February 2016 Financial Wins

Another great month for financial wins!

Total Extra Income for February: $441.70

Blog Ad check this month was $152.62

It's always wonderful to get a check from my blog. Thanks again for clicking on those advertisement links - it supports my time working on Primary lesson ideas and keeps the links up to date. Thanks again for your support!

Swagbuck wins in February was 8908 or $89.08

I started February out with a swagbuck total of 6683 or $66.83

I cashed in 10700 points for $110.00 in Amazon gift cards. 

Feb 2: Cashed in 2200 for $25.00

 (first $25 card per month is discounted)

Feb 2: Cashed in 2500 for $25.00

Feb 3: Cashed in 2500 for $25.00

Feb 15: Cashed in 2500 for $25.00

Feb 22: Cashed in 1000 for $10.00

Total Amazon credit: $110.00

I was hoping to have enough Amazon gift card credit to pay for my annual Amazon Prime membership of $99.00

Unfortunately they wouldn't take the payment out of my gift card balance. I was really sad that I couldn't get it for free. 

But, on the bright side I did have $110.00 to spend for free with Amazon - which is amazing and fun to have free money.

My current swagbuck balance going into March is: 4891 or $48.91

Swagbucks has made some changes and it seems to be getting harder and harder to earn any money. I don't know how long I will continue this way to make extra money. It's just getting too hard and taking to many hours to earn just a dollar a day. It's not as fun as it used to be. I'll probably continue to do minimum stuff, but as the weather gets nicer I'll be outside having a life. It's too bad that they have made it so hard. If you do swagbucks, do you feel the same way with the changes they've made? 

In my cleaning business I did earn an additional $200 for some extra cleaning jobs I did while a customer was on vacation for a couple of weeks. I did some major extra cleaning and my poor body paid for it with 5 pain patches. Ha ha ha Sometimes those extra cleanings really work my body more then usual. However it was a nice bonus!

I also had a request for a one time only deep cleaning which I turned down. It's my policy that I don't do one time only cleans. I will only do a deep cleaning if I am able to bring on a new customer on a weekly or bi-weekly basis. I've learned through years of being in business that it's not worth doing one time only cleans without getting a regular customer out of it. It's too hard to bring a house to my cleaning standards, so I refuse those referrals. 

They can call places like Merry Maids who employ a fleet of house cleaners to do the one time only cleans. It's just too hard for a one woman cleaning service and not a benefit to my business. 

It's funny when people get so shocked when I turn down business. But, there is only so much of me available each week. My main priority will always be current loyal weekly and bi-weekly customers. 

My business is doing great and I have enough customers to support me. I'm also debt free and don't need the extra work. 

My savings account is starting to increase again. I've tried to be as frugal as I can all month. I've been on a no spend for the past 2 and a half weeks. It's always a great exercise to challenge myself not go to the store for as long as I can. 

I will be going to the store today to purchase hamburger for $1.88 a pound or 3 lbs for $5.64. The sale ends today and that's the best price I've seen in a long time and I am completely out in my freezer. I'm hoping to continue to try and not spend much money throughout March beyond my budget for regular expenses. I have budgeted $200 for extras and food but hope I am able to save most of it. We'll see if I can on my next monthly report. 

I'll leave with this favorite quote of mine:

If you don’t know how to save, no amount of money will ever be enough.

This is why I challenge myself to not spend as long as I can - it helps me be more disciplined to get out of the mindset to spend and not save. This has always been hard for me - as I am not a saver I am a spender. That is why I was in debt. Even now it's still hard to be frugal and a wise consumer. I'm still working at trying to curb the desire to spend mindlessly - but I am doing much better.