Challenge Update #1

As I shared in this post, I've issued myself a $400 challenge. I am happy to say that I've already made some progress! I'm almost half way done. Here's how I've been able to come up with $180 so far...

• $80 - I had set this money aside to pay the ex for shipping me some of my old things. He hasn't asked for the money and probably didn't expect to get a check. I just thought it would be nice to pay him. I asked the hubby if I didn't send the money, could I count it towards the challenge and he agreed. (I still may send the ex a check later on down the road...)
  
  
• $100 - My work recently ran a promotion where we could earn $100 bonus for opening an account at a local bank. If we signed up for direct deposit and used our debit card 10 times in 90 days, we earned the bonus. I forgot about the promotion until I saw a credit of $100 in my checking account today! Sweet :) That money has already been sent into the credit card!
  

So, that leaves $220 left in my challenge. I can so do this! I'll keep you posted as I make more progress along the way.

My $400 Challenge

I have a confession. I splurged with some of the money we got back from our rent deposit. The hubby and I came to an agreement to send $1,100 to our credit card. We were very excited because it was going to be one heckofa big snowflake!

Well, for one reason or another, I made a bad choice and spent some of that money. Actually, a good portion of it. I blew $400. (I'll pause for people to yell at me...) Okay, I know I made a mistake and I feel HORRIBLE. My husband is upset with me and that makes it worse. If only the damn bank cleared the check and I sent the payment in as planned, I wouldn't have been so tempted! Oh well, I need to learn how to deal better with temptation.

In an effort to try to figure out how I can make things slightly better, I decided I would replenish the amount I spent. I've issued myself a $400 challenge. Come hell or high water (I'm not really even sure what that means!), I'm going to get $400 more to put towards our debt!

I'm changing, but I'm not perfect. The old me would have just chalked this up as no big deal and I would've put it behind me. Not really learning anything in the process. There is a price to pay for making poor decisions and I need to be accountable for that. So, the challenge is on!

I've started to think of some ideas as to how I'll come up with the money...

• Sell my plasma. I've been thinking about doing this for a while but haven't really made the effort. Our local plasma donation place pays about $50 per week if you donate twice. Their hours aren't the greatest, but I think I can try to work something out.
  
  
• Sell my excess crap. I have some old items that I've been thinking of listing for sale. I may put them up for sale in hopes to get some cash.
  
  
• Make and sell some crafts. I'm a crafty girl and I bet I could list a few items online to help the cause.
  
  
• Use my personal Mad Money to fund my challenge. I get $30 per week for my misc. items. (Since we don't have clothes or personal items really in our budget, I planned to use this for those items.)
  
  

Question : Did you screw up along the way? What was it? Did you hold yourself accountable in a real way or did you let yourself off the hook pretty easy?