Journal Days 41-60

 15 August 2020

Day 41 Results

Went to the store, and stayed within budget.   Had to say no to some things, but coming home with a clean receipt felt really good.   Much better then coming home like a bad dog with it's tail tucked between it's legs.   Shows me how things can look when they're correct.  Want to keep doing it that way.   It's better.  I breathe easier.  I still get what I want, but I don't have to fight because of it.   Looking forward to a quiet weekend.   Peace of mind buys that.

16 August 2020

Day 42 Results

It's Sunday.   Yesterday was nice.  I sat down.  I watched a movie.  I enjoyed my guilt free beer, and the family just enjoyed each other's company.  I need to keep doing it this way.   It was nice.  I have a lot of stuff to address during the week.   It's a welcome relief to get a break at the end.   Reminds me it's not just about money.    Sometimes the good money habits buy other things.

17 August 2020

Day 43 Results

So begins a new week with new challenges.    Can't let my guard down.   I'm surprised I've made it this far with the money I have.  Usually by now I wouldn't have anything left.  I'm not killing it.  I only have about seventy dollars left, but at least I have the ability to do something.   Better then what I usually do.   Will need to watch myself.

18 August 2020

Day 44 Results

Today was pretty busy.  I got over my head a bit.   Ended up the night in a less then perfect scenario.   Ended up swinging by the grocery store and ended up picking up a couple of drinks on the way home from a chore while picking up my kid's computers.   I let my stress get the best of me.   I was pretty good, because I didn't go overboard, but it will make this week a little harder then it should have gone.   I'm just acknowledging the mistake, and am moving forward.  I'm sure more will happen.  Best I can do now is re-calibrate and recenter.

19 August 2020

Day 45 Results

Today went better.   I stayed at the house, and focused on doing chores.   Got some cleaning done, and kept myself safe from the outside world.    Sometimes you just have to keep yourself busy.  I think that's one of my main problems.  I keep trying to find expensive ways to entertain myself.  I'm a habitual consumer.   If I can train myself to spend, I can train myself to save.  Entertainment doesn't have to cost anything.   I need to look around and use what I have.   Been stuck at home too much, but have failed to see what is around me.

20 August 2020

Day 46 Results

Today I noticed how my kids have been coping with things.   Being inside all of the time has been hard on all of us.   We all cope differently.   My kids are starting to throw around legos and are acting out their frustrations physically.   I apparently do it through spending.  Neither of us are wrong, we're just frustrated.   I decided to bust out a board game and play with them.    We made a nice afternoon out of it.   

21 August 2020

Day 47 Results

I was surfing the internet today and stumbled upon something really cool.   There is this entire reddit community that is actively talking about mturk.   I ran across a really awesome handbook about how to make your mturk work more efficient.   This handbook has taught me a tremendous amount of info in a short period of time.   Starting Monday I'm going to implement some of this stuff and see what happens.

22 August 2020

Day 48 Results

I read through the mturk handbook slowly and went to the websites needed to try some of this stuff out.   Talk about a game changer.  I can see mturk hits really fast now.   Come Monday I'm going to see if I can work enough to clear ten bucks.   Here's to hoping.   I doubt this thing works as advertised, but I'm excited to test it out.

23 August 2020

Day 49 Results

Tomorrow is the first day of my test.  I've gotten familiar with the basics.  It's the weekend though so it's hard to know what a normal work week looks like yet.   Weekend traffic is usually pretty light.

24 August 2020

Day 50 Results

It worked!  I made fifteen bucks today.  That's ten times more then I normally make.  It takes more time, but fifteen bucks is a game changer.  I could buy a book every day with that much.   Going to try to see if I can keep this up.

25 August 2020

Day 51 Results

Two days in a row.  I'm a believer!  I'm going to keep doing this.  My new goal is 75 bucks in 5 days.   That's more then I used to make in a month.   This is starting to get serious.  Who says you can't work from home?

26 August 2020

Day 52 Results

Three days in a row.  I just made 45 bucks this week.  Almost enough to buy a nintendo game.  I could invest this.  The crazy thing is people are paying out faster now.  It's like I started a business and it's taking off.

27 August 2020

Day 53 Results

Four days.  It's my wife's birthday today.  I still got the work done, but she got my full attention.  It's possible to address both.  You just have to wake up early.  I even had time to get her her special dinner and share a birthday cake with the family.  Awesome day.

28 August 2020

Day 54 Results

I completed five straight days of work this week.  I made 75 bucks.  I now see mturk as a legitimate money making source.  It's no longer a cute pet.  I can change my future using this thing. 

29 August 2020

Day 55 Results

Today was my day off.  I spent it with my kids, doing fun things with them.  I earned this day off.

I feel really positive.  I'm going to end up with money at the end of the month.  I can manage things now.   I've stricken a balance.

30 August 2020

Day 56 Results

Today is the last day of the weekend.   The month ends tomorrow.  Everything looks really different.  I think September is going to be really great.   This is good because my kids start school again in a week.  I feel more calm.  I feel more free.

31 August 2020

Day 57 Results

August was great.   Another day of fifteen dollar pay.  I can't wait to start investing this money along with my normal September money.  I also received some great news about our house mortgage today.  I think we'll be done this year.  When you struggle for good, good things begin to happen.

01 Sept 2020

Day 58 Results

So begins a new month.   I'm super excited.   Even though school starts for the kids, I have 20 days to see if I can raise 15 dollars a day again.  If I can do it, I'll have 300 bucks in hand, and I use that to invest the money into a share of stock that I like.   I'm trying to get back to 12 shares.  I've got 3 so far, so I figure if I can knock out 300 a month and put in what I normally do this might only take about 5 months to finish out.   Also I'll have some good money invested in the stock market.  

02 Sept 2020

Day 59 Results

Today was good.   Got my 15 bucks knocked out, I'm getting close to having this entire challenge finished out on schedule.   I've learned some good stuff along the way, and I even did the back to school stuff with my kids.  I feel like I'm making things happen.   Looking forward to tomorrow.

03 Sept 2020

Day 60 Results

Having a clear head has really been helping out today.   Normally going to the school to pick up supplies would have been disruptive and I would have felt stressed about it.   Since I've been working towards a goal though, I find myself being able to take on more, and plan ahead better.    So today's trip to the school to pick up school supplies was good.  I even managed to get the lawn mowed in between trips, and I've made some progress on my work.   This gives me hope that the school year will be okay.   Working to fix a money thing turned out to have side benefits to it that I wouldn't have guessed.   I'm glad I decided to do this.