I have to admit, I'm pretty awful when it comes to money. I have a £2000 graduate overdraft and £500 on a credit card. I currently live with my beau in the Northern city that is Newcastle, which costs me £500 a month all-in. I'm supposed to be taking T/O to save for a capital move, but due to finances any saving has yet to happen. I have a phone contract, a gym membership, a Vogue subscription and too many forthcoming holidays than my measly budget will allow. How do I make ends meet? Well, my part-time job selling sexy shoes at Office is hardly raking in the pennies, what with it being minimum wage and all. Inevitably, I have had to find an alternative method of raising dollar when the going gets a little tough.
However, before I indulge in my secret, I feel I must first take you back to the root of my financial problem. It all started with the first instalment of the ever so tempting student loan. In a wave of first year naivety, being carried away with the carefree lifestyle and due to the fact that my bank account had quite frankly never seen so much money, I adopted an unfortunate attitude that my money was endless. Topshop's 20% discount student night seduced me within the first few weeks, and I left, goodie bag in tow, weighted down by my shopping bags. My card on the other hand, left £300 lighter. And it seems it has been a downward spiral from there. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a shopaholic: I don't have debt collectors knocking at my door a la Rebecca Bloomwood from Confessions of a Shopaholic (although I was recently appalled to discover this fictitious individual's life parallels mine (almost) down to a T, career aspirations and all...).However, in order to somewhat redeem myself, I feel I need to highlight the fact that my loan did go on more productive things than topshop.com. Since the beginning of my degree, and since graduating, I've been to Benicassim festival three times, to Glastonbury, to Leeds festival, to Barcelona and Valencia, and to Canada and New York. I've also been to London countless times, to Cambridge, Manchester, Edinburgh, York and Liverpool... I've been to gigs and I've been to ballets. I like to go to exciting places. I like to have things that I like. I have a tendency to constantly want to live beyond my means. I could have not been anywhere and not bought anything and put it all in savings, but I am of the belief that I would be miserable, saving my money for a rainy day.
And so, with my big-spender(?) attitude, how exactly do I make ends meet, when I have bills coming out of my bank account before funds have even gone in? The answer is Ebay. Ebay, to me, is like the holy grail. It gives me hope when my funds are low and when my bank account is in the red. Every so often, when I need a bit of extra cash for rent and bills, or for Christmas and birthday presents for my nearest and dearest, I have a wardrobe clear out and sell some of my unwanted belongings in order to raise a bit of extra sterling coin. Ebay is my trusty financial ally, and it has never failed me yet. With every clear out, I manage to raise around £300, which isn't too shabby given that I only list a few key items at a time. The best sellers tend to be everything vintage, especially furs and sequins (my old faithfuls), and accessories. I've had so many of my car-boot online clear outs, I'm becoming a bit of a pro. It sounds cheddar cheese, but I know what people want. I know how to list items and how to woo buyers with the description, I know how to photograph (always use a model), and I know to keep postage costs relatively low. I know to have a low starting bid and I know not to use a reserve. I wrap items I sell in tissue paper and include a handwritten thank you card as a personal touch, which seems to be appreciated given my 100% feedback.
Yet, the irony of this is that if I wasn't such a spender to begin with, I wouldn't have anything to sell. Talk about a catch 22. And yet it works for me: I clear out my wardrobe at least once every season, to raise extra money to top up my minimal earnings from my poorly paid job, meaning I can go places, do things, and ironically, buy new clothes. I am on the lookout for a job that will guarantee me more money every month, but even then, I still think I'd rely on Ebay for a bit of extra pocket money. But until I manage to get myself a nice salary so I can save up and make the big move to London to be the journalist I want to be, I shall continue to clear out and await Paypal funds, to patch-work together the very separate bits of fabric that constitutes my financial situation. I'm currently in the middle of a clear out as we speak as I'm saving for an impending trip to Paris, where I'll go and probably buy more items that will end up on Ebay within the next couple of years. It's the circle of my life and finances, or at least it's the circle of my wardrobe.
