A frugal sale. . . .

Well, that was more work than I've ever done for $60! My yard sale, that is. The day (Saturday) dawned overcast and chilly, so my visitors were few and far between. Interestingly, I had my 'rushes' early on and then at the very end, as I was packing up. Although I didn't 'make a killing' as they say, there was at least one benefit to the hours and hours I spent going through boxes and decluttering my house and garage: I took everything that remained straight to the Goodwill. Meaning that my house and closets look much cleaner and emptier! So, all in all, it was definitely worth the work.

On a side note, as I was checking Craigslist to check out my 'yard sale competition', I noticed a posting that was titled: "The Dave Ramsey Sale". This guy was taking Dave's advice and getting out of debt by selling extraneous items (he had lots of sports equipment listed for sale). I thought that was wonderful! I hope he made tons of cash, and sent it all to his creditors. By the way, if you're new to getting out of debt, be sure to read The Total Money Makeover, by Dave Ramsey. This book, along with Your Money or Your Life, jump-started my motivation level and almost a year later, I'm still committed to getting out of debt (and I'm almost there---in terms of my credit card debt, that is!) Note: borrow them from the library first, before deciding to buy.

Now, if you've made it this far, I just have a little 'vacation' announcement to make. My family is here visiting from California, and we're off to the Oregon coast for a little rest and relaxation---and it's supposed to be beautiful weather there this week! So, I won't be posting until next week! We're hitting Cannon Beach (note to Marci: we unfortunately won't make it as far south as your town), and my goal is to try not to get back into my old shopping habits while with my mom, with whom I used to shop when I lived in California. In fact, the first thing she said when I announced I was moving to Oregon was "But who will I go shopping with"? Cannon Beach is a cute little town with loads of shops and boutiques, so it will be a bit of a challenge. I'll check in a week from today to let you know how it went!

Have a wonderful week, everyone!

On becoming a nag. . . . .

I had my hair cut today, at one of those cheap places where you never see the same stylist twice. It's always sort of a crapshoot: "Will my bangs be too short? Will the layers be short enough? Look at all that hair on the floor! I swear I asked for just an inch off the bottom!" Quite the adventure! I've still not been home to 'style' it the way I like it, so while I have a good feeling about this $15 haircut, the jury's still out.

Anyway, as I was chatting with the young stylist, she mentioned that she had just recently opened a savings account, with which she is going to save up for a trip to Europe next year. Excited, I immediately started asking questions: "What kind of savings account? Were there fees? Is she saving automatically?" Then I realized that I was asking very personal questions of a relative stranger, and shut my trap. I truly wanted to ask her about how she is saving for retirement, which probably hasn't even entered her mind at this point, but I successfully reined in my curiosity. Based on some other comments she made, however, I gathered that saving money is not her strong point.

I've been trying, for two years, to convince a young (28) coworker to open a tax deferred investment account in addition to the pension that we'll receive as state employees (assuming we make it to retirement age). He's been dragging his feet, and will probably continue to do so, regardless of my nagging (or maybe because of my nagging. . .) I use the words 'compound interest' and 'millionaire' many times in my little talks with him, to no avail. I simply can't understand his reluctance. Then, yesterday, I read this article concerning young Americans and their reluctance to save for retirement.

The survey results presented in the article indicated that young Americans (defined as those in their "20's and 30's") often cash out their 401(k) accounts each time they change employers, rather than letting the accounts roll over and continue growing! And most people will change jobs at least 6 times during their lifetime (I think I've almost hit that milestone). I actually have a friend who did this recently---she and her husband were moving across the country, and she took money out of her retirement account to use as savings while she looked for a job----as far as I know, it never went back into her fund.

Although I am in no way a financial expert, and my own financial history is less than stellar, I consider the money I put into my 403(b) to be sacrosanct, not to be touched unless there is a dire emergency. This is because I understand that I've waited a long time to begin saving, and I need all the compound interest benefit I can get so that I can someday retire. I only wish I'd figured all of this out when I was in my mid-20's before racking up thousands (and thousands) of dollars of credit card debt!

Frugal clutter. . . . .

Yesterday, in honor of Labor Day, I started hoisting boxes from the upper reaches of the garage, with the goal of finding items I could easily part with at my yard sale next Saturday. When I first began thinking about having a tag sale several weeks ago, I was afraid that I wouldn't have enough 'stuff' to sell. There's nothing worse than a yard sale with only a few items, and I just couldn't picture what exactly---beyond a few obvious kitchen gadgets and some furniture---I could sell.

The garage, however, turned out to be a veritable goldmine! There were more than a few boxes that had never been unpacked. I hadn't unpacked them when I moved to Portland over two years ago, and lived in an apartment. I hadn't unpacked them when I moved into the house I live in now. I realized that if I've been able to live without these things for this long, I could easily 'let go' and sell them. Now one wall of my office is lined with boxes and bags of price-tagged STUFF that I don't need now, and probably never really 'needed'. It feels GREAT! And I still have two more boxes to open and investigate. . . . .

Another benefit of this Labor Day 'purge' is that I went through piles of paperwork going back years and years. I filled my entire recycling can with shredded documents! My particular form of clutter-disease is made up almost entirely of paper (mostly mail) and clothing. Mail and other documents are stacked and stacked day after day, until guests are imminent, and then the stacks are hidden in drawers and boxes. Rarely are they looked at again (I once found an eight-month-old check for $1,200 in one of these stacks)! I'm getting much better at taking care of mail at the moment it enters my house, but again, it felt phenomenal to rid myself of these lurking stacks once and for all!

It was a bit like a geological survey; for example, I found old check registers ranging from five to eight years ago. It was incredibly interesting to see what sorts of things I was spending my money on, so long ago. The number of checks I wrote to credit card companies astounds me, and it's clear from the amounts that I was simply paying the minimums. Here's an example of just one round of credit card bill-paying:

• The Gap: $15
• MBNA: $55
• Macys: $21
• Wells Fargo: $35
• Gottschalk's: $24
• Victoria's Secret: $20
• Mervyn's: $35

I couldn't believe how many department store cards I had! And I was paying over 20% interest on those cards, no doubt!

So, my Labor Day was both laborious and educational. I learned that I've created and maintained much better habits, and that I'm not a prisoner of my stuff---I really can (and will, this Saturday) get rid of the things that take up space in my life.