Sunday, July 17, 2011

A totally awesome day 6!

DAY 6:

Money, I love money.  When I was a 13, I babysat every weekend and bussed tables at my dad's restaurant after school.  I would take all the money I made and hide it in a box on the top of a bookshelf I had in my room.  One day, my mom was dusting my bedroom and happened to stumble on my treasure, she found over $1000.  My mom wanted me to put it in the bank, but I loved to count my money.  To me it represented hard work.  Still to this day I  think that hard work is one of the most important characteristics one could possess.  I loathe the lazy man.

So, what does this have to do with living off of $8/day?!  Well, I am always looking for ways to make some extra money for my family.  My husband is the main provider, and he works very hard to give us all that we need ( I love him for this!), but I have something stamped deep in my soul that makes me want to stash away money in a box on a bookshelf.  If you know me at all, you know that I have at least 2 yard sales per year to clear out all the crap we have accumulated and make some extra dough.  I also sell items on craigslist that we no longer need/use.  TODAY though,. I drank milk.

Yep, milk.  A friend of mine on facebook had posted that she participated in a consumer testing panel and was compensated $80 total...just for tasting milk.  Sounded good to me, so I applied and was asked to come in on Saturday afternoon.  I arrived a bit skeptical of the whole situation, but heck, I was kid free and am always up for a new experience.  Sure enough, after exactly 18 minutes of tasting a few different samples of skim milk, I walked out with $35 cash in my hand.  I go back next Saturday for another 18 minutes and will be compensated $45...TOTAL $80.  Sound wierd?  I thought so too, but it was totally legit, quite fascinating, AND I MADE MONEY!

Now one of the reasons I like to stash money is because I know that unexpected "things" are always lurking around the corner.  Now, I have not always been it situations where I can stash money like I did when I was 13, but even hiding $20 for emergency pizza money makes me feel a bit more at ease.  A few weeks ago, our toilet "guts" decided to fail us and we have been without a main floor bath for quite sometime.  We have also been without one side of a kitchen sink thanks to a stubborn garbage disposal.  Now remember that hard working husband I was talking about earlier?  Well, he is VERY hardworking, but not the "handiest" of handy man's if you get my drift.  So, after realizing that just to get a plumber to my house will run me about $100, I decided to enlist the help of a friend (actually her amazing handy husband).  I asked what they wanted to eat when they came over and at their request, I ordered chicken wings.  I had a coupon for .35 wings at a wing joint down the street.  I knew I was going to go over my $8/day budget, but did not care one bit since hiring a plumber would have cost me 10 times that!  I ordered the wings, paid $15 and drove home.  When I arrived home I opened the bag and quickly noticed that it was NOT my order.  I called the place, and the kind gentleman said he was remaking my order and to KEEP the other order (30 wings, 2 orders of fries and a dessert!).  When I arrived to pick up the correct order, they GAVE ME BACK MY MONEY and sent me on my way with the 40 wings I had originally ordered.  All I could say is wow, that is customer service at its finest!
TOTAL FOR 70 WINGS: $0 (and a fixed sink/toilet)

All in all, day 6 was surprisingly awesome.  I was willing to shell out double our $8/day budget but instead did not spend a dime and MADE $35!!!!

TOTAL SPENT DAY 6: $0  ($8 rollover, TOTAL ROLLOVER $23.99) 


 

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