I didn’t write anything yesterday. No guilt, just an observation.
Today an appraiser came to my parent’s house. I rode to Fred Meyer and bought some dental floss, apples and peanut butter during the appraisal.
The reason for the appraisal was that my dad had to get the value of the house for some business thing. Some loan apparently. If the loan can’t be repaid, the bank takes the house or some shit like that.
I forgot to take my vitamins at noon, and I didn’t eat anything this morning, so I was really feeling out of energy when I was headed home. The hillclimb at the end was butal. It’s pretty warm and sunny today. I was sweating like crazy. It’s the first time in awhile that I drank all the water from my water bottle.
AT&T is running a sweepstakes, but their website is so poorly designed that I can barely use the website. It’s got incredibly long load times. The first attempt to read the official rules timed out.
Part of the sweepstakes is some bullshit trivia about AT&T’s phone plans. I don’t know the correct answers so I’m reading the official rules to see if I would disqualify myself by getting the wrong answer.
Sweepstakes law is strange. Usually, there has to be a, “no purchase necessary” clause in there, which prevents the sweepstakes from becoming an illegal lottery.
Often, giveaways are labelled, “competitions” to get around some of the strangeness. If the giveaway prize goes to the winner of a skill based game, then it’s not a sweepstakes or a giveaway and I think it skirts around some laws there.
Ah, the rules also state that winners are contacted via telephone; This sweepstakes suddenly has no appeal to me.
I did not enter. I don’t answer calls from unknown numbers so there’s no point for me to enter.
Moving on!
I over extended again on my product acquisitions. I had $400+ in my Paypal which would be a great start to having rent money for this month, but now I’m down to $150 or so.
I just checked my queued ebay seller fees. $250. That’s rough!
So I have a $45 phone bill coming up on the 14th, and I have $250 ebay seller fees coming up on the 15th. And I have $150 in my paypal account.
It’s times like these that I feel guilty for not having a budget!
The thing is, I don’t know how to budget an income that is always changing. I’ve brought in around $1000 on average over the past few months, but that’s not a trend I can really predict whether or not it is going to continue.
I suppose I might just predict it anyway, and budget that amount. I’ll just have to roll with the punches on any amount that goes over or under that estimate.
That’s better than nothing.
# $1000 income / month $400 rent $300 ebay seller fees $100 acquisitions $70 phone/internet $130 packing material & misc expenses
Ok there’s a rough draft.
food time
Ate two apples with peanut butter. 10 out of 10! I wonder if I’m getting enough food? I guess the answer to this question is found by just listening to my body.
I’ve adopted the diet of, “eat less, more often.” So basically I’m having about 5 meals a day, and my portion size is based on the size of my closed fist. Maybe two closed fists, because two large Fuji apples and peanut butter is definitively larger than just one closed fist.
The real trick is to stop eating before I’m full. It’s not something I’m used to doing, but I feel a difference in energy levels by doing so. I don’t crash like I used to when I would eat until I felt bloated.
Last night is a fantastic example of this. I ate two apples with peanut butter for dinner, after which I got on Teamspeak and played Squad with my buddy M. I felt energized, awake, and my stomach was not hurting in the slightest. This is a far cry from when I would eat a huge tub of my vegan stew with rice.
I’m so grateful for discovering that one of my recipes is no good. I don’t know which ingredient causes the stomach pain, but I’m sure I’ll figure it out with time. I’ll figure it out, and eliminate the source.
I made a few card sales today. Yesterday I had none, which made this morning a wonderful time to sleep in.
It felt amazing to sleep in. I feel caught up on rest, which is not something that happens as much as I’d like.
I’m sitting at around 400 listings on eBay. Yesterday I went through K-ON card singles and relisted numbers zero through fourty-nine. I merged in the reserve cards I have from that range, and enabled 3D sellers inventory manager to automatically restock those listings where I have multiple quantities.
I’m really grateful to have 3D sellers. It’s got some great tools which I am going to put to extensive use.
Today I want to list another fifty cards. At least that many. I fear that my reduction in eBay inventory is causing fewer sales, and I really can’t have that. I need to drive as many sales as possible, and continue this trend of growth.
It’s imperative that I keep up the growth. My overspending on product acquisitions really threw a monkey wrench in an already monkey-wrenched situation! I’m gong to have to work just as hard as I did last month in order to catch up and ensure that I can keep this business going.
I reluctantly paid myself this week. $25 sent from my business paypal to my bank account. My bank account is really low. It was at around $70 when I checked it last night. Then I spent $15 on food and dental floss today, and I spent another $30 or so on something last night… I can’t remember what.
I was thinking yesterday about my finances. I felt a bit guilty about overspending on product acquisitions, but then I realized that what I bought is all stuff that I can sell and make back the money plus profit. I then thought to myself… Do I have any other expenditures that I can feel guilty about? Video games or other frivolous activities?
The absolute answer I came up with was NO. I had to smile and laugh at that. I have been so good with my money! Anything I’ve purchased in recent history I did to fuel my body or fuel my business. That’s it!
When it comes to being frugal, I’m a BALLER! I’m at the peak of excellence! I kick ass!
I’m really grateful to have that success. So I’m just going to keep that up.
