Upromise

I enrolled in Upromise when my son was born, and started the Florida Prepaid College Plan as well.  Now, that prepaid plan is long paid off and my son is assured four free years of college in Florida.  I, on the other hand, will be starting an accelerated RN program in January which I have been WARNED ABOUT REPEATEDLY.  It is a VERY CHALLENGING PROGRAM and I will have NO LIFE.  No life means I have to quit my job.  Today, actually, is my last day.

This has me exploring avenues for some income, any income.  I checked the Upromise account and they are ridiculously flexible with you.  I was able to switch the Upromise account to myself and sent away for my first disbursement check.  It's not a huge amount of money but every little bit helps, and it's not an insignificant amount either.  They don't require any verification on how you've spent it on education-related expenses.  You can use it to pay down school loans as well. (See? I told you it was flexible!)

The way Upromise works is that, as a member (free enrollment), you earn a percentage from online shopping, eating out, and using their credit card.  You can use all the methods available for earning money or only some.  You start your online shopping adventure through their website and it automatically calculates how much you've earned based on what you spend at the store - you just have to remember to start at the Upromise site!  They have a toolbar you can download to your computer to make it easier.

I really recommend that anyone remotely connected to a person who will attend school someday enroll in Upromise.  It is truly a winning situation for members; I've never seen or experienced problems with it.

Old Navy

I admit, I have a bit of an Old Navy addiction though I've managed to tame it lately - mostly because I don't do much shopping.  Well, I shop a bit less, I still shop way too much!

Anyway, I wanted a few things for my adventures in hiking and snow (more to come on that) so I bought some things during the Black Friday madness that befell me (I have a truly embarassing pile of boxes waiting for me at work - at least MOST of them are gifts).  I looked online today and two things I had purchased were on sale, which gives me an emotion that can only be expressed in cat language: I haz the sadz.

I called on a whim (I never do this kind of thing) and explained my predicament to the nice lady on the phone, and she adjusted the price for me!  I know for old hands at this saving money business this is probably no surprise at all, but I've never asked for a sale price adjustment.  She explained that Old Navy has a policy of adjusting the price once on an item, and that you have 14 days from purchase date to do this.  Even online!  I'm sure most companies have a policy like this but it's always good to ch-ch-check it out!  Of course, I ruined whatever savings I received by buying more stuff oO  It's hard, man...their prices are so gooood....I remember writing them an email, back in the day, explaining I was probably one of their best customers lol.  Yes, I really did do that.  I wrote them an Ode to Old Navy.

I told you I was addicted!  And I will be quitting my shopping addiction cold turkey come January...I wonder if there is a twelve step program for that???

Pinch a nickel til it slaps a restraining order on you

I am going to be making the transition from broke county employee to UNEMPLOYED nursing student shortly, so I'm hoping I'll have a lot more to say.  About being broke, that is.  Not that I'll have time to say anything if the dire warnings from everyone are true.  I personally can't imagine that being a full time nursing student will be harder than working full time and going to school part time, but we will see!

There is a certain skill set associated with poverty.  I see the undomiciled at work and, man!  Are they connected!  Their networking skills are truly enviable.  They know of every handout, every government source of income, and of every community resource available for them.  I am a total newbie, and certainly have a place to sleep (the less said about THAT the better), but I'm hoping I will learn more about living cheaply and can pass on information to you.  Yes, ALL of you ;)

I'm currently trying to get all the basics in place.  Current crisis: getting my kid to school.  I have some days with very early classes and prefer to ask Mom to take the wee one to school as little as possible because believe me, I know I'll be hearing about it over.  And over.  Again.  There's no help for it on the days I have 7am class; Mom has to take him.  But on the days I have 8am class...I checked at his school's office to see if they have a before school care I could pay for, just one day a week.  The kind school marm informed me that I can bring the kid to breakfast that starts at 7:30am.

Great!  So, I can just pay for one day of breakfast a week?

No, it's free.

Free to EVERYONE?

Yes, absolutely free.

FREEEEEEE....my hands clasped at my heart, my eyes grew heart-shaped, I trilled sweetly, FREEEEEEE...(I have a whole host of inner Looney Tunes voices-try it, there's a voice for anything in that line up)

How terrific is that?  My tax dollars at work!  I think.  So that solves THAT crisis.  I have other crisises looming, like, health insurance, student loans, and, you know, eating, but that's for another day.