I just made our first Roth contributions for 2010. I sent $1,550 to each of our accounts so just 2 days into the year and we are nearly 1/3 funded. This is the first time I've ever put money in this early and definitely never this much so soon. I'm hoping to max them by April or May, a month or more earlier than usual, after which I plan to start attacking our mortgage more aggressively.

Retirement is about 17 years away but I know that time will go faster than one might think and I want to get the mortgage paid off in 10-12 years and use the last 5 to really sock away cash and get everything in place to retire.

For the newbies, I am a physician and get to do a lot of online (and occasionally in-person) surveys for doctors only. These are not things open to the general public. They pay quite well though are sometimes quite tedious to complete.

For the month of December, I finished up the year on a strong upswing, taking in $845 in survey income.

That gives me a grand total for 2009 of $5,542.00.

The actual total is even higher than that because some surveys pay me in merchandise, like a textbook. I generally turn around and sell those items on half.com, which is reflected in my ebay challenge numbers. Almost all of my half.com sales consists of books I got from doing surveys.

For a combination of reasons, we've accumulated an unusually large amount in our checking account. July 1, I increased the percentage of my pay going to savings from 20% to 21%. DW's surgeries didn't cost us nearly as much out of pocket as I had anticipated especially thanks to the 50% discount she got for being a hospital employee. We didn't do any particularly costly travel this year. We paid off our HELOC last year and DD's braces came off. And overall, I think our spending has been down in general.

Anyway, the end result is we're sitting on a fair amount of cash that really isn't needed for any particular purpose.

Normally, I fund our Roths every 2 weeks with a portion of my pay, beginning with my first check in January and usually maxing them at 5K each by June. As it stands right now, I plan to send in $3,100 to the Roths on January 1 as soon as we're eligible to make 2010 contributions. That should put us on track to max them for the year by the end of April or maybe first check of May, at least a month earlier than usual.

The other thing I want to do with spare cash is start chipping away at our mortgage more aggressively. I've been paying an extra $100/month for a while, but if we stay on track the way we've been, I could potentially pay off as much as 8-10K extra in 2010 if I choose to do so.

I have just started all the year-end financial review stuff so my 2010 plans aren't all firmed up yet, but this is where I am right now.

I'm a physician and get to do a lot of online and occasionally in-person market research projects and surveys. Here in my blog, I report my monthly income from these. I also do Pinecone and Opinion Place and that is included in the total.

For the month of November, I received $441 to survey income, a pretty decent month. I'll keep at it and keep shooting for at least $400/month.

I'm typically one of the regulars on the forums who advises investing first, pre-paying the mortgage second (if at all). I find that my view is slowly changing. I think it is partly due to my mortgage balance shrinking and partly due to my getting ever closer to retirement. I've still got about 17 years before my goal of retiring at 62, but that is close enough that some planning needs to be done.

Last year, I started adding $100/month to the mortgage payment for extra principal. That was done after we made the last payment for our daughter's braces. That payment was $150/month. I figured we were living fine without that money for 18 months. We could keep living fine without it, so I put most of it toward the mortgage. Our regular payment (principal and interest) is just under $700, so that means almost 2 extra payments per year. Also, a couple of times when some other extra money came in, I added more to that month's payment.

There is a medical survey program that I do. It is an ongoing study and I do data entry almost daily. Unlike the other survey programs I do, this one doesn't pay each time I do it or even monthly but just one payment per year of $1,000. I've decided that when that payment comes in (I'm not exactly sure when my year is up) I will send that $1,000 all to the mortgage. It is totally found money and isn't needed in any other area of our budget or savings plan.

I have not sat down and run numbers to see when we could be mortgage free but I see no reason why we can't knock off at least 3 years. That would have us paid off when I'm about 60, though I know that as the balance gets smaller, I'll want to just write one big check and get rid of it, so we'll probably be done before that. That would give us a solid 2-3 years (or more) to sock away cash in anticipation of retirement.

Recap for the newbies: I am a family practice doctor and I have the opportunity to do a lot of medical surveys and market research programs, mostly online but occasionally in person (focus groups and such). Each month, I post the total I've earned from surveys for that month.

As I've posted in recent months, I tend to get in slumps where I pass up a lot of the survey opportunities that come my way. A couple of months ago, I got back on track and focused on doing as many of them as I could. That turned out well with my income turning around from $171 in August to $428 in September. I figure if I can consistently bring in $400 or more, that's an extra $5,000 a year in income, enough to pay for a couple of weeks vacation for my family.

Well, October turned out to be a gold mine for me. I received payments for 17 surveys plus got to do 2 in-person programs. I collected a grand total of almost a grand - $986.00! Of course, I am quite happy with that. If that doesn't motivate me to keep doing the surveys, I don't know what will.

As you know, I do a lot of online medical surveys (I'm a physician) and earn a good amount of money doing so. One thing I've also done periodically in the past is participate in survey and market research programs in person. There are 3 or 4 companies in my area that do this. I used to do them more often and stopped simply because I've been busy in the office and haven't had the time or energy (they are often in the evening and after a full day of work, the last thing I want to do is sit in some conference room for 2 hours answering questions).

Anyway, I got a couple of invitations recently and decided that with the upcoming medical bills (see my previous post - my wife is having surgery shortly), perhaps I should go do a few of these programs. They are reasonably easy and enjoyable and pay very well.

As it worked out, I was able to schedule 2 of them for this coming Thursday - one at 3:30pm and one at 7:30pm. The first pays $130 and the second pays $225, so in one day, I'll pick up an extra $355 in a matter of about 2 hours. Both places are located about 15 minutes from home in office buildings so travel and parking aren't an issue. I have a feeling I'll be paying more attention to those invites from now on.

And things were rolling along so well this year...

My wife has been having some gynecological issues which her doctor has been trying to correct with medication without success. So she is going in on Tuesday for a D&C/Hysteroscopy. Once that is done, they will be scheduling her for a total hysterectomy in the near future.

Obviously, my first concern is that she get better soon as she really has been miserable lately, but there will be a significant financial impact to her surgery, too. We have insurance but there is a deductible and co-insurance to deal with. Her gallbladder surgery a few years back cost us about $3,000 as I recall. I suspect this ordeal will run more than that between the 2 procedures. I'm guessing about $5,000. She is supposed to get a discount of some sort because she works for the hospital but I don't know what that will amount to.

Then there are lost wages. I'll probably lose about $1,500 in income from taking off. She will probably lose another $1,000-$1,500 depending on how long she has to be out of work.

So all together, we're probably looking at about $8,000 in unexpected costs. We have the money, fortunately, but it is still a lot, not that you can put a price on your health.

I am a physician and have the opportunity to do many online (and occasional in-person) surveys and market research programs. They can be fairly quick and easy or they can be quite long, boring and tedious, but in either case, they pay quite well, on the order of $100/hour or more sometimes. Here in my blog, I report the income I received during the month from doing surveys. It is not the amount generated during the month as there is a lag of several weeks between survey and payment.

For the month of September, I collected $428. I'm quite pleased with that. If you have been following my blog, you'll know that the past few months I had been slacking off and not doing all the surveys I got offered. No reason. Just laziness. So in August I only made $171. In July, I made $160. September was my best month since June (actually $2 more than June). I'm planning to stay on track doing what comes my way and keep the monthly total up over the $400 mark.

I usually save my monthly medical survey update for the end of the month but I had a particularly good week. As I posted last month, I had gotten out of the habit of doing all the surveys I get offered and my survey income had really dropped off as a result. So I hunkered down and started doing as many as I could again. There is some lag time between when I do a survey and when I get paid so that renewed commitment is starting to show up in the mail.

This week, I received one survey check each day from Monday through Friday for payments that totaled $210. There are still 4 more mailing days in September so I can't give a monthly total yet but this week alone I've earned more than in all of August or all of July. It is just totally stupid when I don't do these surveys. I need someone to smack me when I get in those ruts.

For the newbies - I'm a physician and get to do a lot of online surveys. They pay pretty well though they can be rather boring and tedious to complete. I tend to go through phases where I do everyone I get invited to and then slack off and fall off track. I'm trying to get back on track now.

My total survey income for August was $171 which is lousy but it reflects the period where I was slacking off. I'm hoping September will be much better.

I also do some surveys or e-details that "pay" me with some medically relevant item like a textbook, anatomic model, etc. When I get those, I generally try and sell them on half.com or ebay. I just made a sale on half.com today for $7.95 but I'll count that in September when I actually receive the money.

I kind of fell out of the blogging habit and I realize I didn't do my usual monthly post about my survey income, so I thought I'd post now and update the last 3 months.

Along with not blogging, I also got off track yet again with doing surveys. I blame Facebook and that darn poker game. It is totally addictive.

Anyway, for the newbies, I'm a doctor and get to do a lot of medical surveys and market research programs, mostly online. They are fairly tedious and boring but pay quite well. These are not open to the general public, though I do also do Opinion Place and Pinecone (and those earnings are included in these totals).

May 2009: $227.00
June 2009: $426.00
July 2009: $160.00

So May wasn't too terrible. June was very good and then July was lousy. I know $160 sounds like a lot of money, but trust me, it isn't. Just this morning, I did one survey for $125 and that is not unusual, so making only $160 for an entire month means I really didn't pay attention to most offers that came through my in box. I'm trying to do better again. August should be decent though there is a bit of a lag between when I do them and when I get the money.

ETA: Today alone, I've gotten faxed invitations to 3 surveys: $30, $55 and $60. That's in addition to the $125 survey I did via an e-mail invitation earlier today. As I said, the pay is good, but sometimes the volume of surveys gets overwhelming and I shut down and don't do them for a while. Then I realize how stupid it is to be throwing away money like that.

I realize I haven't blogged for a while. Just haven't been in the mood. I thought I should post that I just sent in the final 2009 contributions to our ROTHs so each is fully funded for $5,000.

Now I need to decide what to do with that portion of our savings for the rest of the year. I think it is all going to go to build up our cash reserve. The list of home repairs that need to be done is growing steadily and we really need to start tackling some projects so I want to start setting aside money.

I realized today I hadn't done my monthly post about survey income. For the newbies, I'm a physician and get to do various online surveys on medical topics. I also do Pinecone and Opinion Place.

For April, I earned $433 from surveys. Not my best month. Not my worst month. Solidly in the middle of the road. I haven't been keeping up with all the invites lately (damn Facebook poker - LOL) and need to get back on track. I fall off the wagon now and then.

I transferred $1,000 to my wife's Roth last night. This is part of the tax refund money. I haven't sent all of that money in yet because I ended up lending my mom some money. Her taxes ended up being more than expected due to some investment gains and it made more sense for us to lend her the money rather than her having to cash out some other investment. We'll get it back in a couple of weeks when a CD matures. Then that money ($1,500) will go to the Roths also. Plus, the remainder of the tax refund will go shortly.

That puts us at $5,165 to the Roths YTD so we're over the half-way point. My goal is always to max them in the first half of the year so we are right on track.

Quick recap: I'm a family practice physician and I get to do various medical surveys and market research programs for doctors only. Most are online. Occasionally, they are by phone or in person.

March 2009 was a very good month. I earned $629 from surveys. My wife also got $20 from MySurvey.

I just sent another $680 to my wife's Roth account. That brings us to $3,550 for the year. I also just checked our checking account and both our state and federal refunds were deposited on Friday. That money will also be going to the Roths. That's about another $4,000. Once I transfer that, I'll post again and update my total.

I just sent $720 to my Roth account. That brings our 2009 contributions to $2,870. Only $7,130 to go.

Today turned out to be a good day moneywise.

I bought Bank of America stock a few weeks ago for $5/share. It proceeded to drop as low as $2.53 before recovering a bit. With this week's rally, it started climbing. I put in a limit order to sell half my shares (250 of 500) if the price hit $5.75 which it did today. I made $187.50 profit (minus $14 commission) so a net profit of $173.50. I'm going to hold onto the other 250 shares for a while and see what happens.

I also went to do my taxes today. My accountant is up the street from the casino. Ironic, I suppose, but he was there many years before the casino came along. I stopped in for about half an hour and played a little blackjack. I started with $200 and left with $225, so that was a quick 12.5% return on my investment.

So all together, I earned about $200 today that I wasn't expecting.

For the newbies - I'm a family practice physician. I have the opportunity to participate in a variety of online (and occasionally in-person) surveys for which I am well compensated. These are for doctors only, not available to the general public.

For the month of February, I earned $490 from surveys which was a nice total. It had dropped off a few months back because I wasn't keeping on top of all the invites I get, but I've been sticking with it better.

As I've often posted, I get to do a lot of medical surveys, mostly online, that pay me pretty well. In 2008, I earned over $5,200 doing surveys. Most of them are done on no particular schedule. Sometimes, I might get 2 or 3 from the same company in a month. Other times, weeks may go by without a survey from that company.

Last year, I was invited to join one panel that has an ongoing program. Each week, they post 3 new activities to their site and I earn $50/month if I do at least 10 of them, which I always do.

A couple of weeks ago, I got an invite from a different company with the same kind of offer - do weekly activities for a set monthly amount of $50. I filled out the qualifying information and heard back today that I was accepted onto their panel.

So that makes a guaranteed $100/month I know I will get as long as I do the surveys. Of course, I still get all the intermittent stuff from 8-10 other companies. If I don't slack off, maybe I can hit $6,000 in survey income for 2009. That would certainly be nice.

Another paycheck means another Roth contribution. This week, it was $765.00. That brings the 2009 total to $2,150, more than 1/5 of the way there.

In the midst of my ebay challenge, I'm still doing lots of medical surveys. Just a reminder that these are for physicians only, not available to the general public.

For January, I earned $306 from surveys ($300 from medical, $6 from Pinecone). Not a bad month at all.

I sent another $675 to the ROTH last night. That brings us to $1,385 so far for 2009. Only $8,615 to go.

I sent $710 to Vanguard yesterday toward my 2009 Roth contribution. I send money every 2 weeks (from each paycheck), alternating between my account and my wife's account, until they are both maxed for the year, usually around the end of June. Only $9,290 to go.

A while back, I had blogged about my ebay sales and goal for 2009 and someone suggested I post it as a challenge to encourage others to do the same.

Here's the deal. Set a personal goal for how much you'd like to generate each month in ebay sales. I would also include half.com and craigslist in the challenge. Where ever and how ever you want to sell your stuff is fine. You can even throw in your yard sales if you'd like.

My goal for 2009 is sales of $100/month average for the year. I've already had one half.com sale this week ($18.99). I haven't listed anything on ebay yet. I plan to start tonight.

Let's hear everyone else's goals and keep updating us regularly on your progress.

ETA: I remember on another site, what we used to do was put "Proud member of ..." at the end of our listings. Then we could look up each other's auctions. If you'd like to do that, just add, "Proud member of SavingAdvice.com" to the end of your listings.

It's that time again. Time to look back and review the spending for the year. This entry covers our credit card usage for 2008.

Marriott Visa: $31,652.26
AOL Visa: $5,831.72
Discover: $3,265.06
--------------------
Total: $40,748.04

That's just about $300 more than 2007 which isn't bad at all considering we had the Bat Mitzvah this year and spent a lot of money on that. The only major expense that wasn't charged was the caterer.

As for rewards, we earned 35,287 Marriott points. That would get us 6 nights at about $90/night, so $540 in rewards.

From AOL and Discover, we earned cashback of $258.21.

We also got a free night certificate from Marriott Visa worth between $150 and $200.

That gives us total rewards earned for 2008 of $950-$1000.

As always, all bills were paid in full and on time, no interest charges or late fees. The Marriott card does have a $65 annual fee, but since we got rewards worth over $700, I think it is well worth the price.

For the newbies: I'm a doctor. I get to do various online surveys for doctors only, not available to the general public. They pay well. Some are easy. Some are quite tedious. Most pay me in cash. Some pay with Amazon gift cards. Some shorter ones give me some type of merchandise (books, USB drives, laser pointers, computer accessories, etc.). I also do Harris polls, Pinecone and AOL Opinion Place surveys that are open to everyone.

For the month of December, I earned $429.00 in cash and Amazon credit.

For 2008, I earned $5,068.50 in cash and Amazon credit.

It is a little hard to track the non-monetary rewards. Some of them, I've sold on ebay or half.com. Others, I've kept and used for myself or given to friends or family. There was probably at least another $200-300 worth of stuff like that.

All in all, a pretty good year. I slacked off on doing the surveys in late summer because we were busy getting ready for our daughter's Bat Mitzvah in September. In fact, my lowest income for the year was $160 in September. My best month was June with $760.50.

Here's to 2009 being at least as good if not better.

I've started the process of adding up all of our bills from 2008. I'm not nearly ready to post any final numbers yet. Maybe by tomorrow night. So far, I've done water, gas, electric, cable, cell phone and our main credit card (Marriott Visa). I'll try and do the rest tomorrow. I also need to add up what we earned in CC rewards. That's always an estimate because we have reward points that haven't been redeemed yet so I don't know for sure what they'll actually be worth - depends on how and where we use them - but I can come up with an approximate value.

More to follow.

I'm waiting for the end of the year so I can sit down and start doing all the review stuff for the year, adding up spending, credit card charges and rewards earned, portfolio review (ok, maybe I'm not looking forward to that so much this year), totaling up survey income, ebay sales, half.com sales and more. I enjoy gathering all the data and running all the numbers and seeing how things turned out for the year.

I know I could get started now and just add in any late data (like the 3 survey payments I got today or the half.com sale I made yesterday) but it just seems like the year should actually be over when I do it.

I'm sure I'll make a few posts with my review once I have all the numbers compiled.

Have a safe and happy New Year's Eve everyone.