Day Trading: On-the-Job Training

You read that right. This week, I set up an account with E*Trade and started playing the stock market. I have only invested $15, and I've only purchased one penny stock, but at least I've made a start - even though I have no idea what I am doing.

You read that right also. I have no experience in the stock market, beyond signing up for a 401k account years ago. Even that really doesn't count, because I always checked the box for my age group, which automatically invested my money into the right fund for my age group.

So, now I am learning about stocks and options and what-not. It really is "on-the-job training" because I didn't take the time to learn about investing before I took the plunge. Is that the right way to do it? Probably not. Am I okay with that? Normally I would not be, but in this instance the money I funded my trading account with was money earned from an article that I wrote and sold last week.

I'll keep learning as I go....

I also have an account at Stash. This is a program that withdraws money from my bank weekly, and that money is invested into different types of EFTs. So far, I've only lost 44 cents, so it isn't all bad. On the bright side, I can always sell out, and should I do that, I will have $100...so far.

Homesteading for Cash

Remember that house and land that we bought and owe $80,000 on? Well, I'm going to help that land help to pay for itself to some degree. I've thought long and hard about the things that I want to do in this regard, and I have a reasonably sound plan. Here's the rundown:

1. Get into Bee Keeping. Yes, you read that right. I want to keep bees. Who knew that they could be so profitable?

2. I grow herbs, and will be selling them at our local farmer's market. You may think everyone does that - but they really don't. Regardless of that fact, I am selling my herbs in the form of miniature gardens: miniature tea garden, miniature kitchen garden, miniature medicinal garden, etc.

3. While it has absolutely nothing to do with the homestead, I sew and quilt, so it makes sense to sell the things that I make at the farmer's market as well.

4. Along with everyone else, I'll be selling jams and jellies. We are not allowed to sell goods that we can other than those two types of things. Without a health certificate, the only prepared foods that we can sell are baked goods. Hey, I didn't make the stupid rules. I know that I have to set my jams and jellies apart from everyone else's, but I'm kicking around ideas for that.

5. Obviously, I will be selling any excess vegetables from our garden, but I'm thinking about planting wheat and lavender next year. Nobody seems to be selling wheat berries or lavender products, so those are two needs that I can fill.

Well, there it is. My Homesteading for Cash plan. We will see how it all goes.

Paid to Lose Weight

As my family and friends know, I am overweight. I have lots of excuses lined up for why I'm overweight, but they really don't matter. I'm overweight, regardless of the reasons why. So, I decided to lose weight, and I was doing some research online, looking for healthy recipes. I ran across a site called HealthyWage.

HealthyWage is a site where you are able to bet on your own weight loss. You indicate how much you are willing to bet per month, how much weight you are betting you will lose, and the time frame in which you will lose that weight. If you succeed, your return is approximately 156%, but it could be more. Naturally, if someone wants to bet against my willpower - especially when it comes to raising the money to pay off my mortgage - than I am certainly game, and I will win. So I put on my FitBit, signed up, and placed my first wager.

Then, when I was looking at additional weight loss stuff, I came across a site called Achievemint. Yes, I know that is spelled wrong, and it bothers me too, but that is the name of the site. I downloaded the app on my iPad, signed up, and synced it will my FitBit. This program rewards me for exercising, logging my weight, drinking water, and reaching my step goals.

I considered joining GymPact, but changed my mind because they have a 1200 calorie minimum per day when you use the FoodPact, which was what I was really interested in - and if I consume 1200 calories a day, you better believe that I will be gaining weight - not losing it.

But, between HealthyWage and Achievemint, I will be earning money by doing two things that I needed to do anyway - lose weight and exercise.

Paid to Click Updates

I've been using a few sites that are often referred to "PTC"or Paid to...click, search, read email, watch, etc. So far, I've made about thirty dollars, and I only do these activities when I am watching television, basically, so I'm not wasting any time. In fact, you might say that I'm making the most of the time that I am wasting.

This does not include money that I have made from doing surveys. At first, I felt that taking half an hour to make a quarter was absolutely not worth my time. I still feel like that. I find that too often, I do not qualify for the surveys...but only after I feel like I've already answered so many questions that the survey should be over.

So, the first change I've made is to stick with two sites: InBox Dollars and Swagbucks.  I seem to be making the most money from those two sites, so I'll continue with them. As time goes on, I will post additional updates about these two sites, but please understand that I didn't stop using the others because they were bad sites. It is just that like everyone else my time is limited, and if I tried to hit all of the PTC sites everyday, I would never get any sleep - or do anything else to earn money. These just happen to be the two sites that I prefer, but you should try several and make your own choice.