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!
Sunday, July 5, 2015
Monday, June 22, 2015
Family Obligations and Debt
We've been spending a bit more than we should, and a car and a tooth misbehaved, but after Grump cashed in some savings it appeared we were FINALLY getting our debt under control. Then just this past weekend, while we were in Jacksonville visiting Grandma and Grandpa, we got a fateful text. Sweetie's sister in the Philippines needs to go to the hospital for some expensive surgery, again.
The only silver lining in this cloud is that medical costs in the Philippines are much less expensive than here in the American Empire. We estimate our total costs will be less than $2,000.00. We already sent $1,500.00 tonight, wired over via Western Union.
So what are we to do about this? Grump considers the sister a "financial black hole", but even he is not heartless enough not to help her.
I suppose the only humane response to this is to put aside the financial concerns for the moment, and just thank God that we have the savings to be able to help her. The fact that we seem to pay out thousands of dollars in medical costs for her every other year is a bit irritating; the fact that we are still stuck paying off some of her STUPID husband's debts is extremely irritating. (Only $1,000.00 left on that mess, thank God!) I wish she could somehow get her life together and stop being such a problem, but honestly I'm not sure she ever will. And despite Grump's bitching, we will help her.
Maybe someday Grump will finally learn that it is not his money that he is saving, but rather God's money that has been entrusted to him, and that it is truly a BLESSING to be able to help others?
If you're the praying type, (and if you're not, WHY THE HELL NOT?), please pray for us, particularly Sweetie's sister, that her physical (and financial) problems heal, and that Grump changes his attitude, and realizes what a gifted position in life he has.
The only silver lining in this cloud is that medical costs in the Philippines are much less expensive than here in the American Empire. We estimate our total costs will be less than $2,000.00. We already sent $1,500.00 tonight, wired over via Western Union.
So what are we to do about this? Grump considers the sister a "financial black hole", but even he is not heartless enough not to help her.
I suppose the only humane response to this is to put aside the financial concerns for the moment, and just thank God that we have the savings to be able to help her. The fact that we seem to pay out thousands of dollars in medical costs for her every other year is a bit irritating; the fact that we are still stuck paying off some of her STUPID husband's debts is extremely irritating. (Only $1,000.00 left on that mess, thank God!) I wish she could somehow get her life together and stop being such a problem, but honestly I'm not sure she ever will. And despite Grump's bitching, we will help her.
Maybe someday Grump will finally learn that it is not his money that he is saving, but rather God's money that has been entrusted to him, and that it is truly a BLESSING to be able to help others?
If you're the praying type, (and if you're not, WHY THE HELL NOT?), please pray for us, particularly Sweetie's sister, that her physical (and financial) problems heal, and that Grump changes his attitude, and realizes what a gifted position in life he has.
Sunday, June 7, 2015
Weekends and Credit Cards, Part 05
Due to some bad luck, (house and car repairs), and some "high living", (a trip to Callaway Gardens), our AMEX credit card balance was skyrocketing to the moon! Applying some of the $7,000.00 Grump took out of "retirement savings", (NOT a tax qualified account!), to this debt helped knock it back a bit, as does the money Grump earns pounding away at Clickworker. (Some of that $7,000.00 will go towards rebuilding our short-term emergency fund.)
At the moment, our official AMEX card balance is about $1,200.00 . However, we went to Atlanta this weekend, and ......
Our first (and supposedly ONLY) stop was the Atlanta Botanical Garden, where we had a great time. We have memberships there, and all our admissions would have been free, except Old Grump forgot to bring a guess pass for Lola, so it cost $20.00 for her to get in. (We paid for this expense with cash!)
After walking around the Gardens for hours, we were super-duper hungry. Sweetie wanted to go to The Cheesecake Factory at Lennox Square, so off we went. Our late lunch/early dinner was very good and very filling, but it did cost nearly $90.00, (including tip), and that went straight to the AMEX card. After eating Sweetie wanted to go shopping; specifically, she wanted to buy some shorts for Kuya at Brooks Brothers. The shorts weren't cheap - being over $40.00! - and of course that expense also went on the AMEX. If you add in a pizza night and some grocery shopping earlier in the week, we easily added over $200.00 to the card.
Including pending expenses from this weekend, I estimate our credit card balance to be about $1,500.00 . Not horrible, but certainly not good.
I've been trying to limit the AMEX card to just car stuff, (gasoline, maintenance, and repairs), but life, and, quite frankly, our own choices, keeps throwing other expenses our way. Will we ever knock our balance down to zero, and STOP paying the ridiculous 17.5% interest on our unpaid balance?
I can control my own spending, more-or-less, but there are five people in this family, including two who are just young children. We do what we can, but short of draconian measures it's hard to live on the salary of just one job. This isn't a plea for sympathy, just a statement of fact. As it is, we live better than 90% of the rest of the people on this planet, so we really have no complaints about our lifestyle. It would just be nice to eliminate that nagging last bit of credit card debt, and get that irritant out of our lives.
P.S. - 11/June/2015 update. Just this past Tuesday Grump broke a tooth whilest chewing on a cough drop. He went to the dentist today, and was told the tooth needed a crown, (cap). The total cost to us after insurance, which went right to our AMEX card, was $780.00 . Phooey!!
At the moment, our official AMEX card balance is about $1,200.00 . However, we went to Atlanta this weekend, and ......
Our first (and supposedly ONLY) stop was the Atlanta Botanical Garden, where we had a great time. We have memberships there, and all our admissions would have been free, except Old Grump forgot to bring a guess pass for Lola, so it cost $20.00 for her to get in. (We paid for this expense with cash!)
After walking around the Gardens for hours, we were super-duper hungry. Sweetie wanted to go to The Cheesecake Factory at Lennox Square, so off we went. Our late lunch/early dinner was very good and very filling, but it did cost nearly $90.00, (including tip), and that went straight to the AMEX card. After eating Sweetie wanted to go shopping; specifically, she wanted to buy some shorts for Kuya at Brooks Brothers. The shorts weren't cheap - being over $40.00! - and of course that expense also went on the AMEX. If you add in a pizza night and some grocery shopping earlier in the week, we easily added over $200.00 to the card.
Including pending expenses from this weekend, I estimate our credit card balance to be about $1,500.00 . Not horrible, but certainly not good.
I've been trying to limit the AMEX card to just car stuff, (gasoline, maintenance, and repairs), but life, and, quite frankly, our own choices, keeps throwing other expenses our way. Will we ever knock our balance down to zero, and STOP paying the ridiculous 17.5% interest on our unpaid balance?
I can control my own spending, more-or-less, but there are five people in this family, including two who are just young children. We do what we can, but short of draconian measures it's hard to live on the salary of just one job. This isn't a plea for sympathy, just a statement of fact. As it is, we live better than 90% of the rest of the people on this planet, so we really have no complaints about our lifestyle. It would just be nice to eliminate that nagging last bit of credit card debt, and get that irritant out of our lives.
P.S. - 11/June/2015 update. Just this past Tuesday Grump broke a tooth whilest chewing on a cough drop. He went to the dentist today, and was told the tooth needed a crown, (cap). The total cost to us after insurance, which went right to our AMEX card, was $780.00 . Phooey!!
Friday, June 5, 2015
Online Income Statement - May/2015
If you've read my Online Income Statement for April/2015, you'll already know that I'm concentrating solely on Clickworker now. All the other ways of "making money online" are a waste of time. at least for me, and at least at the moment.
Clickworker/UHRS has been good to me! These are the payments I received in May/2015:
May 6th - $6.81
May 14th - $23.97
May 20th - $30.19
May 29th - $50.56
This is a grand total of $111.53 for the month of May, which is WAY BETTER than anything else I've tried.
Also, notice that the amounts paid keep going up! This trend won't continue, of course, (I may never break $50.00 again), but I'll be very happy if I can average more than $30.00/week. Yeah, it's not a huge amount of money, but it sure beats the heck out of zero!
Let me repeat some of what I wrote last month. 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 .
Clickworker/UHRS has been good to me! These are the payments I received in May/2015:
May 6th - $6.81
May 14th - $23.97
May 20th - $30.19
May 29th - $50.56
This is a grand total of $111.53 for the month of May, which is WAY BETTER than anything else I've tried.
Also, notice that the amounts paid keep going up! This trend won't continue, of course, (I may never break $50.00 again), but I'll be very happy if I can average more than $30.00/week. Yeah, it's not a huge amount of money, but it sure beats the heck out of zero!
Let me repeat some of what I wrote last month. 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 .
Sunday, May 17, 2015
Weekends and Credit Cards, Part 04
Despite taking some money out of savings, (about $1,600.00), and throwing it all at our credit card debt, our American Express balance is now nearly $5,000.00. And guess what? It doesn't bother me in the least.
WHAT? HAVE YOU LOST WHAT'S LEFT OF YOUR MIND?
Oh no, not at all. Well .... to be more accurate, my mental health is not necessarily related to my lack of concern over our currently soaring credit card debt. Allow me to explain.
First of all a huge chunk of it, almost $3,200.00, is due to factors beyond our control, namely, a minor repair to our roof, and two trips to the mechanic to repair various parts of Sweetie's car. Repairs must be made, and they have to be paid for.
Another large expense was for Mother's Day. Earlier in May we had bought Sweetie a new purse, and for Mother's Day itself treated Sweetie and Lola to a nice dinner at a local restaurant. For the amount of work they do, and for the joy they bring into our lives, spending $200.00 on Sweetie and Lola was a bargain!
The other large part of the expense was our weekend trip to Savannah, Georgia. We stayed at a very nice hotel, (the Westin across the river), and ate two yummy-but-expensive dinners. This was a much needed vacation, so we don't begrudge the cost one bit.
To pay for all this extravagance I had already sold some stocks from our long term savings, which will give us about $7,000.00 with which to pound on this debt. And we know we aren't going to be going on anymore day trips for a while. (Yeah .... it's gonna be a LONG, LONG summer!) So we're enjoying living large while it lasts.
I may never make it as a mustachian hall-of-famer, but I do believe that expenses like this, if they're planned and you're willing to pay the cost, are a good thing. We only live once, (I think), so we need to enjoy our time while we're here. The important thing is to be intelligent about it, and not throw our money away on craps and trifles. Money spent for quality, be it things or experiences, is used wisely.
WHAT? HAVE YOU LOST WHAT'S LEFT OF YOUR MIND?
Oh no, not at all. Well .... to be more accurate, my mental health is not necessarily related to my lack of concern over our currently soaring credit card debt. Allow me to explain.
First of all a huge chunk of it, almost $3,200.00, is due to factors beyond our control, namely, a minor repair to our roof, and two trips to the mechanic to repair various parts of Sweetie's car. Repairs must be made, and they have to be paid for.
Another large expense was for Mother's Day. Earlier in May we had bought Sweetie a new purse, and for Mother's Day itself treated Sweetie and Lola to a nice dinner at a local restaurant. For the amount of work they do, and for the joy they bring into our lives, spending $200.00 on Sweetie and Lola was a bargain!
The other large part of the expense was our weekend trip to Savannah, Georgia. We stayed at a very nice hotel, (the Westin across the river), and ate two yummy-but-expensive dinners. This was a much needed vacation, so we don't begrudge the cost one bit.
To pay for all this extravagance I had already sold some stocks from our long term savings, which will give us about $7,000.00 with which to pound on this debt. And we know we aren't going to be going on anymore day trips for a while. (Yeah .... it's gonna be a LONG, LONG summer!) So we're enjoying living large while it lasts.
I may never make it as a mustachian hall-of-famer, but I do believe that expenses like this, if they're planned and you're willing to pay the cost, are a good thing. We only live once, (I think), so we need to enjoy our time while we're here. The important thing is to be intelligent about it, and not throw our money away on craps and trifles. Money spent for quality, be it things or experiences, is used wisely.
Saturday, May 2, 2015
Online Income Statement - April/2015
Two things worth noting here:
1. There is no Online Income Statement for March. This is because aside from a teeny affiliate sale on Amazon, I really didn’t make anything.2. The quotes have been removed from around the word “Income” because, thanks to Clickworker/UHRS, I am now actually making some money online. Woo hoo! Yeah, it’s definitely not passive, but maybe passive online income isn’t going to be one of my areas of expertise at the moment, (if ever).
Let’s go through all of my income sources:
Adsense - $5.34 This is an increase of 78¢ from February. Woo hoo.Affiliate Sales - other than Amazon, ZIP, NADA, Goose Eggs, Zed.
It’s becoming apparent to me that I am not the world’s greatest affiliate marketer. I was never any good at sales, even in person. (I once, disastrously, tried to earn a living selling health insurance). I had hoped that “selling online” was somehow different, but maybe “sales is sales”, and I just suck at it?
By the way, my affiliate sales activity is so poor that I was recently contacted by my account manager at A2Ads to see if I am still active. Sad, huh?
Amazon - I earned the whopping sum of $4.80 back in March. This was solely due to a coworker graciously consenting to use my affiliate link when ordering some supplies for the office. So I have made at least one affiliate sale! Woo hoo.
AdFly - Almost 11¢ . Woo hoo. As I get around to it, I’m removing AdFly links from my pages. (I’m lazy - please forgive me!)
LinkBucks - WHO FRIGGIN’ CARES!! Hopefully I’ve gotten rid of every LinkBucks link from my pages. I won’t bother listing these turkeys anymore.
.... and now for the only website worth mentioning:
Clickworker - Two payments to my PayPal account totaling $14.25, along with a pending amount of over $90.00 which hasn’t been disbursed to my PayPal account yet.
Although affiliate marketing sales seem to elude me, I CAN do the tasks on Clickworker/UHRS, and while I won’t earn enough there to change my standard of living, it is enough to help pay off some bills, or pay for a nice dinner once a month for all of us.
Obviously Clickworker is the only website worth bothering with, at least for me. I wrote a quick review of my experiences with it here, “http://buyingnirvana.com/words/clickworker-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/”, and would 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 .
That’s all for the month of April. Let’s see what’s in store for May, and whether my good experiences with Clickworker/UHRS continue, or whether I decide to concentrate instead on Amazon’s MTurk, which I recently signed up for.
Where is the Gratitude?
Something I've noticed in my brief readings of Personal Finance and Financial Independence websites and blogs has been an absence of gratitude*, a failure to acknowledge that we really owe ALL our riches to the Grace of God.** Okay, maybe I haven't read enough, or paid close enough attention, but it sure seems like the overwhelming message out there is that through our own personal effort, we can pull ourselves out of whatever mess we've fallen into, and enter into a state of monetary abundance.
Perhaps this is true. I've worked with a few single mothers who through grit and determination and what I would consider an almost superhuman amount of energy have built a better life for their children and themselves. (Notice that the welfare of the children comes first!) But I've also known people who, as soon as they begin to claw their way out of a bad situation, immediately get hammered again with some awful expense, more often than not medical.
The truth is that if your main worry in life is your debt, or the sorry condition of your retirement savings, how fortunate you are, particularly if you're still healthy! Maybe the FIRST thing we should do when devising a plan to improve our finances is to pray, to offer thanks for all the blessings in our lives, and for the opportunity to even worry about such piddling affairs as credit card debt and 401k or IRA funding.
It's one thing to talk about thankfulness, to say, "Thank you, God, for all you've given me," but it's another thing entirely to actually DO SOMETHING to show your gratitude. I believe that charity, (tithing, helping friends, family, and strangers), is the highest form of gratitude; being able to give to
those in need is indeed a great priviledge.
Many people believe that 10% of our net income should be given to charity, and that this should be our first spending priority. They will also tell you that you will receive back tenfold what you give. Alas! - I can't attest to the truth of this one way or the other, for my charitable giving falls far short of the 10% mark. Too many other expenses is my (flimsy) excuse.
But maybe I have it backwards? Maybe instead of gritting my teeth and arguing with my wife about our credit card spending, I should be concentrating on increasing our charitable giving to the 10% level recommended to people since the beginning of time, (or at least historical records). What if I work on helping others FIRST? Would I really receive back ten times what I gave, and if so, in what form?
It's a huge leap of faith, and I am probably not ready yet myself to take that jump, but paying your "charity accounts" first, before paying any of your other expenses, is a concept I think all of us should think over.
* - Dave Ramsey, of course, is a spectacular exception to this, as is Dan Miller, I believe. Kudos to both of them, and any other blogger who acknowledges Grace/Mercy of some form.
** - by "God", I mean whatever universal purpose it is that drives existence. If it makes you feel more comfortable, substitute the word "God" with "The-Powers-That-Be", "Providence", "Allah", "Jehovah", "The Force", or whatever term you use to refer to the Higher Power that guides our lives.
On the other hand, if you're a devout atheist, well .... good luck!
Perhaps this is true. I've worked with a few single mothers who through grit and determination and what I would consider an almost superhuman amount of energy have built a better life for their children and themselves. (Notice that the welfare of the children comes first!) But I've also known people who, as soon as they begin to claw their way out of a bad situation, immediately get hammered again with some awful expense, more often than not medical.
The truth is that if your main worry in life is your debt, or the sorry condition of your retirement savings, how fortunate you are, particularly if you're still healthy! Maybe the FIRST thing we should do when devising a plan to improve our finances is to pray, to offer thanks for all the blessings in our lives, and for the opportunity to even worry about such piddling affairs as credit card debt and 401k or IRA funding.
It's one thing to talk about thankfulness, to say, "Thank you, God, for all you've given me," but it's another thing entirely to actually DO SOMETHING to show your gratitude. I believe that charity, (tithing, helping friends, family, and strangers), is the highest form of gratitude; being able to give to
those in need is indeed a great priviledge.
Many people believe that 10% of our net income should be given to charity, and that this should be our first spending priority. They will also tell you that you will receive back tenfold what you give. Alas! - I can't attest to the truth of this one way or the other, for my charitable giving falls far short of the 10% mark. Too many other expenses is my (flimsy) excuse.
But maybe I have it backwards? Maybe instead of gritting my teeth and arguing with my wife about our credit card spending, I should be concentrating on increasing our charitable giving to the 10% level recommended to people since the beginning of time, (or at least historical records). What if I work on helping others FIRST? Would I really receive back ten times what I gave, and if so, in what form?
It's a huge leap of faith, and I am probably not ready yet myself to take that jump, but paying your "charity accounts" first, before paying any of your other expenses, is a concept I think all of us should think over.
* - Dave Ramsey, of course, is a spectacular exception to this, as is Dan Miller, I believe. Kudos to both of them, and any other blogger who acknowledges Grace/Mercy of some form.
** - by "God", I mean whatever universal purpose it is that drives existence. If it makes you feel more comfortable, substitute the word "God" with "The-Powers-That-Be", "Providence", "Allah", "Jehovah", "The Force", or whatever term you use to refer to the Higher Power that guides our lives.
On the other hand, if you're a devout atheist, well .... good luck!
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