Owner: Spilling Buckets URL:http://www.spillingbuckets.blogspot.com/ Join Date: Mon, 14 Apr 2008 20:59:49 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: We are 23/24, recently graduated, engaged, beginning careers, and a life together. One snowy day in Rochester we sat down and put together some financial goals, called them buckets, and tried to stack them in an order we felt fit us best. The purpose of t Site statistics:Click here
Borosilicate Glass 2008-04-24 13:39:00 Yesterday I went to a borosilicate glass bead making class at a local studio, Studio 34. It was a TON of fun. I get to go and pick up my cooled beads from the studio tonight after work, and hopefully I have some that are nice enough to actually wear. (I'll post pictures later)So besides being really awesome, how does this relate to personal finance?This class was funded 100% by the fun tax. The nice thing about our fun tax is that we get a replenished supply of money with each pay check, so once a week. This means we have to space our fun throughout the month, and insures that sanity remains. This also means there isn't a large amount at any given time, unless we go "without fun" for a while and let things build up.It was a little expensive for only 2 hours, but it was worth it to me. Read more:Glass
Free Stuff = Happy Mouth 2008-04-28 20:59:00 Today's Freebies promote dental hygiene and happy companions. It's always good to brush before you go to bed, especially if you can use free toothpaste.Feeling a little Extreme? For those of you with sensitive teeth, try Sensodyne, or try both, just please don't wait the full four weeks for the free paste to arrive. Since these are the first Spilling Buckets free sample posts from Walmart.com , and it hasnt been long enough for us to get stuff yet, I included a little more info on their offers.About.com Excerpt from Lee Seat's info on Walmart.com freebies.... "What are the risks in requesting the free offers from Walmart?: Walmart states that they will not share your information, but they may send you their own marketing information. I've registered for free offers at Walmart and have not Read more:Happy
, Free Stuff
Book Review: Getting Things Done 2008-04-29 15:10:00 As mentioned earlier, a goal of mine is to read and review at least one personal finance or self improvement book a month. Here is this month's review:R and I stumbled upon The Simple Dollar's pf blog and his list of some of the best books that have made the largest impact on his life. One of those books that stood out to us was Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen. We decided it was a book worth investing in and both read it cover to cover in a weekend.A fantastic, life altering read!Allen's main idea is that your brain loses productivity when it is bogged down by a million things to do, so by removing all of these things from your head you greatly increase the ability to get things done. A good analogy, and one he uses in the book, is when your computer
Getting Paid to Blog! 2008-04-29 14:08:00 I just signed up for PayPerPost and am very excited! I know several other bloggers, including Krystal and Twiggers, have been using this source of extra income for a while, and I have seen some really interesting products sponsored by their posts.So, in the spirit of extra income streams I decided to sign up and test it out. PayPerPost is a site where advertisers purchase blog reviews for their products in order to get the word out. It's a win-win situation because the bloggers get paid to post about things that interest them AND the the advertisers get their products marketed to target audiences. You only select offers that really interest you, so even though the posts are sponsored they are honest.In addition to paid offers there is a whole community of bloggers (bloggers who use PPP are Read more:Getting Paid
SB's Income Streams Review: Check Mark Inc. 2008-04-30 16:00:00 Just to let you know we reviewed Check
Mark inc. a mystery shopping company we have been members of since January. It has been placed on the SBIncomeStreams
Page under Active Income Streams / Mystery Shopping......Check Mark Inc.:This company appears to have many interesting types of mystery shops to complete; unfortunately the opportunities ...Read the Full Post Here(Archived under Active Streams and Mystery Shopping) Oh, and don't forget your fiber. Free fiber is always better than that for which we have to pay.
We Did It!... if only by a hair 2008-04-30 08:44:00 Today is the last day of the April Budget Challenge...And we made it with $2.39 to spare!This challenge was to pick any category you struggle with in your budget and make it really work for the month.Our personal goal was to spend no more than $300 on groceries from March 27th - April 24th (4 weeks exactly) in addition the April Challenge of spending under $250 for all 30 days of the month.This budget did not include going out to eat; that came directly from the fun tax. We ended up going out to eat a lot this month, and spent $159.39. April was a little unusual though, in addition to our normal habits it was also my Grandma's birthday so went out to eat at home and on the drives, plus two friends came to visit on separate weekends which led to more eating out.Overall, for the month of Ap
Where is your yacht? 2008-05-04 09:25:00 How do we grow wealth? This is such a huge question, and in my mind just about the most important challenge any of us might be faced with. Smart control over money will unlock freedoms in all stages of life, regardless of income level or periods of adversity we might wake up and find ourselves in.As I look back at some of the things I have learned formally in college about finance and investing, floods of jumbled technical jargon and mathematical formulas come rushing back. I was not a finance major ( technology major with a minor in finance ) but what curriculum I did experience had little connection to the real world. The number of voices today claiming they have the right answers and the magic hotel key cards to unlock untold wealth is staggering, and for a fee they will share these id
MapMyRun 2008-05-05 21:12:00 PowderPuff turned me on to MapMyRun.com, a site that lets you map out the distances you run and helps you keep work out goals.I am trying to turn running into a habit rather than something I force myself to do, and signing up for the personal distance goal might be the final push that gets me motivated to actually change.I have been using MapMyRun to record my workouts and monitor improvements. We have an exercise bike in the apartment, and a great subdivision across the street to run though in nice weather. The website calculates the distance of each route, as well as your personal stats. I entered my biographic information, Female, 23, weight, height, etc, and after a run I enter how long it took me to complete. After entering all this information MapMyRun calculates my average pace
SELL SELL SELL! BUY BUY BUY! 2008-05-09 07:05:00 Remember my post about my annual review and raise? Well the raise hadn't taken effect yet and I had to see the HR person for our department about something else, so I inquired about the status.I got a mixed report; apparently raises normally take effect in July, and I will be switching to a higher pay grade then. If I wait until July for the raise it will be a percentage of the higher base rather than my current salary, which comes out to a larger cash increase. She could put the raise through now, but then it is a percentage of my current salary and I won't get a raise in July, I will only change grades.So it makes sense to wait, but it will be three months from my review before the paperwork is even started. Good news from this, she said my boss asked for the maximum raise allowed which
How many drips make a trickle? 2008-05-08 21:18:00 We just finished reviewing another active income stream, this time another survey site: Opinion Outpost.Read our full review here. I am also working on compiling and tracking the specific streams and opportunities in an easy to compare and read format. The spreadsheet shown below is just a simple tabulation of the Opinion category of Active Streams and the different tasks and their cash value. As we explore and collect more and more streams the goal will be to easily see which are the most profitable ( and fun ) and prioritize our extra money making time.A few dollars here and there may not seem like much, but over time we have turned this kind of stuff into a hobby that we both really enjoy. It's just now month one of our collecting of income streams and we have managed to tack on an ext
Good-bye my friend: The Red Sled [1993-2008] 2008-05-11 19:05:00 This is a story of loss and gain. I was very fortunate during my college years to have been given an old family truck to begin my life adventure. He was good friend
I nicknamed the Red Sled. This 93' Chevy S-10 was a loyal sidekick moving me back and forth from my hometown of Erie to Rochester for school. With studded snow tires and 2 forty pound bags of salt (cheapest weight Walmart offered) there wasn't a snowstorm we couldn't conquer. I had a 6 month co-op with Johnson & Johnson in Philadelphia and who do you think hauled all my crap down and back. Yeah we got stuck in the mud on a camping trip once, and yes we have had our share of trips to Dr. Monroe, but there comes a time when we all must cease existence in our present form, and begin transition to the next phase, whether dirt,
Claim your free $136 from Walmart.com 2008-05-14 14:45:00 Pinecone Research has been added to the list of reviews on the SB's Income Streams page. Take a look if this is something that might interest you.In other news... the first of the free samples we have been requesting arrived in the mail yesterday. It was very exciting! The samples are FrizzEase hair products, Skin Genesis moisturizers, and Sensodyne toothpaste from Wal-Mart. This is a picture of o Read more:Walmart
Grow your Mindset 2008-05-12 14:16:00 May's Book Review is for Mindset
: The New Psychology of Success, by Carol S. Dweck.I got this book during the Association of Psychological Sciences conference in Washington DC last year. Dr. Dweck was the keynote speaker for the conference where she gave a very interesting talk titled: "Can Personality be Changed?" Since the talk was so interesting, and her book was discounted, I decided to pick u
Saving Beef from the Depths of the Freezer 2008-05-15 10:00:00 A few nights ago I was looking in the refrigerator and freezer for things to make for dinner. I didn't have a meal plan that night and was winging it. After moving a few packs of frozen veggies aside I found an old, very freezer burned, steak. Perfect. But after defrosting the meat was tough and brownish; how could I salvage the steak with what was in the pantry and avoid it being totally leat Read more:Saving
, Freezer
Net Worth Update: With Small Potatoes 2008-05-18 18:52:00 It's a beautiful evening here in Rochester, a little chilly, and the sky is an interesting fade of blue with wisps of pink cotton. The sun decided to peak out one last time today after a cold May rain.I'm listening to Alexi Murdoch (some of the free songs we received along with our survey money from Vindale). What a nice way to wrap up a great weekend. I've also been updating our Net Worth
stateme Read more:Update
, Small
, Net Worth
Back at work 2008-05-20 13:01:00 This weekend my cousin, another L, graduated from college in Boston. The graduation was on Monday, but she had an award she was getting on Sunday afternoon so we all came a day early. I am pretty close to my cousin and I flew down to go to the events even though it meant taking Monday off and working a full day this coming Saturday. It was a lot of fun, but too short.The commencement speaker was D
Playing with Fire: Free $50 Bonus 2008-05-20 21:59:00 This is probably the simplest passive income stream to create, it is also potentially the most dangerous. When playing with fire use an Insulating Mitt and have some Fire Extinguishers handy.Most people have credit cards and they use them to charge normal expenses throughout the week and pay off the balance in full well before the due date. Dave would beat us to a pulp but if you don't spend anymo Read more:Bonus
Why do I go to work in the morning? 2008-05-21 23:36:00 It's Friday morning. I am relatively new to the full-time work force having just finished up school. I still can't seem to get into the swing of things. Something feels off. Does it get easier?"Why do I go to work in the morning? I've got enough money. I've got Social Security now, even. [Laughter] I'll make it, you know? The kids won't get much, but that's their problem. So I say, "Why do I go to
Simplicity can be Difficult 2008-05-26 07:39:00 We woke up about 4:30 on Sunday -- made some coffee, had breakfast --and headed out into the morning. The cool damp air created a gentle fog over the fields and ponds warmed by the sun the day before -- the sky was clear -- the roads were deserted -- we were driving. It's been a while since we just threw our fishing poles in the CR-V and drove; we have vowed to do it again and much more often. Wh Read more:Simplicity
Going Back to Being a Student 2008-05-27 12:37:00 I just confirmed my attendance at the Simon School's part time orientation and registration for June 3rd. After the orientation I will be a part-time non-matriculated MBA student.Some of my job perks include tuition assistance for up to 2 classes a semester (completely free of charge at my university, 80% covered at another school), so it won't cost me anything to participate in this program; and Read more:Going
, Student
Frugal Recipe - Homemade Granola Bars 2008-05-29 20:07:00 Last weekend R and I got up really early and went fishing. It was a great day, but one thing was missing - a good, easy, snack. We had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and pretzels, but something was missing...I had been craving granola bars for a while and wanted to try a homemade version, I just never got around to making them in time for the fishing expedition.When Monday rolled around I dec Read more:Frugal
New Blog Networking Site: pfbuzz.com 2008-05-30 09:58:00 Pinyo at Moolanomy recently launched a great new site, PF Buzz. It's kind of like Digg for PF bloggers - where you can submit posts (your own or other people's) and people can vote whether or not they like them, add comments, etc."PF Buzz is a social media site that focuses on sharing the best personal finance and money articles...made by a personal finance blogger for personal finance bloggers."I
We're Featured on The Carnival of 20-Something Finances 2008-06-02 12:13:00 Dollar Frugal is hosting the most recent edition of the Carnival
of 20-Something Finances, and one of R's posts was selected as a feature. This is so exciting! It's the first carnival where we've submitted a post.A couple of other highlights from the carnival that I am checking out now:(picture credit: Mobile Gadgeteer)Frugality or Stingyness is a post very related to the new book I am reading, Read more:Featured
Part Time Business Student 2008-06-04 10:24:00 Last night I went to the part-time student orientation at the Simon School. I am now officially a part time student with all the perks: a new email account, a new mailbox, a syllabus, and all the paperwork required to register and get tuition benefits.The orientation was really exciting! I can't wait to be a student again, and I really think that the class I am taking will provide some great exp Read more:Business
, Student
Alternative Income - Your money or your life 2008-06-05 22:40:00 We went to the library this past weekend and picked up some new books. It's month 3 for me at my job and it's important that I don't fall too deeply into that daily work funk. Lis helping to keep me focused on small incremental changes and preventing me from becoming overwhelmed by the sheer number of things that we want to do, read, and see each day. Sometimes I am pretty beat and have so many th Read more:Alternative
, Income
Another Carnival Feature 2008-06-05 08:54:00 More exciting news: Spillingbuckets post on Simplicity Can Be Difficult is featured on The 12th Edition of the Carnival
of Improving Life over at ImprovedLife.caThere are a lot of good links there; here are a few of my favorites so far:How to Make Your Energy Last Through the Afternoon - I am actually already doing most of the things they suggest, and it works. I used to get really tired, but now
Bucket #1: Emergency Fund FULL 2008-06-09 19:47:00 We are excited to report that we now have a fully funded emergency fund of $10,108.54!The fund can also be viewed as a 6 month survival reserve at normal expenditures or approximately 8 months in cut back beans and rice mode. It's been almost three months since our first post outlining the original Spilling Bucket's Goals; our ideas of what it means to be wealthy and what it means to be free sure Read more:Emergency
Gardening in an Apartment, Phase 3 - Harvest! 2008-06-11 21:59:00 This weekend we went home for my brother's high school graduation. It was a whirlwind trip involving 14 hours of driving for 24 hours of visiting, but it was fun and something we could and needed to do. When we got back home Monday morning I noticed something awesome: the garden had bloomed over the weekend! We went from medium sized - not quite ready to eat - to huge spinach, lettuce large enough Read more:Harvest
Net worth update - June 2008 2008-06-15 20:50:00 Some thoughts before the numbers:Another interesting read from Brip Blap titled net worth or net worth less, explores the value of net worth analysis beyond that of a simple motivator. Steve outlines four smart pivot points on which this analysis should be hinged while helping to ensure we frame this kind of information in an intelligent fashion. Here are the concerns:(I edited the wording a littl
Frugal Recipe: Homemade Calzones 2008-06-17 20:15:00 I love this recipe because the dough is very simple to make, is sweet, and delicious. It's also customizable, so each person can put what they want inside, kind of like iGoogle for your stomach. In my opinion the calzones from local pizza parlors just can't compare.Now that summer is here, I like to let the dough rise while I go for a run, that way it is ready to be stuffed and baked as soon as I Read more:Frugal
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