I found a pretty cool idea to make some extra money AND eliminate some of the clutter in my house.

I saw an ad for a flea market not too far from my house. For $10, you can rent a table for the entire day. The facility is off of a major highway and they offer bathroom facilities and a snack bar.

I went and checked it out this past weekend and even though it had been raining and was pretty hot outside, there was still a good crowd.

I talked with the owner and he told me all I had to do was come in around 7am on the day I want to rent a table and they will assign me a spot. The $10 fee is not due until the end of the day.

I plan on trying it out next weekend. I'll let you know how it goes.

I received an email the other day from a company called Ebates advising me that I had earned $20 and they would be depositing the amount into my Paypal account today.

I've been a member of Ebates since 2007 and I've really been pleased with them. Basically, you just shop as you normally would except you shop thru their website and Ebates gives you a percentage back in cash.

You can also earn $5 for each person you refer once they make a purchase. I'd referred a number of people in the past and I guess they just got around to making their first purchase.

I logged into my Paypal account and transferred the $20 to my checking account.

I LOVE GETTING UNEXPECTED MONEY!!!!!

If you would like to check out Ebates, I would greatly appreciate it if you used my referral link. Once you're a member, you can refer other people and earn cash for yourself.

Another month is in the bag and it's time to report how I did for the previous month.

Income $4823.08 (composed of Salary, Rental Income & Interest)
Expenses $3721.60

Difference: $1101.48

I met my goal of keeping my expenses at least $1000 less than my income each month. This month, I was able to keep a little bit more than my goal since my eating out expenses were less than normal.

One of my biggest monthly budget busters is eating out every day for lunch. I'm not a big fan of packing a lunch and I enjoy having time out with my co-workers during the day.

There were several days in July where I had meetings during the day and the company paid for lunch. This allowed me to spend a little bit less than usual.