My good idea for the new year.

I'm going to start this off by telling you a little about me. I am 17 years old , and have been scrapping for about 4 years now. Started off with my buddy, and have now got other buddies doing it. I go to high school and am a senior, I start school at 7 a.m, and get out at 3:10 pm, then take my load in to the yard right after school, get paid , get gas, and go out looking for scrap from around 5pm - 10 pm everyday. And on weekends I wake up at 8am and usually stay out until about 8 pm. I live about 10 minutes away from St.louis in Granite City Ilinois , which is one of the largest steel producers in the USA. I drive a 1996 Dodge 1500, that I bought before I got my liscense. (Had a roofing job for a minute) lol. But anyways, about my good idea, I have decided to write down every bit of money I make, and have been doing it . So far this year I have made 919.00 . I am also going to start writing down the number of pounds of metal I bring in to the yard and total it all up at the end of the year. This will be an interesting adventure for me, as last year in the summer , I made at least 150.00 a day, some times tripple that. But I will keep this thread updated every so often. Thanks for reading!

why not have your accountant make one up ? leaves more time for scrappin ; )

Good luck with your project. Anytime you look at it and see that you're making more and more money, it gives you the ambition to be as productive as possible.

I've been writing the amount of cash I make down in a note book. I am going to divide up a 3 ring binder into sections , with each section having a diffrent sheet of loose leaf paper for the various types of metal I find most often. I also like the idea of asking about Escrap, although , I have asked about other items, and they have told me that because it was paid for with tax payer money that they have to keep it, and it goes to a school that needs it. But in my welding class in high school we are allowed to take home whatever we weld up in there, so I take random chunks of scrap steel, and weld them together. My teacher scraps the majority himself, and he knows what I do. But he doesn't care much , because the money from scrap he gets has to go back to the school. I have got scrap from teachers before though. Everyone knows what I do, and I get random calls from people all of the time saying so and so told me to call you. I love it . Lol

This month has been rough. lol. Lots of snow here in the Midwest. And below zero tempatures. But today I found 2 refrigerators, and a dryer, and a couple small things. So it's starting to look better. Also got a call about some one that needs help tearing down a shed, says there are lots of car parts , and other random metal.

Originally Posted by billygoat

That's a good idea, keeping track of income. But don't forget to also keep track of expenses as well.

If you can afford it, always fill up the tank so you can keep track of your running MPG. Record your mileage and figure out what you are spending in gas so you can list that as an expense also. It can also let you know if curb shopping is profitable or not.

The notebook isn't a bad idea, but I prefer to use Quicken. I got lucky and was able to get an older version (2003) for free through Craigslist. It's much easier and reports are a snap.

Oh- Don't forget to leave yourself time to do your homework. Just saying.

I don't record expenses, because I would probably cry about how much money I spend in gas. I should have started doing it, but didn't. There's always next year I guess. I have a whole lot more money to make in this business lol. And as far as school goes I do all my home work at school , then come home and get to my scrap life.

Great job. At $150 a day, you're making more than many adults in my area.

7:00 a.m. School start? Here, high school starts at 8:45. May be one reason why SC is always 49 or 50 in education. Lol.

Originally Posted by carolinajunkman

Great job. At $150 a day, you're making more than many adults in my area.

7:00 a.m. School start? Here, high school starts at 8:45. May be one reason why SC is always 49 or 50 in education. Lol.

Ours starts at 8 a.m , but I am behind on credits because I was always in trouble my freshman year, and failed a couple classes , so I'm in what they call early bird gym , so I'm getting out of gym class when school starts for everyone else. And I hate it. But you've gotta do what ya got to do to get your diploma lol.

And the 150 a day average was last summer , these winter months are rough here. I live in a city of 30,000 people but I am from a town of less than 300 lol.

Keep it up man, I'm a senior also. I'll be honest and have saved lots of junk(money lol) from my school's dumpster...

Originally Posted by caleb7210

Keep it up man, I'm a senior also. I'll be honest and have saved lots of junk(money lol) from my school's dumpster...

I'm in vocational welding, and whatever we make we can take home. I am planning to become a welder, so I grab some scrap steel, and then weld a couple pieces of it together, and run beads across it, then i can take it home! Lol I have told my teacher that this is what I do, and he said he don't care, as long as I'm practicing my welds. They was throwing away abunch of stuff from theatre class, and I cleared about 200 dollars In a day from that. Been trying to find out about the basement of our school, I have been down there and there is so much stuff that could never be used again, like broken desks, car parts from auto, 20 year old open welding rods, bent up shelves, all kinds of stuff. lol. Makes me sick. All that money just rotting away. Our school also has square copper gutters, that are about 4x4x4x4 and go up about 15-20 feet , I drool every time I look at them.

When do you do your homework?

Ask the Janitors and maybe even the superintendent if you could take that stuff off the school's hands lol. Your a tax payer soo...

Originally Posted by caleb7210

Ask the Janitors and maybe even the superintendent if you could take that stuff off the school's hands lol. Your a tax payer soo...

sounds like the thing to do, if they're slow to respond think about maybe making a deal, for a percentage. Better do your homework before going too far on that one, they might decide you need some license and insurance. If you'll do some research first(right here on the forum) you might discover some ways to comply that won't be too costly for you.