Money on the street?

Do you know you can find money on the street?

 

What would you do if you find a $100 dollar note on the street? I guess most of us would look around first (just in case anyone is looking at us) and quickly pick up the note, and smile. Am I right?

 

How about an old fridge standing on the street that is signed “Free and Working”?

 

When we were heading home from the beach after a regular Sunday walk, my husband saw an old fridge standing on a foot path with a note “Free and working”. As a frugal couple (as you might know already), we decided not to leave the money standing there. We stopped our hatch back car next to the foot path and squeezed the fridge into our car. This was not the first time we have found a treasure on the street so both of us knew what to do and took the action straightaway as followed.

 

·        Working? : We switched on and put some water bottles in the fridge/freezer to find out whether it was actually working or not. Yes, it was working!

·        Saleable? : We cleaned the fridge inside for a prospective customer and took some photos including the label that contains additional information. Ready to sell.

·        Marketing? : My husband uploaded the photos with simple advertisement comments on the local ‘FREE’ online classifieds site.

·        Waiting? : Waiting for a right customer. Many people inquired about the Ad but most of them didn’t take any further actions (ring, ask, and never turn up… very silly but exceptionally normal.).

·        Right price? : We put the price higher at the beginning and gradually reduced as per the responses.

 

Finally, a guy turned up with a sports car and looked at the fridge, and wanted to pay the agreed price. My smart husband offered a delivery (as it was quite close to our place and as obviously his car cannot carry even a single chair) with extra $40. We put the fridge into our hatch back one more time and delivered it to him, and made $170 including delivery. It sounds not bad, doesn’t it?

 

I have spoken like that I had involved a lot in the process but most of them were done by my husband who is very good in selling things. He sells whatever he finds even broken things. Amazing thing I have found from his selling is there will be always a buyer whatever he tries to sell. One of the memorable selling experiences is a TV stand that we found on the street (Council Clean-up) and used for more than 5 years, and sold for $100. My husband sells not only thing found from the street. He regularly cleans up our storage and tries to sell old things that we don’t use any longer. Selling the unwanted things can help us to keep less stuff in the house and also cover our future expenses by the useful cash.

 

I know many people would like the second part of this event (Earning money) and being reluctant to do the first part (Carrying, cleaning, advertising, negotiating and delivering), and decide ‘better not to bother’. However, I hope you remember that there is unchangeable fact that nothing is for free. We are happy to put little bit of efforts to get extra money which could be ignored. Honestly, we are financially very sound. I know some people would (did) ask us why we do this kind of extra (non-necessary) work (efforts) for the little money when we don’t have any problem with money. The answer is simple.

 

Why not? What can be the problem with making money on the stuff which is not useful to someone but can be useful to others? When we voluntarily exchange our precious life to work in order to make money (Money = Life), every single dollar is valuable to me and I think it would be ridiculous to ignore the chance to make money.

 

Our attitude toward money and frugal lifestyle keep us financially independent. I have noticed that many people don’t want to talk about money as if it would make them look down (and down, and down…). Many people think that buying good value stuff on sale, talking about savings, picking up things from outside and reuse, and living on a simple budget do not make them look better. However, what is ‘Better’? Do you really think buying stuff by credit cards (debts) and live pay cheque to pay cheque but having more stuff is better than living frugally and having financial independence? It is all up to you.

 

Don’t I feel embarrassed? I used to be. When I was an international student, I had to get many stuff from the council clean-ups. Buying expensive stuff was simply unaffordable as I had to pay school fees (over $2,000 per subject) on the top of my living cost (living in Sydney is tough). I felt quite uncomfortable to be shown to others that I cannot afford to buy them then. However, funny enough now when I really can afford to buy anything I want, I don’t feel embarrassed to low my living standard. I am proud of our attitude on money and spending habits. Also, being free from others’ perspectives is truly wonderful.

 

I am not saying that you need to look around to find stuff to sell. What I want to say is we need to rethink about value of money and treat the money more thoughtfully. Don’t forget how big part of your life is being spent at work for getting the money. Waste money is same as wasting our lifetime.

 

I am glad to know that the fridge is serving someone and we made a pocket money from the simple extra effort. If there is something ‘Free & Working’, definitely, we will do it again.