Simple Methods to Save More Money Each Month

You just scheduled a chimney repair with Brickworks Property Restoration. You certainly hadn’t planned on this expense, which will put a bit of a dent on your bank account for the month. Unfortunately, there are many unexpected events that come up in life, and this is where having more in your savings can help tremendously.

If you’re looking to be better about saving money, here are 6 simple methods to save more money each month.

Limit Eating Out

You’d be surprised with just how much money the average American spends on dining out, it’s estimated to be nearly $3,000 dollars a year, which averages to $250 dollars per month. If you’re wanting to save money, limiting your trips to restaurants is one of the easiest ways to start. Instead of dining out for lunch or dinner, cook meals for yourself to save a substantial amount of money in the long run.

Open a Savings Account

It comes as no surprise that opening a savings account can help you to save more money. If you keep all of your money in one checking account, it makes it much more likely that you’ll spend more than you planned on. Opening a savings account sets a clear distinction with what money you’re saving versus what money you’re using for spending. An added bonus is that many savings accounts offer you cash back!

Create a Personal Budget

Creating a personal budget is something you should work on at the start of your journey to save more money. After all, you want to see where you’ve been spending money and where you can limit your spending. An easy way to start your personal budget is to look at your spending history for the months preceding and see where you can cut back.

Reduce Utility Bills

There are some bills that we can’t avoid, like a car payment or a mortgage, but there are some bills that are easy to reduce. Utility bills are based on usage, which means you can easily be more mindful with your consumption. Try and pay close attention to turning off lights when you leave the room and maybe shortening your shower from time to time. You could also shop around for different utility services, like internet or cable, to see if you can get a better price.

Seek Out Deals

Any person who is good at savings will tell you that they always keep an eye out for deals. Before making purchases, do your research to see if you can’t find the product that you’re looking for elsewhere. Another great way to cut back and save more money is to use coupons or discounts.

Stay Away from Impulse Buys

There are many purchases we make that are completely impulsive. If you notice those racks of gum, snacks, and random tidbits at checkout lines, then you’re face to face with impulse buys. If you didn’t already have the product before you got to the checkout, then you are simply wanting to make a purchase because it’s right there in front of you. The same could be said for pop-ups or side ads when you’re shopping online.

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Buying Sweaters in Summer

Looking for a quick money saving tip?  Read on for a quick money saving tip for how to save money on clothes!  This money saving tip should be obvious to some of our more frugal readers, but for some folks just getting started with saving money this may be a new idea!

How to Save Money on Clothes

One great way to save money on clothes is to buy them in the off-season.  What does that mean exactly and how will it help you to save money on clothes?

Buying in the off-season means buying shorts and tank tops in the winter.  It means buying heavy coats, sweaters, and pants in the middle of summer.  Basically, it is contrarian buying!  Buy “B” when everyone else is buying “A”.  Then, buy “A” when everyone else is buying “B”.

If you employ this method of buying clothes in the off-season, you can easily save yourself 50% or more!  Clothes are inventory for the retail store.  There is definitely a carrying cost in displaying and holding inventory that is not moving for any type of business.  Stores will slash the prices and clearance everything off to make room for what is “in-season.”  You’ve heard the old addage that “time is money?”  Well for retail, space is money! (you can quote me on that one )

Do Other Items Benefit From Buying in the Off-Season?

Of course they do!  The list of saving money by buying in the off-season is endless – here are a couple examples from off the top of my head:

• Lawnmowers (in the late Fall)
• Patio furniture (in the late Fall)
• Holiday decorations (the day after)
• Halloween candy (the day after)
• Snowblowers or shovels (in the early Spring)
• Pool supplies (in the late Fall)

We (my wife) usually buy all of our Christmas ornaments and other holiday stuff the day after for a 50% – 90% discount.  If you have an attic, closet, or other place – why not?

Can Buying in the Off-Season Ever Go Wrong?

Sure – it pays to be a little careful and make good assumptions.  For instance, if you buy clothes that you plan to begin wearing in six months, you are making the assumption that you won’t drastically gain or lose weight.  If you go out and buy a fancy new $3,000 riding lawn mower like this one, you are making the assumption that you’ll still have a big yard when it comes time to use it.  I also wouldn’t make the assumption that Halloween candy bought the day after will be good 364 days later

Off-Season Brag Time

Alright, the main reason for this article was that I wanted to brag on how much I just saved by buying sweaters in the summer.  I combined the money saving tip around buying sweaters in the summer with buying stuff from yard sales.  I found three Brooks Brothers sweaters, one Jos. A. Bank sweater, and one Tommy Bahamma sweater.  See the pic below:

Buying Sweaters in Summer – Yard Sale

How much do you think I paid for each one of these?  Well, it was only $0.50 each!!!  That’s right – five top of the line (barely used from what I can tell) sweaters for only $2.50 total!!!!!!  From what I can tell (I have no real frame of reference for expensive clothes), these things normally retail for more than $100!

That’s right – I was able to get a 99.5% discount by buying sweaters in the summer

Buying Sweaters in the Summer – Final Thoughts

As you can see, with a bit of well thought out planning, you can save yourself a ton of money when it comes to buying clothes or anything else for that matter.  What’s your best off-season buy?

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Tips for Dealing with Bankruptcy

Don’t Jump Into Bankruptcy Too Fast – Know Your Options

If you have a lot of debt and no solutions, you might feel that bankruptcy is the only option. This post covers tips for dealing with bankruptcy.  Bankruptcy is a way to re-organize or erase consumer debt, which ultimately provides a fresh start and lets you rebuild your credit score. It’s a choice that most people don’t like to make. However, if creditors call your house day and night or send threatening letters, or if your income isn’t enough to pay off your debt, you might feel trapped in a never ending cycle of minimum payments. But before you make a hasty decision, you need to understand the consequences of a bankruptcy.

Filing bankruptcy can wipe the slate clean, but it also reduces your credit score by as much as 250 points. A bankruptcy stays on your credit report for up to 10 years, and after filing, it might take up to three years before you’re able to buy a house, and even longer before you can qualify for prime rates on loans and credit cards.

Bankruptcy is certainly a simpler way to deal with debt, but there are several kinds and you need to know the difference. DoanLaw.com breaks down the differences between Chapter 7, Chapter 13, and Chapter 20 combo bankruptcy filings.

Tips for Dealing with Bankruptcy – Get credit or debt counseling

Sometimes, managing your credit and debt comes down to education. And sometimes, you need to work with a professional to get your finances on the right track.

Rather than jump into a bankruptcy filing, look into credit or debt counseling. Several non-profit credit firms and law firms can help you overcome this hurdle. Many types of services are available, such as debt settlement and credit repair. The firm might negotiate a lower interest rate and payment with your creditors, which keeps your debt payments manageable and helps you pay off balances sooner. They also offer education on managing credit, budgeting and saving money. Credit or debt counseling doesn’t offer an immediate solution to debt problem, but it can slowly improve your finances and help you avoid bankruptcy.

Tips for Dealing with Bankruptcy – Refinance your mortgage loan, if possible

If your debts are high, but you haven’t defaulted on your bills yet, your credit score might be high enough to qualify for a mortgage refinance. By refinancing your mortgage loan, you may be eligible for a lower interest rate. And since a lower interest rate can reduce your monthly house payment, this frees up cash in your budget to pay off debt. Let’s say you refinance your mortgage and save $350 a month. That’s a savings of approximately $4000 a year, which can be used to pay off your debt.

Tips for Dealing with Bankruptcy – Liquidate your belongings

If you want to get rid of debt without filing bankruptcy, you have to make sacrifices. Some people get into debt because they can’t control their spending and they purchase things they can’t afford with credit cards. To undo this damage and avoid bankruptcy, liquidate your personal belongings and use any proceeds to pay off debt. Walk around your house. There are probably plenty of items you don’t use any longer. These might include electronics, furniture pieces, clothing, toys, etc. Have a massive yard sale, post these items for sale on Craigslist or unload your items on eBay. You can even take your debt elimination efforts further and sell an extra vehicle or downsize to a cheaper home.

Tips for Dealing with Bankruptcy – Borrow from a savings account

Money experts recommend never touching a retirement account unless absolutely necessary, such as after a job loss. But if you’re on the verge of bankruptcy, and you have plenty of money in your 401(k) or individual retirement account, tapping these funds as a last resort can help you avoid bankruptcy.

There are consequences to early withdrawals. You’ll have to pay a 10% penalty plus income taxes on funds taken from the account. Also, taking money from a retirement account reduces earning potential, and you’ll have less money when you’re ready to leave the workforce. Therefore, only borrow from your account when retirement is far off in the future. This way, you’ll have time to rebuild the account and recoup what you took out.

At the end of the day, getting out of debt and avoiding bankruptcy take self-restraint and a plan. You’ll have to make sacrifices, and the journey won’t always be easy. But with patience and determination you can get rid of debt and improve your finances.

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Yard Sale Arbitrage – Soccer Cleats

In case you didn’t already know, I absolutely love yard sale arbitrage!  This is where you find stuff at yard sales at a bargain and resell them on Craigslist or Ebay for a nice profit.  I’ve written about this previously in these posts: Vera Bradley Purse Arbitrage and Wii Game Arbitrage.  Check those out if you’re interested in learning more.

I’ve had pretty good success with both purses and video games so far.  You won’t get rich doing this type of thing, but you can end up getting $20-$40 per hour of your time once you get a little practice at it.  I have been stuck with a couple “dud” items that I wasn’t able to flip for a profit, but I have always at least broken even.  Let’s take a look at another item that works well for yard sale arbitrage – soccer cleats.

Yard Sale Arbitrage – Soccer Cleats – Background

Just about anything you can imagine is for sale on Ebay.  I have discovered one very lucrative area in particular that we’ll be discussing here.  I’m sure there are hundreds more out there that I’ve yet to uncover.  Did you know that the new and used shoe market on Ebay is huge?

Even more specifically, the soccer cleat section of Ebay is gigantic IMHO.  Why even as we speak, there are currently 44,943 active auctions for soccer cleats!  I smell an opportunity!

Yard Sale Arbitrage – Soccer Cleats – The Find

Our family was out doing our yard sale thing one weekend about a year ago when we ran into an interesting deal.  A lady was selling what looked to be a nearly brand new set of soccer cleats for $1.  I had just read the book Rich Dad, Poor Dad and the gears in my head were turning around different wasy to make money.  A thought entered my brain from the ether…  I’m sure I could sell these on Ebay for at least $10…  I would only be risking $1 to try it so I figured why not go ahead and give it a try.  Before that point in time, I had not even considered that people would buy used cleats, or shoes for that matter, on Ebay.  Boy was I wrong!

Yard Sale Arbitrage – Soccer Cleats – The Flip

So, how do I go about getting top dollar for used soccer cleats?  So far, I’d say I’ve probably sold 8 or 9 pairs of soccer cleats for ~1500+% profit.  Based on this experience, I have three main rules that I’ve developed over the months:

1. Never pay more than $1 or $2 for them.  Anything more, and it really starts to dig into your profits.
2. Make sure the soccer cleats are clean for the pictures.  Most people selling their soccer cleats at yard sales still have them caked in mud.  It normally takes about 5-10 mins a pair to scrub the mud off of them and have them looking good as new.  Who would want to pay top dollar for muddy old shoes?
3. List the soccer cleats as a “Buy-it-Now” type of auction and don’t be afraid to list them on the upper end of the price range.  This will ensure you get top dollar for your time.

That’s about all there is to it.  I can usually buy a pair for $1 and sell them from $12 – $25 a pair.  Not too bad!  The picture above is of a pair I bought for $1 and have listed for $19.  

Yard Sale Arbitrage – Soccer Cleats – Final Thoughts

As I said earlier, you will not get rich by selling used soccer cleats on Ebay, but it is a fun way to make a little extra cash.  Soccer cleats are just one example out of hundreds where yard sale arbitrage is a good way to make a couple extra bucks for your time.

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Yard Sale vs Retail

Check out some of these great yard sale deals that our family has been able to snag recently in the April 2014 time frame.  If you are not taking advantage of the savings that yard sales have to offer, then what the heck are you waiting for?!?  The deals you can find at yard sales will beat retail by 95%- 99%!!!  What’s not to love?

Yard Sale vs Retail – Aeropostale Shirt

My wife found this great Aeropostale shirt for a quarter at one yard sale.  I would never pay full price for this type of t-shift, but you can’t really refuse a perfectly good t-shirt for $0.25, can you?

Yard Sale Deals for April 2014 – REI Fall/Winter/Spring Jacket

My wife found this REI jacket as yard sales were winding down one Saturday.  They wanted $5 for it, but I bargained for $3 since it was very late in the day (nearly 1pm).  They went for the deal!  I am now the proud owner of a sweet new jacket.  It’s been discontinued, but I think it would normally retail for something around $120 – here’s something similar to what it looks like.

Yard Sale vs Retail – Jeans

I’m not really sure of the brand as I am typing this, but at $0.50 does it really matter?  They fit well and there are no real problems with them.  Not sure why someone would be selling these, but oh well

Yard Sale vs Retail – Bass Hiking Boots

These great boots retail for about $50 new.  These were marked at $1 for the pair – pretty hard to resist.  They are in about 8/10 condition and should last for for several more years.  I don’t have any type of outdoor shoes for walking/hiking at all, so this was a perfect find for me!

Yard Sale vs Retail – Final Thoughts

I’m so glad I’ve finished up my MBA classes so that I can get back into yard sales.  The deals are just unbeatable, and it feels so great to buy useful stuff at 98% off!  I also enjoy the bargaining aspect of yard sales, although that part isn’t for everyone…

Below, you’ll find a pic of me sporting my whole new outfit that cost me less than $5 total!  That’s a complete outfit that would normally cost me $240 if I bought everything brand new!  If loving yard sale deals is wrong, then I don’t want to be right

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Yard Sale Arbitrage – Wii Games

I mentioned in my earlier Yard Sale Arbitrage series on Vera Bradley Purses that I absolutely love arbitrage!  This is the process of buying an item for a low price that you are almost guaranteed to sell at a higher price.  One is able to do this well if they are familiar with the  “market” for the good in question and have a buyer “lined” up to purchase the product.  If not, you run the risk of over-paying or getting stuck with the item if you cannot move it.

Yard Sale Arbitrage – Wii Games – Background

One item that is guaranteed to move are Video games.  If you can fetch them for a good price at yard sales, they sell like hot cakes on sites online auction sites like Ebay.  I’ve sold more than 100 video/PC games on Ebay, and I’m constantly surprised at how much some of the rarer games can go for.  Check out this post on how I sold my old used Zelda Gameboy game for $80!  Other very popular games will not net much money and can actually end up losing you money if you’re not careful (over pay for the game).  It pays to have a little bit of knowledge (or a smart phone with Ebay :-)) on which are the rarer games when looking for games at yard sales.

Yard Sale Arbitrage – Wii Games – The Find

We were at a community yard sale this past Saturday bright and early when I hit the jackpot.  The person was selling some really popular Wii games for $3 each.  I happened to know specifically about several of these games as I’ve sold several of my own personal copies for $20+ each.  This seemed like a great opportunity to make a quick buck, so I jumped on it.  I bought eight out of the nine he had for sale right then and there.  I tried to bargain him down on the price since I was buying so many, but he wouldn’t go any lower.  I think he was a little suspicious that I was buying so many of them without much thought…  Here are the games I bought and the prices I have listed them for on Ebay (green ones have already sold):

• Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword – $31.99
• The Sims 3 – $14.46
• Super Smash Bros. Brawl – $22.99
• The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess – $14.99
• de Blob – $4.99
• Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity – $10.99
• Wii Play – $4.50
• Wii Sports – $19.99

I kinda hit duds with the “de Blob” game and Wii Play, but the others will hopefully make up for it.

Yard Sale Arbitrage – Wii Games – The Flip

So, how to I plan to get top dollar for these Wii games?  Why, Ebay of course!  I can set the prices pretty high and leave them as a good ’til canceled auction.  It may take a couple of weeks to sell them, but I should average $15 for each of them.  Because they are small and easily fit in a cheap envelope, there are ideal for Ebay selling.  After all of the Ebay/Paypal fees, I stand to make about 440+% profit.  Not too shabby

Yard Sale Arbitrage – Wii Games – Final Thoughts

In the end, I should make somewhere around $80  profit for selling the Wii games on Ebay.  I figure it should take me maybe two hours of my time to post all of the games to Ebay and ship them.  That should work out to be roughly $40 a hour.  I won’t get rich quick doing this, but it’s not too bad if you ask me

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How To Save Money On Shoes

Temperatures are rising, Spring is in the air, new styles are being introduced, and folks are hungry to buy some shoes!

Here are some money saving tips on how to save money on shoes.

How to Save Money On Shoes – When Buying New

1. Don’t buy “one use” shoes – This one should go without saying.  The more types of “niche” shoes that you buy, the more money you will end up spending over the long run.
2. Buy shoes that will fit multiple styles and options – This really goes along with tip #1 above, try not to buy shoes that will just be the style of the year, otherwise you won’t really get more then one year out of them.
3. Buy at the end of the season or into the next – Similar to new car sales, shoes sell on clearance at the end of the season.  The best time to buy sandals?  At the beginning of fall.  The best time to find a great deal on those winter boots?  Check out those Spring sales!
4. Buy shoes on Wednesday – It’s true according to research.  For some crazy reason, shoes seem to be on sale on Wednesdays more than any other day of the week.  Who would have thought?!?
5. Outlet malls – Most of us live within a couple hours drive to an outlet mall.  While it will cost a bit to actually get your butt there, if you can plan in advance to make one or two trips a year to buy your shoes you will save a bunch of money over shopping malls.
6. Don’t buy kids shoes new – Because kid’s feet are constantly growing and they are so rough-and-tough with their shoes, it doesn’t make much financial sense to buy brand new shoes for kids.  See some of the used ideas below before you break the bank on kids shoes.
7. Zappos – Try Zappos for your online shoe purchases.  They have a huge selection, great prices, and awesome customer service.  I have used them multiple times, and I’m a happy customer.  If the shoes don’t fit or you’re unhappy with them, you can return them free of charge!  It’s no wonder it’s such a good company to deal with – they’re owned by Amazon.

How to Save Money On Shoes – When Buying Used

1. Hand-Me-Downs – Why buy new shoes at all in the first place?!?  If you are getting kids shoes, try hand-me-downs from brothers, sisters, cousins, etc.  You’ll save a ton of money and ensure the shoes get used until they fall apart.
2. Goodwill / thrift stores – Not much to say here other than you can find some awesome deals on gently used shoes for 20% of the new price.
3. Ebay – I haven’t bought shoes from Ebay before, but I sure do sell a lot of them on Ebay.  You can generally get good condition used shoes for 50% – 90% off.  Hard to beat that!
4. Yard Sales – This is my personal favorite.  You can usually find 7/10 through 10/10 condition shoes for pennies on the dollar.  Don’t believe me?  Check out these awesome Sketcher shoes I just found last Saturday for only $0.25!!!!!!

How To Save Money On Shoes – My new $0.25 shoes!!!!

How to Save Money On Shoes – Final Thoughts

As you can see, there are tons of ways that you can save money on shoes today!  I’m sure that there’s at least one idea from the “how to save money on shoes” article that you can put in use this year to save yourself a bundle on shoes.  Anyone think they can one-up me and find better shoes for $0.25 or less?  Have I mentioned lately that I love yard sales???

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Selling Pokemon Cards on Ebay

One of the suckiest things about being in MBA classes every other weekend is that I miss out on all the great yard sales with my wife and kids.  Just this past week, I think my wife struck yard sale gold!

Selling Pokemon Cards on Ebay – The Haul

My wife was at one particular yard sale with a couple Pokemon young reader books for sale.  My son had a quick look at them, and they decided to buy them.  Shortly thereafter, the man at the yard sale pulled my wife to the side.  “Would you be interested in buying this box full of Pokemon cards?” he asked.  He didn’t want to offer her the box where my son could hear.  He was going to give her an entire adult sized shoe box full of Pokemon trading cards for only $5!  My wife decided to buy them because she knows how much he likes Pokemon.

Selling Pokemon Cards on Ebay – How Much Are They Worth?

She showed me the box when I got home and I could hardly believe my eyes.  Someone probably paid more than $1,000 at some point for all of these cards.  They are about $11 for a pack of 40 on Amazon.  My son has a handful of hand-me-down cards that his friends have given him over the years, but we’ve never bought any new cards for him because they’re so damn expensive.

So we called our son over to the table, and I told him to close his eyes.  I brought the box over and set it in his lap.  I then told him to open up the box.  He almost had a kids excitement attack when he saw the box full of Pokemon cards in front of him!  As we were looking through them, my brain popped into MoneyAhoy mode – “I wonder if any of these are worth anything?” I thought aloud.

Selling Pokemon Cards on Ebay – Learning to Value Pokemon Cards

A Google search and about 30 minutes of study later, and my son and I knew what to look for in terms of rare and valuable cards.  We spent the next 3 hours sorting through all of the cards looking for all the rare and valuable Pokemon cards that we could sell on eBay.  We made a deal that we’d split any profits 50/50 – I thought it would be a great way for him to learn how to make some money.

Now, these cards aren’t in the best of shape – it’s evident that they been used pretty heavily.  Out of all of the cards, we identified somewhere around 250-300 that were rare and valuable.  Checking Ebay, most of these rare cards have sold for anywhere from $1 – $5 each.  We’d get much more money if we sell them individually, but I’m not sure if it is worth that much time and trouble.  I suspect when we sell they’ll fall on the lower end because of their condition, but we could get $300-$400 buck for all of these in total depending on how much time we devote to listing all of them!  Or so I thought…

Selling Pokemon Cards on Ebay – So Far, Not Too Much Luck

I’ve listed a handful of them so far, and they haven’t really sold at all.  The problem is the sum of PayPal, Ebay, and Postage fees comes up to about $1.  So, if we sell each card for $1.50, it really isn’t going to be worth our time.  I’m going to try and list a couple more of the most expensive cards to see if I can get any takers.  If not, we’ll have to mark this down in the history books as a waste of time  I was hoping we would be able to get $300-$400  for all of them combined (a return of up to 60,000% on our money), but it doesn’t look super promising at this point.  All-in-all, we’ve spent about 6 hours so far sorting through all of them.  I’d hate for it to be a complete waste of time, but I guess some times that’s the way it goes  I may try to combine some together into small lots to increase the chances of getting them sold if I continue to have trouble moving them individually.

Selling Pokemon Cards on Ebay – Final Thoughts

Selling Pokemon cards is just another example of yard sale arbitrage.  You win some and you lose some  The pic on the left below is of the box of Pokemon cards my wife bought for $5.  The pic below on the right are all the cards I’m hoping to sell for $1 – $2 each (fingers crossed).

Box ‘o Pokemon Cards – Whole box for $5

Hope to Sell these for ~$1-$2 each

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The Key To Money Saving Is Patience

What is the key to money saving?  Well, let me tell you a recent story…

Roughly a two years ago I decided to build a new computer to run some new games coming out.  I took our old computer, left it intact, and gave it to my son as a hand=me-down computer.  When I handed down my old computer, I kept my current speakers as they were pretty decent.  I’m guessing they were maybe  $75 when I purchased them 10 years ago.  So, we decided to hook up some headphones to his computer, turned the volume up all the way, and used these as faux speakers for the longest time.

The Key to Money Saving is Patience – Temptation Creeps In

For whatever reason, one day I woke up and said “son, we need to get you some proper computer speakers.”  As a result, we scoured the yard sales for weeks looking for some good computer speakers, but none turned up.  Then, one random day my wife brought home a pair of Bose Speakers (similar to what I linked) that a patient had given her (no sub-woofer).  They were in the process of upgrading their stereo system and we getting rid of these.  Interesting… we took them and placed them out of the way until we could find a use for them.

Then, one day while on our normal yard sale jaunts, we ran across a JVC Stereo Receiver that I detailed in my yard sale post for $3.  I could hook this up to my computer and use those free  Bose Speakers that we had received months earlier.  I could then give my son the nice speakers that I had for his computer.

The Key to Money Saving is Patience – Even More Patience Needed

After we transferred the old speaker system to his computer and hooked up the received and Bose Speakers to my computer I noticed something – no bass!  I had gotten so used to the bass from my old speaker system that it sounded freaky listening to music with almost no bass to speak of.

So, we set out on a new yard sale quest to find a decent sub-woofer.  Now, everywhere we turned there were great computer speakers for sale (where the hell were these a couple of weeks ago?!?!?) But, we could not find a sub-woofer to save our lives!  I remained patient – I was determined that sooner or later we would run across a good deal.  After an additional 6-7 weeks of Saturday yard sales, we ran across a mega-sub-woofer.  It’s a beast of a sub-woofer too!  It’s a Klipsch (the closest thing I could find to it is this: Klipsch Beastly Sub-woofer ).  You can read about the details of it here in my August yard sale post.  I ended up negotiating a price of $12 for this mammoth!

The Key to Money Saving is Patience – It Saved Me ~$600

By remaining patient, I was able to save an incredible amount of money by not giving into my desires to experience immediate gratification.  Now, I have a great new speaker system (much better than anything I probably would have sought out to purchase) for only $15.  I would have easily spent more than $600 for something similar (not that I really ever would, but that’s what it would take to get something similar if I were impatient).  My son also got my old speaker system, which is much better than anything we’ve run across at yard sales so far.

The Key to Money Saving is Patience – Final Thoughts

This is just one recent example that has really led me to believe that patience is the key to money saving.  The more we are able to keep our desires for instant gratification in check, the better able we are to find the best possible deals for ourselves.  Many times, patience can lead to great deals that we would have never even recognized if we just went the instant gratification route.  As an added and unforeseen bonus in this story, I also got a great leg stand (ottoman) for extended computer sessions at the desk (it really is that big)

Does anyone here have a great story where being patient helped them save a ton of money?

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Yard Sale Arbitrage – Vera Bradley Purses

One of my all time favorite ways to make money is through arbitrage.  This is the basic process of buying low and selling high with little to no risk.  You may have also heard it referred to as flipping.

We’ve all probably participated in arbitrage at some point in our lives.  I’m not sure why I love doing it so much, but it feels great to make several hundred percent return for just a little bit of work.

In this first part of my yard sale arbitrage series – I’ll quickly cover how I make 300%+ returns on Vera Bradley purses.  Check it out!

 Money Making Breakdown – Vera Bradley Purse Arbitrage

• Difficulty (Super Easy/Easy/Medium/Hard/Expert): Easy
• Average % Profit (%): 319
• Average Profit per Sale ($): 12.77
• Time Required (mins): 30
• Profit for your time ($/hr): 25.54

Yard Sale Arbitrage – Vera Bradley Purses – Pros and Cons

Here are a couple of pros and cons to flipping Vera Bradley purses from yard sales that I’ve learned.  If you’re interested in giving it a shot, keep these in mind.

Pros:

• Can usually get for $3 – $5 at yard sales if you’re good at bargaining.  Package deals are the best and you can get larger discounts!  I found someone selling about 10 of these, I only bought the three detailed here below because I hadn’t tried to flip these before.  Now I’m killing myself for not buying all of them!
• Pretty abundant at yard sales.  I find at least one of these just about every week.
• Sell relatively quickly on ebay (1 or 2 weeks)
• Ship pretty easily and inexpensively

Cons:

• There are hundreds of types of Vera Bradley pattern/style combinations.  The biggest pain is searching through all the similar listings to find the style and pattern of the purse you bought so that you can accurately list it.  This took me 15-20 minutes per bag and sucked.
• If listing on Ebay, then the 15% fees will knock a bit off your profits.  Plus, you have to drive to the post office to ship everything.  If I can get the same prices on Craigslist, then I’ll make about an average of 475% profit vs. 319%.  I plan to test this for future bags/purses.
• Not sure how easy to sell on Craigslist – will give this a shot.
• Profit in $/hr is a little on the low side.
• I haven’t yet figured out how to scale this process to make a lot of money.  You aren’t going to get rich unless you can figure out a way to flip thousands of these things.

Yard Sale Arbitrage – Vera Bradley Purses – Profit Table

Below is a quick tally of how each of the three purses I purchased performed.  As you can see – the larger bags definitely do much better % profit-wise compared to the smaller bags.  I’ll use this knowledge in the future to load up on any of the bigger purses if I can find them for cheap.  These Vera Bradley purses normally sell on amazon for something like $50+, so resale for $15 – $35 is a pretty good deal for the buyers…

Yard Sale Arbitrage – Vera Bradley Purses – Pictures

Here are some pictures of the three most recent sales I’ve made.

Zip Tote – Retired Color – “Houndstooth Brown”

Kensington Large – Tic Tac Tote

Capri Blue (retired) Bucket Tote and Cell Phone Case

Final Thoughts

This was a fun little experiment and turned out to turn a pretty good profit.  I know absolutely nothing about purses, so it was neat to make such a high % of profit on a whim.  I think as I find more at yard sales I’ll try and make a couple changes to the process:

• List on Craigslist to avoid fees and get slightly higher prices
• Not spend time finding the purse style/pattern and just list it by color and size (this will push up my $/hr)
• Try to learn about other types of purses that have good arbitrage potential – we literally run across maybe 50 purses on a Saturday yard sale outing…

Anyone else care to share their good yard sale arbitrage finds or tips???

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