Tidbits

VALENTINE’S DATE IDEA #1 – NIGHT IN!!

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by Alex on February 8, 2010

Rose on piano

One of our favorites times of the year is coming up…yes I’m referring to Valentine’s Day!! And yes, this is Thrifty Al writing and no, Thrifty Cas doesn’t have a gun to my head while I write this. Seriously, we really do love Valentine’s Day…it was 11 years ago that I proposed to Thrifty Cas during our Valentine’s date!! I’ll never forget “Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head” playing in the background as I proposed to her – she’s always referring to her “showers of blessing”!

So, tis the season to celebrate your love and to try to do so thriftily (but of course not to lose the romance!). I thought I would set the stage for one date night idea….

The first objective on everyone’s agenda is….finding a cheap solution for a babysitter!! This one is really and truly easy if you put your mind to it. What is the solution?! It’s called the babysitting co-op (ok, I just made that up)!! As Valentine’s Day quickly approaches, you’ll note that it falls on the weekend. What a better way to spend Valentine’s Day then have one night to you and your loved one and the next night with a house-ful of kids!! Yep, you guessed it! On one night, your kids stay with the other family and the alternative night you get them all!! What’s so great about this (besides the FREE babysitting – huge SAVINGS!) is the kids can spend time with their close friends!! If you work it out right it can be two nights of sleep-overs!!

Bacon wrapped sirloin

Next, you need an amazing dinner! Want the recipe?! While the kids are gone, crank up the music and the two chefs start cooking! Yes, we really love to cook together and its something we love to do! You might remember our post about the $3/1 (for your FIRST print) and $1/1 (after) any Chef Requested Beef Products 2-pack. Combine that with Walmart’s price of $3.98 Bacon Wrapped Beef Fillets and you have the start of a great main course – $0.49 for each serving!

Bed of Roses

Next, add some music (Amazon is offering their FREE Romantic Moment’s digital sampler amongst other free downloads) and you’re ready for an amazing night! Of course, don’t forget the red rose petals which you can often find by asking your local grocery store for their discounted roses – those that are ready to turn) and a number of well-placed candles and you are ready for a great Valentine’s Date!!

We do love going out but we love staying in too! We have really found there is something to be said for not being out with the millions of other couples, fighting the crowds, and paying the prices. Whatever it is you’re planning on doing, make it special!!

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IT HAS COME TO OUR ATTENTION – A NEW WAY TO SAVE A TON OF MONEY ON GROCERIES AND EATING OUT!

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by Cassie on January 22, 2010

popcorn shrimp

Ok – so this advice and post might be a little odd. However, we have some big news on a big way to KEEP your budget low!

It all started ……. a couple of months ago. My hubby and I like to have nice dinner dates out: we save, we conserve, we budget, PLUS we use coupons when we eat out. So one of our favorites is Red Lobster! Well, we had a gift card and coupons and decided to treat the whole family to Red Lobster for a “Family Date.” This is where “treating the family” and “saving by using gift cards and coupons” may not have saved us a whole lot in the long run, in fact, we are trying to figure out what to do!?!

What is it that you ask went so wrong? Well, that was introducing our six-year old to fried shrimp!!!!

The girl is obssessed with it now! She wants shrimp for breakfast, lunch, dinner …. oh and snacks! She woke up this morning talking about how she wanted to eat it all day … in fact, she wants shrimp to the extent that she dreamed up a scenario in which she takes a bite and the shrimp grows and there is more and more (wow the imgaination of a child).

Not sure if you have noticed, shrimp is not exactly the cheapest item in the grocery store (or a restaurant!).

In fact, when we went to Target and got awesome deals on apparel & a booster seat, we walked through the food section! She spotted the frozen popcorn shrimp! I tried to pretend I didn’t see it, or convince that it really wasn’t shrimp, but because she can read – it didn’t work! She asked and pulled out the birthday excuse. No, we do not give her everything she wants, but because it was her birthday just a day before we made a couple of concessions! How can you resist! However, price tag $5.49 for a small box of frozen shrimp! And guess what – that was the sale price!!!! Needless to say, it was 2 snack servings for her the next 2 days – $2.75 for a snack – are you kidding me!!

Also, we discovered that our Kids’ Eat FREE Tuesday nights out as a family – you can add a plate of shrimp for $1.99. One of us ordered it and gave it to her! So that bill went up by a few bucks!

Well, the moral of the story, DO NOT INTRODUCE YOUR CHILD TO SHRIMP, if you want to keep your budget low. Thrifty Al has already asked the extended family to NOT introduce lobster or crab for a while…a looong while!

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SUPER SIMPLE EASY BREAKFAST – BREAKFAST CAKE!!

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by Cassie on January 14, 2010

Okay, so the simple part of the title may have an intrigued you, but the cake part? For breakfast even? (think Bill Cosby Himself and then it will be funny!)

Well, this is the breakfast version of cake – but hey, just by the title, the kiddos will eat it!

I actually received this awesome breakfast tip from my friend in Tennessee. She is a busy homeschooling mom of 5 and needs a quick and satisfying breakfast to get a good start on the day!

How about pancakes with a spin? Not having to stand at the stove for the next 30 minutes flipping those pancakes!

So this is how it works and what it includes: just go to your pantry, pull out a box of pancake mix. That’s it …. well, the water and the pan too!

We have a lot of the Fiber One pancake mix, but this works with whatever kind you have that you just add water to! Mix the whole box as it states with water and pour in a 9×13 pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. When it is finished, just cut and serve like cake. Instead of syrup (my kids need a bath after ANYTHING with syrup) you can pull out some jellies and jams to spread on it instead! You have just created a super simple, hearty and fulfilling breakfast!

We have “adopted” this type of breakfast in our home a few days a week. Mom gets up and is out of the kitchen in minutes, then everyone gets dressed and to the table 30 minutes later! It is great!

We have also done this with muffin mixes using the 8×8 pans too for variety and to use all of those wonderful, cheap mixes on the pantry shelf!

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THRIFTY POLLS – #5 BE A SMARTER SHOPPER!

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by Cassie on January 13, 2010

Well here is the final result of the Thrifty Polls New Year’s Resolutions – Be a Smarter Shopper! First, WELCOME! The first step in being a Smarter Shopper is researching and finding out how and where you can cut or get more for your shopping dollar! So that may be what has led you here! Again, Welcome!

First, we have provided this site for us to share our experiences with saving money and couponing as a couple. We post deals and various other money making and money saving tips. However, we do not claim to be experts – we are not! We’re just out there like the rest of you trying to be Smarter Shoppers! We have been gaining experience as the Thrifty Couple for many years now, and we still learn new things everyday. That is the process of being a Smarter Shopper!

I want to refer back to the last Thrifty Poll result as much of the information regarding “Save More Money” also applies to being a Smarter Shopper! Key things to remember is to just get started! If you need help, have questions or anything else, let us know. Also, if you find or know something, please share with us to share with everyone! We can all glean from each other’s knowledge and experiences!

Our take on how to be a Smarter Shopper:

Have a realistic budget for every area of life (we will be sharing insights to ours as time goes on)
Use coupons as much as possible, whenever possible! Especially in conjunction with sale!
Don’t assume a price is the lowest just because you have a coupon
Do your research
Ask questions (of the store associates, other friends, and even us)
Start slow and ease into the process to not overwhelm yourself (or your family!)
Track your spending closely as this keeps you in check and on track!
Don’t get caught in the trap of trying to do all of the deals or buying something just because it is cheap – if you will not use it, you just wasted it!
Shop with cash! This really keeps you on track with your spending
Eat BEFORE you shop! Whether you are grocery shopping (to prevent impulse buying) or shopping at the mall (to prevent fast food splurging). Take snacks for the kids (and yourself).
Keep restaurant coupons and Entertainment books in your vehicles!

The list could go on and on, but this is what comes to the top of my mind right now from our own strategies. Please share if you have more thoughts!

We enjoyed hearing your thoughts via our Thrifty Polls. We will be running more polls soon as we want to get to know our readers more – so check back!

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THRIFTY POLLS – #4 SAVE MORE MONEY

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by Cassie on January 9, 2010

Here is result #4! Save more money! This can mean two things “save more money….in the bank” or “save more money ….. in every area of life!”

Not sure how you interpreted it, but want to share a few things about both and one way to get to both ends!

So how can you save more money …..in the bank and …… in every area of life! Couponing! By saving on the things you buy everyday, you can invest the saved money! We know many people that do this. Whether it is a general savings account, or saving for a trip, or something special.

For example, let’s say that you currently spend $500 a month for a family of 4 for groceries, household, toiletries etc. If you were to cut this down by half (which is easy to do with a little bit of effort and a little bit of time), then you could literally be saving $250 more a month! What could you do with that extra money!

Well, how do you get to be the type of couponer to drop your current budget by half? Go HERE to see our information on how to get started! We also offer FREE classes, we personally teach in Utah and NV. There are also classes in many states. We also have many fellow blogging friends who teach classes in their areas – if you are looking for this type of instruction, send us an email and we will try to find a class for you.

Our site, along with many of the sites of our friends (see links in posts plus our Blog Roll) can offer and help you to save money in every area of life! ThriftyAl and I are here to help – poke around our site for many of the answers. If you can’t find something or have a question, send us an email!

Couponing is a process – start small and add a bit more as you are comfortable and have the time. On the very basic level and little time invested, can yield you incredible savings! The place to start first is with your grocery budget, this is the easiest and fastest way to drop your budget and “save more money.”

Don’t try to do it all at once – again, take baby steps! There was an article by our friend Lesley Mitchell from the Salt Lake Tribune regarding this exact thing, her article talks about real life examples of taking baby steps. If you take it in stride, you will more likely stick with it. Honestly, this is hard for me as I am a “all or nothing” kind of person. But you need to be realistic about what you can do and then gradually add more money saving tasks to shave back your spending, therefore saving more!

Don’t wait, just get started doing something!

Have fun and get your family involved. Make family goals and brainstorm ideas on where and how to cut.

Visit our site often for deals, ideas, tips, advice and also share with us!

I wanted to close with one final thing. We found this fun site advertised in a magazine and was very intrigued by the idea – SmartyPig.com. Ever heard of it?

It is a way to save money like you would in a bank account, but with a little spin! You create an account, then you name your goal from a student for college, trip, wedding, whatever your goal is. You set a date as to when you want to achieve this goal with the approximate cost of the special occasion. They have calculators that will figure how much you need to save to get to your goal in time! Your account accrues interest while it is open!

This is where the fun part comes in: you can then invite friends, family or whomever to view your account, your goals and deadline and invite them to help you get to your goal. They utilize the online social outlets like FaceBook and MySpace or you can just email invites. You can even put a widget on your site showing how close you are to your goal!

Once you reach your goal, you can send it to your bank account, or purchase retail store cards with a 12% bonus on them or divide the funds between the two options. For more information, they have videos, FAQ’s, etc. HERE.

This is a completely FREE service – they claim you can go from beginning to end without being charged a penny! We don’t have personal experience with it and just found out about it ourselves – so be sure to research their site for the answers to your questions.

It is a unique idea and possibly a fun and motivating way to go! Let us know if any of you have experience with it and any comments, suggestions or ideas you have on this subject!

*We will be taking a break tomorrow, but check the final result of the poll on Monday!

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THRIFTY POLLS – #3 GET HEALTHY/LOSE WEIGHT!

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by Cassie on January 8, 2010

Alright, I am already feeling guilty. This happens to be the next Thrifty Polls post on a Friday night when we are having “date night in” and indulging on take out and sweet treats (thriftily of course)!

If this was your resolution, many of you are a week into it! Keep going – yay! For us, our main goal is a healthier lifestyle as a family (with hopes of weight loss!).

We have made a goal to do the following in our diets (as a family):

Healthier snacking by choosing fresh produce first
Use Turkey options (like ground turkey, turkey bacon, etc.) in at least 1 meal a week to replace a beef, pork meal (Thrifty Al was raving on the turkey bacon last week!! That’s a huge step!)
Use more brown and wild rice
Replacing sugar/butter in our cooking with applesauce and honey (where the recipe allows)
Cut out sodas
Drink lots of water
Be more committed to taking our vitamins
Replacing everyday staples with the low fat or no fat versions (i.e. sour cream, yogurt, cottage cheese, etc.)
Incorporating natural and organic in our diets even more!

One thing that I would like to mention is that we have had these goals in mind and have been slowly incorporating them into our diets over the past couple of years. There is always room for improvement and more incorporation of the above. We will be posting more about couponing and saving money with the natural and organic in mind (and we have in the past) – we don’t want to make this post a book, but a glimpse!

We want to also stay within our budget. We have a weekly grocery, household, toiletry and diaper budget of about $60 = $240 a month. We hardly went shopping the last couple of months in 2009 and so it was nice to be able to save even that much more! But as we have already been buying organic and healthier alternatives, we hope that taking that step a little further may change our budget slightly. We will see what happens (and so will you as you keep following us!)

Also, exercise and activity is important to us. We want to do more physical activities as a family, like bike riding, hiking, walks, outdoor sports, etc. We also love swimming! Thrifty Al loves to run in the free outdoor air and I work out at home to try to get more exercise incorporated into our lives for general health and well being. This is definitely a more practical option for me as I am a busy, homeschooling, deal seeking, coupon shopping, blogging mom! I have found great resources cheap (like equipment, videos, etc) from deals and sales (watch for them here or let us know if you find one!) and Amazon.com always being a good resource for affordable options!

So……we shared a little with you about our goals for this resolution. We want to hear your thoughts, plans and ideas.

We have been collecting and saving some fun information to help you get to your goals the “thrifty” way!

First, keep checking our blog regularly to find out the current latest deals and coupons for the grocery, household, personal care and baby items and those deals as they relate to diet and health (like the healthier options, diet foods, vitamins, etc.) as there are soooo many and they rotate constantly, that this post isn’t the place for them.

Second, we will be giving tips, ideas and sharing any ideas that you send us on this topic. We want to help you save money in EVERY area of life, including this one.

Third, figure out a plan, discuss it with your family and get going!

Fourth, here are some FREEBIES and DEALS to get you started, going, and continuing on this process:

For research, information and encouragement

eating well amazon magazine deals Amazon.com has a deal on Fitness Magazines for only $5!! This is good through tomorrow, January 9th! – go HERE to see our previous post for the details!

This is a Diet Sample Pack and this is what they say about it! “Finally a diet system that fits into your life! Lose up to 30 pounds in 30 days starting with three easy steps! Finally a diet system that fits into your life!” Go HERE for more information. Worth looking into!

To get you movin’ – Music and Workout DVDs

Go HERE to get 1-hour FREE Workout mp3 music downloads sponosored by the Biggest Loser and Subway

TO GET THE WHOLE BIGGEST LOSER CREW IN THERE:

FREE DVD and Fat Loss program from former biggest loser trainer Kim Lyons. This is a great FREEBIE as it is totally free for a DVD and Silver membership into her program which gives you FREE workout plans, tips, tricks, weight loss information, etc . You can pick to watch the DVD online for FREE or have the FREE hard copy mailed to you buy paying for the shipping at $5.77. This is a good way to go, especially since it is FREE! For more information go HERE.

Of course Amazon.com is a good place to go to find everyday deals. Again, we will let you know when we find a hot deal or a FREEBIE somewhere out there.

Go HERE to see Workout DVD’s and resources from Amazon!

To give you the works: Gym FREEBIES

Curves

This offer is now expired!

Curves is a great place to go for a less intimidating, but great work out for women. We actually posted previously on this deal, go HERE to get a FREE consultation fitness plan and 30-days of working out!

Bally is offering a FREE 7-Day Pass. We don’t live near a Bally, but for those of you that do – check it out for 7 days and see if it is what you need! Go HERE and fill out a quick form and request your 7-Day pass.

Keep up the good work, share with us and have fun!

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THRIFTY POLLS – #2 GET ORGANIZED!

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by Cassie on January 7, 2010

Okay, so the #2 spot on the Thrifty Polls “New Year’s Resolutions” was to GET ORGANIZED! First, I can 100% totally agree with you! We put up the poll options because those are our top picks! This is definitely one area that we can improve on…..

Anyway, there is literally soooo much to cover on this subject, so I am just going to highlight (and try my tips myself!) and then throughout the year we will have posts regarding more organizational tips!

Here are some little things we try to do in our home:

First, we have a basement that is a throw-all, you know the ones…the unfinished basements! Anyway, over the few months, we have set a little money aside from each paycheck to purchase plastic bins (wait until they are on sale) and then fill a bin or two every payday to get the basement organized. This was ThrityAl’s plan as he is the “bin stacker” and wanted a uniform system that we could easily label (and relabel) and be all the same size. By attacking it both financially and time wise in the small bites, it is not so overwhelming!

Also, each season, we rotate the clothes in everyone’s closets and dressers with these bins that get stored in the basement on the off season! This allows us to “reorganize” those problem spots up to four times a year and give-away things we don’t need and allow us to reuse items for the future. It’s kind of like a forced clean out!

We have used utensil trays to organize more than just utensils! Like the “junk drawer,” hair thingy drawer, kids activity drawers, any drawer or shelf that holds those little odds and ends!

We have also slowly been purchasing these plastic 5-shelf systems from Walmart for around $24. Each set is five shelves high and they can connect to each other. We started with these in our basement food pantry (we actually have six in that little corner of the basement filled to the brim! – What a Blessing!). Anyway, we also started putting them in other areas as well! We have a library/school room and a play room and this makes great storage for the kids things. We actually purchased open storage bins in red and blue color from IKEA for $1.00 (IKEA has many great and affordable storage options!) and labeled them based on the toys (i.e. potato heads, legos, little people, blocks, etc.).

Finally, our last tip for now is regarding the pantry and food storage organization. See the previous bullet point regarding the plastic shelves from Walmart. We have taken these shelves and dedicated them to be similar to the grocery store. When we come home from a shopping trip (after taking a picture for you to see!) we put them away and rotate them so the oldest is in front. This is important so items don’t go to waste! For example, here are some of the shelves:
- The cereal shelves (this is actually one full set of 5 shelves!) and grouped the “like” cereals together
- Snack
- Baking
- Rice
- Pastas
- Sauces and dressings
- The personal care items (another full set of 5 shelves for each level having a certain type – hair, tooth, body, etc.)
- The household corner (we try to separate the household items from the food in an area under the stairs: cleaning products, toilet paper, home fragrance, etc.)
- Baby items
- Medicines and vitamins
- Canned good (another full set of shelves!)
- Other breakfast items
- Desserts
- PLUS, TWO (yes 2!) 7 cubic foot chest freezers – one for meat, one for everything else (more on this later!)

I am not an expert in this field (boy do I wish I was!) but hope that these tips can get your ideas going – share with us – PLEASE! We want to know anything that you all are doing! This is just a start, so check back throughout the year for more ideas!

Until then, let’s learn something from the experts….. here are some “thrifty” book resources from Amazon – there are many, but I am going to just list a few – go HERE for a complete list. These are all eligible for FREE Amazon Prime Shipping – details HERE.

Organizing Plain and Simple on sale for $6.78 on Amazon.com (60% off – down from $16.95!) Go HERE to see it!

Organizing from the Inside Out on sale for $10.20 on Amazon.com (32% off regularly $15) – go HERE to see it

Finally,

Organizing for Dummies on sale for $14.95 on Amazon.com (32% off, regularly $21.99) – Go HERE to see it

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THRIFTY POLLS – #1 GET OUT OF DEBT

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by Alex on January 6, 2010

Well, we just closed our first poll concerning New Year’s Resolutions. We thought it would be appropriate to take the opportunity to give tips and tricks and some of our experiences on each of the options that we selected. We probably selected each of the available options because partly they are goals we have each year. And, it appears our top resolution is the same as many of yours – Get Out of Debt!!

Thrifty Cas and I truly know the meaning of Proverbs 22:7 where it states “the borrower is servant to the lender”. When we started our marriage over 10 years ago, we thought we needed to have everything our parents had. Of course, when we realized that meant a mortgage, two car payments, and other loans to pay for furniture and trips, we started to feel the servanthood to our creditors.

It was soon after the dread started to set in (not seeing an end in sight!!) that I heard a talk-radio host talking about something called the debt-snowball, referring to a journey to financial peace, and talking with people that knew many of the problems that Thrifty Cas and I were facing! Yes, many of your already know who I am referring to, but this host was none other than Dave Ramsey!!

We bought his book “The Total Money Makeover” ($15.74 at Amazon) and devoured it! What was great about this book is that his advice went against some of the things we had tried before. I’ll list his first couple of steps and explain what I mean.

Get $1,000 to start your emergency fund – This totally went against the grain of our thinking because we always thought that when paying off debt, put all your money towards debt and go back to debt if you have an emergency. I can personally say that the first time we had a car repair (ironically a month after we first got our $1,000 emergency fund) the freedom to pay out of savings was immense!! Not only that, but it starts to train you that we shouldn’t rely on the slavery of debt!
Pay off all debt using the debt snowball – This one is crucial and we hope to accomplish by March 2010 (excluding the house…that’s step 6)!! You list your debts from smallest to largest and throw all you have at the first; once that is paid off, you roll all your spare cash into the second debt, and so on!! We always thought it would be wisest to pay off the largest interest rate first, but the rationale for the smallest debt first is to build the momentum! You pay off the first debts quickly and start using those payments against the larger debts – what an amazing thing to watch!!

You can read about all the other baby steps HERE!!

Something that Thrifty Cas and I never did was attend any of the classes offered which teaches these principles. If you check with a local church you might find the course. Right now Dave Ramsey is offering the Financial Peace University Lifetime Membership for only $119. Click HERE or on the image below for more details (with FREE shipping)!!

Now, don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a post trying to push Dave Ramsey. Its just a post that we wanted to share on one method on how we became excited (and nearly successful!) at getting out of debt! We believe we need to seek to provide an inheritance for our children and children’s children (Prov 13:22) and that we need to be good stewards of the gifts that God has given us. These are the reasons why we work so hard to be The Thrifty Couple, so that we can pass that on to our children and our children’s children.

We pray that you can be successful in your resolution to get out of debt this year (or at least get closer) and finish with Dave Ramsey’s closing statement of each show: The only way to true financial peace is to walk with the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ.

* Keep checking daily as we reveal results and tips from our Thrifty Polls New Years Resolutions!

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THRIFTY COUPLE POLL: NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS ENDS TONIGHT! VOTE NOW!

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by Cassie on January 5, 2010

Hey Everyone!!!

Our first poll ends tonight at midnight! Vote now for your New Year’s Resolution!

Results and fun, related information to be posted starting tomorrow!

*See the poll on the top left side of the homepage!

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FAMILY MONEY MAKING IDEA – BUY USED, SELL WITH A MARKUP!

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by Cassie on January 2, 2010

I wanted to share another money making idea with you from our “Thrifty Family” to yours.

First, we have a number of ways that we try to make extra money on the side for our family vacations and fun stuff. It is a fun goal to work towards something like this and to work at it as a family and then to enjoy the fruit of our labors as a family!

Our next goal is to make enough for our next family vacation – we have budgeted $2,000 for the six of us for all expenses for the vacation!

So to help us get to this goal, one thing that we have done for several years now is to purchase items used and then, fix, wash, clean (in rare cases not have to do anything to it) and then turn around and sale if for a profit. I am going to focus this post on large items!

A good thing to watch for is large items that could have a potential high retail selling value, that you are able to find “cheap,” or something that is in higher demand at the time. The best places for you to “shop” for these items are at garage, yard, estate, rummage sales. Items in this type of selling environments are typically a lot lower than buying on ebay or classifieds, etc. People just want to get rid of their “junk” and are usually very willing to negotiate prices that are already marked low. Also, you can typically get better prices at these types of environments as most people just pull the stuff out of storage, etc. and do not take the time to fix, clean or “spruce up” the item. This gives you the opportunity to buy it cheap – and with a bit of leg work, have a great resell item!

As an example, we hit a garage sale recently and spotted the big Little Tykes doll house for sale. When we saw it, you could tell it was a high value item, but it looked like it was in poor shape. These doll houses are plastic and very durable – when we found it, it was dirty and had been covered in marker and crayon!! We were able to pick this doll house up for $5! We were not sure of the retail value of this item at the time, but knew that with clean-up, we could definitely make our $5 back!

We brought it home – our girls first reaction was AWESOME – but we explained that this was an item to resell, not to keep. We then got to work and scrubbed this doll house down! Our girls took the Mr. Clean magic erasers to the marker and crayon and we were able to get all of the markings off!!! We then rinsed it with the hose outside and let it dry! Whala! A very nice, nearly new looking doll house! All it needed was a good cleaning, it was in perfect condition otherwise!

We then researched how much we should put this doll house up for sale for. The internet is a great resource for this – immediately we discovered that this house retails for $139.99! If a used item is in great condition, we usually plan to list it for about 40% of the retail cost, and hope to get about 30% after negotiations. You should verify this by trying to find other local classifieds or even Ebay, Craig’s List to see what others have listed an item for too to make sure you are not way over or way under! So, our plan was to list it for $50 and plan to drop to $40 if we needed to! As a funny side note – our daughter said “so if we sell this house, we can then go on our trip?!?” My response was, “no,” this is only $50 towards our goal, we need a total of $2,000! She then said, “well let’s just sell it for $2,000 then!”

The next step is to take pictures and list it. We recommend finding the FREE ways to list items as it cuts into your profit margin otherwise. Craig’s list is a FREE national classifieds and is a very popular site to use! Also, check with your local newpaper – our newspaper has a FREE classified ads section for items that are under $100. Finally, local T.V. stations also have FREE local classifieds, so check those sites. If you can list it in all the different FREE resources in your area, you are increasing the traffic and the ability to be more rigid on your price if you have more people interested. Just use the same listing for all to cut down time! It is not reasonable to sell an item like this on a site like Ebay, just due to the size for shipping purposes. I know that there are listings for local areas on Ebay, however, save the extra money and go with the FREE local classified resources instead! We will talk about Ebay in a future post!

Then, wait for the emails and calls to roll in! We listed the doll house and it sold the next day and for the full price we wanted!

Here is the picture of the final “cleaned up” house and the ad as an example! (we had a couple of pictures – the more pictures – the better!)

CLASSIC LITTLE TIKES DOLL HOUSE

“This is the classic Little Tikes Doll House. This house is pink with a blue roof and in good condition. It is made of sturdy plastic and has 2 stories, each level high enough for a Barbie size doll. It is 38.5″T x 37″W x 24.25″D. Very nice size and good quality! This doll house retails for $139.99. Please call or email with questions!”

There you go! Here is a great way to make money on the side on large items! More money making ideas to come!

*Have you bought a large item for cheap – made improvements to it and resold for a profit? We want to know your ideas and experience – let us know!

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