Coming to terms with a pay cut

We were struggling with the bills but still making progress when the bad news hit. Pay from my day job is dropping by more than one-third after the first of the year. This would be devastation if it were not for the changes that my family has made. Two changes have had the biggest impact. They are

Dependence

I began the new job last June. Avoiding dependence on the income is one of our wiser financial choices. Losing the income is going to hurt but it's mostly gone on the bills. I would be seriously freaking out if we had grown dependent on the extra income.

Creating space in the budget.

Paying off the bills has been a relief in more ways than one. Once again, I'm giving thanks for having created space in our monthly spending plan by paying off some of the bills. 

Taking the cut is a double edged sword. Although our income is going to be reduced, I still have a day job. This puts me in a better financial position than many Americans. I know that this is a gift and am grateful.

We fell back into the habit of credit cards for a little while but have pretty much climbed out. If those bills hadn't been eliminated, then I would seriously be freaking out about the pay cut. Instead, I'm simply concerned.

Surviving will take some creativity and willpower. I'm not sure how we'll eliminate many more bills. That won't stop me from trying. My family will take it one day at a time and do our best. What other choice is there?

Selling to make money online

A growing pile of medical bills is causing me to evaluate how we're going to become debt free. We're fortunate to have insurance but gee whiz! It's scary that the hospital is generating the statements with lightening speed. They're hitting all at once and I'm starting to look at what we can sell from home to make money.

Are you in the same boat? If so, be sure to leave a comment below. This post might create income generating ideas that we can all use.

It's a no-brainer that to make money you must have a product to sell. My mother used to say "you've got the gift of gab". She didn't mean it as a complement but it's become a productive skill. :-)

My blogs and content writing sites like Yahoo! Voices, RedGage and ExpertsPages earn money. I'm using the funds to reduce debt and pay off the medical bills. Some sites make more than others and blogging is my top priority.

Blogging earns the most income and the content sites come in next. While RedGage is the rock bottom, it's also the only fully transparent site. Flipping through the photos that are posted helps me earn income from home. Take a look at my work by pasting this link into your browser. http://www.redgage.com/youvebeenreviewed

My coyote mug on Zazzle

eBay is the answer to what can I sell online from stuff around the house. I have successfully done this in the past and may do so again. Every time you list something your reputation is at stake. Look at what you have to sell from home and post only the very best items. Accurately calculate shipping by packing and weighing the boxes ahead of time.



Clint Barber seems to have a unique way to make money from home. His site is What can I sell to make money online? You might find it interesting. Copy and paste this url into browser http://whatcaniselltomakemoneyonline.com/about-me/

My Zazzle store is rapidly rising to the top of my charts. You can find my travel photos on postcards, mugs, mousepads and note cards. Last week I sold a few hundred note cards. It's validating that you like the products so much and the money helps. Mugs are great gifts and cards are a good way to keep in touch. Why not take a look at the store?  You might find something that you like there. My Zazzle url is http://www.zazzle.com/gaylecrabtree

Without you, the medical bills would sink my ship. Amazon store sales on My Out of Debt Journey, page views on RedGage, Yahoo! Voices and the content sites all help me make money online from home. I'm looking forward to reading your comments in the section below. Sing out and let us all know what you think.

How randomly clicking online ads hurt bloggers

Did you know that randomly clicking ads on a website can be fraud? It is. It can also get a site removed from the internet and eliminate a blogger's source of income. The reason for this is that advertisers pay good money to put their product before your eyes. They have a reasonable expectation that people who click the ads will be interested enough to look at the product or buy it.

Gayle talking to an interested group.

Have you ever been to a home jewelry, make-up, clothing or plastic container party? Same idea. A hostess invites friends to a home party because the friends may be interested in the product. Money is spent to buy refreshments and invitations with the expectation that people are interested in the product.

The hostess loses money when disinterested people come, munch and leave. When a item sells, the hostess earns a commission. When it happens enough, the products stop arriving and the parties end.

This is exactly how randomly clicking online ads hurt bloggers.  Our blogs are the home party that you have been invited to attend. We assume that something in the blog interests you enough that you will essentially join the party. If you see something that you like, then by all means, make the purchase. Otherwise, don't because random clicks through online ads hurt bloggers like myself.

Just as importantly, leave a comment when you visit. The messages help keep the information flowing. What I learn may help you and what you learn may help me. I'm always on the outlook for other blogs with tips that will help my family. (The Duggar family is an example.) Some of the most valuable tips come from readers aka "you".

I am glad that you decided to come to the "party" and hope you enjoy my blog. My hope is that it will be around long after we have become debt free. My writing appears on other sites. If you like to travel, then check out You've Been Reviewed. My photography appears on Red Gage. Those links have fun stuff and information that you may want to read.

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope that you take time to read my other articles on My Out Debt Journey. Be sure to follow me on Networked blogs (link on the left) to journey with my family.

Goodbye bookstore credit card account

We are down one more bill. I said goodbye to my bookstore credit card account. This one was a toughie for lots of reasons. The credit account was to a bookstore that I adore. Not only is it a local place to buy books and talk with staff but, it is also one of my favorite places to pick up gifts. I closed my eyes, handed over my debit card and signed on the dotted line. That was it. I was out the door before I could change my mind (or find something else to buy).

Temptation wasn't finished with me. I was surfing when the ad to open a credit card account at a major online bookseller smacked me in the face. It's hard to tell you how strong the temptation was to open the account. Sitting on my hands is one of the lessons that I'm learning as we dig through the debt pit.

My tactic was to close the computer and take a walk. This gave me time to think things through. Paying off the credit card account at the other bookstore gave me another measure of freedom. Did I really want to exchange that freedom for another ball-and-chain load of debt?

You should have heard the argument in my head. Then again no, you shouldn't have. Reasoning won out in the end but it was a very close call.

My thinking is that if I could find the willpower to limit my Black Friday shopping, then I could say goodbye to the bookstore credit card account and leave it closed. There is no point in opening another account and struggling to pay it off. It's time to say "enough is enough" and walk away. It's a small victory but it feels good. I think that I'll leave it that way.

How to make extra money for Christmas or bills

If you've hit my blog then you know that my family is trying to get out of debt. That's why my friends are asking how to make extra money for Christmas.

Online writing can help with that but only if you get started now. It can take two weeks to get set up with online writing sites. My suggestion is to write your fingers off during that dead time. This way you can start making extra money for Christmas as soon as you are approved.

I'm putting some blog posts together on my favorite online writing sites. They are all legitimate and can help you make money for Christmas or bills. Here are some questions that I'm asked. Articles on the places that I write for will be here in a couple of days so check back.

Will I get rich?

No, sorry. If I did I wouldn't have to write so much. My income is based on how much I write so it fluctuates. I make more by posting more and less when laziness or illness hits. 

What can I write about?

On these sites you can write about almost anything. You may think that you don't have anything to write about. Wrong! Every person has a life, interest, hobby or skill that can be shared. Parents can write about the times they did things right. Crafters who want to make extra money for Christmas can talk about crafts. There are always product, restaurant and event reviews.

How do I make money?
You make money by writing an article and submitting it to the site of your choice. Some will pay upfront and others won't. Almost all (except ghostwriting sites) will pay residual income for the page views that your articles earn. 

Tkey to making money by writing online is to turn out articles quickly. Writers who spend all day on one article won't make as much as writers who generate three, four or ten articles. Try to write quickly but pay attention to grammar and other details.  

Why you need Pay Pal.

Almost all writing companies pay via Pay Pal. No more waiting on a check. Your money arrives faster and more securely. That's important when you are making extra money for Christmas or bills. Go to www.paypal.com if you're not already set up.

A word about payments

Sometimes a tech glitch can cause a payment to be delayed a day or two. It's best to allow for that space no matter who you write for. This can happen with any company. Payments that are due on weekends or holidays will usually be paid on the following work day.

Where can I write?
Not every site works for every person. In the next article we'll take an in-depth look at the sites that contain my work. Unfortunately the information on how to make extra money is too long to be contained in a single article. If this word (next...) isn't hyperlinked please check back tomorrow when the next installment is posted.

Why getting a camper makes financial sense

Friends of ours decided to sell their camper. This is just a simple pop up that you pull behind the car. It's nothing fancy but we decided to buy it. If all works out it should cut our travel costs dramatically and help us save money.

After talking long and hard about it Hubby and I decided to take the plunge. As you know from reading this blog you realize that we are trying to justify every expense. Justifying the pop-up camper was no exception.

When I am physically able to do so I enjoy traveling. In fact, part of the way that I'm making extra money is by writing travel articles. I don't like staying in a high priced hotel. Plus, we have to take my daughter to and from her out of state college. That averages four hotel nights each year. The costs of those sure add up!

After looking at the total costs involved we decided that the pop-up camper makes financial sense. In the long run, it should help us save money on travel expenses.


Towing something behind your vehicle negatively impacts your gas mileage. We factored in a guess of how much the gas mileage would effect my PT Cruiser. Based on coversations with other trailer owners the mpg may be cut by possibly 30%

Next we looked at what we spent for lodging over the past year. When we saw that we spent 1.5 the amount of the cost of the camper buying it became a no-brainer. National parks and state park campgrounds can often be less than $10 per night.  Even with the higher gas costs we believe that the camper should still help us save money.

This is one time when going into debt may help us save money. We hope so anyway. In fact, we're banking on it.

Cost: $900

Use coupon savings to get out of debt

Since I started this blog about getting out of debt people have been asking me all kinds of questions. (Please, keep them coming.)

Questions about coupons are becoming more frequent. This is one of my favorite money saving tools. Usually I'm not a huge coupon clipper. That's beginning to change for me.

Restaurant coupons are my favorites. My day job necessitates dining out frequently. It's 60 miles away and calls for frequent meetings with colleagues. Why pay full price if you don't have to? Restaurant websites are the place to check first for coupons. My only exception to this rule is for upscale eateries for anniversaries and celebrations.

Last month, I was able to snag a restaurant coupon by becoming a member of the Ruby Tuesday email club. The Waffle House email club sent a coupon for a buy-one-get-one waffle. Bojangle's sent a coupon for a free biscuit.

Half Off Depot is another favorite place to check for coupons and deals. You can pick up vouchers for stores, events and restaurants here.

You can also pick up fliers and circulars at gas stations. These little papers have coupons for restaurants, oil changes and all kinds of things. They can really help with the bottom line.

I also like shopping the internet is for deals. We all know about the low prices you can sometimes snag on Ebay and we're used to hearing about Amazon for books and CDs.

For my daughter's 21st birthday we decided to price check Amazon for inflatable boats. They beat the local competition by $20. Because Hubby is an Amazon Prime member we didn't even have to pay for the shipping. What a deal!

Shopping for shoes online is my next big adventure. That's what my endless.com coupon is going to be for. I've heard from friends who have gotten very good results with shoe purchases online. We just bought shoes for my daughter so I'm next.

I try to put the money back that I would have spent. This helps me realize the savings and gives me a few extra dollars to put towards a bill. It all helps.

Let me know what you think about non-grocery store coupons. Do they help you? Where do you find them?

Two more bills down and paid off

We have two more bills down and paid off. Getting control of our finances it pretty darned hard. I think it will be worth it though. The breathing space is a relief.

If this is your first visiting this blog let me explain what we're doing. My family and I are average. There's nothing special about us. Like most families we struggle to make ends meet.

It became apparent a few months ago that extra income was going to be needed to help pay off our bills. The challenge was to find something to work around our often chaotic schedules.

Then I found an online website to write for. Recently, it became the Yahoo Contributor Network. The extra money has been a huge help in paying of credit card bills and other debt. In searching for other companies I found Examiner and Factoidz.

The amount of money that I make from writing online isn't huge but it's helped me pay off $200 worth of bills this month and a couple of months ago it helped me buy a new netbook.

The hard part has been rolling the former payments onto other bills to pay them off more quickly. Look for another blog post about that in the future.

Why poor people can't stop the debt cycle

I've read a lot of articles about being poor and experienced it myself. Nothing says it better than 5 Things Nobody Tells You About Being Poor. It outlines the cycle very well.

A few experts say that making more money won't solve financial problems because you will blow it the extra income. I've been told that the key is to manage what you have. I've also been told to use financial windfalls to pay off past due bills.

I'm sure that works fine for some people. If it works for you, good. Part of the problem for my family is that there isn't enough income to cover everything. After all, that's why I'm writing.

Let me put it in concrete terms. A young couple starting out doesn't have a washing machine. They go to the laundromat and pay, pay, pay. Pretty soon they could have bought a washer. The way to stop using the laundromat is to buy a washing machine.

But, money they could use for a washer is being spent at the laundromat. If the new couple could have afforded a washer they would have gotten one. So, the cycle continues. The pattern is broken when someone either steps in to buy them one or they get a windfall and buy it.

General finances seem to be that way too.  At least mine are. That's why I'm using the money earned by writing to pay off bills. Give me a week or two to get over a health issue and I'll post new totals.

Granted, the writing money isn't a huge amount. It's literally $5 - $10 here and $3 there or maybe a few pennies from ad clicks on the site. But, that $5 is a little over a gallon of gas. Toss in those pennies and at the end of the month and it's 2 gallons of gas.

Thank you for reading my Getting Out of Debt Journey.  If you are on this journey with me please stay encouraged. Every little bit adds up and every 'add-up' pays down a bill. I think that we can do this.

Let's cheer each other on in the comments section shall we?

What I liked about Managing Debt for Dummies

Reading as many helpful books as possible is part of my getting out of debt plan. Obviously, I know nothing about dealing with or handling money. If I did, my family possibly wouldn't be in this mess.

Past experience with the"...for Dummies" series has always been pretty good. So, I decided to check there to see what is available. Once again, this series did not let me down.

I've found Managing Debt For Dummies to be a pretty helpful guide. The book cost me $11.55 on Amazon. Used bookstores may have a copy for less.

The chapters are well laid out and written in a light conversational tone. The author manages to help you believe that it's possible to get a handle on your debt situation.

Granted, the information in the book isn't always pleasant. No one likes 'Facing Financial Facts' as outlined in chapter 2.


The chapter in Managing Debt For Dummies that spoke to me the most is the Chapter 3. Adopting an Attitude for Success is something that I'm struggling with. This part of the book has helped me keep a positive focus, motivate my family to help and its helped me deal with the setbacks in a more positive way.

One of the things that is mentioned is to not beat yourself if up you feel like you are responsible for you family's financial woes (paraphrased). Managing Debt For Dummies is helping me see that if I am responsible for it then I can improve it.

Even better than seeing that is believing it to be true. The book is reinforcing my belief that things can get better and its helping give me tools to do just that.

There website www.dummies.com also has some helpful tools. Check under Personal Finance to learn about having fun for free, creating a budget, dealing with financial shortfalls and more.

I'll be posting about other tools as I find them. If you know of any please give a shout out in the comments section. I'm happy for all the information that I can get! :-)

My new Asus 1001PXD netbook tops expectations

My new Asus 1001PXD Netbook tops the expectations that I had.  In my earlier post I wrote about getting the netbook I could afford but not the netbook that I wanted. The one that caught my eye had a 9.5 hour battery, extra memory and a few more bells and whistles.



My expectations for this Asus were low. After reading the online reviews my expectation was that this computer would be about as fast as a stampede of turtles. Instead, it's a peppy little machine that is suiting my needs perfectly. It probably wouldn't work for gaming but handles email and word processing just fine. Plus, it has the added bonus of being (almost) within my budget.



Money is always important. When you are trying to get out of debt you have to justify almost every dollar spent. It's tough to do that. We've been slammed with extra expenses these past few weeks. The last thing I needed was to purchase an expensive laptop.



The unexpected death of my previous netbook left me in a jam. For me, a computer isn't a luxury. It's a necessity. In addition to my blogs I write on Examiner, Yahoo Contributor Network and Factoidz. Without a computer I'm dead in the water.



But, justifying a cost and paying the bill can be two different things. I'm very fortunate to have found a computer for $250. Just as importantly, I'm lucky to have had extra writing come my way. It looks like the writing will pay for the Asus 1001 PXD netbook this month. Yay!



A little more dancing on the keyboard may help me pay another bill too. That's the plan anyway. The month is young and the sky is the limit. Let's see how high we can fly to help get rid of the debt, shall we?

Cost of new netbook threatens debt reduction progress

We had another unexpected challenge to our get out of debt plan this week. It became time for a new Asus netbook and it's not what I wanted to have happen at all.

My fateful Asus Netbook bit the dust after 2.5 years of heavy use.  It survived the wilds of Alaska, the confines of my backback and everywhere else that I have been. It's been dropped, bumped and banged around and survived - until now.

It turns out that my daughter's cute little puppy is the one thing that the Asus Netbook could not survive.  He crashed right into the electrial cord when he went bounding across the house. My trusty Asus computer went one direction. Each half of the electrical cord went in other directions.  Believe me when I say that the sight wasn't pretty.

Debt isn't fun. I don't need a math tutor to figure out that our get out of debt plan slid backwards some more.  Earlier this month we maxed out one credit card when car repair costs exceeded $1,200.

The computer isn't the one of my dreams.At $250.00 from Amazon.com it's the netbook that fits my budget.  If we hadn't been pushing so hard to reduce our debt I probably would made a bad decision. It's likely that I would have borrowed the money and gotten the Asus netbook with the bells and whistles that I'd like to have.

Thankfully, extra writing work came my way that may cover my new netbook. I'm still working on the car repair. Something tells me that I'll be at it awhile.  We're going to have a yard sale next month that should help too. On the plus side, if we hadn't worked off some of the older debt my car would be forlorn but not forgotten in my driveway.

The new Asus netbook is an expense that I didn't want but it is a tool that I need.  Without the extra income getting out of debt wouldn't be a real possibility. Despite the problems I think that the future still looks brighter.

Still plugging away at getting out of debt

We're still plugging away at getting out of debt. Recent car issues hit us hard. This week hasn't been as happy as I had hoped but we're still writing and gaining ground. So far, we've not had to dip into any other credit. My writing can go toward the recent huge bill. It's not making much but it is helping some.

The blogs are not hugely monetized and don't bring in much. People have asked if I'm striking it rich as a blogger. The answer is no. On a good month the blogs earn enough for about 2 tanks of gas. This particular blog is new so it hasn't earned anything.

My Getting Out of Debt Journey exists mostly to keep me on track. It's becoming clear to me that getting out of debt means changing my behavior. This blog reminds me of what's at stake if bad spending habits creep back up on me.

Blogging is fun and rewarding. It takes awhile to build up readership and get page views (although this one is certainly plugging along). The average person won't make a lot of money.

I'm writing this post for those who are working at getting out of debt. Even if you don't make much by blogging it's ok. There are lots of reasons for creating a blog. Making money doesn't have to be one of them.

Our get out of debt plan is tested by huge car repair bill

I knew we’d be tested on our plan to get out of debt and it didn’t take long.

Thank goodness we’ve been working hard to try to get out of debt. The extra breathing space helped us deal with all the car repair bills that we had last week.  Without that space I am not sure what we would have done.

Let me just say here that last week was pretty ugly with car repair bills.

Here’s what the cost round-up looked like last week:

$451 Midas trip

$220 Jim Cogdill Dodge trip

$48.95 Midas 

$299.81 Midas

$10 Wal-Mart

_________________________________

Total car repair bills: $1,030.00

Plus, receipts show that we spent just under $200 in gas. We wound up making several trips with both vehicles on the road between here and there. Add the car repair bills to the gas amount and the total is shocking. 

Earlier this month, I took some of what used to be bill payments and renewed our $207 AAA Premiere membership.  Knowing that we had it in place was a huge comfort last week! 

The bad thing is that I did have to use the credit card for part of the car repair bills. I'm pretty bummed out about it. We remembered our credit card lesson from the last big car repair bill. Juggling and finagling reduced the credit amount we needed.

Getting out of this hole will take some digging. However, our earlier work kept the hole from being as deep as it could have been. The car repair bills that could have blown us out of the water didn’t. That’s a pretty good feeling.

No thanks on the Discover credit card

A friend read my blog and made a suggestion that surprised me. Her idea was for me to get a Discover credit card to help with my car repair bills. This sound great but would actually work against me.

We got into trouble before with a credit card and a car repair bill. What looked like an easy fix caused us much more in the long run. Sure, we can whip out a card and sign on the dotted line. When the bill comes due at the end of the month (or 30 days) it still has to be paid.

What happened then would probably happen if I got a Discover credit card. We put the car repair on it. Then, we got hit with another repair about the time the credit car bill came due. Our problem was that we had to pay the repair plus the work that we already had done. Plus, we had the interest.

A Discover card may be ideal for some people. For us, we're trying to eliminate all of our credit cards. I'm pretty sure that opening an account there, even with 0% APR for six months, will be counterproductive.

I know that she meant well. It's just that opening an account would go against what we need to do. Thanks for suggesting a Discover credit card though. I appreciate the thought.

Car repair tests my goal to get out of debt

We knew our good luck wouldn't last forever. It happened and we may have passed our first test (although not with flying colors). I'm talking about how my car repair tests my goal to get out of debt. 

I've found out that you can ignore the knock under the hood but it's harder to ignore a problem that almost leaves you stranded on I-75. After getting it started again we decided to head over to Midas in Knoxville. These guys can fix just about anything. 

Since the car repair would test my goal to get out debt we braced for impact. At 210,000+ miles the spark plugs and wires were well past their prime. Those were changed and a couple of sensors. Midas in Knoxville charged $433. Hubby called around to compare prices for this article. The guys did a great job and the price is good.

My PT Cruiser

The problem is that the car wasn't fixed. We wound up heading over to Jim Cogdill Dodge. I really felt that his car repair would test my goal to get out of debt now. Car repair bills from dealerships aren't cheap. We braced for more impact. Replacing a part near one of the sensors cost $220. 

I picked the car up, almost got stranded and headed back to the dealership. Kudos to the tech for finding the problem. One of the new sensors was bad. There was no additional charge to replace it and Midas gave our money back to us for the sensor repair. 

Our unexpected expense hit is $500. I've made about $200 in writing so far this month. The challenge will be to see if I can make the whole total. 

Hubby has some reimbursements coming from work that will help too. The hit is impacting my goal to get out of debt. We've done pretty well though. Now, to see how we do for the rest of the month. I'm taking Hubby's lunch to him as I head to the grocery store. Done more frequently, little things like that help too.

Why I'm starting another blog

I guess the first thing that needs to be done is explain why I'm starting another blog. I do have two others to update and most of my posts have appeared on the blog that bears my name.

The problem is that my readers have mentioned some difficulties. For some unknown reason some people want to follow my rants. Other followers are interested in how I'm getting out of debt (or trying to). Things are now being separated to keep thing simple.

I'm getting out of debt by managing better and by raising additional income. The blogs are helping with that. Each one has and will have links in the sidebar and posts. Plus, there will be sponsored posts that help. The income isn't  huge but all the extra goes on bills.

Raising additional income is what led to my Youve Been Reviewed blog. I love seeing my friends! Eating lunches out with them was eating holes in my pocket. Restaurant  reviews helped me recoup some of the costs. The reviews are on my blog and a writing site.

Traveling is one of my great passions. One of my daughters lives 9 hours away. Plus, we like to take vacations. We always look for the best deals but even with those a trip is still sometimes out of reach. Funding those vacations led to more travel reviews and write ups on different parts of the country.

What we owe is holding us back from what we want to do. I'm getting out of debt so we can accomplish more of what we want to do.

So, there you have it. It's not easy. I've already been frustrated several times! But, I've also paid off two credit cards and removed other bills from our debt load. This gives me hope. You are welcome to join me on the journey. If you do, be sure to sit down and buckle up. It may be a bumpy ride.

Making those car payments

Making those car payments feels like a hamster in a wheel.  Signing that note seems like so very long ago. The length of the loan was for five and a half years. One daughter entered graduate school and the other graduates from college in May.

The current payoff date is for 2/12.  As of today, we still owe $3,100 on the car. We're going to be adding to our payments a little each month. The goal is an early pay off. Keep your fingers crossed. Making those higher car payments may be a rough ride but I'm convinced that we can do it.

$3,100 - April 2011