Post Your Wins

[Gailete]

I'm assuming that the longer you wear them, the more expensive it is.

When we waited for my son's jaw to grow to avoid surgery, when the lower jaw finally got past the point of needing to be broken and extended, they slapped on the braces. This was my autistic son so I didn't know what to expect in regards to how he would react to the braces. He needed some teeth pulled, and then the braces went on. We paid a flat fee that was divided amongst the insurance, my ex's cash payment and me making payements over time. There was never an extra charge for the time that he was under care. I think all told it lasted about 10 years. He was still in braces when he graduated. He wore them like a tooper and never once complained about them. The crooked teeth I have no idea where they came from.

Needing teeth pulled to let adult teeth through he certainly got from me as I never once had a wiggly tooth and when I was 14 the dentist pulled my last 12 baby teeth to allow the other ones to come in. He had to cut the one in half and said it wouldn't have come out till I was 40 if that! Ever tooth that ever came out of my mouth was pulled by the dentist. My dentists over the years have never run into that.

[scfr]

DH sold his "old" driver (golf) in order to raise cash towards a new one, before buying a new one. Awesome. He then purchased his new driver at a net cost of only $32.

He's come a long way from the guy who used to "collect" golf gear that sat around in the garage decreasing in value.

And last week he sold something on eBay that he got for free, netting $46. (I walked him through how to sell, but he didn't ask me to do it for him.)

I used to be the one who did almost all of the "side hustling" for a few extra bucks, and he was pleased with the results. I'm delighted that he has taken it on himself to do the same.

[scfr]

A couple more little wins:

Last Sunday I bought a $300 10% discounted Target gift card, using my 2% cash back cc (11.8% total "discount"). That $300 card should last me for most if not all of 2018. Normally I use my Red Card when I shop at Target (5% discount), so I netted an extra 6.8% discount ($20.40) on future purchases for the coming year.

During the week DH test drove a vehicle and answered a survey in exchange for a $25 gift card and a box of chocolates.

[Gailete]

During the week DH test drove a vehicle and answered a survey in exchange for a $25 gift card and a box of chocolates.

Now that is something I can get behind!

[disneysteve]

During the week DH test drove a vehicle and answered a survey in exchange for a $25 gift card and a box of chocolates.

I've gotten a few of those offers but never actually went and did one.

[Gailete]

My son who has a nose for seeking out odd ways to make money, several times went to car dealerships that were having promotions and 'everyone wins a prize'! He would get WM gift cards for $10-25.

[disneysteve]

I just redeemed $32.86 in cash back on our Chase Visa.

[QuarterMillionMan]

Opened a HEBC account in June 2017 for a $350 new account offer and fulfilled the requirements then closed the account today. It took 6 months but it was worth it.

[Gailete]

One of my wins was having a chance to talk 'business' with my son from out of town who is here tonight. He lives 5 hours away so don't get to see him often. He sells the same thing I do but has far surpassed his mom in profitability, so I know the things we discussed will lead to an increase in funds for me as my goal this year (2018) is to increase income and decrease expenses. Even though it is next years goal, doesn't mean I can't start working on things now.

[Gailete]

Had a couple of wins this week. Our washer/dryer combo died a few weeks ago, so no way to do laundry. While we puzzled out what to do, and I had no desire to put one more thing on a credit card, my husbands elderly aunt due to health problems is moving to FL to be at her grand daughters. She got rid of pretty much everything in her apartment including her 2 year old washing machine. Guess who got it given to them for free!

My electric bill showed up with an insert, they kind that usually get tossed unread, that was offering an energy saving kit which has 8 assorted sizes of lightbulbs, 3 nightlights, a furnace filter whistle - whatever that is. We will be getting it for free as part of the mandate to help customers lower their electric usage. A couple of weeks ago a guy was here that swapped out a power cord gadget, the name escapes me, that you can have multiple cords plugged in to it and a free carbon monoxide detector.

Plus before he left yesterday, my son told me about even more ways to save more money as well as earning more. He has a business similar to mine only he makes a whole lot more money than I do!

[james.hendrickson]

I invested in Microsoft for my son's Custodial IRA - its up 20%.

While stock prices are subject to fluctuation, I'm glad I could put some money away for his retirement.

[Gailete]

That washing machine was the best win! My prior one was a combo waher/dryer in the same machine and took up the same space as just a washer or a dryer would. So we effectively lost our dryer too. Over the years with the Amazon Vine program I had gotten dryer racks and tend to hange a lot to dry when up to it and always hang my stuff. So currently the bathroom looks like a 'Chinese' laundry. Thankfully a very big handicap accesible Bathroom/laundry room.

Lately when I see what has been provided for me when needed, I feel so blessed. I have clean clothes!

[Gailete]

Now I know that the stock market can go up and down and all around, but on Friday evenings I like to see where we are at with our investments, especially in light of this article: https://a.msn.com/r/2/BBGK8WR?m=en-us I haven't been able to watch the video yet.

Assuming I don't lose my SSD and a tiny pension, less than $100, where our investments are right now if we had to tap them we could go probably almost 4 years. That doesn't include our rental income or hopefully having the house paid off in ~5-6 years, and making payments and paying off the cc bills at the same time. I never felt like a winner in one of these questionnaire things before but I did today . Usually they make me feel like any day now I will be living under a bridge.

Our IRAs have gone up over 29% for the year at this point! And after 3 days with no sales, I got 3 today.

I also got out of the house today that for many might not be even thought of as a win, but with the snow and bitter cold we were having, I couldn't go out, but I had to get some blood work done so hubby chauffeured me and was an extra prop, so I wouldn't fall. Last time I fell in the snow, it took 10 minutes to even get his attention and another 15 minutes getting up on my feet after he literally dragged me into the house. Since then I can’t go out on my own when we have such a mess outside. So, a safe trip and the cabin fever blown off is a good thing.

[disneysteve]

Now I know that the stock market can go up and down and all around, but on Friday evenings I like to see where we are at with our investments, especially in light of this article:

Well based on those criteria, we are "ultra-wealthy" because we could certainly manage for 5 or more years, but I'd say that's an awfully low bar to assign that title.

I also disagree that an income of $144,000 makes you upper class.

The article is also a bit confusing because it asks how long you could go without an income but then talks about investing in income-producing assets, so you would have an income.

[amastewa93]

Small win! I've been working on my credit after racking up some CC debt and medical debt. One year ago my score was around 440 (terrible). This morning it was sitting at 650.

I've still got a ways to go but this was definitely a win for me!