Clothing is my big (personal) shopping weakness.  It’s not that I like to look particularly stylish, although I’m always glad to be “put together.”  I guess I always think a new outfit will hide my expanding tummy or widening backside… while at the same time being comfortable.  Tall order for a few pieces of fabric, I know.

My budget, however, doesn’t allow for large expenditures on clothing.  As a result, I do a lot of my clothes shopping on eBay.  (I’ve become an expert at analyzing a piece and its measurements online to determine if it will properly fit my body.  Although who knows how things will change after I have Baby.  Is there a measurement for breast-sag?)

To keep my clothing costs low and separate from our normal household  budget, I only use PayPal to buy clothes.  And I fund my PayPal with various sources outside of my normal income.

Top PayPal sources for me are:

• Associated Content:  I get paid for the short articles I write.  Also, they offer a performance bonus that pays every month on the articles I’ve written in the past, so I always get about $30 per month from them deposited into PayPal.  I highly recommend them for anyone who is thinking about breaking into the writing biz.  They’re a great place to get started, they’re very open to beginners, and you can earn a little cash to boot.
• Pay Per Post:  This blog advertising service pays you to write “sponsored posts” on your pre-approved blog.  I don’t write for them here, but I do sometimes write sponsored advertising posts at my fitness blog In Pursuit of Fitness.  Pay varies–more popular blogs get better opportunities–but if I’m diligent about it, I can usually earn $20 or so a month.
• Other sources:  Other sources of PayPal income for me include Ebates, Demand Studios, and Shared Reviews.

If I look for as many opportunities as possible and write a lot of articles, I can usually earn $100-$150 a month.  If I’m just writing an occasional article or blog post, I typically earn about $50 a month.  Sure… it’s never going to make me rich.  But it is enough cash to keep my widening behind covered with clothes.