FWOTW: library books

It’s time for another frugal win of the week (FWOTW) post.  I’ve written about the library before but I just want to remind you all what a wonderful service the library provides.

Our local library recently started offering curbside pickup.  The process of getting books has never been easier.  We log into our online account, select the books that we want to place on hold, and then the library sends an email when the books are ready for pickup.  Once we get to the library, we call a number and someone brings our requested books out onto a sanitized table for us to retrieve.  The whole process is run extremely smoothly.

There is no shortage of books that we can get for our kids and ourselves.  Currently our kids are enjoying Pete the Cat, Little Critter and Wild Kratts books.  Checking out books from the library helps us adjust to our kids’ rapidly changing interests – and saves us a ton of money!

Side hustles June 2020

The great thing about doing side hustles to generate extra income is that you can hustle on your own terms.  The more hard work, time, and creative effort you put in, the more extra money you can make.  You can hustle as little or as much as you want, whenever you want.  It’s your extra money, and you can choose how you want to spend it.  Instead of focusing on what ideas don’t apply to you, try focusing on different side hustle ideas that you can implement to work for your situation.

Once a month (usually on the 1^st), I like to post a short summary of our personal and financial situation for the previous month.  While I don’t often post articles, I am committed to documenting all of my side hustle income.  Here I’ll share some of what’s been going on with our lives and our side hustles. 

Welcome to July! Did you have a good June?  This past month, our son turned 5 years old!  Originally we had reserved a venue to have a birthday party with all of his friends.  Due to the shutdown, we had a nice Zoom celebration party at home instead. 

Recently the Long Beach Aquarium of the Pacific reopened with new strict safety policies including: temperature screening at entrance, required reservations, required masks, one way traffic and staff constantly sanitizing surfaces.  We reserved the earliest spot right when the aquarium opened and had a fun time visiting.  We felt comfortable visiting with the new safety protocols and the aquarium was quite empty.

My son started a summer program at his private school and he’s been so happy that he can interact with other kids again.  Being home the last few months has been very hard on his mental health.  My daughter’s daycare has opened up as well and we are glad that she can play and learn with other kids.  While we understand there is some risk with sending our children out, these centers have many safety protocols in place to reduce risk of infection.

While our anxiety levels regarding the coronavirus have calmed down somewhat, we still remain very vigilant and cautious when we are out. 

Here’s our monthly summary of side income that we have generated in the previous month of June.

Cash Back

On 6.29, I received a $4.99 statement credit on my Chase Sapphire Reserve card for dining credit with DoorDash.
On 6.30, my wife received a $10 statement credit on her AMEX Gold card.  This was for ordering food as a gift through Yelp and GrubHub.

Rental Income

On 6.5, we received a net profit of $450 from our rental property.  Our tenants income situation has improved and they were able to make a full rental payment this month.

Monthly Totals:

We earned $14.99 from cash back income
We earned $450 from rental income

All of this totals $464.99 from our side hustles for the month of June!  We continue to save and invest quite a bit of money each month due to our reduced spending.  Keep at it everyone!

FWOTW: buying used clothing

Our growing kids change sizes so often and so quickly that they always need new clothes.  While some families see this as a new opportunity to go shopping, we try to approach the situation from a frugal mindset.  Buying new clothing is expensive, even if it’s on sale.  My wife does a great job scouring online marketplaces such as Facebook Marketplace, OfferUp, LetGo and 5Miles looking for deals on used clothing.  We are also thankful to have friends with kids just a little bit older than ours that are happy to donate their used clothing to our kids. 

This week, my wife scored 2 great deals on used clothing for our kids.  My wife picked up 88 pieces of clothing total for $140!  This comes out to be about $1.60 per item of clothing.  She purchased all this clothing from sellers on Facebook Marketplace and OfferUp.  The clothing is in great condition and many items are unworn with tags!  The sellers mentioned that since their kids have grown so fast, they never had the opportunity to start wearing their new clothes.

My wife always tries to buy our kids clothing second-hand and always kindly accepts hand-me-down clothing – it’s such a huge money saver.  The monetary value of clothing depreciates extremely quickly.  Children (unlike adults) may end up only wearing an outfit a handful of times before they grow out of those clothes.  My wife will often look to buy clothing for our kids the next size up so we won’t be scrambling for more clothes as they grow.  Even if these clothes don’t end up getting worn, purchasing used still saves far more money than buying new.  And we can pass on those items to another frugal family.    

Purchasing used clothing is great for the environment and reduces unnecessary waste.  Such waste can include fuel costs to pick up or deliver the items, packaging costs, manufacturing labor and pollution.  The fashion industry is one of the biggest polluting industries in the world; production and distribution of fashion materials contributes to water, air and soil pollution.  Buying new clothing is terrible for our environment. 

We buy used clothing and this has saved us thousands of dollars over time!