Blog - Page 234 of 238 - Making Sense Of Cents

Quick Update on Finances/Life

August 30, 2011 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 8 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

I figured I would do a quick update on my life and finances in order to tie it in with my past posts and help me stay on track.

As you remember from before from this post on how I plan on increasing my income, the BF asked for more hours right after I posted that. Now he completely switched shifts (just as of Monday) after asking for over 2 months so that he could get more hours.

Now he gets a couple more hours a week which will add around $100 to $200 a month (this is on top of the other additional hours), so around $500 a month altogether
And when Christmas comes closer, in November and December he will be bringing in around $1,000 to $1,500 extra each month for those two months due to overtime.

Now that school has started back up, I have found it nearly impossible for me to go to all of the secret shops that I had scheduled. I was frantically trying to get to them all so now I'm just trying to do the shops which are located within 5 miles of my house or work. This will cut my income down from this to around $100-125 a month. Here's a post with the picture of the check that I received recently for one week.

Our friend also said that they will be moving in with us in September or early October. That's $300-$400 (haven't really discussed the exact amount but she knows how much we charged the last person).

And I'm still using Swagbucks of course because it's too easy. Me and the BF decided we would use this for Christmas for the kids.

So all in all, we will definitely be able to reach our goal of an extra $1,000 a month, and that is without me trying to find a part-time job. I will definitely still be trying to find one, I might just give it more time though.

Also, I've been trying to plan my meals out for the week. These pictures look delish and I will make chicken with salsa tonight and chicken Parmesan tomorrow!

Any tips, advice, suggestions on anything? Post any updates in your life also!

An Extra $20,000

August 30, 2011 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 11 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

What would you do with an extra $20,000?

I recently read this article which said:

“CNN recently created a video in which they asked New York residents in Central Park a simple question “How would you spend an extra $20,000?”

What can you do with $20,000?

You could buy a Mini Cooper
You can invest it for 30 years and turn it into $265,353 at a 9% rate of return…
You can buy 40,000 donuts which is enough to last you 109 years (without inflation and the cost of your heart surgery).
You can stay at the Burj Al Arab for 3 nights
You can live in Thailand for two years
You could feed 80,000 children in Africa for a day or 220 for about a year.”

Would you buy a car, use it as a down payment on a house, pay off loans, splurge on something, or what?

Would you donate to the government?

August 29, 2011 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 8 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Ever since Warren Buffet announced that he thought the government should impose higher taxes on the rich, many people are questioning whether or not HE should just write a check to the government and consider it a donation. The original article is here.

This then led to the debate on whether ordinary citizens should donate to the government. I myself believe that I would not donate to the government. I feel that I donate enough and I do not receive a quality return for my taxes. The article also stated that the U.S. receives about $3 million in donations.

Would you donate to the U.S. to help out?

Daily Deal Websites

August 28, 2011 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 4 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Do you use any daily deal websites? Such as Groupon, LivingSocial, BuyWithMe, and so on?

Are you addicted? I only buy it if I know that it's close and that I'll actually use it. However, my mother buys ANYTHING! She recently gave me a big stack that were about to expire and told me to start using them. While this is nice that I get to use all of them, she is insane! You are not actually saving any money, if you wouldn't have gone to the place in the first place.

Here are some tips so that you aren't wasting money:

Make sure that it is something that you will use.
Figure out what the WHOLE cost will be. So if you buy a hair certificate, how much will tip be afterwards? You should be tipping on the FULL amount.
If you're traveling, maybe look into deals in that city, but if you have any doubt that you won't use it, then don't buy it.
Verify that the value that you are saving is actually “saved.” My Groupon deal one day that I saw was for a photography session. The session was one hour long, at the studio, and with a not-so-great photography company. Groupon stated the value of this was $1,495! This is obviously over inflated.

Are you addicted to any daily deal sites? Which ones do you like? Have you made any mistakes with the daily deal sites?

Bucket List

August 27, 2011 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 8 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Over at No More Spending, a Bucket List was posted. The Happy Homeowner also has a GREAT one! I've been wanting to finish creating my bucket list for awhile. Hopefully I can cross some things off my list also. I've done some of these things, but some were so long ago, that I don't think they should count anymore. Here it goes.

Travel

Travel to another country and work odd jobs for my money. I had friends who went to Europe for 2 years and they worked odd jobs here and there to support themselves. Sounded like so much fun.
U.S. Virgin Islands
British Virgin Islands
Hawaii
New York
California
DisneyWorld
Miami
Panama City, FL
Portland
Dallas
Houston
Chicago
Los Angeles
Las Vegas
Boston
Washington DC
Puerto Rico
Bahamas
Jamaica
Australia
Italy
Spain
UK
Ireland
Denmark
Germany
Brazil
Chile
Argentina
Thailand
China
South Korea
Japan
India
Yosemite
Big Sur
Yellowstone

Activities/Adventure/Fun

Go skydiving (I'm going in a September 2011!)
Get my piloting license (I have my first class soon!)
Go parasailing in the ocean
Jetski
Go on a month long hike
Jump off a cliff
Go cliff diving
Parachute into a deep cave
Horseback riding in the mountains
Live in a cabin on a beautiful lake
Drive 200 miles per hour
Surf well
Snowboard
Go on a month long sailing excursion
Live on a boat

Financial

Have my mortgage paid off
Have a second condo/house paid off in a place that I love
Make at least six figures a year
Have no debt
Be able to pay for everything with cash upfront

Personal

Have a successful financial website
Speak a foreign language
Write a financial or self-help book
Live in a foreign country or Hawaii
Be extremely fit
Have a full garden full of tomatoes, lettuce, zucchini, cucumbers and much more!
Form some kind of talent. I have feel like I have no talent. I wish I could sing, dance, ballet, SOMETHING!
Attend a royal affair and wear a massive hat
Run a marathon (or a half-marathon)
Enter an eating contest and WIN
Have wonderful children
Have my MBA
Get my PhD

Do you have a bucket list? Share your link or comment!

Spending Recap

August 26, 2011 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 5 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Since I got back from my vacation, this is what I've spent:

Beer: $13.71 (August 20)
Groceries: $37.28 (on August 21)
Gas: $38.45 for me and $37.69 for him (August 21)
Lion's Choice: $3.30 (August 21)
Parking Pass for classes: $162.00 (August 22)
Walgreens School supplies: $5.14 (August 22)
Gas bill: $30.34 (August 22)
Sewer bill: $60.45 (August 22)
McDonalds: $3.34 (August 22)
Amazon textbooks: $138.47, $85.67 and $60.99 (August 23)
Arby's: $3.29
McDonalds: $2.17 (August 25)

How has your spending been so far this week? This has been an expensive week for me. A lot of these were unavoidable though. I wish I could do no-spend days. I need to get my BF on board also….

Here are the pictures that some of you were asking for!

August 26, 2011 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 6 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

A lot of you had questions about the secret shopping that I do. Trust me, I was VERY skeptical at first. Here is a picture of the recent check that I received.

And then some of you also asked for a picture of my cute bulldog! He is a runt and only around 10 pounds (they usually weigh around 30-40 pounds). He is always sick since he's a runt and always gets hurt. I feel so bad for him 🙁

Also, what does everyone think of the new background? Is it ok? I guess while we're at it, does anyone have any tips on the layout or suggestions for new topics for my blog? Thanks!

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