Lately

February has come and gone, and I neglected to post anything here on the blog.

One of the things I like about February is that it has two long weekends thanks to the observances of Lincoln and Washington's birthdays. Every time I have a three-day weekend, I think that is the perfect schedule for me. Three days gives me enough time to get my household chores and related errands done, and still have time for rest, relaxation, and time with family or friends. Two days just isn't enough time.

I took Michaela to see a movie on that first long weekend. We saw Kung Fu Panda III. Neither of us had seen the other two Kung Fu Panda movies, so we didn't know the backstory at all. Nevertheless, we both liked it a lot. Michaela has only seen three movies in the theater, and she is still a little nervous about them. I'm not sure why as I've never exposed her to anything very scary, but she always anticipates that she will be scared. She hasn't gotten used to the fact that every movie (well, almost every movie) has a "bad guy". When the bad guy shows up, she gets nervous. I remember feeling that way when I was a kid, too.

Michaela took another session of hula during January and February. She really seems to enjoy that form of dance. I'll be signing her up for another session this spring, but she'll move up to the older kids' class. The little ones were super cute, but they were all over the place because their attention spans are so short. I think Michaela is ready for a slightly more focused group.

I spent a lot of my non-teaching time on my little eBay business. Sales were really slow in January, and I was slightly discouraged. But things picked up in February, and March is off to a great start. I will have my first debt paid off before summer, and I am more confident that I will be able to make Michaela's tuition payments. I intend to post my sales numbers and favorite sales in a coming post. In sharing, I hope to inspire others to consider something like what I'm doing to tackle debt, or have greater financial freedom.

(Some of my recent finds to flip on eBay!)

The weather in February was pretty amazing. El Nino has been slow in showing up here in Southern California. So we were treated to summer-like weather most of the month. I haven't run my furnace in weeks and weeks, and I've been sleeping with the window open a little bit and even the ceiling fan on some nights. It's crazy!

Professionally, I am having one of my best school years. Sixth grade is a great age to teach, and I love the way my new school is run. Every day it is a pleasure to be there. As part of my teachers association's executive board, I have been a part of a new collaborative effort for the district and the associations to work together in decision making. It's very refreshing and satisfying to be included in the process of rebuilding our beleaguered district.

So that's February in a nutshell. Here's hoping March brings El Nino rains and lots of eBay cha-chings!

Another Milestone

Last Thursday night I attended the "Prospective Parent Night" at the school I intend to enroll Michaela in for Kindergarten. This particular school has been in the plan all along, but when you're finally within a few months of it all coming to be it's kind of overwhelming!

I can hardly believe how fast the last (almost) five years have gone by.

From this:

To this:

... in a blink of an eye.

Before I lost Michael, I always thought Michaela would attend school at one of the schools in my public school district. But since Michaela was born, I began to want something different for her education. I want her education to support her growth in her faith. My faith has helped sustain me through so much, and I want to give her the best start I can in her relationship with the Lord. 

The school I've chosen is affiliated with my parents' church, and it is a Christ-centered and academically excellent school. I believe she will thrive there. In addition to music, art, P.E., and other extracurricular activities, Michaela will attend chapel once a week and have Bible class four times a week at this school. Another nice thing about her school is that several of my mother's friends from church (who knew me as a child) work at the school teaching art and music, and providing before and after school care. I love that they will have a role in Michaela's education.

I am sad to be leaving her early childhood behind, but excited for her to have new experiences and friendships. 

Thrift 'n Flip

So last summer I was thinking about how I could increase my income. You see, in the first twelve years of my teaching career, I had enjoyed a step-increase and a cost-of-living increase yearly - those were the good old days. However, the last cost-of-living increase took place in 2008, and my last step-increase occurred in 2011. There was a small (1%) increase last year, but that's hardly enough to even show up in my take-home pay. Ugh!

With the cost of health insurance (and pretty much everything else) increasing each year, my paycheck was actually decreasing every year. I am hopeful that there will be a more significant raise this year, but we are halfway through the school year and that hasn't happened yet...

I had to do something to create another income stream.

After some research, I came up with two viable options - monetizing this blog, and/or selling on ebay. You might have noticed some of my posts last year in which I recommended various products (and I still think they're good ones!), and included affiliate links. I know there are bloggers that make a nice income even part-time that way, but it never paid off for me. No biggie.

Concurrently, I began learning about selling preowned clothing on ebay and decided to give it a try. Michael and I had sold used books on Amazon in the past, and I'd really enjoyed that. So last summer, Michaela and I began visiting the Goodwill and picking up a few things here and there. I also started reading everything I could on the Internet about selling preowned clothing on ebay, because not everything will fetch a profit even if it's stylish and in good shape.

I have been cramming my head with product information pretty much every chance I get, and thrifting as often as I can since September. Surprisingly, thrifting does qualify for "retail therapy" for me. But, let me tell you, it's even more exciting to pick something up for a few bucks and flip it for five or ten (or more!) times the amount you paid for it. I will admit that I occasionally keep something for myself, though. And I've picked up some nice things for Michaela, and my parents, and my brother-in-law, too. There are treasures to be found at the Goodwill, dear reader.

What's a post without some pictures, right? Here are some of my proudest flips recently:

That was my best flip by far. I found this sweater at the GW the day before Thanksgiving. It sold in about two weeks for $205. I had paid just $12.99 for it. I had never heard of that brand until a few months ago. Certainly not my thing, but these are very popular.

Ah, cashmere. Come to me! Actually, I can only wear cashmere over something else because even though it's super soft, it makes me itch. But cashmere sells well, so I pick it up every time I see it so long as it's in good shape. I paid $6.49 for this lovely sweater and sold it for the asking price. I have sold a lot of sweaters in the last couple of months.

Okay, these were mine. I had two pair from last year, but they were always too big. I learned that Nick and Nora jammies sell well on ebay, and I listed mine. They sold for about $5 less than I paid for them when they were new, so I almost made my money back! Selling things you already have is a great way to get started on ebay, or to make purging your closet profitable.

Okay, this is one of my favorite brands to thrift and to wear. I have never actually owned any new CAbi, though. All of mine is second-hand. The reason CAbi sells well is because it's only available through a sales rep - kind of like Tupperware or Pampered Chef. Women who love CAbi can't go shopping for it in the mall. I almost always put CAbi pieces in my cart when I find them at the GW. Oh, I almost forgot! I paid just $8.49 for this piece.

I have a long way to go before my ebay store does what I need it to do for me financially, but December was a really good month. I have high hopes. In the coming year, I hope to build my store up to about 200 items. I'm just under 120 items now.

Financially, I want to generate enough profit to pay off several debts, and be debt-free (except for my mortgage). I also want my ebay profits to help pay for Michaela's private school tuition - yep, that's starting in September! If it also can help with the home improvements I've put off, and a trip to Scotland one day to see my niece, that would be lovely. Time will tell.

Click here, if you'd like to see what's in my ebay store today.

In the future, I will try to post my favorite flips here on a monthly basis.