#MoneyLoveChallenge Day 21

The final project is to give some money away.  But I don't have any, so this will have to wait until Friday.

#MoneyLoveChallenge Day 20

http://moneylovechallenge.com/day-20/

There's Always More Where That Came From - Marie Forleo

Today's challenge was to say to yourself "there's always more where that came from" when you spend money.  Which I did.  Except maybe a little too much because now there's none left until next Friday.  That is the next time it comes in.

Visited the work nurse today about quitting smoking and she phoned in a prescription for me for Czyban/Wellbutrin, which is supposed to be a quit smoking drug.  It's always apparently quite the upper.  AND AT NO COST TO ME.  Insurance picked the whole thing up.  Apparently they encourage this kind of behavior.  So I need to think of a hashtag for this new quitting smoking challenge that I am starting.

#MoneyLoveChallenge Day 19

http://moneylovechallenge.com/day-19/

Watch What You Say

Today's challenge was to squash negative money talk when it comes up.  Except... that it didn't.  I'm feeling so money positive that nothing has bugged me.  Not even borrowing money -- the minimum amount-- from Check Advance.  I can afford to pay it back next week, with a reduced fee, and its just a little money for gas and groceries.  And I was singing the praises of my new job to the lady who works there.

#MoneyLoveChallenge Day 18

http://moneylovechallenge.com/day-18/



Turn envy into inspiration.

Usually the only thing that stirs up in envy in me is that EVERYBODY seems to have a house.

I also can't go to work or look on facebook without being inundated with pregnant people, but that is not really financially related --although I guess it kind of is.  People say, "just have one on your own" but I have no idea how to pay for/support a child.

So hooray! Now I know that I want a house and a kid.  So what am I going to do to get it?

#MoneyLoveChallenge Day 17

http://moneylovechallenge.com/day-17/

Create a prosperous & abundant pinterest board.

Check.

#MoneyLoveChallenge Day 16

http://moneylovechallenge.com/day-16/

Find your money mantra.

#MoneyLoveChallenge Day 15

http://moneylovechallenge.com/day-15/

My money song:

#MoneyLoveChallenge Day 14

http://moneylovechallenge.com/day-14/

Be Open to Receiving.

What I Received Today:
1. Advice from my Weight Watchers leader.  And good coupons.
2. Help on the Weight Watchers website-- they offered me a "time credit" because they couldn't fix my problem (my weight showing as kgs instead of lbs)
3. Cashed in my Media Insiders points for a $25 Amazon credit so I can download Leah Remini's book and You Got Mail so I can play along with the Sorry Not Sorry podcast.  Media Insiders is an app that listens to what TV shows you watch and asks where you watched it, and gives you points.  This also means that my phone is listening to everything I say.  If you're not afraid of Big Brother, it's a relatively easy way to earn some bonus money--you can also get paid via paypal.
4.  A little boy held the door open for me.  So polite!  Especially since his dad just plowed his way through.

What I Received Recently
1.  That aforementioned raise!
2.  A Fitbit that I won at work.
3.  $25 Amazon credit from Humana Vitality
4.  My dad sent the link to download the tax software that he paid for.
5.  That free Weight Watchers membership from Humana.

#MoneyLoveChallenge Day 13

http://moneylovechallenge.com/day-13/

Open it up.

Open your financial mail that you've been avoiding.  Well, I usually open all my mail, but I do have a tendency to just file my check stubs away but tonight I noticed my deposit was about ten bucks more than usual, so let's open this bad boy up and take a looksy....

Holy shit balls, I got a 50 cent raise at 90 days and didn't even have to ask!  I knew sometime around now was my ninety but I've been feeling shy about having to ask and go through a review and figured I'd wait until after next week because my cousin who has been my trainer (yes I work with my cousin) is going to be off so it'll be my time to shine, but just, just, just... YES.  I feel so abundant.  And happy.

I'm now getting paid what would be the ceiling at my old job.

#MoneyLoveChallenge Day 12

http://moneylovechallenge.com/day-12/

Know where you're keeping it.

I do this religiously.  I know what I owe.

$26,732.69 in credit and mostly student-loan debt.

I have a 401k that I try not to look at too much but since I logged in to see if I had any tax documents, I noticed that it had nose dived to $17,000 something from $22k.

#MoneyLoveChallenge Day 11

http://moneylovechallenge.com/day-11/


I Have Enough:

1. Heat.
2. Cats.
3. Stuff.
4. Blankets.
5.  Food to last me a few weeks if there was a massive blizzard.
6. Gas to get me where I need to go.
7.

#MoneyLoveChallenge Day 10

http://moneylovechallenge.com/day-10/

3 Ways In Which I Am Already Enough:

1.  I'm a pretty awesome photographer.
2.  I can take random ingredients and toss them together to come up with something spectacular.
3.  I'm an even awesomer poet.

#MoneyLoveChallenge Day 9

http://moneylovechallenge.com/day-9/


Look at what you have.  Check your bank balance daily while being grateful for what you already have.

Ways in which I am already abundant:

1. I have a great cheap apartment with laidback landlords.
2. I have free heat.
3. I am at the moment free from the payday loan cycle.
4. Just did my taxes and while I didn't hit submit... I am getting enough back to end my behind-on-rent problem and pay my dad back for last month's car repairs.
5. I'm getting Weight Watchers free through my health insurance.
6. Tonight I went shopping and using rewards coupons, spent less than $10 and used cash that I had from my Aldi refund.
7. Look, I got paid over a week ago and I still have money in the bank.

#MoneyLoveChallenge Day 8

http://moneylovechallenge.com/day-8/

Today's challenge, Use It or Lose It, is to deposit any checks you have laying around and schedule time to use any gift certificates you have laying around. Well that is certainly not a problem of mine.  One thing I did do is return two items to Aldi that have been in my trunk for a few days waiting for just that.  I got $15.82 back in cash--much better than hanging onto a shitty pillow and a sink organizer that didn't work out for me.

#MoneyLoveChallenge Day 7

http://moneylovechallenge.com/day-7/

Clean up your wealth & prosperity corner according to feng shui.  It is the far left corner of your home (using your front door.)  Really though, depending on what you count as the front door, it could be either of my bedrooms.  I used the actual front door of my apartment to orientate, and worked on the corner of my office where I have been stockpiling totes of decluttered items that I hope to sell at the flea market in the spring.  Maybe I shouldn't have these in this corner, but I really don't know have any other place to store them.

Or is the money corner the WHOLE ROOM?  If that is the case, then it's going to take forever to declutter because spare rooms are just dumping grounds.  And literally too, because there are two litter boxes in this room.  I tried my best to tidy up, but this room is my unconquerable black hole of indecision.  So yes, it needs definite attention.

#MoneyLoveChallenge Day 6

http://moneylovechallenge.com/day-6/

It's clean out your wallet day, but I just did this a few weeks ago, and honestly I do it most Fridays.  I love this wallet because of the slots where I keep coupons, categorized, but it's starting to look a little mangled on the sides.  Kate says your wallet should make you feel prosperous, since it is your money's house.  I already took most of my credit cards out, but didn't cut them up yet since I'm not feeling secure enough to do so yet.

I didn't have any cash to organize.

#MoneyLoveChallenge Day 5

http://moneylovechallenge.com/day-5/

My Money Why's (or why I want to reach yesterday's goals)

• I want to make more money than I did last year to affirm that I made the right move changing jobs.
• I want to make money from writing or art so that I can receive compensation for doing things that I know that I'm good at.
• I want to be current on my bills and have a baby emergency fund so that I can feel secure.
• I want to make charitable donations so I can make a difference in the lives of those who are doing work I enjoy and support.
• I want to pay off my debts and be free from enslavement of credit cards and their interest.  
• I want to pay off my debts so that I can fund my whims of today instead of paying for the whims of my past.

#MoneyLoveChallenge Day 4

http://moneylovechallenge.com/day-4/

"Write down your 2016 #MoneyLove goals. I recommend having an earning goal, a saving goal, an investing goal, and a giving goal."

My earning goal:  $40,000.  I usually make around $35 or so I think, just working the 9-5.  But this year I want to try to start selling some writing, maybe some art, and getting a good old fashioned part time weekend job.

A saving goal:  $1,000.  Just the small starting-out baby emergency fund to have on hand while paying off debts (is it cool to merge a little Dave Ramsey in with my Kate Northrup?)

Investing goal:  This is so hard.  I'm putting literal change into my new 401k just to get the account opened, as one of the babystep rules is to forego retirement funds until debt is paid off.  My goal is to not lose all of my old one, I don't even want to check my balance.  I'll say my goal is to roll it over without taking anything out of it, which will be a huge temptation.... I was thinking about withdrawing a grand to fund the baby e-fund.... but if I don't have to actually struggle to save it up, it won't feel hard won and will be too easy to tap into.

Giving goal:  Ten dollars a month, TBD.

#MoneyLoveChallenge Day 3

http://moneylovechallenge.com/day-3/

"Today is about clearing out the cobwebs. We can’t make space for more abundance when we’re carrying around a lot of emotional baggage."

This is my burning list of all my money woes, past mistakes and regrets, which is currently making my office smell like an awesome bonfire.  I definitely need to start burning more paper.


“I am now releasing anything and everything from my financial past that no longer serves me. I’m grateful for the ways it got me to where I am today, and I now set it, and me, free in love.”

#MoneyLoveChallenge Day 2

http://moneylovechallenge.com/day-2/

One of my earliest money memories is when my aunties Diane and Julie would be babysitting my brother and I, we would frequently be given $5 to spend on a toy at the store.  I remember I would instantly go to the My Little Ponys and pick one out, while my brother would spend what felt like hours mulling his decision over and my aunts would be like, "he shops like a girl."  I remember imploring him to just pick something.  I had my Pony, I just wanted to go so I could open it and all he wanted to do was stand in K-Mart, the one in West Bend, I can see it clearly, deciding how many MicroMachines he could get for $5 or if he should get a Batman or a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle.