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Archive for March, 2006

Love your relatives - Sign your will!

March 31st, 2006 at 06:07 am

I mentioned that dear grandmother passed away - did I mention she did'nt sign her will? This woman had planned what to wear, where she would be laid out, and where she would be buried - but she did'nt sign her will. Mind you she lived very simply and did'nt have much anyhow, but now it will be tied up in probate for who knows how long! Nor did she put her home and some of her accounts in both her and one of her childrens names.
Advice to all - love your families! Make and SIGN your will! And make a living will too with your wishes clearly stated. Name a guardian for your kids. Have an excutor listed. Don't put this off! Your loved ones NEED you to do this, especially if you have small kids. And if you can at least get a small life insurance policy to cover funeral expenses, well it would'nt hurt. Some times even banks offer a small policy with your account. Check into it.
And don't forget, just because your single, does'nt mean your invincible, let your wishes be known and in writing.
Enough of my ramblings - back to regular programming!

Had to get out of town fast

March 31st, 2006 at 05:56 am

No, we did'nt rob a bank. DH's grandmas passed away so we have been in Kentucky for a couple of days. Beautiful state. Nice service, good to see the relatives, but loonnnggg drive (6 hours). The kids were good, made Nana proud.
Little ones started back to school today! Yeah! Got some catch up cleaning done. Need to go "Mominate" (like "terminator") their rooms, where I clean up and OUT everything when they are not there to see it. They are warned they are going to be Mominated and they better tell me if something absolutely MUST stay, otherwise, all is fair game. They actually like this when I do it, because they do not have to clean their rooms for a few days!
Ready for April! I am taking all your friendly advises and starting a budget with some envelopes to control groceries and eating out. Stay tuned for progress.....

Back in town

March 26th, 2006 at 06:50 am

Took the girls on a mini spring break vacation. We went to my sisters house about two hours away in Northern Missouri. She lives in the country, so it is new and different for them. Not much spending except for gas and a few groceries I take. She took us out to dinner both nights! :-) We played lots of games and we got to tour some tornado damage. It is unbelievable how destructive they are! Some of the trees were shredded! We also got to visit her friends mini farm. They have dogs/cats/bunnies/horses/cows and a goat! The girls fed the horses and groomed one, fed the cows and cuddled tons of kitties! It was a nice break, but it is even better to be home!

Not much

March 23rd, 2006 at 06:49 am

Not much to report from today. Went to work for the agent in my office updating her database. Very enjoyable and she paid when we were done. Then off to the post office to send out the ebay items I sold, then to the bank. This evening went to DD1's parent teacher conferences, all good news! So proud!
Fed the beast van with gas. Gas is 2.37 in the St. Louis area today. The only other spending today was a card and gift card for a birthday party DD2 is going to on Saturday and yes I snuck in a .99 bag of chocolates! Gotta have a secret treat now and then! ;-)

Doing business

March 22nd, 2006 at 05:42 am

My ebay auctions finally ended. 6 bids out of 17 items. 3 are already paid for and ready to ship. Still waiting on other 3. Two of the buyers I am waiting on have bad feedback of no pay. We'll see what happens!
DD1 off school today because of snow storm last night. Used this opportunity to have her babysit so I could spend an hour at job #2. Turned in time sheet there for the month.
Stopped by job #1 and picked up three bags of hand me downs from a girlfriend there. Not too much in them. We (DD1) and I got some shirts out of it, but most of the clothes were totally 1980!! I told DD1 that we should save one of the dresses in case someone has an 80's party, but she said no way! Nice name brand stuff too!
DD3 had girlscouts this evening. Turned in two of DD's cookie money, still one to go. Some boxes I just can't get rid of! So I will have to cover them. (COVER them, not EAT them! Hard to do!)
Got offered additional work from one of the agents at work. Grandma will watch DD2 and 3 tomorrow while I go in and help her with her mailing list. Should I call this job #3?
Need gas, hate to pay. Will probably run out of gas before I get up the nerve to pay!! (Okay, not really, its COLD here!)
Also going to do some grocery shopping on Thursday. That is the big $10 off a $50 purchase day. So I will go to one store that honors the coupon and use one, then go to the store that is offering the coupon and use another one there! I have an additional $5 off coupon too! Yeah, love the savings!
Can't wait for next month to start using the budget! I think I will have to use some envelopes for stuff and try to stay away from the checking account totally. We'll see how it goes!

More sales

March 20th, 2006 at 05:09 am

Just checked ebay. 3 out of the 17 have bids! They end in 23 hours. If it stands as it is and I don't get killed on shipping, I'm at a whopping 1.20 profit! Hmmmm.....

Busy weekend

March 19th, 2006 at 03:51 pm

Yesterday was spent running! Soccer, vet, pharmacy, library, church. Today working all day. Definately a way to spend no money! 9hour shift, no breaks, can't leave. I eat lunch at my desk. One of the agents asked me if I would like to do some work for her on the side. Computer stuff. Any little bit helps!
Kitty's vet bill was'nt too bad. $40 for office visit, $20 meds. DH not happy at all!
Ate dinner at home last night, but did have lunch out between soccer and vet. The killer McD for the kids and Bread Co. for DH and I. Not sure how much he paid for ours, but went cheap on the kids meals!
Will try for today and tomorrow as no spend days and eat at home only!
Still only 2 bids on my 16 ebay items. Hoping to break even.

Boy, did we spend!

March 18th, 2006 at 05:14 am

Took the girls to work with me, boss guy was'nt there so only worked a 1/2 hour instead of the 2 I planned. Took girls to lunch. Then to Walmart for the vision fun. DD2 finally decided she would get the glasses she needed (for the last two years. So that was about $400 for the two kids. (No vision insurance). Costco and Walmart run about the same for exams and glasses. Picked up a couple of things at Walmart, then headed to the mall. Got some great deals at JCPenneys. Jeans for DD1 were 7.77 and 9.00 on clearance! Plus they had additional money off coupons! DH wanted dinner out for a successful placement at work, so off we went for a celebration. Tomorrow is another planned no spend day for sure!
Now have two bids on the 16 things on ebay! Wish me luck!

Accomplishments!

March 17th, 2006 at 06:07 am

Finally moving forward! The goals I listed yesterday have been accomplished and then some. Finished all my work to take in tomorrow, made up a budget I will try to follow starting with April, went to cancel Netflix, but too late, already billed, so will wait till last days of paid period.
One item out of the sixteen I put on ebay yesterday has a bid on it. :-( Yet, they are crazy bidding on a pair of girls dress shoes!
Stayed home again with the girls today. Did some laundry and no spending! Made dinner too! Played Bunko with the neighborhood girls, but won my $5 back!
Tomorrow is a spend day. Will take the girls to work with me again, then DD1 needs new contacts. (Cha-ching) Will use the rebates though! Kitty needs to see a vet. (Cha-ching). And then some grocery shopping, but not much, milk and perishables! Probably pick up the fixings for Reubens for St. Patricks day! I'm sure the girls will want lunch as a treat again too. Will work on convincing them to have a savings game. Whoever gets the family to save the most wins.... something! Any ideas?

Getting somewhere!

March 16th, 2006 at 05:24 am

Did good 1) Just spent the last 5 hours listing 16 items on ebay. Won't make me a fortune, but every little bit helps!
Did good 2)The girls and I stayed home today. I did some cleaning and played Monopoly with the younger two. No spending!
Did good 3) spent time on line printing out some coupons and registering for some freebies (thanks KarenSue!)
Did good 4) Found my rebate from American Express they sent last month. It can only be spent at Costco, but hey, we can do that! Looking for something we can invest in like a lawnmower or powerwasher, we'll see.
Additonal goals for tomorrow - finish take home work for 2nd job.
Cancel Netflix introductary offer.
Still have to make a budget! Hard to do with money never the same each month. Still, I'll give it a try!

Going Backwards?

March 14th, 2006 at 09:18 pm

So yes, there is more on the credit cards and I bought lunch at McD's AGAIN! Still have to make the budget up.
I DID clean up the basement and organize. Going to donate tomorrow (tax deduction!) and I found a slew of stuff to list on ebay. Will list on Thursday.
Took DD3 to work with me for 1 1/2 hours. She is the reason we got drive thru. She was so good, I asked her what she wanted for a treat for being good (totally my fault!) She said McD's. I told her the amount of the meals for us and her sisters amounted to what I had just made in the last 1 1/2 hours working. That seemed to sink in. They also left the french fries out of the happy meals. I asked her if it was worth it for bad service for food that is'nt so good for us and she actually said "NO". Amazing is'nt it? A little bit must be sinking in! ;-)

Stormy weather

March 13th, 2006 at 09:35 pm

Boy were we up all night! We live in Missouri and got quite a shaking from one top of the state to another. Hoped the hail would get us new windows and siding, but all it did was make noise. The storms covered the state from top to bottom and sooo many tornados. Hellooooo spring!

Laaazzzzyyy!

March 11th, 2006 at 08:27 pm

Okay, not really, but I feel like I have'nt gotten anywhere. Took the DD's to work with me yesterday for an hour, they were very good, but it cost me lunch! We've been delivering Girl Scout cookies all day and now we will be going to volunteer at the GS spaghetti dinner! Tomorrow is church and family. I have gotten some great advice from some nice people here on the blog. Tomorrow night after the kids go to bed I am going to work on the "B" word (budget) and figure out some fun ways to get the girls involved! Thanks guys!

Errands Day

March 9th, 2006 at 01:11 am

Today was an errands day, therefore a spend day! Parent teacher conference - great! Library - owed a dime :-( (Don't tell Money Talks! Love his rants!!)Went to pt job to make up for being home yesterday. He let me bring a lot of work home, so I can get hours in after the kids go to bed! (yeah!) Got gas -$45!, got paycheck from other pt job, returned rug + 26.80, grocery store (without list, with coupons) -100.88. Lunch -5.06. Now I have to dole out the paycheck money. Hopefully more to savings. Tomorrow is DD2 and DD3's last day of school for 3 weeks! (They are on cycle school, they call it cycle break, the parents call it psycho break!) No more peace and quiet. Grandma will watch them while I go to PT job #1 and they can go with me to PT job #2! Goodbye sanity!

You're all an inspiration

March 8th, 2006 at 04:44 am

I just wanted to let everyone know what a great inspiration you are! I am a poster child for "What not to do". My no spend day ended in $20 in junk! :-( Very depressing. But then I get on and read about how well you all are doing and I feel revved up again. Need a way to carry everybody around with me for when I'm in the stores or talking myself into eating out!

Home with a sicko!

March 7th, 2006 at 04:34 pm

Home with DD2. Stomach flu, yuck! Will miss time at my 2nd pt job. I am so lucky I have such flexibilty at both my pt jobs. So I can be here for my family, the most important thing. That is why I have to get off the McD wagon and get to financial security!
Will spend the day cleaning (and disinfecting!) and going thru the fridge and pantry. Then I can make my grocery list. One of the local stores had $10 off a $50 purchase on Thursdays. And the other local stores honor it. So I can see who has the best deals (with coupons) and go there. I think I will balance the checkbook too. Getting paid from one pt job today or tomorrow. Will use this check to pay ahead on 2 CC's and put some in both saving accounts. Hope my plan works! Had to spend $300 to keep our little dog alive this past weekend. Did'nt plan for that, but did'nt have to put it on a CC either!
:-) And yes, she is doing better!
Better stop rambling and get moving! Will try for a no spend day today! All my errands tonight SHOULD cost nothing!

A McDay!

March 7th, 2006 at 03:16 am

Boy what a Monday! More work, underappreciated and underpaid! Did'nt have time for breakfast, so zoomed through the Mc place. Spent money and too many calories! :-( Phones went out, computers went down, busy, busy! Almost did'nt make it home on time to get the girls to music lessons! So guess what we had for dinner? Yep, Mc place. So frustrated! Gotta stop this! Help!

Cat n Mouse and Free Samples?

March 5th, 2006 at 08:56 pm

Cat just knocked the hamster cage to the floor. Told DD2 not to leave it on the edge of her dresser! Me-ow!
I am getting inspired with all of the freebie offers I am hearing about! Where are the best places to go to sign up for freebies?

Hi-D-Ho

March 5th, 2006 at 07:52 pm

Hi everyone! Busy day today! Just finished service time at the Humane Society for DD2, getting ready to go to soccer game for DD3. Free dinner tonight though! Grandpa treating after soccer game. Then DH and I will curl up in front of the Oscars (he is a movie fanatic!)
Rainy icky day today. I have been following this blog for a couple of months now and feel like I know everyone! I am a born spender, my husband a born cheapo. We have debt and for a while I convinced myself this was the American way to be. But because of job security and my DH's health, I would like to spray some magic "debt be gone"! Our big goals are to pay off all CC debt, HELOC, and save for 3 months expenses. I have my own little challenge account that I started with $20 in and it is now up to $97! I do a little ebay, coupons and I try to learn new things. I signed up for some of the online opinion things and got the entertainment coupon (thanks to retire@50!)
Later!