Finding Money-A Challenge for Bloggers.

The Raz Man and I decided that we were going to save an additional $2012.00 in 2012. And we also decided it wasn't going to come from our pay cheques or from lopping $25.00 here and there from the grocery bill (which is a good idea in itself). It was going to be found money. Money waiting and lying in the wings to be found. We felt there had to be sources of cash that we overlooked or were just too lazy to take a good look at. So all year, we are going to find these sources of cash and CASH IN.

If anyone is interested in this as a Challenge, I can do a Link Up on the first of each month.?????? If you wish to do so, you are already a month behind so you have 11 months less a week to find $2012.00 in your house. But you can do it. Think how great it will feel in January 2013 when you go to the bank to invest your $2012.00.

Over the next few weeks I will post some ideas as I discover them.  I also plan to have some guest bloggers, so if you have some great ideas please contact me and we can post them to help us all.

My ideas are mainly to make money on things we do everyday or have lying around unused which are basically money badly spent and wasting away. We will unload on Craiglist stuff we no longer need, make the time to return our beer and wine bottles to the store for the deposit money (I've been leaving them in the recycling bin as I hate bottles in the garage. A fellow comes by and takes them and I thought it was a good idea as maybe he needed the money, but then I saw him outside his own house and it was twice the size of mine. He's just smarter than me) So, I will return my bottles from now on. Saving coins, returning unworn items to stores that allow it past the 30 days etc.,  Each month I will recap what we did and how much we "FOUND".

January

Ad Sense.  I put a lot of effort into my blog, and although a lot of people hate ads on blogs, I decided that Blogger was going to pay me for my material.  I signed up for AdSense, placed it as un-obtrusively as possible on my sidebar and let it run for the month of December. In December I made about $12.00.  But in January I made over $21.00. Found money. Money we didn't have yesterday.

We needed a new washer and dryer for our Florida house.  The set we had there were apartment sized and far too small to handle loads of sheets and towels that people staying at the house needed to do before departing.  Lowe's takes away your old appliances for free when you buy new ones.  Normally, I would go for convenience and let them haul it away, but I was curious as to where they went. I asked the sales guy  if they went to a charity and he said NO.  They sell them at auction or to used appliance shops.  So Lowe's makes money on my old goods.  Which is fine because who wants to lug a washer and dryer yourself?.  I called a local church to see if they had an Outreach program and someone who needed them, but they didn't.  We were out driving and spotted a place called Nu to Yu Appliances.  The sign said "We buy your old appliance."  I called them and in 20 minutes, David was at the house with a dolly and hauling them out (with a bit of help from me).  Gone.  $100.00 in my pocket. 

So January finished with an extra $121.15 in our pocket.  At they end of the year, we are going to put this into a Retirement Savings Plan which means we will save the % of tax owed on it in that year and the return on investment in 10 years could be around $526.09. If we can do that each year for 10 years, when we are 65 we will have an extra $25,000.  Now I know the best way to save is to spend less, and we plan to do that too, but this is an interesting experiment in realizing how much money you can find without working that hard. 

February is off to a great start.  I will recap this month on March 1 and if any of you would like to join in (although we are a month behind in starting ) I will do a Link Party on March 1, so keep track of your found money.

COMPOUND INTEREST
Principal		Months 1 = .08 2 = .17 3 = .25 4 = .33 5 = .42 6 = .50 7 = .58 8 = .67 9 = .75 10 = .83 11 = .92
Rate
Years
Amount
Interest