Does anyone remember the following childhood poem?

"See a penny, pick it up,
All the day you'll have good luck"

At what point did it become "see a penny heads up and only then should you pick it up; otherwise you will be cursed from henceforth and forever"? I have found three pennies in the past few days that were in the wide open of parking lots. All of them were tails up. I saw several people pass right by them, look, and keep walking. Obviously I do not fall into the superstitious category. I also realize that it is only three cents. Over time I might only find 100 pennies, but that is a dollar. I wonder if those same people would pass by a dollar bill if George's face was kissing the asphalt. After all it is tails up. Hmmm....I might start spreading that bad luck rumor around to increase my chances of finding more paper money.

New $20 Challenge Total (pennies & paycheck): $1281.56

After some discussion with dh, I decided to give teaching another try. This time around the money will go into savings and not into paying down debt. I rearranged some other obligations and will be teaching four days again. This time both classes will be the same, which translates into half the work for the same pay.

I should be guaranteed this job until the group finishes. Apparently many of the students were waiting to see if I would teach before they signed up for the class. If nothing goes wrong, we should be able to exceed our savings goals for 2008 and give me a good $20 challenge total at the end of the year.

Now that I know what to expect I think things will be better. I will also be able to plan more to keep the house running smoothly with dh's help, of course.

I received a paycheck for two days worth of teaching. The rest of the money will be on one check at the end of this month. My new challenge total is $322.05.

I had a long day at work and doing other things, but I packed a lunch and snacks so I had no spending. I had planned to pick up a sale item at the grocery store, but it was out of stock. I did get a rain check and will pick this up next week.

Due to student absences in the classes I am teaching, a makeup day has been scheduled. I will work another four hours after the regular coursetime is over. That will be an extra $50 for much less work as it will be for six or eight students rather than 25.

I have more to blog about but do not have the time to write more today. I will save that for another post later in the week.

After a long stretch of having nothing to add, I got a rush of rebate checks and survey checks in the mail. So I am adding $176.05 to my challenge money. The nickel was a parking lot find.

Old total: $28
New total: $204.05

I discovered that I had $25 in my paypal account from a mystery shopping job. I thought it would be fun to see how much money I can "earn" despite my housewife status. I think it will help me better see how all of my little things add up. I am going to start with that $25 and make my first addition of $3 from a survey payment.

Current Total: $28

I do not have a goal in mind. I simply want to see what my year end total will be.

I need to post a general update since it has a been a while and will get to that later tonight or tomorrow.