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Archive for March, 2015

Surprise Money

March 28th, 2015 at 11:32 pm

I recently received an unexpected payment from a government program that I'm a part of. It was a complete surprise, since the program doesn't give me cash at only, only assistance with my fuel costs. But for some reason, I received a once-time-only $19 cash payment. I'm happily adding it to my savings Smile

Balance: $102.65
Surprise cash payment: $19.00
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New Balance: $121.65
(Cash $27)
(Savings Acct $94.65)

Damn those shipping costs!

March 26th, 2015 at 08:09 pm

Last night I sold two bolts of fabric on ebay, each one for $10. Add to that the amount the buys paid for shipping, and the total that got deposited into my PayPal was $25.42 BUT, the shipping costs were WAY higher than ebay thought they'd be (almost $10 for each of them; thanks a lot for doing the math for me, ebay *rolling eyes*).

So after paying for shipping, I only made $5.53 Lesson learned and I went in and raised the shipping costs on all the current auctions I have going on now that don't have any bids yet.

I also spent $25 out of my savings today on a Birthday present for my sister. I hate to see the amount in this account go down, but I still have a few months until my trip, and I know I can replace it. And it feels good to have the cash to buy the gift instead of throwing it onto a CC Smile

Balance: $122.12
Bday gift for sister: -$25
Ebay sales: $5.53
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New Balance: $102.65
(Cash $8)
(Savings Acct $94.65)

More online sales

March 25th, 2015 at 09:22 pm

I'm loving how fast things are selling! I'm selling on ebay and half.com, but I also joined some local online yard sale groups through Facebook and these are great. I'm getting rid of a lot of little things that just aren't worth putting on ebay. Not getting a lot of money for these items, but it all adds up!

Balance: $94.56
DD from Half.com books: $27.56
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New Balance: $122.12
(Cash $33)
(Savings Acct $89.12)

$20 Update and Starting My WL

March 25th, 2015 at 01:41 pm

Balance: $91.56
Sold DVD: $3
------------------------------
New Balance: $94.56
(Cash $33)
(Savings Acct $61.56)


On the Weight Loss side, I have made a dent in my 20 pound goal! I am down 3 pounds from last week! Yay! Before starting this blog, I was already down 1.2 pounds, so I've lost 4.2 of my 20 pounds!

Old Weight: 240
New Weight: 235.8
Weight Loss: 4.2

I can't believe I'm so close to my goal weight! When I started my WL journey almost 3 years ago, I weighed 350 pounds. I'm down almost 115 now, and it really seems like I'll hit 220 this year. Smile

$20 Update

March 23rd, 2015 at 10:10 pm

Yay for my neighbor and her desire to start scrap-booking. She bought by blank scrapbooks Smile

Balance: $86.56
Sold - 2 empty scrapbooks: $5
------------------------------
New Balance: $91.56
(Cash $30)
(Savings Acct $61.56)

Starting my $20 a Month Fund

March 22nd, 2015 at 11:12 pm

I'm trying to earn/find/save at least an extra $20 a month. I have an extremely limited income, and I have nothing extra at the end of the month for savings. But I still have things I like to do, like travel. So this money is or my traveling. It comes from selling items online, doing freelance work, windfalls (ha!), surveys, etc. Anything outside my normal income.

I'm heading to Canada to visit my best friend and her family at the end of July, so anything I've got in this account now is my spending money for that trip. Let's see how high I can get it in the next 18 weeks!

Starting balance: $2.82
Books sold online: $31.24
Rolled Coins: $27.50
---------------------------
New Balance: $61.56


Balance: $61.56
Sold - Coffee Maker: $10
Sold - Shoes: $10
Sold - Concert poster: $5
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New Balance: $86.56

20 New Things

March 22nd, 2015 at 10:57 pm

This year (2015) I decided to try and do something new every month. And then I went ahead and created my 20's challenge, which is to save/earn/find and extra $20 a month and lose 20 lbs this year, so I figured I'd up this challenge to 20 new things this year. What have I done already?

1. Went to my first meetup.com meeting from a group I joined 3 years ago. I kept wanting to go to events, but although I would RSVP yes, I would always back out the last minute. But in January I finally went to one. It was ok, but although the group was for people ages 30+ (I'm 37), I was one o the youngest there, by a good 7 or 8 years. I don't know if I'll go again, as the people weren't very friendly. But I will try another group Smile

2. Taught myself to make homemade pasta! I always wanted to learn this, and we got a massive series of now storms where I live this winter. I pretty much spent 3 weeks stuck in my house, so after the cabin fever set in, I decided to use to time to teach myself. It took a few tries (and some coaching from an Italian friend of mine) but I did it and it's gooood! No more store-bought pasta for me! Smile

3. I took a class and learned to make sea-class wire wrapped jewelery! It's easier than I thought it would be and the piece I made came out beautiful! I can't wait until the rest of the snow is gone so I can start scouring my local beach for more pieces! Maybe I can even make some pieces to sell! Smile

4. I'm learning Irish! After 15 years, I have FINALLY found a place that teaches Irish! I've been struggling to teach myself for ages, and it's a really hard language, so I've gotten nowhere. But this month I started lessons at the Irish Cultural Center in Boston! I love it so much and I can't believe I'm finally crossing an item off my Bucket List! Smile