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Hello
My name is Mason. My wife and I live in Birmingham Alabama with our 4 year old daughter and a 3 month old son. I am a firefighter full time and my wife is an auditor. My schedule is 24 hour shifts every third day. So I am gone from home more than normal. Its seems to be the norm for other firefighters that I work with to work 2 or three different fire department jobs. This means you only go home every third or fifth day. I was determined to not fall into this because I wanted to spend as much time home with my family as possible. I began selling on ebay while doing other odd jobs on my off days. I have been selling on ebay for around 2 years. It allows me the freedom and time I want at home. My wife is ready to leave her job and we are currently taking steps to get her on board the resell train so that she too can be home. We are not super hardcore scavengers but we make conscious efforts to save money and make smart money decisions. We are super excited and motivated to be in this community of like minds. Thanks in advance and Hello! -
Glad to see someone else from down South here 🙂 Do you mean that some firefighters only go hime 2-3 times a week to see their family? Do they do that to make crazy overtime money? I know Firefighters are one of the last very strong union jobs. Can you retire on a full pension after 25 years?
Sounds like you guys are both on the same page and taking the right steps to transition to full-time eBay. What kind of stuff are you still selling?
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I work every third day for 24 hours. So I am home two days and then go to work. Other firefighters work one job 24 hours then go to another job for another 24 hours. Then most go home for 24 hours and do it all over again. Its two salaries but not overtime because its two different departments. Its weird I know but I love my job. It affords me time to have another interesting job like ebay and keep the lights on at home. The two job thing can trap guys so easily though. One pay check is for there house the other for there brand new truck. Its easy to trap yourself at the fire station. I was and am determined to never get into this cycle. The union side of it is a whole other discussion but fire and police cant collective bargain so not much pull there. I started selling shoes on ebay. But now I sell anything I come across. I have sold some many things from listening to the podcast and then going out to see what I can find. I always try to expand my knowledge base as well as be creative about what I am looking for to sell. I have sold all the normal bread and butter. I have sold a haunted doll, I have listed things in the back of my car, I have sold the weirdest things just to experiment. My wife and I have been discussing strategy. I have been selling anything and everything. Now that she is in the game, I have been trying to come up with something she can get behind and remain positive about. Yesterday we went out and bought 15 pair of vintage style jeans and listed them together. I keep reminding her its an investment in knowledge and we will figure it out together. Anyways, thanks everyone for being welcoming.
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Understood. I know guys in my county that make over $100k doing construction work, but they work 60 hours a week if you include the commute. They drive really nice large pick up trucks that cost $70k-$90k. That’s a huge bill every month.
I can see scavenging and selling being a great complement to your Firefighter career, especially if you and your wife work together.
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