PF Mad Lib!

Decided to try this Mad Lib from Punch Debt in the Face, since it looked kind of fun. I used to love these as a kid!

Hi my name is Ashley. I currently have sixty dollars in my wallet. When I started managing my finances I was worth -$7,800, and now have a net worth of -$4,100 (that's mildly depressing). I currently work as a TA in grad school and have been doing it for one year. I make roughly $17,000 per year. I want to have enough to live comfortably (so my children won't have to support me) waiting for me when it comes time to retire. Aside from learning about finances, I really enjoy traveling and reading. I think the world would be a better place if violence and the fight for power (will never happen... I know) didn't exist. I had some weird egg and spinach pizza that I made on naan for dinner last night and it was surprisingly amazing! I have had 3 significant others over the course of my lifetime (counting awkward middle school relationships). One thing that makes me different is my sense of humor doesn't always match up with other peoples'. Now that I'm done with this mad lib, I think I'm going to go eat breakfast and watch a movie.

First Swagbucks Prize!

This morning I finally earned enough Swagbucks to cash them in for my first prize! I got the $5 Amazon.com gift card. Since I love reading so much, I have a bunch of books I'm interested in buying. I hope to use Swagbucks enough that I can get a bunch of these gift cards and then go on a nice little book shopping spree! The first book that I really really want to get is I Will Teach You to Be Rich by Ramit. His blog was one of the first PF blogs I ever started reading, and started my years-long obsession. He has tons of useful information on the website, and I think the book will be just as good!

Hey, if any of you have been playing around with the idea of signing up for Swagbucks, please use my referral link! :)

This morning I woke up $4,100 richer

Yup, you read that right! Our summer scholarship/stipend was awarded last week, and it finally came through into my bank account this morning! It was a huge (and wonderful!) surprise considering they told us this year it would be less than usual because of the economy and blah blah blah. But in reality, it was way more! This is such a lifesaver. It's really tempting to go out and do a little spending though, I'm not gonna lie. Especially since it was so much more than I expected. I really want to be irresponsible and get a new tattoo... but so far I'm resisting. I'm saving most of the money for now until I can figure out the best way to use it. I put the majority into my EF, flushing it back out to about $3,000. I also put $500 more into my New Car Fund, and am going to send about $500 to my student loan. Then maybe a tattoo?? haha...

How low can it go?

As far as car insurance goes, I’ve been with Geico for a year now, after I switched from Progressive last summer. I was shocked to find their rates were about $400 a year less than what Progressive was charging me, and thought it was a mistake at first. But I went with it, and now my rates have gone down even more! When I first signed up I was paying around $450 every six months, and now they are only charging me $340!! That is a pretty sweet deal, and a really pleasant surprise. It evens out to only about $57 a month that I’ll have to save! Oh, and might I point out that next year I'll be turning 25 (ick) and rumor has it, insurance drops a lot then... things are good.

Free Fourth of July

Hey everybody, I hope you all had a great holiday weekend! Mine was pretty good overall. Could have been better if I was in an emotionally better place (on a side note, I'm not going to Montreal anymore... a long story I don't really feel like telling), but Saturday was really nice. My dad took me fishing, which I haven't done in years. I used my old kiddie rod with the push-button reel, for pete's sake. But I still managed to catch four fish, and my dad caught four as well. We didn't keep any because they were so small, but after that we had a BBQ and ate outside on our deck. My friend came over around 7, we smoked some hookah, played chess and then went to the community fireworks. So basically, I had a whole day full of awesomeness for free!

New Discover Card

You know all those pre-approved credit card offers they send in the mail? Well, I fell for one. I’ve been wanting to get a cash-back card for awhile, and Discover sent me an offer I just couldn’t refuse! I get up to $200 in bonus cash back, basically just for using the card during the first year I buy it. I have to spend $500 in the first three months and make at least one purchase a month for the next 10 months. This will be absolutely no problem because of all the trips I’ll be taking this summer. It’s money I’ll be spending anyway, and I’ll get some cash back for it! It’s pretty much the perfect time for me to take the plunge. My new card came in the mail today, and it's activated and ready to go! Do any of you have a Discover cash back card? Are you happy with it?

"No Clothes June" was a Success!

My June goal to not buy any clothing or accessories in June was successful!! I made it the whole month without buying anything unnecessary. And the cool thing was, since I made it an official goal for myself instead of just thinking “oh I should stop buying so many clothes,” it wasn’t so hard! I mean, I’m not gonna lie, I was seriously tempted when delia’s sent me their clearance catalog full of cute discounted things, but I managed to make it through the month without much difficulty. I will have to try this again sometime in the future!