I have been looking for ways to make some extra money. I signed up for Clickworker, and I just don't think its worth it. First off, I hate giving my social out. It just makes me nervous. Second, I did 4 or 5 things today and I have made less than a dollar. In theory, that could add up. But I find that I do the research that they ask, and then they tell me my answer is incorrect. So I just don't know. I didn't sign up for the Pine Cone surveys. I have not gotten one yet. I'm going to look on Craigslist today and see if I can find any small side jobs.


But I really think I am going to cancel the Clickworker account. Something just feels off. Anyone else tried them?I have been looking for small ways to make some extra

Well, I had 3 NSDs out of the 5 days so far. Today I have to buy gas, but I did get a free lunch!


There is so much I want to do this weekend, but I think I will have to adjust things. My mom has had some irregular medical tests over the last couple of days. So I think I should spend some time with her tomorrow. She wants to go to an antique mall. So hopefully I can look and not buy. It will be a true test of "Suck it Up September". Housework and organizing will just have to wait.

And when I mean spend, I mean no money coming out of my account. But here is my question. If you have something budgeted, IE: cell phone bill, groceries, etc, and you take care of those, is that considered spending? If I don't buy anything all day, but I pay my mortgage, did I NOT have a NSD? I wouldn't think that would count. But I thought I would survey the masses.



I did spend $2.00 that I had today on crappy Taco Bell. My husband and I have been on a diet, and so this Taco Bell made me feel horrible. Actually made me physically sick to my stomach. Guess I should have grabbed my lunch today. But our schedule got a little thrown off.

I am starting Suck it Up September. I'm sticking to the budget. I'm making sure the credit cards are paid off by the end of the month. If I want something and I can't get it, I will just suck it up and deal with it. And I will look for ways to come up with extra cash. I told my husband I want 10K in savings (Not by September!!). So Savings...Sucking it up...Success...those are my goals. I don't think it will be easy, especially since I have had a rough few months. But I'm feeling a new found sense of determination. Positive and forward.

Happy September.

Today is a no spend day. I went to the grocery store last night. DH and I are starting a diet, so I shouldn't need to buy anything. Hopefully the next couple of days will be NSDs.


Finances are not that exciting right now. My budget has been a little off. Amounts are different than what I expected. But hopefully I can even it out on Friday.

Well, its payday. I already paid what was coming due and made credit card payments. So now I just need to creep though this next week. I don't have anything to spend anyway . But at least I am chugging along.


My CC #3 is finally under $200 again. That feels nice. And I received my checking account bonus of $100. We have to pay for both dogs to be fixed...so it will be about $450. I was going to use it towards that since I came up with the headstone money and we have to have the "fixing" done by the end of September. (Part of adopting a shelter dog.) I will have to go to the grocery store this coming week. But I'm hoping to keep it low.

Just for one day...or maybe just an hour...I wish it would rain money. Paper bills, no coins, so it didn't cause more damage than its worth. I'm just frustrated with money right now. Ugh.

I now only have to come up with $220. I really need to have it by this coming Friday. So far I just have the $10.00 check, an Ebates check coming for $13-$15, and I have $12.50 in bills and change in my purse at this moment. So only $35.50 of the $220 I need. I still have change to count. And I can check in the laundry room for spare change. I have a bonus coming from opening a checking account. Its $100, but I won't get it until September. And I'm not sure how quickly I can take it out?

I checked on can recycling. They only pay $0.45/ lb. And I don't think I even have a pound. I am still looking for items to sell. We don't have any extra furniture except for an antique dresser from my husband's family. And I can't sell that. I am not able to do plasma right now. Sooo...I just have to keep looking.


I am going grocery shopping tonight. Anything under budget can go towards the cause. Coupons don't fail me now.

$330 is what I need to come up with. I really can't take it from savings. It would completely deplete us. So I have about a week to come up with it. That should be really difficult. I have a $10.00 check from the city. I have a small check coming from Ebates....maybe about $13-$15. I am going to try to cut our grocery bill and use as many coupons as possible. So that may add up to $50 all together?? Where does the other $280 come from? Not pay down my debt? I have to pay something. And even if I reduce the payments, it won't add a whole lot. Maybe an extra $70? And then I will still have to come up with that to reach my goal of paying everything off by September. We had a garage sale, so I don't have a lot of extra stuff to sell. I can count change. I can't change insurance right now. We are in a rural area, so our utilities have to be specific companies. I'm running out of ideas. I'm salary, so no overtime at work. Our only entertainment portion of the budget is $20 for eating out...and I already got rid of that for 2 weeks to help with my budget. Any thoughts?

It is no secret that I have been struggling. Bad decisions have been made and money has not been saved or put towards debt. So, this all really hit home when I realized that my brother's grave has no headstone. The "responsible party" never ordered one. Unfortunately it took me a almost a year to gain the courage to go out there....so I just found out. (He is buried next to my father, so it is a double whammy to go out there.) My sisters and I agreed to split it...but where is my portion coming from? I guess I need to start counting change and listing anything I can on craigslist to get some extra cash? But this is why we need a decent savings and/or emergency fund!

I was embarassed. I felt like I was failing. So I had to step away from the blog for a little bit. Truth is, I had to get out of the mindset I was in. I was continuing to spend money. Even after knowing that I didn't like what it was doing. Then, family came into town...and I spent more. Not good. But, I can't hide from it. I feel out of control when I am spending with no regard. I don't like having debt. And the last few days I have just been thinking... "Are you really ready to get rid of this debt?" "Are you ready to commit and knock it out?" Do you realize how much better you will feel without debt? And it will free up part of your budget!" And the answer is "Yes!" I want to be debt free. And I can make sacrifices to get there. Because it will be so much better in the end.

So I am refocused on the "jars" and working with cash. I have looked at my budget and made myself realize....this is what you have to work with. And its possible.

I am still going to have all of my credit cards and the personal loan paid off by the end of September. That is still within my original goal. My husband and I are looking at a couple of ways to possibly make a little extra money. We are also really considering paying me for my work with our personal business. We are thinking $50/week. It would be nice.

So...that's it. I'm here.

Ok. I really am trying to turn things around. This week will be rough, but I guess it is just part of financial recovery. I have gone though my budget and changed what I could. With my adjustments, I should still have all my credit cards and the personal loan paid off by the end of September. Which basically was my goal. To have everything paid off by September. My grocery budget is modest to say the least this week. And it has to last 2 weeks. But, I will make it work. We have eaten out of the garden twice. I have had awesome Radishes, Italian parsley, snap peas, and green beans. Hopefully I will have some more things coming to supplement our lack of grocery budget.


I am trying to just work my way out of this. I am going through a strange nesting, life organizing, spending phase. But I am trying to get it under control. I have a goal of where I would like things to be by Friday. Kind of like my own holiday. Refocusing towards financial "freedom." Realizing how badly I truly want it. And how spending money did not make me feel "better."

My husband and I received some shocking news. News that I cannot share. But it has managed to overwhelm me and cause me to make bad decisions. Actually...I take that back. I am responsible for the decision that I make. But I found myself making careless decisions while being overwhelmed. I spent $100 on food....and air filters. Why did I do that? Because I went into this panic like...I am not in control of this situation, so spend money.... reaction. I realize this 2 days later when I am literally like WTH did you do!!! I didn't have that money planned. I don't have the money to cover it. And I didn't buy things for meals. I made a bad decision based on emotions. I reacted like my mother... (who makes very poor financial decisions). Am I my mother??? For those that have read my blog you know that I am trying to "not" be my mother. Sure there are some difference....I am not 63 years old with no retirement. I own a home (Well, I am buying a home. I guess I have 28 years before I own it). I do not rely on others to bail me out. I am accountable for my actions. But what I did this weekend was exactly what my mother would do. I need to get out of this mode. *Ugh*

CC #3 is now down to $51.53. We go a small refund check from our insurance company, so I applied it to CC #3. Pretty exciting.

But...at the same time that I am making progress on my debt, I totally blew my budget. I have overspent by $75 and I still have to make a purchase of $60 that I did not budget for. Pretty much an epic fail. I am actually not even sure how to recover from it. Not pay extra on my mortgage? Its disappointing. Because nothing I bought was a need. I guess I am still headed in the right direction. I just need to focus.

Side note...I didn't come out ahead house sitting. Gas cost more than I thought. I also made more trips than I thought. But at least that insurance check helped knock out what I wanted to pay with the cash.

Ok. CC #2 is down to $372.25. CC #3 is down to 96.33! Eek!! I am so close. I got a check from Ebates for $9.89. I will put that towards #3. I told my sister that I would house/pet sit for her. For free. Because I owe that much to her. If for some chance she does pay me anything, I will use it towards gas and CC #3. But....I am not planning on that.


I am planning on grocery shopping tomorrow. We have food still....but its hard to make a whole meal. But we do need things like milk, water, etc. The water in our area is horrible. Nobody drinks it. At one point it had more chlorine than our pool! For real!


But that leads to my garden info. We moved the garden a couple of weeks ago and I planted everything. So far I have broccoli, radishes, lettuce, green beans, snap peas, carrots, watermelon, cantaloupe, zuchinni, and something else I can't remember, all sprouting. Our peach trees are also producing fruit this year. I am so excited! OOOHHH...and tomatoes. But if we can get any products from these plants I will be sooo happy. And that is less groceries to buy. We moved the fencing and I used popcicle sticks as markers. So I am only out $7.00 for repellant and the cost of seeds. Less than $20 probably.

My debt right now is:
2 credit cards
1 student loan
1 personal loan (which I never put on here)
1 mortgage

My personal loan will be paid off by 08/22
CC #3 will be paid off by 09/05
CC #2 will be paid off by 09/26

September 26th is going to be a great day!!!

Of course, this is just with what I have planned. Wouldn't be great if I could swiggle some extra from somewhere and pay it off sooner?

Finally....I paid off CC #1 today. So happy. Still have 2 cards left and my student loan...but this is a victory.

I also paid on my other cards and I will be able to make an extra payment in 2 weeks.

Hooray!

My money flow feels pretty good right now. We filed and paid our taxes...on time. And I had the money set aside to pay them. My CC #1 will be paid off in the next couple of weeks. I was able to transfer $100 into our savings (Payback from our business). I have money ready for our mortgage payment and we are paying extra. I have money set aside for our pest control for the quarter and my sister's birthday. And at the end of it all...I will have a little money left in the bank and a little in my wallet.


I still haven't counted my change. It has just been very hectic in my world lately. But I still intend to count and send some to CC #1. Even if its $20...I could knock it out quicker.


I have been cutting lots of coupons, preparing for my shopping trip next week. And amazingly, we still have food left. I plan to go to the store on Wednesday...so we will see what we go through between now and then.

First....the Garage Sale. It was a lot of work, but it was a modest success and we got rid of a lot of stuff. And we gave our leftovers to my stepdaughter so she can have a garage sale. Needless to say, I didn't make even close to enough to pay for tires...but..

My birthday was Friday. And my sister gave me money to buy my tires. So along with our garage sale money and the gift, I was able to buy tires. No, I didn't have any left to put towards debt. But I think I am going to count change and see if I can come up with some. My CC#1 is down to $53.88! I can almost taste the payoff.

I am trying to clear out our fridge and pantry. I went to the grocery store and spent $60 for 2 weeks. I have $20 to carry over and $80 in 2 weeks, so I will have $100 to spend. But, I am going to use as many coupons and deals as possible so I don't have to spend the full $100.

I have seedlings almost ready to go in the garden. I have ideas this year to prevent a total wipe out from Bunnies again. But if I could get our produce from the garden instead of the store, we could save some serious cash!

Going back to my birthday... it was great. I got several free meals. Plus the tires. Plus:
DVDS to watch with DH at home
2 - $25 Target GC
Pair of shoes
Necklace
Solar Lights for yard
Door Mat
Bath Salts
So I got a pretty good haul. I am a lucky girl.

I'll let you know how much change I come up with tonight.

My garage sale is this Saturday. The weather is supposed to be in the upper 70s. And I am hoping for a good turn out. I still have a lot to do to get ready, but I have tonight and tomorrow night. The plan is to use the money towards tires. (We won't make enough to cover the cost.) And some needs to go towards debt.


Not much of a financial update today. But maybe after this weekend.

I originally had planned on paying off CC #2 because it has an annual fee....and I really didn't want to pay $79. Well, I didn't pay it off. And now I am stuck paying the $79. So, I am disappointed that it didn't happen. On a brighter note, CC #1 is down to $77. CC #3 is down to $184. I should still be able to pay it all off by September. That thought is what keeps me going. It will feel so nice to be done with CC debt. I just have to keep trying.


I plan on trying to have a garage sale at the end of the month. I have quite a bit of stuff. Plus I still need to go through stuff. I just feel so busy. Sometimes I just want to do.... "nothing." But I am trying to be positive and stay grateful. My $730.60 in credit card debt is less than a lot of people's. Maybe I can use some garage sale money to knock it out even faster.

I have been gone from here for over a month. I found myself overwhelmed with everything (job, loss of brother and dog and 2 friends, life, disappointment in myself). I wasn't thinking about money, and when I looked on SA....I found myself dwelling on everything I wasn't doing "right." As much as I would love to say "I'm back and with a vengeance" - I can't. But I am back. And I am still trying.


My sidebar is updated with my most current numbers. I am looking at more ways to cut some costs. I am working on taxes right now...which is not fun. And I guess with a business, we will never get a refund again. Yes, we got a car loan. But the cash flow in and out of the household is not affected. We raised my husband's income some and we no longer have a child support payment, so that is replacing child support.


I got a couple of snowflakes today. $25.02 in total. I sent $20 to CC #3. And kept the $5.02. I also had an extra $15, so I sent it to CC #2. I think I can still have my cards paid off by September if I stick to my plan.


Its good to be back.

I don't have much to report. I went to lunch today. Thought that I left my debit card at work, so I had to use a credit card. Only to realize when I got back to work that my card was at the bottom of my purse. Grrr! So I went online and made a payment to my credit card to cover the cost of the lunch plus a few cents.

There is not much going on financially. Got paid today and everything is set to go out.

Oh, and husband needs a car. Truck is not driveable. Too cold to ride the motorcycle. He is driving another moving type truck we have but the gas is killing us. Our bank is offering us 3.7%. So we are going to see what we can do.

My DH was able to put the water heater in last night. And we had to change some pipes. We paid $342. I had $110 in a "jar" for the house, so we took the rest from savings.


I finally got an insurance quote on our house. For more coverage than we currently have we will be paying about what our original rate was - saving us almost $700 for the year. That's a good thing. Just have to wait for their inspection.


Not having as much pain with my tooth. Going to have to look at the budget to see what I can figure out to pay for the root canal. I'm guessing it will be at least $300 out of pocket.


DH needs special inserts for his shoes...and of course insurance won't pay at all. Those are $245.
So added to the dentist that is 545.00. And I need new tires. That should be another $400. Total = $945. With my savings down to $700, I am a little worried about how I am going to come up with that. Garage Sale in March. Count change? Sell a kidney on the black market?

Well I hate to come on here and vent, but jeez. Water heater went out last night. We had to buy one today...$350 after we got a discount. Husband's car is still out of commission. We have had to shell out some cash on that. I had to go to the dentist today. They couldn't find anything wrong with the tooth that was hurting.....but surprise...I need a root canal. On a totally different tooth that I didn't even know I had a problem with. And I have a funeral Thursday. We lost a coworker. Its really sad, but what can you do.


Savings is a little depleted. I feel a little defeated. But I'm still trying.

Well, I just got our electric bill. YOWZERS! I thought we were being good....I was wrong. That ice storm really killed us. Our bill is $61.00 more than our budgeted amount. I have enough cushion in our household account for the difference, but I was hoping for it to go the other way this month. I need to find us some cost cutting actions this month!!


And I am the only one getting weird ads on the SA homepage? I had an ad with half naked cartoon girls???? What the heck does that have to do with debt and savings and such??

Surely I am not the only one that feels overwhelmed this time of year. Its hard to not jump on every bandwagon...lose weight, save more money, cook more, shop less, have more me time, work harder, be more organized. My head feels like it is going to explode just thinking about it!


I am allowing myself this week to catch up and line up my money. (Adjusting from when family was here.) Tomorrow I will make my basic credit card payments and student loan payment. But nothing to write home about.


I think I just want to be a better me this year. Work on my financial goals and work on being positive. Positive out = Positive in....right.

I am very excited to start a new year. I stretched myself a little too thin financially while my family was in town, but I can recover. I have 6 "goals" for 2014.


*** I know its not much, but I want to put 1K in Savings from my payroll alone. Of course I want to do more, but that is a starting point.
*** Pay off my credit cards by September
*** Pay off my personal loan by Septermber
*** Find new home insurance. Ours went up and I am disappointed in the company.
*** Coupon as much as possible
*** THINK. Think before I buy. Think before I speak. Think before I plan. THINK.


Can't wait to see what everyone else has planned.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!

So after my high from yearly budgeting, I have hit a low from finding out my car is leaking oil. Can I drive a car that is leaking oil for another year? Maybe it won't be too horrible of a repair? My husband is going to look at it and see. Then I am overwhelmed by celebrating Thanksgiving without my brother here. With it only being 3 months since his death I don't know how to feel. Grateful for the time I had with him? Sad he isn't here? Angry that he was taken from us? Thankful for the great things we do have? It is just a lot of mixed emotions.


And more of the money front, I am picking up our turkey in a few hours. (With money that has been set aside for a month) Everything else I need has been purchased. I do plan on hitting up some sales, with Christmas budget money that I have set aside. And I hope to spend nothing else!


Happy Thanksgiving to you all! I am very thankful for SA and my SA friends.

I just finished my budget for the year. I feel so inspired. Is that corny? By doing the whole year, I was able to factor in every birthday, celebration, and expense that I could think of. I was able to actually see that I am just months away from 2 of my credit cards being paid off and the last one is right behind. My loan will be paid off this year. My student loan will be closer. I was able to see how much I could put in savings. Its really exciting. I know things come up and change. But I am really working hard to stop being a "money shifter." And I think this will help.


Side note...I had 2 no spend days. Today will be 3. (Ok...so I did purchase something for Christmas online with a gift card....but I didn't spend any of my MONEY. Still counts right?)

I just haven't had a lot of time to post. Work has been busy. Life has been busy. And I haven't had a lot to post, I guess.


We are about to get some cold weather.... low 30s with rain, so I am going to the grocery store tonight. I don't get paid until Friday, so I am just borrowing the money from our household bill account until I get paid. I just don't want to go in the cold and rain. But hopefully with the cold, I can stay inside and get a lot done this weekend.


I did sign up for the Target Red Card (Debit). I saved $3.00 when I got it, but I think I can do some good savings during Christmas. I do a lot of shopping there. It did take a while for the transaction to post. I'm still a little nervous about it. So we will see how it goes.


I accidently used a credit card the other day. So my balance went up $30.47. So I will need to send that money off to the credit card so I make up for it. Just a stupid mistake while in a hurry.


And I have all my ingredients bought for Thanksgiving. And money set aside for the meat. So I'm pretty excited about that.


Ok....so lots of random info in here. I felt very weird not to be on SA this last week.