31 Days to Find $1000

 

Do you have a large bill due? Have you figured out how you’ll pay for Christmas? Are you trying to build an emergency fund? I bet you could use $1000 right about NOW.

$1000 is a lot of money, but yet, it’s not that hard to find–you just have to know where to look.

In 2013, I participated in The Nester’s 31 Days event and my challenge was to find $1000.  Mondays thru Saturdays in October, I offered ideas to help you find $1000 too. And on Sundays, we met here to catch our breath and let everyone know how we were finding our cash.

To be honest, I think I was delirious when I convinced myself to take on this challenge. I’ve never written every single day before, but I laid out my ideas on a calendar the last week of September, reviewed them with my husband to get his feedback, and then I just dove into October. There were 5 days that I just couldn’t get a post up due to my in real life busyness. The month is over and now I can get back to some other topics.

How we found $1000 in 31 Days?

If you followed along, it was certainly possible for you to find a full $1000 from all of my ideas. Most of my tips were things that I have actually done in the past–but unfortunately that money didn’t flow in October–like the $150 when I cashed in some old gold jewelry or the $200 my husband earned from teaching private swimming lessons or the $150 we made at our yard sale this past summer or the $55 we saved per month when we cancelled cable. Right there is $555.

In the month of October we found almost $600.

• $250 Bank of America cash rewards
  
• $80 from the sale of the Wii
• $50 returns
• $57 from cashing in loose change.
• $55 from our yard sale.
• $75 from reducing our spending and declaring October a “needs” only month.
• $25 from our lower electric bill due to our Low Heat Challenge.

October was a success in many ways. We got rid of clutter by selling some stuff and returning unused purchases, we were able to reduce our spending by $100 during the month by being more deliberate with our money, and I met some new blogging friends who were also participating in the challenge. Not too bad!

So how did you do? Were you able to find $1000? Did you follow some of my tips to reach your goal? I would LOVE to hear about your success in October, so please let us know in the comments.

The 31 Days Recap:

• Day 1: Make October a “Needs” Only Month
• Day 2: Have a Yard Sale
• Day 3: Sell Your Big Stuff on Craigslist
• Day 4: Find a Seasonal Part-Time Retail Job
• Day 5: Return Unused Purchases
• Day 6: Found Cash Update
• Day 7: Make Money from Your Skills
• Day 8: Sell Your Unused Video Games
• Day 9: Plan a Low Heat Challenge
• Day 10: Sell Your Gold Jewelry for Cash
• Day 11: Cancel Your Cable TV
• Day 12: How to Get a FREE Gym Membership
• Day 13: Update #2
• Day 14: Reduce Your Grocery Spending without Sacrificing Quality
• Day 15: Skip the AM Drive-Thru and Eat Breakfast at Home
• Day 16: Shop Thrift or Consignment Stores
• Day 17: Find FREE or Low Cost Family Entertainment
• Day 18: I had a yard sale and didn’t have much time to get online.
• Day 19: I was out of town and offline.
• Day 20: I ran a half marathon and offline
• Day 21: Playing catch up from being out of town for 2 days. Loads of laundry to do.
• Day 22: FINALLY…a new post: Do-It-Yourself and SAVE!
• Day 23: Brown-Bag Your Lunch & SAVE!
• Day 24: Cash In Your Loose Change
• Day 25: Rethink Your Christmas Spending
• Day 26: crazy day spent offline.
• Day 27: Update #3 How much we found so far.
• Day 28: Are You Paying Too Much?
• Day 29: Eat Dinner at Home & SAVE!
• Day 30: Increase Your Income

Check out my 31 Days to Find $1000 Pinterest board where I’ll be updating daily.