Snowflaking my way through September

September has been a strange month for me. I stopped traveling, after 5 months touring around Europe on a motorcycle with BF, and came back ”home”, to Paris. I call this place home because I have no other home at the moment, but I actually am staying with my mum for a few weeks, and then my grandparents were kind enough to lend me an apartment they own, that is empty most of the year.

Anyway, after five months of travel, and irregular income, I came back with little money and two unpleasant surprises.

First of all, I had sold my flat in June, add some time to solve a LOT of paperwork with a useless clerk, and the sale was signed in August. I was supposed to get the flat money next week but the buyer retracted from the sale, which is legal in France during the week following the sale.

The second is not really a surprise, because like death, taxes are a sure thing, but I didn’t think I would have to pay that much, and I owe it by the end of this month.

To make things worse, in July when I had $5000 sitting in my account I decided to overpay a 7% loan, a decision I don’t regret, but I could have waited until the sale was a sure thing and wouldn’t be so strapped for cash right now.

I have nothing to worry about, my financial situation is globally healthy. Everything is just taking more time than I thought. I found another buyer for the flat, more on that soon, and should get my money in a couple of months. So in the meanwhile, I looked for money snowflakes. You know, like when you throw whatever small amount comes your way towards debt, I tried to look for ways to find a little money here and there to have some breathing room in my budget.

HOW I FOUND SOME EXTRA CASH IN SEPTEMBER

 

• I started by going to a cashback site, and cashing on the cashback, about $50, mostly from this summer when we stayed in lots of hotels.
• I tracked back some of the money I had never claimed. Like the $100 heating refund I was supposed to get and never received, and an additional $20 from the cashback site that didn’t track properly. Both are about to be paid to me, with a minimum 5 minutes effort to email the sites and claim my money. I often postpone sending back documents for insurance claims, or doctor bills to the social security, and miss out on money being refunded to me. I bet there is a TON of insurance money people never claim because it is too much of a hassle.
• I sold two old bicycles that had been gathering dust in my mum’s storage for years, and made $140.
• I looked at my different savings accounts, some had $35 or $40, I withdrew the money to leave on each account the minimum balance. Again, I felt so good getting rid of a 7% debt that I didn’t leave much on my 2% savings account.
• I baby sat my little niece. While I would never charge for that, I got free food 🙂
• I fixed up my other bicycle and spent $0 on transportation instead of around $80 a month.

Snowflaking is normally used when you make extra money and put it towards debt. In this case, I looked for extra savings, and put it towards living.

Unclaimed money, cash for your junk, freebies, what other sources of extra income do you have in mind?