Owning a Home-Free on Craigslist

We have large expenses with our home, anything from the kitchen appliances to putting little things in and around the house.  We have begun using Craigslist to get some of the things that we need for our home, some of it costs like the lawnmower I bought(stupid, stupid)  http://financeandfitnessdreams.blogspot.com/2012/07/owning-home-lawnmower-from-craigslist.html.  One thing that happened yesterday while we were looking for a queen size bed for our spare bedroom, a Craigslist post said the items were for free, one of my favorite and most cautiously optimistic words, FREE.  Is this real, is this safe, is it worth the hassle?  I suggest reading on to find out!

I immediately emailed and/or text the Free post, while simultaneously asking my wife if this was something she wanted(Happy Wife, Happy Life).  My wife the frugal, one in our relationship, said yes with the caveat of making sure that we wouldn't just throw it away.  Smart idea on her part, I was willing to take the risk, the gambler in me I suppose, plus I didn't want to take the risk of having someone else snag this deal. 

After texting and reading over the ad the bed was less than a year old and lived in a decent area of the city, both pluses.  I showed up and talked everything over and turns out he is a graduate student just finishing up school and moving out of the country for quite some time and did not want to take the time to sell everything, he really just wanted to get rid of it quickly.  His one catch was that we had to take the IKEA dresser along with the bed, sold, well it's free but yes sold!  Everything was in working order and looked in great shape.  Now we officially have a guest bed and didn't pay a dollar for it.

Lessons

• I learned from this experience is to React Quickly, this ad was posted and I responded within 15 minutes. 
• Make sure you Research what you are getting into, I asked questions, researched the address, looked things over as much as possible online.
• Be reasonable.  Don't expect a brand new flat screen TV if you are getting it for free, think more 1998, huge black TV about the size of a dishwasher.

Overall once again I can put this on the smart buy list, I'm sure people would say no to this, but it will be cleaned, it will always have a cover and sheets, and don't forget this is for our guest bed, not the Ritz Carlton.

Owning a Home-Lawnmower from Craigslist to Sears

Recently my wife and I purchased our first home together!!!! Multiple exclamation points needed for that one.

We went through and purchased a 2 flat on the NW side of Chicago, it needs some work(dont' they all), but we are involved in a 203K loan, where we are having everything fixed and included in the purchase price. While a contractor is doing the heavy lifting, kitchens, bathrooms, etc. Many things cannot be done by a contractor, mowing lawns, changing locks, cleaning, etc. This becomes how our weekend was spent.

We need many things and we are a semi-frugal bunch, so not always new with the best brand name. We needed a lawnmower and so began the search on craigslist, I finally came across a cheap $25 lawnmower and despite my gut telling me to say no, the idea of a cheap lawnmower and a trusting seller got the better of me.

Fast forward to 2 days later and I am at Sears buying a new lawn mower, but all is not lost, we were able to find a Clearance Lawn Mower(returned) for a unbelievable price of around $70, so to protect our investment we purchased the 3 year warranty plan and left with a *brand new* lawn mower and 3 years of worry free mowing. So all in all $135 for a new lawn mower with warranty, I'm happy with that.

Many people say don't buy the protection plan, I tend to agree with them most of the time, but peice of mind and a questionable item that was returned and I feel we made the right decision, what do you think?

Do Whatever You Have To Do

So my car talk and riding a bike really woke me up. I don’t think I can afford to not sell my car. If I had my full-time job and salary this might be easier, but if you want to be debt free it doesn’t make any sense to have a car loan on a Mercedes Benz. After going through the pros and cons I believe it is in my best interest to sell the car. Will this be difficult maybe, but I have to find out. I work part-time currently and to have a large payment is not the right thing to do financially. In Miami I am really trying to keep up with the Jones’ and that's not what I want to do.
I will put the car for sale on craigslist. If I can sell the Benzo de Lorenzo by the end of the summer it will basically cut my bad debt in half. I will need a vehicle, but spending 2K or 5K is a savings of almost 10K.

I hope I am able to sell it for a fair price. All I really ask is to sell the car for what I owe on the car. This could be more difficult but in the end worth it. I will start with craigslist and see what response I get and then move to local papers. I mean $300 for the car payment, $100 for insurance, and the potential of other costs that come with it. With a used car I will be able to have a very small payment if any and start paying off debt and not be afraid of not having enough money.

The Diet and Excercise Update

· Diet is going well I have only been on it for a total of 4 days but I am eating healthier and less. So far so good.

· Exercise this week has been great, I did the 8 to be Great workout 3 days, and have rode my bike at least 3 or 4 times this week and even went running once. I also played basketball 2x. What a week!

· Financially I have done a much better job of putting my finances in order. I have budgeted out to at least August. I sold 4 different items on ebay.com, and mowed lawn all for extra income. It is hard to put goals on my debt because of the part-time job. However, I will start doing a monthly goal list to take a certain amount of debt off of my credit card