Last week I set a goal for myself to have a 4 week flash savings challenge. At the end of the 4 weeks, my goal is to have $3,000 in our emergency fund savings. (We started with $611 in our savings, so we need to get $2,389 in four weeks.)
Monday and Tuesday night I was busy listing 50 auctions on eBay, all for my kids’ old clothes and some new clothes I bought ahead but they outgrew before it was the right season. Those auctions are ending tonight and tomorrow night, so they aren’t included in the totals here, but I think they should bring in at least another $150. I also have several more to list tonight.
However, for the purpose of this post, I will only list those earnings and transactions that have already taken place and for which I have already received the money.
Here is the extra money we earned this week as well as how we earned it:
- Extra job: $20
- Sold my old breast pump on Craigslist: $60
- Money in my PayPal account I forgot about: $20
- Turned in all of our change: $62.67
- Extra job #2: $24.67
- Extra job #3: $35
- Returned some unopened digestive enzymes & vitamins I didn’t need: $32
Total for Week One: $254.34
New Emergency Fund Total: $865.34
Starting Emergency Fund Total: $611
That’s good work for one week! I have considered selling kid clothes on eBay, but everything I read about it was very discouraging. Looks like you are having some luck with it, though. Do you have any tips?
My best luck is to sell in the right time frame. I have some just winter clothes that I am selling, and they aren’t earning the best price because I should have sold them 2 months ago at the start of eBay’s winter sale season. I don’t care, though, because I am just trying to get rid of them. Now is a great time to sell holiday patterned and themed clothes. Also, use a fair starting price and include a reasonable buy it now price to encourage people to buy.
You’re doing great! Keep up the momentum with your challenge!