I never took the chance to talk to you about our financial status at the end of last month, because it was... bad. I know I told you it would be earlier in the month, so I felt very little need to reiterate this fact.
Unfortunately, I'm not really looking for our finances to improve this month since we are still preparing for guests in May. Instead of talking about the negative though, let me talk a bit about how our finances have improved in the last 3 months since I began keeping track. According to Mint, Justin and I have been putting away approximately $1500 a month (whether in savings or paying down credit cards/student loans) in the past 3 months in comparison to -$20 in the 7 months prior. Naturally that means that Justin and I were spending $1,480 more than necessary during those 7 months. Think about it. That is a lot! That is $17,760 per year! Or $177,600 over the course of 10 years! If that doesn't show the importance of budgeting, I'm not really sure what does.
However, this large amount that we are saving per month could be more, assuming we got our mini budgets under control. (Last month we spent $300 more on food than our budget allows. Was it because of Easter? Do we just like cooking that much? We need to understand why our money goes where it goes.)
In the mean time, I've been using apps on my iphone to make money. I'm only going to recommend two today, but there are definitely more out there. It seems that the more money you can make, even if it is in the most random ways possible, the more money you can save.
1. Viggle -- Viggle is absolutely awesome, easy to use, and easy to make money. Ok, well maybe you won't make tons of money using it, but it is so easy to use that it doesn't much matter. Basically, when you watch a tv show, you open viggle and allow it to listen to what you are watching. Once it syncs with the tv channel and figures out what tv show you are watching, you can switch apps and check facebook, twitter, the internet, or just sit back, relax and watch your show. (It also works on tv shows found on the internet.) As you watch tv shows, you earn points. When you earn a certain amount of points, you can cash out for gift cards or rewards!
Isn't that awesome?!?! You get paid for watching tv! Don't try to watch more than one show at once though. Viggle will only give you points for the shows you do watch. If you watch less than the shows' worth of time, you won't get full credit if you try to match viggle up with another tv show.
2. EasyShift -- I actually did my first Easy Shift assignment last night. :) When you log in to the app, they have options to choose which "shifts" you want to do. Depending on the area you live in, you may have a lot of options or you may only have a few. Typically a shift involves going to a store, taking pictures of whatever they ask you to photograph, and answering a few questions. Once you are done and your assignment has been approved, you get money put straight into your paypal account! Just like that you have "free" money! It's even better if you are going to be at that particular store shopping anyway!
Anyway, I was excited to discover these phone apps and to think positively about the improvement of our budget. Thank you all for keeping me in check!
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