Ebay and Car Repairs

Now that I'm back into frugality, I decided to list some items on Ebay. I had four listings up and made a profit of $115! I sold a bridesmaids dress, a Cricut cartridge that I decided I didn't like after all, a purse, and Six Feet Under on DVD. I am VERY happy with these sales!

When I started out selling these items, I figured I would set the money aside for some things I'd been wanting to buy but didn't want to take out of the budget. In fact, I went ahead and ordered some blades and mats for my Cricut (which actually saves me money on cards, baby shower supplies, etc.). I also went and bought a new pair of black flats (since my last pair was purchased in 2010...it's time). They were having a BOGO sale, so I got a second pair of shoes for half off as well.

I still had some money left and felt good about having extra money laying around.

HA.

Well, today several of the warning lights went on in my dashboard. I took my car in and found out I need new brakes (apparently they were worn down to 1mm...oops) and a variety of other smaller things done. I work out with a few people who work at the dealership, so they were able to give me a discount (and the service guy's wife is a teacher in my district so he threw in a free oil change for me). BUT, it's still going to cost me a pretty penny to get all the repairs/maintenance done.

As in, around $670. $630! (The guy at the service desk's wife works in my district. And I have friends from the gym who work there, so he gave me a discount! Score!)

To be fair, I haven't had much done on the car in the last few years. And what's crazy is that I used to pay about $500/month in car payments on this car (BANANAS!). So, I know this is just part of owning a car. But I am still not thrilled about the cost of the repairs.

My new goal is to see if I can pay for these repairs without taking money from my emergency fund.

I know I'll need gas again before payday, and a small grocery trip or two for some ingredients to make dinners and lunches at home. I am also bringing snacks next Friday for my work, and I owe a co-worker $20 for snacks we use as student incentives. So, I am budgeting $100 for those items (which is keeping it pretty damn frugal, actually). That leaves me with about $330 $278 to put towards the bill.

I also have some of the Ebay money from those four items I mentioned about left in my Paypal account. I will transfer that over, which is only about $20 after the shoes and Cricut supplies.

I am going to go through my DVD's, books, and the rest of my apartment to see what else I can sell on Ebay. Hopefully, this can bring in some good money. I will probably also take in our recycling to put toward the cause.

Honestly, it will be tough to pull this one off. But I want to push myself to see if I can make it happen. I'd love to keep our E-fund as large as possible going into this next chapter of living on one income (though my husband is already signing up for subbing and looking into some other side/odd jobs to earn some money going forward).

So, think I can pull this off? Any advice for bringing in more money? :)