Money ( #AtoZChallenge )

I had a dream where I found a lot of money in my house.    Then I woke up.  All day I was trying to think where that money was and how it got there in the first place...

Money Places

            One clutter problem that I wouldn't mind having more of is the money that gets strewn about a house.  Most of you probably have a similar situation of change thrown in drawers or other places.  Since I don't typically accumulate much change in my pockets, I don't have too many places where money ends up.  Most of my loose change is in a drawer where I toss it or in my van by the driver's seat. 

            A friend in Tennessee was telling me how he throws all of his change in coffee cans that he keeps in the kitchen.   He uses cash for everything and consequently always ends up with change.  He told me that once a year he empties the cans to take the change to the bank.   His last visit reaped him over $300 he said.   Maybe that isn't that bad of a way to save money

            If I could say that I had too much money laying around then apparently I'd be far wealthier than I am now.  Maybe it would have been a good idea to clutter my life with more pocket change and stray dollar bills.  I keep hoping that someday I'll find that secret stash of cash that I had forgotten about.   I don't think I'm going to find it, but if I do find it then I'll be a pretty happy fellow.   That is until I've spent it all and then I guess I'll still be happy just as though I had never found that forgotten treasure.

           Have you ever found a cache of money that you or someone else had hidden and forgotten?   Where do you tend to throw your loose change?    What is the most amount of change that you've ever cashed in at a bank or coin machine?  

As In Moving It Out

        Halloween is sometimes inspired by yard sales--especially this time of year as some of us start trying to decide how we or our kids are going to dress up for the festive occasion.  Just a stop at one of our local halloween retailers is sometimes enough to scare us more than any witch or monster when we see some of the costs involved with putting together a decent costume. The fact that most of the costume buying crowd is usually making a purchase for one time use means that there are a slew of people out there who have still reasonbly like new costume that they probably won't wear again. For those who don't just throw them away, pack them away, or donate them to some charity this often means Yard Sale merchandise. Thus today's topic is tossing it out as in moving it out the door so it doesn't have to take up space that can be used for other valuable junk.
       Today I had a Yard Sale.  Rather I should say I participated in a Giant Community Multi-Family Yard Sale.  Par for the course, we probably had 10 or so households participating out of a potential 113 households. This was less than we have usually have  had, but even at that participation in our accumulated junk liquidation ventures is usually less than exciting.  Nevertheless, partly in the spirit of community involvement, but mostly for the purpose of getting rid of crap (or "another man's treasure" as it is sometimes known), I try to be a part of the fun. So today I was up before dawn setting out tables and merchandise and then waited for the crush of bargain-hunters that were to come.  Except they didn't--not many at least.  By 11 AM I was packing everything after having sold about $25 worth of stuff -- worked out to less than minumum wage when I factor the time I put into it all.  At least I filled my trashcan and recycle bin with trash that I decided I could part with-- finally tossing it out.  And I did reorganize my garage so that now we can again fit one of our cars in it.  What a concept!  A car in the garage.  The morning was not in vain.
         So to what do I attribute the less than stellar outcome of our sale?  Signage was adequate.  The folks that scavenge the housecleaning of others by trolling the neighborhoods looking for yard sales found us easily by the signs.  What we lacked was effective outside advertising.  We had decided to save advertising expense and forego The PennySaver, where we had found a modicum of success in the past, and of course, at least in L.A., advertising in the classifieds of the newspaper is about as effective as attaching a message to a helium balloon and hoping that someone finds it and tells everybody they know.  To save money we posted an announcement on Craigslist.
        In the past few weeks preceding my yard sale I have been posting items to sell on Craigslists with a fairly good level of success.  Craigslist is kind of like the world's biggest yard sale except that you don't have to stand outside with your stuff.  You just put it on the site and if someone's interested you make arrangements to get together with them.  Sure there is the creepy factor, but if you're careful I think you're okay.  I have people come to my house to pick things up; I insist on cash payment; I don't let anybody come inside my house, but transact everything in my driveway out in the open; and I don't allow anyone to come after dark.  I was a bit uneasy about dealing with strangers in this manner, but actually the people who have bought stuff from me have been pretty nice and just hand me what I've asked for something with no haggling.
Very much like a yard sale by appointment only.  So advertising a Yard Sale on Craigslist is kind of like advertising a yard sale at someone else's yard sale.  Maybe some readers have had some experience with posting your yard sales on Craigslist and found it to be effective.  I'd love to hear your experiences with this and what you did that made it effective.
       As I have been dealing with Craigslist, I have been looking at some of the postings and noticing that a lot of people are selling those old Halloween costumes that they have in their closets.  And cheap when you compare them to store pricing.  For example, there seem to be a lot of the sexy Leg Avenue costumes that you find in stores for $50 to $100 or more selling used for $5 to $50.  I'm pretty sure that they are usually almost like new and if you go to buy you can check them out and you're not obgligated to take it if it's not to your liking.  Likewise, I have noticed in many of the yard sale postings at this time of year people are advertising Halloween costumes.  I know I've sold them in the past very cheaply and somebody got a heck of a deal.  And didn't sell trash either.  Those of you who are already committed thriftshoppers, Craigslist junkies, or yard sale buyers know the advantages of this kind of buying, especially for something as ephemeral as Halloween.  And it's not just limited to traditional costumes either.  Make your own costumes with some of the retro fashions, hats, cheap baubles, or other accessories that you can often find for virtually pennies.  Don't throw away a fortune on a costume for one time use.  These are tough times for many and this calls for drastic measures.  And  even if times aren't tough for you, I'm sure you can find some better ways to spend your hard earned dollars.
      As always, if any of you have any experiences to relate, or suggestions, or debate to the contrary please toss it back.  We'd love to hear from you.