I’m giving AdSense a 3 month trial run to see how it works out. If I like what I’m seeing, I’ll leave it there. If I don’t, then I’ll remove it after 3 months.

At first it was showing relevant ads, now it’s showing me something about music. What the hell?

I’m always looking for ways to benefit off free online service or my site, so I signed up for Triond. All I have to do is create something original (e.g. documents, pictures, or music), publish it, and then earn royalties! Doesn’t this sound easy and simple? Of course. Earning royalties is great, as it’s part of the passive income. This means that all I have to do is just publish some material and it’ll earn me X amount of money for however long Triond is around.

So how did it work out? Well, a 40% success on my initial attempt. I submitted five of my articles (Correlation Between Money and Happiness, Why Using the Debit Card is Smart, Discover Open Road vs. Citi Driver’s Edge, Yodlee.com and Mint.com) and waited to see what would happen. Surprisingly, they were all reviewed within a day and… three out of the five were rejected for being too marketing oriented and being a duplicate article on my blog. That’s OK, since my other two went undetected. But I will probably need to start creating articles specifically for Triond. That means I’ll be doing double the work!

I haven’t exactly figured out what my earnings will be because payments are sent on the 15th of each month. Triond will figure out how much my materials have earned me by using this formula: Earnings = Views of my content * (Value of my content / 1000). Value is a fixed number between $0.50 and $10.00. And, I just gave myself another view on both of my contents. Unfortunately, you aren’t paid until you make at least $50.00. That means my earnings, if under the minimum amount for payment, will just roll over to the next month, and then to the month after that, and so on.

Here are the two articles that were published

Discover Open Road vs. Citi Driver’s Edge
Correlation Between Money and Happiness

Be a friend and give me some page views!

After Thanksgiving weekend, everyone starts to prepare for Christmas. This year, Ro-chan, our two roommates, and I are going to give each other Christmas lists. Ro-chan and I are giving each other three things we must buy as gifts, each item worth a max of $50, and can combine two items for a max of a $100 worth gift. Two roommates are getting just $50 gifts. This is potentially going to be a total of $250 spent on three people.

Here’s mine to Ro-chan:

1. PBF Comic Signed Prints - $25 and $15
Toad Race
Mrs. Hammer

They come as 11″ x 17″ color prints on glossy card stock and signed by the artist. I’m going to frame them as well. These are going to sweet decorations for my wall when I move in to my new place sometime early next year.

2. Survival Kit - $70 (including tax)
LED Maglite Flashlight - 3 D Cell - $33
Flint - $6
Jumper Cables - $10
First Aid Kit - $15

I watch way too much Discovery and National Geographic channels. I should be able to get all of this at Sports Authority!

3. I don’t think I want anything else… She can save the money.

To roommate #1:
Running Shoes - Less than $50
My fat ass is going to need running shoes because I’m going to get back in shape!

To roommate #2:
Frames for PBF prints - $45?

I’m going to spending $250 for three people, probably more if my close friends decide to give me stuff as well… Or maybe I should get them something first! I’m not sure. I want to limit my budget to no more than $350. I kind of don’t want to give my other roommate anything because I want to save money. I’ll get him some home-made Christmas cards! I can make them at work for free. When I get everyone’s lists, I’ll post an article on how I’m going to save money on the purchases and stuff.

I won’t be able to update while I’m at home at my parents. But when I come back on Sunday, I’ll write up a juicy one for a Monday post.

Have a good one!

I’ve been doing a lot of stuff lately. Things are still busy.

I received my Citi Driver’s Edge credit card recently. I transfered my balance with the hideous APR % on my AmEx Sky Blue to Driver’s Edge’s 0% balance transfer. I shall only use Driver’s Edge for gas and groceries, and use my Sky Blue like a debit card and pay off the balance each month. This way, I don’t pay the interest, and I think that’s a good way to earn points.

Time to move out soon. I’ve been desperately looking for a new place to live anytime after, but as soon as possible, December 15th. A one bedroom with no more than a total of $700/month of rent (including all utilities). This search is proving to be very difficult in the city I live in. Things are not cheap here.

My net worth has been a positive figure for a few weeks now. This is scarily good.

I’ve saved up nearly 44% of my emergency funds. I just transfered over another 22% of my paycheck to bring up the total to $3551.59. But I’ve still yet to make a dent on my AmEx, now my Driver’s Edge, bill. But its payment due date is coming up! So there will be a new bar graph soon.

Capital One launched the Credit Card Lab.

This is actually really cool. Over the past years and from personal experience, Capital One has made me not want to go back to them, but this is just awesome. You get to create your own credit card! My choices were 1% cash back on rewards, 25% annual bonus, 12.9% APR on purchases, and $0 annual fee. I almost want to apply for another card!