Online Income Statement - October/2015

Clickworker, oh Clickworker!  Why hast thou abandoned me?

Not to be overly dramatic about it, but this was the first month since I started using UHRS thru Clickworker that I failed to reach the minimum payout amount, (only $5.00), for a week.  Ugh.

These are our Clickworker/UHRS earnings for October/2015:

10/01  -  $41.68

10/07  -  $31.50

10/14  -  zippo, goose eggs, nada!  (And YES, I did try to earn money this week!)

10/21  -  $15.87

10/28  -  $28.02

That's a grand total of $117.07, and while not bad, October should have been better.  In the middle of the month UHRS just plain stunk!!

Quite honestly, the Clickworker/UHRS earnings for November will probably be even worse, because all that month I will be participating in NaNoWriMo, and attempting to complete my novel of at least 50,000 words.  (If you want to check it out, you can read it in unedited, rough draft form here: http://www.arph001.com/a-piece-of-work-in-progress/ .  Just don't expect to read a literary masterpiece, okay!)  I won't make any money from NaNoWriMo, but it should be a lot more fun than plodding thru endless Clickworker/UHRS tasks for pennies each.

So while extra earnings may be a bit off this month, (I'm still going strong at my day job, thank God!), how is the other side of the financial equation coming, namely spending?  Uh ..... cough, cough, cough.  Did you have to ask?

Our so called "signed agreement" is a complete joke at the moment, as we eat out and spend money with abandon.  The balance on the AMEX credit card is soaring ever higher, and will probably be above $2,000.00 as you read this.  Bad, bad, bad, bad!!

But .... I do have to admit that not all of it is our fault.  We had to buy four new tires for Old Grump's car this month, which set us back $600.00 .  And we had a few unusual medical bills, such as a $50.00 charge at an after hours clinic when Grump twisted his ankle.

I'm not sure what to do about this.  It's so damn hard to consistently scale back spending to just the "bare necessities",  and Sweetie has made it clear she will NOT get a job until Dodong is in school, which may be three or more years away.

If Clickworker/UHRS earnings wither up, (which they may in November), then things may really get tight around here.

Bah, humbug!  And it's not even December yet!

I can't give it an enthusiastic plug this month, but if you'd like to try your hand at earning some money via Clickworker/UHRS, you can read my (old) review of my experiences with it here:“http://buyingnirvana.com/words/clickworker-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/”.  If you do decide to "damn the torpedoes" and sign up, please consider doing so using my affiliate link, http://www.clickworker.com/become-a-clickworker?utm_source=765696&utm_campaign=CW4CW&utm_medium=email .

Until next month, good luck with your online earnings!

P.S.  -  we just got our Sam's Club credit card bill in the mail today.  $630.00!!  Good God!  I think we need to go back to Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University.

Online Income Statement - September/2015

Despite having the lowest weekly earnings since May, (back when I started concentrating on UHRS), Clickworker still paid me a fairly decent amount for the month.  Here's the breakdown:

09/02  -  $18.47

09/09  -  $21.20

09/16  -  $10.81  (Boo!  Hiss!!)

09/23  -  $27.92

That adds up to almost $80.00, which while better than nothing, is hardly smokin'.  But October will be a better month for Clickworker, I hope.  We're already off to a good start, as in the first week alone I've earned more than half of what I earned for the entire month of September.

As far as the Stupid Debt goes, we are wavering a bit on our "signed agreement", (no surprise, huh?), but we haven't completely broken down and gone into crazy spend-spend-spend mode yet.  I bring up spending because you only really earn what you SAVE.  Think about it this way: who is better off, someone who earns $200,00 a year, and has $195,000 in yearly expenses, or someone who earns $50,000 a year, and has $40,000 in expenses?

Kinda on this subject, (kinda not; I tend to ramble), Mr. Moneymustache had a good post recently, http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2015/09/29/if-youre-not-getting-rich-in-your-20s-youre-doing-it-wrong/ .  As he says, "In real life, (even New York City real life), you get paid for getting really difficult shit done, better than anybody else can do it."  Something to think about while whining about how difficult your job is.  (Yeah, I do it too!)

Before I launch into my standard Clickworker verbiage, I'd like to share some links with y'all.  Two young ladies have each set up "work from home online" sites for you to check out, and see what other ways you can rake in the cash from the web.  Here are their websites:

http://www.meleciaathome.com/

http://www.workersonboard.com/

They also have YouTube channels:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpBFiyPH5vWzF3xxxbA84xQ

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLc7azzf33Vi9uKI_j1PFsg  

Browse thru their material and see if anything strikes your fancy.  Maybe you'll find something more lucrative than Clickworker!

Speaking of Clickworker, I wrote a quick review of my experiences with it here, “http://buyingnirvana.com/words/clickworker-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/”.  I would highly recommend everyone to give it a try.  If you do decide to sign up, please consider doing so using my affiliate link, http://www.clickworker.com/become-a-clickworker?utm_source=765696&utm_campaign=CW4CW&utm_medium=email .

Until next month, good luck with your online earnings!

Stupid Persistant Debt!!

Although there are five of us, (two children and three adults), only Old Grump has a job.  Thus we are highly dependent on him staying employed, which some days doesn't seem too likely.  (Yikes!!)

Reviewing our finances, it occurs to us that if we could cut down some of our debt, we could survive on our savings much longer, should Old Grump ever get disgusted and part ways with his employer.  (Our version of "F--- You Money".)  Thinking about this got Old Grump excited, and he came up with this document, which he and Sweetie both agreed to and signed:

We, the undersigned, hereby agree to the following:

  

1. NO more eating out at any restaurant other than fast-food, (take-out).

2. NO vacations, other than visiting Grandma and Grandpa in Florida.

3. NO more clothes purchases, other than required clothing for Kuya or Dodong.

4. NO trips to the movie theater.  If we want to watch a movie, we will rent a DVD.

5. NO purchases of Christmas gifts.  We will MAKE gifts to give to each other for Christmas.

6. NO more use of the credit card to buy food or other items at the grocery store.  If we don’t have the cash for it, we won’t buy it!

7. ALL miscellaneous purchase will be PAID FOR IN CASH.  If we don’t have the cash for it, we won’t buy it!

Although the signed document is now taped to the bedroom wall above our desk, resistance is already beginning to bubble up.  "What about dining out for birthdays and anniversaries?"  "Are we really going to "make" Christmas gifts?"  "That watch I've been wanting to buy for several months now is on sale for 75% off at Belks!"

Sigh ..... Getting rid of debt is so simple, yet at the same time so insanely difficult.  If we don't stop making new purchases, we will never be in a position to pay off the old ones.

While I think purchasing the watch ain't gonna happen, it does appear that #5 on the list above, (no Christmas gifts other than what we make), is ridiculous and will be stricken off, and even #1 will be voided for special occasions.  (Guys, I DARE you to tell your wife that your anniversary dinner will be cancelled to meet your budget!)  But I am hoping that we will adhere to our agreement more often than we will ignore it.

I'll let y'all know how this works out for us.  Wish us luck!

Online Income Statement - August/2015

First the good news: Clickworker continues to pay, and compared to EVERY other online income scheme I've tried, pays very well indeed!  Here are our Clickworker earnings for August:

August 6th    -  $51.84

August 12th  -  $21.62

August 19th  -  $44.60

August 26th  -  $23.96

That's about $140.00, which ain't bad.  Yeah, I know to a guy like Pat Flynn it's just peanuts, but I'm not at Pat's level yet, okay!

Now the (ugh!) bad news ........

This is shaping up to be an "interesting" month financially.  The tenants of our condo back in Columbia have moved out.  They did give a 30 day notice, but our management firm didn't bother to let us know until the end of this month!  GRRR!!!

Fortunately I had cashed in stocks last month, before the latest "crash", and paid off the ridiculous AMEX debt.  Going into this situation with credit card debt would really suck.

How bad are things?  Well, after paying bills, I wasn't sure if all our mortgage checks would clear!  Thank God for Clickworker and PayPal!  Remember that $140 I earned on Clickworker this past month?  I put in a request to transfer that amount from paypal to our checking account yesterday, (Sunday!), and by this morning it had already transferred over.  Hooray!  No bounced checks!

Realistically, things aren't all that dire ….. yet.  We are paid ahead, (until March 01, 2016), on our auto loan, so we can use money set aside for that to pay the condo mortgage until the condo either rents or sells.  All I have to do, in the meantime, is keep my job.  (Happy, happy, joy, joy, right?)

While we're on the subject of employment/financial freedom, let me state that I tend to admire J. Collins, (other than the wonderful J. Money, of course!), more than other financial bloggers, probably because, like me, he is an old fart.  I can relate more to his outlook, (f**k you money, for example), than I can to the concept of super early retirement/financial independence/never work again.  I even think the venerable Mr. Mustache is sometimes off base with his, "save your money and quit" mantra.  (Yeah, that's an oversimplification, but you know what I mean.)

Enough philosophizing!  It's time for my, (drum roll please!), standard Clickworker verbiage:

I truly believe Clickworker is the only website worth bothering with, and wrote a quick review of my experiences with it here, “http://buyingnirvana.com/words/clickworker-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/”.  I would highly recommend everyone to give it a try.  If you do decide to sign up, please consider doing so using my affiliate link, http://www.clickworker.com/become-a-clickworker?utm_source=765696&utm_campaign=CW4CW&utm_medium=email .

Until next month, good luck with your online earnings!

Stupid Debt!!

GRRR!!! Will we EVER get out of debt!!

Just last week we had raided Grump's retirement account "yet one more time", and cashed in $3,000.00.  The plan was to finally pay off the American Express credit card, (current balance $2,000.00 +), and sock the rest away in our short term savings account, where it would be ready to be thrown at the next bout of nonsense.  I had anticipated the next batch of "nonsense" would be the roughly $800.00 we owe a lawyer for drawing up an estate plan for us.  Which means we would be close to eliminating all our high-interest short term debt. 

Ha, ha ..... jokes on me, only it's not funny at all.  In the mail today we just received a bill for $1,200.00 from the dentist, which apparently is the remainder due for the broken tooth incident Grump had in early June.

We just can't catch a break on these unexpected, large expenses!  Start with our car troubles, add in Grump's busted tooth, and finish with Sweetie's Sister's medical emergencies, and since spring of this year we've had $5,000.00 - $6,000.00 of unplanned debt.  YIKES!!

But we can't do anything about it other than keep pounding away at the debt, and hope these rainy day expenses eventually dry up and blow away.  Grump is getting heartsick at all the repeated withdrawals from his retirement savings, but what can we do?  Credit card debt costs us 18%, more or less.  There is NO WAY we can consistently earn that amount in the stock market.

Clarifications for the curious:

1. The "retirement" accounts we are cashing out are NOT tax qualified.  They are simply mutual fund accounts Grump has built up over the years.  While it sickens him to withdraw money from them now, we do not pay a penalty to do so, and it does make financial sense to whack high interest credit card debt, even with money you've saved for the long term.  Grump is just concerned about the "moral hazard" of these withdrawals becomming a habit.

2. The estate plan is being set up to help shield Sweetie from request for financial assistance from back home.  Grump is older than her, so hopefully she will outlive him.  We have already taken a financial pounding from her sister over the years, (don't even ask!!).  Once Grump is out of the picture, the pressure on her to "loan" money to the friends and family in the Philippines will be enormous. 

Actually, in a way we have been lucky here.  We haven't been put in the situation where someone's hope for survival is in our hands, thank God!  What do you do if someone urgently needs to go to the hospital, but you are the only one who can pay for it?

Online Income Statement - July/2015

I think you know the script by now:

Clickworker/UHRS is great!!  July was another good earning month for us:

July 01  -  $47.30

July 08  -  $54.64

July 15  -  $46.30

July 22  -  $25.05

July 29  -  $55.61

Now as it happens August, (so far), has been pretty lame earning wise, but even a lame Clickworker blows the socks off any other means of earning money online I've tried.  Of course, YMMV, and you may be one of those lucky folks whose blog is a hit, and earn big bucks from Adsense and other advertisers.

Speaking of Adsense and other ways of "making money" ....... blah!  Affiliate marketing was huge bust for me.  I even brought my "Novice Affiliate" series of YouTube videos to an end  -  at least for now.



Assuming I can add correctly, (BIG ASSUMPTION!!), I've earned about $550.00 using Clickbank since early May of this year.  Not a enough to constitue a change in our standard of living, most certainly, but as beer money not too shabby!


And so, without any further ado, let me bring out my standard Clickworker verbiage:
I truly believe Clickworker is the only website worth bothering with, and wrote a quick review of my experiences with it here, “http://buyingnirvana.com/words/clickworker-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/”.  I would highly recommend everyone to give it a try.  If you do decide to sign up, please consider doing so using my affiliate link, http://www.clickworker.com/become-a-clickworker?utm_source=765696&utm_campaign=CW4CW&utm_medium=email .

Until next month, good luck with your online earnings!

Online Income Statement - June/2015

Our online earning trends continue to follow the pattern set in prior months.

The Adsense account is up to $5.43 now.  That is a whopping nine cent gain since April!  To say that Adsense is a horrid way to make money is an understatement.  I'm gonna ignore them in the future.  (NOT delete my account, just not bother with it.)



Affiliate marketing success continues to elude us.  We have made no further Amazon affiliate sales since our one-and-only sale last March.

On the other hand, Clickworker/UHRS continues to kick butt.  These are the payments we got in June/2015:

June 03rd  -  $47.35

June 10th  -  $25.91

June 18th  -  $65.64

June 24th  -  $69.65

Not only is $65.69 the most I've ever earned online in a week, the June grand total of $208.55 is a new monthly online income record!  HOORAY FOR CLICKWORKER!!

It's time now for my standard Clickworker verbiage:

I truly believe Clickworker is the only website worth bothering with, and wrote a quick review of my experiences with it here, “http://buyingnirvana.com/words/clickworker-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/”.  I would highly recommend everyone to give it a try.  If you do decide to sign up, please consider doing so using my affiliate link, http://www.clickworker.com/become-a-clickworker?utm_source=765696&utm_campaign=CW4CW&utm_medium=email .

Until next month, good luck with your online earnings!