Paying off some debt!

Today I wrote out checks to pay off some debt! There are 2 different ones and it will be so great to check these off our list! The total amount of debt we have paid off to date is $2,623.60! I know it's not a lot considering the full amount we owe (we're still tallying this up, I know, that's really bad!) but it feels good to get it out of the way!


Once I get paid from Race4Offers from my October earnings and my transfers into my bank account clear, we will be able to pay off another one! I have a feeling it might take a little while until we are able to get another one paid off, but hopefully once the holidays are over we will have more money to put towards it!

---

There is always a risk of piling credit card debts when used inconsiderately. Such dilemmas often occur when the bank charges are ignored altogether. When applying for home and auto insurance, such details tend to climb up as bad credit history if not paid at all. This results in loss in foreclosures as well. Therefore whether applying for a cheap insurance or not a not so cheap one, having previous paperwork in order always helps. Plus, for life insurance application, such papers matter a lot and timely requests for debt relief always help.

---

My new "couponing" blog!

I finally got around to making a new blog just for my couponing! It doesn't look at that great just yet, but if you want to take a look please visit: I Heart Coupons!


There's really a lot of great deals out there and I just wanted to be able to share them with everyone. I also love reading about what others are able to get using coupons and a lot of times I am able to get in on the same bargains.


I think I might start posting my favorite freebies on there too. I plan to add an rss feed to it too, so in the meantime just bookmark it and check back often! :)

November Earnings

I came extremely short of my goal for last month, which was to make $1,000 online. This month I am going to set a realistic goal of $500!


I try to update my earnings every night and make posts as much as I can. If you have any questions about making money online or about anything I've posted, please comment or email me.


Get Paid To Sites:
Cash Crate - $24.86
Deal Barbie Pays - $23.10
Race4Offers - $22.72

Misc:
Associated Content - $16.97

Total - $87.65

Feeling very down

I have to admit, this is getting really, really hard for me. I haven't had much time to spend making money online so there's less I am depositing into our debt account and we haven't been able to send off any payments towards the debt snowball.


I also just found out that my husband's ex-wife and her husband just bought a brand new house. I feel like I've been stabbed in my stomach and the knife is being twisted repeatedly. The reason why we are in so much debt is because of my husband's ex. All of the credit card debt we have is from when they were married and she charged everything.


Some days I think we made a major mistake with taking on all this debt instead of giving her half of my husband's retirement savings. Now I think we'd be better off with half this debt and half of his retirement because we'd probably be able to pay off what we'd have and rebuild the savings. Maybe I'm wrong, either way it's too late now.


Our reason for getting out of debt is to buy our own house in Lancaster County which is where I'm from. I'm just really bitter that his ex gets to live her dreams while I have to pay for it. After the holidays I plan to get back into this full force and I'm trying to do what I can in the meantime.


I keep saying over and over: WE WILL BE DEBT FREE AND HAPPY!

---

One does not need to be a professional with a web design degree to actually pick out the best web design. Same holds true for the best web hosting. One does need to be a search engine marketing expert in order to pick the most compliant hosting service. With everyone having wifi internet access, everyone has access to such information. E.g. in order to start with an affiliate program it is necessary to do some domain name search of your own as well. This helps in the end.

---

Cloth Pads on Etsy

Some of you might not know, but I sew cloth menstrual pads. It might sound gross to some of you, but in reality it's not. Cloth pads are great for the environment and save you lots of money over time! For 2 weeks, I've been really busy and finally managed to get a bunch (over 100!) pads sewn to sell on Etsy.


A lot have already been bought, but if you'd like to see some for yourself, please visit my Etsy store!


If you'd like to find out more about cloth menstrual pads and alternative menstrual products, please check out these articles I wrote:


Alternative Menstrual Products: Cloth Pads, Sea Sponges, and Cups


Cloth Menstrual Pads: What are They and Why Should You Use Them?

Traveling for Thanksgiving

On Thanksgiving we will be driving 2 hours away to my Aunt's, where the rest of my family goes. We are really excited about seeing everyone since we don't get to very often. Every year we need to decide if we can actually afford to go, especially with gas being so pricey these days.


This year we figured we could squeeze the money out of our budget because we didn't want to miss an opportunity to see relatives. Just yesterday I got a check in the mail from my nan and pap to cover our gas! It meant so much to us that they realized how expensive it is for us to drive up (especially since we also go Christmas Eve) and that they wanted to help us.


In addition to not having to pay for our gas, I also got my first ever rebate check in the mail from Excedrin! It was only $2.99, but I'll take it! Excedrin was on sale, I had coupons and got a rebate for the maximum allowed, which means I ended up ahead :) I am waiting for more rebates to come and have a couple rebate forms I need to send in!

Free Pampers diapers and wipes!

Over at Sharing My Two Cents, there's a great contest going on! The contest is to win a jumbo size box of Pampers diapers or training pants and a tub of wipes!


If you'd like to try and win them, head on over and read more!

Forgotten money!

Yesterday I received a check in the mail for $365.29! I had totally forgotten that this money was coming to me, it was a nice surprise! The money came from a 401k account from one of my very first jobs. I had only worked at the job for a few months, so I wasn't able to contribute much because I met my husband and moved 2 hours away. This was years ago and I forgot to transfer the money within a certain amount of time so I had to fill out an application to receive the money.


To make a long story short, I didn't get the application sent in until a couple of months ago (for various reasons) and I completely forgot that I had done that. We just deposited the check and it's going towards our debt!


In other good news, I got a bunch of pads sewn today and hopefully this weekend I'll have enough done to sell. I'd really like to get my 2 other blogs set up as well. All in due time I guess!

Race4Offers Proof of Payment!

Last week I received my first payment of $81.61 from Race4Offers! They are one of my favorite gpt sites! This payment is from my earnings in September, here is a proof of my payment:





If you're not already a member, I highly recommend signing up! There are a lot of great freebie offers and they credit pretty fast too!

Time to revive this blog!

I have to admit, I've been avoiding my blog. I know that's terrible, but I really lost all motivation. This month is really busy, my son is off of school almost half of this month and just Thursday my husband had a minor surgical procedure and he probably won't get back to work until this Thursday.


I've just been busy and not in the mood to deal with debt, savings, earnings, etc. But that's pathetic and I admit that. I am ready to get back on track. We need all the extra income we can get to get rid of this debt. I am trying to build back up my determination.


What is really lifting my spirits is that I now have 51 active referrals on Cash Crate which means I am now in the silver ranking and making 25% of my referral's earnings. I just found this out today and both myself and my husband were really excited over it! Earlier this week I was also paid from Associated Content for an article I wrote in September, but they never paid me and I totally forgot about it!


Last week I also got paid from Race4Offers and I redeemed some of my points to have $20 added to my account, which they just added. So that's nice as well. I will be updating my blog soon with proof of payment from them!


Besides being busy with family and making gifts for the upcoming holiday, I've been spending a lot of time with coupons and watching the local ads like a hawk. Last weekend our local Superfresh had triple coupons so I spent the entire weekend planning out my coupons. My shopping trips inspired me to make another blog which I want to make soon.


Speaking of more blogs, I think I have decided that I will make not one, but two more blogs. One for how we are living frugally and another about my coupon savings, shopping trips and other tricks for shopping and using coupons. I am pretty excited about it. I still plan to keep this blog as my top priority one. I'm not sure how much I'll get done this week, since I am still working on making some instock pads.


I hope no one forgot about me, if you read this far than I commend you and thank you for being interested! I will now update my earnings for November, then it's off to organize my coupons!

October Online Earnings and Progress

For October I did not reach my goal of $1,000. Not by a long shot. There are many reasons why and it's mainly due to lack of motivation. I also closed my online store because I was burned out. The first half of October I spent catching up on pad orders and I needed a major break. So for October I only made $164.76 online and $419.75 all together. Here is a breakdown of my earnings:


Get Paid To Sites:
Cash Crate - $29.30
Race4Offers - $15.57

Misc:
Associated Content - $54.67
Blogsvertise - $15.00

Ebay -$50.22

Total Online Earnings - $164.76
I didn't make the payout minimum on Deal Barbie Pays, so I removed them from my October earnings and will count it towards my November earnings because I plan to make cashout for November. I also removed adsense, when I get paid from them I will add it to my earnings for that current month.


I was able to come up with some extra money this month:


Cash in old cds - $65.00
Cash in change - $25.32



Total misc. income earnings - $90.23


Grand total - $419.75


I had no extra income from pad sales since I didn't get any new orders from closing my site. We cashed in our change at Coin Star and opted for the Amazon.com gift card because then we don't have to pay a fee for counting our change. Plus, I just found out that Amazon has used toys, so I will be using the gift card towards christmas gifts. I plan to cash in our change at the end of November as well and get another Amazon gift card to use for christmas.


I didn't meet all my goals either. I wanted to reach the silver referral ranking for Cash Crate but I am 4 referrals short. I also did not double my earnings on Cash Crate either. I didn't write 3 articles a week either, but I did write 10 and was paid for all of them.


I have some more ideas for income for November and I've been thinking about my goals for this month and I'll update again later. I am going to try and make this a better month. I am really disappointed with October, but at least I got some extra income to pay off our debt and that's what's important!