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.

Forget about it!

I just returned from my cousin's daughter's birthday party. There were a ton of cousins and aunts there and even some cousins from out of state. It was a really fun time. I did not spend any money (well aside from the gift Barbie Make-Up Set and Disney Ariel, Slippers, Costume, Dress up Pretend Play Light up Shoes Girl Size 9/10) and I really enjoyed myself. I think I need to just forget about it sometimes. I get caught up in the money, spending, saving - all of it that I need to take a step back and breathe.
Now that I am back from my party though I need to finish an assignment for a beta test for a website that I signed on for. It is actually fun and I think I will stay on the site as a member after I am done. I am supposed to earn $20 dollars from the survey when I am finished.
According to I Will Teach You To Be Rich writer Ramit Sethi, we need to make more money. He suggests trying to earn an extra hundred in the first month. Selling my books so far has gotten me 12 dollars in hand. This survey is twenty dollars. More book payments are coming - hopefully before the end of the month so I meet my monthly quota. I know that nobody reads this but just in case someone does today, do you know of any ways to make extra money that have worked for you?
Well, I need to go and earn my twenty dollars.
On a personal note, I am reviewing a book called Big Stone Gap by Adriana Trigiani. In re-reading it I am reminded of how wonderful a writer she is and how I love this book. I think I will start it again.

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.