It's been a good week so far - though expensive. But the beginning of the month always is - with rent and bills due. Oh
well, at least we have it and everything is paid! Plus I paid the registration for the 4Runner yesterday - that was $178.00,
but we'd planned for it, so not a big deal.

We always seem to do fine. All of our savings plans are funded every month, all of our bills are paid on time, and we have
some money for fun little 'extras' here and there - like Wednesday nights out Usually it's just fast food or a sandwich
somewhere... nothing fancy. We just like a break in the routine. Together, Kevin and I make a good living with
absolutely no complaints. We have very little debt (just our cars) and put away a good chunk of money. However, I'm
looking for ways to increase our income.

I didn't find this site until August. I see that there is a $5,000.00 by the end of the year challenge. I didn't participate
because I didn't think that would give me a lot of time. However, Kevin and I have talked about it, and we're going
to start our $5,000.00 challenge the first of the year. We're going to make it a game - to see how many things we
can come up with to make extra money, and to see how much 'extra' money we can save from those endeavors
during the course of a year. That said, I'm looking for ideas on how we can make extra cash. We both work full time
as it is, so we don't have a lot of time to dedicate to a second 'job' per se, but we do have some free time that can be
utilized for this challenge. We have a brand new savings account that we opened for the B of A Keep the Change program.
We decided to just go ahead and use this account to deposit the extra money in. The only money that will go into that
account is the Keep the Change deposits, and whatever we make on the extra program.

So far:

~ I know that we will list on ebay. We used to do this a lot and then just drifted out of the habit. We both enjoy it,
it will just be a matter of taking the time to sit down and list them items. We have some things ready to list, but I
think I want to wait until the holidays are over and start fresh for the new year. I'll store the items in the garage until
we're ready.

~ We already collect recyclables. From now on, we'll put all of that money into the extra account. We don't make a ton
of money doing this, but we kind of look at it as free money. We recycle our own items, items that mom and dad give
us, some bottles and cans from school, and what we find when we're out walking Slippers. For very little effort, we make
a few hundred dollars a year just by doing this one little thing. The recycle place is less than 2 miles away, so it's really
easy.

~ I was thinking about making my gift baskets and selling them. I can make up some flyers and display the baskets
at school. I could also list these on ebay. I won't make a ton of money doing this either, but probably a few
hundred dollars.

~ I was also thinking of making greeting cards and selling those. Again, I could sell them at school. I could probably also
sell/display some things at a few of our other school sites and maybe at the district office.

~ I might be able to talk Kevin into putting the money he makes from umpiring into the extra fund, too. Technically,
it IS extra, but he does use it to buy things from time to time. I don't know if he would be willing to fork it all over
for this experiment. However, we might work out a deal where he keeps half and the other half goes into the account.
We'll talk about it and see what we come up with.

~ All rebates and refunds would go in here, too.

What other ideas are floating around out there??