Christmas Money

I a few weeks ago, I took the plunge and started selling stuff on eBay. We'd done lots of trips to Goodwill and were down to just a little thing here and there every now and again, so I figured that we'd passed the "just get rid of it" stage of de-cluttering and were into the "why not make some money off of it" stage.

I've managed to clear about $40 from the few things that I've sold so far (that's even taking out what it cost to ship them, which sometimes was more than I'd expected and charged for). Add to that the $25 I've cleared so far from PayPerPost (with $5 more pending), and I've got a hefty little chunk of change in my PayPal account. Now, I plan on paying back the checking account for what it's put out for the eBay shipping costs, but even when I deduct that amount, I've still got almost $70 to play with.

What does that mean? Well, it means that this year I don't have to go through the hassle I did last year trying to keep it a secret from VNB what I was buying for him for his birthday and Christmas. This was especially a problem when I was working outside the home and we were having everything shipped to HIS work so that there was someone to sign for it. Last year, I had his folks buy the things for me, then I paid them back with a check. The hand-off of the stuff occurred during one of their visits up here and it was promptly wrapped and hidden. He still knew the bottom-line total of how much I'd spent, but he had no idea what I'd bought or where I'd bought it (although it obviously came out sooner or later WHO had done the purchasing). It was all very stressful.

This year, there's no need for all of that. I can sign for packages at home (and promptly hide them) my very own self. And I have a nice little nest egg from which I can safely purchase things online without him even knowing that I've done it.

Bwa-ha-ha! The POWER!!!

um...I mean...aren't I a sweet little wifey, trying to surprise her husband and isn't it great that I can do it with funds that the household wouldn't otherwise miss?