Andy Hough

May Income – $2141.47

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Here is a breakdown of my income for May.

Online Income

$155.81

Interest/Bonuses

$72.63

Survey/Cash Back

 $54.76

Stock Dividends

$7.96

Ebay

$25.31

Medical Study

$1600

Graduation Gifts

$225

Total

$2141.47

I had a nice increase in income for May. That was mainly due to the medical study although I got a nice amount of cash as graduation gifts as well. People that know me know I prefer the gift of cash. My online income was down but that isn’t as bad as it looks. The big decrease is because I spent $164 on the Thesis theme which I expect to ultimately pay me back.

May Investment Income- $76.53

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My May investment income increased to $76.53 from $63.83 the month before. My investment income has been rapidly increasing the last few months due to the rising stock market. My Roth IRA had been slow in recovering but last month it finally started making decent progress toward recouping its earlier losses. It still has a ways to go to break even though. My personal portfolio has done much better and is showing a nice profit. This is mostly due to one stock going from $9.15 to $22. I wish I would have put more money in it now but I’m not complaining. I also added about $1600 to my stock portfolio this month. I will be putting most of the money I receive from the medical study in my stock portfolio. My investment income has almost tripled since I started tracking it last year. If I could maintain this rate of increase being able to retire early would be no worry at all.

Disclaimer: This is not my actual investment income. To get this figure I first add up my retirement savings, emergency fund, and any other money I consider permanent savings. What the total of my savings would earn at 6% interest for a month is my monthly investment income.

Keeping Cool Without A/C

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Warm March Day
photo credit: fauxto_digit

We like to put off turning on the A/C for summer as long as possible. We haven’t turned it on yet this year although we may end it up doing so tonight since it isn’t going to cool off much overnight. Anyway, here are a few strategies we use to keep cool without using the air conditioner.

Use Fans- We have a fan that fits in the window in our bedroom that moves a lot of air. We also have several ceiling fans that help us feel cooler. I think it is important to note here that fans do not cool the air. When they are blowing on you they make you feel several degrees cooler but they do not actually cool the air. Therefore, if you are not in the room where the fan is blowing you are wasting electricity by having it on. The obvious exception to this is when the fan is blowing cooler air from outside or elsewhere.

Avoid Creating Heat – Try not to use the oven, clothes dryer, or dishwasher when it is hot. It is also helpful to take your shower or do any other activity that creates heat during the cooler morning hours if possible. Keep the curtains closed on windows that let in direct sunlight.

Drink Lots of Ice Water – Drinking ice water or other cool beverages will cool you off and keep you hydrated. I drink lots of ice water in the summer and the rest of the year as well.

One more tip is to stay in the basement where it is naturally cooler. I hang out there most of the day anyway since that is where the computer is. 🙂

There are many more strategies to help keep cool but I think these are the most beneficial.

May 2009 Goal Review

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F-side
photo credit: FLY2005

This is my monthly review of the goals I set for myself at the beginning of the year.

My first goal is to increase my passive income. I made a little progress on that this month. I put most of the money I made from the medical study in my stock account and will use it to buy a dividend-paying stock tomorrow. Anyone have a stock tip? 🙂

My second goal is to lose 30 pounds. I went from 219.2 pounds last month to 218.8 pounds this month. That isn’t very good progress. If you’re entered in my $500 weight-loss challenge your odds of collecting look pretty good.

My third goal is to increase my number of subscribers to 500. I didn’t make any progress towards that this month as my subscriber count stayed about the same. I’ve made some small changes this last week, such as installing a new theme, that I think will help increase my subscriber count. I need to work on promoting my blog and improving my content though to make better progress on increasing the readership of my blog.

It wasn’t a very good month since I only made reasonable progress on one of my three goals. There are some big changes coming in June. I’m not sure if they will actually help me meet my goals but there will definitely be changes.

Also, if you want to enter the $500 weight loss challenge you need to do so now. I will be closing the challenge to new entrants tomorrow, June 1,2009.

Increasing Alternative Income

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This ATM's been drinkin
photo credit: joshuaheller
Earlier this week I asked what you would like to read about and one of the topics you wanted to read more about is alternative income. Thursdays will now be dedicated to the topic of alternative income. I have a category for alternative income but haven’t written much on it lately since I haven’t developed any new sources of alternative income. Therefore I will just update you on how I am doing with my current sources of alternative income. Perhaps I will start breaking out passive income from my alternative income as well. Since I don’t have a job all of my income could be considered alternative income depending on how you define the term “alternative income.” To start things off I am going to do something every day next month to increase my alternative income. There will be weekly updates and I will share any new sources of alternative income I discover.