Escaping Poverty

A lot happened in 2024. I got some debt paid off, helped my oldest with some car repairs, and moved. 2025 I decided to get serious about getting ahead in life. I got a raise at work, started a side hustle of Instacart and then on January 7th I was in a bad car accident. Next to the worst car accident I've ever been in. So now I am not working as I recover from surgery. Luckily I have a lawyer involved so I should get some help paying for all these medical bills. I'm also off work the entire month of February.

I will be back to blogging 3/1/24 to bring you all on my financial journey.

Things I did to earn money outside of my job this week are the following. I donated plasma twice for $??+?? I sold stuff online for $?? InstaCart-$ DoorDash- $ Mylot-3.5029- ($3.4062 from last week $3.???? this week ) profit of $0.???? Fetch points- 420=$0.0009x420=$0.37 earned towards Amazon $50. Bing Points- 1260=0.0007x1260=$0.88 earned Upside-$1.32 starting I've got some more stuff listed just waiting to sell.  Total Bing points-13,508 of 130,000 for $100 Amazon gift card    I'm 10.39% earned Total Fetch points-33,830 of 53,500 for $50 Amazon gift card        I'm 63.23% earned MyLot doesn't really earn me more than a nickel here and there it is just somewhere that I post Bing/Fetch M-300/420 Fetch  T-230/0 W-230/0 Th-0/0 F-285/0 S-215/480 S- Total Bing-1260=.882 Total Fetch-420=.378

This is all of my incomes for the month of June. I am working on building more income streams and would love to get some that are passive. For now, all of my income is active income. Paychecks-$1,270.47+$1,233.63=$2,504.10 Child Support-$476 (2 kids only, oldest no longer receives) Plasma-$150 Auction-$ InstaCart-$13.04 Spark-$ MyLot-$ Upside-$1.32 Fetch Rewards-Didn't track all my points for the month, will start next month Bing: Didn't track all my points for the month, will start next month

  t is now July 1, 2023.   How did that happen? When did that happen? I swear it was February last week. I just sat down and finished my June budget and made my July budget. I need to bring home $3,844.33 to pay all of my bills on this month's budget. Last month with everything I managed to bring home $3,093.14 My only thing on my July budget that isn't a bill is my CalmBox subscription ONLY because I can't cancel it. I tried, but it will only cancel after the year. Paying a cancelation fee is not even an option. So I have it set to cancel when my year is up. I have a storage unit that is costing me $400 this month because I'm playing catch up. My goal is to have it gone by September. My car insurance is low this month because it is the month before it renews so it is low. I am hoping that my premium is less for the next 6 months once it renews. I know it should drop in February when my "on purpose" I was involved in falls off. I got a copy of my credit...

Things I did to earn money outside of my job this week are the following. I donated plasma twice for $115 I sold stuff online for $12 DoorDash- $6.50 Mylot- $3.4062 is my starting balance Fetch points starting 7/1-415=$0.0009x415=$0.37 earned towards Amazon $50. Bing Points starting 7/1-490=0.0007=$0.34 earned I've got some more stuff listed just waiting to sell.  Total Bing points-12,248 of 130,000 for $100 Amazon gift card     I'm 9.42% earned Total Fetch points-32,930 of 53,500 for $50 Amazon gift card          I'm 61.55% earned MyLot doesn't really earn me more than a nickel here and there it is just somewhere that I post

 This was a slow week here. Things I did to earn money outside of my job this week are the following. I donated plasma twice for $90 I sold stuff online for $18 InstaCart-$13.04 I've got some more stuff listed just waiting to sell. 

W ell, today was payday and just like that all my money is gone. I didn't even get to cash stuff any envelopes. Got up, checked my bank and saw my check. My car payment pulls out as soon as my check hits the bank so I can't accidentally spend it, which is nice. By the time I paid for my phones to be turned back on since they shut off last night, paid my oldest, paid my middle daughter the $20 I owed her and set money aside for rent, filled my gas tank, my check was gone. But I have no disconnect notices, nothing else is going to be shut off, and everything is back on and working. Next payday I will have some breathing room. Thankfully I will be donating plasma tomorrow and 3 more times before payday which should earn me $180 that I can use towards groceries. I just have to make it to next payday.

 In order to help me on my financial journey I have made a binder. I say made but it is and will continue to be a work in progress. I will be adding information to it as time goes on. Each day I will check it and will have my budget showing on one page and the day's inspirational page on the other. That way I can see how I've come, how far I have to go for the month, and a daily bit of inspiration to keep me going. I have found a lot of inspirational sayings on Pinterest and my hope is to come up with 365 minimum. That way I get something new every day. No idea how I will organize them yet but I look forward to that day. I think the best way to describe what I am doing is Dave Ramsey with a twist from someone who has only ever known poverty. Most of his information is excellent but some of it I had to tweak for peace of mind. My hope is that if someone asks how I am doing this I can show them my binder and they can pick and choose what information out of it they want to use in ...

The things I have done in June 2023 to get ahead have been not that many. But I figure if I start small I will grow big. Versus starting big and ending small. I started using my Microsoft Bing Rewards again. I will have a separate post for each month showing the points that I earned that day. I went back to donating plasma. My first time back paid $45 which promptly went to groceries and bribing my kids with DQ for whoever found my computer mouse which seems to have grown legs. I have been scanning receipts into Fetch and so far I am at 31,718 points and I am saving up for an Amazon gift card in the amount of $50 which will take 53,500 points. So I only have 21,782 to go. If all my receipts are only worth the minimum 25 points that means I need 872 more receipts. I started a great job in December that pays just over $20/hr. I am also signed up with Spark to deliver for Walmart and InstaCart to boost my income. I will go back to writing on mylot.com for the dollar or so a month that it ...

The things I have done in October 2022 to get ahead have been not that many. But I figure if I start small I will grow big. Versus starting big and ending small. October I did a no spend challenge for the month. I only spent money on bills and envelopes.  Microsoft Bing Rewards. Every morning I get onto my Bing and I do my web searches, phone searches, and little points items the day has to offer. Currently at the end of October I have earned 17,263 points towards my 13,000 points needed for a $10 Amazon gift card. I will keep saving my points until December 31st and then I am going to be cashing out for Amazon cards to use towards financial books, budget binders, budget binder supplies, and the like. Then I will earn all of next year and cash on yearly on December 31st to see how much I actually make in a year. I have been scanning receipts into my Fetch Rewards app. I am currently at 12,966 points of my 50,000 points needed for a $50 Amazon gift card. I ended up leaving my job ...

 The things I have done in September 2022 to get ahead have been not that many. But I figure if I start small I will grow big. Versus starting big and ending small. September I did a no spend challenge for the month. I only spent money on bills and envelopes. I decided to skip my spending envelope this month to be able to put more money towards bills. Microsoft Bing Rewards. Every morning I get onto my Bing and I do my web searches, phone searches, and little points items the day has to offer. Currently at the end of September I have earned 17,263 points towards my 13,000 points needed for a $10 Amazon gift card. I will keep saving my points until December 31st and then I am going to be cashing out for Amazon cards to use towards financial books, budget binders, budget binder supplies, and the like. Then I will earn all of next year and cash on yearly on December 31st to see how much I actually make in a year. I have been scanning receipts into my Fetch Rewards app. I am currently ...

For the month of September I decided to do a "No Spend" Challenge. I've tried in the past but only made it a few days because I didn't understand how they work. Now that I've done one, I decided to do one each of these last few months of 2022. Obviously I'm not going to be doing one in December. I think for Christmas this year I'm just going to give my kids cash but they will still be getting stockings. This month I am counting anything not spent on my budget as a "Spend Loss". I am tracking what I spend daily, how much total spent for the month, how much was spent outside the budge, and whether this month is a No Spend Win or No Spend Loss. I will also be taking notes to see what I can work on for my next No Spend Challenge. I am going to track how I do daily and we will all see how I did for the month long challenge. With no further ado, let's get down to the nitty gritty. My monthly budget needs currently sit at $4,946.98 which means I nee...

 If you're not using Bing rewards you really should be. Since I started my financial journey I started using it again and I have already earned enough points to cash out for a $10 Amazon gift card. I'm saving all of my points until the end of the year and I will cash out all at once and start the new year as close to ZERO points as I can get. I am excited for next year to see how much I can earn by spending 10 minutes a day of my time. Go to www.bing.com and get started today!

 For the month of August I decided to do a "No Spend" Challenge. I've tried in the past but only made it a few days because I didn't understand how they work. This month I am counting anything not spent on my budget as a "Spend Loss". I am tracking what I spend daily, how much total spent for the month, how much was spent outside the budge, and whether this month is a No Spend Win or No Spend Loss. I will also be taking notes to see what I can work on for my next No Spend Challenge. I am going to track how I do daily and we will all see how I did for the month long challenge. With no further ado, let's get down to the nitty gritty. My monthly budget needs currently sit at $5,391.64 which means I need to make no less than $1,347.91 weekly. I do have $443 monthly that I receive in child support so that does help. I'm not counting it. I want to be providing for all of our needs without using the child support so that if we have a month that I don't ...

 I decided to post my monthly budget. Maybe someone seeing this will decide now is the time to start their financial journey as well. I always see people post about having a budget, talking about their budget, how much they need, cutting their budget down, etc. I never actually see someone posting what their budget looks like. I finally did see someone post theirs and it was the kick I needed to get going on my financial journey. So, in hopes that this helps someone, here is my monthly budget categories and cost. These are not in order. Rent- $875 5 CCs- $500 Savings- $250 Debt Payoff- $200          Emergency Fund- $167 Car Replace- $150 Self- $35 Utilities- $150       Car Insurance- $110.12 Storage/Clothing- $100 Internet- $100 Me Spending- $100       Car Repair- $100 Kickoff- $5 Garbage- $50 Verizon- $50 Household- $50        Tires- $40 Car Gas- $? For those of you who are interested to see what ...

 The things I have done in August 2022 to get ahead have been not that many. But I figure if I start small I will grow big. Versus starting big and ending small. Microsoft Bing Rewards. Every morning I get onto my Bing and I do my web searches, phone searches, and little points items the day has to offer. Currently at the end of August I have earned 12,300 points towards my 13,000 points needed for a $10 Amazon gift card. I will keep cashing out for Amazon cards to use towards financial books, budget binders, budget binder supplies, and the like. I have been scanning receipts into my Fetch Rewards app. I am currently at 11,190 points of my 50,000 points needed for a $50 Amazon gift card. I'm also using another app called Receipt Jar and saving towards a $100 gift card. So far I'm at 1,003 points of 19,000 points needed. I started using MyLot again and for the month of September earned $2.68 towards the $5.00 payout it gives monthly. Once you hit $5.00 it automatically cashes yo...

 I was on Tik Tok and came across multiple videos about a new website called www.costplusdrugs.com. They do not take insurance but you can get your medication SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper than using insurance in some cases. I have a medication that would only cost me $6.90 for a 30 day supply. If I pay cash price at my pharmacy I pay $18. My other medication, that I'm having to stop because of my license, would be $4.80 for a 30 day supply. That's so affordable it's insane.  It will show you the cash price at a pharmacy and what you will pay with them. A 30 day supply of off brand Prevacid for heartburn is $154.50 at the pharmacy and $5.70 through them. You can search any medication you are on and see if you can order it through them. They are not selling insulin currently but I heard that that's a federal issue. If you are paying anything more than $5 per prescription this site is worth checking out. You might recognize the name Marc Cuban and not know where you've heard ...

 If you're anything like me you downsize your stuff before you move and then once you move you decide that you will never have that much clutter again. Then little by little things make their way into your home. Almost like fairies are doing it during the night. Well, that happened to me. As in, when we moved from one end of the state to this end we downsized a lot. And I swore that I wouldn't have that much stuff again. Now? Now, I have 6 storage tubs of yarn. 2 of which you could hide a 5'2" adult in. Full of yarn. More yarn than I can use in a year. Not enough yarn to start and complete a project in one color. Nope, will have to buy more yarn to complete projects. I have decided to start getting rid of some of my clutter. I sell things on Facebook. Some stuff I list on Marketplace and others I list in my local Dollar Auction page. I started getting serious about getting rid of the clutter 2 days ago. I realized that I needed gas money and no way to get gas money. So...

 I got a new job! I've been cleaning homes as my business and supplementing with Doordash, Uber Eats, and Grub Hub delivery apps. Then it turned into delivering and supplementing with cleaning. My gas budget was over $1,500.00 a month. Which is insane. So I started looking for jobs that are remote or local jobs that I wouldn't be spending so much money in gas on. Driving into town I saw a billboard for a concrete company looking for drivers. I walked in with my resume in hand and asked for a job. 2 hours later I had a job. This is a life changing job for us. I am making $21.70 an hour and we work 40-55 hours a week. Which means on a slow month I will make $3,472 to $5,425 on a busy month. I wasn't even making that much when I used to work 2 full time jobs. I know that some of that is going to go to taxes but I can still pay all of our bills on that amount. I am going to only run my monthly budget on the $3,472 and all the rest I will put in sinking funds starting with my em...