Disneysteve's Common Cents Blog

I posted about this on the forums, but wanted to elaborate here. I have sold books on half.com for some time and it really seems to go in waves. I'll sell nothing for weeks and weeks and then all of a sudden, I'll have a slew of sales.

Last Sunday night, I listed 9 copies of a medical book I had gotten doing surveys online. By Friday, all 9 copies had sold. Not only that, but since then, 2 other books that I had listed weeks ago also sold. So that's 11 sales in 8 days.

For those who have books lying around that you don't need, this is a simple place to try and sell them. There is no cost unless the item sells. Half.com handles all the details and collects from the buyer and sends you a payment on your account twice each month automatically. It is much simpler than ebay.

For the newbies - I'm a physician and get to do a lot of online surveys. They pay pretty well though they can be rather boring and tedious to complete. I tend to go through phases where I do everyone I get invited to and then slack off and fall off track. I'm trying to get back on track now.

My total survey income for August was $171 which is lousy but it reflects the period where I was slacking off. I'm hoping September will be much better.

I also do some surveys or e-details that "pay" me with some medically relevant item like a textbook, anatomic model, etc. When I get those, I generally try and sell them on half.com or ebay. I just made a sale on half.com today for $7.95 but I'll count that in September when I actually receive the money.

4 days from now, we'll be on the road on our way to Disney World! We'll leave Friday afternoon, hopefully by 3pm. We'll drive until about 10pm or so and stop for the night. We'll get back on the road about 8am Saturday morning and arrive at our rental house in Kissimmee by around 6pm if all goes smoothly.

Then we'll have two whole weeks to enjoy ourselves. We've been to Disney World many, many times but one thing we've never done is gone for 2 weeks. We're looking forward to having time to do some stuff we don't usually do. We have tickets to see Cirque du Soleil. We plan to do an airboat ride in the swamp and lots of other fun stuff besides all the usual Disney stuff.

I'll be online the whole time so I'll post reports.

I admit it. I've failed at my own challenge. At the beginning of the year, I posted the ebay challenge, to have average monthly sales of $100. I got off to a strong start as you can see on my sidebar. Then I just dropped off to nothing.

So now I'm determined to get back on track. We leave for vacation on Friday and when I get back, I'm getting back to business. I just figured out that I need to earn $625.27 by the end of the year to have my monthly average be $100. I've got 4 months so that's $156.32/month. That's a challenge, for sure, but I'll do my best. Before, I was usually listing 5 items per week. I'll have to do more than that to reach my goal.

Edited to correct "5 items per month" to "5 items per week".

I kind of fell out of the blogging habit and I realize I didn't do my usual monthly post about my survey income, so I thought I'd post now and update the last 3 months.

Along with not blogging, I also got off track yet again with doing surveys. I blame Facebook and that darn poker game. It is totally addictive.

Anyway, for the newbies, I'm a doctor and get to do a lot of medical surveys and market research programs, mostly online. They are fairly tedious and boring but pay quite well. These are not open to the general public, though I do also do Opinion Place and Pinecone (and those earnings are included in these totals).

May 2009: $227.00
June 2009: $426.00
July 2009: $160.00

So May wasn't too terrible. June was very good and then July was lousy. I know $160 sounds like a lot of money, but trust me, it isn't. Just this morning, I did one survey for $125 and that is not unusual, so making only $160 for an entire month means I really didn't pay attention to most offers that came through my in box. I'm trying to do better again. August should be decent though there is a bit of a lag between when I do them and when I get the money.

ETA: Today alone, I've gotten faxed invitations to 3 surveys: $30, $55 and $60. That's in addition to the $125 survey I did via an e-mail invitation earlier today. As I said, the pay is good, but sometimes the volume of surveys gets overwhelming and I shut down and don't do them for a while. Then I realize how stupid it is to be throwing away money like that.

Several months ago (January, I think) I posted an entry entitled, "Our house is falling apart."

Six months later, we've fixed several things on that list, though not all of them. In the meantime, a few new ones have cropped up.

We had to have our oven repaired not long ago. I went to bake pizzas one night and the oven warmed up but didn't get to anywhere close to 450 degrees, so we ended up with warm but not fully cooked pizza. When the repairman came out, he was able to fix it but advised us that it is 20 years old and it probably won't last much longer.

We've had a recurring problem with carpenter ants and have had the house treated a few times over the years. This being ant season, they came back last week. The exterminator came out and retreated but discovered some moisture damage in the wall where the paneling is bowing and cracking. So now we need to have a contractor come out, rip out that paneling, see what kind of damage exists behind it and fix whatever needs to be fixed.

Now, our stovetop, which is just as old as the oven, is on the fritz. I was helping DD cook some potstickers last night and even though the burner was only set on medium, it got red hot and burned the food.

So it looks like we need to go shopping for a new oven AND stovetop. Oh, and replacing the oven means having the contractor rebuild the wall (it is a built-in model) because our oven is 26" and the standard now is 27" so it won't fit where the current one is. Also, the current unit is a combined oven and microwave (that died a couple of years ago) so we want to rebuild the wall to fit a new oven and build a cubby to put our free-standing microwave and get it off our countertop (that will be nice). Besides, we've always hated our stovetop. It has 4 burners, 2 small and 2 large, but they are too close together so you can't actually have 4 decent size pots going at the same time. I'm sure the end result will be a more functional kitchen, but we just weren't planning on spending any big bucks on renovations at this point in time.

Oh well, such is life.

Hi. I haven't blogged much lately. Just haven't felt like it. Thought I'd report on a nice casino trip today, though.

My wife and I went to Harrah's Chester for a few hours. A few days ago, I had a dream that I was at a casino and won $4,500 on a slot machine. Now I'm not into supernatural stuff or astrology or any of that nonsense, so I didn't take the dream as any kind of omen or sign that I had to go gamble, but we went anyway.

While I didn't win $4,500, I did win pretty much every thing I played. I played video blackjack, video poker, video roulette and slots. I won at all of them, though shortly before leaving I played poker a 2nd time and lost what I had initially won. Surprisingly, I did best on the slot machine (usually blackjack is my most successful game). In two session on the same machine, I won a total $98.00.

For the trip all together, I won $174.50. My wife ended up behind, but not that much, so we were still ahead for the day, had fun, had a nice lunch and stopped at our favorite bakery on the way home for a special treat.

I realize I haven't blogged for a while. Just haven't been in the mood. I thought I should post that I just sent in the final 2009 contributions to our ROTHs so each is fully funded for $5,000.

Now I need to decide what to do with that portion of our savings for the rest of the year. I think it is all going to go to build up our cash reserve. The list of home repairs that need to be done is growing steadily and we really need to start tackling some projects so I want to start setting aside money.

I realized today I hadn't done my monthly post about survey income. For the newbies, I'm a physician and get to do various online surveys on medical topics. I also do Pinecone and Opinion Place.

For April, I earned $433 from surveys. Not my best month. Not my worst month. Solidly in the middle of the road. I haven't been keeping up with all the invites lately (damn Facebook poker - LOL) and need to get back on track. I fall off the wagon now and then.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

I just sent another $680 to my wife's Roth account. That brings us to $3,550 for the year. I also just checked our checking account and both our state and federal refunds were deposited on Friday. That money will also be going to the Roths. That's about another $4,000. Once I transfer that, I'll post again and update my total.

A few days ago, I posted that I was only at $65.46 for the month and wasn't sure I'd make my monthly goal of $100. I should have been more optimistic.

My last 5 auctions for the month ended today. Four of five sold, bringing in $66.97.

That brings my total for the month to $132.43. My total year-to-date is now $516.50.

I didn't list anything today, so I haven't started on April yet. And half.com has been dead for me lately. I've got a dozen books listed but haven't sold anything for weeks.

I usually don't update my ebay progress until Wednesday or Thursday since my auctions end Wednesday night, but I'm excited about how this week is going.

Last post, I said I was struggling to make my goal for the month. I listed 5 more items on Wednesday night and a couple were a bit higher priced than my average items.

As of right now, all 5 have watchers (between 1 and 4 watchers per item) and 2 items have bids ($9.99 and $19.99). That brings me to at least $95.44 for the month and I still have 2 more days before they end. If I get just one bid on any of the 3 remaining items, that will put me over $100 for the month (or if the bids I already have get increased by at least $4.56). So it looks like I should hit the goal (or fall short by less than $5) for March.

I'll report the final numbers Wednesday night. Also, I will list more items then, but they'll end in April, so this batch is my last shot for March.

Today was a spending day, but a fun one.

My daughter has attended theatre camp the past 2 summers and will do so again this summer. This year's show is "Dear Edwina" which none of us was familiar with. I happened to be browsing at Theatermania.com last weekend and discovered that the show is currently playing off-Broadway. We decided to go so I ordered tickets for today.

We just went for the day as we were busy last night and are busy tomorrow. We got to NY about 10am, parked at the Port Authority and set off on foot in the direction of the theater (at 4th and 15th, across from Union Square). I wasn't sure if we'd walk the whole way because my daughter hurt her knee a couple of days ago. I figured if we needed to, we could hop in a cab or on the subway. We took our time as we were in no hurry and had time to kill. At 23rd street, we stopped for lunch in a nice Greek diner. That gave her a chance to rest her leg, too. From there, we continued on our way.

We stopped in a drug store across from Union Square to buy snacks for the theatre and headed over to wait for the show.

The show was cute and well done. The cast was great. If you have middle school or older elementary school kids, it is good for that age group. In fact, there was a middle school group that filled 6 or 8 rows of seats behind us (theater only sat 99 people) and they all sounded like they were enjoying the show.

We did not walk back to the car. We got on the subway right at Union Square and rode it back to 42nd street. Then we headed home. Normally, we'd hang out in the city, but since DD couldn't walk that well and had already trudged from 41st and 8th to 15th and 4th, I thought she had done more than enough for one day.

Money wise, it wasn't the cheapest of days, but we all love the theatre and don't get to shows nearly as often as we'd like. Here's a rough tally of what we spent.

Tickets: $88.00
Parking: $28.00
Lunch: $45.00
Snacks: $6.00
Tolls: $20.00
Gas: $13.00
____________
Total: $200.00

It was well worth it and is sure cheaper than if we had seen a Broadway show. One ticket would have cost more than all 3 tickets to this show.

I have 2 auctions end tonight bringing in another $9.49. That brings me up to $65.46 for March so far.

I just listed 5 more items on ebay. I'm struggling a bit this month but hoping I can still pull it out and hit $100. It is starting to look like meeting this challenge is going to be harder than I thought unless I bring in some new merchandise. I'm hoping that when I clean the garage more, I'll dig up some more stuff to sell. Plus I'm hoping that yard sale season helps out.

Just a quick update.

I've got 4 active auctions that end on Wednesday.

2 have bids totaling $8.98.

I went into the basement earlier to pack an item and was struck by the amount of empty space on some of the shelves where I store my inventory. Since starting back on ebay in November, I've sold quite a few items including several that were on the larger side. Also, any items that went unsold are now in the garage waiting for a yard sale. It is really starting to show down there. Perhaps this week, I'll spend a little time reorganizing down there to condense stuff. I'll probably find some good stuff to list in the process. All part of the decluttering process. There is a lot of stuff in the basement (not ebay merchandise) that needs to be stored more neatly, so clearing space in the ebay area will help.

I just sent $720 to my Roth account. That brings our 2009 contributions to $2,870. Only $7,130 to go.

Today turned out to be a good day moneywise.

I bought Bank of America stock a few weeks ago for $5/share. It proceeded to drop as low as $2.53 before recovering a bit. With this week's rally, it started climbing. I put in a limit order to sell half my shares (250 of 500) if the price hit $5.75 which it did today. I made $187.50 profit (minus $14 commission) so a net profit of $173.50. I'm going to hold onto the other 250 shares for a while and see what happens.

I also went to do my taxes today. My accountant is up the street from the casino. Ironic, I suppose, but he was there many years before the casino came along. I stopped in for about half an hour and played a little blackjack. I started with $200 and left with $225, so that was a quick 12.5% return on my investment.

So all together, I earned about $200 today that I wasn't expecting.

I had 3 auctions end today. One sold for $17.00. That brings my March total to $55.97.

I listed 4 new items today and still had 1 active item for a total of 5 auctions running.

ETA: Just 2 hours after listing, I already have a bid on 1 item, so that's at least another $3.99 that will come in next week, if not more.

There is a shelf under my printer that has been jammed full of computer manuals, books and magazines that I never, ever use at all. It finally occurred to me that it was a total waste of space. A couple of weeks ago, I checked half.com and amazon to see if any of the books were worth selling. None were. Tonight, I pulled off all of the magazines and put them in the recycling bin. I'm going to put the books in with the stuff for Goodwill. I'll keep the manuals because I think I should, even though I will still never look at them again.

Once I do that, I'll take all the various computer papers that are piled on the floor and organize them on that shelf, which will open up that floor space and make the room look a bit neater.

I sold two items to someone online (not through ebay) for $18.98, so that brings my March total to $38.97. It is going kind of slow this month compared to the last two months, but I haven't listed as much. I have 4 active ebay auctions. No bids yet, but 2 have watchers.

I'm looking forward to yard sale season which should be starting up shortly around here. I'm hoping to have a yard sale in late April or early May. I also like going to other sales where I often find items to resell for a profit.

Or at least I started to clean the garage. It is NOT a one-day endeavor. It is more of a lifelong challenge. LOL.

The temp rose into the 60s today - actually may have broken 70 - so I took advantage of the nice weather and spent a few hours in the garage. I made some progress, though there is certainly still much to be done. I broke down a bunch of cardboard boxes that went into the recycling bin. I filled a couple of trash bags. I got rid of some boxes from things that I just don't need to save anymore, like our laptop that we've had for 4 years or the CD player that we've also had for years. No reason to save the boxes anymore and they were taking up a lot of shelf space that can be used for stuff we actually need. I also moved some boxes from the floor area onto open space on one shelving unit. And, I packed up a few things to donate to Goodwill - stuff that we've tried to sell at least twice at yard sales without success. I didn't make it to Goodwill today but maybe later this week I'll run that stuff over. I also found one item that I put on ebay this evening, so I may even make a few bucks out of the cleaning effort.

I haven't had anything to update for a week because I haven't had anything listed for sale. I just finished listing 3 items and sending a second chance offer on a 4th (something that I had a duplicate of).

I sent the 2nd chance offer at 7:04pm. I got an e-mail at 7:20pm that it has sold. Well, that was certainly easy. So I can add $19.99 to my challenge total. That's the first sale for March and puts me 20% of the way toward my $100/month goal.

I was also contacted the other day by a buyer who was interested in an item that I had previously listed and not sold. He also asked if I had any other similar items. I have 2 others and he may be interested in all 3. I sent him prices and photos and I'm waiting to hear back from him. If he buys all 3, that would be another $26.00, so I'm hoping he follows through.

No half.com sales lately. I'm going to check my inventory tonight and see if any prices need adjusting.

I want to keep on top of the ebay stuff to meet my goal for the year. I just agreed to take a leadership position at my synagogue. That will start July 1 and I'll have less free time after that so I want to sell as much as I can in the first half of the year to be sure and meet the $1,200 goal.

For the newbies - I'm a family practice physician. I have the opportunity to participate in a variety of online (and occasionally in-person) surveys for which I am well compensated. These are for doctors only, not available to the general public.

For the month of February, I earned $490 from surveys which was a nice total. It had dropped off a few months back because I wasn't keeping on top of all the invites I get, but I've been sticking with it better.