Live Real, Now

The no-pants guide to spending, saving, and thriving in the real world.

Search Results for: three-alternatives-to-a-budget/budget-lesson-part-3/slow-carb-diet-how-to-avoid-going-bat-crazy/budget-lesson-part-2/travel-expenses-why-i-splurge/573/money-problems-day-1-setting-goals/brown-bagging-your-way-to-savings/first-3-things-to-do-in-the-new-year/money-problems-day-3-whats-coming-in/medical-costs-and-choices

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-01-02

Misc

  • RT @kristinbrianne: You won't believe it… I just entered to win the #KodakSweeps on http://tweetphoto.com/contest Pls RT #
  • RT @wilw The single most insulting thing you can tell a creative person is, upon viewing their creation, "you have too much free time." #
  • Hmm. I share a birthday with Linus Torvalds. #
  • @freefrombroke I'm following you and would love to be followed back. in reply to freefrombroke #
  • RT: @SuburbanDollar: New Post: : The Art of Delayed Gratification http://bit.ly/5gsKXy #
  • RT @FrugalYankee: #NEWYear's #QUOTE: All the things I really like to do are either immoral, illegal or fattening. ~ Alexander Woollcott #
  • Crackberry is certainly accurate. I may be too connected. #
  • MIL thinks a Kitchenaid stand mixer will make it easier to remove the snow in the driveway. Bad logic, but she's buying one for us, anyway. #
  • What magic is in a saw-palmetto capsule and why does my prostate need the power of 1000 of them? #
  • RT: @SuburbanDollar: Sounds like he's asking you to rent him a date. #
  • RT @hughdeburgh: "I'd rather die fighting for freedom than live as a slave." ~ Judge Andrew Napolitano #Iran #in2010 #USA #
  • Happy New Year, 3 minutes early. #
  • Billy Jack vs Chuck Norris. Winner? #
  • Getting my hair brushed by an 18 month old while watching Married With Children. It's a good evening. #
  • RT @FrugalYankee: #NEWYEARS #QUOTE: The most important political office is that of private citizen. ~ Louis Brandeis #
  • RT @ScottATaylor: 40,697 Laws Take Effect Today http://ff.im/-dFXNR #
  • 5AM. It'd be so easy to go right back to sleep. #

Optimized to Go, Part 1

Business, Finance

Last weekend, we held a garage sale at my mother-in-law’s house.   It was technically an estate sale, but we treated it exactly as a garage sale.

A week before we started, a friend’s mother came to buy all of the blankets and most of the dishes, pots, and non-sharp utensils so she could donate them all to a shelter she works with.   She took at least 3 dozen comforters and blankets away.

Even after that truckload, we started with two double rows of tables through the living room and dining room.   The tops of the tables were as absolutely full as we could get them, and the floor under the tables was also used for displaying merchandise.

Have you ever had to display 75 brand-new pairs of shoes in a minimal about of space?   They claimed about 16 feet of under-table space all by themselves.  Thankfully, the blankets weren’t there anymore.

We also had half of the driveway full of furniture, toys, and tools.

We had a lot of stuff.

Now, most people hold a sale to make some money.  Not us.  We held a sale to let other people pay us for the privilege of hauling away our crap.  As such, it was all priced to move.   The most expensive thing we sold was about $20, but I can’t remember what that was.   Most things went for somewhere between 25 cents and $1.

At those prices, we sold at least 2000 items.  That isn’t a typo.  We ended the day with $1325.   After taking out the initial seed cash, lunches we bought for the people helping us, and dinner we bought one night, we had a profit of $975.

At 25 cents per item.

We optimized to sell instead of optimizing for profit.   At the end of  a long summer of cleaning out a hoarding house, it all needed to go.

In the next part, I’ll explain exactly how we made it work.

Enhanced by Zemanta

A Perfectly Maid Home

Finance, Life, Relationships

Last night, I got home after a 13 hour day at the office and found a spotlessly clean house.  The laundry was folded.  The dishes were done, and everything was put away.

It was great.

I work 80 hours a week, 90 if you count commuting time.

That’s about 50 hours at my day job, 10-15 hours working on this site, and 20-30 hours working on my other side hustles.   Some weeks, my volunteer geek skills get put to use for a local non-profit, too.

My wife works at least 40 hours every week.

We chase our kids around, plan or birthday parties, visit family, take care of the yard, and do everything else that every other family does.

The difference is that, if I take work in all of its forms out of the equation and give myself permission to get a full night’s sleep every night, I have a total of 20-30 hours per week to eat, socialize, and spend time with my family.   That not a lot.

I hate cleaning.

Between my work schedule and my cleaning aversion, I’m not always a lot of help around the house.

Half of my work time is spent at home.  It’s hardly fair to expect my wife to clean up after me.

This has been a huge point of contention between us.   She sees me on the computer and gets frustrated when I’m not helping her clean up.  I get frustrated because I’m trying to make us some extra money, but she’s complaining that I’m not cleaning.

About a month ago, we hired a housekeeper.   She comes every other week for a few hours and does a phenomenal job cleaning our house.    We pay her about $150 per month for the work.

It’s been great.

My wife is happy because the house is clean.   I’m happy because the complaining has stopped.   Our housekeeper is happy because it’s more money.  It’s a win/win/win scenario.

Now, $150 is a decent amount to add to our debt snowball, but paying for the cleaning services facilitates my side hustles, which bring in quite a bit more than $150 per month, so it’s even a good idea financially.

Even if it’s not, the peace of mind of knowing that I didn’t have to fold all of the laundry that was waiting for me yesterday makes it worthwhile.

How about you?  Would you consider hiring a maid?  Why?

Enhanced by Zemanta

Sunday Roundup: Workaholics Anonymous

Misc

I’ve had a rough couple of weeks at work.  Starting on July 5th, I worked 10 days in a row and put in 97 hours to finish a major project.   I’m not an hourly employee.   I totally got screwed out of my paid holiday with that schedule.   The worst part?  When I told my boss I needed the 11th day off because the major project was done and I was feeling burnt out, he tried to talk me out of it.

Carnivals I’ve Rocked

Family Bed: How to Make It Stop one the Best of Money Carnival.   Crystal rocks, and I’m totally jealous that she transitioned to a self-employed pro-blogger this weekend.

Make Extra Money Part 1: Introduction was included in the Carnival of Wealth.  I’m really happy with this series and I can’t wait to finish it and hear about how everyone is using it to make money for themselves.

Annual Fees: Scam or Service? was included in the Carnival of Financial Planning.

Getting Back on Track was included in the Carnival of Personal Finance.

Thank you! If I missed anyone, please let me know.

Get More Out of Live Real, Now

There are so many ways you can read and interact with this site.

You can subscribe by RSS and get the posts in your favorite news reader.  I prefer Google Reader.

You can subscribe by email and get, not only the posts delivered to your inbox, but occasional giveaways and tidbits not available elsewhere.

You can ‘Like’ LRN on Facebook.   Facebook gets more use than Google.  It can’t hurt to see what you want where you want.

You can follow LRN on Twitter.   This comes with some nearly-instant interaction.

You can send me an email, telling me what you liked, what you didn’t like, or what you’d like to see more(or less) of.   I promise to reply to any email that isn’t purely spam.

Have a great week!

Net Worth Update – September 2014

Misc

It’s time for my irregular-but-usually-quarterly net worth update.  It’s boring, but I like to keep track of how we’re doing.  Frankly, I was a bit worried when I started this because we’ve been overspending this summer and Linda was off work for the season.

But, all in all, we didn’t do too bad.

Some highlights:

  • Both of our properties lost around $3000 in value.  I’m not worried, because we are keeping them both for the long haul.  The rental is basically on auto-pilot, so that’s free money every month.
  • We sold a boat that appraised for much less I had estimated in the last few updates.  I had it listed for $5000, but it was worth $2000.
  • I do have a credit card balance at the moment, but that goes away as soon as my expense check clears the bank, which will be in a day or two.
  • We’re in the home stretch with the mortgage.  There is $11,407 left to go, and we’ve paid down $9105 in the last year.  By this time next year, I want that gone, gone, gone.

Net Worth

I can’t say I’m upset with our progress.  We’ve paid down $6000 in debt in 2014, including 3 months with 1 income.  We aren’t maxing our retirement accounts, yet, but I’d like to be completely debt free before I do that.  It’s bad math, but having all of my debt gone will give me such a warm fuzzy feeling, I can’t not do it.

My immediate goal is to hit a $600,000 net worth by my next update in January.  I’m only about $7000 off.

Time to hit the casino.  Err, I mean, time to up my 401k contribution from 5% to 7%.

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-05-29

Misc