I have given up on waiting in line to pick up my paycheck.
I am starting to go on Tuesdays to pick it up.
I found a nickel on the ground when I walked outside of the office.
I am glad I waited another day.
I am posting my findings in my $20 challenge!

Add my money I found to the $20 challenge!
$3.62 found in change on the ground and
$7 found in the trash!
That's $10.62 closer to being financially stable.

Too Much Debt Thursday has come. I have faced up to the fact that I made some stupid purchases on my credit cards and was dumb to max them out so soon.
I have learned from my mistake and am now crawling out of the hole that I dug myself.
I no longer go to the salon and get my nails done.
I haven't dyed my hair in a few months, so that saved me $10.
I don't buy junk at the store, but real food that has to be cooked.
I don't go to the dollar store and browse.
I have tried real hard to control my spending habits and listen to advice given to me.
Dave Ramsey said it best when he said:You can read all the books and learn all about how to do it, but until you do, you're gonna get no where.
That isn't an exact quote but you get the jist of it.
I was reading every book the library had on credit repair, debt management, and how to save money when you have none, but nothing was happening. I was learning how but not following through.
Saving with Smarty Pig has made me feel that I can do it. I have gotten 55% of my goal on there now and it feels great. Watching my interest go up and up is a good feeling instead of focusing on bad interest that I wasn't paying back.
People say, it costs you more to save and not pay on your credit cards, but it makes me feel good to have something to fall back on, even if it is $250.
I will focus on paying $5 to every credit card I have today. Seven total bills of $5 is only $35 total. I can handle that. I will also pay off my water bill that is OUTRAGEOUS!!!!!!!
Majorly overdue is taking back the equipment that the cable company wants back. I need to take it to the other side of town.
We are thinking about having just regular cable coming out of the wall.
Right now, we don't need anything, but come February, we will need digital.
Off to make my payments!
P.S. Add three cents to my $20 challenge for money found on the ground. One at work, one outside my Mom's house, and one at the gas station as I was walking in to pay. Woo Hoo!

$.14 found in laundry
$.02 found leaving gas station
I just keep finding money.
It is an obsession with me now.
I look at the ground everywhere I go.
I guess this is how I will fund my retirement! HA!

$1.39-work last night
Also, since I have no internet at home, I haven't been faithfully posting my Challenge Money. I rolled up $6.00 in change so I will add both to my total.

$7.39 in change added to total
+$1.73 previous August total
_______
$9.12 total for August

Add $1.73 to my challenge money.
I have been working a lot lately and I found some change on the ground last night.
It helps that I tell everyone to empty their pockets right in front of me too.
I would not pick up money that someone dropped in front of me that wanted it.
I would help them pick it up and give it to them.
I pick up the change that no one else has grabbed when there are no people and I am not busy.

I have received mail from several credit card companies saying that I am about to go under.
I have set up payment plans for them, with one, I can even get my card active again once paying down my balance.
One plan is $30 a month for 6 months.
The other plan is pay $20 now so that they don't charge the account off and when I get my money from selling my land, pay off a settlement of $450.
That works for me. Why would the credit card company tell me that if I pay $20 every three months that they could never do anything against me.
What about all that interest and late fees that you tack on??!!
Also, I would like to add $.92 to my challenge money before the month is up. I found more change on the ground at work.

I found at least $5.00 worth of change at work this weekend. Thursday was Rush, Friday and Saturday was Dave Matthews, and they were droping money left and right.
My supervisor stayed overnight and combed the lawn where people sit. In one night, or just an hour or two really, she found $8.00 in change and two one dollar bills.
I am envy her. But, I didn't have to stay up all night and she did it so she wouldn't fall asleep.
High five for working three days in a row! I haven't worked more than one day a week in quite a while.
This week is looking good too. Jimmy Buffett is tomorrow and I should be busy all weekend too!
I added the $5.00 to my balance page and will be adding the money to my savings account today.

I can't rave about my interest I am earning in my little piggy!
I will earn 35 cents for this month and by the end of September, they will post over 90 cents into my account.
My piggy at home is getting fat too!
I have put all the change I find at work in there, along with the washer findings and sweeping the floor came up with some things.

Thanks for the support, with over 25,000 people checking out this page, I feel that someone can learn from my mistakes and some can offer great advice on how to get unstuck!

I bought a pig.
It looks so cute.
I tell myself that he needs to be fed everyday or he will die.
I put all the change I can find in him, and he still smiles at me.
I was feeding him some green stuff, but that got expensive.
I am also trying to quit smoking, and by putting the money I would have used to buy cigarettes into my pig, I have saved a little dough.
I still smoke, and don't get to feed the pig a lot everyday. I still feed him and try to smoke less and less.
Every little bit helps.
My smarty pig account is helping too.
You can check it out on the side bar.
Start your own, ITS FREE!!!!!

I have been lax on reporting my "found" money, off the ground, in the laundry, and saved monies from not using gas and savings on purchases.

I have not been making any purchases other than necessities, so there is not much to report there, as well as the change that I find on the ground, but the money saved from not using gas in my vehicle will be posted more often.

Monday was one of those days and I will enter $5.00 for that day. I believe that Saturday will be another no driving day.

$0.25 found in the bottom of the washer. At my boy's little league game, a little girl found a dime in the dirt.
What a beautiful day to find money!

I looked up prices in a city guide for the race tickets.
For the cheap seats, it's $70-$95 per ticket.
I received two.
For parking, it is anywhere from $5-$25, so that is awesome too. Since I pick up my tickets at the parking lot, it works out. I am sure they planned it that way.

I haven't bought my freezer, but I am buying a bed with my rebate check. I can't see buying a freezer if we will just keep junk in it. Of course, I will stock up on some meat, but I am not a bake a months worth of food in one night.
I have two cassaroles in the freezer now, but they didn't want to eat the first one, so I am saving it for Dad when I am working at night and he wants to have food in a hurry.

Next Thursday is my birthday. Yeah. My mom is planning something awesome for me and my best friend and I are going out for lunch and then to mani-pedis. She knows how much I love them, but that I am saving money and not pampering myself in ways that cost. I do things at home, for less, and she is treating me for my b-day.
I also know my mom is going to blow me away with her gift.
She told me she wanted to take me to the gambling boat, but said that I would rather have the money than blow it. I said that was true.
Then she said that she was going to lay down about $1000 for a bed for me. WOW!!!

But, since I said that I was buying one with my rebate check, she said there went that.
Ouch!
So my gift is going to blow my socks off, I am sure.

I have put my $20 challenge money into my account. I have $15 saved now. If this keeps up, I will have so much money this summer. I can't even begin to think about how much debt I can delete with the cash gained.
I also want to call and see what the penalty will be for withdrawing money early out of my CD. I sort of can't wait till August.

I never went to a store, but I did pay my rent today. I also bought $15 worth of gas and got 4.20 gallons. It was aprox. $3.69 a gallon.
I am taking my no spend day today. We didn't go to a store, I didn't buy Sunday liquor, since we can't buy any here on Sunday. We never went to a store so I didn't spend any unnessassary money.
So, can I count my two dollars for myself?
I will anyway. I also saved money by going to my neighbors today for some fun. We didn't need to go out and spend money to have fun. I want to have a campfire tonight. I hope I can find some wood.

For the next five months I will be saving my income for the $20 challenge. I have not been working since August, and I consider all that I earn to be "extra".
I think that toning down my cable and phone bill, I can come up with some spare change.
I also don't think that we will be eating out but three times a month. That is way better than three times a week.
I also am not going to buy any liquor or anything of the like. I will see how much better I feel with a month without the devil's water. If it is worth the sacrifice, I will continue and probably not even miss it. Since I haven't been going out with friends to drink, it will be super easy to give up for a while.
I spent $9.75 on $3.00 worth of gas this morning. I also couldn't bring myself to pay $3.69 for premium. I got regular for $3.45.
I have been taking the stairs at school for three days now. I want to count those steps and challenge myself to take five more steps daily. I don't know how well I will remember these numbers, but I will figure something out.

I made dinner tonight, including dessert.
It only took about twenty minutes, start to finish, and it smelled wonderful. That is worth it to me to continue to cook at home. I do have to work Friday and Sunday night, but I can cook at lunch time.
Save $30.00 on Chinese food that DH wanted for dinner towards the challenge and off I go to a high balance. I will deposit the money tomorrow.
Off to a great start.

I opened my $20 challenge account today. I was offered a chance to win a $50 gift card and when I sign up for direct depost, or use the online bill pay feature, I will receive a free $75 into my account.
That is awesome. I will not count the money in my challenge until I actually receive it. It shouldn't take that long though.
I also am starting a savings account for my children. They will keep any money gifts the receive, also, I can keep their college savings in there, rather than in my savings account, where I will be paying for my college with that.

"Cutting expenses is the first step in a two step process. In addition to cutting your expenses, you actually have to place the difference between what you were paying and the new price after cutting the expenses into a savings account (toward debt reduction). While this may seem obvious as you read, many people fail to do just that and wonder why cutting their expenses hasn't resulted in more savings (or debt reduction)."

I took this from the site and wanted to let you know how right you are.
I have added up a lot of money with my $20 challenge. I have only been here since late January, but I have accumulated over $350.00. Do I have $350.00 in the bank? NO. Should I have? YES!
I wish that I would have read this earlier. I knew that I should be socking away the money I claimed, but I really was just happy to be saving it, and didn't have the money in my hand to put into a source.
I will be opening a new savings account tomorrow, and tracking my $20 challenge money that way.
I am just so disappointed that I didn't do this two months ago.

I just want to add $2.00 to my $20 challenge money. I brought snacks to school and never even looked at the vending machines. They are usually broken anyway. I bought a milk one time, since I took cereal with me, and the machine jammed. My poor little milk was dangling there, taunting me.
I planned to take my snack and buy milk when I got there. It will never happen again.

I have concluded that $5 will be sufficent for counting towards my total for the challenge for having a NO SPEND DAY!!! I like being at home with family, and it is getting easier to have more of these.
Library books are keeping me company, as well as the children cleaning their room, laundry going in that room, and the living room being clutter free for weeks now.
I am happy to be here, and that helps. I would have the boys go to the store with me to just get out of this house, full of clutter, stinking from dishes, and dirty clothes everywhere.
I have learned how to fight this urge, by cleaning my home. I no longer go ANYWHERE but here, just to escape. I still had to come home. I usually had two or three bags full of new crap. That wasn't helping.
I will count this towards my challenge, and every purchase that I pass up as well. If I were in my previous state of mind, it would have made me feel better to buy, buy, buy. I am better now, and working hard to teach my children the correct ways.

We get bored at work. We try so hard to make everything go so smoothly, when it does, it is borring. So to break the silence, one of my co-workers was tossing pennies down the hall at me. Now, I only made it home with one, but he really was going to keep throwing them at me. I picked them up and put them into my pocket, not being immature and throwing them back. But I did give him his change back, except for one. Since I did have to bend over and pick up all that money, I figured I should get something out of it.

Add a penny and $32.00 earned income that I wouldn't have gotten to the challenge.

So far today, I have found .51 in the laundry. I think of it as pay.
I wonder if I will ever find change in the bottom of the kitchen sink! HA
I let you know if that happens.
I also saved on parking for work tonight.
$2.00 will not be spent, as I am going elsewhere to work and then park.


OVER 10,000. Thanks for all the support, kind words, smacks back to reality, and the like. I appreciate the help, really I do.

Since my children are sick with strep, I won't be going anywhere today, except for work tonight.
Womens NCAA Big 10 basketball tournament is going on, and they plan on being busy.
So, saving money is my key today. I will be doing laundry, using my surplus of laundry soap, and having the children help me straighten up.
Sicky will be in bed most the day, but my oldest son is just here for support. That and I didn't want to dress three people this morning, going out in the cold for no reason.
A three day weekend never hurt anyone anyway.
I need to get library books back too, but that can wait till Saturday.
No gas spent=$5.00 for $20 challenge
No cigarettes bought=$4.20 for $20 challenge

I have been jealous of all of you who count checks from surveys online. I have never been paid for one, until now. I received a $4.00 check and it was great. I didn't know what to do.
I will be doing a lot more of these surveys from now on.

I got my job back recently, and I have not counted my paycheck totals to my $20 challenge. I wonder as I get paid tomorrow, but I don't know if I will even get a paycheck.
If I do, can I count these dollars towards my total?

We had a sleepover last night. We spent no money last night or today. So there's money to go into the challenge. $2.50 for gas saved, .15 for Laundry money found, and $5.50 not spent on a replacement hampster.
I wanted the pet, not my kids. I just want someone else to talk to besides Spike the goldfish.

I got two of my credit cards down below the credit limit. Go me! I didn't even use my tax check to do it. I sacked that away in a CD. I maybe should have put the money on my cards, but I was more intrested in being able to use my money, not toss it away the second I got it.

I also wanted to tell everyone who has been commenting on my posts, I appreciate the help, tips, and support you give. Thanks so much.

I don't think that today will turn out this way. I will chip in for parking at the Downtown Library where I am with my group working on a school project. So far so good though.
I think that I will save from not spending money on lunch though.
Plus, what is a buck on 5 dollar parking anyway. Not much at all.
Saved from Lunch in:$7.50

I will be meeting with my group at school tomorrow, and will be bringing a lunch. I will get here at 10 a.m. so I will be hungry in the middle. I also can't justify buying food from a machine that I could have gotten from the grocery at more than half price for more food. If they get hungry and want to go to a fast food joint, be my guest, but I will be here when you get back after eating something more enjoyable for a fraction of the price.

$1.00 goes to the $20 challenge for not being able to buy my milk at school today. It makes me mad when they don't work, but I cuss them since they take so much money. $1.25 for a pop is high.
I will not use them again.

Yesterday, I went to the bank.
I withdrew money from my checking account, as I want all my money to be in my saving account that I can stand.
I cannot spend more that I withdrew from the bank, as not many places will take a check anymore, and I have lost my debit card.
Thank You!!
I can no longer go out to eat, as that will take up all my money I just took out.
I also think this will help my splurge spending. I want no more of that happening.
I have to work again tonight, so I have to pay to park. That stinks, but it is only two bucks for downtown. I shouldn't ask for more.

Also, for not having my check card, I saved myself 13.00 at the grocery store, so I will add that to my challenge money. I never get to add anything.

While cleaning my house, dusting and other such things, I found money. $1.18 was just lying about, without my knowing it. I just hope that when I vacuum under my couches and desk I find more.
I even found change in my bathroom.
How great is that? I am impressed.

I am enjoying my first day back to school after a horrible sickness. I even got a request to take my picture, since I dressed up for Professional Dress Day.
Wahoo.

But I am supposed to be working on my research paper, but I am so far ahead of myself, I just couldn't do it.
I saved money today by bringing my lunch and drink, so there is $4.95 to the $20 challenge.

I also have to clean the crib for my oldest son's birthday this Sunday, so I don't see spending any money tonight either. I made dinner ahead last night, so tonight is just warm ups. There is another $15.00 to the challenge. It just keeps adding up doesn't it?

Back to work!

Well, we finally did it. The laundry is on its way to never being on the floor again. We also cleaned the kid's room well enough to vacuum the floor in there. I got rid of a ton of trash, as well as some donatable toys. Most of them will go to my best friend, but I know some other children that are in need.
I have been doing a great job of weeding out my closet by getting rid of clothes that I never wear and do not fit anymore.
I did go out today and spend a little money. I mentioned that I ran out of soap, so I bought two. I wanted to get a new hamper for the hallway, but decided that I just need to keep the one I have out there empty. Same goes for clothes. I didn't buy a drawer setup, as I have no place to put it, and I want to rid myself of extras, not find another place that I won't end up putting them.
Purge and you will see the floor!-Me
I saved at least $10.00 while we were gone though. My boys did not want to eat out. Good for them. I was starving! But we came home, put our items away, and I warmed up food in the microwave.
Thanks for keeping Mommy in check boys!