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Archive for October, 2007

October Survey Total

October 31st, 2007 at 11:03 pm

Quick recap for anyone new - I'm a family practice doctor and I regularly have the opportunity to do online medical surveys. These can take anywhere from 10 or 15 minutes to an hour to complete. Some are fairly simple. Others are pretty involved and tedious. But they do pay well. I used to ignore most of the invitations I got and several months ago, decided to start doing every one I possibly could.

For the month of October, I earned $585.00 doing these surveys. That beat last month by $5 and brings the total since June first to $2,099.25.

I "found" $1,384.12 last night!

October 20th, 2007 at 01:27 pm

I got my bank statement yesterday and sat down last night to balance the checkbook. I got 2 nice surprises when I did.

First, on 9/17, our NJ Homestead Rebate (or whatever they call it now) was direct deposited. That was $956.93.

Second, I neglected to record my wife's 9/27 paycheck. That was $427.19.

So a total of $1,384.12 turned up that wasn't previously accounted for. What a nice way to start the weekend.

Last casino visit

October 19th, 2007 at 12:33 am

I realized I didn't mention my last casino visit. I went to Harrah's Chester on Sunday morning. I played for a little over 2 hours and ended up slightly ahead. I made $42.50. I also earned 950 comp reward points. Comp points are essentially worth a penny each, so about $9.50. That makes the total won $52.00. Not spectacular but not a bad way to spend a couple of hours on a Sunday morning when I had nothing else going on.

Shopping at Whole Foods

October 15th, 2007 at 02:35 am

DW and I agree that we haven't been eating all that healthy lately and need to get back on track with diet and exercise. I decided to take a trip to Whole Foods today and spend some time exploring some different options, particularly looking for some healthier snack options since that is often our downfall.

I picked up a number of new things to try, a couple of which we already sampled tonight and liked. I was mainly focused on items with little to no saturated fat, no trans fat and no high fructose corn syrup.

The one problem with those things is, of course, that they are more expensive than the crappy versions, but I'm willing to spend a little more for good health. Also, we are working to get back to cooking at home more and eating out less which will save a lot of money. I'd rather spend it on better quality groceries than on high calorie meals out.

Wife's 401K corrected finally

October 12th, 2007 at 04:25 pm

My wife started working in July. We filled out the 401K forms to have 50% of her salary deducted and go into the plan. The first couple of paychecks only had 3% taken out, so we figured they hadn't processed her paperwork yet. They do 3% automatically for everyone. Then we went out of town for a couple of weeks and I didn't get a chance to question it. Finally, in September, it still wasn't right, so I went online and downloaded the form again and resent it.

She got her paycheck yesterday and it is finally correct. 50% going to the 401K plus a 3% match. She only works part-time but still, 50% is a whole lot more than 3%. That should add up nicely assuming she stays at the job for a good long time.

I always say, half-joking, that every dollar she puts away for retirement is one less dollar I have to put away and that much sooner we can both call it quits.

Powerwashing and Sandblasting... my teeth

October 10th, 2007 at 04:54 pm

This isn't a financial post, just so you know.

I went for my semi-annual periodontist appointment today. I always feel like I'm on a construction site. First they go at me with the metal picks. Then they get out the powerwasher and blast me with a high-powered stream of water. Then they finish me off with the mint-flavored sandblaster. I always joke that next time, I want them to do my face and give me a dermabrasion treatment at the same time.