pretty handy. I'm sometimes one of those people who tends to be a little impulsive when I get, what I think, is a good idea. (See exhibit A)

I will leave it at that for now, but I will say my husband was less than impressed when he came home to our coffee table in multiple pieces! 

Anyway, I did recently cut out some time to make up laundry soap.  In using my checklist I determined that my old process was not worth the time (prep, wait, package-24 hour process) or the space...

I've become a laundry soap bottle hoarder! So, first step, clear out the two cupboards worth of empty bottles and gather my ingredience. 

*1 box of Borax

*1 box of Washing Soda

*3lbs OxiClean Free

*2 bars of Zote White (Grated)

*1 box of Baking Soda (You'll only use 2 cups; I just bought the big box on sale)

*1 bottle of Purex Crystals (optional...and when I do this again I'll leave them out, but they do make everything smell nice.) 

Here's where the Rocket Science starts...you just mix all the ingredients in a big pot! The only part that took effort was grating the Zote and I called that my arm workout for the day! 

After it was all mixed I pored it into these jars...

Each load uses less than 2 table spoons and I'll have to give a future update, but I'm convinced I won't be making more laundry soap for at least 6 months! (All for the price of roughly 1 months supply of Tide!) ...and it looks so much cuter sitting in my cupboard than 8 empty jugs! 

Enjoy,

SJ

Most important meal of the day…breakfast burritos!

This has been quite the exciting first week!  I have gotten so much amazing encouragement and support!  I can only hope that this will be as useful to you all as your feedback and cheerleading has been to me!  The beginning of the year always seems like an ideal time to makes some changes and this year, more than ever, I am feeling like so many people around me are motivated and ready!  For example, two weeks ago a talented co-worker of mine brought in fudge to share with the staff.  This fudge disappeared in minutes…such a letdown when I ran to the kitchen to find an empty plate!  Just two short weeks later, an equally talented co-worker's wife sent cupcakes (beautiful, delicious, chocolate cupcakes) that dwindles slowly over two days in the kitchen…I may do my own experiment in another two weeks to see who’s still on the wagon! 

 

Confession time:  My name is Sara and I have a fast food breakfast problem.  Yes, if I am being completely honest I would say that swinging through either Burgerville or McDonald's on my way into the office is a regular enough occurrence that I don’t even have to ask for ketchup when I get to the window anymore **blushing and embarrassed at that fact**  This adds up to over $700 a year spent on just breakfast; this doesn’t include the Starbucks I will get two hours later (another issue altogether.)  A bigger problem might also be the over 800 calories involved in this choice and the cherry on top is how often I’m pulling into a parking space at work behind schedule because of my extra stop.  So needless to say, this is an area that needs improvements!

This week I was able to cut my breakfast calorie intake by over 600 calories, my breakfast cost by at least $4.00, and gave myself some extra time in my busy morning.  Here’s how.

Turkey Sausage and Egg Whites Freezer Breakfast Burritos

Ingredients:

14 eggs (I used 4 whole eggs and 10 egg whites)

6 medium sized potatoes (you could also use frozen hash browns to save time, but I went with the cheaper choice)

½ onion (chopped)

8 oz cheddar cheese

1 lb. extra lean turkey sausage

Flour tortillas (whole wheat tortillas or wraps would be a good alternative, but I used what I had)

Salt

Pepper

2 Gallon sized Freezer Bag

Seran Wrap

Oh and of course

   7 shaped blocks, 1 Sophie, 1 dolly, and a ball…to keep my busy girl entertained while we cook!

Ready!

Start by washing and chopping the potatoes.  Add these and the chopped onions to the griddle set between 350 and 400.  This will take the longest to cook so I got this started and graded cheese and cracked eggs while I waited. 

My little tip for the eggs is to separate the egg whites first for 10 eggs because inevitably I will always drop one or two yokes in the bowl. 

As the potatoes are cooking, crumble the turkey sausage into a large frying pan.  Use a large pan because you will end up mixing everything together in it in the end.  Brown the sausage, drain grease, and move onto a plate with a paper towel to absorb any excess grease.

This is where we lost interest in the blocks and had to bring in reinforcements…

Next, scramble and cook your eggs. (use the same pan to save on dishes)

When the eggs are cooked, I put the sausage back in the pan, turning the heat to low.  Now, add the potato/onion mix and stir it all together. Finally, add in the cheese and stir it again.  The cheese will melt in and then you get to move on to the burrito prep.

I laid out my 21 tortillas (thanks tortilla counter for the extra 1 in my 20 pack!) and spooned my breakfast mix onto each tortilla. 

Roll, Wrap and Freeze!  10 burritos fit in one gallon sized freezer bag, so of course the 1 left over became my reward for all my hard work!

As I prep for each day, the night before, I just pull out a burrito and leave it in the fridge so that in the morning I can pop it in the microwave for 45-60 seconds and eat on my way out the door.  

Each burrito came out to about 164 calories and $0.60!

 

And here's when we moved on to nap time...

The Spending Fast

I am sure you are still wondering what this “Come Back Season” is all about and I have to give credit to a close friend of mine who had a comeback season of her own a few years back, who has token-ed this phrase for us.  My comeback season is about meeting many of the goals I have put off “until Monday, tomorrow, next year, when…”  This is about seizing the moment and instead of waiting for the time to be right to start a new project or take on a new routine, I will dive head first.  I am sure that there will be times I get in over my head and I assure you I will be happy to admit it when I do!...and I am sure my husband will happily point it out for me!  So this is where we start.  

The spending fast! 

Most who know me have heard me say “we are hoping to buy a house next year” or “we’re getting really serious about saving so we won’t be renters forever!”  My ultimate goal for years now has been to stop paying someone else’s mortgage and have a house I can paint, resurface, or just rearrange however I want.  With that as our ultimate goal, my husband and I have committed to a spending fast that starts right now!  In order to make this a realistic endeavor we have spent the last few months processing what this will look like. You will see that I am very visual and my sweet husband humors me.

Here’s how it works:

We sat down and first gave purpose to our mission, as to not be entering into a huge commitment without a vision.  We did some brainstorming on what we wanted when this was all over.

Then we looked at what we are currently spending our money on.  Every January, when our W-2’s arrive I say the same thing; “where in the hell did this money go!” So if you are needing a motivator compare how much it cost you to live; ya know, the real necessities; with your yearly income.  We aren’t raking in the dough by any means, but I’m at a loss for where it all goes.  

 But I digress…so we really looked at what we are regularly spending money on.

We used this list to agree on what we could live without:

 

As a complete TV Junky this will likely be my toughest cut, but I keep bringing myself back the ultimate goal.  With cutting cable we decided keeping internet made sense (and how else could I bring you this blog without that?!)  I also gave in to a yearly subscription to X-Box Live which is definitely not a necessity, but without the NFL Channel, I had to give him something…for both our sanity!

Next is what we could work on decreasing monthly:

And finally, what will be the focus to pay off:

Here is where we made the rules! 

1.  No spending on non-necessities

2.  Cash only spending for groceries and gas

3.  We will each have $10 cash on us, extra for minor unexpected expenses (weekly)

 Unexpected expenses are things like if we forgot our lunch at home or something from the drug store on a non-grocery shopping day, etc.

-This also means that if I forget my lunch in the fridge at home, as I regularly do, and I have already spent my emergency cash, I will have to get creative!

4.  All left over money at the end of the month will go toward one of the “To be paid off” items, starting with the one with the highest interest rate. 

5.  No using credit cards

6.  Mandatory events will be budgeted for at least a month in advance

    We live three hours from our family and try our hardest to be a part of as many family events as we can so taking travel and family events out of the equation for an entire year defeats the purpose of my comeback season, which is to be a happier healthier person. 

 

7.  Gifts will be homemade or experiences rather than store bought.  (Heads up to my friends and family, I’m getting creative!)  And what I mean by experiences is spending time together, like taking my nephews to the park and ice cream, rather than buying them video games.  I absolutely LOVE to give gifts so this was more of conversation than you’d think.

After we had hammered out what this was going to look like, we decided that we would start on January 1^st, which gave us about a month to work out any kinks and decide on ways to make it all work.  I also didn’t want this to be one of those things we talked about and jumped into without a plan, all for it to fall flat two days in.  I took this time to tell a few of my friends what we were doing.  If you are joining in on the challenge, I highly recommend telling some of the people around you.  For me it has been helpful in two ways.  First, some of my peeps decided to join us! And two, it gave everyone a heads up for when I decline lunch plans.  I’ve gotten a lot of supportive feedback on ways to make it work…which will likely be a future post because I have some very savvy and creative friends!  

So, now we are 4 days in.  We have put in our 30 day notice on our current rental and are in search of something more affordable.  Our unnecessary furniture, that will likely not fit in the smaller place, has been posted on Craigslist to sell and we are currently soaking in as much television as we can before the end of this billing cycle.