Yesterday I came home to a $44 check from my auto insurance company, listed as a dividend for my 2002 Volvo. Now I just got one a few weeks ago for my husband's 85 Saab 900 ($25.20).

Making me think...hey we had 3 other cars insured through them in the last year (93 Ford Explorer, 98 Saab 900 Turbo, 87 Suzuki Samurai)-- are there more dividends in my future?

Either way, that's $44 more toward my tuition. Add that to the $115.38 that I've got saved up:

115.38
+44.00
------
159.38 out of $480 needed by September 17.

WOOHOO!

I sold another textbook!

I woke up this morning to an email from half.com, thinking it was like a feedback alert from my last sale or something. Nope. Another textbook out the door, and $14 for my college fund.

$101.38
+ 14.00
-------
115.38 of $480 saved for college

WOOT!

Listed a few textbooks on half.com a couple of weeks ago. The lower priced ones ($10 and under) haven't sold, but I came home to an email saying that the book I listed for the highest amount ($51.38) has been purchased and I will be paid on the last day of the month- tomorrow.

When I get my $50 from the hospital refund, plus the $51.38 from half.com, I will have $101.38 toward my $480 of tuition, due September 17. The moral of the story, kids, is to never, ever damage your textbooks (and the funny part is that this is a personal finance book!)

I need to get off my butt and list more things on half.com and ebay- I've got a room full of stuff to list that was given to me free of charge (probably 125+ pieces of clothing that I'm listing in lots of 3 or 4 items). And probably some more coming in the next few months by a kindly ex-relative who is moving out of state and downsizing considerably (both in that she is moving into a smaller place and in that she has gone down a few sizes- woohoo for her and double woohoo for me!)

Soooo-

I had this HIDA scan done on my gallbladder back in May. After the insurance paid their 80%, I was supposed to be charged $300. I agreed to pay $50 every month on the 15th. I made the first payment while I was at the hospital. June came and I never got a bill. I thought maybe the girl who did the billing made a mistake and started the billing cycle in July instead of June. July comes, nothing.

I called the hospital yesterday and explained I hadn't gotten a bill, and wanted to pay but because I had no bill I had no account number or PO Box to send it to. The lady on the other line (and seriously these people must really, really hate their jobs, she was so incredibly unhappy, even when I made it plain as day that I'm not the type that calls bill collectors just to yell at them) just sat there in silence. So then she goes, "what do you need me for?" and I said, "well I don't have a bill and I don't want to get behind. Can you tell me if my address is right and what is going on in my account?"

After some heavy sighing she tells me that the insurance went ahead and paid it in full, because my new billing year had kicked in by the time the transaction was made. Not only do I not have to pay the $300, but they are in the process of returning my $50 right now and I should get it any day.

So I tell the woman, "wow that really made my day, thanks I'm glad I called." "yeah bye."

HOSPITALS!

Anyway, that $50 is going toward my tuition which is due 9/18. I have to pay $480 out of pocket, and will get 100% reimbursed in December if I get an A or B, if I get a C I get 75% reimbursement from my employer.

With that $50, I have to raise $430 more. I still have a room full of stuff to sell on eBay. I get off of work at 11am today to see the dentist, and the husband doesn't have to work today. I'm hoping to convince him to entertain the little one for a couple of hours so I can get the eBay auctions up and start chipping away at my tuition.

Sooooo

I'm involved in a highly addictive crafting website (craftster.org). The kind folks on this site mostly post photos of their latest conquests and ask for help. There's an additional forum for swaps, a moderator sets you up with someone you don't know, you fill out a survey about your likes, and then have to craft a minimum number of items that revolve around a theme.

I was recently paired with a lovely kindergarten teacher from California who had mentioned that she wanted a bag that was big enough to fit all of her crap in and had a strap wide enough that it didn't slip off of her shoulder- and she doesn't sew so she would like someone else to make her one.

So I made her a bag in exchange for some lovely knitted items. I was pretty proud of the bag, it took maybe 2 hours to make, but I did it in 20 and 30 minute spurts in the mornings before work or when my son was preoccupied with cartoons in the next room. So she emails me Monday and says she really loves the bag. No, she says, I REALLY love the bag.

Today I have an email saying that she used it at work and her coworker [i]FLIPPED OUT[i] over it and was wondering if I would be willing to do some commissioned work. Seriously? I mean- really, really seriously?

Yep. Now what to charge, what to charge...

If things go well, I may have to open up a shop on etsy.com! (squeal!)

My husband works on cars for a living. At any given time we have at least twice as many cars as what we probably should. Because he's also paranoid, we insure all of them.

When we split the household bills eons ago, I took on the duty of paying for all insurance (health, auto, homeowners, etc.).

Recently he sold one of his cars, and he fixed up another one and garaged another one to be his project next summer. He asked me to please switch the insurance from the garaged one to the one he fixed up and drop it completely from the one he sold (confusing I know). Thank goodness we know our insurance agent really, really well- I have the girl's email address and she knows us on a first name basis now (yikes)

Anyway, so whatever leftover balances they had they applied to future payments on our other cars, but when all was said and done, there was somehow still some extra money floating around that they couldn't apply to anything. I got an envelope in the mail yesterday thinking it was just another policy renewal, and turns out it was a check for $25.20, labeled as a "Policy Dividend" by our agent.

WOOHOO!

So this morning I'm heading to the bank to deposit $26 from eBay, and $25 from the car insurance into my account which I can use to help pay for these medical bills that keep rolling in. Also, since my son just had a birthday, I have $115 to deposit in his savings- once it reaches $1000 we're going to transfer it to a money market account in the same bank. I do my banking at a credit union which has fantastic rates, awesome programs for kids, and makes everything super easy.

Yesterday before work I listed about $150 worth of textbooks on amazon and half.com. One of my books was only selling on average for $2 (it's a workbook) so I decided it wasn't worth it to pay the listing fees.



Edited to Update with Awesomeness:

Went to the bank and started up the baby's savings. Also, while I was stuck in there anyway, asked if they would change my direct deposit contribution so that instead of my entire check going to my checking account, $40 goes to the savings biweekly and the rest to checking. It was so incredibly easy that I feel stupid for not doing it 5 years ago when I started the account- I could've had $5200 in savings by now if I would've started sooner.

Anyway, I was thinking about my 457 plan and how about $100 a month goes into it and feeling kind of pathetic, until I did the calculations and realized that I am putting 5% of my net income into my retirement. That's really not that shabby at all considering I have 25 years to go. With this $40 biweekly going into my other savings, that's almost another 5%- so I'm pretty much putting 9%(ish) into long term and short term savings. Not bad at all for a 23 year old.

My medical bills keep on rolling in for the digestive problem which bears no name and according to my lovely $10,000 doctors, does not exist. I am soooo not going to make my August goal of slashing my American Express balance down to $505.

But instead of whining I'm being proactive. I listed 4 textbooks on Half.com this morning, and have a room full of clothes to list on eBay. However, I've noticed that seling on eBay is actually really expensive- what gives?