May was an OK month for the tiki fund challenge. I guess I should be happy considering I didn't put any energy into it. Having a baby takes all of your energy the first few months, as I have discovered.

So, in May I managed to add $96.61 to the tiki fund, thanks to 3 sales on my Web site and a decent chunk of change from Google Adsense. (all of this comes from my Web magazine, PussycatMagazine.com).

I would like to reach my 2008 goal of $1500 by the end of summer.

I may take a page from another blogger here who concentrated on making $500 of extra money in one month, through various means. But, I think I'll wait until baby bean is sleeping through the night first...

I added $84 to the tiki fund. It's part of an $884 2005 tax refund we just got from the state of Louisiana, after a long and frustrating battle. The hubby took a small part of that and bought a new game for his Playstation, so I took my part of the "spending" money and spent it on the tiki fund.

I'm happy to report that it's put me just over the halfway mark for my year's goal.

No, I don't realistically think I can open a business on a meager $1500 a year in savings. This is just to get my toes in the water to see if I can in fact save something for this bigger goal without putting my family finances on the line.

So far so good!@

I managed to put a little more into the tiki fund this month:
$25 from ING for opening an account, a $10 referral from ING for my sister setting up an account ( a small miracle..), and another $41 in ad sales for one of my Web sites.

That brings my total up to $672.40 for the year.

The $20 challenge is such a great idea. It's really made me more aware of alternative income streams. And, it's made me pay more attention to little bits of income that otherwise we would have frittered away. Very cool.

I just socked another $15.24 in the tiki $20 challenge fund. The money came from sales of a display ad on one of my Web sites. I'm happy that there is now over $600 in the tiki bar fund, and it's only March.

We also managed to sock an additional
$175 in the 529 plan for the soon-to-be-born bean
$200 extra in the savings account
$180 in the stock-buying account.

Feels nice. Also, when the checks for my latest freelance project come in, it should be enough to max out my IRA for the year. Yay!

Being forced to articulate my goals on this blog has really helped me make things happen. I wish I had started sooner...

Yay! I added $67.29 in Google adsense profits from my Web magazine to the Tiki $20 challenge.

2008 Total: $560.25, $939,75 to go!

I also paid an extra $143 this month on my student loan, bringing the balance to about $16,140. Down from $40,000 in 2001!!

I have long had an "accelerated" payment plan for the loan. When I work full time, I have used any money I've made as a freelance writer to pay extra on the loan every month. It's really sped up the pay-down.

I know it has a low interest rate and all, but it's our last outstanding debt, and I want it paid off. I totally hate debt.

A friend sent out lotto tickets in her thank-you cards. I won $5, so that's going to the Tiki $20 challenge.

Total for the year: $492.96

I got to add $9.51 in profits from Amazon marketplace sales and $3.40 in profits from a sale on my Web site to the tiki bar fund.

Tiki "$20" challenge: $12.91
Total this year: $487.96

I sold two book through the Amazon marketplace, so those profits are going to the Tiki Bar Fund.

(I'm applying the $20 challenge principle to my Tiki Bar Fund-- using new sources of revenue to boost my savings.)

The total sales came to $17.87, but after shipping and fees my profit was only $7. (Boo.) The tiki bar fund total is now $399.19.

I should be able to add more to that by the end of the month, due to some pending eBay sales.

On a more exciting note, I just got a check for $1,947 for a freelance project I did late last year. It's going directly into my IRA.

My goal is to max out my IRA this year with $5,000 in contributions. This is a good jump start. Only $3,053 left to go!

On another note, I just got $75 worth of Amazon gift certificates in the mail. We use an Amazon credit card to and these are our accrued "Rewards". I used the certificates to buy my crib mattress, so that was a nice bonus for baby that didn't have to come out of our pockets.