Does size matter?
When it comes to vehicles - maybe. For awhile I was driving a two door Mustang (pretty cool, I know). But as cool looking as a 29 year old out of shape Dad with slightly thinning hair and awful style can look in a Mustang - There was no room to put stuff! So if all of the sudden on your way home from work you see a giant pile of stuff with a free sign next to it - you can’t take it with you because you have no room! And that sucks. I’m not saying buy a brand new SUV or pick up - but you might want to consider your vehicle space when it comes to picking up stuff. The last thing you want to do is drive 20 miles to an auction or yard sale and not be able to leave with anything. But you also don’t want a gas guzzler because you are going to be driving around a lot looking for stuff. Try to find something that brings together affordability, space and gas mileage. We recently purchased a used Jeep that has seemed to work out pretty well for our purposes, but we are spending more on gas...which brings me to my next point...
TRACK YOUR GAS MILEAGE!!! As tedious and annoying as it may seem, it is a really good idea to start to track your gas mileage. When you go out 2 or 3 times a week hunting for stuff it REALLY ads up fast. I haven't gone through a tax season yet since my eBay store is only a few months old, but I'm assuming when tax time comes you will get a decent break on gas mileage, and any other business expenses you take on in the first year. Track that mileage!
Happy Hunting!
The eBay Freshman
yes track your mileage. keep a log book, or just keep notes in your iphone, that's what i do.
ReplyDeleteand advice from my accountant-
it's mileage or price you pay for gas, whichever is higher. mileage is calculated like this-
miles x federal mileage allowance (2013 will be 56.5 cents, see this link http://is.gd/jAtkdD) = $ you can deduct from your taxes.
so if you drive 1000 miles for ebay scavenging x 56.5 cents = $565 you can deduct as a business expense.
BUT if you drove a big truck with bad gas mileage (shame shame), you might have spent $800 on gas (as you will know because of your receipts or figuring our your mpg for 1000 miles). so you would take $800 as your deduction.
p.s. we own a toyota tacoma truck and an acura hatchback which we treat like a truck. it's all about space to haul stuff! and manual transmission for great gas mileage.
ReplyDeleteHi Ryanne!
ReplyDeleteThat is extremely useful info. Thanks for the link! I have just been tracking my mileage in my phone ... I was hoping that would be enough to use for taxes. Glad to hear you do it the same way! Yeah, the Jeep isn't the best for gas mileage (14-15 mpg in town) but there are worse SUVs out there for sure. Sometimes I take out our other car (Toyota Camry) but I can't fit things like shelves and stuff in there if I find them and I hate back tracking home to switch vehicles in the middle of the hunt. As always thanks for your great advice!
BK