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By Alyssa, May 10, 2010 5:32 pm

Why pay full price?  That is the question I ask myself whenever we are in need or want of a new item around here.  I found buying and selling on Craigslist to be extremely profitable for our family, but I think you need to have a few ground rules before starting to use the website.

Top 5 Tips for Buying on Craigslist

1. Research, research, research.  Price check the item on Craigslist, Ebay, and Google shopping before buying on Craigslist.  I usually do my new item shopping on Ebay or Google shopping and my used item shopping on Craigslist.  Sometimes I’m shocked at how cheap I can find used items like my bread machine I found a few weeks ago.  It’s a few years old, works perfectly, and I bought it for $15.  The new model is selling for $250!

2.  Bartering is acceptable.  Craigslist correspondence is done mostly through email so don’t be afraid to barter. I was looking for a table for the boy’s school/play room and sent out three or four emails asking for dramatic discounts before I got the table I wanted for super cheap.

3.  Say no.  I learned this tip the hard way.  I found a super inexpensive play kitchen for the kids, gave the cash to the seller at her door and then stepped into her pig sty (Hubby was grossed out, that’s how bad it was).  When we got the play kitchen, it was gooey and gross.  I don’t like making mistakes, especially $30 mistakes (I think we’ve established I’m, uhh, frugal), so I scrubbed that kitchen for about 2 hours when we got home and it actually worked out.  I won’t do that again, however.  EXAMINE the item before you bring out your cash and be prepared to say no thanks if it isn’t up to your standards.

4.  Free is the best price.  Think of the top five things that you can’t afford to buy right now but kinda want.  I always have this list in my head and every once in awhile find the item in the Free section of Craigslist.  My amazing planter for my garden was a free find that I stumbled upon after typing planter in the search engine once a week for a month.  I won’t pay for a trampoline, swing set, landscaping material, or pool table in the future because I see them all of the time for free on Denver Craigslist.

5.  Luck favors the prepared.  Don’t expect to find great deals by looking on the Craiglist website once.  My best finds, usually in the free section, are a result of prior planning.  For example, I found a truckload of really clean free sand in January for a sandbox we were building in April.  Sure, I had to store the sand for a few months outside, but I knew that in April EVERYONE would be looking for sand for their sandbox.

Top 5 Tips for Selling on Craigslist

1.  What to sell?  You can sell almost anything!  Check the Craigslist rules here as there are some prohibited items.  I’ve sold a car, clothes, furniture, cameras, computers, children’s items, appliances, you name it.

2.  How much should I list the item?  When I’m going to sell an item, the first thing I do is search for it on both Craigslist and Ebay to see how much similar items are going for.  If after this research, Craigslist seems like the best option,  I describe the item accurately and always list it with pictures.  I don’t like waiting for items to sell and would rather have my time saved instead of getting a few extra bucks, so I also cut about 10% off my listing price after doing the research.  If I find through this research, that the item is only worth $10 or less, I give the item to Goodwill or the Salvation Army for the tax refund.  If you have a ton of these $10 or less items, you may want to consider a yard sale.

3.  Be available.  Look out a week or two on your calendar before listing on Craigslist as you’ll need to be somewhat available to sell items.  That doesn’t mean you need to be home.  I prefer meeting in public areas, parking lots, etc. around town.  If you have a hectic week coming up, however, like family visiting, work projects, etc., you may want to wait to list your item.

4.  What about Ebay?  If your item is unique and easy to ship, you may want to list it on Ebay as you’ll make more for your buck with a larger buyer’s market.  The advantage to selling items on Craigslist is that all purchases are made with cash and you don’t have to ship them.

5.  Be safe.  There are some yucky people that use Craigslist, although I’ve never run into any of them as I ONLY deal locally.  Only accept cash.  Avoid having someone come to your house if you can and be careful about sending your address out until you’ve had some correspondence with the buyer.  If someone is coming to our house, I always have Haus, a buddy, or a neighbor with me when they arrive.

This guide doesn’t describe every single thing you should know about Craigslist (Here’s a link to their fact sheet), but it’s everything that’s helped me over the years.  Craigslist keeps my junk out of the dumpster and definitely boosted my cash income so I’d say it’s perfect for green living.  I’ve also found some amazing stuff on the Free Craigslist page.  Comment with your questions and Happy Hunting!

Comments (0)

By Alyssa, May 6, 2010 2:01 pm

An old Army friend of mine started this website, Soldier of the Day, to honor American veterans, a new veteran each day.

The website isn’t quite up yet, but he does have a Facebook page that is currently running information.

I’ve been impressed by the biographies included for each new “Soldier of the Day”.  Check it out and remember a new soldier today!

Comments (2)

By Alyssa, May 6, 2010 1:50 pm

Here’s updated pictures of my soon-to-be garden area.

Remember this?

The side yard facing west

After 6 hours of hard labor and a wicked sunburn…

About 3 hours in... (with my Cowboy helper)

The area now looks like this:

I moved all of the rock on the south side of the yard by the fence, extended the rock on the north end, and just need to get my square foot gardens in place.  Tomato transplants show up tomorrow so I better get moving.  Happy Spring!

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By Alyssa, May 3, 2010 11:12 am

***Warning- This post includes dialog with obscenities***

“Oh great, we’ll be protected by a Guard unit,” huffed one of my Soldiers as we stacked Army cots in preparation for our move.  I wrinkled my brow and continued stacking as the spring humidity off the Kuwaiti shoreline crept through the warehouse doors.  After packing all of our vehicles and missile launchers in less than twelve hours on a base stationed in Qatar, we’d slept in the open bay of a Kuwaiti construction warehouse for less than a week and it was time to move again.

“What’s wrong with the Guard?” I asked in between the clank of the cots slowly piling up.  The soldier shrugged and paused twisting his lower back to stretch, “You’ve seen them, L.T.  National Guardsmen and Reservists are walking all over this post.  They’re fat and lazy and their uniform looks like sh*t.”  He grabbed another cot and tossed it on top of the pile, “Now those fat f**ckers are going to be guarding our asses across the Iraqi border.”

I straightened the last of the cots as he pulled out his pack of smokes.  ”Some Guard guys from Florida, I guess,” he mumbled with a cigarette dangling from his mouth.  ”Well, see ya, L.T.,” he added and walked toward the smoke area.  I thought about his remarks while packing the last of my green duffel bags.  None of my soldiers knew that my dad was a reservist too and taught me the opposite of fat and lazy.  He taught me about discipline and doing my best.  Oh, and my dad’s boots were always shined too.

It didn’t take long after setting up in the middle of the Iraqi desert for my disillusioned soldier to see similar qualities in the Florida National Guard Infantry unit.  After only a few weeks together, we learned that many of them were being passed over for civilian promotion and taking large pay cuts to serve on their deployment. At that time in March 2003, Congress was yet to update bills protecting Guardsmen’s civilian careers while deployed.  I was impressed then with the Infantrymen’s dedication to our country.  When our unit rolled back into Kuwait and received orders to return home, their unit continued the mission for more than six months while we were home.

My view of the National Guard remains the same now that I’ve been serving with a unit for over a year.  The soldiers within my unit possess multiple skills are well-rounded and mature.  Besides serving part-time in the Army, they are police officers, technical advisers, small business owners, well… and one stay at home mom (that’s me!).  Sure I’ve met a few fat and lazy Guardsmen in the last year, but none of them were in my unit.  It doesn’t make any sense to me to compare the two sects of the Army, as I believe both equally share the best and the worst.

I’d forgotten the rivalry until I became the supporting Guardsmen during an exercise in Korea last month. About halfway through the training, some of the active duty friends I’d made realized I was in the Guard. “Wait,” one of them said aghast, “YOU are in the Guard?”  I smirked a little as I guess it meant that I hadn’t looked too fat or lazy that day.  ”Yup,” I stated.  ”I’m in the stinking National Guard.”  I paused and smiled, “Got a problem with that?”