How many of you guys use ING? I have an account myself, but I still have yet to play with their sub-accounts.They sound freakin' awesome though! I kinda remember hearing about them before I started blogging (and if you google it all your favorite bloggers show up at the top), but the idea that you can save in "categories" like that is brilliant. And I'm not getting paid to say that ;)

I truly think other banks should perk up and steal this cuz it's budgeting genius (ya hear that, USAA?). I would absolutely love to have different sub-accounts set up to stash all my funds in - I just don't use ING for the bulk of my savings.

But it seems so many of you guys do! Here's just one of a handful of comments left on my $200 cash giveaway post last week (which, btw, is still open so go and enter if you haven't already!!!):

"One of the main things that has helped my family is to open an ING account and create 4 different accounts for separate things. Right now I have 1) Christmas 2010, 2) Paying our Taxes 2010, 3) Paying back a family member, and 4) Our Fun Money account for a Disney vacation

I love that "Christmas 2010" fund :) It's so smart to save in chunks like this so you can a) save a little every month over time, and b) SEE that grand prize at the end! When it all mixes up and goes into one "pot," it's a lot harder to mentally figure out what goes where. We still do it because that's what we're used to (including myself), but if you have the option to create these sub-accounts you should def. give it a shot. Here are a few referral links if you ever wanna open one up:

• Referral #1 - ING Orange Savings Account - $25 bonus for you, $20 for me.
• Referral #2 - ING Orange Savings Account - $25 bonus for you, $20 for me.
• Referral #3 - ING Orange Savings Account - $25 bonus for you, $20 for me.
• Referral #4 - ING Orange Savings Account - $25 bonus for you, $20 for me.
• Referral #5 - ING Orange Savings Account - $25 bonus for you, $20 for me.

Do NOT think you have to get one though just for the bonus. If you're happy with your current bank GREAT! Stick with 'em :) I only share these for those who want a change or have been lazy setting one up. Happy Savings!

Labels: banking, free money, saving

We've given out over $800+ worth of goodies so far, and it keeps on coming :) So thanks to all who participate! The more you do, the more stuff we can keep giving away.

This week's giveaway is sponsored by my twitter friend, Austin - who just released his new e-book: Save Thousands on Textbooks. He shares his 8 steps to save over $2000 on college textbooks, and guarantees this e-book will put money back into your wallets this semester. Works for me! He also runs the blog Foreigner's Finance - an American's experience with money abroad.

For a chance to win one of the two $50 Amazon.com cards, follow these 2 rules:

1. Check out this new e-book and find your favorite tip out of the 8 listed.
2. Drop a comment HERE with the tip, and why you like it, and voila! You're now entered.

The giveaway ends this Friday, the 11th, at midnight, and I'll announce the winners on a separate post this Saturday. And if you have any other comments/advice/likes/dislikes about the book, PLEASE tell us about those as well. All comments get reviewed and go to help my man Austin produce a better product to help people :) Thanks so much, and GOOD LUCK!

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PS: As always, the mighty random.org will pick the chosen ones.

Labels: free money, giveaways

How's that for brilliant marketing? I wish I could say I came up with it myself, but it was actually ING Direct who coined it - my 2nd favorite online bank (USAA is my first). I'm not sure how long this campaign of theirs has been going on, but I saw this quote on a billboard leaving Philly last weekend and it's been stuck in my mind ever since :) It's SO TRUE!

And oddly enough, I just started banking with them! Yup, I took the plunge with hundreds of other PF bloggers out there and I'll be using this account as my "do whatever I please with" money. You know, the one most husbands have when they want to spend $100+ on shoes or $70 on a video game they'll play for one weekend straight and then give up on? Well, I'm too frugal to do those things exactly, but the idea that I *could* do that if I wanted is still pretty exciting ;)

If you're considering using them yourself, click on one of these referral links below and get a $25 bonus when you open an Orange Savings Account with an initial deposit of $250! Not only will you get a sweet online bank (they usually have some of the best savings rates around) , but you'll also be hooking me up with a tasty $10 as well - a sexy win-win situation if I do say so myself.

• Referral Coupon #1 - Orange Savings Account - $25 for you, $10 for me.
• Referral Coupon #2 - Orange Savings Account - $25 for you, $10 for me.
• Referral Coupon #3 - Orange Savings Account - $25 for you, $10 for me.
• Referral Coupon #4 - Orange Savings Account - $25 for you, $10 for me.
• Referral Coupon #5 - Orange Savings Account - $25 for you, $10 for me.
• Click over to Clever Dude - He has the rest of my referral links ;) (updated: 11-23-09)
  

ING Direct is awesome. And if you don't believe me, check out the hundreds of reviews out there. I'd do one myself but it just sounds awfully boring right now ;) The other bloggers are better at it...

Labels: banking, bargains, free money

Word on the street is that the "Cash for Clunkers" program may already be over - less than a week since it started! I won't bore you with all the details here (mainly because I'm lazy and there's already so much circulating around the webs right now anyways), but I did think it was prudent to mention. After all, you might have been excited to go out this weekend and start saving money by spending money! ;)

Haha...okay, well that's just one take on the whole thing. It was perfect for all those already looking to buy a new car! I had considered picking up the $4,000ish rebate myself and trading in the '93 Caddy - but then I realized I was an idiot and punched myself in the face. I LOVE that car! Sure it gets 14 mpg, but it runs just fine and I have ZERO car payments! Definitely not looking to spend another $443 a month again anytime soon, regardless of the discount...

But getting back to the breaking news here, does this mean Cash for Clunkers worked? If the gov't set aside $XXX and we already went through $XXXX, then yes? Or should it have lasted the entire few months originally planned? I'm not the right person to answer that one, I'm just glad it gives us bloggers something new to talk about ;) Your thoughts?

UPDATE: Lawmakers pass $2 billion bill to keep program alive
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Some great articles on it so far:
MSNBC @ White House Reviewing 'Cash For Clunkers'
Cash Money Life @ Cash For Clunkers Suspended Already?
*And my favorite from Man vs. Debt @ Dear Uncle Sam: Please Stop Stimulating Me

Labels: car stuff, crazy economy, free money

I had this dream last night that I had my own personal chauffeur! And for the 3 days it lasted (in dream-world of course), I was pimping that thing all over town. Wendy's, work, our kickball game, I was getting the hook up everywhere we went.

And to be honest, I awoke 1/2 way convinced that I would seriously put up the cash to have it in real life. Of course, then I took a shower and realized how stupid that would financially be and that was the end of my 9 hour dream - literally! (and yes, I think about numbers and blogging while showering cuz i'm a big dork like that.) But, it got this ol' brain of mine thinking. If we were granted a free "luxury" for every day life, is there something you'd nab in a heart beat? And why *that* one over all others?

To help you with today's question, I've decided to waste 20 mins off my life conjuring up a whole suite of possible perks to choose from. But feel free to come up w/ your own as well! I know we've got some creative bastards reading this so I won't even try to stand in your way ;)

• 24/7 Personal Chauffeur - Your own driver (and car) to take you anywhere, anytime, no questions asked. Great for: bar hopping, airport pick ups/drop offs, driving you on weekend getaways.
• 24/7 Personal Chef - Ooooooh this one has HOT written all over it! Covers your breakfasts, lunches, dinners, snacks, you name it. And, since it's YOUR perk here, you could even have him/her teach you how to cook so you don't have to necessarily give it up if you enjoy it ;)
• Personal Assistant - Your own go-to person to cover any needs whatsoever. Dry cleaning, errands, packing your lunch, etc. They don't pay for any of these items requested, BUT their services are on the house. And we'll assume all these choices going forward are 24/7.
  
• Personal Masseuse - I know some of you ladies will choose this one. Might I recommend Money Mate Kate? I heard she's the best around.
• Free Food for Life - Never have to worry about paying for it again! Covers all groceries, dinners @ restaurants, snacks, you name it. (doesn't cover drinks of any sort)
• Free Drinks & Alcohol for Life - Same as food except this makes you feel a bit funnier ;) Never have to pay for another long island ice tea again! Or milk for that matter...
• Free Hotel Room/Nap Area - The freedom to sleep wherever and whenever your heart desires! At work and need a 20 min power nap? You got it! Out at the bars and too drunk to make it home? No problem! Get your friend who picked the 24/7 Chauffeur to take you there ;)
• Free Clothes! - Everything from Wal-Mart to Fendi, it's all you baby. Covers everything but shoes (this is a perk, not a fantasy! haha...)

Okay, I'll stop there. I've actually wasted 30 minutes of my company's time now and it's probably a good idea to get going. Plus, I gotta find a way to turn these wishes into realities somehow...I'm thinking silent velcro or some other random invention. Either that, or hard work ;)

Labels: free money, randomness 3000

It's time for another giveaway! I'm getting a lot more companies reaching out to give free swag away, so hopefully you all enjoy these :) And I'm trying to only giveaway those items that I would use or appreciate myself. That way, we don't get more junk floating around! Right? Right.

Okay, today's giveaway is brought to you buy UPrinting.com - a leading online printing company that provides high quality printing at affordable prices! For over 25 years, U-Printing's been a trusted leader in online printing and offers convenient marketing support services such as design, lists, and direct mailing to help grow small and medium-size businesses nationwide. (we love that!)

They've been generous enough to not only give us one prize today, but TWO:

Prize #1: 1,000 free standard size business cards!
Prize #2: 500 free standard size brochures!

You can check out there Business Card Printing and Brochures to see all the styles & ideas you can choose if you win :) And shipping will be free if you live in the US or Canada (those living outside of these areas will have to pay for the shipping)

Okay, so HOW do you win? Well, as always, it's crazy easy to enter: All you have to do is leave a comment here and tell WHAT you would use the free printing for - that's it! Actually, tell me *which* prize you'd like to win too so I enter the right people into the right prize to increase your odds ;) And if you'd really want both, that's fine too just holler. Good luck everyone! The contest ends on Friday @ 12 Noon EST, and I'll announce the winners soon after.

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ps: Be sure to enter again over at the other UPrinting giveaways my friends are hosting: Financial Nut and Give Me Back My Five Bucks (those end on Sunday Apr 26th, and Fri May 1st respectively)

Labels: free money, giveaways

Oh yeah, you can bring in some good money that way :) Plus, it's free entertainment for all those around you. I should know, we went through a good 5-6 dares this weekend while drinking our way through our St. Patty's trip down to South Carolina. I must admit, it feels a bit weird being up at 9:30 w/out a drink or dart in my hand right now!

Before I start going through some of our dares though, let me just make two things clear. 1) We're all pretty freakin' frugal. So any chance at "winning" just a few bucks gets us excited. And 2) We've gotten pretty soft in our old age, so you won't be reading about any "run around the streets naked screaming 'Look at me, Look at me' " type dares today. Although i can't promise we never did that 10 years ago ;) But here were a few of the ones thrown out this weekend:

#1) Chew and swallow a crazy hot yellow pepper! $5
This is the dare that started it all, and came from no one other than J himself ;) We had one of our buddies front the money (we'll call him Mr. Banker) for whomever had the balls to chew it up and savor all its juices w/out throwing up. After a good 30 mins of debating who, and why, someone should take the bait, my boy W. took the challenge and off he went! As you can imagine, the thrill and excitement we all had went well beyond the $5 value W. got in return for his watery eyes and shaking fingers! haha...oh man, seriously it was hilarious. Esp since it went from "oh that's not bad at all" to "it's starting to really burn now!" haha....good times, good times.

#2) Eat an entire birthday cake. $100
Now THIS was a dare. The thing was huge! (that's what she said) Unfortunately no one took this up. Not even the ones fresh out of money from the previous night's adventures :( oh well, this was probably a good thing.

#3) Suck down a bowl full of ranch dressing. $5
AFTER you've eaten a rather large plate of food! The site of it alone sent shivers down our backs, esp. since we had just woken up from a night full of bar hopping. BUT, out of allllllll the people there, guess who took the offer? Mrs. Budgetsaresexy!!!! aww yeahhhh! Unfortunately the excitement (for everyone else) only lasted a few seconds. After pouring half of it into her mouth, she basically gagged and spit it back out. It was an honorable try though! And it didn't cost us a penny ;)

#4) Eat two sugar packets, including the paper. $5
This was originally 4, but no one would take it up and we were getting pretty bored waiting for our meals to come. For some reason all our dares this weekend circled around food? I guess our brains weren't working as creatively out at the bars. Which is really a shame as we could have came up with some even better ones i bet! But anyways, Mr. Banker finally accepted a dare himself and popped those bad boys into his mouth. it wasn't all that entertaining at first since all he was doing was chewing and waiting for them to break down into little swallow-able peices. But when he stood up to swallow the last big chunk of it, BOY did we almost get a show! The little bugger got lodged in his throat and he almost spewed it allllll over the table!!! haha....in fact, had that actually happened 99% of it would have gone on top of my head! so in that regard, i'm glad it just went through to his belly with no future problems ;)

We did have some other good ones out there this weekend, but I guess we were only man enough (or smart enough?) to take on the $5 challenges. Either way, it was an excellent way to earn some quick cash and entertain a group of degenerates. It would have been nice to report a few naked/jail-time stories, but I'm sure you all have enough of them to make up for it ;) Am I right?

Labels: awesomely awesome, challenges, free money, money hacks

Yup, Dillyeo.com (the site competing against Woot.com) is giving away $20.00 gift cards to their site today!

Just click the big ol' "Ship It" button and you're off...The deal ends today @ Midnight so get off your tuckus and grab that free money ;) Once you get it, you have a few days to use it...or not, whatever your heart desires.

Labels: awesomely awesome, bargains, free money

Getting $6k back from the G. to the O. to the V. Comma T.! That's one hefty sandwich if you ask me ;) And yeah i know - I gave an interest-free loan the entire time and it's not "free" money as I like to say. But i wouldn't give up this feeling for jack.

It seriously feels like the first time i ...uhh.... made nice w/ a young lady friend ;) haha...okay, maybe not *that* good, but still on the list of Top 5 methods to make me smile! And to think I could be so lucky to receive such amount every single year..man.....makes a brotha shed tears, ya know?

So now we have the happy problem of DOING something with it all. Shall we pay off some debt? Sock it all away? Split it up? I think the plan is to do some of each:

1. The Mrs. will get $2,000 to do as she pleases. This will probably go towards her future mortgage portions and/or college fees if I had to guess. I'm trying to get her to blow $100 or $200 on some new clothes and accessories (one of her favorite "wishes" to do), but I doubt she'd be up for it these days.
2. Mr. J. Money will also get $2,000 to do as he pleases! And you wanna know the first thing I'm gonna do w/ it? Pay off the rest of my auto loans @ $1400! Not even gonna give it another thought either - just gonna pay it off like a pull of a band-aid ;) I already know i'm gonna miss the hell out of it, so figured I'll suck it up first thing. And for the remaining $600? Throwing it in my personal savings account and forgetting about it. I'm all about hoarding cash these days (as you may have noticed from my non-bday $ spending)
3. The "house savings" will get about $1800. If you recall, this is the account where all leftover money goes after all bills and expenses are paid for every month. We use it as a budget-fixer on the months we go over, as well as a fund for anything extra we wanna do like upgrades to the house or vacations and what not.
4. And the rest ($170) will go to our CPA. Definitely costs more than filing them ourselves, but totally worth the stress avoided & other niceties that comes along with it ;) Not to mention the support we'd receive if we're ever audited - which I think we're actually safer from since we USE a CPA? Not 100% on that one, but I'm sure it has some truth to it.

That about sums it up for this year. We brought in a good $2k more than last year's taxes, so I guess getting married and owning your home DOES get you somewhere ;) So how about you all? Any plans if you're getting some back too?

Labels: free money, money management, taxes

Although it's very likely I just haven't put in the time or effort to maximize my earnings ;)

But you would think having 4 credit/debit cards & 3 grocery savings cards signed up would have produced more than $7.08 in an entire year! Sheesh -kabobs. Perhaps I'm too frugal to reap the benefits? After all, I do limit as much shopping as necessary. And w/ Upromise, the less I shop the less i can earn back in tuition. It would still be nice to earn a bit more though.

If you're not familiar with Upromise, here's how it works (copied from their site):

"Every time you make an eligible purchase, our partners return a portion of that money back to you. Those earnings accumulate in your Upromise account until you decide to use it to invest in a 529 plan, help pay down eligible student loans or assist with college expenses—all tax-free!"

Basically, every time you swipe your credit card or grocery savings card when out and about shopping, a portion of what you spend (*on eligible items) goes into an account in your name. It's a freakin' brilliant idea if you really think about it, esp. since it doesn't cost you, the consumer, anything to do! You just go about our business collecting "free" money for your college/school tuition.

From what I can tell, however, this money really doesn't add up all that much unless you change your habits. For instance, if a package of applesauce lands me 5 cents @ Safeway, then whenever I need applesauce I better remember to pick it up @ Safeway every time - and the same brand. Same thing goes w/ hamburgers @ McDonalds, books @ Borders, etc. Not everything counts, and not every store participates.

Still, it's definitely worth looking into. Here are some of the pros and cons I could conjure up just from my own experiences thus far, but by all means let me know if I've missed something entirely! The more info and thoughts the better :) Here's what I've got:

PRO: You don't have to DO anything to get this money! Sure you have to spend a few minutes signing up and getting your credit cards and grocery card #'s in place, but when you're done that's it - You're free to swipe and start racking up that dough! If I recall correctly, it took me about 15 minutes from start to finish, so I guess that's about $28 buck/hr so far if I look at it that way ;)

CON: Yet another database out there with my credit card info on it :( Yeah it states a billion times the site's safe and verified and all, but it's still a scary thing to think about. At least the cards give us some protection though. Plus, I haven't heard of 1 story yet against Upromise, and it's been around for years now.

PRO: You can earn even more if you get your friends & family to join! The more people who sign up their cards to our account, the more you earn. So now Uncle Joe and Cousin Joy can help you build up some money too every time they swipe away! The more people you have signed up, the more passive money you get to earn. Of course, the same *eligible items* still play a factor here - but maybe your family members pick up those items that you yourself do not?

CON: There's still that database of everyone's info out there! haha...yeah, sadly enough i can't think of another Con here, but obviously the more cards you have signed up to our account, the scarier it becomes if ever hacked.

So is Upromise worth it? Yeah I suppose so. All this money can really build up if you can get off your a$$ and market it all around to your contacts ;) Shoot, even if they all earn just $7 a piece for you - that's still free money towards your tuition! All in all I think it's at least worth a shot if you haven't tried it already. And if you have, let us know if you broke my $7.08 record! haha....

Labels: free money, grad school, saving

And we're now a month and a half into it! Oops.....but at least it's a good problem to have for once, right? You would think I could burn through it on all those things I never allow myself to buy, but all this frugal-ness has me toned down and stuff.

Where's my wild side? Where are those $40 bottles of bling water and $100 nights on the town? Am I getting too old, or has the PF Blogosphere finally corrupted me ;)

This time 1 year ago I would have been alllll over it! It would have lasted a good 24 hours until I went on a birthday binge w/ my family as I usually do every year - it falls on one of the best shopping days of the year (day after Xmas), when you really can't help yourself! And all other times I hadn't. I'd use the money to buy whatever I wished without a care in the world.

Now, the only thing that excites me is the "thought" of it! I have $260 dollars with endless possibilities :) I could buy books, art supplies, beer, bling, video games, whatever! So maybe it's not that I don't really *want* anything, but more that the excitement of having the *ability* to splurge is worth more to me than a single item.

So rather than burn through the money for the sake of it (or forgotten about in my bank), it's stored away at home until something that I REALLY, REALLY like catches my eye - and that I'd normally not spend my own money on. Or maybe not, I dunno - just something that's a helluva bargain so I won't have buyer's remorse and all. I gotta make make the money giver proud, right?

Here are two things I've been thinking about so far:

1. An electric fireplace! After having one at a Bed & Breakfast a year or so ago, I am totally hooked. They *look* like a real fireplace, and *warm up* like a real fire place, but they're totally not! Ya just flip on a switch and you've got flames! haha...brilliant. Been searching Craigslist and Home Depot for some killer deals, but nothing great so far.
2. Yard Sale season! The thought of having an unlimited supply of $1 bills at time like that is crazy sexy to me. Do you know how many goodies you can pick up with that kind of money?! The only problem here is that we're still a good 3-4 months away :(

So will I eventually spend it all? I freakin' hope so! If I can't do that anytime soon, I'm afraid all hope is lost. I mean, what good is money (esp *free* money) if you don't ever USE it? Will I just keep saving and saving and eventually turn into one of those hoarders who can never give anything away? I think i need to go get my head checked out...

Labels: free money, gifting

You will win, as you always do, but i'm still putting up a fight! And how do you always know when i have extra cash around anyways? Do you have spies at my beloved USAA?

However you do it, know that I'm not a fan. And when this little relationship is over one day, I'm sorry to say that you will not be missed. (no offense)

So yeah, I will still give you my freakin' money for the time being, but I just want you to know that you're slowly sucking away all motivation. And that's coming from ME - Mr. Frugal, Mr. "I know it's best to pay off my c/c"! Mr. "this is easy as hell so why am i thinking about it?"

Yes, the Cash bug has bitten me all over and it's starting to itch. (Cash bug = lots of cash coming in and me not wanting to depart with it). You see, all of a sudden I'm getting some extra money in that i hadn't originally planned for. That in itself, ofcourse, is awesome as $hit - it's the giving it away part that's starting to irk me. Here's what just came in:

• $776.00 - From the money I lent my brother last year! That little nugget of joy actually paid me back in full - imagine that ;) So while I'm now 1 for 2 in loaning my family money (the other was a $100 loan not to be seen again), I won't be able to reap the rewards as it's going straight to the c/c.
• $542.89 - Extra money from good budgeting, as well as maxing out my 401(k) last year. My calculations were a bit off, so I ended up hitting the max. limit of $15,500 a bit early - thus putting the extras back into my check.

Again, not complaining i have extra reserves here, just that i'm tired of waving good-bye to it. So while i'm always a postive guy, today i reserve the right to bitch a little....it's good for the soul :)

And when all is said and done, i'll be a good little boy and throw that extra $1300 right at my remaining debt (besides mortgages) - $3214.87, for the rest of the car loans. It may not happen right away, but i promise to apply it as soon as i'm done staring at all it's beauty in my checking account!

Labels: debt, free money, money management

Well take a look at that bad boy! That's right, i rolled the dice and won big last night :) A wopping $21! Aww yeahhhhh....

I swear I almost $hit in my pants too. I'm one of those people who scratches off the items first to SEE if i win, and then go back to scratch off the actual amounts as to drag on the excitement.

Sooo, as I was scratching off the first cash icon, then the second, and then the third, i was like "OH. MY. GOSH. I'm going to win it all!" And then I thought (no thanks to the Mrs.), is this a mistake? How could i win ALL 7 slots?! Did the computer mess up and I really didn't win anything? And remember, at this point I still hadn't scratched off all the dollar amounts ;)

But I scratched them all off and won $21 sexy sweet dollars! It was pretty damn fun, but I have to admit it was a bit of a let down as I got to cash prize #6 and #7. I thought i'd get close to being the Top Prize $1k winner for sure! I guess that's what I get for dragging it all out and imagining in my head what i'd do with it all ;) haha....it sure was a rush though!

There's not too many things that excite me for $1, so playing the lottery always gives a jolt of happiness - win or lose. But last night?! Whew! I was freakin' flying high! Isn't that funny though? In the grand scheme of things it's only $20 ($21 - $1 paid for it), but when you build up the excitement like that it quadruples (is there a word for 21 times? Twentyfirst-tupled?) the fun :)

It's also quite interesting that I didn't even MEAN to play. It just so happened the lottery machine was side by side w/ the ATM (pretty clever technique there, 7-Eleven!). So as I stood there waiting for my $80 buckaroos to pop out of it, that lottery machine kept calling my name ;) As cheezy as it sounds, I REALLY felt lucky at that moment in time. I didn't even have to guess *which* ticket to buy as only one stood out - "Money Bags". And as luck would have it, I had one remaining $1 bill in my pocket!

So what did i learn from it all? A) Play the lottery when you have a good feeling, and B) Play the lottery for the love of the game. If you follow those 2 rules (and don't overdue it), you'll be sitting pretty happily. Now, who wants to loan me another dollar?

Labels: awesomely awesome, free money, lottery

And i'll take that any day. I believe this marks the very first time i've ever won a non-scratch ticket before (i'm a sucker for those shiny things), and to think i got close to winning the Mega Millions!

Like many lottery players out there, i let the computer do the guessing for me. I figure if it's meant to be, it will compute the perfect concoction of figures. It didn't totally work this round, but it got pretty damn close! I *knew* the other day was gonna be different ;)

As you can see frome the picture (that's my actual scanned ticket), i got 2 of the 5 regular numbers correct, AS WELL AS that magical "mega ball" number, thus tripling the amount i won! Niiiiece. And to think that i almost forgot to grab one...i had already changed into my sweats and t-shirt @ home, and it was nearing bed time when i remembered about my glorious plan. Something told me to just suck it up and drive the .8 miles to the beer store - aptly named "Beers and Cheers", and the rest is history!

So now what? Well, in an effort to extend my joy i will be doing two things:

1. As promised to AlwaysInStyle, i will be sharing half with her :) I told her in a comment the other day that i'd split my winnings with her just like in that "It Can Happen to You" movie. Sure i didn't hit the big times (yet) but what's fair is far - So congrats girl! And holler so i can paypal it over.
2. And with the other $5, i bought 5 MORE tickets! haha...yeah i know it breaks the cardinal rule of stopping when you're ahead, but my damn it's just SO FUN! I mean, big rewards require big risks, right? I'm on a roll here and i'll keep on going until i lose it all ;) It'll be the best $1 i ever spent.

So that's all i have for ya today. If you need me, i'll be the one basking in all my glory here in DC. And don't be surprised when you see my anonymous face holding that big a$$ check on tv! i do it all for you baby.

Labels: awesomely awesome, free money, lottery, randomness 3000