Little investments

In my effort to finally get out of bad debt and begin to pad my savings for boat money, I have started to sell some items that I no longer need. One of these was my home gym that I purchased last year second hand from Craigslist. The original idea was to save money from the gym membership and I accomplished that. I only paid $200 for the full gym and it did everything I needed. Since then I began to play soccer regularly and that has done more for my fitness than lifting ever did.

Yesterday I sold the gym for $400 yielding a 100% return woohoo! A little investment like that is something easily possible on Craigslist. When I am in the market for something, such as the gym, I wait till I find some guy who is moving and needs to get rid of the item fast. Ususally they have rock bottom prices and you can even haggle them lower. If most of the other comparable items are going for a higher price, you found arbitrage! Try it sometime, you may make some cash.

Another example is my hot tub. Last year I decided it would be extremely fun to have a hot tub at the house. I wasn't willing to throw $4,000 into it as I had begun to be wise with my money by then. But I did keep an eye on Craigslist until I saw a perfectly working hot tub for only $900. It was only a year old, fully under warranty and sells new for $4,000. Most other tubs listed were two to three times more expensive and not in good condition. The guy had to move in a week, so he needed it gone. I have enjoyed the hot tub for over a year now and plan on selling it soon for profit. After installation and everything, I paid about $1,400 and can easily get back $2,000-$2,500 for it. Decent return for a year of hot tubbing!

I dumped the gym money right into my credit cards and with that I now have a positive credit card net worth. In other words, my savings are now greater than what I owe on my cards. Once I pad my savings a little bit more I can pay off the remaining cards and finally be out of bad debt. I was aiming to be done by March, but it looks like I may be able to beat it in February. Either way, the day my card debt goes away I am going to celebrate.