Budgeting, Planning, Decluttering.

Hi Frugal Gals and Guys,

I've been slowly working on my new 2013 budget and a updated 5 year plan. It's been a hard slog as it's hot here in the tropics and Australia in general. I've been lazy and procrastinating but it needs to be done NOW if I'm to get ahead and off the rat race merry go round.

The decluttering has also been a slow and painful process as I see use for everything however another bag left our home today and tonight I am busy listing Dolly's out grown clothes and other items on Gumtree and FB to bring in some extra pennies.

How are you doing with pinching extra money so far in 2013? Cutting back on anything? Selling anything? Working an extra job?

Would love to hear what you are up to.


Stephanie @ Frugal Down Under.

My Mini Market Stall

A couple of weeks ago I had a Market Stall at the Happy Yess selling my lovely preloved treasures. There were about 14 stalls on the day, lots of blankets, pillows, musicians playing good music and friends catching up. It was fun as usual and Dolly had a great time playing with children and hula hooping.

I brought home an extra $52 after all costs of stall and stock and spending from our profit tin on the local talent (cake, iced tea, balloon art, gift tags, badge, veggie burgers). We spent up because it was the 1st birthday of the market and I wanted to give back towards some of the stalls.

I've now placed this money in our travel jar, but Borneo may have to wait one more year for Dolly to be just a little bigger, as I don't have to carry her on a jungle trek.

Here are some picks of the day. Lovely quirky stalls and super friendly people. Feels like one big happy family.

My Stall - Vintage, Fashion, Quirky and Designer.

Multi skilled / Multi Tasking - Crafted Stickers

And, Ice Cold Herbal Tea

For The Sweet Toothed - Delish Cakes, Slices and Biscuits.

Buy Arts and Crafts to Support Creative Local Uni Students.

Funky, Kitchy and Eclectic Badges - Pick a Design, BYO or Choose a Ready Made.

Pat a Pet or Better Still Pull Out Some Cash and Take It Home to Love and Cherish.

If you live in the Darwin region, come to the Happy Yess Market at Darwin Visual Arts Centre on the 1st Sunday of every month and say hello. Bring your picnic and some blankets and enjoy the safe family friendly vibe.

Am I squeezing too much in my life (gardening, stall, blogging, frugal living) around my full time work? Yes definitely, but I don't want to give any of it up as they are enriching experiences, activities and skill building. I just need to find time to put my finances in order and clean my home. How about you? Are you doing too much too?

Goodbye September, Hello October!

September has been an expensive month for me. I've been loose with cash more then usual. I had a couple of big ticket items to pay for and big bills too. And worst of all I was lazy, which causes wastefulness and stress. 

Loose with Cash:

Ate at a nice restaurant with some girlfriends - $36 (This was a rare catch up with special friends)

Went to the cinema with partner and our daughter - $58. (There will be no next time at that price - If I really want to go, I'll search Australian Groupon or the likes for heavy discounts.)
Art for Dolly - $120. I've wanted to buy it for ages and really want to support artists. If no one had ever supported my partner he would not have been able to continue his passion of photography as a profession.

Big ticket items:

I purchased a mobile telephone plan at $29 a month for 2 years. (It was time I got a mobile and used it properly). 

Purchased a computer hard drive $79 and hard case to store it $10. (My USB stick wasn't enough anymore I needed a bigger storage device to share and transfer files).
4 new car tyres and wheel alignment. Our tyres were worn and dangerous $328.

Lazyness:

I didn't formalise my menu plan or stick to budget and have found it stressful many evenings with "what will we eat tonight" thoughts and wanting to get takeaway. I didn't bulk cook. I've become disorganised, wasting precious time.

Bills:

Paid Council Rates for 1 year for our flat - $ 1,107.00

Paid our 2 month Power and Water Bill - we reduced it by $30 since last time. We are below the national average, paid less then this time last year, but much higher then 2 years ago since the cost increase - $210.89

Paid our 3 month Unit Block - Body corporation fees and levy - $897.00

Welcome October!!! This will be my pick up my game month. Back to the menu planning and counting the pennies and looking at the bigger picture. (We have new windows being installed in November $12,000 - painful, but we have both saved weekly over 1 year for this). This is not a cosmetic or a luxury item to our flat. This is a need, as our present louvers, screens and frames are all loose, old, not to regulation and very dangerous.

Today I started by spending at my local op shop for a couple of sellables. I spent $40 and I hope to make a profit of over $50 after all costs. This is what I picked up: 

• 3 pairs of True Religion Jeans; 2 still have price tags ($240!) bought for $10 each -Sell $20 to $80 each?
• A preloved, like new silk top with owls for $6 that retailed for over $100 - sell $15 to $20? 
• Sweet girls Country Road top for $3 - sell $10 - $15?
• 2, 2010 vogue magazines for 50 cents each - sell $5 for both? (One of them has Aboriginal model Samantha Harris on the cover) If they don't sell I have someone in mind who will enjoy them.

Op Shop Goodies

After this we had sandwiches for lunch with our left over ham and bread. Then we spent 2 hours at our garden plot weeding, pruning, harvesting, placing a cheap water timer on the sprinkler and moving hay bales around. Here's a shot of my harvest basket. I've placed a fork next to the snake beans and winged beans for you to get an idea of the size.

Fresh Produce from my Garden

Tropical Snake Beans and Winged Beans

Lush Egglants.

I harvested:

• 7 egg plants, 
• basil, 
• lemon grass, 
• ginger, 
• snake beans, 
• winged beans, 
• brazilian spinach,
• red leaf spinach. 

We ended the day with our 4 year old Dolly making us a pizza each for dinner. She was so proud. Chapatis used for the base and covered with tomato sauce, cheese, ham, salami, capers, olives, basil and fresh tomato.

Our little Chef

Today was a great day. I loved spending time with my family in a non rushed manner. It was frugalistic and it will reward us in the next few weeks with fresh produce.

As for the decluttering to replace anything new stuff coming in. 

In:

• hard drive, 
• phone
• toy pram (FREE, from the footpath hard rubbish collection). 

Out:

• Going on Monday: 2 large Spanish learning books and CD for a friend, 
• Gone: 1 plastic toddler bike for a baby in the block of flats next to ours.

(I'm not including my sell stuff I purchased as this will be gone within 2 weeks)

In: Pram, mobile phone and hard drive/case. Out: 2 large books and CD.

Out: Toddlers Bike.

How was your spending in September? Any specific aims for October?

Tally of My Ebay Sales

Remember I was trying to make some extra cash for dinner with our 3 Parisian girls and us (3 adults and 1 child)?

The aim was $180 profit to pay the expected restaurant bill. Well I made $144.73 with sale of 7 sold and 2 unsold items after all fees. The restaurant bill was around $140.

Started the Auction at 99 cents and it sold for $31.

Purchased for 50 cents and sold for $20.50.

• 50's Vintage children's book .99 sold 1.00
• Ghan Pins 1.50 sold 9.99
• Wedgwood Pendant .50 cents, sold 20.50
• Vintage Scrabble Letters 1.00, sold $13.50
• Vintage 70's Napkin rings 3.00, sold .99 (loss)
• 1949 Children's book Rainy Day Activities 3.00, sold $31.00
• Federation era brooch 2.50, sold $99.99
• Mixed lot of vintage pins 1.50, unsold (loss)
• Raggedy Andy book 1.00, unsold (loss)

I'm really happy with my sales even thought some items didn't go as high as I expected. I aim to make $120 extra cash again in the next 2 weeks for a pair of sneakers. I will sell some of my clutter and also items bought in second hand stores to resell. The doctor told me to go walking for my injured back in proper sports shoes, so I need to go and by some new ones.

Have you earned yourself any extra money if a fun way?

A Happy Yess $50

I completed my laundry, watered my 2 plots, had my market stall and menu planned. But I'm too knackered to do my food shopping, that will have to wait until Monday or Tuesday night.

So.. at The Happy Yess market I made $50 after taking out;

• $150 float, 
• $12 stall fee, 
• $25 stock costs 
• $7 for 24 coat hangers and 
• $8 lebanese food from a fellow stall holder for The Rambling Expat, Dolly and myself. 

This is less then last time, however I set up too late, missing the 1st influx of willing customers who found nothing at my stall to tempt them. And this is still a hobby. Me playing around, dreaming of the "what if's..."

Clothes Rack, Bookshelf and Card Table.

Dolly made $7 on a soft toy and a pair of outgrown shoes. She spent $2 on gingerbread men another stall holder was selling. Leaving her $5 to divide into 3 equal parts. As this would prove difficult I slipped an extra 10 cents into her pile of coins. And this is what my 4 year old did on her own with a brain foggy with exhaustion. (Proud Mama here.)

Dolly Positioning her Money.

$1.70 placed into each container;

• short term (spending, lollies, toys), 
• medium short term (horse?), 
• long term (home?).

And this is my $50 :-)

Let the Good Times Roll

• $25 will go into our travel fund (Borneo?)
• $25 into my garden plot jar as I need to purchase a timer for water irrigation.

I really wanted to try and squeeze another market in somewhere else last month but felt too shy. However another stall holder has given me her number and we may go together and cheer each other on. I just have to go and spend my $25 "stock money" on another op shopping spree to prepare my next stall.

Did you sell or swap anything this month?
What do you get your kids to do with their money?

So Much to Chat About!!!

Thanks for all you wonderful comments about the Sustainable Living Festival and the dehydrator. I'm still buzzing from the excitement of it all and my weekend continued to be a hive of activity and will continue to be busy for the rest of this week.

Yesterday Dolly and I had another fun day at the Happy Yess Market. The market is growing into a very friendly atmosphere of hanging and chatting. People spend the day lying around in the grass making new friends. The Happy Yess Moles created a dress up area for young and old alike. Dolly had a fabulous time dressing in a feather boa and thick furry russia type hat in the tropical heat. She also did some hoola hooping with a skilled woman and painting with a environmental activists. My Dolly is a non stop chatterbox and I am so grateful the adults at the market accept her energy, encourage her creativity, play and chat with her.

Profit wise I made $73.50 (after taking out $26 stock, $14 stall and $8 lunch) selling my lovely goodies. Once again nothing to quit my job over but it's just so much fun hunting down gorgeous stuff and having a stall with it. It's like playing shop when your a kid. Anyway... $70 has gone into our Borneo Trip jar (to place into my online high interest account) and $3.50 into my jar for the garden plot. I also sold a 1950's crystal glass necklace for $30 that I purchased in a antique shop 6yrs ago for $30. So I popped that straight into my purse and did not count it in my sales.

Australian notes made of plastic - perfect for the beach.

Dolly made $7.50, selling ice cups, toys and a pair of outgrown shoes. Which I will help her divide into her 3 money jars;

• Saving long term for her future (home deposit?)
• Saving medium term for something special (Horse?)
• Money for spending (books, toys, frills and lollies)

Another four longggggg weeks until the next Happy Yess market. BooHoo. I'm thinking of maybe trying to squeeze another market stall in elsewhere as the weather is perfect and marketeering is so much fun. I'll need to spend another $25 on new stock. What FUN.. I still have plenty of stock left too. I only sold the Mazi skirt so far from last weeks stock.

Did any of you get stuff up on Ebay, Community Notice Boards, Gumtree, Graigslist, LETS, Swap, Barter or even Freecycle this week?

Overspent Again on Op Shopping

I purchased some items for my Happy Yess market stall coming up this Sunday. My budget was $25 but I spent $36 for the market stall and $10 on myself.

This is what I purchased for the market:

6 books at 50 cents each - $3
1 vogue magazine Oct 2010 - $1
Leather Colorado handbag - $6
Mazi skirt with vintage look flowers $6 (new skirts go for $59 to $89)
Brand new with tags, Joe and Paul Sister, silk top $8 (Retailed $240!)
Baby ring sling $4 (These retail for $25 to $35)
Pretty white cotton lace dress $5
Watch $3 (May have been an silly purchase as it needs a battery and I don't know if I can change it myself)

For me:
Edith Piaf 2 CD box set $6
Gorgeous book on paper crafts $4

2nd Hand Goodies.

As I was taking this photograph someone saw the Colorado handbag and bought it. I didn't want to make a profit from her but she insisted on giving me $10. A $4 profit that paid off the baby ring sling. I'm now down to $26 purchased for the market which is on Sunday. Therefor only $1 over budget... Yay :-)

As for the "me" purchases, once I've enjoyed the book and tried making some of the crafts I will sell it on at the market. The Edith Piaf CD may also go if I already have all the songs.

With secondhand shops selling such great items, I find there really isn't any reason to purchase items new. And if I was slim I would have fun dressing up in beautiful dresses everyday for a pittance.

What a crazy society we have become discarding items so readily. Do you buy new or are you green and frugal opting to only purchase others discarded lovelies?

I Made Some Sales and Talked About Being Green and Frugal

Hello,

It's been a long time since I've last blogged and I've had so much to talk about...

On Friday I received a call from the Happy Yess Moles telling me that there was a groovy concert with 20 bands playing and a small bazaar on Saturday. If I wanted a stall all I had to do was pay the $25 concert fee. Never to miss local talent, fun times and save/make a buck in the process I said "Yes Please!"

I had already spent my $25 stock budget for the month but since this was a special event I headed out early and hit 3 op shops in 3 hours. I bought clothes, jewellery and accessories for a mixed concert going crowd and spent $51.

Then raced home, cleaned some of it and priced it all, loaded the car and arrived at The Happy Yess venue in time for the 3pm start. My mum kindly picked up Dolly at 6pm for a sleep over as the concert had a 1am finish. I was in for the long haul and all the fun.

My 1st sale of the evening was to this amazing musician.

I had a really good time meeting old friends, making new friends and chatting to lots of people about how I personally action being frugal and eco. People were interested, which is very cool.

There were only 5 stalls (including me)! One was a illustrator Click here to see her amazing work :-) Another was a jewellery maker creating cool stuff out of plumber rings and ionised aluminium. Another sold reggae T-shirts and the last sold vintage clothing. And then there was me selling a mixture of vintage and modern trash and treasure. I think we were a good small mixed group.

3 stalls side by side in one of the 3 concert areas.

So how did I go with the selling of my lovely second hand finds, you ask.....

I came home with $140.50. But after taking out my costs of 76$ Stock & 25$ Entry fee, I was left with a profit of $39.50, sure nothing to quit my job over, but I was super happy never-the-less as I really enjoyed myself and didn't dig into my early retirement savings for the concert. Plus I still have plenty of stock for the regular market next week. I'll purchase another $25 of lovelies this week as I am back down to 0$ stock costs.

I'm putting my small profits into plants for my garden plot and the fruits of my labour will grow interest with lovely sustainable fruit & veggies ;-)

Have you sold anything or enjoyed a event without digging into your savings lately?

10 Days Off - Day 10 Sunday 01/05

Today was my fun fun fun Happy Yess Market Day!!!

It was a slow day with not many customers or visitors. I think too many things were on in Darwin on the same day. Also because of the long weekend many of them were probably camping or travelling too.

But I made a small profit of $46, spent $4 on cold drinks leaving me $42 which I am placing in our Borneo Holiday fund.

Hey Hey... Scary Market Matron.

Sorry about the photo. (Thanks Rambling Expat.) I look life I'm scowling (I have the sun in my eyes). I also presented my stall much better then in this shot, by hanging all my cutest clothing against the window screens. And what's with the stomach pushed out? I could have stood up straight and held it in somewhat. I'm wearing my floaty silky $2 scarf-dress, my $6 sandals, $1 cardi, $4 chunky turquoise necklace, $1 headband and expensive glasses. I look like a scary matron...

Anyway lets move on... Dolly sold a pair of outgrown shoes for $4 and a toy for $1. With her $5 she purchased herself a wand... as all happy fairies do.

But latter in the afternoon everything became dramatic as Dolly stepped on sharp plastic with her bare foot, she screamed and bled. I ran to her pushing everyone out of my way as all crazy mums do. Thankfully one of the market visitors was a nurse and patched her up with a 1st Aid kit. The Rambling Expat then took Dolly to the hospital where they cleaned the wound of dirt embedded deep and patched the wound with "magic purple glitter" glue and strips instead of stitches. Her foot is bandaged up and now she needs to not walk on it for a few days.

I'm giving a Shout Out to my friend Kelly who has lent us a stroller to get Dolly from A to B. And a Big Thank You to the wonderful nurse who saved the day. To Merle for helping me pack up my stall. And another Thank You to all my amazing neighbours who always pitch in and help when disaster strikes. Great support always makes things easier, happier and frugalistic!

The hospital services were free so all I spent for the day was $4 for the cold drinks at the market as I just couldn't quench my thirst. But I do have my eye on some gorgeous locally made jewellery, paper dolls and prints. It's local and I want to support local instead of global mass produced stuff.

Have you been selling any of your clutter or thrifty finds this year?

Happy Happy Happy at the Happy Yess

I had such fun at the Happy Yess Market. I loved the market venue and people!!! It was full of like-minded people who enjoy preloved stuff, worry about the environment and look different then a Target catalogue shoot.

I came home with 144$ after the 10$ fee. I had spent 145$ on preloved goodies. So I'm 1 buckaroo short. However I still have lots of lovely stock (for Ebay, Fishpond and Yess) so those sales will become my gravy money which I can place into my different projects and savings.

My Stall - sales were already made.

Now that I have seen and experienced the venue, I have ideas to make my stall look prettier next time as it looks poorly and sad-ish. I also want to prevent people having to bend down to look at my goodies. But it's all a learning curve and a work in progress, so stay tuned.

New ideas on how to spice it up.

What did we spend on, at the market? We bought a cup cake $4 and non-rum-ball .50 cents (Yum!!) and Dolly did a card making activity $1. Plus she did some free Hoola Hooping and ran around driving everyone crazy with her VERY LOUD shrieking happy voice.

Dolly and the Hoola Hoop Lesson.

In the background behind Dolly is I Love Lamp's stall with lots of lovely vintage gear, knick-knacs and jewels. A stall with a huge amount of style.

Wonderful Re-purposed trash.

My stall neighbour had the most gorgeous stuff made from trash. Bracelets made from bike tubes, gift bags made from newspapers, bowls made from old records. Click on image above to enlarge and see her talent. Very inspiring stuff.

New Happening Place for those sick of the usual.

Darwin doesn't have a preloved and local crafts treasure market. So I think this will work as people are sick of the usual unfair-trade stuff that fills the other markets.

And what a venue!!! Lots of grass to lie around in and enjoy each other company.

Are you a fan of markets??? Do you ever have a stall or boot sale?

I Sold A Book.

I have about 70 books listed on Fishpond, but this year I've only sold 2 books so far! My prices are a fraction of the Retail Price and most of my books are in "new, near new or very good" condition but it's been slow.

I think people are starting to move away from books on paper as they join the Kindle ranks. Also book sellers like to Book Depository just make it hard to compete against as prices are very low and they have free shipping. Individual sellers like me flipping a handful of books to build up the holiday fund are just a spec of dust in mountains of reading options available worldwide.

For now I'm not going to purchase too many books to flip online as they take up valuable real estate in my home. So unless I know they're a sure thing, a current academic text book or a book I must read/have, I will be leaving them in the op-shop.

The book I sold this week brought a profit of $17.48 to go to our Borneo holiday fund. It was a Signed Copy of Due Inheritance by Ted Egan in new condition, out of stock in most online stores. I purchased it for only .50 cents!

Here are 3 books I purchased last week for the total sum of $4.00. I think they are a sure thing (I sold a copy of the Diversity book within 24 hours last year) and I hope to read them before they sell online or at my market stall.

Books with Brain at Bargain Prices.

And today I purchased these great 8 books at a local op-shop for a total of $20.

Popular Reads, Near New Condition.

They were $2.50 each. A bit on the expensive side for me but I feel they will sell well at my market stall next weekend. The book "The Man Who Never Sleeps" has docket inside it's pages. It was purchased for $20 just 6 weeks ago at a local university - and it's in new condition!

I did a lot of buying today as I restocked for my market stall but prices were high. I'll shoot photo's of my new stock in the next few days and let you see my goodies.

I once had this Michael Jackson book that I picked up for 50 cents and had no idea it was valuable collectible. Once I read it, I gave it away to an acquaintance. I hope she didn't toss it as she could have done with some extra cash.

Are you a hard copy book lover? Buy them, Borrow them, Beg them? Or are you moving with the times and reading ebooks.

Do you hoard books to gather dust or do you give them/sell them on?
What is the future of books?

I'm interested in your thoughts....

Saturday Op Shopping Finds

Hello Lovers of Thrift,

I went to my local Op shop with my 3 year old daughter and found some great goodies to feed my consumer wants and needs.

My Total Spend = $8.50.

I bought a Pumpkin Patch tracksuit for Dolly for $8.00, it's super soft and warm. This is a purchase for our trip to France. It will be so cold and winter! Due to us living in the tropics we don't own much warm clothing. I need to build up 3 sets of clothing for her. I am relying heavily on family in France to lend us other winter clothes when we arrive.

I also purchased a novel in Spanish to gift a Columbian friend for 50 cents. Bargain and unusual find.

Warm Tracksuit and Spanish Read.

My daughter Dolly also made a purchase with her own money: Total Spend $6.00

Dolly purchased a beautiful rocking unicorn for the inexpensive sum of $6.00. She should be able to flip this and get her money back once she had outgrown it.

Rock My Unicorn

I also picked up a couple books (Perfume), tops and vintage Dollies to flip on Ebay. I'll see if I have any luck.

Did you go op shopping (thrifting) recently? Any fun finds? Were they needs or wants?

In thrifty solidarity,

Stephanie @ Frugal Down Under.