Prime Time Money

Garage Sale Success Edition: PrimeTime QuickHits

Written by PT on August 18, 2008 – 6:37 pm -

How To Have Garage Sale Success

We helped a family member out with a massive garage sale this past weekend. There were plenty of negatives which could have got us down and produced a bad turnout: it was tax-free shopping weekend, it was hot, and it rained. Still, we stayed positive, put in the hard work, and ended up making around $500. More importantly, we got rid of a bunch of unused stuff. A few suggestions for having a successful garage sale:

Rest Up - Garage sales mean early mornings. With all the stuff you’ll be moving around all day, you’ll need a good night’s sleep before hand to get you started off on the right foot.
Advertise - Use online services (like craigslist.com or your community message board) the week and day before to advertise your sale. Be as specific as possible about the items you’ll be selling. Also consider placing an small ad in your local paper. Lastly, the night before you should get signs out on all the major intersections leading to your house.
Prepare the Items - Don’t just have piles of clothes and stuff. Categories and organize your things as much as possible. Get them up on tables for easy viewing. Try to make the sale resemble a retail shop as much as possible. Consider pricing your items. I’m on the fence about whether pricing is worth the time, as some people might be discouraged when they see a price and not make a smaller offer; others may be discouraged by no price because they don’t like to haggle. When in doubt, don’t price it. They’ll ask.
Have Help - Consider recruiting a friend or family member to help you out. It’s good to have an extra hand in setting up your stuff, and a second pair of eyes for watching people while you do your dealing.
Define Your Definition of Success - Be honest with yourself about what a garage sale is: you getting rid of stuff you don’t need for a bit of extra cash. You’re not going to make a profit on these sales because it’s used goods. Hopefully by now you’ve received your value from the goods. If not, get ready to pay your stupid tax. Your main goal should be to just get rid of the stuff. Whatever cash you make, in my opinion, is just a bonus.

QuickHits

Alright, on to the QuickHits… I participated in the Carnival of Personal Finance #165: College Football Edition this past week at No Debt Plan. I also was included in the 138th Edition of Festival of Frugality - The First Principles at MoneyNing, and the Carnival of Money Stories #72: Back To School Edition at Broke Grad Student. Thanks for hosting guys.

My favorite posts from the Money Life Network last week were:

What Do You Do If You Can’t Afford It? @ the MIB
Why Weren’t You Watching Where I Was Going? @ Remodeling This Life
Take advantage of manufacturer’s warranties, but don’t buy extended warranties @ Bible Money Matters
Wear Things Out @ Milk Your Money
Free From Broke Blasts From The Past
Things we don’t do ourselves @ Sense To Save

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| Posted in » Money Stories, Personal Finance Links

Automated Tithing: A New Way to Give

Written by PT on August 15, 2008 – 6:00 am -

The long wallet is long gone. I don’t carry a checkbook anymore. I stick to cash and credit/debit cards for making daily purchases. Still, there’s one place I always end up needing my checkbook: at Church, at least once a month, for tithing. With all we have going on these days, it’s sometimes an after thought to remember to bring your checkbook to Church. I thought I’d take a moment to examine some of the ways we could simplify the tithing process and ensure we give consistently and on time each month. After all, I make most of my other payments automatically; why not do the same with tithing?

Auto-Withdrawal (or Bank Draft)

Most Churches will sign you up for auto-withdrawal. This is where you fill out a form, which includes your bank routing and account number, your specified contribution % or amount, and an attached voided check. The Church then hands your info over to their bank who handles the rest.

Other Online Systems

Beside the traditional auto-withdrawal method, there are online based third party systems that will handle it all for the Church. eGiving Systems appears to be one of the leaders in this arena. See more at eGivingSystems.org.

Online Bill Pay

Use your bank’s online bill payment system to send recurring checks to your Church. Just make sure this is a free option and that your Church will know what to do with the check. It might be a good idea to speak with them about this first.

Automated Tithing Machines

Yes, some Churches apparently have Automated Tithing Machines (“ATMs”) that allow you to use your debit/credit card to give right there in the Church lobby. Not really automated in the sense I’m writing about, but it sure is convenient and pretty cool.

I could see myself doing this on those Sundays that I forget my checkbook, as long as the machines wouldn’t charge me a transaction fee. If your Church doesn’t have one, consider asking them to have one set up. See more at SecureGive.com. From their website:

“The Secure Give system is built around a giving kiosk that features a touch screen monitor, a magnetic stripe reader, a receipt printer, a secure encrypted PIN pad, and an enclosure. When the donor steps up to the giving kiosk, he or she will be led through a simple menu that will enable the contributor to donate to your ministry or your non-profit organization.”

That’s pretty cool. Would you tithe through one of these “ATMs”?

Not Ready for Auto-Tithe?

For many reasons, setting up some sort of automatic tithing might not be the right thing for you. For instance, (1) you may have irregular income; (2) you may want to “feel” the act of tithing by physically writing out a check or handing over cash (nothing wrong with that); or (3) you may just not be comfortable with the whole automatic transaction thing.

If that’s the case, here’s your solution: simply leave your checkbook next to your Bible or in your car (make sure your car is garaged if you do this). You might even consider tearing a few checks out of the checkbook and placing them directly in the pages of your Bible.

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For more on tithing, check out the series “The Bible and Tithing: to Give or Not to Give” over at Bible Money Matters (where this post was originally shared).

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| Posted in » Give Money