Pennies on the Sidewalk

I'm waiting for these transfers to clear in my bank account. Once they are clear, I can add them to the Vegas fund:

Freelance project #1: $139.38
Freelance project #2: $159.69
Freelance project #3: $159.69
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Total: $458.76

Also, tomorrow I need to transfer some $$ from paypal into my bank account. Sold more of my Dunny Bunnies, so that will be another $30.

Well, I just won 3 items on eBay for my BIL for X-mas. He wanted tie tacks, and I found 3 really cool ones: a grim reaper, a skull and crossbones, and an iron cross made out of spiderwebs! Very cool! They all came from the same seller, and there was FREE s/h. I love that! Total spent: $18.25

Holiday Shopping Total: $377.45
Spent already: $18.25
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Holiday Shopping Remaining: $359.20

So, if everything works out the way it is supposed to, it looks like this freelance work will give me $377.45 for Holiday Shopping. I can so do this! My first cash-ever Christmas! I'm so excited! That added to the $36.15 I have already spent on gifts will give me an overall total of $413.60 for everyone. Here's who I am buying for:

Mums
Dad
Sis
Brother in Law
The Boy (aka my boyfriend)
Best Friend L
Best Friend A
Jazmin (Mums and Dads doggie)
Presley (Sis' cat)
Wolfie and Solstice (out cats)

and I think that is it. We don't exchange gifts with our extended family, and all my grandparents have passed away a while ago. And yes, we exchange gifts for the pets.

Holiday Shopping Total: $416.36
Spent already: $36.15
---------------------------------
Holiday Shopping Remaining: $377.45

Finished up and sent it in. Also sent in my invoice for $175. After the company fee gets taken it, it will be another $159.69 for Vegas. I see the $1,000 mark getting hit before next Monday!!!

Another pound that is! Lost 1 lb this week. Down 11.6 pounds! Yay me~

Half.com payment...love them!

Old Vegas Total: $696.36
Half.com DD: $42.33
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New Vegas Total: $738.69

WHOO-HOO!!!!!

Got my first of the 4 freelance payments this morning. Waiting for it to be transferred into my checking account. As soon as it is, I will then transfer it to my Vegas savings account.

One thing we decided to do is take whatever is left over from Vegas and put that towards holiday shopping. I'm sure there will be some left over, as we are going to try to be "good", and the leftovers plus the other freelance payments should be enough for the holidays. I'm so excited; this will be the first year EVER that I haven't used me CC for holiday shopping. Go me!

Finally made it to the bank to deposit my refund check from my cell phone. I was going to put the $$ into Vegas, but then I remembered what I told myself when I got the phone: I'll put it on the CC and then use the refund as a CC payment when it comes in.

As much as I would have loved another $50 for Vegas, I need to start being responsible and an adult and focus on paying off this CC debt.

Old CC Total: $3,482.50
Refund Payment: $50
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New CC Total: $3,432.50

I collect these vinyl toys called Dunny's. They are from Kid Robot and are bunnies with bizzare outfits and personalities. (You can see them at www.kidrobot.com). I love them. Well, I have several duplicate from the Azteca set, (you buy them in a blind box so you never know which ones you are getting) so I made a lot of 7 and sold them on ebay. The profit is going into the Vegas fund!

Old Vegas Total: $650.36
Ebay sale: $46.00
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New Vegas Total: $696.36

Only 11 more days!

Old Vegas Total: $628.86
Cash In The Bag Deposit: $21.50
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New Vegas Total: $650.36

Yay! Everything for the 4 freelance jobs are finalized. Just sent of all 4 contracts to the buyer. I will be getting on project tonight to start, then 2 more this week, and one next week. After paying fees to the company that organizes all this for us, I will be making $638.75!!! I'm so happy! I won't get it all before Vegas, but I will get it all by the 1st week in December, which means I have money for Christmas Shopping. I can't tell you how much of a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I was stressing big time about $$ for the holidays.

And, now I don't feel guilty for not looking too hard for a FT job before Vegas. Ijust couldn't imagine getting a job then telling them I need the next week off for a trip. But now I have work to keep me going til the end of the month.

Happy happy!

Spending yesterday was great: picked up the newspaper, bread, ginger ale for my tummy, and some sacks for my BF and spent less than $10. Yay! Not much planned for today. Got some errands to run: deposit at the bank, stuff to mail at the post office, that kind of stuff. Nothing too exciting.

Oh, but it looks like I am going to be hired to do 4 freelance projects this month! Yay! Should bring in about $600 or so.

Yesterday was my cousins wedding. Unfortunately I was sick, so we went just for the ceremony, then came home. Hated to miss the reception, but there was no way I would have enjoyed myself anyways. Came home and crashed. Spent $30 on chinese food. BUT, both me and my BF had dinner from it, and we both had leftovers for lunch today. 4 meals delivered to our house in a tropical storm for $30? Very nice indeed.

Today we are both just hanging around the house as neither of us feels that great. I need to run out to pay our rent for November and pick up the Sunday paper to look at the jobs, but other than that, we are staying in. I am hoping to only spend $2 for the paper today. Maybe some bread and milk, too, but that is it. Less than $10 for sure.

I got my $50 rebate check for the phone the other day, plus I sold one ebay item for $40 and another book on half.com, so I should be updating Vegas soon. Just waiting until I get to the bank and deposit the check first. Also waiting on the half.com payment (should be next week) and the paypal payment from the ebay item. Also, I have over $20 in my CITB that I will deposit when I hit the bank. Looks like another $120-140 to be added in over the next week or so! Yay!

Went to Walgreens tonight with The Boy to get some hair dye. I have naturally red hair, but sometimes I ache for a change, so I got a 28 shampoo dye that will wash out. As we were looking at the dyes, an employee came up and asked if we needed help. We thanked her and said we were all set. She said when we were ready to go to her register. We thought nothing of it.

BUT, we did go to her register when we were ready to check out, and she said "I have a coupon for that." Then she pulled out a box of coupons, and sorted through them until she found the one for the brand I was buying. She scanned it and $2 off! Yay! How nice was she???

I've never had a cashier do that before. I don't know if this is standard practice for Walgreens (we don't go there much) or just something the girl was doing to be nice. Whatever it was, we thanked her several times. We will definitely go back there before we go to CVS anymore.

Transferred the money I got from the refund on The Boys b-day gift to my CC as a small payment. Want to hear something sick??? In 1 month I made a total of over $700 in payments to my CC. I am only $60 under the limit. UGH!

That's how bad I got again at using it. I just don't learn my lesson, do I? This MUST stop. After Vegas, it's getting dumped in a bucket of water and frozen into a block of ice in my freezer. (I say after Vegas, b/c for the car rental, even though I already paid for it, they told me I had to have a CC w/ $200 worth of room on it in case I got into an accident while driving.)

So, here is my new CC numbers:

Old ATT Balance: $3,480.25
Refund payment: $37.70
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New ATT Balance: $3,442.55

*sob*

As some of you may know, I am a very large girl. My highest weight was 350 lbs, and I wear a size 28. At the end of September, I decided to join WW again. My goal at that time was to loose 10 lbs before I went to Vegas. I started WW at 345 lbs.

Well, I am very proud of myself to share: last night at Weigh In I was down 2.8 lbs for the week for a total of...
10.6 lbs!!! YAY ME!

Even though this is a finance forum, you all have inspired me. Seeing how dedicated you all are to fixing your finances has not only encouraged me to do the same, but it has also given me the encourgaement needed to manage my weight. Thank you all!

PS My new goal is a total of 20 lbs lost by Jan 1st.

Vegas is only 20 days away. I really was hoping to hit $1,000 before we go. In addition to food and fun things we want to do (and I am very happy to hear most things are cheap in Vegas), we need enough $$ to ship back the rest of The Boys bellongings. And whatever is left over is going towards Christmas Shopping.

So, 20 days and almost $400. Eeek! I know I have about $35 coming in from half.com soon, as well as about $10 from ebay. And hopefully I will get my $50 phone rebate before then. I wanted to put that $200 from the tarot pary into it, but I needed that for regualr bills. Ugh.

Besides ebay, half.com, and more freelace work, anybody have any ideas?

Old Vegas Total: $618.18
Interest added: $2.34
Bills in my CITB: $6.00
Matching Interest: $2.34
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New Veas Total: $628.86

Old EF Total: $81.88
Interest added: $.29
Added b/c I have OCD and like even numbers: $2.83
-----------------------------------------
New EF Total: $85

*sigh* How I wish this was bigger!

Started my X-mas shopping this week. I usually do most of it on Black Friday, but this year we will be in Vegas, so I decided to start now.

My sis is done. I got her an Elvis pen, an Elvis keychain (that is covered in blue velvet!) and an Elvis bottlecap opener. All 3 of them have buttons you can press to hear Elvis say different things. They all match. It's a full set. She'll die for them. She's obsessed.

Also got a book for The Boy. Will get him some more, but it is a start.

Christmas Spendings Total: $36.15

Back in the middle of September, I ordered a birthday gift for my BF online. I never arrived. It was on back order (though they never told me that). Fast Forward 2 and a half months and it is STILL back ordered. Grr... Finally, yesterday, I asked for a refund. I will try and find the gift someplace else for Christmas (gave BF something else for is b-day when that gift hadn't arrived in time). So, today, finally, I had a refund in my paypal account. $37.70! Yay! Transferred it to my checking account and as soon as it gets there, it will go to the CC as a small payment towards the big monthly one.

I just need a place to keep track of money I either have recieved or are waiting to receive for freelancing, tarot, or random things. Just trying to keep myself organized.

Tarot:
$200 10/27



Misc.
Phone Rebate: $50

Well, looks like I may be getting 2 week freeance editing job. That would be awesome! Would take me up til the week before Vegas. Keep your fingers crossed!

And, I have an interview on Wednesday for a temp position. It's between 20-35 hours per week, at $15 an hour. I'm not sure fow how long they would need me. Wish me luck there, too!

Thing is, the more I think about it, the more I would just love to do freelance work from home full time. I don't know if it is possible right now. But at least it helps with bills til I find somethineg FT.

Think I might join the gym today. It is $10 a month, and Mums offered to pay for me until I get a FT job again. How awesome is she?? I am getting close to my first mini weight loss goal of 10 lbs before Turkey Day. 3 weeks and 2.2 pounds left!

And on a random side note, yesterday was a no spend day, plus I sold two books on half.com and listed some ebay stuff. Go me!

Hey all. As many of you know, I constantly have issues with my car tires. Had all 4 slashed a few years ago. One needed replacing last summer. About 2 weeks ago 3 needed replacing, etc. Well, the one tire that I didn't replace a few weeks ago (ironically,the tire that was replace last summer) has been going flat. I've been fillin it with air every other day or so until I got some money to fix it. So I went to my guy yesterday. Turns out there is a HUGE nail in it. Son of a tire!! *sigh* But at least it didn't need replacing. So, my guy fixed it in 10 minutes, for $12. Not bad!

In other news, the tarot reading went great! Afer 2 hours, the host asked me to stay for another hour. Of course! I ened up reading for 3 hours, and at the end of the night, the host gave me a check for $200! (# hours of reading plus a tip b/c everyone was saying how awesome I was!) Sweet!

I just need to decide what to do with the money now. I was originally thinking Vegas, but then I am thinking maybe I should put some of the bills. My first unemployment check won't be in for another week, so...

Decisions, decisions.

Yay! I'm so excited! Tonight I will be working at a Halloween Party doing tarot readings! The woman having the party actually called a friend of mine for the job, but she was already booked. She asked my friend if she knew anyone as good as her (my friend) and she said yes: Me! So I called the hostess and she booked me! Yay!

It's for 2 hours, from 8-10pm. I'll be doing short 10 minute readings. One bonus is I get to dress up in my gypsey wear. Plus, there will be about 30 people at the party. Since the woman hired me for only 2 hours, that is only 12 readings. I'm bringing my business cards, so with any luck, some other people will want to book private readings with me! The hostess is so nice; she's paying me so her guests can get reading for free as part of the party. How cool is that!

And how cool is this: when I told her my fee for parties is $60 an hour, she said "OK!" wihtout hesitation! So tonight, after 2 hours of "work", I will be $120 richer! Wish I could read full-time as my "real" job! Ha!

Had to pick up a few items today at CVS. We did fantastic!! Here's what we got:

2 packs AA batteries
2 bottle Irish Spirng Body Wash
1 pack Thermacare heat wraps

Total spendings: $13 and change
Total savings: $12.49!!!

How did we do it? Well, I had $1 coupon off the thermacare wraps, $1 coupon off the irish spring, plus $6.50 in Extra Care Bucks, and the batteries were buy one get one free ($3.99!)

Ahhh, it's good to know that even though I am on the dole, we can smell pretty and have batteries for the tv remote control! LOL

This sucks. Not only does t suck haing no income, it's been less than a week and I am already BORED!!!

Ok, done with that. Called Unemployment and set that up. Looks like I will be getting around $278 a week. Not too bad. I brought home $1,500 a month before, and it looks like bein on the dole will give me about $1,100 a month. $400 less. Where to cut that $400 from?

Well, I won't be using as much gas in my car. Even or job interviews and such, I won't be driving as much in a week as I did commuting to work and back before. That's nice.

Also, no extras. None. No books, magazines, clothes, movies, CDs, eating out, etc. That should save a bit.

Mums has offered to pay my WW membership for me b/c she doesn't want me to give up on it b/c of the cost. So that is $40 a month there. How awesome is Mums??? She also said if I want to help her with yard work (mowing lawn, raking leaves, etc) she'll pay me for it, but I feel bad taking extra money from her for that. She's 61, Dad is 60, I'm the child that lives closest, I SHOULD be doing that stuff for her - for free!!

I have a good amount of things I can put on ebay. I just wish there was more of a gaurantee the things would sell. I hate paying listing fees for items that don't sell. And lately it seems like the things that do sell, are selling for very little money, like $5-$10. Anyone else notice that?

I am looking and applying not just for regular jobs, but for freelance work as well. And this week I need to call a temp agency and regiser with them. I've ones them before, and they aren't too bad. That's how I found my next-to-last FT job, actually.

And finally, I have free time to finish my book. Been working on it almost 3 years; time to get that puppy finished and published! (I hope!!!)

So, things are moving slowly, but at least they are moving forwards, right?

I haven't been blogging this month b/c things have been kinda crappy.

I'm going through one of my depression phases, so I really just have no interest in anything and just don't care about anything right now.

I lost my job. Panic. Lots and lots of panic.

Family member passed away (great aunt) and although I was not close to her, makes methink of the family members I am close to passing away.

Thought money was tight before? HA! Now it's 2 adults with NO income trying to get by. Will apply for unemployment today, as well as assistance from the state in terms of utility breaks, food stamps, whatever I can get. Already looking for something new, but damn, it's depressing.

Trying to look on the bright side here: more time to finish my book, can do more freelance work, and I have a couple of tarot reading parties lined up. There is a bright side, right???

Old Vegas Total: 578.18
Freelance Money: $40.00
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New Vegas Total: $618.18

Half.com DD today! It’s not a gigantic amount, but every bit towards Vegas helps! I only have 5-6 weeks til I leave and I am nowhere NEAR what I need for the trip!

Old Vegas Amount: $553.55
Half.com DD: $24.63
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New Vegas amount: $578.18

Only $1,421.82 left…*groan*