21 Feb
The Garage Sale and the Emergency Fund
Time for the safety-net that frees us up to chop the credit cards to little bits.
“What if the refrigerator goes out?”
“What if the car needs brakes?”
“What if our grocery envelope gets stolen?”
The first step Dave Ramsey recommends is saving a $1,000 in a baby emergency fund. Something to mentally get us comfortable enough to attack our debt and never borrow money again.
The quickest way we could think of to kick start the emergency fund was a garage sale and today was it! I am beat.
For the last few days we have been pulling things out and piling them up in the middle of the garage. This morning at 5am the alarm went off and The Wife and I set to work pulling stuff out into the driveway, putting up some homemade signs and bundling the kids up against the 30 degree desert morning chill.
I never realized tape (not even 100mph gaffer’s tape) doesn’t stick to a metal street sign at 30 degrees so I ended up zip-tying the yard sale signs in place.
The vultures began decending at 6:45am and The Wife took off for work at 8am. Old furniture, tools, kids toys and clothing… almost all gone by noon and we netted $520.
More than halfway to birthing our new baby — the baby emergency fund.
Gimme a beer & get me to bed!
Posted by Climbing Out » Blog Archive » Sell the Car, Sell the China, Sell the Kids? on 03/03/09 at 11:48 am
[...] word I’ve heard a lot this week is “traction”. Man, do I want some! I had hoped the yard sale would provide it, but it proved to be more mentally important than a financial salvation. Having a [...]
Posted by Climbing Out » Blog Archive » What, Me Worry? Who Needs a Paycheck Anyway. on 07/02/09 at 10:42 am
[...] We are different people now. Stuff seems a lot less important and I’m far more willing to get rid of it to get out of debt. The house, while home, is still just a house and we’d be willing to sell [...]
Posted by Climbing Out » Blog Archive » A Year of Financial Changes – From the Bottom to the Top on 11/05/09 at 10:02 am
[...] is more room in the garage where the table saw, chop saw, router table and Christmas light controllers used to [...]
Posted by Climbing Out » Blog Archive » Borrowing Money from Family – How to Save Money at the Cost of a Relationship on 07/21/10 at 11:36 am
[...] like crazy, sell all you can, and pay everything [...]
Posted by kerry bonneau on 08/11/11 at 7:06 am
hello its kerry bonneau and kenzie and duane are having an emergency garage sale,at chris ms place.