I recevied a dividend for the shares of Verizon I had as of January 9, 2024. A dividend has four dates which matter for it. They are the announcement date, ex-dividend date, record date, and pay date. I would look to this website by the SEC to understand what these dates mean, but the one which can cause the most confusion is the ex-dividend date. I bought a share on January 18th, so I did not get paid a dividend amount on it this time. The dividend was paid to me on February 1st.

I held 1.019 shares at .665 cents per share for this dividend payment to give me .677 cents. The .677 cents got reinvested at $42.30 per share to give me .016 shares more. This gives me a total of 1.035 plus 1 from 1/18 for 2.035 shares. Next quarter, I would expect the dividend to remain at .665 cents per share. This will pay me $1.35. Stacking up pennies into dollars is a win for my change jar flip.

Thought on dividends versus buying low price items to flip

Interesting to me to think some of the first things I was buying were puzzles which costs me less than the amount of $1.35 each. The risk versus reward of the dividend compared to buying a puzzle is on two opposites. The dividend involves very little risk to receive from a company like Verizon, but the reward amount is clearly defined by the dividend payment amount at the time Verizon is bought.

Buying an item which costs $1.35 on its own is a very risky proposition to hope it sells. This is why I wanted to get as many items initially to make sure things started selling. I was around 50% on being able to sell one of those items within a year. I was able to make around $20 in profit off of the items I sold and got back the amount I spent for them which gave me a total value back of about $8 to reinvest. I lost about $5 on the items which I couldn’t liquidate at my garage sell. This means I invested about $16 to begin with and turned it into $23 in a year. On a dollar for dollar basis this works out much better, and why you can start flipping with a very small amount and run it up like I’m doing. However, to take the time to find flips at around a dollar requires more effort than I want to at this point. If I wanted to keep going with very low amount flips I would need a storage space at this point, because I would have well over 600 items, and would be having to find a lot of items to flip on a weekly basis.

As I wrote earlier, going to let to pennies stack up into dollars at this point with no effort to make that happen with the dividends.

A lot has happened since my last update. I sold an a William Morris Queen Sheet later on the day after I had updated on January 15th. This was a very good flip because I paid $42.22 for the set, which was on clearance, and made $44.88 on it in less than two weeks. The William Morris brand is getting me lots of views and they are moving well.

I also sold another set on January 27th of William Morris Queen Sheets I purchased on January 25th. This was an ideal flip again because I spent $54.11 and made $20.57 in two days. It took me till the 27th to list the item, and when I did it actually only took about ten minutes for it to sale. Sometimes a flip happens so quickly I am shocked by how well flipping works.

The third item I sold was a William Morris Queen Duvet on January 29th. The theme continued with William Morris items as winners this period of time. I bought this one for $54.11 on December 13 of 2023 also and made $22.42 on it after everything was done with sending it out.

I bought a Ralph Lauren White Twin Sheet Set which was on discount on January 24th for $31.39. This one is not a doubling of my money, but I have sold this type of set before and should be able to make a quick flip on this hopefully.

Stock Buy

I decided to buy another share of Verizon on January 18th. The price I paid for the share was $38.92. This puts me at 2.017 shares of Verizon. If I think about this from a very simplistic mindset of when I started this over a year and a half ago, with just the Verizon buys for the stock I have set myself up to make dividends from them in perpetuity. This is a truly passive income activity if I want. The current annual dividend amount is $2.66 per share. This means I will make $5.36 a year off of these 2.017 shares currently. I’m getting paid 14.7% of what I started with by doing nothing of my own effort. I plan on getting enough in dividends compared to what I started with, over time, at the minimum. I will reinvest the dividends each quarter and this amount will grow because of this. As well, Verizon is likely to have a dividend increase each year. Letting those pennies add on to each other over time. My value for Verizon still remains at $60 a share for what I believe it is worth.

Verizon was trading at $42.17 when I wrote this. This gives me a profit of $13.16 at this time. This is outside of the dividend which was reinvested.

Current Inventory

I am at a total of $861.45 in potential inventory or potential invested in. I need to reinvest $161.73 at this time. The potential $861.45 invested in items doesn’t take into account the value I could make off of the items if all were to sell. I know this would be completely unlikely to sell everything in my inventory, but if it did I would be looking at the total inventory being worth about 2 times what I paid for it. This means I would have $1600 to invest. Understanding this concept helps me to continue to make good buys which will make the overall inventory value increase. By doing this the ability to make a higher amount per month and year becomes more realistic.

Item	Cost	Date Purchased	Sold	Profit
NFL Puzzle	$3.45	6/27/22
Serving Dish and Bowl	$9.29	7/20/22
*2 Coca Cola Puzzles	$6.91	9/13/22
*Floral Plate	$2.71	9/26/22
*Old Spice Cologne bottle	$3.25	9/26/22
*Wood block set- kid’s toy	$2.17	9/26/22
*Japanese Stein 1	$4.33	9/26/22
*Satellite Puzzle	$2.37	11/28/22
*Board Game	$3.78	1/4/23
*Painter’s puzzle	$3.78	1/30/23
*Antique? vase	$8.11	2/21/23
*Antique Plates	$7.56	3/19/23
*Rollerblades	$16.77	4/1/23
*Granite Cutting Blades (5)	$40.54	4/4/23
*Crystal bowl	$5.94	4/10/23
*Perfume bottle	$8.11	4/10/23
*Casserole dish	$8.11	5/17/23
*Nike Air Jordan V.5 Canvas	$27.11	5/22/23
* Air Jordan Flight Remix Wolf Grey	$42.50	5/24/23
*Coffee Cup- Floral	$2.70	6/20/23
*Twin Duvet Set	$25.98	6/21/23
*Skateboard	$8.11	7/26/23
*Queen Sheet Set Brown and White Plaid	$64.94	8/23/23
*Accounting Book	$6.27	9/6/23
*Brooks Brothers Sheet Set	$12.99	9/8/23
*1.019 Share – Verizon	$33.07	9/29/23		$9.91
*William Morris King Duvet	$64.94	11/16/23
*William Morris Queen Duvet	$54.11	12/13/23	1/29/24	$22.42
*William Morris Queen Duvet	$54.11	12/13/23
*William Morris Queen Sheet Set	$42.22	1/3/24	1/15/24	$44.88
*Peter Reed Reina Blue King Duvet	$42.22	1/3/24
*Peter Reed Reina Blue King Duvet	$42.22	1/10/24
*1 Share Verizon	$38.92	1/18/24		$3.25
*Ralph Lauren White Twin Sheet Set	$31.39	1/24/24
*William Morris Queen Sheet Set	$54.11	1/25/24	1/27/24	$20.57
Underinvested	$161.73
Total inventory amount	$861.45

I have sold two items since my last update and bought three items. I sold the Full Sheet White Set and made $11.23 of profit. This type of brand in white normally sells very quickly. However, there are times when certain sizes don’t sell for an appropriate amount to make it a good flip for me. If I find the full size again I will buy multiple sets of them again if they are available. I was not able to list these until after the holiday and it sold it less than a week.

I also sold the Technics Tape player on craigslist and made $17.71 of profit on the same day I sold the Full White Sheet Set. I had an interesting conversation with the person I sold the tape player too. He wanted to make sure and meet in a crowded area to be able to test the item. He told me he got robbed one time when he met someone to buy something off of craigslist, and always meets in a crowded area now. I have always met people in an area with lots of other people when selling craigslist items, before this interaction. This seemed like a good idea to me from a safety perspective. Making sure I am not putting myself at risk when doing flips is something I’ve always considered a first level thing compared to the profit I’m hoping to make.

I bought a new set of William Morris Queen Sheet Sets and a Peter Reed Reina Blue King Duvet. A week later after the two sales I had I went back and bought another Peter Reed Reina Blue King Duvet. I bought well on both of these and will hopefully make at least 50% on my money on these items. I’m much higher on this right now, because if I need to lower the sales amount I can still meet my goal for margin on these larger items. I am hoping to run up the amount by $1000 of profit this year, but I don’t control how sales will go. As long as I buy at a good price then I have set myself up to potentially be successful.

I have $47.84 more to invest to get back to fully invested again, and am at $760.42.

Current Inventory

Item	Cost	Date Purchased	Sold	Profit
NFL Puzzle	$3.45	6/27/22
Serving Dish and Bowl	$9.29	7/20/22
*2 Coca Cola Puzzles	$6.91	9/13/22
*Floral Plate	$2.71	9/26/22
*Old Spice Cologne bottle	$3.25	9/26/22
*Wood block set- kid’s toy	$2.17	9/26/22
*Japanese Stein 1	$4.33	9/26/22
*Satellite Puzzle	$2.37	11/28/22
*Board Game	$3.78	1/4/23
*Painter’s puzzle	$3.78	1/30/23
*Antique? vase	$8.11	2/21/23
*Antique Plates	$7.56	3/19/23
*Rollerblades	$16.77	4/1/23
*Granite Cutting Blades (5)	$40.54	4/4/23
*Crystal bowl	$5.94	4/10/23
*Perfume bottle	$8.11	4/10/23
*Casserole dish	$8.11	5/17/23
*Nike Air Jordan V.5 Canvas	$27.11	5/22/23
* Air Jordan Flight Remix Wolf Grey	$42.50	5/24/23
*Coffee Cup- Floral	$2.70	6/20/23
*Twin Duvet Set	$25.98	6/21/23
*Skateboard	$8.11	7/26/23
*Queen Sheet Set Brown and White Plaid	$64.94	8/23/23
*Technics Tape Player	$22.29	8/23/23	1/7/24	$17.71
*Accounting Book	$6.27	9/6/23
*Brooks Brothers Sheet Set	$12.99	9/8/23
*1.019 Share – Verizon	$33.07	9/29/23		$5.35
*William Morris King Duvet	$64.94	11/16/23
*Full Sheet Set White	$38.97	12/13/23	1/7/24	$11.23
*William Morris Queen Duvet	$54.11	12/13/23
*William Morris Queen Duvet	$54.11	12/13/23
*William Morris Queen Sheet Set	$42.22	1/3/24
*Peter Reed Reina Blue King Duvet	$42.22	1/3/24
*Peter Reed Reina Blue King Duvet	$42.22	1/10/24
Underinvested	$47.84
Total inventory amount	$760.42

I ended up selling on more item before the end of 2023. I sold the William Morriss King Duvet on 12/25/2023 for $117.50 less shipping. I ended up making $23.61 after everything was all done. I had bought two of this exact duvet when I got this and am going to replace it in my inventory so I don’t have to find another item for it. If you are reading this you might think that doesn’t seem right, but it seems reasonable to me since it is my change jar flip game I’m doing.

End of the year numbers updated

I made a profit in 2023 of $624.03. Current Inventory possible inventory amount is $736.83. I need to invest $84.29 to be fully invested. Verizon was trading at 37.70 on the last day of trading in 2023 which puts the potential profit at $5.35.

Current Inventory

Item	Cost	Date Purchased	Sold	Profit
NFL Puzzle	$3.45	6/27/22
Serving Dish and Bowl	$9.29	7/20/22
*2 Coca Cola Puzzles	$6.91	9/13/22
*Floral Plate	$2.71	9/26/22
*Old Spice Cologne bottle	$3.25	9/26/22
*Wood block set- kid’s toy	$2.17	9/26/22
*Japanese Stein 1	$4.33	9/26/22
*Satellite Puzzle	$2.37	11/28/22
*Board Game	$3.78	1/4/23
*Painter’s puzzle	$3.78	1/30/23
*Antique? vase	$8.11	2/21/23
*Antique Plates	$7.56	3/19/23
*Rollerblades	$16.77	4/1/23
*Granite Cutting Blades (5)	$40.54	4/4/23
*Crystal bowl	$5.94	4/10/23
*Perfume bottle	$8.11	4/10/23
*Casserole dish	$8.11	5/17/23
*Nike Air Jordan V.5 Canvas	$27.11	5/22/23
* Air Jordan Flight Remix Wolf Grey	$42.50	5/24/23
*Coffee Cup- Floral	$2.70	6/20/23
*Twin Duvet Set	$25.98	6/21/23
*Skateboard	$8.11	7/26/23
*Queen Sheet Set Brown and White Plaid	$64.94	8/23/23
*Technics Tape Player	$22.29	8/23/23
*Accounting Book	$6.27	9/6/23
*Brooks Brothers Sheet Set	$12.99	9/8/23
*1.019 Share – Verizon	$33.07	9/29/23		$5.35
*William Morris King Sheet Set	$51.96	10/17/23	12/25/23	$23.61
*William Morris King Duvet	$64.94	11/16/23
*Full Sheet Set White	$38.97	12/13/23
*William Morris Queen Duvet	$54.11	12/13/23
*William Morris Queen Duvet	$54.11	12/13/23
Underinvested	$84.29
Total inventory amount	$736.83

I have sold three items since my last update. I sold a pair of Nike shoes the next day I bought them for one of the biggest profits I’ve ever had. I sold a William Morris set of sheets, and the Rae Dunn King Set of Sheets.

The pair of Nike Shoes were at Kobe 8 model and I paid $14.60 for them and set them for a quick sell priced at $100. I ended up making $70.75 of profit off of them once all the fees were charged. I was very happy with this highly profitable, fast flip. I also did more research after the fact and learned I could have made more money than this, but was happy with what I got. When I am flipping items you can’t expect things to maximize profit all the time, but you can learn more about items if they sell super fast in case you run across an item again.

I sold the Rae Dunn King Sheet Set for $30 and ended up making $6.33 profit after it was all shipped out. This was another decent flip and gives me the opportunity to reinvest easily at this price point again.

The last item I sold was a set of William Dunn Queen Sheets I had paid $42.22 for $83.00. This ends up being $28.46 in profit off of this set after shipping them out and fees. These three items ended up making me $105.55 of profit, almost three times the amount I started with. That’s a win!

I went and bought three items to replace those which sold. One is a Full Size White Sheet set, and two different William Morris Queen Duvets. This pushes me to over $712 in potential inventory. All three of these items should get good views and have high chances of selling in a reasonable amount of time. I need to invest $60.68 more to be fully invested at this point, and this is to be expected when I have an item make as large a profit as the Nike Kobe 8 shoes did which cost me such a small amount.

Verizon is at $37.49 as of the writing of this which puts me at a potential profit of $5.14.

As 2023 ends out I look back and see I am up $600.42 this year. This works out to $50 a month in profit. I have written about $50 a month for a while and could keep on just cranking out this amount a month, if I wanted. This is a great success on my flip jar journey, and lines me up with where I hope to be at $1000 of potential inventory by the end of my second full year at this. In 18 months, I was able to make $676.63 of profit which I find to be an amazing amount to have grown to. I look forward to where this journey will take me.

Current Inventory

Item	Cost	Date Purchased	Sold	Profit
NFL Puzzle	$3.45	6/27/22
Serving Dish and Bowl	$9.29	7/20/22
*2 Coca Cola Puzzles	$6.91	9/13/22
*Floral Plate	$2.71	9/26/22
*Old Spice Cologne bottle	$3.25	9/26/22
*Wood block set- kid’s toy	$2.17	9/26/22
*Japanese Stein 1	$4.33	9/26/22
*Satellite Puzzle	$2.37	11/28/22
*Board Game	$3.78	1/4/23
*Painter’s puzzle	$3.78	1/30/23
*Antique? vase	$8.11	2/21/23
*Antique Plates	$7.56	3/19/23
*Rollerblades	$16.77	4/1/23
*Granite Cutting Blades (5)	$40.54	4/4/23
*Crystal bowl	$5.94	4/10/23
*Perfume bottle	$8.11	4/10/23
*Casserole dish	$8.11	5/17/23
*Nike Air Jordan V.5 Canvas	$27.11	5/22/23
* Air Jordan Flight Remix Wolf Grey	$42.50	5/24/23
*Rae Dunn King Sheet Set	$21.61	6/14/23	12/9/23	$6.33
*Coffee Cup- Floral	$2.70	6/20/23
*Twin Duvet Set	$25.98	6/21/23
*Skateboard	$8.11	7/26/23
*Queen Sheet Set Brown and White Plaid	$64.94	8/23/23
*Technics Tape Player	$22.29	8/23/23
*Accounting Book	$6.27	9/6/23
*Brooks Brothers Sheet Set	$12.99	9/8/23
*1.019 Share – Verizon	$33.07	9/29/23		$5.14
*William Morris King Sheet Set	$51.96	10/17/23
*William Morris Queen Sheet Set	$42.22	10/17/23	12/4/23	$28.46
*William Morris King Duvet	$64.94	11/16/23
*Nike Kobe 8	$14.60	12/1/23	12/2/23	$70.75
*Full Sheet Set White	$38.97	12/13/23
*William Morris Queen Duvet	$54.11	12/13/23
*William Morris Queen Duvet	$54.11	12/13/23
Underinvested	$60.68
Total inventory amount	$713.01

I sold two items since my last update, but made a mistake with one of them I sold. I sold the pair of shoes which were Nike’s for $47.50 plus shipping and ended up making $9.47 of profit off them.

The second item I sold was the Dyson vacuum. Unfortunately, I didn’t notice it was missing the rolling device on it when I bought it. I had been using it to clean my house till I sold it, but the person I sold it to said it didn’t work for them. In this situation I’m not going to worry about this and refunded their money, and wished them luck on finding the missing piece.

I learned a lesson about double checking the pictures of the items I buy online before completing a purchase. The vacuum never had the roller when I looked back at the original pictures. If I would have taken more time to compare it to others like it I would have noticed. This type of mistake happens and I’ll try my best to make fewer of them over time. As well, it cost me and additional $1.25 to refund them on the purchase. This is the most I’ve lost on one item since starting.

I currently need to reinvest $38.47 to be fully invested as of the end of the month. Not sure what I’m going to focus on for this amount to keep me moving forward. All of the sheets and duvets I’ve bought are receiving lots of views, but have yet to sale. This is likely my best course of action to have a high probability of consistent sale.

Current Inventory

Item	Cost	Date Purchased	Sold	Profit
NFL Puzzle	$3.45	6/27/22
Serving Dish and Bowl	$9.29	7/20/22
*2 Coca Cola Puzzles	$6.91	9/13/22
*Floral Plate	$2.71	9/26/22
*Old Spice Cologne bottle	$3.25	9/26/22
*Wood block set- kid’s toy	$2.17	9/26/22
*Japanese Stein 1	$4.33	9/26/22
*Satellite Puzzle	$2.37	11/28/22
*Board Game	$3.78	1/4/23
*Painter’s puzzle	$3.78	1/30/23
*Antique? vase	$8.11	2/21/23
*Antique Plates	$7.56	3/19/23
*Rollerblades	$16.77	4/1/23
*Granite Cutting Blades (5)	$40.54	4/4/23
*Crystal bowl	$5.94	4/10/23
*Perfume bottle	$8.11	4/10/23
*Pair of Shoes	$37.86	5/4/23	11/21/23	$9.87
*Casserole dish	$8.11	5/17/23
*Nike Air Jordan V.5 Canvas	$27.11	5/22/23
* Air Jordan Flight Remix Wolf Grey	$42.50	5/24/23
*Rae Dunn King Sheet Set	$21.61	6/14/23
*Dyson Vacuum	$20.02	6/20/23	11/28/23	-$21.27
*Coffee Cup- Floral	$2.70	6/20/23
*Twin Duvet Set	$25.98	6/21/23
*Skateboard	$8.11	7/26/23
*Queen Sheet Set Brown and White Plaid	$64.94	8/23/23
*Technics Tape Player	$22.29	8/23/23
*Accounting Book	$6.27	9/6/23
*Brooks Brothers Sheet Set	$12.99	9/8/23
*1.019 Share – Verizon	$33.07	9/29/23		$3.80
*William Morris King Sheet Set	$51.96	10/17/23
*William Morris Queen Sheet Set	$42.22	10/17/23
*William Morris King Duvet	$64.94	11/16/23
Underinvested	$38.47
Total inventory amount	$602.33