Dumpsters, Lamps, and "Actual Work"

The Hideous Lamp

Justin didn't get the really totally amazing job that he applied for at UAH, and we're down to about $500 in our savings account (well, we would be if people would deposit the checks we give them...), so we scoped out some nice Dumpsters today and are going to keep checking them.  We're mostly looking for electronics because we don't have a vehicle big enough for furniture, which is a shame since that's mostly what turns up.

Does anyone know anything about electronic sales?  For example, at our favorite thrift shop, they have those printer-scanner-copier combos which I'm sure are dirt cheap like everything else there.  The problem is that we don't know what works well and what doesn't.  Other things like keyboards, phones, etc. are cheap, too, but again, we don't know anything about them.  Any insight that anyone has is greatly appreciated!

The red handcrafted ceramic lamp - $15

Day before yesterday, I posted a hideous lamp that we got for free on Craigslist, hoping to sell it for $10.  Yesterday morning, I woke up to three e-mail inquiries about the lamp, and someone came to pick it up that afternoon.

I thought to myself, "I can get a lamp at a particular thrift store for around $5, so if I can sell it easily for $10, what about $15?"

So today, Justin and I went to the thrift store and picked up two lamps for $5 each.  One was red handmade ceramic, and that one was snatched up within 2 hours of our return home.  The other one has yet to sell, but I'm hopeful since it's really nice!

 Since sales tax is 8% here, I spent $10.80 on two lamps and made $4.20 profit from only selling one.  :-)  I like to think that, even though I'm selling for profit, I'm still giving people good deals.  A lot of the people who I've sold to wouldn't be caught dead in a thrift store, so really, it's their own fault that they're paying more, right?  =P

The "Other Lamp"

Justin and I are going yardsaling this weekend, hoping to find some more good deals.  Obviously, this venture won't pay all the bills, but maybe it can help.

In the meantime, I'm spending a few hours a day working for The Potter's School - I'm working on editing all the text on the website.  There's a new design in the works, which looks wonderful, and I'm really hoping the text will end up concise, clean, and interesting like the designs. 

Justin is still applying for jobs - he applied for two on Monday.  One is a computer programming job.  He doesn't know a lot of programming, but this particular company will pay people they think can learn the skill while they learn, and then bump up their pay as proficiency increases.  It's part time, but hey, at this point we'll take anything!

Justin, cleaning the lamps :-)

The second job is working on a college campus as someone who radios "the authorities" when dangerous situations arise.  In reality, that doesn't happen often :-), but they need someone there 24/7 just in case.  All they want is a highschool graduate, so I'm hopeful he'll get this one!

I'll keep you all posted about the job situation.  We're getting to the end of our money supply, but we're confident that the Lord has a job for Justin out there somewhere!  In the meantime, we're earning bits and pieces of money anywhere we can and trying not to spend anything.  I'm taking the opportunity to do some serious decluttering and trying to sell everything we don't like, need, or use.  I've only been moderately successful so far, but nothing tried, nothing gained, right?