Sell your stuff part one

It’s halfway through the month of January and Christmas seems like a year ago.  I feel like I have a major case of the winter blahs and have been spending more time in our house than usual. I’ve been getting the urge to purge.  

I don’t know about you, but when I see clutter it stresses me out.  Since I purged our home last year I do feel more relaxed.   The added perk to purging is it can generate some extra money.  

I’ve been asked by a few people how to sell things online without getting overwhelmed.  I am going to break it into a few steps to help you out.  

I start with an empty milk crate, any small box will do.  Just make sure it is a manageable size. 

I carry it with me from room to room and scan if there is something that has been just sitting in a random spot for a hike without a real place of belonging and put it in the crate.  I’ve cut back on the amount of Knick knacks and a few end up in the crate from time to time.  

In my room when I’m frantically trying on clothes if something doesn’t fit I throw them off to the side.  Those items get collected for the milk crate.

Pick up a box and take a walk through your house and see what you no longer need and throw it in the milk crate.  

The next post will tell you what I do next to turn my clutter into cash.  Christmas credit card bills are soon going to be mailed out, or the cold has you dreaming of money for a little get away, this will help you.  

It pays to be frugal. 

Forgotten Money

It’s a fresh new year and it is a perfect time to start getting on track financially. I spent some time creating our financial goals for the year.  I then started to get creative about ways to make these goals achievable.

I took my loyalty cards out of my wallet and went in my app section of the phone.  I then made a list of every card and recorded the balance in the Notes Section of January in my Day Planner.
I plan to record the change each month of 2019. When I redeem the points I plan to take the cash value and apply it to my 2019 financial goals.

Here is a list of the loyalty cards I discovered with a cash value.  I found a few that I forgot about. Take an inventory of your cards, you may find some forgotten money.

Air Miles Dream
Air Miles Cash
PC Optimum
Swagbucks
Scene Points
Caddle
Checkout 51
PodCoin
PetroCanada
Aeroplan
WestJet
Best Western
Ebates

If you are missing and on this list contact me, some give us referral points

It Pays to be Frugal, Follow Guess Who’s Cheap on Facebook

Make or Save $5

Saving money can be looked at as a chore or as a game. Once I started to look at saving money as a game that I can win, I started to see an increase in how much I saved and used for debt.  

I play a little game called Make or Save $5 a Day, and for 2019 I am going to keep score. 

I plan to use my day planner to keep score. If I sell something online I will mark it with a $ sign and how much I made.  I also dream of a side hustle for this year and will record that info with a $ also.

If I save money I plan to use a ☑️ and the amount saved.  Pink sticker items, coupons and loyalty points is what I plan to use to keep score.   Flyer items sale price vs regular price is too much  effort for me in this category.  I will update monthly the progress I am making.   

I know that if I formally challenge myself I will see progress.

Anyone want to play? 

It pays to be frugal.

Laundry Room Stock Pile

Creating a stock pile will save you lots of money in the long run. Often when people think about a stock pile the first image is of canned goods.
Using coupons, and pairing wi5h sales, most of the items in my laundry room stock pile were free. Building a stock pile doesn’t happen over night. It takes time and patience but it is worth it in 5e long run.
Canadian Tire has promos a few times a year for instant rebates with the purchase of energy efficient light bulbs.  I get the maximum per person and put them in storage.
Glad currently has a coupon to save $5 on a box of bags, I matched it up with a no tax sale at Super Store and now have a life time supply of kitchen catchers for free
I put a small container to store all of the samples from the mail and Costco on laundry detergent. When we travel I throw one in my suitcase and do a load of laundry at the hotel. This allows us to fly with just carry on and also save on baggage fees.
I have a lot of scrubbing bubbles that were free ei5 matching a coupon. I don’t like the product but free is free. We often throw them in house warming baskets, or donate to the food bank or shelters.
What items do you stock pile in the laundry room?

What to do with your Christmas Cards?

Christmas cards are  beautiful and I hate to throw them away.  Last year I used a half off coupon at Michael’s (Michaels.ca will send you emails when you join their newsletter) and purchased this Tag hole punch for $10.
I used it on the Christmas cards this evening to create gift tags to use on gifts next year.
I will store the gift tags with my wrapping paper as I clean up Christmas 🎄

What's that coffee costing you?

On Thursdays I like to grocery shop early in the morning before work.  The crowds are smaller and it ensures I get the items on my list. 
My Thursday route has me driving by two coffee shops to get from the grocery store to work.  I am amazed at how many people are getting coffee at coffee shops this early in the morning.  I am an addict, for those that don't know I probably consume on average 6 cups a day so I get the addiction. But when you leave your home to get coffee you are wasting money.  Plus, is it safe for a coffee junkie to leave their house and operate a car before they have a mug of java?

I make a mug at home, and one for my to go cup for my commute.  Today I saw lines to these coffee shops that went to the road.  I am speechless, and spent my drive to work thinking about how much this is costing the take out coffee drinker.

You have all heard of the latte factor, but let's just think about the regular coffee factor.  Let's assume you go two times a day for a cup of coffee at the coffee shop.  I did the math in the car on the way to work.   Each cup would be $2, so $4 a day.  Let's pretend you do this each week day for a year.  That low $4 a day is $20 a week.  Over the span of 52 weeks, that is $1040.  WOW that's a big number. But hey, you need a treat and a fix I get it.

Curiosity got to me. I am asked almost daily how we paid off our house, these little things are how.  I hopped on my Ipad to my favourite mortgage calculator website.  I typed in a $100,000 mortgage, for 25 years.  I ran a one time payment of $1040 into that mortgage and wait until you see what those two cups of coffee are costing you over the term of your mortgage... $2781!!!!!  Putting that coffee money on your mortgage is going to save you $2781.  I needed to state that again.
Hopefully reading these numbers will help you see that you can be in charge of your financial destiny.

I'm not saying don't get a coffee from time to time, I'm saying cut back. I'm even going to give you permission to buy a fancy reusable mug to encourage you to use it.
It pays to be frugal. 

What's Your Networth?

Have you ever sat down and dreamt about your future?  If not, I encourage you to do it with your partner soon. Talk about all the things you want to do in your retirement years.  My husband dreams about going to all the ball parks to watch baseball games.  I want to explore in an RV and see where we end up.  These two dreams can mesh together.
We also want to explore Europe  ( one of us wants to stay in hostels, one of us wants nice hotels) but for these dreams we need money. We will compromise and do a bit of both.
Below are 2 great calculators to help figure out if you are on the path to see your retirement dreams come true.
I change the rate of return on the Chris Hogan  RIQ I don’t get 10% on my investments, I am a moderate risk investor.
The NETWORTH calculator also puts your spending and possessions into perspective.

https://www.sunlife.ca/ca/Learn+and+Plan/Tools+and+Calculators/Net+worth+calculator?vgnLocale=en_CA

https://www.chrishogan360.com/riq-tool/#slide=0

It pays to be frugal.