Almost there...

When I started doing surveys for money BEB absolutely hated the idea. He thinks that my time is more precious that the amount they pay me for it and I do see his point. But I didn't mind doing them because some of them were interesting and it was kind of fun doing them. So I promised BEB that I'll donate all the money I accumulated from surveys.
When I got my first check, I even went ahead and researched where I'll be sending my money once I have accumulated it a bit. And I found the right candidate for my hard earned money: kiva.org. They are doing some fantastic work by providing micro-loans to the people in third world countries who want to start their own small scale business. They are also asked to return the loan once their businesses are running. I think this is the best way to let the money serve more and more people. And I'm glad to share that I have finally accumulated enough money though surveys to match their minimum donation amount i.e. 25$. It will be slightly more than that when I get my payments from the other survey site. I'm feeling good that finally I will do something that will make a positive impact on someone else's life.

The only sad thing is that it will have to wait until I come back from my vacation from India. I'll cash out whatever is pending in my survey accounts and put it up for loan on kiva.

If you have got some money earmarked for charity and are not sure where to use it, go check out kiva.

Wanting something and not getting it

It has been a ritual now. Every time we go to Fry's ( and we go there a lot), after we have got the stuff we need, BEB walks over to the GPS aisle, looks at all the different GPS(s) reads their specs carefully and then goes to the check-out counter. He likes the Garmin GPS but he doesn't buy it. Even when I say that its ok, we've waited enough for it, and prices have also come down a bit, we can buy it now. This behavior seemed bizarre to me...until yesterday.
I was telling about this to a friend yesterday and BEB was there. After I was done BEB simply said "I dont buy the things that I want because if I buy it, I 'll have to find something else to look forward to." Everyone laughed, but in retrospect, I feel there's some truth to it. If we keep getting everything we want, the moment we want, it will take the joy away from life.

Outstanding money

As I exchanged emails with various people who owe me money or are responsible for the payment of my money, I realized that I have quite a few outstanding $ here and there. Just thought of documenting it all as a reference for myself. So lets see...

1) A couple thousands from my company ( No this is separate from the paycheck)
2) An outstanding bonus payment, again from my company
3) IRS Tax rebate money
4) BEB's forthcoming raise (ok, this is part of the paycheck, but this would be additional income for us)
4) Walgreens MIR card ( A small amount but still...)
5) Online survey payment (Again a very small amount)

On any other occasion, I wouldn't think much of it and just regard it as money being saved
by others on my behalf but right now we really need all the resources we have for that big purchase in India and other expenses associated with India trip. Since there's not much that I can do about it, I'll just wait and watch my checking account like a hawk for any signs of incoming funds.