Banking inquiries show the extent of risk taking
February 26, 2009 | Leave a Comment
Paul Moore has been in the news this week claiming he had been sacked by the HBOS boss, Sir James Crosby, for arguing that the bank was taking too many risks. Sir James resigned from his role assisting the Financial Services Authority arguing that, whilst he feels these claims are unfounded, he does not want to make the FSA’s role any harder in these challenging times.
Earlier this week several bank leaders publically apologised for their role in the financial crisis. For many of us it is a relief after watching the horror of the world banks’ decisions unfold around us to witness some degree of culpability for their decisions…however sincere or not those apologies. Whilst the silence was almost deafening in the immediate aftermath of the global finacial crisis, it was hard to have any respect for those who were still rewarded with bonuses for spectacular failure.
Unemployment levels rise close to 2 million
February 23, 2009 | 1 Comment
The U.K unemployment figures reached 1.97 million this week. This came as a bit of a surprise for many who believed it would pass the 2 million mark. They are still, however, the highest unemployment levels since labour came to power in 1997.
The scary thing is that business bosses predict that unemployment will top the 3 million figure by the time this financial crisis and recession are over. Experts have been describing the current employment and business situation as a depression this week.
Even major cash and carry stores such as Makro have closed stores this week. When places geared towards saving money for their customers are closing down you just know that there is trouble afoot is they are not making enough sales.
Meanwhile, job vacancies have fallen by 75,000 to just over 500,000 making the coming months very bleak indeed.
Making money buying at garage sales
February 17, 2009 | Leave a Comment
Garage sales and charity shops can be great places to pick up bargains that will earn you extra money by reselling them on Ebay. Practice will give you confidence as to which types of item have the best resale value….toys, gaming items, designer clothing etc all sell well in my experience.
Garage sales and charity shops can also be a great place to obtain high quality fashion items that can either be re-modelled and re-sold or save you money on fashion. Look out for garage sales in more affluent neighbourhoods as there will often be great items to be bought there at cheap prices!
A great way to save money through buying at garage sales can be purchasing like new goods that are still with labels and using them as part of a gift basket for birthdays, thanksgiving and Christmas.
Buying at garage sales and yard sales
February 14, 2009 | Leave a Comment
Here are some ways of buying what you need at the right price at a garage sale / yard sale :- If you haven’t found the item you were hoping for – ask the seller if they have it. You would be surprised how many sellers, once hyped up and in the mood for selling, will go and look in the house for that item then sell it to you. If you don’t ask you don’t get!
- There are often treasures in other peoples’ trash…but only buy what you need or want…otherwise you are simply wasting money rather than saving money.
- When it comes to foodstuffs being sold at garage sales be wary unless the evidence suggests they have been paying attention to hygiene when preparing the food and not going past sell by dates.
- If a yard sale is going on over several days, the last day is a good one to visit it on as the buyer is highly motivated to sell and will often give fantastic discounts.
- When looking for items with a good reslae value, look first for items made of silver, copper or brass. Old china also sells well. Designer clothing can also be gained frugally….if not for you to wear then to resell at a profit.
Hundreds of U.S Corporate Frauds ?
February 11, 2009 | Leave a Comment
The FBI today informed Congress that the possible cases of financial impropriety and fraud have risen in the U.S from 38 to around 100.
In his testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee, FBI Deputy Director John Pistole compared the investigations to the probe into the Enron Corp collapse. A U.S. Justice Department official said the agency was considering creating a national mortgage fraud task force. This would be similar to the one held over Enron’s enquiry.
It seems that there is no end to the revelations that the aftermath of the credit crunch are going to reveal to us.
Tips for selling at garage sales
February 8, 2009 | Leave a Comment
- Advertising your garage sale can take place in local shops, putting up posters, leafleting the neighbourhood etc. Make sure you include date, time and location. I know it sounds obvious but its amazing how often one of those key items of information get missed off publicity material!
- Another thought is to list the date, time and address in Craigslist under the Garage Sales heading. It’s free to do and effective. It is also worth listing the types of item that you will be selling so that people looking for specific items may come looking.
As far as selling individual items is concerned there are a few more useful tips:
- Instead of people rifling through loads of books for 25c each, why not divide them up into bundles of, say 10 – 15 books in a similar category and charge $2 – $3 dollars per bundle? They will be ready to carry away and neater to store.
- If you have loads of low value items you could advertise your sale as everything for “50c unless marked”. That should attract interest on your publicity and save you the time of marking up individual prices.
- Alternatively, you can use boxes that store items all of the same price to save labelling. Watch out for things getting mixed up as people browse though!
All of these steps will make your garage sale appear more professional….making it more likely that customers will keep coming back to future events.
Garage sales advice
February 4, 2009 | Leave a Comment
In these cash strapped times, a garage sale can be a great way to get rid of all of that unwanted household clutter and make money whilst doing so.
What deters a lot of people from holding a garage sale is a fear of a poor outcome. What if nobody comes? What if I hardly earn any money for all that effort? Today we will look at some of the steps that you can take to ensure a successful garage sale.
- Getting the kids involved in a garage sale can teach them some valuable lessons that they will retain into adulthood. They learn: how important it is to de-clutter, the value of second hand goods compared to new goods (which may influence them not to impulse buy as much); and how to organise a display, price up items, add up totals to charge for several items and how to do good customer service. Who knows….you may be training up the entrepreneurs of tomorrow!
- It is worth keeping several boxes in the garage all the time with the intention of holding a future garage sale. One for toys, one for books, one for clothes etc. When cleaning the house you can price up and store the items you want to sell at the time. This means that when you need to raise some cash you are ready to roll straight away without a huge clear out and pricing activity beforehand.
- Save even more time by purchasing colour dot stickers for your items. Each colour dot then has a known price value. You can then display the colour code prices to your customers and save hours of writing out individual price tags.
- You may also be able to pick up some bargains from other people’s garage sales to include in your own. Visiting a few garage sales will help you to get any idea of realistic prices that you can charge for your own items.
