Snowflakes, Snowballs, Snowmen Part 1

Day 33-Snowflakes, Snowballs and Snowmen Pt. 1

Snowflakes. Individually, not much on their own, but together, they can make a big impact. Similiarly, we can think about our spare change, odd jobs and windfalls as snowflakes which, when put together, can take a big bite out of debt.

Overall, I owe about $20,000 in debt. Most of that is owed to the government. Some of that, is owed to Earlham to pay for my month in Spain and Morrocco. A small part of that is to my parents, when I had a hard time making ends meet in December. And the tip of the iceberg is to Christine, to make sure the rent check cleared.

Every month, I have built into my spending plan debt payment. This is how much from my income I am willing to spend on debt payments. I make it a point to always pay more than the minimum if I can.

Any new income I get in the month goes directly into my snowflake pile.

Little things I do to snowflake won't make a big difference at all. For instance, the $50 I will get for dog sitting next week would probably not cover the interest on my student loans. And my coin jar would be nothing at all to Earlham. However. Either of those could pay back Christine no problem and leave a nice bit to pay back my parents.

That is the power of the snowflake. Snowflakes can be added together and make a snowball which can be thrown at your debt.

Techniques for snowflaking:

1. Spare Change- I have a sock that I call my sock of snowflakes. Everyday, I empty my pockets of spare and loose change and then I put it in the sock. I then keep it out of sight so that I don't dig into in order to by snacks a the convenience store. Sometimes I put dollars in there, too. The PNC down the street has a Coinstar-like machine that will then add it up and give me cash. For Free!

2. Odd Jobs- Next week, I am picking up two new odd jobs. I am house sitting for a friend of ours and I am also working the polls for the Primary election. Neither pay particularly well. But they are snowflakes for the taking. You can find some more at craigslist.com

3. Tax Rebate- Sure, Congress and President Bush want me to spend it on something shiny. But, if I can take that chucnk of change and pay off a chunk of debt, why shouldn't I?

4. Online Surveys- the good people at paidtwice.com have a list of surveys for fun and profit. They don't pay awesome, and most of the time I haven't qualified for them. But they only take about 10 minutes for a couple of bucks.

Tomorrow we will talk about Snowballs and how to turn your snowflakes into debt relief.
But what about you? What do you do to earn/save some extra money?

Comptence Moment of the Day- I have lost 5 inches off my waist.