Monthly Roundup - September

End of another month! This is the first month that I have not reached my Monthly Challenge goal, and I am upset about this. My goal for this month was $150, and I have reached $128.01 (85.34%).

Here's the summary:

$20.00 – Textbook Sale
$32.90 - Online Surveys
$11.07 - Coupon Savings
$62.30 - Amazon Sales
$1.74 - Interest
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$128.01 (Goal - $21.99)
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I am quite amazed at the amount I made using Online Surveys, although to be quite honest, some of the surveys were done a month or so ago, and I only got the money this month. Another area I am impressed by is “Coupon Savings”. I was a savvy shopper this month and stocked up on some things on sale and used coupons for these things as well. So that’s good. Although I did not actually reach my target goal, I think I am going to still have $150 as the goal for next month and see how it goes. Since I only was operating on a half month’s salary in September, all the challenge money goes towards my expenses, and nothing actually goes towards savings or debt elimination, but all in all, I still feel proud of myself.

My budget is another story altogether. I went over again this month – by $185.52. The main culprits were – losses at the casino, and when my sister was visiting, I paid for her gas, took her grocery shopping at Sam’s Club and treated her to a nice time out. I usually pamper my baby sister - she is a student too, and poorer than I am, so I don’t feel particular guilty about this. I also had very few no-spend days. Here are my “Pamper Account” details:

No-Spend Days: 8
Spend-Only Days: 13
Eat-Out Days: 9
Pamper account total: -$12 (including last month)

This is horrifying! My resolution for next month is: I will spend money ONLY on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays (not including regular, fixed expenses such as rent etc.). My hope is that by holding off on getting something I want to buy until the weekends, I will be able to control my cash-flow better. I don’t know if I can actually pull this off, but I will try.

Monthly Challenge - August

I have reached and surpassed my third Monthly Challenge goal of $400.

Here's the summary:

$50.00 - Rent Reduction
$200.00 - New Tenant Bonus
$12.40 - Online Surveys
$60.57 - Amazon Sales
$12.00 - Old Navy Refund
$50.00 - Cell Phone Rebate
$6.30 - Piggy Bank Coins
$13.50 - Won at the Casino
$0.75 - Coupon Savings
$30.00 - Craigslist Sales
$49.00 - English Partner
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$484.52 (Goal + $84.52)
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P.S. I may have reached my snowflake goal, but was nerly $200 over my August budget - I think I live in some fantasy land when it comes to budgeting!

A Shocking Realization

Starting August, I have started to keep track of the days when I eat out and/or spend money in any way. What I observe is quite shocking. This month, I have spent money on all but two days. And those two days happen to be the days when I did not venture out of my home. So, every time I step out of my house, I end up spending money. This is quite insane!!! No wonder I am broke and in debt. The next couple of months look lean – until I get a full month’s pay at the end of September. So, I have resolved to try harder not to spend my money so frequently. Here is the tally so far for August:

Eating Out: 2 Days
Spending Money: 7 Days
No-Spend Days: 2 Days

I’m rather proud of the small number of eating out days. :-)

Over the weekend, I went to the casino with a friend. Now, I don’t have any money to spare, but my friend was all excited about going and the enthusiasm was very contagious. I had just returned some stuff to the supermarket and received about $20. I decided that that would be my limit. Here is an account of my thrilling $20 gambling spree: We started at the craps tables, where I placed two bets and lost both in succession. Then I hurriedly moved to the roulette tables, where the money in hand fluctuated between $5 and $35. I eventually left the table with $30 to return again to the craps tables where I again held at various times coins in the range of $5-$40. Eventually, I withdrew my original investment of $20, and decided to place the rest on the table to either win or lose. The dice rolled a 4 first, and then a 4 again more than doubling my money. Overjoyed, I withdrew the whole thing and cashed out. Just before heading out, I lost a dollar on the quarter slots. I had made a net profit of $39. No such luck for my friend. To cheer her up, I took us both to dinner - $25.50 in all. My profits for the evening - $13.50 which I am snowflaking. This brings me to reach this August’s monthly challenge amount of $400.

Monthly Challenge - July

End of July! I have reached and surpassed my second Monthly Challenge goal of $150.

Here's the summary:

$50.00 - Rent Reduction
$69.01 - Amazon Sales (-S&H)
$18.92 – Pay Per Post
$23.30 - Online Surveys
$120.00 – Research Participation
$35.00 – Craigslist Sales
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$304.13 (Goal + $154.13)
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Since I found a new tenant for the other apartment in the house I live in, my landlady has given me $200 off my rent next month. Since this already surpasses my $150 challenge, I shall raise my August challenge to $400. I hope I reach it! This money will go towards paying for Fall semester miscellaneous fees at my university.

Monthly Challege - June

June has ended, and thankfully I have reached, and even surpassed my first Monthly Challenge goal of $150.

Here's the summary:

50.00 - Rent Reduction
48.77 - Amazon Sales (-S&H)
15.00 - Gas Grill
25.00 - Dog-sitting
19.00 - Online Surveys
35.00 - Found Cash
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$192.77 (Goal + $42.77)
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First Monthly Challenge Accomplished!

About a month and a half ago, I decided that I would challenge myself to find an extra $150 each month to add to my debt-repayment/savings goals. June was the first month, and I have surpassed my goal of $150 by a few dollars ($154.77). There are a few more days to go, but I wanted to share the great sense of achievement that I have right now. At the end of the month, I'll summarize how I made the money. You can also see the progress on my left side-bar. If only I had started the monthly challenge 2 years ago! I don't suppose I'll reach my target every month, but I'll keep trying... It's great fun to look around one to see where you could find money. In July, I am going to hold a garage sale, and hopefully that will help meet my July goal. :-)

I've Confused Myself

I have been keeping elaborate records of everything that I am spending, saving, wasting, making and so on. I confused myself yesterday because of all this complicated record keeping and made a payment too large towards my Chase Visa, and somehow didn't count for a $60 automatic payment. I'll be fine with a little juggling of money, but it's all too much effort. So yesterday, I pared down my overly complicated record-keeping a bit. I still keep track of everything, but in a simpler manner. In terms of what I show on my blog, it doesn't make much difference except to the Monthly Challenge. I've decided to do make the time period of the challenge one regular month at a time as opposed to the 15th - 15th, I had originally planned. So I sent off the May challenge amount towards debt, and updated the Monthly Challenge Bar to reflect only my June snowflakes.

I will receive some money later this month that I can use to pay off the remaining of my Chase Visa balance. I think that after that I shall channel all Monthly Challenge money towards my freedom account until it reaches $1000. Talking about snowflakes, I listed a 24" Weber charcoal grill (that the previous tenant of my apartment had left behind) on Craigslist for $15. I have someone coming to look at it today. I hope he buys it... more money is always great. :-)

UPDATE: The man did not buy my grill. He was into competition barbeques (never knew such a thing existed), and did not think my grill would match his needs. Hopefully with the summer just starting, others will be interested.

Dog-Sitting Cash

Yay! I landed my first job in the Baby/Pet/House Sitting/Walking job. When I applied for the baby-sitting job that paid too little, I asked a friend whose children I occasionally baby-sit (for free, since I love the kids) for a reference. I think she was a little taken aback by my looking for side-jobs, but obliged by giving me reference. Now, a week and a half later, she asked if I would like to dog-sit for her while she and her family go camping with friends this weekend. I wanted to do it for free for her, but she insisted that she would pay me. She said she'd pay me $8/day which is just under what the kennel charges apparently, and I agreed. Aren't people supportive and sweet? Everyone's always trying to help out - I've found so many people so receptive to this money saving/making journey I am on. So, the little doggie (she's only a few months old, and a real sweetheart) got dropped off at my place last night. And I'll have $24/- more to put towards my monthly challenge come next week. :-)

I watched the news today about the skyrocketing oil prices - shooting up once again. Oil is at $134.67 nearing an all-time high of $135.09. Gas prices are bound to follow suit. My sister has borrowed my car for a month, so I'm commuting by bus and walking a great deal more and I really don't miss having to pour huge amounts of money into my gas tank. Maybe once I get the car back next month, I'll continue doing what I am doing now. I'd sell my car to help reduce payments and debt, but I use it so often to travel that I sure hanging on to it is a better idea than hiring rental cars each time. Oh well... it's progress that is my goal, not perfection.

P.S. I sold some DVD's on Amazon and added the money towards my May-June monthly challenge which is now at $185.79, which is way above my goal amount. I have fully-funded my first monthly challenge with one week still to go. I didn't think I could do it, but have - and the feeling is delicious! In another week, all that money goes to pay half of my Chase Visa debt.

Rent Reduction Update

Update from my previous post Reduce Your Rent. I had a meeting with my landlady today about what needs to be done around the yard and garden of the building I stay in. I have to weed, prune, get rid of winter’s rubbish, prop up garden gnomes that topple in the wind, put out the trash each week, rake leaves and other such stuff. It seems like it would be more work in the beginning, but that once the preliminary weeding and pruning is done, it won’t be as much work. And I get $50 off my rent in order to do that. The second part of the contract is showing my neighbor’s apartment to prospective tenants for a bonus of $200. Over the summer months, I estimate that this way, I’ll get a total reduction of about $450 in my rent until winter begins. Not bad, aye?

It’s all settled and I am looking forward to it – especially the bit that has to do with gardening. I love gardening! And guess what I found today as I was scoping out the weeds and voluntary plants? I found a whole patch of garlic chives that I initially thought was grass. That will spice up my food – an added bonus. And I think I’ll put mint in the ground and let it run riot! It will get the place smelling beautiful, and also I’ll put it in oodles of my food! Yummy!

P.S. Since I can now save an additional $50/month at least for a few months, I am increasing my "Monthly Challenge" amount to $150.

Monthly Challenge

Over the past few months I have been an avid reader of several personal finance blogs. People are so creative when trying to reduce debt and increase net worth. I think I shall adopt several of these ideas in my debt-reduction journey as well. The first idea I shall adopt is a monthly challenge that I found on MevsDebt's Blog. This is how it works. I challenge myself to find an additional sum of money to pay towards my debt each month. I’ll set a goal of $100. And I track my progress towards that $100 as I get money. Each month I review what happens so my readers can see how I got there. Amanda at MevsDebt also offers to text-link a webpage on her progress sheet for a month for $2.00. I shall do the same once I update my PayPal account which I have not accessed in several years.