I made over $1K doing this one thing—you can too.

I realize this sub-header is clickbait af—so let me remind you—don’t hate the player, hate the game. Technically… it’s not clickbait because it’s true, I did make over 1K by doing a thing, but I’m pretty sure people do that all the time so yeah. Now seems like an opportune moment to shamelessly advertise my(self) previous blogs or earlier instalments in the Dead Presidents series: parts one and two. Check them out if you haven’t and if you feel so inclined, now back to the blog.

Most people indulge in the odd impulse purchase, sign-up, swipe, forget—or is that just me? The ‘Dead Presidents’ series is all about not wasting money, and the ‘advice’ is basic and easy to follow. I don’t know much about personal finance, and I’ve never claimed to be an expert on the subject. The thing is unless you’re financially set or spoken for, you’re going to have to deal with your finances at some point.

I pro·cras·ti·nated—don’t be like me.

If I can get really vulnerable with y’all for a sec, when I turned 29, it hit me like a ton of bricks that I’m no longer in my young adulthood, that I was entering mid-to-mid-late adulthood, that I was somehow still living at home in the midst of a career crisis during an actual global crisis/pandemic. For many of us, including myself—it was a dark season. I also realize how insanely fortunate I was (and am) compared to what so many others have had to go through and are going through as a result of the pandemic. But—this isn’t a woe is me story. This is a self-and-personal-development blog in the sense that we’re making headway—we get things done, and we’re going to enjoy ourselves along the way.

This blog is about action. The goal is to come to grips with reality, whatever that may look like for you, see what needs to change and then—you Shia-Labeouf/Nike it till you drop.

When it comes to personal finance (and most things in life), common sense will get you pretty damn far. I don’t like to overcomplicate things. Whenever I do, I’m less inclined to stick to it myself. I’m a straight shooter. I keep things simple and straightforward—I focus on micro-tasks while keeping macro-ambitions at the back of my mind. If you’ve read my other blogs, you’ll know that my #1 tip for not using the dead presidents to wipe your ass is—

Go over your bank statements and monitor charges on a daily or (very) regular basis.

If you’re not checking your visa statements and checking your account regularly, then you’re probably guilty of letting money slip out of your pockets too.

Stop kickin’ the can down the road.

In my first Dead Presidents blog, I went on a refund rampage and managed to secure $1178.28 in refunds alone, AKA what I referred to in the sub-header AKA NOT CLICKBAIT. I combed through my statements and found a bunch of crap I’d been spending money on without even realizing it. I had various monthly subscriptions with services I wasn’t using, purchases I didn’t recognize, and so on.

You have to be combing through your statements on the REG to make sure you’re not taking losses. I’m doing it weekly or every couple of days, and the following is what I found from my latest financial sweep. Here, we put our money where our mouth is, so let’s keep going.

1. Roam Research $19.27

If you’re a follower of Tim Denning, which I’m sure most of you Medium-ers are, he wrote an article called “Roam Research is The Best Writing Investment I’ve Ever Made.” The article sold me on the service, but the product itself, unfortunately, didn’t. I’m sure this application works great for many people (i.e., very smart and tech-savvy individuals), but for me, it was complicated to use, and I knew I wasn’t making the most of the product. I think it’s a note-taking platform for like super smart people or something, whatever. I love Tim Denning, but Roam Research didn’t work for me, and that’s OKAY. Maybe I’ll circle back to it again sometime in the future and see if I can figure the tech out, but for now, I emailed them and requested a refund.

✓ $18.40 Refunded

Yes, they took 87 cents from me.

2. Better Help $340.00

I’m a big advocate of therapy and anything that supports mental health. I’ve been to therapy twice before in my life, and recently I was like “fuck it, I could be down for some more therapy.” I went ahead and signed up with Better Help, which was recommended to me by a friend. Honestly, I really do want to go to therapy again, but the thing is—I want a new mattress more.

I weighed my reasons and decided the mattress fund was more important. I called Better Help and requested that they better help me with a refund. Initially, I called to cancel the subscription, and I got a refund for $102.00 (which was not the entire amount.) I called back to inquire what happened with the remainder of the refund, and apparently, they needed me to re-confirm my decision to cancel…which I did, at which point they issued the remaining $238.00. So, if you do call to request a refund from anywhere, make sure you are checking your bank statement to make sure you get the full amount.

✓ $340.00 — Refunded

3. Amazon Prime —$63.21

Okay — since I’m taking time these days to go through my financials like a real adult, I have discovered that I’m being charged for not just one, but for the past 7 months I’ve been charged for two Amazon Prime accounts in USD. Calling Amazon customer service is actual torture, and it plagues me. I’ve pushed it off long enough, so today, after spending 2 hours on the phone with an Amazon rep who couldn’t seem to grasp a word of what I was saying, he transferred me to another person who swiftly cancelled my Prime subscription and issued a refund for 4-months of prime charges. I’ve been having issues with getting my Amazon packages recently, so besides the prime charges, there are a bunch of Amazon charges that I still need to reconcile. Ugh. Send Help.

✓ $36.12 — Refunded

I still need to confirm that I do get the refund. Darth Bezos corporation be damned. [Side-note: it's future me, I did receive said refund. Strangely, I'm still getting Amazon charges. I'm telling you, once you sign-up, you're stuck for life.)

It’s all a part of making sure we are not using the Dead P’s to wipe our butts. Do it with me, or don’t …or do!

✓ Total Refund — $394.52

I realize a lot of this is just me signing up for things and then getting refunds, but hey, that’s part of the process. If you can’t back-peddle on purchases you’ve made, what can you do? Till the next.

Much love, as always!