Pennies on the Sidewalk

I am trying to decide what to do with the $180 I am getting for this freelance project. I am thinking $80 onto the CC to pay for the signup fee. Then, does the other $100 go to the CC as well, or to Vegas? I still need about $800 to pay off the rest of the airfare, hotel, and car rental for that trip. And it is coming FAST! As much as I want to put it onto the CC (and believe me, I do want to!) I am thining Vegas is more urgent right now. Advice???

I walked back to get the car. YAY ME!!!

Cost $75 at the mechanic to fix everything. Was happy with that until e told me the shaing in the car was from bubbled tires and 3 of my 4 tires needed to be repalced. Ugh. Said it was dangerous to drive on the freeway with them. I have a 45 minute commute to work on the freeway twice a day. Double ugh. So, since I had the day off, I headed over to TirePro.

Got the 3 cheapest (safe) tires I could, flirted like mad with the guy, and he gave me a $5 discount off each tire. LOL Hey, I'm big, but I'm hot!

Total cost for the tires was $364. Ouch. Put it on the CC. Double Ouch.

BUT, was able to make a $400 payment in the cc to cover that cost yesterday.

My car, once again, is having issues. It's making wierd noises and vibrations. So I took it to the mechanic this morning. He is about a 45 minute walk from my house. While I was there, I called Enterprise to rent a car for the day so I could get home and then have a way to go back and pick it up.

BUT, I decided instead to save the $40 it would have cost for the rental and WALK HOME!!!

45 minutes, not too bad! I am so proud of myself!! You have to realize, I am an almost 350 pound woman; walking home before NEVER would have happened! But since I rejoined WW and am looking for ways to save money, I decided what the hell? Mine as well go for it!

And when I have to pick it up? I'm gonna go walk there again!

And my fee for signing up with the freelance website is paid for! I bid on and was chosen for a freelance job! Yay! It's copyediting and proofing a 90 page book, and I'll be getting oayd about $180. YAY! Should be done with it by Sunday!

CVS (Shampoo, conditioner, deoderant, body wash): $19.00
Elance fee: $69.00
New business cards: $6.00
------------------------------------------
TOTAL: $94.00 :P

Trying to make today (10/02) a no spender.

Bills: $1.00
Quarters: $5.25
Nickels: $1.55
Dimes: $4.00
Pennies: $1.39
-------------------
TOTAL: $13.19

Been slow going with the CITB lately. Mums donated a handfull of change the other day (Thanks Mums!) but other than that no much has been going in. we haven't been using cash so we aren't getting change back. We need to do that more (but not spend more...)

I just renewed my yearly membership to an online freelance place. It's a great place. I can go in and bid on projects, or not bid on any if time right now is tight. I half-heartedly did it last year and earned $300. This year I am planning on going for jobs much more aggressively. My membership had run out last month, but I decided to go for it. If nothing else, I will do enough with them to recoup my yearly fee of $69.

I mean, ya gotta spend money to make money...right?

ha!

Saved $1 at the grocery store w/a coupon Saturday and $1 at CVS w/a coupon tonight. And bonus, I got about $5 in usable coupons from CVS today, including one for $3.50 off ANYTHING. I think I am going to combine that with a $1 off coupon I have for a package of those disposable heat pads. I had a pulled muscle in my shoulder that has been killing me, and I LOVE those things, but I refuse to spend $8 for a 3 pack. However, $3.50 for a 3 pack is doable.

Old Vegas Total: $549.56
September Interest: $1.99
Coupon Savings: $2.00
--------------------------------
New Vegas Total: $553.55


Old EF Total: $81.67
September Interest: $0.21
------------------------
New EF Total: $81.88

That is my new motto re: paying down debt right now. EVERY PENNY HELPS!!! If I say this to myself enough times, will it come true???

Old ATT CC Balance: $3,605.02
Payment 9/14: $50.00
Payment 9/28: $150.00
Payment 10/01: $20.00
------------------------------
New ATT CC Balance: $3,385.02

Damn it feels good to see those numbers go down!!! Now, let's keep them going down, and not up!

It's the beginning of a new month (and my FAVE month!) Time to see what can be done to get into a good money flow for the rest of the year.

I've been putting stuff on ebay this weekend. Small thing, starting prices usually under $5. Even if they sell for the starting price, it's one less piece of clutter in the house and anpther buck or two towards bills and/or the challenge. Sold a few books on half.com as well, so that is nice.

Working OT will help some, if I can work OT and not exhaust myself. Sometimes I just don't have the energy to stay late, even if it is only an hour. My understanding is things will be fairly busy for the next coupl of months, so OT will be available, if we can do it. Yay for time and a half!

I'm going to start poking around again for some freelance work. I like doing it and it's extra money. I'm just not a fan of the whole selling my services thing.

And we're back to spending no money. No fun things, no books, cds, movies, etc. No eating out! That's the killer for us. But I am back on WW and we don't have the money to eat out right now.

Here's hoping BF finds a job in lucky October!!!

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!!!!