Money Smart Week 2

LOL cats, they make the awesome, awesomer

This week, I was pretty smart with my money, and I discovered a piece of good news that thrills me to no end.  Let's begin the back patting:

• The piece of good news that thrills me to no end (you didn't think I was going to make you wait, did you?) It's a three paycheck month!  I'm still slowly adjusting to only getting paid every other week instead of weekly, but this month I got paid the 4th and will get paid the 17th and 31st as well!  Usually that second paycheck is reserved for paying rent, but this time I can save almost all of it!  What a tremendous feeling that is.
• Time and a half!  I'm filling in a couple times at job #3 this month and two of the three shifts are Sunday shifts, which means time and half pay!  Plus, I have a poster presentation that I need to work on for the end of the month, and Sundays at this library are usually pretty low-key.  Ggetting extracurricular work done while getting paid--yes, please.
• So much free food.  Yes, free food and I have a rocky past, but I'm still pretty pumped at how I cashed in this week.  Thursday is my 12-hour work day between the two jobs, but this week  it was a great day because there was a box of pizza up for grabs at morning job (aka breakfast), then at afternoon job, my co-workers had a potluck which resulted in tons of leftovers, which they insisted I share (aka lunch and dinner).
• Cheap gas.  I knew that I would need to buy gas this week, so I purposely planned a big grocery shopping trip right beforehand so I could take advantage of the Stop and Shop gas points.  I went to the gas station Thursday, and got $.30 off per gallon!  Gas prices in my area have also dropped about $.05 in the last week or so, and I'm going to make this tank last as long as I can.
• Car Insurance Refund.  Since I reduced my car insurance coverage before my policy was due to be renewed, I got back $38 that I had paid six months ago.
• Big Fat Check. I got my big fat check from Ebates totaling a cool $22.42--that money went into the travel fund, as do all my Ebates checks and online survey monies.