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Archive for April, 2009

More Decluttering and Ebay Stuff

April 18th, 2009 at 07:51 pm

Today is a beautiful spring day, the first we've really had this year. I spent a couple of hours attacking the disaster area we call our garage. I managed to make some progress, get rid of some trash, put some stuff in the recycling bin and condense some of what remains. I also made a trip to the Goodwill donation center with 3 boxes containing 3 sets of dishes, 1 box of children's books and 1 old computer monitor. That cleared some space in the garage.

I also located a number of items that I will list on ebay, hopefully starting tomorrow. So my decluttering may yield some cash, too, and help my ebay challenge numbers. We'll see.

Ebay Challenge Update 4/15

April 15th, 2009 at 10:11 pm

I finally got back to ebay this week. I had 4 items ready to list (photographed, descriptions written) but when I did a quick search, I discovered that 2 of the 4 weren't worth listing. They don't sell well or bring enough to be worth trying. I did list the other 2 items. As of right now, both have bids ($9.99 and $7.99) so I will be adding a minimum of $17.98 to my April total. I will be out tonight and tomorrow night so the soonest I can list anything else is Saturday or Sunday. I'll probably try and prep a few things on Saturday and list on Sunday. I probably won't hit the $100 goal this month unless I can dig up some good stuff to sell next week or I get some more half.com sales.

$1,000 to the Roths

April 12th, 2009 at 03:28 pm

I transferred $1,000 to my wife's Roth last night. This is part of the tax refund money. I haven't sent all of that money in yet because I ended up lending my mom some money. Her taxes ended up being more than expected due to some investment gains and it made more sense for us to lend her the money rather than her having to cash out some other investment. We'll get it back in a couple of weeks when a CD matures. Then that money ($1,500) will go to the Roths also. Plus, the remainder of the tax refund will go shortly.

That puts us at $5,165 to the Roths YTD so we're over the half-way point. My goal is always to max them in the first half of the year so we are right on track.

Fixed the front door today

April 12th, 2009 at 02:16 am

A couple of days ago, I went to lock the front door deadbolt and when I turned the knob, nothing happened. The knob turned but the bolt didn't move. I'm no home improvement whiz but I knew that wasn't what was supposed to happen. Fortunately, the door has 2 locks so I didn't have to rush right out and fix it.

When we first installed that door, we put in a better quality (more expensive) lock set. I don't remember exactly when that was, but it was somewhere around 8 years ago. I certainly expected it to last a lot longer than 8 years given what it cost. When I took it apart, I saw the problem. The metal ring around the shaft had just broken apart. So much for better quality.

I stopped at Home Depot today and bought a basic set. If the more costly ones aren't going to hold up any better than the cheaper ones, why spend the extra bucks. This one doesn't feel quite as nice in your hand, but big deal. It will do the job and if it breaks in a few years, I won't feel like I got ripped off.

Ebay Challenge Update 4/9

April 9th, 2009 at 09:04 pm

I haven't posted an update recently mainly because I had nothing to say. I haven't listed on ebay for 2 weeks so I've gotten off-track with my challenge.

Fortunately, half.com, which had been dead for a couple of months, picked back up. I've sold 2 books this week. One for $4.25 and one for $29.99.

That gives me $34.24 for April.

I do have a few items ready to be listed on ebay and just haven't done it yet. Perhaps I'll actually get them on this weekend.

I'm ready for vacation

April 3rd, 2009 at 05:58 pm

Today is my last day of work until April 13. I always take off for the week that Passover begins because we have so much to do at home. Lots of cleaning, shopping and cooking. So it isn't a vacation in the "sit on the beach and relax" sense, but it is time away from the office. It also gives me a few days when I can actually sleep past 7am. We've really been on a treadmill of activity lately so I'm looking forward to the break in routine, even if there is still a lot of work involved while I'm off. Plus, after Wednesday, the work will be done and I'll have a few days to actually relax.

So I'll wish an early Happy Passover to my Jewish friends and Happy Easter to those of you who celebrate that.

March Survey Total

April 1st, 2009 at 02:49 pm

Quick recap: I'm a family practice physician and I get to do various medical surveys and market research programs for doctors only. Most are online. Occasionally, they are by phone or in person.

March 2009 was a very good month. I earned $629 from surveys. My wife also got $20 from MySurvey.