Secondhand September

Did you know it’s Secondhand September?

We’re personally huge fans of consigning and shopping secondhand - in fact everything I’m wearing today is secondhand and name brand (blouse and jeans are Ann Taylor and the leather mocs are M.Gemi, which is a fancy Italian luxury brand I could never afford new). Right now I’m putting together a bag of winter consignments to bring to M&C Clothing and Gifts in Amherst, NH, one of our favorite consignment shops.

We love consigning because the money we earn from reselling our items can be spent at the consignment shops we use for new-to-us clothing and other items - it’s like trading up what we don’t want anymore for what we do. Reduce-Reuse-Recycle.

If you’ve been thinking of giving consignment shopping/selling a try, check out my past blog post where I share some tips on the process:

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Money Saving Tips for Back-to-School

Sending the kids back to school usually means shelling out a lot of money on school supplies, clothes, and more.  Here are some of my tips on how NOT to go broke this fall.  | This post contains affiliate links | 

Invest in a Good, Basic Backpack and Lunchbox

Question:  How many parents buy their kids new backpacks and lunchboxes every single year? 
Answer:  Wayyyy too many! 

There's really no reason to shell out money that often on items that can can stand the test of time if you pick them right. I highly suggest NOT picking a character or crazy pattern backpack or lunchbox. Kids' tastes change from year to year (and sometimes week to week), and if you pick themed or cheaply made items they will not last. Our general guideline is upgrading backpacks once every "big transition" in school - so one backpack to last kindergarten through elementary school, a new one to last through middle school, and then finally a new one for high school. We love solid-color backpacks from high-quality companies like LL Bean - you just know they're going to last and never go out of style. (Pro-tip: check out the Outlets to get great, name-brand backpacks for less!)

Consignment Shop for Back-to-School Clothes

If you've been following the blog for any amount of time now, you know I'm a big fan of consignment selling and shopping.  It's a great way to get rid of any clothes or shoes your kids might have outgrown or refuse to wear and make some money back to use on gently used, name-brand "new" items.  That way you're essentially "trading up" for new clothes, and spend a lot less out of pocket. 
{You can read more on my Consignment Selling and Shopping Tips HERE}

Buy Snacks in Bulk and/or Store Brand

If you pack your child's snacks and lunches the cost can definitely can add up over time.  One way to save is to buy in bulk whenever possible.  If you can buy prepackaged snacks in larger quantities the price-per-item is a lot lower.  Buying store brand items over name brand is another great way to save.  

Reusable Water Bottle

Juice boxes are expensive (and arguably unhealthy), so having your child take a reusable water bottle to school saves a lot of money and also helps keep their sugar intake in-check.

Reuse Last Year's School Supplies

A lot of times the school supply list will include things like a set of binders, markers, glue, a pencil case, etc.  Many times there's no reason to repurchase these things - they can often be reused from year-to-year.  Empty out the old papers from last years binders and reuse those.  And the makers, crayons, glue sticks, etc?  They likely have plenty of life left - no need to buy more just yet!  

Coupon and Rebate Apps

And of course, a great way to save if you need to buy items is to use coupons or rebates whenever you can. We really love Coupons.com for printing coupons and the rebate app Ibotta for earning money back on purchases. At the beginning of the school year, coupons and rebates on back-to-school items are usually plentiful, but make sure to only buy what you really need!

Shop Small - and Secondhand

I'm a big fan of supporting small/local companies as well as shopping secondhand when I can.  I consign a lot and often use the money earned from the consignment shop towards new items - that way in a sense we're just "trading up" and not spending a lot out of pocket.  

I thought I'd share some outfit details from a recent wedding we attended to show how you can pull these things together. This dress is Lauren by Ralph Lauren (I couldn't find the exact one to link, but here is a similar one - affiliate link), and I bought it second-hand at a NH-based consignment store called M&C. Because I had store credit from consigning some things there, I only had to pay a whopping 62 cents out of pocket for it! The leather "Buoy Block Clutch" is from Maine-based company Eklund Griffin, and while it can be considered an investment piece it's definitely something that's well-made and timeless and will get a lot of use for many years to come. Finally the gold necklace is from The Silver Wren on Etsy - a small shop that makes beautiful hand-stamped jewelry. I had this necklace made with our daughters' initials and love that I can wear it dressed up or down.

By spending your money wisely, you can get the most impact by saving big shopping second-hand and supporting small and local companies when you can.  Happy shopping!  

How we Make it Work on One Income: Becoming a Stay-at-Home Mom

When we started growing our family, our original plan was to have me go back to work part-time but once I started maternity leave, I realized I just couldn't go back... breastfeeding was a HUGE challenge for me in the beginning and I didn't want to jeopardize it.  We also quickly realized it wouldn't be as practical as we first thought for my husband to shift his schedule around to watch the baby.  Daycare did not make sense financially for us and we had personal reservations of letting someone else raise our baby all day.  So after a lot of discussion we made the tough decision to have me stay home full time, which was a definitely a wake up call.  | This post contains affiliate links |

How we Make it Work on a Single Income

Now I certainly wasn't making the big bucks at my job, but suddenly loosing that income and adding a dependent definitely strained our budget - hard.  For a little background, my husband is self-employed which means that we essentially have to pay for everything 100% out of pocket ourselves - health insurance, retirement, life insurance, etc. - there is no paid time off or sick days and no "benefit perks" that come with his job.  No Christmas bonus to look forward to every year either.  We also have a mortgage and are still paying off college loans - over all it becomes a lot of expenses once you add everything up.  In order to make this work we had to cut back a lot, but it's worth it to be able to stay home with our little one.  

Here's what we did to make it work:  

BUDGET

I can’t say how important it is to have a budget and know where all your money is going. By seeing what all your bills are and how much money you have it will help you efficiently allocate your paycheck and plan for the future. {Please read my blog post on Creating and Maintaining a Monthly Budget if you’d like more information on how to create budget as well as download a Free Excel Budgeting Spreadsheet.}

Called Around to Lower Bills

Make a list of all your utilities, car insurance, home owners insurance, phone plan, etc.  Call around to each one and ask if there's anything they can do to lower your bill.  Often if you've been a customer for a while and your rates haven't been adjusted in a few years, they will be able to give you a bit of a discount.  

If they can't give you a discount on what you have, re-evaluate your current plan.  There might be something unnecessary in your plan you can drop to save some money on your bill or consider switching to another provider for cheaper service/coverage.  

Cut Cable, Limit TV Streaming Services 

Cable TV is expensive - SO expensive.  Ditch that bill and you can easily save $100+/month.  Subscribing to multiple TV streaming services (Netflix, Hulu, HBO Now, Amazon Prime, etc) also adds up fast.  We originally subscribed to several services but now just use Amazon Prime since we pay for that subscription anyways for it's shipping perks.  

One Vehicle

Having just one car won't work for every family but we decided it was something we could make happen.  With my husband working from home already, we really only "needed" a single car for errands and school drop-off... sometimes there are conflicts when we both need to be somewhere different at the same time, but we've learned to plan ahead for these conflicts and carpool or rearrange a schedule to accommodate each other.  
By having one car that means just one car payment, one insurance bill, and one set of carseats to purchase.   

Save on Health Insurance and Medical Bills

Ha.  I'll use the term "save" loosely here.  Health insurance and out of pocket medical costs are sooooo expensive these days and sadly there's not much you can do if the plans available to you are limited and you don't qualify for reduced premiums (both of these situations apply to us).  But there are some small tips we've found over the years to help save a little on our health-related bills - these include using your credit card rewards to your advantage, shopping around for care, and asking for prompt payment discounts.  
{How to Save on Health Insurance and Medical Bills is a separate blog post that goes into more detail on all the ways we save on health bills if you would like to read more.}  

No More Date Nights/Takeout

Before kids, we had date nights a lot - going out to eat, to the movies, etc.  But all that spending sure adds up fast.  Once I became a stay-at-home mom, date nights were limited to special occasions only and takeout nights have become few and far between.  

No More Personal Shopping

What do I mean no more personal shopping?  I mean no more shopping for "fun stuff" for ourselves just because we want to.  Gone are the days when we could spend all day wandering around the outlets picking up whatever we liked.  Now when we buy clothes it's justified:  it's because we actually need a new pair of sneakers or because we have a wedding to attend - no more "just because" shopping.  These days we do a lot of consignment selling and shopping, especially for baby/kid's clothes - that way we're never really spending, just "trading up" for what we want or need.  
We also don't buy books or movies anymore, we borrow them from the library instead.  

Saving on Groceries and Meal Planning

The big weekly bill you have the most control over?  Your grocery bill.  Groceries are expensive but there are lots of tricks to save that can really add up.  Meal planning is probably the biggest one - by planning out your meals for the week ahead you'll waste less and use more wisely.  You can also clip coupons and use couponing apps to save even more.  
{Saving Money on Groceries is a more detailed post on how we save on groceries using these tips and more if you would like to read more on it.}  

That Nap Time Hustle

Even though stay-at-home mom is my #1 job these days, finding something for me to do to generate some kind of income from home was important - which is how Birch Landing Home was born!  I started this little blog and Etsy Shop as a way to make a little extra money during nap time.  Birch Landing Home certainly isn't huge (yet), but it's an enjoyable outlet for me to work towards growing more.  If you have any kind of hobby you can make some side money with, definitely go for it!  Just make sure to keep good records because you need to declare this income on your taxes.  

Pay Yourself Every Month, No Matter What

This is something my Dad instilled on us from the first day we got after-school jobs.  Every month put some money in a separate emergency savings account that you don't touch.  Ideally you budget this deposit into your monthly expenses so you know you are definitely putting $X-amount-of-dollars away each month.  However even if you can't commit to a definite amount every month you still should put something - anything - in that savings account each and every month (my Dad said so, haha). 

My Extremely Hardworking Husband

It goes without saying, but all this wouldn't be possible without my extremely hardworking husband of course.  He puts in long hours every day and weekends too to make sure everything keeps rolling.  There's no way we could make this work without his dedication and resourcefulness.  

What we Should Have Done Differently

We made good headway from the beginning cutting expenses but we should have started A LOT sooner.  How soon?  Well as soon as we started trying to have a baby!  In hindsight, we really should have drastically cut all expenses way before we ever got pregnant and put my whole paycheck away into our emergency savings (or at least 60% of it since I was originally planning to go back part time).  Then we would have spent all those months really trialling and perfecting the single-income lifestyle to see what was working while creating a substantial safety cushion.  

To anyone who is considering going from two incomes to one after baby it definitely can be doable but I would recommend evaluating all your expenses early and saving as much as possible - that way, it will be a lot less scary of a leap into stay-at-home-motherhood.  Good luck and enjoy the journey!  

Thank you to my friend Michayla for inspiring me to finally write this post!  

Please note:  These tips relate to what we've learned in our own experience, but please do your own research for the best information regarding your own situation.  Use the information in this post at your own discretion and risk.  

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More Money-Saving Posts:  

• How to Make the Most Money Consigning Clothes and Household Items

• Our 9 Favorite Money Saving Apps

• How to Save on your Health Insurance & Medical Bills

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New Year, New Resolutions to Save Money

New Year means time for new Resolutions.  Usually they boil down to a lot of the same things, and a big one for us is always saving more where we can.  Every year everything gets more expensive - groceries, gas, clothes, healthcare, etc but our paychecks always seem to stay the same.  
I decided to compile some of my best blog posts on saving money and I hope it will help you jumpstart your savings too!  

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Saving on Groceries

Our 9 Favorite Money Saving Apps

Saving Money on Groceries - Rural Edition

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Budgeting

Creating and Maintaining a Monthly Budget

Making it Work on One Income

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Saving on Health Insurance & Medical Bills

How to Save on Health Insurance & Medical Bills

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Clean House, Make Money

5 Tips to Make the Most Money from Consigning Clothes and Household Items

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Save on Special Events

Easy Ways we Saved THOUSANDS on our Dream Wedding

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5 Tips to Make the Most Money from Consigning Clothes and Household Items

I love consigning - it's so refreshing to clean out the closets, get rid of some of that stuff that's been weighing you down and get a little money back in return.  Here I share the basics as well as my 5 top tips on making the most from your consigned items.  

What is consigning?

Consigning is bringing your used or new items to a shop that will sell them for you and give you a cut of what it sells for.  Yes, you could have a yard sale and keep all the money yourself but consigning is great because you don't need a yard full of stuff and a free Saturday to make a little extra money - and you also don't have to worry about meeting potentially creepy strangers from Craigslist or Facebook Yard Sale groups.  With consigning, you can sell as little or as much as you want with no work involved - perfect for all those busy folks out there.  

There are lots of different types of consignment shops - some only do clothes or kid items, others do antiques and decor items, and some do a combination.  There are even really specific shops out there for things like bridal and formal wear, so no matter what you're looking to get rid of there's most likely a consignment shop for that.  

The format for all these types of shops usually goes something like this:  Items are generally consigned for 90 days.  If the item sells you get a percentage of what it sells for, usually 40-60%, and some stores offer you a higher percentage if you take the amount in store credit rather than cash.  Some consignment shops cut checks to you once a month, others keep tally using a computer system and you can even check in online to see how your items are doing.  If the item doesn't sell within it's allotted time you often get the choice to donate it to charity or come and pick it up.  We always do the charity option, that way we get the chance to make a little money back but if something doesn't sell it goes on to help someone else - it's just win-win.  

My 5 top tips on making the most from your consigned items:  

1. Keep with the seasons.
   Most consignment shops will only take what's in-season - if they don't, make sure to bring in only what's current or will be soon. Bringing in a snowsuit in May will get you no where - it likely won't sell in the allotted time and you will lose the sale and therefore the extra cash you were hoping to make.
   

2. Make sure your items look their best.
   This means making sure your clothes are clean, have no stains or heavy wear-and-tear, loose threads are cut off, and it's wrinkle-free. If you're consigning decor items, make sure they have no damage and are dust-free.
   Consignment shops won't take anything that doesn't look clean and ready to sell.
   

3. Know your market (consignment shop + audience).
   Some consignment shops are more "high-end" than others so it's important to know what kinds of items and brands they take and what they're looking for (there will be places that only take premium clothing brands like GAP, J-Crew, etc). Some shops will even post a list online of what they are looking for or no longer taking at this time.
   Once you get to know your local consignment shops, you'll soon learn where your items do best and you can decide where to bring what and when.
   

4. Always be ready to consign.
   Always have a designated space (a plastic tote, box, or even a paper bag) to put items you'd like to consign. How many times have you passed over that sweater in your closet? (a million) Put it in the box. A well-meaning relative sent you an outfit for your little one that's already two sizes too small? Put it in the box. You don't have to do a big purge to consign (though that's always a good thing), you can consign as you go.
   

5. Shop where you consign.
   If your consignment shop offers you a higher percentage back if you take your cut as store credit, definitely consider doing that - your money will go further for you.
   One of my favorite consignment shops is one of those "higher-end" boutique places where they sell a mix of consigned and new items. I love consigning and shopping there because they give me a higher percentage back as store credit and I can put it towards gently used premium-brand clothing or new clothes and gifts.

Where to start?

Ask around, Google around.  See what's near you, then give those consignment shops a call or send them an e-mail to get more information.  Make sure to find out what their policies are and if you need an appointment to drop off items.  

Happy consigning!  

A glimpse at our glamorous "To Be Consigned" system.
I have three consignment shops I use regularly: one for premium brand clothing, one that will take any brand of clothing, and one for decor items. I write the initials of the consignment shop on each bag/box and leave them tucked away but still easily accessible. Then whenever I have an item I want to consign I drop it into the box for the correct consignment shop. The next time I know I'll be going by a particular place, I make sure to bring those items with me and drop them off - it couldn't be easier!