On a more cheerful note

My side hustling plan is off to a decent start! So far I have:

(1) made $355.79 from a combination of selling things on amazon and ebay, watching usertesting.com like a hawk, and skimming a little more than $100 off last month's paycheck. I did that last accidentally, by the way, through double-transferring money from my checking account to the new savings account I set up to fund Roth shares. I am not a financial master of the universe. But having made the transfer I decided to let it stand, rather than pulling it back and using it for cash spending, so even though it is technically from my paycheck, I'm calling it a side hustle I pulled on myself.

(2) Talked to a friend of mine about booking me for a paid lecture in the fall (I am not sure how much this will be, maybe no more than a couple hundred dollars, but every little bit counts.)

(3) Mentioned to a few friends, in a casual and low-key way thus far, that I am looking for writing, editing, and, what the hell, pet- and baby-sitting work. By the way! Anyone reading this: I am looking for writing and editing work! Feel free to get in touch :-)

(4) Signed up for a new checking/savings account that theoretically will give me $20 a month -- apparently in perpetuity -- for using direct deposit and billpay. By the end of this year, if this works, that would be $140. Again, repeat after me: every little bit counts.

I am not getting too excited yet, because I still have, uh, $5144.21 to go on my "fund the Roth using extra income" plan, and obviously I'm going to have to acquire more lucrative part-time work than I've done so far. But setting the goal and already making some progress feels good; I'm going to buy in $250 increments so I can do the first lot as soon as the money's available in my savings account.