Financial update for March

Of course, I'm not going to give you a lot of fine details for this update, but I just thought you might like to know about the progress that's been made. It might inspire you to stretch your own boundaries!

• McDonald's Stock - So far I've invested a little under $400, having it taken out of my pay at the rate of $20 per paycheck. This means I'm investing only $40 a month for now. As of today, my dividend earnings are under $20 and that is reinvested right back into stock. When I accrue enough stock and earn a more substantial amount, I'll have at least part of it sent to me or direct deposited. For now, I'll just let it ride and let the dividends work for me. Next pay raise, I'll up my contribution.
• McDonald's 401K - With my last pay raise, I added 401K to my investments that are directly deducted from my paychecks. It was tempting to pass on this so I'd have a few extra dollars in my pocket, but I decided I'd rather have the extra dollars later in life, when I'll really need them! I'm only contributing $15 per paycheck right now, but may change that to a percentage of my pay so that it's more variable but still works for me.
• PayPal CashBack - I'm very careful to use my PayPal debit card as a credit card so that all purchases through it are awarded the CashBack Bonus. It's only 1%, but over a month's worth of purchases it does add up and bump up my PayPal balance a bit. My CashBack Bonuses for March totaled $6.59, so that's pretty decent. Can't get rich with it, but it's better than getting nothing in return. Besides, that amount only lacks .40 covering one month's hosting on one of my blogs, so using the debit card is almost as good as getting a hosted blog for free!
  
• PayPal Money Market - This is quite variable as it depends on the current money market rates plus the available balance in my PayPal account. March Money Market only paid $1.19, but that's $1.19 I didn't have before, so I'm not really complaining. It's paying at 2.96%, which is half what it paid when I first joined. I'm really hoping this goes back up again.
• Bank debit points - My debit cards accrue points now. This started in November. I can get some points using them as debit cards, but more if I use them as credit cards. For each account, I've earned about $20 worth of points. I'll check it again later in the year and maybe I'll have earned enough to finance Christmas purchases!

All of these are ways the money I earn works for me, even if it's in small ways. As time goes by, some of these things will grow so that my money earns more for me. As a widow, having multiple streams of income is vital.

Besides my regular job at McDonald's as a manager, where my pay is pretty good according to the pay of most jobs around here, I also do some freelance writing assignments that I'm paid for. I average around $400 a month with those. I also occasionally sell on eBay and ThisLittlePiggyStaysHome auction sites, though not as much as I used to. That's something I've got to change, and I will as soon as this move is over and I'm settled into my new home.

For some fast cash, last night I sold two old vehicles I had here. It was only for $50 each, but that's $100 in my pocket. The guy will come back and buy the other one in a day or two, and I will have cleaned up my yard and made money in the process. I might also see if he wants any of the other scrap metal around here. I figure $30 or so should be enough for it, and it gets even more stuff off the property.

I did actually get in some overtime at work, which is very unusual. But with the opening of a new store in the Other City, and the resulting lack of managers and crew to man the store, several of us were able to get extra hours in by working there. I don't count on overtime, so I'll probably just take that amount and sock it away for a rainy day, and operate on my normal budget with the regular pay.