Katwoman's Personal Finance Blog

I'm going to try a few things for this challenge; here they are:

I love thrift stores and I have sold some of my things at a consignment store so why not combine the two? Yesterday, I was thrift store shopping and came across two very nice pieces of clothing that were not my taste, but would have appeal to the consignment store patrons. It was not my intention to buy clothes with this thought in mind, but then I figured, hey, I'm here shopping anyway so why not? The decision became even easier when the signs posted had 50% the ticketed price of certain colored tags. So for $5.50 total, I bought a Harve Bernard linen dress and a Liz Clairborne microfiber blouse. Both pieces are washable, although that linen dress is gonna need some ironing!

The dress will probably sell for $25 and the blouse $12. The consignment store and I split the profits.

As long as I stick to designer brands, casual work attire, and washable items this should work out nicely.

Some of you may have read in my Journal that I'm going organic this year and have found a store in Chicago with a once a week pickup of boxed organic produce. Although the store is well out of my way, I've thought of combining the weekly trip with thrift store shopping in that area. This way I can devote one day every week to this aspect of the challenge and justify the gas expense!


Something else I'm going to do is sell items on ebay. Last fall I found ovulation microscopes at a closeout store for 25 cents. These sell for $25 on Amazon. Now I have to figure out a way to list and sell these on eBay.

And as some of you have already discovered, selling books is another good way to go.

Good luck to all!

Hi all! Glad to be adding my entries since I've enjoyed reading most of yours!

It never fails that at the end of each year I come up with new dragons to slay for the next year. The groundwork gets laid at this time so that the goals are up and running, at the latest, by the first of the year.

In 2004 it was credit repair.
In 2005 it was couponing and budgeting.
For 2006 it's going to be investments and an emphasis on organic living. (As well as the $20 challenge)

So here's how I'm going to do it: For the investments, I've already commited myself to an investment club I found through a bank. This is exciting since I've been on the hunt for one for at least 3 years! The president of this club has an MBA and insists that every member do research and make presentations to the group. No slackers! The first meeting of the year is on Jan 12 at a public library. Can't wait!

Organic living - Been wanting to do this for some time and finally got around to actually looking at the organic produce at my local grocers as well as Whole Foods. Needless to say, they ask for BIG BUCKS! Some items are marked close to what the non-organic sells for so I would buy that, but it was not enough for a sustainable organic diet week to week. Plus, I'd go broke that way. So I did some googling and came up with www.greenpeople.org which has a state by state offering of organic grocers and CSA's. One of the grocers puts together boxes of fruit, veggies or a combo for $15! I picked the veggie box and have already prepaid the week. Will be picking up my first box on Wed. The CSA angle is a nice idea although much pricier. If I can get a garden up and running that would be the absolute best way to go. Nothing beats fresh and locally grown!

Something else that I've found is that Big Lots also has some organic non perishables for verry cheap! Muir Glen canned tomatoes for 49 cents. ShariAnn's organic veggie broth for 39 cents. I cleared out their shelves!

While the previous year goals were met, they are ongoing so from time to time I will be saying something about those as well.

Happy New Year to everybody and good luck with all your goals!