Another freelance check came in the mail today. After putting $262.50 into my tax fund, I'm putting the remaining $787.50 into the challenge. That brings the total to $9,725.30.

I also got the rest of my payout from my savings to put toward paying off my credit card debt so I've adjusted the savings and debt figures over there on the left.

I made all of $2.97 from an eBay sale so I'm adding that to the challenge. The new total is $8,937.80.

Sold something on eBay yesterday, so I'm adding $5.50 to the challenge. The new total is $8,934.83.

I got $3 for doing a survey, so I'm putting that toward the challenge. The new total is $8,929.33.

My husband's car died on the way home tonight. He thinks it's something to do with the electrical system and is an "easy" fix (i.e. cheap). I hope he's right because shopping for a car right now sounds about as appealing as getting a root canal.....

Mr. Postman delivered a nice freelance check to me this afternoon to the tune of $900. Since I've already met the minimum income requirements for this month, it's all going into the challenge, which makes the new total $8,926.33.

I made $14.77 on eBay today (after shipping) so the new challenge total is $8,026.33.

I made $13.32 on eBay today, so it's going into the challenge. The new total is $8,011.56.

I decided over the weekend (after hearing back from all three of you) to do the unthinkable and take some money from my vast savings to pay off a wee bit of my vast debt. This will give me a little bit of breathing room and allow me to speed up my debt snowballing, plus will free me from Chase forever. (My husband assures me that when I'm old and decrepit he'll support me with his vast retirement, so that was an added incentive.....)

So, yesterday I called Vanguard and got the ball rolling on the payout. I did have to switch my remaining 401K to an IRA to make all this happen, but I should have the check in my hot little hands by the end of the week and be a little bit less in debt by next week.

When I got back from running yesterday, I had a message to call Chase. Apparently they have an answer to

I'm adding a whopping $3.65 to the challenge from the eBay proceeds. The new total is $7,998.24.

The state tax return came and my mother gave me $200 for my birthday last week, so I'm adding $236.44 to the challenge. The new total is $7,864.78.

I got another freelance check in the mail today plus a Pinecone check, so I'm adding $700.50 to the challenge. The new total is $7,628.34.

My husband is itchin' to buy a new $3,000 memory foam mattress for our bed and I'm itchin' to pay down a credit card. He keeps asking me when we can buy the mattress. I was just sitting here trying to figure out how to distribute the freelance money (between savings and debt) and he started whining about the mattress again.

I think I'm going to have him sleep on the couch for a few nights, so he'll shut up about a new mattress and be happy with what we've got.....

Stop the presses!!!! The IRS wasn't joking. They deposited $2,641 into my checking account first thing this morning, so I'm putting that toward the challenge. Forget

I sold a pair of Mini Me's shoes on eBay for a buck so I'm adding that to the challenge. The new total is $4,286.84. (Hey, a buck is a buck, right....)

I decided to bid on

My mother-in-law sent me $50 for my birthday, so I'm putting that toward the challenge -- and some clothes. The new total is $4,285.84.

I took Mini Me to see Horton Hears a Who since today is the first day of spring break. I had $9 left on an old gift card, so only had to pay 50 cents to get into the movie. However, we did get popocorn and drinks, which were the equivalent of the entire fiscal budget for a small island nation. I really should remember to sneak my own drinks and snacks into the theater next time we go. ...

On the way home, we stopped at Bed, Bath & Beyond to get a new shower curtain and towels for my husband's bathroom. He's been asking me to redecorate it for a while, so I've been hording the Laundry Fairy "droppings" to put toward it. We did get a good deal on towels that were 40 percent off.

(Yes, I have moved the spring cleaning into the bathrooms and let me tell you there is nothing worse than cleaning under a sink that hasn't seen the light of day in 10 years. If you should hear of an ebola outbreak in the U.S., you can assume it originated under my husband's sink.....)

The mailwoman brought a check for the challenge in the amount of $360. The new total is $4,235.84.

Back when I was actively debting and running amok with the bucks, I "borrowed" from my various savings accounts for God-only-knows-what. For the most part, I didn't keep track of that money, but on my last bender I did. Now, thanks to the challenge, I'm paying myself back for the first time ever. I owe about $800 to myself from that last little mishap, so now that I've got other stuff covered I'm slowly chipping away at that "debt."

My challenge money is anything above the basic income I have detailed in my spending plan each month. When the challenge money comes in, I automatically put 25 percent into my tax savings account since the bulk of it is from my booming side business and I'm basically trying to cover my butt. The rest I divvy up between savings and extra debt payments. Since I've been making extra payments toward student loans and the credit cards lately, I've decided it's time to show my bank account a little love. For example, after I put $12.50 toward taxes from today's challenge money addition, I then added the remaining $37.50 into the trash account (trash as in trash pick-up).

I'm really loving the challenge. It's making me account for my money and as a result I'm being more responsible with it....

Just got another tiny check for the booming side business for all of $50. After putting it toward the challenge, my new total is $3,875.84.

I sold my light table yesterday on eBay and made $95.90 after shipping and fees. Then today I got a check for $116.41 from the drilling company that is raping the land in Oklahoma. All of it is going to the challenge, so that brings my new total to $3,825.84.

Excuse me why I wander all over the place here today....

Another freelance check arrived in the mail today. After I took out 25% for taxes and covered my basic income, I had $9.70 left to put toward the challenge. The new total is $3,613.53.

That $9.70 won't buy me much, but I did put it in the new car fund. At the rate I'm going, it might buy me a gallon of gas when I finally get the new car.

Both our regular paychecks showed up in the bank yesterday, so I paid some bills and updated the debt/savings numbers over there on the left. I only paid "some" bills because the balk of our bills are automated and will be withdrawn from our checking account over the next few weeks. I do nothing but make sure there's money in the account.

Most of the projects I've got going on the booming side business this month are being delivered in bits and pieces, which I don't particularly like. Mainly I don't like it because I don't bill for jobs until a project is complete and at the rate these bits and pieces are arriving I won't be seeing another check until April. Out of 11 jobs I've got on my plate for February/March, I've only managed to get one complete job done in the last two weeks. Blah.....

In addition to putting the challenge money toward the new car fund and debt, I've also been saving up for a vacation in May. I am holding off actually booking the vacation despite having all the cash in hand until after we get our taxes done next week. I don't want any "surprises" coming back to bite me in the you-know-what. I noticed when I went to check the prices again that the rates had jumped in the last two weeks, which is making me nervous.

Mini Me is still sick, which has put a damper on the weekend -- but has also saved us money. We had to skip vision therapy today, so that was $97 not spent. We also skipped our usual Saturday lunch and ate leftovers. We're still planning a celebratory lunch tomorrow -- for an occasion I'll explain tomorrow -- plus a family outing if the little germ machine is well, so there's still the potential for serious spending this weekend.

I'm now off to shampoo the carpet in Mini Me's bedroom. She was coughing so hard last night that she threw up on the floor. I then promptly stepped right in the mess when I went to check on her in the dark. Kids....

I got the glass grinder shipped today, so I'm adding $75.57 to the challenge for a total of $3,603.83.

I also weighed myself this morning as promised and was pleasantly surprised to find I weigh 145 pounds instead of the 150 I thought based on my last encounter with the scale.

The weight times 10 formula isn't going to work for me since I am fairly active, so I figured out my calorie requirements using an online calculator. This is what I came up with:

To maintain my weight, I need to consume: 1730 calories on sedentary days, 1799 on light activity days, 2076 on moderate activity days and 2352 for very active days.

To lose weight, the numbers are: 1230 calories for sedentary, 1299 for light activity, 1576 for moderate activity, 1,852 for very active days.

Now my problem is figuring out what qualifies as moderately active and very active. My guess is most days I fall in the moderately active category. I alternate running with swimming. And the duration varies from 3 to 6 miles on the running, and a half mile to 1 mile on the swimming. And, I'm not always consistent about working out every day. (Any trainers or dieticians out there want to chime in here, feel free....)

The good news is I'm never sedentary and only "lightly active" a couple times a week when I do little more than walk from here to the corner to meet the school bus.

Gosh, this weight management stuff is almost as confusing as financial matters....

Sold one of Mini Me's dresses on eBay and made $6.86 for the challenge. My new total is $3,528.26.

I'm also waiting for a rather large auction to close later today and with any luck the winning bidder will come through with the cabbage fast so I'll be adding that as well. That auction is for my glass grinder, which someone is going to get a really good deal on.

I still need to sell my light table and the sheets of glass I have stored in the basement. My guess is it's best to just sell it locally and have the person pick the glass up since it'll be a pain to ship. I know stained glass supply companies ship glass all the time, but I'm not a stained glass supply company. ...

The booming business is just overflowing these days, but I did get an extra $960 check to add to the challenge. The new total is now $3,521.40.

I'll post more later when I have a moment to come up for air.

I got a check from Pinecone today, plus some money from an eBay sale so I'm adding $5.97 to my challenge. My new total is $2,561.40.

The eBay money was NOT from the woman who said she was going to pay me yesterday (weeks after the auction closed). This was for something else. I still haven't received payment from that lady, so I relisted the item today. She apprently has a history of winning items and then not paying.

I made another $13.20 on eBay today after shipping. That adds up to $2,555.43 in the challenge.

We were supposed to visit the rock 'n' roll accountant tomorrow to get our taxes done, but we have yet to receive my husband's W2 from his previous employer. The HR department said they mailed it, which I think they probably did; but it never got to our mailbox (or it did and someone walked off with it). I had some other mail disappear in the last few weeks, so I'm thinking of setting up a sting operation in my front yard to find out if the culprit lives in the 'hood. (BA, I might need to borrow that big flashlight and some handcuffs from you.)

Meanwhile, my husband and I are now trying to coordinate schedules to figure out another day that we're both available to go to the accountant. For the first time ever, we may be filing on April 15....

I just got around to picking up the mail and found a freelance check for $1,260 so I'm adding that to the challenge. That almost doubles my balance, which is now at $2,542.23.

I have to say that participating in the challenge is really helping my debt payments and savings. Before, I would have just blown through that extra money on God only knows what. But now I'm carefully divvying it up between savings and debt repayment. It's a great way to hold myself accountable.

I just picked up a check for $61.25 from the consignment place where I take Mini Me's clothing after she's outgrown them. I'm putting the money into the challenge, so my new total is $1,282.23.

I started the day off by making another $12.61 on eBay so that brings the challenge total to $1,220.98.

That was followed by a one-hour commute to the "office" job this morning. Every so often, I have to leave my nice, cushy office location, which is five minutes from my house, to drive to another part of town to put in an appearance. After spending three hours at the location across town, I took a wrong turn coming out of the facility and ended up in another state practically. I finally worked my way back to the booming side business (and the even nicer and cushier office located in my house) to find a pile of work waiting for me (told you business was booming....) and an email from the Adult Kid saying he might be getting back together with Girlfriend #301.

There's nothing intrinsically wrong with Girlfriend #301 -- if you don't mind the trashy look -- but the Adult Kid admits he's not in love with her so I'm wondering why he's wasting his time. But he is an adult, supposedly, so I'm just going to let him make his own bed and lie in it for a while (until they break up again, which they undoubtedly will....)

Meanwhile, I was flipping through a catalog the other day and saw

Despite predictions that it wouldn't sell, someone bought my husband's brand spankin' new -- and drastically ugly -- jacket on eBay, so I'm adding $13.29 to the challenge. The new total is $1,208.37.

I sold an item on eBay last night and made $4.91 to add to the challenge. The new total is $1195.08.

The big corporate client finally forked over some dough -- only not all of it. Still, after meeting my basic spending plan income for the month and putting some away for taxes, I have $777.60 to put toward the challenge. The new total is $1,190.17.

It's time to start distributing some of that money to various accounts, so I'll break it down in a later post