How My Wife And I Paid Our Mortgage Using $50 - And Had $100+ Leftover

in #money8 years ago (edited)


Yes, we used a $50 investment and some hustle to turn it into over $800 this past weekend. Read on to find out what we did.

I've been back home from my six-month gig in Qatar for about two weeks now. Much of that time has been used performing the tasks around the house that needed doing as well as spending time with the family.

I managed to hit up a few thrift stores but prices seem to have increased substantially during the time I was gone (looking at you Goodwill). Items I used to see priced at $8 are around $12-15 now. That is really cutting into the profit margin. Not to mention that USPS shipping has gone up again.

So my purchases were minimal.

Until Friday.

The family and I stopped by an independent thrift store about 15 minutes before they closed. I must thank the wife, as she needed to use the bathroom and knew there was one there.

(This is a real life example of my previous article How To Turn $100 Into $1,000+ My Way)

After some time browsing, she happened to spot two plastic totes. One filled with Scentsy wax bars @ 4/$1. The other with some special Scentsy items and some Rodan + Fields skincare items @ $1 each.

After we had sold most of it

She was busy looking through the items and when I approached told me she knows the Rodan + Fields items are very expensive.

How expensive, I had no idea.

The store was closing and we were the only customers. I could tell the employees wanted us out.

I told her we can ask if they would do a deal for both the bins.

I called over the employees and asked if they would sell the whole lot. They would, and after some thought, she said there were probably 100 Scentsy wax bars and great items in the other bin. She said $20 for the Scentsy wax bars bin and $30 for the specialty bin. $50 would take it all.

I had just one item, a white cloth originally for $5 that was 50% off. I needed it for a photograph background to take eBay photos.

I said if the plastic totes were included and if they would throw in the cloth it was a deal. They immediately agreed.

Well, once we got home and looked up some of these things we knew we hit a great score!

As valuable as gold!

Just one Rodan + Fields item would sell for $100 easy.

That would double our investment right there! And there were still tons left to sell!

When we got home, we counted our haul.

The Scentsy stuff we bought:

170 wax bars
Tester collection (130 big ones and 80 small ones)
8 scent paks
46 gift bags
6 Whipped body souffle
11 Counter clean
2 Kitchen soap
2 Hand soap
1 Fresh spray
7 Dryer discs
4 Hand cream
1 Fine fragrance roller
9 Room sprays
2 Scrubby buddies
3 Bath smoothers
1 Scout dragon buddy cup

The Rodan + Fields stuff we bought:

2 Clarifying toner
Oil control lotion
Skin brightening kit
Overnight restorative cream
Lightening accelerator pack
Pore minimizer
Daily body moisturizer
Hand treatment regimen

I have to hand it to my wife. She really got on the selling. She made a few Scentsy wax bar sets and listed them on the local Facebook selling pages. They were a smokin' deal if the people were into Scentsy. Normal price for a wax bar is $5 each, we sold lots of 7 for just $15. Certainly we went for the quick nickel instead of the slow dime on this hustle.

I took pictures of the Rodan + Fields items and kept our toddler daughter occupied. My wife listed a few of them on eBay. Then we switched and I listed the rest.

I also narrowed down a Scentsy scent that is discontinued but has a strong demand – called Business Casual. I listed a set of 5 on eBay for $49.99 and it sold a day later.

The Rodan + Fields items all sold almost within one day.

Just a small portion of our $50 score!

We still have a few items left, but most have been sold. We have one person that will be buying $100 worth of items next week.

But we have already sold and have cash in hand of $423 (with $7 owed). From our eBay sales, minus fees (eBay and Paypal) and shipping we earned $402.40.

Total (so far) is $825.40! Subtract our initial $50 investment and we are sitting $775.40 richer over this weekend.

Our mortgage is $715. We turned this $50 into our mortgage payment (and then some!) with just a little hustlin'.


My wife is the best. ;)

Never stop hustlin'!

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Congrats on the smooth hustling! What an inspirational testimony of financial strategy.

Thanks! The person that wanted $100 worth of items paid up too - so it's become an even better score!

You're welcome and Again, most amazing, that's great for you and your wife. Keep up your success!

This is a great story! I really enjoyed reading it. Outstanding post. 👍 ☆☆☆☆☆😎

Much appreciated!

What an awesome find! Congrats on this quick and easy gain :D

Thank you, was a great boost to our moods. :D

Nice score man. Good thing for the wife......I never heard of those beauty care products and I bet you haven't too. :-)

Heck no I hadn't heard of them. Good thing she was there! :D

Ha, she loves your comment :)

One of the most resourceful people I've ever known! Amazing... :)

It was one of those great scores - was greatly needed after the lack of success in the other stores.

Your wife is the queen of arbitrage!