I put up several listings on eBay for my son last Sunday. He has decided to sell his video games and GameCube. We'll see what happens - he wants to get some more Star Wars Legos. I'm trying to encourage him to sell things for a few reasons;

1) He can make his own money and clear out some things that aren't being used.

2) I just love stepping on Lego pieces when I walk across a room in the dark. Especially the pointy ones.

3) If there are things that he wants that cost more than his allowance, he needs to earn the money himself. We made the mistake of giving our daughter too much and that wasn't a good thing.

4) When he earns the money himself it (hopefully) will help him to develop responsible spending habits.

5) Yeah, right. As soon as that money is in his sweaty little palm it will be spent on Lego toys and ice cream. I did tell him that he needs to save some of this money. He plans to spend the first $50 of his garage sale/E-Bay money and save the rest. We'll see if that goes out the door when it actually happens. I have a feeling that I'm in for the 'It's MY money' argument next weekend.

We all pitched in and cleaned the garage Sunday in preperation for the garage sale we're having next weekend. You weren't there and all, so just try to imagine the joy of cleaning out the garage with a 12 year old and an 18 year old. I don't think we'll exactly look back on those moments of family togetherness and laugh, but at least the garage is clean now and my husband put out a lot of trash for pickup tomorrow. I'm sure the trash guys will hate us for the bed frame pieces, carpet padding, cracked aquarium, random pieces of wood, random pieces of metal, and so on. I tried to sneak as much wood as possible into the cans. My husband did put some items into the attic space.

Here's a question for you men on this forum. WHAT IS UP WITH SAVING WOOD? My dad did it. My FIL does it. My husband does it. He actually took the random pieces of wood that we've had in the garage and put them in the attic space. You know, because that's so handy to get to and all. It has been sitting around for the last I-don't-know-how-many years, patiently waiting to be formed into birdhouses or Adirondack chairs or a lifelike bust of Abraham Lincoln or something useful like that. Poor wood, all alone up there in the attic, waiting to get moldy or musty or dusty or something before it's thrown away in 10 years because it's then useless.

{ahem} Anyhow... now all I need to do is price all of our treasures and make the signs and get change from the bank and arrange everything on strategically placed tables and hang the clothes on the rolling racks and lug stuff up from the basement and all. Afterwards the remainder will go to the Salvation Army.

Most of the money needs to go towards bills. I would like to use some for a few things around the house. So, by the time Monday rolls around I'll be wealthy, have a clean house, and all of the bills will be completely paid off including our mortgage because people will be fighting over our things and a bidding frenzy will ensue, thus driving the prices insanely high.

It could happen.

If someone came along and wanted to take my dogs, I would seriously consider it. I don't think I've been this mad in a long time.

I went to a really great yard sale about a month ago. I found some new outside light fixtures, still in the boxes. One is for the front porch and the other two are for the garage. My husband went out fishing one day and there was a thunderstorn. One of the boxes was sitting on the stairs, and Shadow got her head through the gate, chewed throught the box, styrofoam, plastic, and the wiring of one of the fixtures. I was so pissed off! Now I either have to pay to get the thing rewired, or take a loss on all three. They're a matching set and the other two wouldn't make any sense without the third.

At the same sale I found a beautiful glass-fronted cabinet for the kids' bathroom. It can be hung on the wall and used to store all kinds of goodies. I had it downstairs in the living room, waiting for the day when I could get up there and paint and then hang it. I just love this cabinet.

Today I went out for a few hours and the dogs broke down the barrier to the living room, crapped on the NEW carpeting, went pee - also on the new carpet - and chewed a corner of this pretty little cabinet. It will be very hard to repair without leaving a noticeable flaw, if I can even fix it at all.

I am so angry right now! They knew exactly what they were doing, and that it was a bad thing to do. They were just upset and let us know.

My daughter applied for a job at a place that makes car parts. Not really a very fun job, but she has taken an apartment and could use something that pays better than what she makes now. I think this job would pay $10.90 or something like that. Anyhow, my brother works for the company as a buyer and I shamelessly called him last night to ask him to put in a good word for her. I'm crossing my fingers that it helps.

I've listed a few things on E-Bay to sell and am doing laundry. Today is a good day to stay in the house because it's HOT outside.

I returned some clothes last Thursday and had it credited back to my debit card. For some reason the money hasn't gone back into my account yet. I think four working days is plenty of time, don't you?

I went to Dave Ramsey's website last night to look around. Here are his 7 baby steps;

$1,000 to start an Emergency Fund

Pay off all debt using the Debt Snowball

Three to six months of expenses in savings

Invest 15% of household income into Roth IRAs and pre-tax retirement

College funding for children

Pay off home early

Build wealth and give! Invest in mutual funds and real estate

Well, so far I'm on step one and I have $525.60 to my name. That's not too good is it? That's the sum total of one savings bond and $25.60 in my bank. I went to the consignment shop today and they gave me $20.50 for selling three items.

The bill that I really want to pay off right now has a minimum due of $26.97 and a balance of $916.11 - it's due July 30.

I'm going to list some things on E-Bay today. Hopefully that will go well - I'll let you know!

I'm back after a long hiatus (word of the day) and ready to begin anew. It's late, but as I took a nap today I'm up finishing the last load of laundry. It's only blankets for the dogs but I wanted to get that last bit done.

I have a different job now. Someone I used to work with came to visit me and mentioned that she knew of a place that needed a manager. I applied and got the job last October. The money is not great but it keeps me alive. I've applied for financial aid and will be going to school again this fall. Wish me luck!