Andy Hough

Alternative Income: Paid Writing

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This is another way to earn some extra money.  There are a few ways to do this.  In the past I used PayPerPost and Blogitive to get paid for blog posts.  I didn’t do them on this blog and had a blog that I used primarily for paid posts.  The good thing about these programs is that you’re guaranteed to be paid a certain amount for your blog post.  The bad thing is that you’re usually writing about something you have no interest in and your readers don’t either.  A loss of readers could end up costing you more than you make.  These programs do require you to have a blog to participate.  I have made over $650 from PayPerPost but I gradually quit using the program last year.  Now that the blog I was using has lost its page rank there aren’t any opportunities available to me anymore so I won’t resume using the service.

Another program I use is Associated Content which you can use whether you have a blog or not.  They pay you a certain amount for each article you submit and then a little bit more depending on how many page views you have.  I haven’t used this service much but I plan to use it more this summer.  Since I’ll be working for free during the week I need to find a way to supplement my income.  I can submit articles based on my blog posts so it doesn’t have to take much time to write an article.  You can read my articles here.

Five Crazy Things I’ve Done to Save Money

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Frugal Dad wrote a post talking about the five craziest things he has done to save money.  Since I’m often accused of being too frugal I decided to come up with my own post. This was harder than I thought because most of the the things I do to save money that seem crazy to others don’t seem crazy to me. Here is what I came up with but I’m probably leaving something crazier off the list.

  1. Cut my own hair- This is one I share with Frugal Dad.  I know I’ve seen a few other PF bloggers mention it also.  When you buzz cut your hair it is hard to justify paying to have it cut.
  2. Turned off my hot water- Last year I turned off my hot water during the summer due to my gas company’s customer charge of $25 whether you use any gas or not.  This resulted in a bill of about $40 a month just for hot water. I just showered at the gym or took cold showers.  I saved about $160 by having my hot water off over four months. I got hot water again when I moved to a new apartment. I had to have gas then because it was getting cold outside and I needed the gas heat.
  3. Dumpster Diving- I haven’t actually crawled into the dumpster and pulled stuff out but I would for the right stuff.  My dumpster diving has consisted of pulling coupons for free meals and other valuable coupons out of the junk mail bin by the apartment mailboxes. I even managed to sell some of the coupons and make a little money.
  4. Spent $30 total for food in 1 month- Last May I decided to see how little I could spend on food. I wanted to spend even less than $30 on food but I didn’t have quite enough willpower. It helped that I work in a pizza restaurant and get a few free meals every week.
  5. Drive a Hoopty- I don’t really think this is crazy at all but some people do. I love my 94 Toyota Corolla.  My friend keeps asking me when I’m going to get a better car.  I don’t plan on replacing mine soon.  It looks ugly but runs fine. Also, it gets 30 mpg in town which is a great feature with the high cost of gas.

I’m sure I’ve left out some crazier stuff than I’ve listed.  What are some crazy things you’ve done to save money?

How Meaningful is Net Worth?

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Many, if not most, PF bloggers consider net worth to be the most important financial measurement.  It certainly is the most common. This makes sense because it is pretty easy to figure. Just subtract your liabilities from your assets and you have your net worth. For the most part it is probably a pretty accurate measure of one’s financial status. However, there are plenty of situations where it is not a meaningful measure of indicating one’s financial status.

My net worth is roughly -$65,000 and it will get worse before it gets better. It is negative because of the loans I’ve taken out for law school. My net worth doesn’t reflect any value I’m receiving from going to law school.  If I don’t complete law school there won’t be any value so maybe that is accurate. Right now though I have a lower net worth than the homeless guy begging for money on the street corner. Few people would think he is better off than me financially though.  It will be a long time before my net worth is positive even after I finish law school and get a job. That makes net worth not a meaningful financial measurement for me.  I’m not sure what measurement would be the most meaningful to me but I’m going to be focusing on what percentage of my income I’m dedicating to savings and debt repayment. That should give me a good idea of what progress I’m making.

Got My Tax Stimulus Rebate Today

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It was scheduled to be paid no later than the May 9th and I got it today the 9th of May.  It was in the amount of $368 which was somewhat surprising. I only heard of the amounts being $300 or $600, I wasn’t aware they did amounts in between as well.  I was thinking I was only going to get $300 so I’m happy to get the little bit extra.  I had hoped to use this amount to either invest in my IRA or pay down my student loans.  Instead I’m going to use it to pay next month’s rent and hope that will result in my having a surplus of money in June to save or invest.