Dreaming of the Lotto

I woke up this morning planning on what I was going to do with the THREE HUNDRED THOUSAND dollars I won in the lottery. I was so happy to pay off my house and bills and remodel and do the backyard. I was talking about building the wall I wanted and I was telling my family all about it. Then I woke up.
My husband had a dream we won a million dollars in the lottery last week!
I buy a ticket whenever I think about it but I am going to think about it a lot more. I have to say that I know people think it is a big waste of money but I like it. I like gambling a little. I am a miser when I go to casinos giving away only twenty or so dollars and I am fine with it because I go very rarely. I enjoy the thrill of what might happen. So two dollars a week is not that bad. I think it is fine.
What a great feeling it was to wake up this morning thinking of getting out of debt. That is the feeling I get reading I Will teach you. I feel like I am really going somewhere.
All these years just buying things on a whim and now I am looking around and selling these things for so much cheaper than I paid. I want to surround myself with only things that I really love, that are totally beautiful or have sentimental value for me.
I am hoping to get my husband on this money making bandwagon and start earning 100 extra per month. Together it will be easier. I think that we did a really good job in June and are starting out July great. Funny that it took a twenty-eight year old (Ramit) to make a thirty-five year old and forty-one year old grow up!
It is The Fourth Of July. Happy 4th everyone! I am off to ready the house for our family barbecue!

To blog or not to blog?

I am not that brand new to blogging. I have been blogging for about six years and I am looking at it in a new way. I never thought of using a blog to make money. I did sign up for Google Adsense with my original blog but never earned a dime. Life took over and I stopped blogging except for the occasional post here or there.
I also joined a website called Sparkpeople.com and started a blog there but I guess I never really considered it a blog. Weird huh? Well now I am noticing all these people blogging for profit and of course on my quest to make more money each month I am wondering: Am I a blogger?
I know it is funny that I never thought of myself in these terms but I did today and I was sort of shocked. I guess it is like me saying I don't cook but I cook almost every day, until someone says you are a good cook I don't see myself that way. Truth is I enjoy writing down my thoughts and (even though not a damned soul is reading this) I look forward to comments that may or may not appear! I think I am a pretty good writer. Grammar is one of my favorite things ever, along with spelling. I do like the chattiness of a blog though. Not so technical, more conversational.
Now I am wondering if I should try harder to get freelance jobs for blogging. How do you do these things?
I feel like one of those old ladies that are popping up in technology classes saying "when you say 'right click' what do you mean?" No I am not that bad, but I am not that good either. Or maybe I am. I guess I just need someone to tell me.
On a personal note I did look up Ramit Sethi on Facebook (no, I am not a stalker - or am I?) There were around five Ramit Sethi pages, I guess it is a very popular name in India (most of them were in India.)
I did not request to be his friend (even though he has around 1000 of them.) I think it might be too stalker like.
He did not have a fanpage, I would have become a fan.
I will teach you to be

I like the way you work it!

Back to reading and applying all the wonderful information from IWTYTBR. According to RAMIT your categories of spending should go something like this:
Fixed costs (utilities, debt., ect. = 50-60% of your pay.
Investments (401K, Roth IRA = 10%.
Savings (gifts, unexpected expenses, vacation) = 5-10%
Guilt Free Spending (ining Out, movies, clothes etc.) = 20-35%
I have not applied these numbers to my life just yet. I am off to vacation and just put some money into my car (to get to the vacation) and I am not there yet. It sound good though.
Investments scare me. I can't wait to do it but it scares me.
I am waiting for my autopayments to come out today too and that scares me.
I am a big FINANCIAL CHICKEN!
On my money making quest front I have sent out more books and am expecting more money soon. One place I sent books to is seding me a check for $1.00. How funny is that? I also am going to host a garage sale next Saturday. Pray that I price well and that people buy!

Personal note: I am going out to eat tonight. We decided to either take my daughter to dinner tonight or go to the amusement park in the neighboring town. I decided that dinner would be much cheaper and besides we are going to a BIG amusement park on our vacation. That is amusement enough!

Earn $100 extra Per Month Challenge - June

In one of Ramit's emails he talks about how it is important to try to earn extra money. He does consulting/freelance and so I think it is MUCH easier for him to do this. As I mentioned I am a teacher and so I think it is difficult for me to do this unless I am interested in getting a second job- which I am not because I am also a wife and mother.
So I challenged myself this month to try to figure out how to come up with extra money. I did not start out by trying to come up with $100 like Ramit recommends but as I started doing it I figured $100 was a good goal.

Now it is not recommended by Ramit to sell things as a continual method of earning more money (unless you are making things) because eventually you will run out of stuff. Unfortunately I make nothing so I did sell stuff to earn money and this will have to be my option until I run out of stuff. I have a lot of stuff so we will see how far this gets me.

I started out by selling books online through bookscouter.com. It scouts out places that buy back books (such as Amazon.com) and then links you to their site.

So book selling so far:
-$2.25
-$9.50
-$16.00
-73.20
Total - $100.95
Then, I went on Craigslist and did a beta test on a website and got:
-$20.00
So for June, my total thus far is: $120.95!
I think I still have a couple of book orders still out there that are coming soon so my total for June might to up. If they get here in July I am counting them towards my July total.
I am also planning a garage sale for two weeks from now to help me with my July sales.

I know this has nothing to do with money but it is my release and so I write about it anyways. I love to read and I started reading my Maeve Binchy again. I am starting from the beginning so I am starting with Light a Penny Candle. I have read all of her books two or three times each and I just love them so I am starting again.

Dreamer - I'm nothing but a dreamer!

I play the lotto. Not faithfully which would increase my chances of course, but I do try to remember to buy a ticket (or send my husband for one.) My best friend Marlene (a math whiz and math instructor at a college) does not play the lotto. She thinks that it is a waste of money. I might agree if I did not KNOW of someone winning. My brother won $100,000 in the lottery! I could do so much with that amount. Of course I am greedy and really would love to win in the millions. What would I do with millions? I am glad you asked.
I would quit my job. Flat out. I would never be one of those noble suckers that say "Oh, I would never quit my job." Forget it, I would be so gone. (If my boss ever reads this, please note that this is not a reflection of anything but my desire to be free to do whatever I please with my day.)
I would pay off my house and do all the renovations I have dreamed about...just to see my current house in all it's potential. Then, I would move to a bigger house in the oh so perfect part of my town. I would pay off my daughter's tuition as well as the tuition of my neice and nephews. I would start paying things off for my family and husband's family. Bills would be paid people. In full! It would not be fun to be rich and fancy free alone. I would want to bring all my loved ones along my happy path with me.
I would then start my travels. I would buy a house with a vinyard in Strasbourg, France. Of course I would have to have people to clean for me and keep up our property.
I just get giddy with the potential of financial stability. It makes me drool.
Alas, it is a dream. Reality is that I am going to have to keep digging my through it all. Right now we are being very conscious about our spending. It is not what we usually do but it is making me feel more settled. I think getting rid of old things is helping me too. I feel like I am freeing up space for the new. A new less cluttered life. Financially stable life. I can't wait. It is my dream (next to the lotto.) Thankfully this dream is in my hands and not up to fate.

What am I doing with my time aside from trying to get finance savvy? We own all the DVDs of The Gilmore Girls

We started watching them again from beginning to end. It is such a well done series. Witty and smart. I love me some Gilly Girls!

More Money

One of the tips from an email I received from Ramit's I Will Teach You To Be Rich newsletter was about earning more money. He of course gives tips for freelancers but I am not a freelancer. (That would be so cool as a teacher...I will teach 18 students this year for this amount. Every time you the contract changes my money goes up! Haha!) I already mentioned my selling old books via bookscouter.com and my intention to sell old DVDs but as Ramit points out I am going to eventually run out of things to sell.
Obviously as a teacher I am never going to earn a whole lot more than I earn now. I have my Masters degree and am at the highest pay for my field. Unfortunately it is not that much. So unless I go into administration (a lot of work for not much more than I am making now) I need to think of more ways to make money.
Ramit suggests perhaps selling something that you make. You need to be sure that it is something that people want. I am not sure what I can do that people want. I am a very creative person in general but not specifically you know? I was browsing blogs the other day and so many people are so amazingly talented. The artists, the jewelry makers - these people can really sell their wares. I don't have wares. I wish I did. I have hobbies but I guess I don't make as many as some people. I guess more importantly I am not sure if people want what I do. My family of course thinks what I make or do is great but what are they going to do tell me how awful I am?
I wish I could get paid to read. Is there a job to pay readers?

Two Part Plan

I am of course reading . I also checked out Ramit's website: iwillteachyoutoberich.com and signed up for emails. One of the emails linked me to another site he has called scroogestrategy.com (this boy is getting rich before our eyes!) Anyhow, I have not signed up for that site and not sure if I will. It sounds great but my goal right now is to get a grip on debt and not start something where I will be paying $30/month or whatever the cost is. A one time $13.95 for the book is fine but I am not ready to commit to Ramit just yet.

So my two part plan for this summer vacation of mine is to get our monthly budget under wraps AND to start earning extra cash. As I mentioned, being a Kindergarten Teacher does not allow for overtime or extra pay. Occasionally I do go to workshops but it is $16/per two hour workshop (workshops last 2 hours) and then minus the tax. So it is few and far between...not really a viable source of income. I go for my own professional development as a teacher however and not for the money.

Ramit's email for his Scrooge Strategy site today had a list of things that could possibly help you generate more income. One was start a blog (here I am and it is all monetized etc.) I also have started to purge. I do it every summer just to help get the house back in order but this summer my goal is money.

I spent last week (during my daughter's nap time - even though she is not really napping but instead singing and playing - if she would at least be quiet then I could pretend she took a nap!) finding out which books from our overflowing bookshelf could be sold. I figured that when I have my garage sale I would sell my paperbacks for 25 cents and my hardbacks for 50 cents. I decided that if a site offered me more than that for either type of book it would be worth it. I found a great site called bookscouter.com where you could research a number of bookseller sites that might buy your books. I found that most pay with check or paypal, pay for shipping and let you print the labels out right then. Amazon.com offers a good amount of money but gives the return in gift card exchange.

Anyhow, I sold a boat load of books (and am consequently out of packing tape) and I am not finished. Of course my husband's geeky gaming books packed in the money but he let me sell them so that was great. I had a couple of books that I kept after I got my Masters and now four years later decided that I was never going to use them again and that brought in some nice dough. I LOVE books and am a book junkie but I decided aside from not having the space for them there are just books I will never re-read.
So there you have it. My first endeavor to make money - step one. Done.