Our checking acount is down to $73.33. My husband needed cash and fuel for the car. He's working weekends...so a few extra trips into work increases the amount of gas he needs. The cash is probably for Monster drinks, so he can stay awake at work!! He's exhausted.

I received an rebate in the mail a few days ago for $15. Yesterday, I qualified for to cash out some MySurvey points. I will get a $10 check in a couple of weeks. All the money is going towards those braces right now!

I really want some more Global Test Marketing surveys. I'm less than 200 points from being able to claim a check for $50!!

Our debit card points are adding up too. We have enough to cash out $50. I will actually cash out when we get to $75.

Yesterday, was a no spend day, for me. I hope to make today another one!

My girls and I found a great deal on some toys at Kohl's yesterday. Each item was $8, with one being half off, for a total of $12. Lucky for me, I had a coupon for $10! My total with tax was $2.10. These toys need to be mailed to a good friend for her birthday on Monday. Priority mail will cost me $4.95. Pretty good deal don't ya think?

I'm looking for all the extra money I can find in anticipation of the braces. Here's what I am expecting in the next two months:

My Survey Rewards = $20
Global Test Market = $50
Debit Card Rewards = $75
Oral B Rebate = $15
Interest = $25

I'm going to pull the interest we've earned from our money market account this year towards the cause, too. I'm not worried about paying that part back, since it is only $144. If I do find a way to pay it back...that's a bonus. All of those items together bring us $329!!

The girls recently decided to get rid of my little ponies, barbies, bratz and polly pocket dolls. We worked on sorting them today. That means brushing their hair and dressing them. I hope to find a way to sell these for a few dollars at a garage sale, consignment sale or ebay.

Yep, life keeps getting in the way. My husband called from work at 8:45pm last night, with a dead car battery. He works 30 minutes away, but we bailed him out anyway!

The battery was only 1.5 years old, so we get a credit on that. While he's getting the new battery, he decides the car does need an oil change and the transmission fluid flushed (this alone is $150!). I haven't heard the total yet.

As Boo commented on my last post, sometimes it is best just to focus on getting rid of the debt rather than within a set period of time. So, here is the new plan.

I will pay for my daughter's braces on August 28th in full. This saves us $189.05. The total is $3,591.95! I currently have $953. Of course, this is going to be less after the above mentioned car maintenence. Ugh!! The remaining money will come from our emergency fund. I know...it's not a true emergency, but I don't want to add more debt. Luckily the US Army provides my husband a stable job, so no worries there.

Since, the money is coming from the emergency fund, our first priority is paying this money back to ourselves. I hope to have this completed by the end of October. But if it happens later...so be it, right Boo?

Once we have paid ourselves back, we will turn our focus back to the home equity loan. I can't wait! Even though I've estimated when I think we can pay it off, I'm going to let the chips fall where they may.

While on this journey, I'm going to increase my focus on things I can sell on ebay or consignment stores. I'm going to do as many surveys as possible. I'm going to reign the spending in as well. We do pretty good with the spending...but I'm going to make an extra effort!!

That's the plan. I guess it's time for another ticker!

Some of you may remember that I bought a piano over a year ago, so my daughter could take lessons. Well, for numerous reasons, that did not happen. Now, she's not interested. At all.

So, I listed the piano on craigslist this past Sunday. I just sold it for $300. The man just left. Yipee!!

For now, I'm going to hold on to the cash. There are school expenses coming up and my checking account cushion is lower than I would prefer. But, this may mean some extra cash towards the home equity loan at some point.

I also received the other MySurvey check in the mail today. It was for $10.

If anyone is keeping track, did you notice that I seem to have had about $360 come into my life in the past week? Crazy, but good.

I received a $20 check from MySurvey yesterday in the mail. I redeemed another one recently for $10, so I expect to see it soon, too.

I returned a pair of capri's yesterday to Old Navy and then let the girls get two shirts each for the start of school. We bought several shirts before our vacation. I will still need to buy one daughter a swimsuit, socks and a pair of running shoes for school. Otherwise, we are set in the clothing department for a few more months.

DH went to the dentist recently. The dentist suggested an electric toothbrush. He wants to get it. It retails for $66.99. The dentist did provide a $10 coupon and a $15 mail in rebate. I found the toothbrush on Amazon for $48.99, including shipping. So, I can't use the coupon, but I save $8 by ordering it online. I can still redeem the rebate. In the end, it will cost about $34. That's so much better than $67!

I sold the roller skates on ebay. Net proceeds $9.13! Can't complain. I made out pretty good on the other pair through craigslist. I have added this money to the Ebay Challenge totals below.

June Total = $55.25
May Total = $197.75
April Total = $22.22
March Total = $83.13
February Total = $66.50
January Total = $4.95

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I have added the proceeds of the sale to the Disney Vacation Fund.

Our new total is: $1977.00!!

I have two ebay items that will end on Sunday evening. No bids yet, but they are being watched.

I went through the girls clothes yesterday in preparation for our Disney Vacation. They had a few things that no longer fit. I will list a few of those items on ebay. We still have clothes to buy for our vacation. A couple of us don't have any shorts!! I think capri's will be too hot down there. Don't you?

I've been able to have the air conditioning off for a few days now. That always helps with the utility bill. Luckily, my DD with allergies is handling it fine, too!

Payday is Monday. The paycheck is pending in our bank account. I'm looking forward to making another deposit to the Mickey Fund!

I just transfered my net ebay proceeds to our checking account. The amount $11.32! I only sold two small items.

Disney World Savings = $1,326.00

All those small amounts have really helped!

Today was the first full day of summer break from school for the girls. Okay, they were off Saturday and Sunday!!

This is how the day played out:

We slept in. We went grocery shopping. They helped unload groceries. We went to the library. They watched a video from library. One daughter printed photos from the computer in preparation for scrapbooking.

Tomorrow. Band lessons in the morning. Scrapbook and craft a good portion of the day. I still have to finish our trip from two years ago! I will finish before this trip.

Weather is so cool and rainy. Can't swim at all this week. Boo hoo. That's okay. I'm still trying to keep money in check for the vacation that is coming up very soon!!

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I have two items on ebay. Both are being watched!!

I'm going to list at least one item on ebay later today.

Last week I sold two items on ebay. My net proceeds were $11.12. I will add this to the ebay challenge money.

June Total = $46.12
May Total = $197.75
April Total = $22.22
March Total = $83.13
February Total = $66.50
January Total = $4.95

My monthly average is currently $70.11. I'm still not hitting the $100 goal I set, but I have no complaints!

I sold an another item on ebay on the Buy It Now option!! Yes.

The other two items are ending today. One will sell for sure. Fingers crossed on the other one. I plan on listing at least two more items on Sunday.

I will update my challenge totals once all the money is in and I pay my fees.

I put three items up on ebay late last week. They have about 2 more days to go. One will sell for sure. The other two are being watched by one person each.

I hope all three sell. I really dislike relisting. In June, and months following I believe, you can list 5 items for free. So, if they don't sell, I'll try again.

I still have roller skates on craigslist. I've had a couple inquiries...but no buyers. These may go on ebay next round.

Fingers crossed that I can sell these items before our vacation!

I'm adding my garage sale proceeds to the ebay challenge. So far, I have not even listed anything on ebay this month. I do have a few things I could sell, so I will try to get those up this week.

May Total = $197.75
April Total = $22.22
March Total = $83.13
February Total = $66.50
January Total = $4.95

My monthly average is now $74.91. I'm still not to my goal of $100/month. However, I have plenty of time to work on it!!

My net for the ebay sales this last week was $22.22! Fun number.

Here are the ebay challenge numbers for the all of 2009 thus far:

April Total = $22.22
March Total = $83.13
February Total = $66.50
January Total = $4.95

My goal had been to average $100 a month. Obviously, that is so NOT happenning. If you could see my home, you would know that there is not a lot of excess here.

Really.

We are having a garage sale in May, so maybe that will increase my average.

Every little bit helps and I am grateful for it all.

I received a $20 check in the mail today from My Survey. It arrived pretty quickly too. I requested it on April 1st!!

I will add this to the Disney Vacation fund. Well, technically I'm paying myself back for the deposit I made on the room. I had to pay one night's deposit upfront. The rest will be due upon check out.

I sold some of the girls outgrown clothes on ebay. Gross sales totaled $26.14. Not bad, and still better than a garage sale.

I will put this towards our Disney World vacation!!

Yep, a Pinecone survey check. Gotta love $3! I do miss the $5 checks they used to have.

I will deposit this into my savings account. I already have a plan to get the home equity loan under $7K by the end of the month so this money isn't needed. I will save it towards Disney expenses. Once the Disney trip is over, I will send all extra money I have saved to the home equity loan!

I got nine items listed on ebay last night. The crazy thing was one of them had a bid in less than 10 minutes! Someone must have been looking for that item just then.

I now have two items with bids...and watchers on a few of the others.

I will update you next week with my final numbers.

Anyone else ebaying this week?

Oh yeah...that's what is going on here!

I'm up to my ankles in ebay listings. Pictures come first! At least for me they do. It takes a few takes sometimes.

The cats. This one thinks she's cute. Yes. She is!

Now that I have pictures, I'm going to begin each individual listing in Turbo Lister. That is a free software program you can download from ebay. For me it is quicker than doing each listing online. I also like uploading all my listings at the same time...so that they end at the same time. I like things NEAT and TIDY!!

With Turbo Lister, I don't even need to upload the listings today. I could wait for another day if I so chose. I'd better get back to it.

I just realized that I've done some recent clearing out. It must be the spring weather that just brings it out in me!!

As I was waiting for the youngest daughter's bus to arrive on Thursday, I opened the coat closet and pulled out scarves and hats that didn't get worn this last season as well as mittens with holes in them. I also found a pair of waterproof pants that haven't been worn in years. I put everything else back in...but neater than I found it.

On Friday, I read in the newspaper that a counseling office was collecting old prescripions, medicines and so forth. These items were to be incinerated so that people would avoid sending them down the drain or toilet. This saves the fish and other wildlife. As soon, as I read about it I was in my cabinet, pulling things out. I dropped those off yesterday. They made it so easy...I didn't have to get out of my car!!

As I got dressed the other morning, I saw my swimsuit...which is unfortunately too small and has a weird stain. I pulled it along with a pair of workout pants. As I sat to tie my shoes, I also pulled open a drawer in my nightstand and found three more things to get rid of.

It was all unplanned and took only a few moments of my time to make a little pile. Each of those piles, except the meds, ended up in the garage sale pile forming in the basement.

Today, as it tries to snow, I will be pulling some of those items from the garage sale pile and listing them on ebay. I will start the sales next week sometime.

I encourage all of you to open a drawer, bag, or closet and find something or a couple somethings you no longer need. Set aside an area to collect those items. Maybe it's the trunk of your car, if you don't have space in your home. Then start driving to a local thrift store each week to drop off. If you want to save the driving, call to make a pick up appointment with a charity. The date will motivate you to have at least a bag or two ready on the scheduled date.

Good luck! And I'd love to hear how it goes, too.

It's okay. It's the good damage. I sent in an extra principal payment to the home equity loan today in the amount of $145. Our new balance is $7,842.70.

This will be a slow month on the payoff as things currently stand. I do expect to make another, more significant payment on the 15th of April.

My mission is to get the balance below $7,000 by the end of this month. Just another $842.71 to go!!

I'm hoping for ebay to be my friend this month! Or at least, receive some survey money. I have interest in our money market account, I could pull from there, if I get crazy desperate!! Hmmm...it does sound like something I would do.

We just accumulated enough points on our debit cards to redeem them for $25. It takes us about 3 months of regular spending to accumulate enough points for this. If we have a large car repair, or purchase, then we accumulate them a little faster.

The money will be direct deposited to our checking account in the next couple of days. I will add it to my next home equity loan payment!!

I'm also getting close to accumulating enough points with My Survey to redeem $20! I should have those points by the end of the month when I complete a month long survey. That money will also go to the home equity loan! I can refer you to My Survey, if you send me your email address. (I can delete your email from comments, if you request that as well)

Make it a great day!

I requested a payout from my Global Test Marketing account about a month ago. The amount was $50.75! It arrived in the mail this weekend. This was my first payout from them, I was glad to see that it worked out smoothly.

I'd like to send it to the home equity loan, but for the moment it is sitting in my second checking account because funds are getting a little low there.

I also received a $3 Pinecone check.

I love checks in the mail!

I'm finally off to a good start on ebay. My auctions just ended. I sold 8 out of 9 items. My auctions total $63.13!!

That was fun!

March Total = $83.13
February Total = $66.50
January Total = $4.95

The March total includes $20 for a metal bed frame I sold on craigslist on Friday. At least my totals are increasing!

I'm looking forward to a garage sale, too. It's a good place to put items that can't be sold on ebay...or don't sell on ebay!

I have 9 items listed on ebay. The auctions end on Sunday. So far, I have three bids, 4 with watchers and 2 with no activity.

Overall, I'm pleased. I expect most of them to sell, if only for the list price. I will probably relist any that do not sell.

I'm looking forward to reporting my sales!

I'm really motivated to get this home equity loan paid off this year. It can be done. I REALLY like looking forward to mini milestones, such as nice round numbers.

We just surpassed the $9,000 mark. Now that I'm there, I'm focused on getting as close to $8K as I can by the end of the month. Then after that I will be looking at $7K and so forth.

In order to get under $8K this month, I need to be careful with spending as usual. I need to be aggressive in finding things to sell. This will also require convincing my daughters they no longer need their My Little Ponies and other such toys they no longer play with!! That can be the most difficult part.

I hope that my Global Test Marketing check for $50 arrives this month,too. That would sure help a lot. I have almost accumulated $25 in debit rewards and should be able to redeem those by the end of the month, too.

I have a queen metal bed frame hanging out in my basement that would bring $10-$15 if I can get it listed on craigslist.

I already have 1 bid for an item on ebay. There are still 8 waiting for bids with a few of them being watched. They don't end until Sunday.

When I think about all the monetary possibilities out there, I feel pretty confident that we can meet this months goal. A big portion of it will come from the next pay check in about 10 days.

I'm sure I'll spend the month scrounging around to make a few more dollars here and there. I just love this, stuff!

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Just a side note: I'm finally back on the exercise bandwagon. Two days in a row at the gym. I do feel better.

I made a principal payment of $75 towards our home equity loan. I know...I just can't stop, can I? It's kind of addictive!!

The money is from selling used books, my two gold rings, ebay sales, a half.com sale and a Pinecone check. A little here and there adds up!!

New Balance = $8,725

I'd love to get this balance below $8,000 by the end of March. Think I can do it?

I guess I'm impatient. I decided to take the items I had on half.com to the used book store. I sold it all for $13.

The items I had were generally going for $.75 a piece on half.com and there were hundreds listed. My chances of selling them at all were slim.

I'm not sure how many items I took because I threw in a fair number of recent magazines at the last minute. I'm sure it was less than $.50 an item, but I feel good about it.

I feel good because I have decluttered, put items back into the economy for purchase, kept items out of the landfill and best of all received a little cash.

I also went for a walk on this glorious day and picked up 15 cans/bottles that I can take in for redemption. That will add $0.75 to my wallet.

February Total $35.00
January Total $4.95

I do have three things to list on ebay, but they will have to be added to the total in March.

There were only three things in the mail yesterday. No junk mail. I love that!

Item I ordered online arrived (Quick)
$3 Pinecone Check
TSP Year End Statement

The TSP statement showed a 45% decline so that is not exactly good news. Oh well, we are still young enough to make it through this! And we are buying tons of shares at rock bottom prices. Can't beat that!

Pinecone check will go in savings account for now. Eventually, I will put this money towards the home equity loan.

Today, we need to get groceries for the week and buy bedding for our pet mice and hamster. This is the most expensive part of having these types of pets.

I wrote a check for DD2 yearbook. It was $16! She's only in 3rd grade. I don't think that younger kids really need yearbooks, but it becomes an emotional issue if they feel left out by not having them. I found that out last year when I didn't buy them. We can afford it...so it will be purchased.

That's the news from here. Make it a great day!

I've sold a book on half.com!

Okay, the book was only a dollar, so we don't need to get too excited. Since they give a shipping credit, I will receive a total of $3.92. The shipping cost will be $2.23. My net is $1.69. I will add it to my ebay challenge total.

February Total To Date $22.94
January Total $4.95

I will be listing two pairs of girls jeans to ebay this week. I think I have a few more items for half.com, too.