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Home > Archive: March, 2009

Archive for March, 2009

Car Loan Update

March 31st, 2009 at 04:57 pm

My last principal payment of $70 has been applied to my account on the car loan, so now I only owe $2847.99!!

I plan to get a few more refund offers ready to send out today, then I must go to work!!

Have a great day!!

Extra income update

March 30th, 2009 at 11:54 pm

Today I got another refund check in the mail for $6.75. I will add that to my week end deposit.

I have 835 points accumulated with Global Test Market. Only 165 more before I can cash out. I noticed on the GTM blog that in the near future, Paypal deposits & gift cards will be ways that they payout as opposed to only being able to request a check. So I'm looking forward to that Smile


Sunday Update

March 29th, 2009 at 06:47 pm

I finished my federal taxes Friday evening. It turns out I owe about $900. I prefer to not get a refund, but I would rather not have to pay in at the end of the year. I adjusted my withholding status with my employer in an attempt to *fix* the problem!! I still have to complete the state and local taxes...maybe I will do that sometime next week.

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I have some items I want to list on Ebay. I went through DS's clothes from last spring/summer. I have about 40-50 pieces of clothing to post. I'm working on writing up the descriptions today and may enter the info one day during the week. It is too tedious for me to do all at once.

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I really wanted to work out in the yard this weekend again, but it is cloudy/damp as it rained overnight. Maybe that will be a project for next weekend!

Have a great day!

Found a penny + more checks today!

March 28th, 2009 at 09:43 pm

I stopped by a convenience store to use the ATM and I found a penny heads up on the floor in front of the machine!

In the mail I received 2 refund checks for a total of $6.35.

Since I already made the extra income deposit for this week, I have $6.36 accumulated already towards next week's deposit!!

Have a safe weekend!

$15.58 Deposit

March 27th, 2009 at 02:14 am

This week I had a small deposit to my extra income fund:

$ 3.00 Pinecone survey
$12.58 Refund checks

$15.58 Total


That brings the total to $2749.73.

Thursday Update

March 26th, 2009 at 06:09 pm

Yesterday I sent another $70 towards the principal on my car loan.

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Today over my lunch hour at work I did a mystery shop at Sonic restaurant. I've never been there before. Actually I'm happy I'll be getting reimbursed for the food because I wasn't that impressed with the quality. Hmmmm...maybe it's just that I don't like fast food that much. I haven't had fast food in months!!

Have a great day!!

Another good mail day + NSD

March 24th, 2009 at 10:42 pm

Today in the mail I received another $10.68 in refund checks. I also received the instant VIA Starbucks coffee samples that I requested a few weeks ago.

Last night I completed a Pinecone survey and today the money ($3) was in my Paypal account. Extremely efficient Smile

I had another no-spender today also!!

So another $13.68 to throw into the extra income fund at the end of the week!

Monday Update

March 23rd, 2009 at 10:56 pm

Today in the mail I received a refund check for $1.90....more $$ to the extra income fund!! Also, the $10 GC for Outback Steakhouse that I requested last week as a result of doing a health care survey arrived today. Very efficient! This is the first time that I've done surveys for them, so I wasn't sure what to expect. But I was very pleased with how quickly I received the card!

I stopped after work at the grocery store and picked up a cantaloupe, salad greens, collard greens, blueberries, etc. and spent about $13. I used a $0.50 off $6 of produce coupon that I printed from showing my rewards card.

Have a great evening!!

Weekly Extra Income Fund Deposit

March 22nd, 2009 at 12:52 pm

I am adding $467.61 to the "extra income fund" for this week!!

Saturday job........$357.20
Surveys.............$ 17.00
Refund checks.......$ 93.36
Found money.........$ 00.05


That brings the total in this account to
$2,734.15 Smile

$2.54

March 20th, 2009 at 11:49 pm

Today I found a nickel in the locker room at work.

Also got another refund check for $2.49.

So another $2.54 to the extra income fund for the week!

More $$ to the fund!

March 19th, 2009 at 03:32 pm

A few weeks ago I completed a survey online for health care professionals with the incentive being $10. I got an email notification stating that my payout has been processed. It is payable in the form of a GC so I have to go to the website to choose the business from which I want the GC. I think I will choose the Outback Restaurant.

In addition I received a few rebate checks today in the amount of $52.93 so I will add that + the $10 survey income to my "extra income" fund at the end of the week.

NSD + Car Loan Update

March 19th, 2009 at 01:11 pm

Yesterday was a NSD for me. Had a birthday party at work for a co-worker + no need to run any errands.

My balance on my car loan is now a bit over $3212, so I think it will be feasible to pay that off by the end of 2009!

Have a great day!

Good mail day!

March 15th, 2009 at 01:09 am

Today I received a rebate check from Walgreen's February Easy Saver for $33.95 + a $7 check from Survey Savvy that I requested a few weeks ago. Both items will get deposited into the extra income fund next week.

I also got a sample packet of hot breakfast cereal that I requested from Cream of Wheat.

Now I'm off to watch the Suze Orman show!

Car payment

March 14th, 2009 at 10:03 am

Yesterday, I sent another $110 to be applied towards the principal on my car loan. Lately I have been exceeding my goal of making at least $70/month payments on the principal. So I am happy about that!

Have a good day!

$31.78

March 13th, 2009 at 11:37 pm

I only have $31.78 to add to the extra income fund for this week, but it all adds up:

Refund checks....$17.77
Mystery shop.....$14.00
Found money......$00.01

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I took the day off work as I needed a mental break...DD has been really pulling my strings, but I guess that is common with teenagers.

Have a great evening!

More Extra Income

March 13th, 2009 at 06:00 pm

I got a DD in my checking account today for a mystery shop that I completed last month. The amount of $14 will be added to my weekly deposit to the extra income fund!

NSD + Found Money

March 12th, 2009 at 10:19 pm

Today was a NSD for me. Not much going on here other than I found a penny yesterday at the grocery store.

More to add to the extra income fund!

Have a great evening!

Another NSD!

March 8th, 2009 at 11:23 pm

Today I didn't spend any money. I spent the day decluttering the house a bit. Went through some papers on my desk and shredded the unimportant ones & filed some statements. I generally get at least 4-5 professional journals each month, so I had a pile of those to read through. I discarded some of them, but saved a few that I want to spend more time to read a little closer.

I also located several items to list on Ebay maybe sometime this week.

Have a nice frugal week everyone!

Saturday job change

March 8th, 2009 at 07:03 pm

Currently I work 2 Saturday jobs, alternating at each office. A few weeks ago I found out that during the summer, we are not scheduling on Saturdays beginning in mid-May in the one office. This is the job I was looking to replace for several months now. Even though the economy is certainly not the best right now, I figured I would see if I could work every Saturday at the other job. So last Saturday when I worked there I asked the boss if I could pick up an additional 2 Saturdays/month. He said that he thought it would be possible, just had to have the receptionists take a close look at the schedule. Well, by Tuesday of this week I got a call from the office telling me that I can start every Saturday beginning in April!

This position definitely involves more of a commute, but I believe it is well worth it. I will be grossing at least $180/month more because of more hours & increased hourly rate over the job.

Now, I have the dreadful job of confronting my other boss and letting him know my future plans (which involves me working there only 1 more Saturday). I absolutely dislike confrontation like this, but then I guess no one enjoys it...

Weekly Extra Income Deposit

March 8th, 2009 at 04:43 pm

I am depositing $363.17 to the extra income fund for the week:

Saturday income.....$360.16
Found money.........$000.01
Survey income.......$003.00


Have a great Sunday!

Found a penny!!

March 7th, 2009 at 11:33 pm

Today while I was at the post office I found a penny heads up under a counter.

More to add to the extra income fund!!

No spender + survey income

March 7th, 2009 at 12:54 am

I didn't spend any money today. Actually I didn't go out to eat at work at all this week either!


I got a $3 check in the mail from Survey Savvy that I requested not that long ago...so some extra income fund money!!

$57 Store CC Rewards

March 3rd, 2009 at 06:34 pm

Yesterday in the mail I got a coupon good for $57 based on my purchases for last year at a local chain department store. I wasn't even aware that the store tracked expenses, so that was a nice surprise...some extra $ available when I shop for some spring/summer clothes!

Have a great day!!

Monday Update

March 2nd, 2009 at 11:30 pm

Today was a NSD for me. I went to work, but stayed in for lunch break as I didn't have any errands to run + it was snowy and I didn't want to venture out. It was a bit difficult even getting to work this morning.

Other than that, not much new here. I requested a payout from Survey Savvy for $7 so I am expecting that check in a few weeks.

Have a great evening!!

Tire savings, Interest, etc.

March 1st, 2009 at 02:05 pm

Friday after work I went to have the tires mounted on my car. I have been shopping around both tire centers and online tire businesses for a few weeks. I called a Goodyear center and got a quote of $600 (including mounting/installing) + tax for 4 tires= $636, which was way out of line. After comparing about 4 online sites, I decided that discounttiredirect.com had the best prices on the 80K warranty tires that I wanted + offered price matching & free shipping. So I called a local installer listed on the website. I thought I might have to have the tires delivered to me and then transport them to the local shop for installation. When I called the shop, they offered to purchase the tires from Discount Tire Direct (matching the same price I was quoted online) & have them delivered there so I wouldn't have to bother with taking them there after I received them.

The tires ended up costing $508.80 including tax & installation-$25 rebate from Goodyear=$483.80. So by going with this option as opposed to the dealership I saved $127.20 ($636 dealership cost - $508.80 purchase online & local installer). I would have gotten the $25 rebate at the dealership also so I didn't figure that in the savings!

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I earned $2.97 interest on money in the extra income fund for February, so I updated that info on the side bar.

Have a nice frugal day!