Surveys, revisited

I have posted in the past about the sites I use to make money through surveys. About a year ago, it was actually affording me a nice little consistent flow of spending money. Like anything else though, it soon took a backseat to, well, life.... The kids, school, medical stuff, etc, etc.

This past week I decided I was going to start doing it again, and have since been faithfully checking the email I'd set up for that purpose, and doing my surveys while I watch TV at night. To my pleasant surprise I found on checking my sites that I have over $40 ready to be cashed in right now, and have already added to it significantly. Hurray for free money! As a bonus, I'd forgotten how much fun I have doing it.

These are the sites I've made money with this week:

Say Nation

Quick Rewards

Treasure Trooper

Inbox Dollars

This is just a very partial list, as I'm still just dipping my toes back in the survey waters.  Visit my survey site for the entire list of sites I use.

Budgets and New Plans

For someone who's not especially fond of numbers (I am, and forever will be, a word girl), I get a lot of pleasure out of making budgets. I like setting them up, changing things around, playing with different scenarios, and calculating the numbers again and again and again.

I recently read these guidelines for setting up the ideal household budget, recommended by the experts such as Dave Ramsey and Suze Ormen:

   

       Housing - 40% (include your mortgage or rent payment, insurance, water, gas, electric)

       Credit Cards, School Loans, etc - 10%

       Car - 15% (include car payment, gas, insurance, repairs)

       Savings - 1 to 5%

       Food - 15%

       Entertainment - 10% (cable, cell phones, Netflix accounts, etc)

       Misc - 5%

I plugged in our own numbers, fully expecting to see one or more areas where we needed some adjustments.  To my (happy) surprise though, everything fit neatly into its recommended allotment.  We're doing something right!

Looking at the budget inspired me to once again make a list of financial goals, complete with a loose time table.  I like making lists even more than I like making budgets.   There are certainly smaller goals along the way, but these are the big goals, in order, that make up our plan for the next five years.

1. Pay off the rest of the credit cards
2. Pay off my Sequoia
3. Pay off the second mortgage
4. Save up for a good down payment on a new house (which we can do quickly by rolling the payments we'd been making on the credit cards, car, and mortgage into a savings account)
5. Sell this house and buy another, with NO debt other than the new mortgage, which we will of course:
6. Immediately start paying extra payments on, to pay off in a short amount of time

I like it.

June Numbers... onward and upward

This past week was Mike's first paycheck with his new salary.  While a big portion of the extra money was already spoken for, as we still had to get some i's dotted and t's crossed, our total debt did come down.  And any reduction after the past few months is a very good thing indeed.

Total debt for June:

Down by 489.15

Robbing Peter to Pay Paul

A financial tightrope.

Living paycheck to paycheck, whether it's because of a low income (been there), a fine income, but too many bills (been there too), or just because of unavoidable life circumstances, is not a fun place to be. It's a stressful balancing act. If you stay upright, no problem, but that threat is always there... that one little thing that will knock you off-kilter and send you flailing off to one side. You might waver and sweat and feel your heart beating faster, and then you somehow right yourself again only to live in fear of the next gust of wind.

The past few months, we have been clinging to that tightrope tighter than ever. Every single paycheck has been a juggling act. If we hold this bill another couple weeks, this one will still be on time. If we borrow money from this account, we can get that one current. If we use our Christmas money (again), we can fund that trip that we probably shouldn't have taken.

Yes, it's not fun. Somehow, it all works, but it is stressful. It's stressful, and it's HARD! The ironic thing is that with the exception of our credit card balances, everything looks a-okay on paper. Everything is current. Our mortgage and car payments are paid on time... our electric, our cable, our water, our phones... we make our minimum credit card payments, plus some... we're doing what we need to do. We're doing what responsible people should do.

It's all in illusion though. It's NOT okay! As long as we have this debt, as long as we're living paycheck to paycheck: we're still walking that precarious tightrope.

Last week, we were given an answer to a prayer, when Mike received a promotion and accompanying raise that's been long in the works. Now, I know there's no magic bullet here. I know that money doesn't solve everything, and I know that unless we do the work and make the right decisions that our situation won't improve.

But... (and oh how I love that but!)

I also know that if God's willing, and we're able, that this can be a major turning-point for us - the time we can finally start making those big credit card payments, the time we can finally stick to a budget that actually has room in it for occasional treats like going out to eat and seeing a movie in a theater, the time we can finally step off that tightrope and feel the ground beneath our feet. I'm hopeful, and it feels good.

May Numbers

Because I promised I'd keep it real...

Total debt for May:
Up by $629.88

Now we wait for the dust to settle after two back to back trips, and look forward to a less crazy, less scheduled, and hopefully less expensive summer.

April Update

I was actually pleasantly surprised that this month's numbers weren't worse than they were, and am once again feeling cautiously optomistic as we move into May.

Total Debt for April: Up by $77.07

Desperate Times

Last year at this time, we took most of the money out of our Christmas account 8 months before Christmas. It was painful to do it, as we knew we wouldn't be able to fully replenish it by December. In the end though, we had a lovely Christmas, and didn't miss the lacking money at all. It had virtually no impact on our enjoyment of the holiday. In fact, last Christmas was arguably one of the best Christmases we've ever had.

This past week, due to circumstances largely out of our control, we did it again. This time our Christmas fund is momentarily drained completely, its funds sorely needed to get us out of a small hole and over another little hurdle. While I have no doubt that Christmas will again be just as wonderful without it, having to do it was an uncomfortable hiccup in a month has already seen our finances take quite a few hits (including the one resulting from our wonderful - and much needed! - vacation)

May is two days away, and brings with it birthday parties, travel, and well, more things that require extra money. Right now, my hope and prayer is that June can be a turning point for us, and that we can then get back on track towards ridding ourselves of this debt.