The American Greenback



"Always try to rub against money, for if you rub against money long enough, some of it may rub off on you." (from Damon Runyon's story, A Very Honorable Guy).

Greenbacks, dough, moolah, rhino, jack, buck, bread, c-note, dead presidents just a few names for our American dollar. No matter what you call it, money is necessary and money is wanted. But the question is, “how do I get it”.

Lets see, you could have inherited it, i.e. Kennedy, Romney, Bush, and other billionaires in the United States. Or, you could have won the national Lottery (as opposed to that one that you keep getting emails from in Nigeria), hit the jackpot at a casino or, like Jed Clampett, be “shootin’ at some food” and strike oil.

Although we personally don’t have debt problems, we did find it necessary to refinance our home last month. Our ARM loan was growing like weeds in a garden...every month the payment was a little higher.

We thought about a home equity line of credit, but since this house has little equity in it, that wasn’t an option. Our credit is outstanding, so credit counseling wouldn’t have helped. We just needed to make some extra money!

Our first attempt, several years ago, was to join the Amway group. Unfortunately, although they have great products, most people didn’t want to pay the prices for quality products. They could "get it cheaper" at Wal-mart or Target. We didn’t make any money.

Next, I started selling Tiara glassware, another great company. I was doing pretty well, taking the glassware to home parties, a la Tupperware, until the company went out of business. I had high hopes that I would be one of their greatest salespersons, and would win one of the wonderful trips that were sales incentatives. Maybe they gave away too many trips causing the company to go "belly up".

Our last and current endeavor is selling on EBAY….we sell some things, but aren’t getting rich that way either. Ebay’s charges and fees are killing any profit that we could make. And, people are looking for bargains and unless you are offering items that are really special, unique or outrageously cheap, things don't sell.

That leads me to this blog.....I enjoy doing it, it doesn’t cost me anything, so I’ll keep on writing! Maybe someone will enjoy it enough to keep coming back.....and using some of the products offered.

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