An unusual way to 'make' money...

Quick tip tonight: The government holds onto your stuff (or sells it and holds onto the cash) for you-- indefinitely. After all, if they kept it, it would be stealing.

You've probably seen the commercials/spam for services that locate untold millions of dollars that are "rightfully yours." Truth be told, there could be some money that is rightfully yours; and you don't have to pay someone to find it for you!

Simply visit unclaimed.org, click on your state, and the link will take you to your state's treasurer's website where you can search for your treasures (and that of your family). Be sure to check each state in which you have lived.

Although not really a method for earning money, it is a fun way to spend a few minutes online and perhaps receive some money anyway. I think my husband's family might have something owed to them...

I look forward to hearing about your treasures.

Difficult money decisions

There has been some talk about there being a job available next school year for me at the school I have been subbing for (school A). I don't know anything about the pay and this leads to a lot of what-ifs.

What if the school pays the bare minimum-- say $28k/year. That's not much, and it's really not competitive around here. My friend over in another district gets around $45k. Even some of the poorer districts pay $35k.

What should I do if that's the case?

School A has a lot of benefits:

• I already have great relationships with administrators and other teachers
• The school is a charter school with an emphasis in my area
• I would have an opportunity to be involved in other disciplines outside my area of emphasis
• I can see myself getting involved in growing the school and investing myself long-term
• The school is less than 3 miles from my house, rather than a 30 minute commute

School B may or may not pay a lot better, but:

• The $20/year difference itself is more than any annual income we've made in our married lives
• Working at a well-established school means less work establishing routines and procedures, since the school is likely already running like a well-oiled machine

Those are the only pros I can think of for school B.

Our plan is for both of us to work, but for one income to be purely extra. We would love for that income to be whatever my full-time income is and live off my husband's part-time income. In a few years we want to take that savings to buy a house and start a family where I do not have to work.

What would you do? Speaking hypothetically that school A does pay $20k less than school B, would you take the higher pay versus a job you would love?

Unemployed no more!

My husband just walked in. The first thing he said to me was "I have a job."

There are no sweeter words to a wife's ears.

CrackerBarrel... Yum. Neither of us have ever worked in food services before, so it will be a new experience. There's a temptation to feel dejected because, after all, he has a college degree! However, we're just happy to have a promise of a source of income. He was really mostly looking for something part-time, and they can likely give him close to 40 hours. He also might be leading music very part time at a church for a pretty decent amount of money. I'm very optimistic about having a full-time teaching position of $40,000+ by the fall, so by then his income will be gravy.

I have it worked out so that if I continue to do the things I've been doing (subbing, plasma, voice lessons), I should make enough money to pay for March's bills by the time they arrive. I've also applied to work at Kaplan as a teacher (I had insanely good test scores in my day). Plus, I really need to get going on my jewelry business that I've been letting slide for the past two months.

Now that Lubby (my nickname for my husband-- Lover+Hubby) will be working, we can get back to living more of our normal life without dipping into our cash reserves and start paying on our car again.

Oh, and by the way, I gave the plasma thing another shot. Everything worked out this time and I made $40. I plan to go tomorrow and make another $60. (They're running a special; next week and the weeks after it will be $20 and $40).

Coming later, either tonight or tomorrow, is a revised, bare-bones budget for February and March. We have a lot to cut out, and a lot of catching up to do if we want the car paid off by June or July.

A couponing test

So, I've finally bitten the bullet. After years of subscribing to various 'coupon-maximizing' sites, I went to the store today and bought two Sunday papers. I've devised a plan to visit the local drug stores and buy a few things I need for next to nothing and a few things I don't (but will eventually use) because they will actually *make* me money in store credits. I don't want to give too many details yet, but rest assured that I will keep you posted on my deals and steals!

In other news, my husband and I are contemplating donating plasma for a little extra cash this month. I don't know how I feel about it-- selling your blood for profit seems almost demeaning. However, I am a firm believer in doing what you have to to provide for your family (provided it's legal and on the moral up-and-up, of course). If we both do it twice a week, we can make enough to pay March's rent. That's nothing to sneeze at, especially since the work I do next week as a sub won't pay until March 23rd.

Any thoughts on the above? What do you do in a financial crunch?

A pleasant surprise!

Honestly, I never had any intentions of promoting services through this blog. However, the service I have gotten today has really knocked my socks off. When you take this kind of care for your members, you deserve to be promoted!

Today I got a very pleasant suprise!

I have an account with My Survey. I take surveys periodically, and each survey is worth a certain number of points. When you stockpile enough points, you can redeem them for cash, prizes, or donate to charities. So, here's the story...

Last Novemeber (or some time around there) I cashed in my points for $60. I had gotten a check from them before, so I already know it was legit. I waited, and after I had waited more than the 6-8 weeks delivery time, I checked to see what was up. Everything said it was mailed, so I chalked it up 'just another one of those survey things' and resigned myself to never getting the check. Or, at least waiting a good 90 days and calling to see if the check had cleared and possibly getting a re-issue.

Today, I received an email from My Survey letting me know that the check was returned undeliverable and I should update my info and try again. WOW! They could have just kept the money, but instead they credited my account without me even asking and let me know about the problem!

My Survey has been a pretty good service for me.

• It is NOT a get-rich site.
• It is NOT a part-time income. I've been stockpiling these points for quite a while. Most surveys are 10-20 points and 1000 points equals $10, if you're redeeming for cash (which is what I do, since the prizes are cheaper if you cash out and buy it at WalMart...) it comes out to about a dime per survey.
• It is NOT a service that will spam you with unending emails. They email me when I have a survey available (maybe once every week or 2, sometimes more often).
• It is NOT a site that sends you to surveys where you first have to purchase a product or sign up for a 'free' trial (I cannot stand these. I recently joined a survey site like this. I don't care if they'll pay me $10, I don't want to pay $3.88 to do it! I now delete their emails without reading them.)

So, if you are interested in taking surveys in your sparest of spare times and mostly for the fun of it, with nominal monetary reward, I must recommend MySurvey.com. And, if you want to say a little 'thank you' to me for telling you about it, comment and I'll send you a referral email.

Anyone else know about good survey sites that don't spam and have a good pay-out system?

Substituting-- All in a day's work

To date I have performed two substituting jobs: one in high school speech and one in first grade. I must say, substitutes do not get paid enough. More have been available, I just haven't taken them.

To those of you who may think otherwise-- substituting is *hard* work! In my opinion, it is easier to be the regular teacher than a sub. This is not what I originally thought. I thought subbing would be great:

• no grading
• no planning
• no pressure to produce

However, I have found that sometimes the lesson plans are difficult to understand (or even read!), or the students are openly defiant and disrespectful. I had one tell me to my face that he was going to "tell them it was the crazy sub. You'd be suprised how often that works." Geez!

But, as many people start to feel the crunch of 'recession' and are looking for work, I can tell you from experience and from all of the teachers around me who keep telling me, they are always looking for substitutes. If you have a degree, you'll get paid better, but even without you could be paid about $60/day. That's the going rate around here, anyway. Degreed/certified teachers are paid up to $80/day (that's the highest I've found) and up to $110/day if you're in a long-term position. Hourly it doesn't break down to much, but it's better than nothing!

I don't want to give up on substituting, since I think spending time in a classroom regularly will keep me sharp and give me an edge on the job search. Plus, hopefully the more I do it the better I will be.

So, for all of you job searchers and stay-at-home-moms (SAHMs) out there, you might give substituting a try. Just don't take my jobs, please! :)