Today’s the day I start to sell my stuff on ebay (and elsewhere) with earnest. The one item per day was too much effort. I’d much rather bang out a month’s worth of stuff to sell all at once and have it all sell the same timeframe too. It’s a lot more work to keep organized and to ship the auction’s winners on time, and who get’s what, and deal with impatient buyers ( I forgot how much fun this was), but it’s worth it as selling my stuff sooner offers the benefit of more money sooner towards the debt load but also has me tripping over, caring for, insuring less stuff too.

So,I’ve been thinking: Maybe it’s due to my age (I see lots of personal finance bloggers are younger than I), or maybe it’s just a midlife crisis and I can’t afford a corvette or other sports car, but if given the choice I’d rather have enough time than money. That’s the big disadvantage of working for somebody – the time suck. 40 hours a week, plus commute, plus getting ready and winding down in the evening doesn’t leave a whole lot of time to be, well – you. And that’s not a road I want to take for the next decade – at least long term – I don’t have a problem with working hard but I’d prefer to work for myself and set up systems that create income without me lifting a finger. I might have to go work the man short term to knock down the debt, but once that’s done – all I have to worry about is ‘enough’. Enough to live on. And the older I get, I’m finding the less stuff I need. Stuff can be bought and replaced. I can always get a car, speakers, cd’s whatever. But I can’t get the time back.

The main advantage of the time thing is there’s so much opportunity for a new adventure. If you’ve got the time and enough money to live on (this will vary depending on your needs and priorities) then the adventures you can take are endless. And by adventure, I don’t necessarily mean sky diving – it could just be a walk on a nice summer evening. Which is completely doable because you have enough. You don’t have worry about money.

I was there once, so I know it’s doable. I had the mortgage paid, and a steady income from online ventures. And I pissed it all away. On stuff. CD’s, speakers, a big expensive house in a big expensive city, the list goes on and on. I pretended I was rich, with shiny cars and shiny shoes. And I impressed very few.

But the stuff gets forgotten. Once it’s gone I’m finding it’s not missed. I don’t miss the 27 tennis racquets I once had. I miss the game of tennis. I miss the one magic night just after a rain in July where the courts were so foggy you coudn’t see the ball, and the laughter of friends and the calm of the empty tennis club as you and your friends were the only crazy ones to play just after the rain. You can’t buy that. I don’t miss the car. I miss the trips to the beach, I miss getting lost on hunter’s roads because the GPS says that’s the shortest way home. What it doesn’t tell you that the road is barely 4 feet wide. It’s the experiences that have the most value.

That’s the goal for 2010. Go WAY out of my comfort zone. Get off this couch and get out there. Sure the debt has to be paid, and there may very well be a day job in my future, if only for the short term so I can have enough once again. And getting a day job would be an adventure, so though it’s not an optimal way of life, it would be a story to tell. But the goal isn’t in the money. Money has no value. If you never spend it it’s worth absolutely nothing. It’s what you do with your money that counts. The time to have adventures is where it’s at. I want to be able to tell so many stories of adventures had ten years from now.

What’s your idea of adventure?

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I’ve never been much for the new agey get rich quick schemes but I have to tell you, in the past 36 days I’ve been doing this I’ve experienced a whole bunch of money come into my life that might not have otherwise had I not been open to receiving it. So, I’ve gotta tell you – I’m starting to change my mind and be more open to this law of attraction stuff.

What I’ve been focusing on lately is money. How to save it, how to spend less, how to make more. Money. Money. Money. But I haven’t been obsessive about it but rather I’ve just been open to more opportunities that otherwise I would have been blind to.

Today for example: I started to clean the apartment here. There’s nothing like starting the holiday season off on the right foot and a clean apartment realeases some stress for me. Today, it was even profitable. Underneath a stack of newspapers, I found a dollar cleaning. Then I found $5 in a pair of Jeans. So I’m up six bucks and I haven’t even left the house yet.

So out I go. First stop: starbucks. There’s my five bucks gone but I’m up remember? So today’s latte is actually a freebie in a way. At starbucks, I look down and lo and behold: two shiny pennies. The old me would have just ignored these, but nope, I picked them up. A penny saved and all that jazz. Then on the way home I find another shiny penny on the ground. This is just because I allowed myself to be aware of the possibility that money might just be ‘out there’ and available.

Now I know nothing but hard work, or at very least: smart work is probably the best way to increase income, but this is found money. Free money if you will. I cleaned my apartment and made money. It’s an option and one that I’m open to that I might not have been open to at a previous point in my life. It’s an experiment, just like this site is an experiment.

So here it is: my mission statement for 2010 and beyond.

I will allow money to freely enter my life. I will keep myself open to new opportunities and be willing to explore every venue I can to earn more money, but most importantly have more fun.

About the fun: Really, that’s the best part of the Law of Attraction: You make a goal of something, keep focused on it, and see what happens. That’s probably the part that is um, most attractive to me.

This has been an interesting trip the past 36 days or so, and I’m excited to see where this journey takes me. Getting out of debt is just the first of many chapters and finding pennies on the ground is just one page

So to summarize: I’m willing to focus on making more money this coming decade. It can come in any form and shape, through pennies on the ground or new opportunities I haven’t even dreamed of yet. I’m looking forward to it. It should be fun. Let the experiment begin.

Updates.

Not much to tell. Just sold a cable for another six bucks or so. I haven’t listed a sacrifice of the day for today and yesterday, but this doesn’t mean I’m not getting rid of my stuff. (I’m kindof tempted to just get rid of everything, forks, knives, the whole bit sell it all and start over but I still have some fear to get over with that idea. But, it’s a thought. Anyway, I still am selling my stuff on eBay but I want to start selling and listing it faster. I think what will happen is some of my posts will be dedicated to nothing but what I’m letting go in the name of debt reduction.

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I had this thought about money as I pulled the muscle on my back this morning. How’d I do it? I wish I could tell you it was something exciting, like slaying dragons or racing cars but that’s not me. I pulled the muscle by sitting down. yeah, I know. I felt something go creeeeeek as I sat down, and the first thought I had was oh shit. My freedom just went away – at least temporarily – I’m not as mobile, I don’t have the freedom. I didn’t think about the 38 grand to Mr.Visa and Mrs. MasterCard. I thought about my loss of freedom and that’s what bugs me most about this debt. I want my freedom back. I hate being accountable to the bank. (and, back pain sucks too)

For a long time I was OK with arrangement with debt. I would give up a bit of my freedom for the next iphone, or pizza, or car repair because I valued stuff more than freedom. But as I get older I’m finding the stuff costs too much, and I like clean and crisp but gone are th days where I had to have a horse embroidered on my shirt. You pay for it twice: once when you buy it and then when you care for it, touch it, pay to store it, worry about it, wash it, wax it. And, it’s all stuff. Do I need to have 500 plus DVD’s? At one time, the answer was oh ya, baby, you bet. But now that I’m coughing up )$150/month so I might be able to watch Jaws or Smokey and the Bandit at my fingertips I’m wondering if the trade off is worth it? I’m paying to store empty boxes that hold the stuff. How silly is that?

Speaking of money..not much to report on the income front again today, but it’s only day ten here. I have 990 days left to make this happen. Today’s income has been .41. yeah, that’s right. 41 cents. And you know what, I’m OK with that. It’s 41 cents more than I made last month. I made zero with this site last month, as I was just sitting on the domain name. I just started this site a few weeks ago. It’s weeks old and already profitable, however small the amount might be. My ebay auctions have increased by about $50 since yesterday, but that’s mostly to my iPod auction. It’s a wonderful feeling to get rid of the stuff you don’t use.

Sacrifice of the Day

Today isn’t much of a sacrifice, but I’ve got 3 pair of Sony Earbuds up for auction today. I doubt they’ll go for much at all but every little bit I’ve got some bigger ticket items in storage I need to go get and get sold. My debt repayment will take years if I just sell little things.

Stupid Purchase of the Day

Music CD’s. Back in August 2003, I spent 76.13 on what I’ve got labeled in quicken as ‘music cd’s’ at Amazon. I have no idea what these are, and I bet I did get value out of this purchase, at least partly as music is my hobby. I’ve always loved music and could care less about TV. So this isn’t a complete waste, but it’s about this time that I stopped making regular payments on my credit cards and started to let the balances rack up so it’s quite possible that I’m still paying for these mystery CD’s. And over six years my CD’s doubled in cost to $150.26. If I had invested that money, even at 1% instead of spending it I would be sooooo much ahead. I read somewhere that when you buy a BMW or fancy car, you’re no longer rich, as the car company has your money. Now the car company is rich. All you’ve got is your BMW in the driveway getting rained on. This is SO true.

and of course…

If I had your money

I’d find a a way to justify the purchase of better headphones. Sometimes, you get what you pay for and if it’s important to you and the item brings you value – not just novelty – I say go for it. These look nice:

Sennheiser CX300-B Earbuds (Black)
and look to be quite the bargain at at just $19.95. That’s a 60% discount off list price. Name brand earbuds which probably blow the crappy sony ones above right out of the water

Related posts:

1. Debt Freedom: Where to start with Debt Freedom Relief
2. Debt Freedom Plan. Day 60, 61, 62
3. Would You Pay For Debt Freedom?