We ordered the fireplace insert for our bedroom over the weekend. It should be here in 4-10 days. Out of pocket, it only cost us $90!
We participate in a wellness program through The Husband's work. We get points for completing different wellness activities, working out, seeing a doctor/dentist regularly, etc. The points can be redeemed for lots of different things; we almost always choose Amazon gift cards. Apparently, we haven't redeemed the points in a while. We had enough points to redeem $375 in Amazon gift cards, which paid for the majority of our insert!
The insert is 36 inches wide by 27 inches tall and about 8 inches deep. It can be used for heat or just for ambiance. I'm super excited to get this process started! I can't wait for it to come so The Husband can start building the mantle.
Also, over the weekend, The Husband listed some items on Facebook Marketplace to sell. We were given a backyard awning 6 or 7 years ago that we have NEVER used. It has actually never even left the box. We also had a drywall lift that we had bought when we were remodeling our old house that has also been sitting in our backyard since we moved 5 years ago. Lastly, he listed The Boy's basketball hoop. Our son hasn't used the hoop in 2 years probably, it was time. All three items sold relatively quickly and painlessly! We listed the awning for $200 and sold it for $160 to a young couple that had just bought their first house. The drywall lift sold for $140 and I was beyond happy to get it out of my backyard! And the basketball hoop sold for $50!
It was all "found" money to us and none of these things were being used and were actually taking up space! The money from the awning and the drywall lift is going to be used to buy the lumber for the mantle for the fireplace in my bedroom! Although we saved the money for the fireplace, I'm so happy that we won't have to use much of it. We used gift cards for the insert itself and have about $300 from items we sold to use towards the wood!
The money for the basketball hoop we gave to The Boy. It was his hoop, so we figured the money should be his. We have our kids split their money up into three categories: tithe, spend, save. They have to tithe 10%, they get 50% for spending, and 40% goes into savings.
It was a good and productive weekend.