Day 98: Vintage Speakers traded for... Bose Soundsystem!

 Income: 00.18 $
Finally some post-worthy content and progress! During the past week I returned another 74 cans (3,70$) and I had a bankroll of 60,18$... at least for a few days.

After refreshing my ad on craigslist and offering to trade my speakers against anything of higher value, I received an email from a person who was already interested in them several weeks ago. He offered me a variety of things (such as vintage shaving gear ), but I was most interested in his  Bose Soundsystem (Acoustimass 5 Series II ). We agreed that I´d have to pay him an additional 60$ and that I would receive some wire cables.
I hope the Bose Soundsystem is easier to sell or trade than the vintage speakers, as I was quite lucky to find someone who is interested in such old speakers. Ebay.com price for the soundsystem is around 150$. Currently it has a few drops of wall paint here and there and some resistant dust. I´ll clean them now and see what I can get for them on craigslist as soon as possible.Maybe I can make some additional dollars with the unused speaker wire. There should be around 30 feet left, 100feet are worth around 30$ at bestbuy.

 Bye Bye 50 year old Vintage Speakers:

Welcome 20 year old Bose Soundsystem (and 60 feet of wires):

Day 91: Cans and Speakers

Income: 56.48 $

 The semester in New York has started and I have a little more time pressure and a little less time to keep my blog up to date.
Anyways, some interesting things happened during the last 10 days:

1.  Cans:
I returned 187 cans (5 were notrefundable) and received 9,10$ for them. I also found a dime and a penny at University, which adds up to 9,21$. As the semester started, it seems that I am receiving some more cans every week.

2. Speakers:
Apparently, asking on craigslist to make me an offer for my speakers didn´t work at all. No replies. A week later I changed my ad and asked for a clear amount and shortened my long description. It worked! Within 2 days I received 7 emails. However, many were asking whether the speakers had tweeters. As I couldn t see any, I said they do not. Later I found out that the tweeters are build into the front of the speaker and that I can only hear (not see), whether my ones have them or not.  I found this out, after replying to most mails that my speakers don´t have tweeters :(.
As I do not have any possibility to test my speakers, I rely on interested persons who are willed to bring an Amp to my house to check them. An alternative would be to find a friend who has the devices to test my speakers, but I am not sure yet who to ask for this.

Conclusion :   I´ll set up a new ad  after testing my speakers (or getting it tested by a possible buyer).

Day 80: 1000 Recycled Cans/Bottles!

 Income: 47.27 $
Today I returned 144 cans and bottles and none of them was "nonrefundable"! Usually there are at least 10 to 20 cans that make problems...   Overall ,It took 80 days and a lot of time, but 1000 bottles/cans have finally been recycled. Not much time to write today, but I realized that to reach my goal of 1000$ with my current speed I would have to continue returning bottles for another 4 to 5 years... Great!


     

Review: August 2011

After some less productive weeks in July, I was spending much more time this month with different activities to earn some cents/dollars here and there. So what did I do during the past weeks and how much did I earn with which activity?


1. Cans and Bottles
My "real" income was mostly generated by returning bottles and cans. In August, I returned more cans and bottles, as I did in June and July together. They and a dozen of pennies which I found on the street were worth 19,76$. I can expect around 20$ per month, if I return cans and bottles that I receive from the coffee house and collect around 100 cans/bottles from streets/trash/bushes.




 2. Google Adsense
I am using adsense to generate some additional income by the advertisements you can see on my blog. If a reader is interested in one of the advertised products and clicks on the banner to get more information, adsense will automatically pay some cents to the blogowner. Even though my revenue shrank over the past weeks, it is still a nice pocket money. It is forbidden to show statistics about adsense performances, but at least allowed to show the monthly reports. They are in German.. (sorry ?!) :

I haven´t disclosed my revenue from the prior months, so I think it´d be fair to do so now. During the first weeks of my blog, I had a daily average of  >250 visitors, which apparently were very interested in the advertisements on my blog. This resulted in many clicks and over 30$ during the first two weeks. However, there was no way for me to maintain >250 viewers per day which resulted in the downwards trend I am currently facing. In August, I was able to gain 12,78$ in revenue. I am not counting the 50,18$ I have earned via adsense towars my overall income yet, as I cannot withdraw them before I have 100$. It will thus still take a while until I can invest them.

3. Loudspeakers
I am still not sure about what to expect for them. I hope to receive between 20 - 70$, as this is the price for them on ebay. However, I am not sure when I will find a buyer.




Prospect for September
But what now?  I am currently not able to increase my revenue. I have a steady income of about 20$ a month by returning cans, which is great! But my adsense revenue decreased, which is a problem, as it is definetily an easy way to earn some extra dollars.
As soon as I have sold my speakers, I want to invest in something more valueable, which I can then resell for more. I am also very interested to buy something that can be cleaned/repaired/refurbished. I hope this will be possible in September and keep checking garage sales.