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Hey guys! Emma here!
Thanks so much for answering my question on the podcast!! I’m still feeling a tad intimidated by learning a whole new selling platform-but it’s really really close to impossible not to just take your guys’ advice and plunge into ebay. So I think I’m going to. I know I have a good eye and I feel like i just need a larger audience, and I feel like you both just confirmed that.
So jay wanted to know a bit more about our numbers and I’m happy to share. My husband is a sales supervisor at Spectrum (I know we all hate spectrum lol. so does he haha.) But he makes like 70k a year and has worked his way up the ladder. He will probably be promoted to manager within a year or so and be making 6 figures, which will be cool, but also even more soul sucking for him haha. He’s way better at navigating corporate america than I would ever be. He works off commission, so his pay is a little bit up and down from month to month, but basically we can count on $1800/month in salary plus $1500-$5000 in commission.
I waitress full time in a nice restaurant and I’m making around $700-$800/week in tips. My paychecks are usually like 50 bucks a week. So I’m pulling around $3,000/month.
We are making good money. The only problem is no one ever taught us how to do money and we screwed up a fair bit. We have like $8,000 in credit card debt and also I just found out like two months ago that my husband just straight up didn’t file taxes for 3 years and didn’t tell me. I’m trying not to murder him and instead attempting to take a strictly solution oriented approach because HERE WE ARE and I just want to figure it out and move on. Partially my fault for falling into weird gender roles and being the stay at home mom that doesn’t pay attention to finances, partially his fault for not doing the effing taxes, and partially our parents’ fault for never teaching us fiscally responsible anything.
Another element to this whole thing is that I’m totally the scavenger and my husband is totally averse to scavenging. He won’t pull over to the side of the road, he just doesn’t get it. He wants to hire people for everything around the house and couldn’t tell a stud finder from a level if his life depended on it. It’s fine-his superpower is being really nice to me and selling cable better than anyone in that company. He is the youngest person to ever be promoted to each and every position he’s gotten in the COUNTRY. He would also be the youngest to be promoted to manager if he gets it.
Long story short, etsy/ebay is on me 100%. He doesn’t get it, he’s slightly annoyed by it, and he hates clutter. But I’m doing it anyway because I know that it’s smart.
About two months ago I stripped him of his finance duties in our household. Cut up the credit cards, made some rules. Since then, we’ve been steadily saving. We are doing really well!! We saved over $1100 in less than three weeks. GREAT. I realize there are lots of pieces to this puzzle but I’m trying to be succinct. If I had $200/week from scavenging, that would go to savings only. If I could save almost $1,000/month, it would dig us out of a hole pretty quickly, and put us in a position where we could start fresh.
Sorry if this post is a mile long, happy to take other peoples’ advice re: etsy vs ebay, or just strategies on reaching my $200/week goal. Also happy to take advice on how to navigate a partner that is terrible at money but you really really love them and want to help them see the light.
ps is it totally lame if I wanna buy an ebay for dummies book? I’m scared of starting from scratch with a new platform but I want to dive in!!!
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Hi Emma
You guys are making great money, you just need to focus on where that money is going. I would recommend reading Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey. This is an easy read and gets you started in the right direction. A book I gave my daughter when she graduated college (plus have given to her friends that are graduating) is The Simple Path to Wealth by JL Collins. Jay did an interview with him a while back that is one of the best interviews you can listen to (episode 250 or 255 somewhere around there). His book is on Amazon and is a great starting point as well. Also there’s tons of financial independent blogs and podcasts to read/listen to but if you’re just starting to learn about finances you don’t want to get overwhelmed.
As far a ebay goes there’s a learning curve but you just have to start listing a few things and see what you like to sell. Check the library and see if there’s not some books one selling on ebay. Our library has a few and this might give you motivation to start selling there.
Good luck and thanks for sharing your story
Donna -
This is much more info that helps people understand where you’re coming from. You guys make $100k a year so now its just dealing with your expenses and debt.
Though running a small eBay store on the side to make $200/week would be cool, sounds like you really need to focus all your energy into figuring out where the $8k/month is going right now.
Is it expensive car leases, a big house, eating out, electronics?
Honestly I think https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/ might be a better place to get comprehensive info to get your finances in order.
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Personal story. Roughly 30 years ago I got in deep trouble with the IRS, probably worse than you are, and it took 5 years of living very frugally to dig out of that hole. We were forced to start living on an extremely strict no-frills, no credit, budget during that time. When I say strict, for example ordering a Friday night pizza was a big splurge which we couldn’t do very often. It did make my marriage stronger and we definitely redefined the line between need and want.
It’s good that you are acting now instead of digging a bigger hole, but you still might be in danger from the IRS unless you have made a repayment plan with them and stick to it. The more expenses you can cut and the faster you can pay off both the IRS (and other debt), the better off and less stressed you will be.
As far as eBay vs. Etsy, I think you should consider starting small on eBay while still selling on Etsy. Fear is generally based on not knowing enough about a situation, learning the ropes will dispell fear and reinforce faith in your abilities. Sometimes you just have to “do it”.
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Good advice.
If you were living high on the hog while your husband wasnt paying income tax (instead of saving), cutting back on expenses dramatically would be my #1 goal. Without getting a handle on expenses, $200/week in eBay profits wont make a dent.
–Would you mind sharing how much you owe in back taxes and penalties?
–What are your monthly expenses?
–Other than the $8k credit debt and tax fines, any other big debt?
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Once you get those 3 years of taxes filed, if you owe money for the first year, you can ask the IRS to waive the penalties under their first-time abatement policy. You will still owe the taxes due and interest thereon, but this can save you a good chunk of money, especially since the IRS also calculates interest on the penalties.
There are some tests you have to meet, but if you filed your taxes on time previous to that first missed year, you’ll probably qualify.
If you’re working with a CPA to get this resolved, they should know this and be able to help you with it. If you aren’t, you can call the IRS yourself and request it.
Good luck to you!
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Hi Emma,
You’re probably in a better spot than you think.
Being employees, means that the government has most likely been with holding taxes every paycheck. If that’s the case, you may actually not owe any taxes, or the amount will be less than you think.
The key is to get with a good tax person and file your taxes. The longer you put this off, the worse it will get. Even if you do not have the money to pay back taxes, you should file as soon as possible.
The IRS is much more lenient to people who file voluntarily. If you put it off, until they find you then, they are not near as friendly.
Beyond that, getting a grip on your monthly expenses and setting up a budget is Huge. The money that is slipping between you fingers every month, will cause you to work years longer, than if you handle this.
Dave Ramsey is a great resource for budgeting. Mr Money Mustache has a great website for people to live cheap and retire early. I also like Clark Howard for advice on finances.
With the money you guys make, you should have no debt and be fully funding a retirement account with money to spare. Once you take care of this, your Ebay money will be a true blessing.
I agree with the above poster regarding Dave Ramsey’s books. His first one, “Financial Peace” is great as is “The Total Money Makeover”. Read one or both and take action.
(Saving money/getting out of debt) is a lot like (losing weight/getting in shape). It’s mostly about motivation and taking action. It’s not so important exactly how you do it, just as long as you start.
Good Luck and welcome to the group.
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