A comment that I just received made me realize that I haven't talked a lot about my strategy lately. So here are a few notes:
I charge everything on my Southwest credit card to get free flights. I am just about to earn my fourth. So I try to operate debt-free in this way though I may at any time have a balance of a few hundred dollars that I plan to pay off with my next paycheck.
I am also putting into my 401K the minimum amount I need to do to get the company match. This is key! I also started a Roth IRA which I put $50 a month into. Just for some diversity.
I am thinking about starting to invest in stocks, but I need to do some research first.
I then apply any extra money that I have left over each month to paying off my student loans. This is happening a lot more slowly than I wanted it to, and it's bumming me out. I have been more of a social butterfly this year than I have been in the past, and all that going out and traveling adds up! At the same time, I don't want to deny myself. At the very least, I am paying a little more than the minimum that I owe every month. Though my main goal with any windfall would be to apply it to eradicating these as quickly as possible!
Longer term goals once that's handled are to save enough money for a down payment on a house, and to be able to buy my next car with cash (my car is 5 years old so it won't be for some years yet).
It was noted that my emergency fund is also very low. This is true. I have gotten a bit lazy about keeping it up as I live very frugally in a very low cost of living area and my next paycheck is always good for a month of expenses. But I know this is pretty reckless, so I will work on building it up a little more for now.
I am constantly trying to find out how to make more money. Luckily, I live in an area with many universities, and I just looked on Craigslist and found two research studies that I can sign up for.
I also just signed up for Pinecone Research and am waiting to hear back on whether I will be able to complete surveys for money through that site.
I just looked and saw that it's possible to sell your hair on thehairtrader.com. I didn't realize this! I could maybe be a good candidate for this. I do have beautiful hair, though I don't think it would look very pretty growing and growing until I had a good 12 inches or so to cut off.
Any more ideas for drumming up some extra cash?
