The $500 Challenge - The Final Tally and Link-Up

It is time to add up our money and see how close we came to finding $500. I started this challenge because I wanted to find $500 in spending money for our family's summer vacation. I didn't want to dig into our savings and charging our vacation on a credit card isn't an option.

So how did I do?

• $180.00 - Yard Sale
• $85.00 Change jar
• $50.00 Visa Card Rebate for switching to a new electric company with a better rate. Read here for more information on the electric rate increase that took place in PA.
• I was hoping once I reviewed our April spending that we would have come in under budget, but our spending in April was right on budget, almost to the dollar. I guess I could be happy that we didn't over-spend, but honestly, I didn't concentrate on reducing our spending in April as much as I should have. I proved to myself back in January that when we put our minds to it, we, as a family, can reduce our overall monthly spending, but that didn't happen in April.

So, our total came in at $315. I am $185 short of my goal, but I am not going to beat myself up. The yard sale took a lot of my time in the beginning of the month and I was happy that we were able to make $180 AND get rid of a lot of stuff. I will just have to concentrate between now and our vacation to find the difference.

How did you do? I can't wait to read all about your challenge. I want to thank all of you who participated in the challenge. It was interesting to read about everyone's progress, set-backs and successes.

If you are a blogger participating in the challenge and making updates on your site about your progress, please link up your final update with Mr. Linky. If you are not a blogger and are participating in the challenge, please let us know how you are doing in the comment section.

Make sure you take some time to check back over the next few days and visit the other links to see how the other bloggers are doing with their challenge. This is a great opportunity to find/meet/support other bloggers and get some ideas on how to find $500!

A few Mr. Linky guidelines:

• Please link your most recent challenge updates to Mr. Linky. If you are not a blogger, please tell us about your challenge updates in the comment section.
• Please post the link to your update, NOT to your homepage. To do this, click on your update post, copy and paste the whole url address into the Mr. Linky.
• I also ask that you post a link back to Family Balance Sheet in your article.
• If you are reading this post via a reader or email, you will need to click through to post your link and to visit others who have linked up.

Thanks for reading FamilyBalanceSheet.

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The $500 Challenge Update and Link-Up

After a lot of preparation, we finally had our yard sale last weekend and thankfully the weather cooperated and wasn't an issue.

We made $180...woohoo!! I fell short of my goal of making half of my $500 through the yard sale, but honestly by the end of the sale, there wasn't much left of any real value. I have several boxes of stuff that I need to drop off at the Salvation Army for donation and I also have a few closets and drawers that feel much lighter. And my garage has a dance floor again.

Next Thursday, May 6 is the final tally post for the $500 Challenge. I have a few things that I need to wrap up before then, like cash in our change jar, review our spending for April to see if we had any reductions in spending and submit a $50 rebate.

So essentially, you have an extra week to get any last minute additions to your final tally too!

How are you doing with the challenge? If you are a blogger participating in the challenge and making updates on your site about your progress, please link up your most recent update with Mr. Linky. If you are not a blogger and are participating in the challenge, please let us know how you are doing in the comment section.

Make sure you take some time to check back over the next few days and visit the other links to see how the other bloggers are doing with their challenge. This is a great opportunity to find/meet/support other bloggers and get some ideas on how to find $500!

A few Mr. Linky guidelines:

• Please link your most recent challenge updates to Mr. Linky. If you are not a blogger, please tell us about your challenge updates in the comment section.
• Please post the link to your update, NOT to your homepage. To do this, click on your update post, copy and paste the whole url address into the Mr. Linky.
• I also ask that you post a link back to Family Balance Sheet in your article.
• If you are reading this post via a reader or email, you will need to click through to post your link and to visit others who have linked up.

Thanks for reading FamilyBalanceSheet. If you would like to receive FREE updates of FBS through your RSS Feed, please click here to sign up. Or sign up for FREE email updates, by submitting your email address in the top left side of this site. Or click here to follow me on Twitter.

The $500 Challenge Update and Mr Linky

Today was the first day of our neighborhood's 3 day yard sale and thankfully the weather was beautiful. I made $70 and most of that were items from this table...

...a bunch of knick knacks that will be so much happier in someone else's home.

Seventy dollars isn't a bad start, but I need to do better over the next two days if I want to hit my goal for the $500 Challenge. I think I'll spend the rest of the day evaluating many more of my possessions and asking myself, 'do I really need this?'.

How are you doing with the challenge? If you are a blogger participating in the challenge and making updates on your site about your progress, please link up your most recent update with Mr. Linky. If you are not a blogger and are participating in the challenge, please let us know how you are doing in the comment section.

Make sure you take some time to check back over the next few days and visit the other links to see how the other bloggers are doing with their challenge. This is a great opportunity to find/meet/support other bloggers and get some ideas on how to find $500!

A few Mr. Linky guidelines:

• Please link your most recent challenge updates to Mr. Linky. If you are not a blogger, please tell us about your challenge updates in the comment section.


• Please post the link to your update, NOT to your homepage. To do this, click on your update post, copy and paste the whole url address into the Mr. Linky.


• I also ask that you post a link back to Family Balance Sheet in your article.


• If you are reading this post via a reader or email, you will need to click through to post your link and to visit others who have linked up.

Read more about the $500 Challenge here, here, here and here.

Thanks for reading FamilyBalanceSheet.

If you would like to receive FREE updates of FBS through your RSS Feed, please click here to sign up. Or sign up for FREE email updates, by submitting your email address in the top left side of this site. Or click here to follow me on Twitter.

$500 Challenge Update and Mr. Linky

We are half way through the month and I am busy getting ready for next week's neighborhood yard sale. I have been pulling stuff together for a few months now, but sadly I don't feel like my home is any less heavy.

I have no shortage of stuff to sell and it is sitting in piles in our garage...


...our sunroom...

and our basement. (I'm not selling the fan.)

I'm praying for good weather, because I am putting most of my eggs in this basket when it comes to finding $500.

How are you doing with the challenge? If you are a blogger participating in the challenge and making updates on your site about your progress, please link up your most recent update with Mr. Linky. If you are not a blogger and are participating in the challenge, please let us know how you are doing in the comment section.

Make sure you take some time to check back over the next few days and visit the other links to see how the other bloggers are doing with their challenge. This is a great opportunity to find/meet other bloggers and get some ideas on how to find $500!

A few Mr. Linky guidelines:

• Please link your most recent challenge updates to Mr. Linky. If you are not a blogger, please tell us about your challenge updates in the comment section.
• Please post the link to your update, NOT to your homepage. To do this, click on your update post, copy and paste the whole url address into the Mr. Linky.
• I also ask that you post a link back to Family Balance Sheet in your article.
• If you are reading this post via a reader or email, you will need to click through to post your link and to visit others who have linked up.

Thanks for reading FamilyBalanceSheet.

If you would like to receive FREE updates of FBS through your RSS Feed, please click here to sign up. Or sign up for FREE email updates, by submitting your email address in the top left side of this site. Or click here to follow me on Twitter.

$500 Challenge Update and Mr. Linky Test

I am calling this an update, but I personally don't have much to add today.

What I really wanted to do was test Mr. Linky. I have always wanted to do a Mr. Linky and I think the $500 Challenge is a great place to start.

I am going to post a $500 Challenge Update every Thursday in April and a $500 Challenge Final Tally on May 6. I will have a Mr. Linky on each of these posts for any of you involved who have blogs and are writing about the $500 Challenge. Your update post could be about what you have done so far to reach your goal and/or any ideas you might have to share to help the rest of us achieve our goals. There were some great comments on the last post, The $500 Challenge - Where Are We Going To Find The Money.

A few Mr. Linky guidelines:

• Please link your most recent challenge updates to Mr. Linky. If you are not a blogger, please tell us about your challenge updates in the comment section.
  
• Please post the link to your update, NOT to your homepage. To do this, click on your update post, copy and paste the whole url address into the Mr. Linky.
  
• I do ask that you post a link back to Family Balance Sheet in your article.
  
• If you are reading this post via a reader or email, you will need to click through to post your link and to visit others who have linked up.

I appreciate all of the comments on the last post and am looking forward to hearing about every one's progress.

So, please, indulge me, link up, so that I can test out any kinks...Thanks!!

Thanks for reading FamilyBalanceSheet.

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The $500 Challenge - Where Are We Going To Find This Money?

Are you joining me in the $500 Challenge in April? In the month of April, I am going to find $500…or more, but hopefully not less, to put towards our summer vacation. Your $500 could go towards anything, like your debt, your emergency savings, or any other goal that you might have.

But to achieve the challenge, we need to have a plan. Here is my plan. Get started on yours and let’s find the $500 together.

My plan for the $500 Challenge:

1. Yard sale. I live in the northeast and well, it snowed A LOT this winter, so I took the opportunity of being stuck at home to clean out closets, drawers and shelves. My pile of stuff to unload is huge and I am really anxious to get it out of the house. I am helping a neighbor coordinate the annual neighborhood sale that is usually very busy. Last year I made $300, but we had some big items. This year I have a lot of little, annoying items that just equate to clutter and these things just need to go away. I am not counting on making the same amount, but it is my heavy hitter and I am relying on it to still be a big portion of the $500. Now I just have to pray for no rain on sale day.

2. I have never bought or sold anything online, through Ebay or Craigslist, but I am going to give it a shot. This will take some research, since I have no idea what I’m doing.

3. Spare change. Does this sound corny? We keep a change jar in the kitchen for spare change. It is amazing where I find spare change through out the house. There is always a pile in the laundry room, under cushions, in coat pockets, in shelves, on the floor of our van. I will cash it all in at the end of the month.

Right now this is what I have come up with for me. I will be on the look out through out the month for other ideas to reach my $500. It will take me a few weeks to pull together the yard sale and separate what I want to try to sell online. Basically, my plan to achieve my goal is to sell my stuff, but I have been brainstorming some other ideas to throw out there.

1. Sell Gold. I sold some unused pieces last year and made $150. Of course it depends on the weight of your jewelry and if it is 10kt, 14kt, 18kt or 24kt.

2. Apparently there is $33 billion in unclaimed assets sitting in the states’ treasuries. These assets include old checking and savings accounts, payroll checks, utility deposits and tax refunds. This is worth some investigating. The article directs you to http://www.missingmoney.com/, a database of governmental unclaimed property records. It is worth a try, but unfortunately, it came up empty for me.

3. Take a main category within your budget, such as groceries or dining out or clothing, or whatever category that you feel is out of control and work on reducing that number through out the month. With a little planning and concentration, how low can you reduce your grocery bill? $25, $50, $100??? I didn't include this in my plan, because I want to really focus on bringing in additional cash flow, but I'm going to take a look at the budget to see where I can also reduce some spending.

What ideas do you have? Please share in the comments.


Thanks for reading FamilyBalanceSheet.

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This post is linked to:

• Frugal Friday at Mrs. Moneysaver

The $500 Challenge

Do you need to pay off debt or fund your emergency savings account, or save for your summer vacation?

How do you feel about big, crazy goals? Do they scare you or motivate you?

Will you join me in April with a rather big, crazy goal of finding $500…in one month?

Where, do you ask, are we going to find $500?

Oh the possibilities could be endless...

In our drawers, under our beds, in our basements and in the back corners of our closets. The neighborhood is planning the community yard sale for April and I plan to be prepared.

Or you might also be able to reduce some monthly expenses in April in categories like groceries, fuel, clothing or dinners out.

Start brainstorming and please join me on Thursday, April 1 to share some ideas so that we can all achieve The $500 Challenge.

Thanks for reading FamilyBalanceSheet.

If you would like to receive FREE updates of FBS through your RSS Feed, please click here to sign up. Or sign up for FREE email updates, by submitting your email address in the top left side of this site. Or follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/fambalancesheet.