Even though I know I shouldn’t, every day I log into my Amazon Associates account to see if anything’s been ordered via my links. I know I know, watched paint never dries or whatever.

I got a huge ass surprise when I logged in tonight. Someone, I have no idea who, bought a Kindle using my link. That’s a $359 product! I made $35.90 just off that alone! How fucking awesome is that? That means I’m actually going to get a payout next time around!

I send a huge “Thank You” to whoever it was that used my link. You didn’t have to but for whatever reason you did and I really appreciate that.

Yes, another post about Ebates.

If you shop online you need to join! If you’re going to spend money already online, why not earn a little back? It makes sense to me. Seriously, the amount of stores that Ebates offers is crazy. Here are just a few:

Snapfish
Macys
Victorias Secret
Overstock
Best Buy
JC Penny
AE
Delias
Sephora

That’s just 1% of the stores! Since joining I’ve earned $341.87 in cash back. How awesome is that? Plus once you join, you can earn money by getting others to sign up. Right now I’ll earn an extra $10 for every person that signs up and completes a purchase.

What are you waiting for? Go join!

I wasn’t sure what to expect with the Amazon Associates Program but I’ve been surprised. I’ve actually “sold” some items. People have actually been using my links and search box to buy things!

Since January I’ve sold 11 items and made $9.12. I know it doesn’t seem like much but when you have plenty of people using a program like Amazon Associates, it’s a big deal. Obviously most of the items purchased through my links are serial killer related books since all my Amazon links are on Dead Silence.

Right now my Referral Rate is 6% but if I sell 24 more items it’ll jump to 6.50%. I’m sure at the rate I’m referring, it’s going to take some time to get those 24 items.

To help along those 24 items, here are a few links to different things I like or things I think ya’ll should check out! If you do use my links, I thank you in advance!

Do any of you out there bank with Bank of America? If so, do you like them? Do you hate them? Have you had any major issues/problems with them? If you do use Bank of America, are you part of the “Keep The Change” program? If so, does it really add up? Have you had any problems with it?

I’m thinking of changing banks now that I’ve paid off my credit cards. I wanted to wait until that was over with since the payments were automatically deducted from my checking. I like the sound of the “Keep The Change” program seeing how I use my debit/atm card for everything. Another big seller is the fact they have a Baltimore Orioles checking account. Go ahead, call me lame.

If you feel like your answers might be too long to post in a comment, please feel free to email me!

I can say that in my 25 years of being around, I’ve never had any issues with Friday The 13th. That ended this past Friday.

Remember how I paid off my credit cards? Well, I made my last payment early because I was that excited and couldn’t wait. Normally my payments come out on the 13th but I just wanted to get it over with. As soon as I made the payment online I called to make sure that my regular payment wouldn’t be taken out. I was assured it wouldn’t, that my account would show as being closed/finished/done/whatever. Oh, if only life worked that way. I checked my checking account online Friday morning and I was negative. Why? Because they took out the payment they told me wouldn’t be taken out.

I was livid to say the least. I almost started to cry. That’s how pissed off I was. I got on the phone ASAP and called CCCS to explain what happened. I was stern but never once yelled or raised my voice. The people on the other end were very understanding and started to work on fixing the mistake. They even called my bank, with myself on the other line, to explain what happened and to take care of the bank fees. Of course that didn’t change the fact that I now had no money in my account to use for something as simple as gas. Luckily I had a check from dogsitting that the bank let me cash. The funny thing is I thought about going to the bank in the morning to deposit the check. I’m glad I didn’t. I could just imagine my reaction when they would’ve told me that my account was negative. I’m pretty sure I would’ve went apeshit in the bank.

Thankfullly my account is slowly getting back to normal. The refund from CCCS has been issued and in 24-48 hours any overdraft fees will be removed. Judy from CCCS even called today to check and see if everything was OK and what not. I thought that was very nice. They’ve always had good customer service and this whole episode has shown that. Of course it would’ve been nice if none of this had ever happened but I had that crazy feeling in the back of my head that it would.

I was able to have a nice night though even with all the drama. I went to the Orioles/Pirates game and it was fireworks night! Instead of boring you with pictures from the game, here are some pictures of the fireworks.

I just paid off my last credit card. This is the most wonderful feeling in the world. It feels good to have that huge burden lifted off my shoulders and it couldn’t come at a better time with the out of state wedding I’m in. When I made the payment this morning, I couldn’t believe it.

It’s been a long 4 years since I joined the CCCS debt program. I honestly believe it was the best thing I’ve ever done. Instead of taking years and years and paying tons in interest, I was able to get it done in 4 years, which was 2 years earlier then my scheduled goal. It was hard at first but it would’ve been much harder without the help and the program.

I’m actually speechless right now. I don’t think I can put into words how it feels to have this out of the way and finally over with. I’m sitting here staring at the screen trying to come up with things to say and I can’t!

I do want to thank all of you for your support though. I’ve blogged about my debt before and everytime someone would leave comments of well wishes, good luck and other forms of support.

I think right now I’m going to sit back and let this all soak in.

May is a good month for extra money. Monday I *should* be getting my $600 Stimulus Deposit which I’ll be putting towards my credit card. I can stimulate the economy later but first I need to take care of my debt. Thanks to the Stimulus Deposit and the regular payment that goes towards my card, it should be paid of next month. How amazing is that? That means next month around the 13th expect a big ass “I’m Debt Free” post!

Along with the Stimulus, I’ll be getting almost $100 from Ebates. Seriously, if you shop online be sure to sign up for Ebates. It all adds up quickly, especially if you get other people to join. My last payment was $151 because I was able to get a shitload of people to sign up. If you have any questions about Ebates just leave a comment or send me an email and I’ll try my best to answer them!

I made some cash this weekend because I’m in PA dogsitting while my Aunt & Uncle are away at a Navy thing. It’s just $60 and I’ll probably end up using that for a hair cut. I’m in need of one, especially since I just colored my hair black again. I need a cute cut to tone it down a bit.

Anyone else rolling in extra cash this month?

First I wanted to thank everyone for the comments on the tattoo! I love it and I’m glad everyone else loves it. I’m already planning my next one. Yes, I have an addiction.

Last week I transfered $200 from ING into my checkings. Why? Because I’m sending it in as an extra payment on my lowest credit card. My Capital One is down to $404.19. Of course the extra $200 brings it down to $204.19 which means the card will be paid off in two months. That’s if I don’t do any extra after this. I still have the Washington Mutual which is at $995.62. I already plan on sending most, if not all, of my “tax rebate” into CCCS and applying it to the WM card. By the time I get the “tax rebate” in May, the WM will be around $780. If I get $600 (I admit I have no idea much I’m actually getting from the IRS, I should check into that) that will almost wipe out the card! How awesome is that?! Even if it’s $300, after I applied that it would only take about two more payments to pay if off.

I’m getting really excited about being debt free. I actually thought about taking everything out of ING to pay off the smaller card but my mom talked some sense into. It’s always good to have something in your savings, even if it’s just a little. I’ll be honest though, it’s hard not to want to just take it all out and be done with the lowest card.

Once everything is paid off I can start saving to move out!

I received my latest Ebates “Big Fat Check” and it was big! I found a nice little deposit in the amount of $150 in my PayPal account. Not too shabby eh? Most of that money was from getting people to sign up and join. Only about $20 of it was from actual cashback.

What? You haven’t joined Ebates yet? Seriously, if you shop online you need to join. I mean really, if you’re going to spend online, why not get a little something back? Believe me, it adds up quick.

If you don’t know what Ebates is, I’ll explain. Ebates allows you to earn cashback on purchases. It’s simple. You join Ebates and before you shop, you just make sure you start off at Ebates. An easy way to remember is to make it your homepage. Some of the stores they have teamed up with are Macys, Target, Barnes & Noble, Sephora and Drugstore.com. There are a ton more but I don’t have the space to list them all.

The best part is, if you sign using my link, you’ll get an extra $10! How awesome is that? You just have to make a purchase! What I did when I signed up was ordered some prints from Snapfish.com. You have to hurry though. This special offer ends March 31st!

If you have any question, let me know and I’ll try my best to answer them!

My dad finished my taxes for me and I’ll be getting around $500 back. That’s not too shabby. I’ve had about 500 different ideas about what to do with my refund. I think I’ll take about $70 of it out for a tattoo and put the rest into my ING Account. I thought about sending in to go towards a credit card but I have that wedding this year and Mexico. I’m going to need some of that money for each. I’ll need it for airfare for the wedding and I’ll need about $200 for spending cash in Mexico. Plus if I put it into my ING Account, I’ll earn something on it.

On the 15th I’ll be getting $151 from Ebates which is awesome. I wish Paypal was hooked into ING that way it would easier to add that to my account. At the sametime though, Southwest accepts PayPal which means I could use that for airfare as well. You know, as long as I don’t blow it on other things.

Sometimes having extra money just causes bigger headaches. I’m not even going to think about if we get that extra “tax relief” or whatever that “free money” thing is that the Gov’t is thinking about doing. Who knew extra money could be this stressful?