There are some days, no matter how hard you try, you just won’t quite be able to accomplish everything you hope to.
Yesterday was one of those for me. We had a pretty busy day with church and then hanging out with family and before you know it, time had flown by and the day had past without me getting around to writing my daily post.
But that is a good lesson in and of itself, sometimes things just don’t go as planned, especially with finances.
So instead of worry about it, I figured I would just combine two days in one.
That will change everything up a bit anyways.
1.) eBay Sales Continued
This is good news for me. eBay sales seem to be picking up and getting more consistent.
I still have a long way to go with listing items, but since things seem to be selling better, that should mean I will be making more sales the more I list.
Today I sold 2 dropshipped items and one more of the same item I sold on Saturday.
All of these amount to a small profit each but the number adds up the more sales that come in.
My goal over the next month is to get some more higher profit items listed so that my sales numbers will start getting better over the next couple months.
2.) Mystery Shopping Lunch
Yesterday for lunch, my wife and I did another mystery shop. This one was at Panda Express and allowed us to get lunch paid for.
Some restaurant shops, like this one don’t take a lot of time and are really a great way to enjoy a free meal in exchange for filling out a simple survey.
The shop has already been approved which means I can expect payment for our meal and an extra $4 bucks in our pocket on top of that!
If you have not yet tried out mystery shopping, I would highly recommend giving it a try.
3.) Eating Out With Family
As I mentioned the other day that we would be, we ended up going out to eat last night with my siblings who live in Fargo.
This is only the fourth time this month for me to go out (including when I went out with my sister) so that comes out to roughly one time a week.
While generally, I would try to go less, two of these times were to spend time with my family and I would rather spend money and spend time with my family than save money and not spend that time with them.
That being said, every time I have gone out to eat this month, I have always split the meal so it fed 2 people for the price of one.
Last night we went to Denny’s and made sure to take advantage of one of their deals, I did splurge a bit and got coffee since we were there for a while but it only ended up costing us $12 when it was all said and done to include the tip.
4.) Bought A Bunch Of Office Phones
While I am trying to not do too much sourcing, I still do keep my eyes out for any deals that only come up once.
I found one of those types of deals on Facebook marketplace the other day.
A guy was selling 20 office phones he got from cleaning out an office in another city. He was asking $15 each or $10 each if you buy 3 or more.
After checking the price on eBay, I found the same phone sells for good money both individually and also in lots.
So I figured I would see what he would be willing to take for all of them.
I asked and he said he could sell them to me for $175, I then countered fully expecting him to turn down my offer at $125.
I was surprised when he said he would take that amount and made plans to pick them up today.
I got them today and so long as they all work (which they should) I am hoping to either sell them in one lot or in smaller lots of 5 and I think I can get over $400 for all of them when it is all said and done. Future WIN but also a WIN for negotiating even if you think they would never accept your offer.
FUN FACT: Facebook Marketplace can be a great place for resellers. Even if you don’t want to do it full time or search thrift stores for items. There is quite a bit of profit to be made just from negotiating a good price on FB Marketplace and reselling the items you buy online.
5.) Free Commercial VCRs
A friend of mine who does cleanups for businesses and individuals offered to give me a bunch of commercial VCRs he got from a recent job.
The exact model in good condition has sold and is listed at $50+ a piece on eBay
I ended up with 20 of them, and although they aren’t in the best of condition, I still think I should be able to lot them up and sell them at a decent price.
And since I have plenty room in my garage and they were completely free so I am not gonna turn an opportunity like that down.
He also gave me a few other items for free, I am not sure how much they are worth but I still might be able to make a few bucks off of them.
WIN!
I don’t want this post to get to be too long but that about sums up the finances for the past two days. I did also fill up the tank with gas again and made sure to use a $0.12 off per gallon to save a little extra, and with gas prices here, that brought the price per gallon down really close to the $2 mark!
LESSON FROM TODAY: Negotiation is a part of purchasing something. You would be surprised how much someone might be willing to give you off a certain price if you just ask. Obviously, this doesn’t mean you should low-ball them, but just because they have it at a certain price does not mean they aren’t willing to lower it for you.
How have the past couple days been for you? Any WINS you would like to share?
What is a purchase that you have negotiated that ended up saving you some money?
