Reevaluating

Something happened last weekend that made me seriously reevaluate the way I feel and think about a lot of things. It made me really question why I do a lot of the things I do. One of the outcomes was the selling of a bunch of old stuff on Half.com.

But it's also made me just stop and wonder why people in general do what they do. Why do people buy what they do? And why do some people save as much as they do? I honestly believe that there exist two extremes, and that there are people at both ends. Of course, it seems like there are more people that currently spend more than they earn in a year, but there are also people who have lived their whole lives as if they were broke, just to leave millions behind when they die. (One recent example that I read about was Hetty Green over at Boston Gal's Open Wallet.)

I suppose I've always had an interest in how other people do things, how they live, how they think, etc. Reading other people's blogs gives me an insight into how they think and feel. It also helps point out areas where I may not have even realized my own behavior, and helps show me the things that I may want to change about myself.

I'm not really sure what will end up happening, but I've noticed that over the past week, just stopping and thinking has resulted in me spending a lot less, being more polite to others, and just being more aware in general. I question things that I may before have just accepted without even thinking. I wonder how many people are experiencing the exact same thing right now. Because even though I may think I'm the only one, I know that's not true.

Making money off my junk

I'm usually fairly disciplined when it comes to not spending money, but every once in a while I have a shopping binge, where I go a bit crazy. This doesn't happen more than every few months, and usually isn't too bad. Well, I had a crazy shopping period in January, when all the stores discounted all the stock that didn't sell at Christmas time.

My weakness this time was video games. I enjoy playing console and PC games, and started following a few discount sites, including Cheap Ass Gamer. Spending while saving is some kind of weird addiction for me, and visiting sites such as CAG make it even harder to not buy stuff. When you know that you're getting a $50 game for $3, it almost doesn't even seem like spending.

I was walking around the house, and noticed that a stack of the stuff I bought was still just sitting there, unopened and unplayed. And I finally got fed up with myself for buying it. So I did something about it.

I listed them on Half.com.

Most of them are listed for more than what I paid for them. I like the way Half.com works more than eBay for things like this, since I know it will sell eventually, but that it may take a few months to get what I want for it.

If everything sells for what I listed it for, I should get more than $400 for it. It's a good feeling to be getting it out of the house, and getting paid for getting rid of stuff I'd probably never use anyway. Now I just need to keep finding more stuff to sell. And maybe next time, I just won't buy stuff I'm not going to use in the first place.

March Highlights and April Goal

As I've already mentioned, I was fortunate enough to get a bonus last month, which helped increase my net worth. Other than a few neccessary large expenses (mainly 4 new tires for my car) I really cut back on my spending in March. I've been keeping the temperature in my home lower to cut on utility bills, and making a point to turn things off when I'm not using them. I made large contributions to my 401k account, and the stock market did well last month, which resulted in the large gain I had this month for stocks.

I know future months won't be quite so good, and I need to keep my expectations realistic. My goal for the month of April will be to increase my net worth by $1,600, which I think is a very reachable target for myself.