Blogging Away Debt

Have any of you heard of the app called PACT? If not, it’s really cool and can help some of you to earn some $$$ (well, maybe not $$$, but at least a little bit of $) : )

Here’s the basic idea. You download the free app and use it to set up PACTS for yourself. There are three PACT options (you can select 1, 2, or all 3):

GymPACT
VeggiePACT
FoodPACT

With GymPACT, you make a “pact” to work out “X” number of days per week; with VeggiePACT, your “pact” is to eat “X” number of veggie-heavy meals per week; and FoodPACT is to use a food diary to track your eats. There are some rules (a minimum of 3 days per week, 30 minute-minimum for workouts), but if you meet your goals, you get PAID for doing them! If you workout regularly anyway, you could get paid money to just do what you’re already doing for free!!!

Here’s the catch…..

If you DON’T meet your “pact”, then you OWE money!!! That’s how it works. The people who don’t meet their pacts end up paying the benefits to the members who DO meet their pacts. It’s also easy to add/remove/modify pacts (but not for the current week – must be future weeks only), so if you’re planning to go out of town, for example, you can put a “hold” on your pacts for whatever period of time you like.

So how does the app “know” if you’ve completed your pacts?

With GymPACT, your smart phone can “check in” to your gym. I don’t have a gym membership, but guess what!!! It also uses GPS/satellites to track your movements. I’ve been able to take it on runs around my neighborhood and meet my GymPACT that way (caution: I’ve noticed the phone must track not only mileage but also movement. I’ve tried to put it in my stroller console, for example, and it doesn’t “count” my movement because the phone is stationary and I guess the ride is too smooth. If I hold it in my hand, it works fine).

With VeggiePACT, you take pictures of a veggie-heavy meal and post it to the online community for members to vote on! They can “thumbs up” or “thumbs down” your meal. You get credit if you get thumbs ups and you don’t if you get thumbs down (for example, I’ve seen someone post an apple pie…..uhhhh, totally doesn’t count!?!)

And with FoodPACT, you can diary your food either in the app or in MyFitnessPal (another free app), which PACT is set to “sync” with on a daily basis. I was already using MyFitnessPal prior to downloading PACT, so this was a no-brainer for me!

A couple caveats….

I believe you do need a smart phone in order to use PACT. I know that’s kind of a touchy subject because smart phones are NOT a necessity and many of you may not condone having them (preferring a more frugal option instead – which is great!). But, if you do happen to have a smart phone and you do any of these things regularly anyway, why not get paid to do them???

Also, the money thing… At a minimum, you have to wager $5 per pact per week. That means if you have all 3 PACTS set up and for some reason you don’t do any of them, you’re out $15 for the week. On the flip side, you don’t make anywhere near $15 (or even $5) per week if you DO keep your PACTS. My average has been about $2.00/week, and I only do the Food and GymPACT (I would never remember to photograph my meals!)

I’ve been a PACT member since January and have earned a total of $22. There was one week where I failed to keep my GymPACT and lost $5, so my net positive is $17.

Obviously you’re not going to get “rich” using this app, but I wanted to give it a blog-plug for any of you who may benefit from it. If you’d like to get started, go here and enter the promo code, GymPact$5 – you will get $5 for free just for joining (just FYI – I get NO BENEFIT from this whatsoever, this is not an affiliate link and I get no money if you do decide to join. I just want to share because I didn’t have this promo code when I joined and its like getting 2-3 weeks of PACT money free up front!)

What are some good (Free!) apps you use to make money and/or get free goods??

One of my friends swears by ShopKick, but for some reason it has never worked for me (it gives you points you can redeem for merchandise by going to stores you already shop at anyway – like Target – but my phone never registered when I was in the store so I stopped using it).

When You Assume…

by Stephannie Tanner

You know how the saying about when you assume goes.

I think assumptions are funny things. We make them everyday. Maybe I shouldn’t generalize and say we. I’ll narrow that down to only myself. I do it all the time. Not only do I make assumptions but I then make judgments based on that assumption. Now, I’m sure ya’ll want to know in what way is this relevant to a blog about debt? Well, I’m afraid that this terrible habit of mine applies mostly to people and money.

Here’s just one example. My husbands coworkers make about what he does. They are part of a union so pay is kind of general knowledge. These guys have huge, fancy houses. They drive $50,000 vehicles and their wives drive new cars as well. I look at them and think “how is this possible?” I mostly try and keep these kinds of things to myself and when I just can’t keep it in I’ll spout my indignations to my husband. Well, it turns out kids hear just about everything. Well, that’s not true. They never seem to hear me tell them to clean their room but that’s another conversation.

The other day my eleven year old said to me “Mom, I thought teachers didn’t make a lot of money.” I asked her why in the world was she concerned about the pay of a teacher? And I’m sitting there all proud thinking that she thinks teachers should make more because of their value to our youth and society. What she said to me makes me very ashamed of myself. She said “The librarian at our school gets her nails done, you know with the white tips? And I don’t know why she would spend that much money when she doesn’t make very much. That stuff is expensive, right?”

Ya’ll. Words cannot describe how I feel about this. I know I previously said ashamed but I don’t think that entirely encompasses it. I think this happens a lot. I think this is especially true about people we interact with on the internet. It’s easy to assume you know all about their situation and to start harshly judging them. I’m mostly a positive person. I’m good at seeing two sides of an issue and understanding that both sides usually have a point. But I’m terrible when it comes to judging someone when I think they are doing wrong. Especially if I think what they’re doing is wrong but they seem to be prospering.

After I picked my self righteous chin up off the floor, I explained to her that it’s wrong of us to judge by outside appearances and even if you know some details you can never truly know all the details. And even if I do know all the details it’s never my place to decide if what they’re doing is wrong or not. I know this a lot of blathering about something that may not interest ya’ll at all and it really shows how awful I can be, but my point is this, I do not want our desire to get out of debt make my girls feel like others that are ok with debt are somehow beneath us. Because then we’ll be out of debt, which will be wonderful, but I’ll have raised little jerks that think like me. I’d rather have so much debt that I couldn’t breathe, than that.