I've never been more grateful to be frugal

I'm a middle-aged woman who's never made a lot. Right now I make $41,000/year as a single mom of 2. I have a 4 bedroom house I bought 10 years ago for $105,000. My mortgage payment is $615 plus $220 property tax and $100 insurance. So it's $935 total. I have a 7 year car loan at 3% that I got 5 years ago (it was used, that's why it was 7) and my payment is $250. I was paying $300 extra a month on it for a couple years, but now I've been using that money on other stuff. I save $500/month for retirement, and since my job matches 4%, I get $170/month free, so that's $670 total. I also save $300/month for the kids' college. <br><br>I have $14,000 in what I call "fuck around money". I use it to do things I want to do, like go to concerts or go out to eat. I've spent some of it on things for the house, some of it on taking my kids places and stuff they wanted, and I spent $3000 of it (over a year) of it on a cat's kidney disease Vet bills. I also have $8000 in savings that remains untouched unless I have to file for bankruptcy, which has never happened in my 51 years. Also, my house is fully paid for, although I didn't realize I had the money until after the papers were signed. <br><br>I make probably close to $1000 a year doing surveys. Last year I made $1500 but most of that was from signing up for new survey sites and getting their bonuses, so it was a fluke. I have done surveys since I was 25. I always have something going on while doing them, like TV, a book, or sometimes even driving. I always try to do them slowly and not care if anyone else scores because I figure I'm already ahead since I'm not playing against anyone. <br><br>I have been reading thru this sub for years and I've followed a few tips. One is something about how you shouldn't always buy the cheapest thing, what you should do is compare the price per unit. For example, last week I saw a cinnamon that was $3.99 for .9 ounces, and one that was $5.99 for 2.5 ounces. I have never noticed that price per unit before so I'm glad I learned about it. <br><br>Anyway, I'm a single mom of 2 kids who are now in high school. I have been having a really hard time. They have been fighting non-stop for the past 4 months and it's terrible. They yelled at each other so much that I couldn't take it and my mental health has kind of gone downhill. I just shut my door and listen to music a lot. So that's why I've been doing more surveys, listening to music and doing surveys. Tonight I was looking at my survey history and I realized that in the past 2 months alone I made $264 just from doing surveys. Usually I do them here and there, like 30 minutes a day or whatever, but the past 2 months I have been doing them for 4-6 hours a night, because I can't take what's going on. <br><br>The reason I made this post is because there's been a lot of people on Chambers talking about recession and how everyone is scared. I'm scared, and I've never thought about how much I make from surveys until tonight, but I feel like I'm okay. I can cut my spending down and I can make some more money on the side, so if everything goes to shit, I can deal with it. I have never felt more comfortable being frugal, or felt more happy that I never had a problem saving money.