Just sold a book and a tv dvd box set! I bought the book for a class I audited last sememester, and while I really liked the tv show (The Closer), I really didnt feel the need to own it and rewatch it all that much.

So, for the $20 Challenge, I will be adding:
$20.26 - The Closer
$3.88 - "Choices in Deafness"

I have $110 at the moment, plus this, plus a late birthday check I got the other day, bringing my emigrant account to a whopping $154.14.

Whee!

Ive been trying to think of ways for me to make a little more money for the challenge. Ive been unreasonably annoyed, because I have a good 30 or 40 books that can be half.com sold...only, they're in Georgia.

But! I got 2 books on pregnancy that are BRAND NEW and i dont need to keep them, as I already have the information, so I shall try to return them. If I cant return them, Ill sell them to the second hand place in Anchorage when I go in February. I have several other books I picked up there that I have no interest in now, so those will go too.

I also have a brand new SLR camera from my husband for Christmas, so Im going to try and ebay my old Canon AE-1 and telephoto lens. I looked, and it seems as if AE-1s in good condition are going for about $30 on ebay. Not bad, and probably more than I could get at a pawn shop or photography store.

So, thats my plan to begin with. As things get sold or traded (as the used book store takes trades more than sales), Ill see if Im making anything. At the very least, Im getting rid of things I no longer need or want.

Brandus went to the AC store (as opposed to the Native Store) today, and for my birthday, got me several of the things Ive been really craving lately.

The grapes alone cost $8! For one small bunch of grapes! But! He also got me chocolate milk, REAL chocolate milk, which I have NO IDEA how he managed to find, some fresh carrots, a 12 pack of dr pepper and a few other odds and ends..for the low price of $100 or so. Eek!

But, the chocolate milk ALONE made me extremely giddy, so its not a bad thing today. And we still have $100 left in our grocery budget.

Plus! The past couple of days, 2 people have used ING referrals from me, so Im adding the $10 each to my challange money. Im happy!

Just got back from Anchorage again! Due to having to reroute through 2 different airports to get from GA to AK though, we ended up traveling for 24 hours straight.

*dies of exhaustion*

We pulled up to the hotel around 4am and stumbled to bed. I had to get up for a doctor's appointment, and Brandus ran a bunch of errands - picking up first aid/CPR training equipment for the village and stuff. My health insurance deductible started over again, but fortunately, i just had a $32 payment this time.

we were fairly lazy due to extreme tiredness, so except for having to pick up a prescription for me, we did NOTHING that night - Brandus didnt even try to order a movie from the hotel!

Leaving early the next morning, we found out that the hotel only charged us for one night instead of two - even though technically, they could have. So that was exciting. AND! because we have stayed there seven nights and we are gold members of the hotel (entitling us to free breakfast every morning), my next night there when i go in Feb is FREEEEEE.

so, based on all of that - and on the fact we couldnt rent a car at 4 in the morning so we had to wait a day - meant that we spent at LEAST $150 less than we normally would on an Anchorage trip.

Yay!

Also, finally got the $20 Challenge up and running by opening a Emigrant Direct account through the savingsadvice.com link. My mother randomly gave me $20 on the first, and then I got some early birthday money, so I opened the account with $90 already! Through the link, I should be getting a $20 bonus after I confirm the account, so I am already well on my way!

1. Pay off Chase credit card - currently $2754.30 with a whopping interest rate of 27.24%. Yikes!

2. Track budget with PearBudget, a free spreadsheet budget program. it breaks it down into a day by day, month by month thing, and i like it.

3. Move Roth IRA from current bank to USAA where I can actually access it and put money into it.

4. $20 Challange - I have no set amount to aspire to, i just want to play! Change and any dollar bills that can be set aside, as well as figuring out how to sidetrack Brandus when he goes to the store to pick up this and that, mainly because he is bored.


I would like to have 5 goals, but I cant think of another one that is all that important to me. Except for the "Save for this summer" goal, but I want a specific amount before I write that down as an actual goal.