There is a winter storm warning in effect for our area. I hope it snows enough to keep me out of work tomorrow. LOL

"...WINTER STORM WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 4 AM THURSDAY TO 6 AM EST FRIDAY... ... WINTER STORM WATCH NO LONGER IN EFFECT...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG HAS ISSUED A WINTER STORM WARNING...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM 4 AM THURSDAY TO 6 AM EST FRIDAY. THE WINTER STORM WATCH IS NO LONGER IN EFFECT.

SNOW AND SLEET IS EXPECTED TO OVERSPREAD THE NORTH CAROLINA FOOTHILLS AND PIEDMONT AND THE UPSTATE COUNTIES FROM GREENVILLE TO YORK EARLY THURSDAY MORNING. SNOW AND SLEET WILL MIX WITH AND BECOME PREDOMINATELY SLEET...FREEZING RAIN AND RAIN DURING THE AFTERNOON AND EVENING. AS MUCH AS 3 TO 4 INCHES OF SNOW ACCUMULATION IS POSSIBLE OVER THE NORTH CAROLINA FOOTHILLS AND ALONG THE I-40 CORRIDOR...WITH LESSER AMOUNTS FURTHER SOUTHEAST INTO THE CHARLOTTE AND GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG METRO AREAS. AN INCH OF SLEET ALONG WITH DAMAGING ACCUMULATION OF ICE IS EXPECTED AS WELL...ESPECIALLY IN THE AREAS SOUTH AND EAST OF THE HEAVY SNOWFALL."

I was out of work today because we were unable to get my car running. I pretty much hate my job but at least I get salary and will still get paid for the days I miss.

My grandfather came over and hooked my car up to his charger. He said if I let it charge for 8 hours it should be working tomorrow. I hope so.

I found a dollar on my computer desk. I don't know where it came from but I am adding it to the challenge.

Previous total: 263.50
Money today: 1.00
New total: 264.50

Adding another 0.50 to the challenge for a roll of pennies. I can't believe I use to vacuum them up or throw them away. Now I get excited when I see one.

Previous total: 263.00
Money today: 0.50
New total: 263.50

(still waiting for DH to get home - still hoping my car will be OK)

When I went to pick my son up from daycare today my car wouldn't start. It started fine when I took him this morning. I am off on Tuesdays and I didn't go anywhere other than his school today. It isn't even making noise like it's trying to start. I am 99.9% sure that I cut it all they way off this morning and my lights weren't on or anything. I am praying that it is just the battery and my DH can jump it off when he gets home from work. If it's not than I don't know what I will do. I don't have the money for car repairs. I haven't been having a good week.

I am adding six dollar bills to the challenge that were in my pocketbook. I also had enough quarters in the jar for another roll. I can't believe how fast the change is adding up. In a few days I should have some money from a couple of books I sold on amazon. My goal is to add this to my savings without spending any of it. I keep spending money that I had planned to add to my savings.

I need to get some housework done today and I have a ton of homework I need to get started on. I will be back later to update on the stuff I got really cheap at the grocery store yesterday.

Previous total: 247.00
Money today: 16.00
New total: 263.00

Hey look! I hit $250.00! I never knew I would get there so fast. I need to get this in the bank and transferred into an ING account.

DH just counted the pennies in our change jar and rolled 0.50 worth. LOL I will add that before I forget.

Previous total: 246.50
Money today: 0.50
New total: 247.00

***Edited*** I had my previous total wrong here so I have had to go back and change all the entries after this one. I counted my money this morning and it was $4.00 off. I see why now

I got some of my paycheck today (my pay is so weird I won't even get into that) and I forgot to count my dollars. I have four.

Previous total: 242.50
Money today: 4.00
New total: 246.50

I cashed my $22.30 from Treasure Trooper today. The $22.00 is going into my account and the 0.30 went in the change jar. I should have more to add from where my sister paid me back but I spent it.

Previous total: 220.50
Money today: 22.00
New total: 242.50

I am adding more money to my challenge. I had 2 dollar bills in my wallet and added enough change to the jar to make another roll of quarters. I also got a check from treasure trooper but I won't add that until tomorrow when I get it cashed. I am getting close to that $250 mark and want to open an ING account online but I am looking for a referral link to get $25.00 or something. I am still new to all the ING and Emigrant stuff so I don't know what to do with this money. LOL

About treasure trooper. I just did a few things here and there, all were free. Some I had to fill out a short survey, some I just had to enter my zip code. The check that came today was for $22.30. Here is my link if anyone wants to sign up. I will get some sort of percentage of what you make.

http://www.treasuretrooper.com/208439

Previous total: 208.50
Money today: 12.00
New total: 220.50

I am keeping all of my loose change in a jar. Once the change is enough to put into a coin wrapper I am going to put it in another container and count it in the challenge. I haven't been counting the change since it would be hard to keep up with but I think this system will make it easy. I can't believe how much change we have saved up. We had a bunch of pennies befpre but just started saving the silver change when I started posting here.

I have $10.50 in pennies and $17.00 in silver change.

Previous total: 181.00
Money today: 27.50
New total: 208.50

I have been getting so into this coupon stuff lately. Yesterday I got 10 cans of Progresso soup (normally $2.39 each) for $6.00. I got 7 boxes of Hamburger Helper for $3.50 and 4 boxes of Pasta/Rice-a-roni for $2.00. I also got 2 100 oz containers of Wisk laundry detergent for $4.00, and three jars of Ragu pasta sauce for $2.00. I am proud of my baby stockpile. LOL



I am also adding my husband's $13 weekly gas money to my challenge total. I still need to list some stuff on ebay and Amazon. I may do that today.

Previous total: 168.00
Money today: 13.00
New total: 181.00

My husband got a new job in October and about three weeks after he started, his uncle started working there too. DH always drives to work so his uncle gives him $13 a week in gas money. (I'm not sure how they agreed on that number but it is always the same LOL). I told DH since he has to drive to work anyway the $13 is extra and needs to go into our savings account. He finally agreed

Previous total: 155.00
Money today: 13.00
New total: 168.00

Now that I am getting into this couponing I wish I had more coupons. I only get one paper and so if I find a great deal I only get more of them. I can buy them online for a "handling fee" but I wish I could get them free. Any ideas?

Today I went to CVS and got the Dove hand soap (I love love love this stuff) for $1.50 after the $2.50 sale price - $1.00 coupon. (Normally $3.49.) I also bought Real Simple magazine (my fav) which was $2.50 after the $2.00 off coupon. They have the Pledge dusting starter kits on sale for $2.99 and there was a coupon in the paper for $3.00 making them free. They were out of these so I got a raincheck for five and ordered the coupons off of a site.

I also went to Wal Mart and got the Glade air freshener buy one get one free. I went to the self check out and the lady supervising was completely clueless. She scanned my coupon and punched in the amount which took off the 0.97. She should have been done there but since she was so clueless, she suspended my entire order, went over to her register and opened it back up and then voided the air freshener, which I kept. My coupon showed 0.97 off with a coupon and 0.97 off for a void. I got them both free. Normally I would have said something but I was tired of being there and I knew it would just confuse her more.

Anyone else get any good deals today?

I am trying to learn how to use coupons to get things for free or almost free. I used to kind of do it once before but mostly with printable coupons that most places don't accept any more. I will use this blog to record the great deals I get. The only one I have got so far would have been better if I had had more coupons.

This week Bi-Lo had Quaker Oatmeal on sale 10/$10.00. The paper had coupons for $0.50 off one. Doubled this made the oatmeal free.

I hope to have much more to add soon.

I haven't had any money to add to the challenge lately but wanted to write about Saturday. We went up to Maggie Valley and took the kids Snow Tubing. (There was no snow on the ground but they had man made snow to tube in.) At first I didn't want to go because I wanted to save the money, but we ended up having a great time and got out pretty cheap.

We drove up there and bought the kids tickets to tube ($5 each for 1 hour and 45 minutes). Then we went to a local pizzeria and got their special. They had a 12" cheese pizza for $4.95. We bought two of those and drinks ($17.00). Then we took the pizza to a park in Lake Junaluska, which is absolutely beautiful. We walked on the rose walk beside the lake and behind the lake you could see the mountains. It was so pretty.

Lake Junaluska


I was so proud that we didn't blow money just because we had it. We drove the 2 1/2 hours home so we didn't have to pay for a hotel room, we didn't buy anything in any of the little gift stores, etc. We ended up spending $65 total which includes the snow tubing, lunch, drinks, gas, and snacks on the way. Here are a couple of pictures (if it works lol).

Here are the kids right before they told us tickets were sold out until 6:00 (which was 3 hours away).


Here's my son Tre tubing. He is 7.


Here is my daughter Maleah tubing. She is 3. She only did it a few times and then decided it was too wet in the tube to sit in it any more.


Here they both are about to come down at the same time.

I haven't had much money to add to the challenge lately but I took five whole dollars out of my check today to add to it. LOL I know it's not much but every little bit helps.

I know some people were saying in the forums that you were supposed to take $20 and turn it into more money or find new ways to save, but I guess I am not really doing the challenge that way. I have never had any savings so every bit of money I add to my savings is a new way to save for me. LOL I have always blown money and so saving anything is a big deal to me. Also, I have never cooked so much in my life. We are saving tons of money on fast food and my husband enjoys coming home to dinner. I have been clipping coupons too and looking for things that are on sale that we normally buy. Lots of things have changed around here since I found this site.

I am going to sell some old textbooks (and one new one that I can't use this semster or return without a receipt) on Amazon. My financial aid pays for these books so I am not losing out on that money. It will just come out of the amount that I would get back in my financial aid check. I am also going to list some stuff on ebay.

OK I am done rambling for now Thanks for you guys who read this and support me with your comments and for everyone who has their own blog and gives me so much inspiration.

Starting total: 150.00
Money today: 5.00
New total: 155.00

I am spending way too much money. Today I loaned out 20 more dollars to my MIL (which should be fine she said she would pay me back tomorrow) and then on the way home from school I ended up getting fast food which I didn't want to do. But it was getting late and I knew I didn't have time to cook before the kids went to bed.

Then my son's scout leader called and said we needed to pay $15 this week for some fees. I will pay that with the money MIL pays me back I guess.

I had $100 yesterday and I am down to $29.00. I asked my husband what I should do with it and he said to add it to our savings. So that is $29.00 more to my challenge account. Tomorrow is a no spend day for me. I mean it. LOL

Starting total: 121.00
Money today: 29.00
New total: 150.00

Today I tried to be really conscious of where my money was going. I took a 5 minute shower and didn't buy as much as I normally would have. I wanted to buy a snack a few different times but I did OK with that. I spent more than I should have though.

I spent $3.52 on soap for the kids. This was a good deal. They were $2.82 each and I had a coupon for $2.50 on two. I spent $1.00 on a drink at school. I forgot to bring one and I was thirsty. Then I spent $3.62 on cigarettes. Needed those after class. I loaned my sister $20.00 too. She really needed it and I had it extra. When she pays me back I will add it to my challenge money.

My total challenge money for the day is $7.00. I bought my friend breakfast at McDonalds last week and forgot. She paid me back the $5 she owed me today. Then I had 2 dollar bills from my spending today.

Starting total: 114.00
Money today: 7.00
New total: 121.00

We have decided that along with change we are going to save our dollar bills. We used to do this and it adds up really quickly. We had to stop when times got really bad for us there for a while. DH broke his arm in two places, spent several days in the hospital, and was out of work for about 5 months. Anyway, he started a great job in October and we are finally getting back on track.

When I got my money out of my wallet today to put together my bank deposit for tomorrow I was suprised I had 15 dollar bills. I took 1 out of our change jar (the only one in there) and DH had 3 in his wallet. Total for today is $19.00.

We will not count the change we collect until it is actually deposited. It will be easier to keep up with this way.

I cashed out all my online earning today but it will take up to 8 weeks for some of it to go into my paypal account or come by check so I won't count that either until I get it.

Starting total: 95.00
Money today: 19.00
New total: 114.00

These are some places where I make extra money online. Some are very very low paying and some are pretty good. I have included my referral links in case anyone wants to sign up but of course you can just go to the regular site and sign up if you wanted. I also fill out surveys and stuff that are just for points towards merchandise but I only added here sites that give out actual money.

http://www.treasuretrooper.com/208439
( I have made $22.30 with them since the end of December)

http://www.tiktikcash.com
(I have earned $13.21 with them since Dec.)
They don't have referral links but if I refer someone through their site and they join I will get $5.00. If you want me to refer you just leave your email address

http://cashduck.com/members/register.php?ref=AutumnxButterfly
(Made $19.75 with them since Dec.)

http://www.cashcrate.com/index.php?ref=149087
(Made $7.15 with them since Dec.)

http:www.daytipper.com
(They will pay you $3.00 for every tip you submit that gets published. So far I have submitted 8 tips and 6 are pending publishing. This means they will get published for sure and they will send me the money in my paypal account.)

http://www.instantprofitz.com/?ref=AutumnxButterfly
(I have made $5.50 with them since Dec.)

So that is over $85 I have made in less than a month. I haven't cashed any of this out yet but when I do I will add it to my $20 challenge money.

I still don't completely understand the $20 challenge but I want to go ahead and get mine started I took $20 out of my paycheck to start. Today we sold a crib that was just sitting in the garage for $75.00. Later I am going to gather up all the loose change in the house and add that. I plan to sell some stuff on ebay too. I want to put all the money I make into a savings account. I also make a little extra money on some survey sites but I will get into that later

Starting total: 20.00
Money today: 75.00
New total: 95.00