Nicole

Good morning, savvy savers! For Day 20 of the October No-Spend Daily Challenge, I wanted to share with you all some of my favorite At-Home Spa Treatments! With all of the stresses of everyday life, it’s important that we take some time for ourselves and just relax. Not all of us can afford the luxury of a day at the spa or even have the time! Now there are some fantastic skin care products and treatments available including Rodan and Fields, Plexaderm, Clinique, and many others. You can read some Plexaderm reviews to try and find some affordable skincare products that are not only effective but budget-friendly too. In the meantime, here are some great tips on how you can treat yourself at home! Your mind and body will thank you. The key words for today is grace. 

A few posts to check out are:

Homemade Bronzing Powder, For Only $0.20!

DIY Spa Pedicure, For Under $1.00!

Homemade Bronzing Powder, For Only $0.20!

DIY Garnier Eye Makeup Remover!

Free At-Home Back Pain Treatments!

DIY Garnier Eye Makeup Remover!

Gingerbread Body Scrub!

DIY Organic Spring Blush, Only $0.50!

Homemade Warm Honey Eucalyptus Body Butter!

DIY Self Tanning Lotion

DIY Summer Hair Lightening Mask!

DIY Summer Exfoliating Coffee Scrub!

DIY Tea Tree Oil Conditioner, For $0.20 a Bottle!

DIY Dr. Pepper Lip Smackers!

DIY Summer Chamomile-Mint Astringent

DIY Organic Honey Eucalyptus Body Butter!

DIY Morning Coffee Scrub

I hope this list will be a resource for so many of my readers who need to take a day, a non-adulting day, where you can find solace in pampering yourself, your temple, and your spirit. I hope this will be a blessing to you. 

Have an awesome day,

Hello again, savvy savers! Happy Monday, ya’ll! As it’s a new day, it’s a new way to sell and save, as part of this months No-Spend Challenge! Today, I’ll be focusing on Craftsy! 

If you knit, crochet, quilt, cross-stitch, or do any type of sewing, and you are a savvy-saving, crafty kind of person ( you come up with your own designs for the things you make), then you can earn a passive income selling your unique patterns on Craftsy! Of course there are lots of other sites you can use to sell your patterns (Etsy, Ebay, etc.), but the great thing about Craftsy is that it’s free to list and Craftsy lets you keep all the money from each sale — they take no fees out of what you earn.

If you make your own patterns and don’t mind others having them, you’re not out anything other than a little bit of time if you post them on Craftsy since they take no listing fees nor a commission. All the money you earn from sold patterns is yours, and they provide a very nice platform for you to use to get your stuff out there; a great opportunity to statsh a few bucks bask for the upcoming holiday season!

So, what’s Craftsy? 

Craftsy is fast becoming a very popular website for “crafty” types. In addition to offering a pattern marketplace free of charge to Indie designers, they also have virtual crafting classes you can take and some good prices on crafting supplies. 

Every single pattern you create can be sold over and over when listed on Craftsy. So you can list it once and keep it up for good. And the more patterns you have listed, the greater the chances you’ll sell something occasionally. I love passive income like this because it means you only do the “hard” work (creating the finished product) once. And then the pattern can sell itself over and over.

Also consider:

• Craftsy is an online crafting community and sales shop.
• The site features craft supplies, classes, online forums, videos, and affiliate opportunities.
• One of the best aspect of the site is their classes; some types of classes focus on quilting, sewing, knitting, cake decorating, art, photography, cooking and many more categories.
• Classes are taught by industry leaders, which allow users to learn at your pace with easy-to-follow HD video lessons you can access on your computer and mobile devices. 
• Craftsy offers free mini classes, as well as pay-for-lesson classes, too!
• The best part about Craftsy is their forum which allows crafters from all works of life to be able to sell their patterns online! 

Why sell on Craftsy? 

• Craftsy loves Indie designers!
• You’ll never be charged a fee or take a commission when you list or sell your designs. 

How to sell on Craftsy:

1. Be prepared. In order to list your pattern, first need to have an idea of what you would like to sell; scrap-booking, knitting, quilting patterns, etc.
2. You will need a PayPal Account. You will need either a Premier, Student or Business account to sell patterns on Craftsy (these accounts are all free to set up through PayPal); this is required so that you can accept credit card payments from pattern buyers.
3. Your pattern must be in a .pdf file format. The standard format for patterns on Craftsy is .pdf. So whether yours is a Word doc, a JPG, or another document format, you will need to convert all patterns to PDF before you continue.
4. For Machine Embroidery patterns, the supported are .pec, .sew, .jef, .hus, .pes, .art, .and vip.
5. If you have multiple .pdf files, you can add them to a .zip file and upload the zip file.
6. Photos: Each pattern must have at least one photo, and no more than five, per project.
7. Listings: You will also need to write a basic description paragraph about your pattern. 
8. That’s it! You’re now a Craftsy seller! 

Each listing in the Craftsy pattern store has a photo or photos of the finished product, a detailed description of the pattern along with what materials will be needed to get started, and of course the price. You’ll have to go in and add all this information and upload a .pdf of your pattern. Also, if you’re not sure what to charge for your patterns, look around at similar products to get an idea of what others charge for theirs. That should give you a good idea of what patterns for items like yours are selling for.

If you have your pattern on your computer in Word document or as a picture (.jpg), you can convert it to .pdf through an online converter. Here is a free one to get patterns finished lickety split. Then, you just upload your .pdf file to Craftsy along with your photos of the finished product and you’re ready to get your pattern listed and start selling it.

Seller Tips:

• Be sure to think outside of the box. 
• If you can do any of the following, you can create a pc file pattern: Quilting, Sewing, Knitting, Cake Decorating, Crochet, Drawing, Photography Collages, Gardening/Planting Beds, Woodworkers, Macrame, Jewelry Making, Scrap-booking, and Embroidery. 
• Write patterns how you would want to read patterns.
• You can Google patterns to be an idea of what written formats should look like.
• You can make anywhere from $3.00-$10.00 per pattern.
• This is a great way to make passive income at home.
• Have fun! 

Affiliate sales:

Looking for passive art-based income, without personal sales? Are you a blogger or have a following on social media? You can sign up as an affiliate for Craftsy and earn commissions when people buy products or sign up for crafting classes through your blog. Go here to sign up as a Craftsy affiliate.

So, today I challenge you to create a Craftsy account, and then sell a pattern on Craftsy! 

Here’s to saving,

Hello again, savvy savers! So, yesterday, as part of the #31DayLWSZ Daily Challenge we focused on Facebook Local Group selling,  so for today we tackle selling on Craigslist!

So, why Craigslist?

• If you’re looking for an easy and rewarding “in” to buying and selling online, there is no better option than Craigslist.
• Craigslist takes the old-school idea of selling in the newspaper, and applies this model to a larger scale, community-specific format. 
• Selling is free to list, sell, or trade.

What’s even better? It’s super simple to sell your unwanted stuff on Craigslist groups. So, today I am challenging you to look for Facebook sale groups in your area to post, sell, and profit from your household items, clothing, sporting goods, and baby items.

Here’s how to sell on Craigslist:

1. Go to Craigslist.org. 
2. Choose the state where you live: You can go right to your city by entering yourcityname.craigslist.org. 
3. Click on the post to classifieds button. It’s on the left side, under the Craigslist logotype. That will bring you to a page that says: ‘”What type of posting is this?”‘ It gives you a list of posting type.
4. Click the for sale button, will bring you to another category page. It features a list of about 100 categories. You can choose one. Click on the category that is most appropriate for what you’re selling. If you don’t know what category your item belongs in, click on the category general for sale. 
5. Enter the posting information. This is the title and copy and other information potential buyers will see when they are searching for what you’re selling.
6. These fields are as follows: 

• Posting Title: This is what people will see as the heading in their search results.
• Price: Obviously, how much you’re selling the item for.
• Specific location: Enter your county, part of town, or other general information. Do not enter your address!
• Reply to: Put your email address here. You can choose to either display it as is, or to make it anonymous so that your name is not attached to it. This is good to do, especially if you have a unique last name and are selling something valuable. 
• Posting Description. This where you do your selling. Make it interesting, make it catchy. If you don’t know what or how to write sales copy, take a look at a catalog or newspaper ad you might have, and see how they do it. 
• Be truthful here. If there are flaws that damage the value of the item, or there’s a piece missing, or that your ex will be knocking on the door of whoever buys it—let them know in advance.
• Check “okay” for others to contact you…” if it’s fine with you to get unsolicited emails from strangers.
• Check your form. The fields in green must be filled in.
• Submit pictures of what you’re selling. 

      7. Check your listing for accuracy. You want to make sure your listing will get the attention it deserves. You’ll also receive an email, which will need to be confirmed, and then the posting will be officially posted to the site. That’s it! You’re just made an ad on Craigslist!

Here are a few selling tips:

1. You need great photos:  A great photo, will make for an easy sale. A fuzzy photo makes people wonder what you are trying to hide, even if you’re not trying to hide anything! Be sure to take photos from multiple angles. List the best photo possible! 
2. Write an accurate description and price accordingly; think actuality and not sentimental worth.
3. Note what area of town you are in. 
4.  Be ready to respond to inquiries.
5. Don’t settle on the first offer. If someone is already trying to ask for a lower price, or wants to know a hundred things more about it, I don’t waste time on them unless they are the only inquiry. Although it is considered courteous to offer the item on a first-come, first-served basis, if there are more than a few responses I usually skip over anyone who gives any indication they will be difficult to work with, such as wanting a discount before seeing the item, difficulty in arranging a time to pick up the item, or asking a myriad of questions that are irrelevant for a used item that’s being sold for a fair price.
6. Specify when the item needs to be sold. The first person who’s able to come get it by tonight gets dibs!” on the ad to prevent something like that from happening again.
7. Save your “back-up buyers” emails.  Sometimes you will have someone not show up, or cancel, or decide they don’t want it. In that case, you could post it again, or if you’ve saved the emails other people sent, you can just email them all directly and and re-offer it to them; just be polite and do not let them know they were your second choice person! 
8. Always meet in public. Be sure to pick a place that is convenient for you, that’s in public, during daylight hours, never in a secluded place, and always take someone reliable with you. 
9. Be courteous. If your item doesn’t sell, re-post it according to the guidelines. If you’ve posted it twice with no response, it probably means no one wants it or you are asking too much. As a buyer, it gets really annoying to see the same exact postings get posted every couple of days with no change–no new pictures, same description, no price adjustments. I have seem people post the same thing every day for a month. Be consciousness of others. 
10. Once items/listings sell, promptly remove listings. It goes without saying that as a buyer, it’s highly frustrating to respond to listings, only to find out items have already sold. Treat buyers as you would wish others to treat you! 

My Selling Goals:

• I am going to list 10 household items; bedding sets, lamps, chair, desk, book sets, and small kitchen appliances.
• I hope to make $100.00 in profit.
• All items that do not sell will be donated to charity.
• All items will be listed for one week.

So, that’s it, folks! So everyone, today I also challenge you to create a Craigslist account, and sell your items laying around your house, too! Please be sure to check back this evening for my daily recap!

Here’s to saving,

Hello again, savvy savers! I hope you are all well rested, and ready for a new No-spend Challenge! So, for today we will tackle selling on Facebook.

So, why Facebook? Well, it’s super simple to sell your unwanted stuff on Facebook local Buy, Sell, or Trade groups. So, today I am challenging you to look for Facebook sale groups in your area to post, sell, and profit from your household items, clothing, sporting goods, and baby items.

You might consider the following great benefits to selling locally on Facebook:

• On Facebook, you set your price and there’s no one taking a cut of your sale price or charging you to host your listing.
  You can set your own preferred method of payment.
  You also have the opportunity to become part of a community where people are looking for bargains as much as others are looking to declutter their homes.

So, if you decide to start selling, here are a few tips to get you started:

1. Search for your state or region and the word “sell” or “buy” to find local buy/sell/trade groups.
2. If there are none, you can always start one and get the word out in your community!
3. You may find that many of the groups are closed, so you’ll have to ask permission to join, and others only accept certain types of listings.
4. Many have strict listing requirements and limits on how many items you can try to sell per day in order to stave off spammers and scam artists.
5. Be sure to check out each group/administration rules prior to joining.
6. Once you are a local group member, list your own items for sale, and set your own prices.

Once you have items listed for sale, here are some pointers to keep in mind when negotiating locally:

• Be sure to note whether you’re willing to ship something, or—in the case of furniture or large electronics or appliances—whether you’d rather the buyer come pick it up.
• Be specific in your pricing and listings; do not use vague terminology, such as “make me an offer.”
• Be prompt in answering questions, commenting on posts, as well as taking down notices for sold items.
• Always check your “other” folder in Facebook messenger; those whom you are not friends with, will have messages posted to this folder, so be sure to check it often to not miss out on any awesome offers of sale!
• Every 24 hours you can “bump” a listing, an action which will automatically move a listing to the top of the groups wall by typing “bump” in the comment section under your listing; this can be done once per item, per group, per 24-hour period.
• Be courteous. Allow users to ask questions, and then try and sell to the first inquiry before continuing down your list.
  Don’t be afraid of offers or hagglers. Know your items worth, not it’s sentimental value. In order to make a sale, you must be willing to negotiate on price; this doesn’t mean accepting insulting, low-ball offers, but reasonable offers.
• When scheduling a pick-up time, schedule your drop offs in a well lit, public place, and bring a friend or family member with you. Also, if selling multiple items, have your buyers come in 15 minute increments to avoid wasting gas and time waiting on buyers who may be no-shows!
• Have fun! This goes without saying you should have fun, even when selling goods!

So today, I challenge you to start selling your items on Facebook using these steps:

• Set a small goal, say $100.00 in value, or ten items to sell.
• Find a local Facebook Group.
• Join your group.
• Prep your items for sale; make sure items are clean, ready for pick-up, sorted, and photographed.
• Be patient! Sales take time.

So, for today’s challenge I did the following:

• Overall, I set a goal to sell $100.00 on Facebook.
• I listed ten clothing items, several new with tags (NWT).
• I have also already made arrangement for pick-up, and so my items are now listed as pending pick-up (PPU).
• I made sure to set my Facebook setting to notify me of all new messages, so that I can quickly check messages on my pc, laptop, iPad, and iPhone quickly. I am a third done selling, and have thus far potentially earned $78.00! 
• I feel that I am quickly going to make my selling goal! 
• I also cross listed items into several other local groups, and a local vintage group, too!

As well today I was also able to accomplish:

1. As part of my #Choose30 Daily Challenge, I woke up at 7:25, walked my fur babies, showered, & dressed to my shoes. (Thanks, Flylady!)
2. Worked on my daily Motivated Moms Planner.
3. I finished a day’s worth of clerking assignments ahead of schedule!
4. I cooked from my pantry for each meal.
5. Read my daily devotional.
6. I waked two miles.

Yesterday I saved:

• I eat at home this evening for dinner, saving our family $6.95. 
• I recycled, upcycled, and composted one bins of deluge, and saved $0.25, the cost of 1 trash bag. 
• I cooked three meals from my home pantry, saving $6.81 in the process.
• My family drank water today, and saved $0.69, the cost of a 2-liter of soda.
• I also did not watch cable tv, and saved $3.68 by doing so.
• I lost a half day’s worth of electricity costs, and saved $3.00! 
• I earned a $200.00 tax receipt from donating goods to local charities. 

Total amount I saved my family: $21.38

Here’s to saving,