Payday! I love these days.

Old EF Total: $61.67
Psychic Faire $: $10.00
Just Becasue $: $10.00
------------------------
New EF Total: $81.67

Hoping to hit $100 soon!


Old Vegas Total: $624.18
Stole from Vegas: $124.00
half.com DD: $15.38
Payback from stealing: $24.00
Psychic Faire $: $10.00
--------------------------------
New Vegas Total: $549.56

And I will replace that other $100 asap!

Oof, been spending a lot lately again. Shame on me.

Yesterday I had a snack from the vending machine at work of a soda $1.50(!) and pb crackers .75 Then at lunch I was eating my ham sammy and reading. I wsa reading Fast Food Nation. I got to a gross part and literally started gagging on the ham. I had to throw it out. I got a bagel from DnD for $2.00 I'm not sure, but I think it will be a while before I can eat meat again. And finally, we were hot and lazy for dinner, so we ordered pizza for $28.00

Bad bad bad.

Going to try to make today a No Spender, but we'll see. That caffine boost from the soda yesterday was fantastic!

This past weekend was my MONEY MAKING EXTRAVAGANZA!!!

Eh, it went OK. I made about $40 at the yard sale, which was disapointing, b/c I made over $200 on the one I had in the srping. That $40 is gone, went to groceries.

I made a profit of $70 at the psychic faire. (Made $90, but spent $20 to support them). $5 went to mailing boks out from half.com sales, $10 went to picking up meds, and $5 is staying in my pocket for fun money. Of the $50 left, I am going to split it between the ATT CC, Vegas, and my EF. $30 to the CC, $10 to Vegas and $10 to the EF.

This friday is payday, and I have about 6 hours of OT on it, so it should be a decent paycheck.

Ebay has NO LISTING FEES until the end of this month with anything listed with a gellery pic and a starting price of under $9.99

I just listed a Rosetti purse, a pink dress, and a vinyl collectible toy. As soon as I get new batteries for my camera (today) I'm adding more. I've got a toddlers BN halloween costume, a 3 piecse teaset of Lynn China, more collectible vinyl toys, and a lenox candle holder. Plus I have a bunch of handmade holiday wall hangings that I want to list on a store on etsy.com

Oh so busy! I love it!

CITB Update:

Quarters: $2.25 (but I think we need those for laundry today)
Nickels: $1.05
Dimes: $2.80
Pennies: $1.25

Total: $7.35

I just cashed in a bunch of MyPoints for a $25 Target gift card. It will arrive in 2-8 weeks. Yay! I'll either use this for necessities, such as tp, shampoo, etc when I need them, or use this towards x-mas shopping. I love free money.

Found this in a book I was proofing at work. Thought it was interesting.

A number of factors in the years from Nixon’s resignation to 2005 have made it harder for most Americans to maintain their living standards throughout their working lives and during retirement.
After strong, steady yearly income growth stopped, the broad American middle class faced serious tradeoffs. If people choose to incur more and more debt to live in their accustomed style during their working lives, saving for an adequate retirement becomes increasingly difficult. But setting aside sufficient savings for an adequate retirement puts the current living standards in jeopardy.
At one point an adequate overall retirement program seemed likely, but the outlook today is grim. The combination of limited income growth, a precipitously declining rate of savings, and an
increasingly inadequate pension system has put much of the middle class in great jeopardy of failing to maintain their working years’ standard of living at retirement.

Jump forward to the 21st century and the picture has changed radically. Personal saving is on the endangered species list. The experts were wrong—the growth of private pension systems stalled and pension plans became less generous. Only Social Security thrived. It had become a political favorite later in the Golden Years and greatly expanded to become the strongest of the three components. But Social Security growth alone will not
take up the slack.

Saving. Many Americans lacking steady income gains are on a borrowing treadmill. Washington Post staff writers Jeffrey Birnbaum and Chris Cillizza observed in a September 2006 article: “According to a study by the Federal Reserve Board, the ratio of financial obligations—primarily mortgages and consumer debt—to disposable personal income rose to a modern record of 18.7 percent earlier this year. The amount of
mortgage debt alone has more than doubled since 2000, to nearly $9 trillion.”

Historically, Americans have not been among the biggest savers compared to people in other rich industrial nations. But what is happening now is unprecedented. The rate of saving to
disposable personal income that ranged from 8 to 11 percent from the Second World War through the 1980s now has
dropped below zero. Associated Press reporter Eileen Alt Powell wrote in mid-2007: “The nation’s savings rate has been negative since the second quarter of 2005.” This is hardly a good sign in the struggle to retain families’ standards of living at retirement.

Although it is not unusual for people to go into debt early in their earning careers, today the saving rate for those under 35 has dropped to 216 percent. Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s
Economy.com, noted that “The post-boomer generation feels very cavalier about saving. They’ve been very aggressively dis-saving and have borrowed significantly.”

Everytime I think I will be adding more to Vegas, I run out of money before payday and I need to transfer some back into the checking. Right now I owe Vegas $124. Ouch.

Right now I also have only $51 until payday on the 28th. Between now and then is the boyfriends b-day and my Dads b-day. I also need to pick up meds tomorrow. This weekend is the psychic faire and the yard sale, so I am really hoping for good money from them. I want to add all that to the Vegas account, but I have to play catch up there and make sure we have enough for the next week and a half. There just never is enough money...

Reading Teri's post about charitable casues made me wonder...

What groups do you support either financially or non-financially?

I am a member of the HRC (Human Rights Campaign). I do financial donations to them every year. They fight for equal rights among all people, no matter what. Their big fight the last couple of years has been marriage rights for gay couples.

I also support the American Cancer Society through multiple channels: a frined of mine at work does Daffodil Days, I have a friend who participates in the Relay for Life, both of whom I support with monitary donations. I also read tarot cards at a fundraiser every year for a group that participates in the 3 day walk. Half of all the proceeds from the fundraiser go to the ACS.

Locally I financially support the Mass order of Police. They set up scholorship funds for the families of officers who have dies while on duty.

I also support our local food banks with food donations throughout the holidays.


Wow, writing all that down makes me feel really good! I didn't realize what I really did before.

This past week or so has been tough. We did some splurging and now, once again because we never learn our lesson, money is tight. By tight I mean I don't get paid for another week and a half, and we have $30. I still need to get the oil changed in my car/get the car checked out, finish BF's b-day gift, get an cake, get a new set of keys made since his broke, get a refill on a med...bleh. The bright side is this weekend is my MONEY MAKING EXTRAVAGANZA!!!!! Saturday is our fall yardsale and then Sunday I am working at a Psychic Faire all day reading tarot cards. I'm hoping to come away with $300 this weekend, but I'd be happy with $200.

Also on the plus side is hat my net paycheck should be decent. I worked 7 hours of OT this past week (even went in on Sat for a few hours) and am planning on getting in another 3 or so hours this week.

Hope every has a good day!

...right out the window to bills. *sigh* It's so frusterating. $120 for a student loan. $70 to LBCC. $65 to ATTCC. $160 for the phone/internet bill (this was for 2 months though, so that isn't too bad). $56 for cable.

And boom! Over half my paycheck is gone. I need to make more money!

$3 on breaky
$52.50 on a new cell phone (my old one died and I couldn't get new parts for it). BUT, this phone also had a $50 Mail In Rebate, so once I do that, the phone will have only cost me $2.50 Yay!

Total: $55.50 (with a $50 MIR in about 2 months lol)

Gas for car: $28

Other than that, nothing.

Gas for car: $27.00
B-day gift for BF: $37.50
TOTAL for Tues: $64.50

Going to aim for the next 3 days to be no spend days!

I had 3 No Spend/Eat at Home Days this month so far, so that is $6 to add to the challenge. Plus, I got $33.18 from half.com this morning so that gets added in as well.

Old Vegas Total: $585.00
NSD/Eat at home: $6.00
half.com DD: $33.18
-----------------------
New Vegas Total: $624.18

No Spend Day! Yay. That's 3 this month so far.

I had to take a day out of work one day last week b/c I was sick, so I decided to bring some work home with me this weekend to play catch up on my hours. I got in 4.5 hours of OT (at just under $20 an hour!). Yay! I actually had another 2 hours or so I could have done, but I was exhausted. I've been getting really bad headaches that just wipe me out (stress...ick). I'm going to try to pick up some extra hours this week. Even if I only stay an hour each day, that's 5 hours each week, which is great.

OK, here's the recap:

Wed: No Spend Day
Thurs: No Spend Day
Fri: $5 on breaky, $10 on lunch, $20 on dinner (don't worry, I'm hanging my head in shame)
Sat: Ice Cream $12, book $3.00
Sunday: $30 at SEMAPPD, $90 on groceries.

Yes, I know..., it's been MONTHS!!!! And still, I haven't really made much progress...

ATT CC
Prev. balance: $3,468.38
New charges: $142.65
Payment 8/31: $250
--------------------------
New balance: $3,361.03


LB CC
Prev. balance: $1,149.30
New charges: $188.96
Finance Charges: $25.47
Payment 8/17: $100
-------------------------
New balance: $1,263.73


CC DEBT TALLY TOTAL: $4,624.76

NO SPEND DAY!!!!

I had 2 days this week (so far) where I have eaten all 3 meals at home (or from home in the case of bringing my lunch to work), and haven't spent any money. $1 for each, and 2 days is $4 to add to Vegas. And a penny to round it off.

Old Vegas Total: $580.99
NSD/Eat at home: $4.00
Rounding it off b/c I have OCD: $0.01
-----------------------
New Vegas Total: $585.00

The Mass Police have a great program I try to support every year. They raise money and it gets put into a fund for the families of police offices who have been killed or disabled while on duty. It's such a great program. They use to money to help with bills and expenses, money for the kids for school, etc. This year I was able to do a small donation of $25.00

August 30th Donation: $25 to Mass Police Fund
Total 2007 Donations: $74

No Spend Day!

Spent all of Labor Day in our pj's watching tv, playing on the computer, "napping" hee hee hee. Had a great day and didn't spend a dime!

Did a good amount of spending today. Went to Plymouth to see Plymouth rock and there was a festial there. Spent $66. Then did some grocery shopping. We needed everything! Spent $140.01 there. Ugh. Adds up quick.

Total Spendings: $206.01

Had a great day yesterday. Went to lunch with my Mums, my sis and my best friend. Then we poked around in some stores for a bit and went to the movies. We saw Hairspray. Can I just say, I LOVED the original, but I think this was even better????? It was so funny! I loved it!

So my spendings were:
movie ticket: $7.50
water for me and Mums: $7.35
Total: $14.85

Mums was fab and picked up the tab for lunch for all of us! I also got a kick-ass pair of sneakers (black with white skulls and crossbones, iron crosses, regular crosses and fleur-de-lys's on them!!!) which Mums picked up the tab for. Awwww, how sweet is she?!

LOL I love the first of the month.

Old Vegas Total: $579.18
Interest added: $1.81
-----------------------
New Vegas Total: $580.99


I want to hit $2,000 before the trip (November 20th). I'd like to hit $1,200 by the end of September. It may be possible if I really watch my spending. I have one weekend in September where we are having a yard sale on Saturday, then I am doing tarot readngs at a psychic faire on Sunday. I should make good money that weekend. If I can get in lots of OT (which I think will be possible) and then make $$ that weekend, I may just be able to hit the $1,200 mark by October 1st.

I was able to save $278.85 in July, and $302.04 in August. Much less than my goal for Spetember ($600) but still amazing considering I usually suck at saving money. I just need to really focus and be really agressive. Grrrrr....

Wish me luck!!!!

This last week I thought my cell phone had died. It got wet, but now it is working, just acting a bit funny. Anyways, it looked like I was going to have to get a new one, but I didn't have the money. I would have to wait to payday. Not a big deal.

BUT it made me think about what I would do if a real emergency came up and I didn't have the money. Sometimes you can't wait to payday. I'm going to be adding a little to the EF as I can, to help get it going again. Then after Vegas, it will become my main $20 challenge again.

Old EF Total: $51.50
Interest: $0.17
Deposit: $10.00
------------------------
New EF Total: $61.67

I've been MIA this last wek or so. Been working lots of OT, and trying to find a new apartment. Plus not much has been happening with money, so there isn't much to update.

I'm trying not to spend much this long weekend. It will be hard, as weekends are when I spend, but I'm gonna try. I'll post more as it happens!