I was inspired by a number of recent posts on various blogs about selling extra “stuff” on craigslist.  J. Money at Budgets Are Sexy turned a few interesting items into cash this month including Shakespeare books and a sword.  Yes, a real sword!

We have TONS of things that we no longer use (baby stuff), barely use (wireless keyboard), or have never use (huge vase).  So, I took a few nice photos, wrote some compelling ads, and posted 10+ items on craigslist.

Guess what I heard.  Crickets.  Very quiet crickets.  I reposted the ads this morning and…even more crickets.

I know what you’re thinking, “he overpriced the items”.  Heck yeah I overpriced the items!  Lol!  Most of the people that I have sold to on craigslist offer a lower price and being the sucker that I am, I accept.  So, I’ve learned to price my items a bit high.  Guess I’m getting what I deserve.  Next time I repost, I plan to include a note explaining that the prices have been reduced.  This technique generally works on me at the mall, so I’ll give it a try.

What’s your craigslist strategy?  Do you start with a high price like me?  Do you go with a low price to sell quickly?  Or, maybe some other technique that helps turn your trash (nice trash) into someone’s treasure.  Help me!

Continue reading Do You Save Money By Reloading Ammunition? →

I had hair down to my chest during high school and college (picture a surfer, not a heavy metal freak).  Over time, it has been cut shorter and shorter as I grew older and older.  At some point in my 30’s, I realized that I would be following my families long standing tradition of going bald.  No problem, I thought, I have a great personality that will make up for the lack of hair.  Lol! 

Now that I am pushing 40 and the thinning is here, I realize that losing your hair sucks.  I’ve tried hiding it a modern day combover, the a faux hawk, but have been losing the battle.  I don’t consider myself vain, but seeing photos of the poor state of my hair made me cringe.  So, I shaved my head last week.  This is not the first time that I have shaved my head, but each time it is a bit of a shock.  Waking up in the morning and walking into the bathroom, I flinch a bit when I look in the mirror and remember what I did.  Plus, my head is so newly shaven right now that my scalp still has that white pasty look.  No good, but I am going to OWN IT and get used to the idea of looking like Kelly Slater or Jason Statham…in my dreams.  Haha!

But, financially, having a shaved head makes some sense.  Hair cuts cost $15-$30/month, styling products, shampoo & conditioner are $25-$50/year.  I think the big win is the time savings.  All I have to do it use the clippers once a week and I’m done.  It must save ~30 minutes a day of washing, conditioning, & styling.  That’s 3.5 hours a week that I can use to earn money.

See what I did there?  I took the sad situation of going bald, turned it into something that I controlled (shaving my head), and rationalized it as a way to save money to make myself feel better.  I’m going to go run the clippers again…it’s time for a trim.

My wife drives a lot for her job and uses our 2006 Honda Accord to get around.  The car is paid off and her company reimburses her $800/month and gives her a gas card.  Needless to say, we’ve been loving the deal.  Lately, however, my wife has been yearning for a newer vehicle with more room, integrated navigation, Bluetooth, etc.  Things that would make her day a little easier.

With how well my wife has been doing in her job ($200K+ this year in salary, bonuses, and reimbursements), we decided to begin looking to upgrade her vehicle.  Long story short, she found an ML350 that she LOVED tonight, negotiated the deal (including a $1K reduction in price and $5K for trading in the Accord), and worked out financing. 

So, do we have a new (used) SUV…nope.  She chickened out!  Lol!  She said she needed to sleep on the idea of a $417/month car payment when we’ve gone without car payments for so long.

My parent’s just paid off their mortgage! What an amazing accomplishment and very inspiring. Plus, this is the second house they paid off.

They were able to do this through a lot of hard work and sacrafice. It’s got to feel great to no longer have a monthly mortgage payment. I hope one day my wife and I can do the same thing.

Budgets are Sexy put together a PF Rap Off post that is original and hilarious. Click here to check it out.

1MansMoney blog is 2 years old and I’m happy to say that we’ve come a long way in our journey to retire early. Having started with a negative net worth of -$3,168.85 in February of 2007, we’ve progressed to our current net worth of $39,003.57.

This blog has been a great way to organize our thoughts and track our progress. I appreciate everyone who reads it and want to thank those who take the time to post comments and/or email. The feedback is very helpful and motivating.

One of the drawbacks of my wife getting laid off is that she no longer has a company car. Initially, we thought we could get away with one vehicle until my wife finds another job. It’s turning out that that is not the case, and there’s no guarantee that when she finds a job it will include a company car. So, we decided that we’re going to buy a cheap used truck. You might be thinking the same thing as me, didn’t we just sell a truck?

We can get a small truck with just under 100K miles for ~$3,000-$4,000. At that price, we can pay cash for it and avoid car payments. We decided on a truck rather than a car because we wanted something a bit more functional. If my wife gets another job with a company car, our plan would be to keep the truck as a back-up vehicle in case, A) We’re put into the same position again down the road. B) Our main vehicle has to go in the shop for some reason. C) We have to move anything/carry a large load.

I hate to see our savings drop $3K-$4K, but am glad we have the cash to make this happen. We’ll probably start looking at trucks next week.

After we sold my truck, I took over my wife’s car since she now has a company vechicle. When I called for an insurance quote a couple of months ago, AAA told it would be $1,157 for 12 months of coverage on the car.

I received my bill from AAA, but it was for much less than I expected. I spoke to one of the AAA agents and it turns out that I had an accident on my record, but it recently came off. So, they reduced my 12 months of auto insurance coverage by $434, to $723. What a blessing.