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Archive for March, 2008

Woo hoo! Garage Sale season starts!

March 29th, 2008 at 08:06 pm

Have I been waiting for this!! I had planned to have my own garage sale today and use some of the money for snowflaking our debt, but the city department decided to tear up all of our streets and repair them, so I thought I would wait a little bit. The weather was also windy and cold!




But I digress!!!.... I went to an indoor sale and was given a bag to fill with clothes for $5!! Yee Haw! Even if I thought it MIGHT fit someone, I threw it in! I got soccer socks for DD3's practices, socks for DD1, a jacket for DD3, some lounging pants for DD1 (Tommy H, very nice and soft!) and some extra clothes for my neice that my mom can keep at her house for emergencys. I did get DD3 some more shirts and some misc. sports shirts, one for the Cardinals and two for the Rams. Nice to have on hand if we go to a game or sometimes they have spirit days at school. Did'nt get anything in the way of shoes, but I did pick up a pair of jeans for my picky DD2 for .50 and a computer game for whoever for $1. also got 2 cute reindeer decorations for Christmas and 4 cookies from the bake sale (gotta have breakfast!)

All total I spent $7 at the indoor sale and 1.50 at the other sale. Not bad. The season is just starting!!!!! Smile

Freebies

March 28th, 2008 at 03:00 am

Gotta love em! Got a Tide sample from Costco in the mail and a Dove sample from Walmart. Love free!

Great dinner with friends tonight. Really enjoyed being with "the girls". What a treat!

Returning things to get money

March 27th, 2008 at 03:35 am

Sad, but true. I returned some things (with receipt of course) and will use that money to have dinner with some girlfriends tomorrow night. I also invested in a food processor. I got it from Aldi for 16.99. Can't wait to use it. I hate buying appliances and usually am selling them in garage sales, but I have had the need 3 times in the last month for one, so I will give it a spin!

Bribing kids to save money.....?

March 25th, 2008 at 03:45 am

I guess I'll say it is REWARDING the kids for saving money! At Easter time my kids have gotten too old for stuffed bunnys and crayons, so they have VERY generous family who give them lovely cards with money in them. (Not me! I still give them just candy and a special treat). Each child made off with $50 total. I told them if they put $20 of that in their savings account, I would add $5 to their account too. Bingo! All three stashed the cash! I'm so proud! Smile

Have a Happy Easter everyone!

March 23rd, 2008 at 05:30 am



I hope you all have a terrific and blessed Easter!

Citi's latest trickery

March 22nd, 2008 at 03:41 am

I posted before how Citi had moved its due date backwards and we had a "late" payment. The charged us the lovely $39.00. This statement, I now see that the late payment is listed as a "standard purchase" and is being charged an 11.99% interest rate. Do they know how to get you coming and going, or what!!!!

Working from home!

March 20th, 2008 at 08:33 pm

This is working out well. The real estate agent that has me work for her, let me work from home today. I put in 4 hours for her. (This is all she had budgeted for me for the week.) Then last night I worked from home for the Pampered Chef lady and got in 1.5 hours. I will hope to do more for the Pampered Chef lady tonight or tomorrow. Love the computer! Sure has helped the bottom line!

Not sick enough

March 19th, 2008 at 08:32 pm



I went today to see if I qualified for a Fibromyalgia study. I was very disappointed to find I am not in enough pain to qualify! Frown Ugh! What hurts even more, was that I found out they would have paid $450. I am aggrevated because I have no validation for the fibromyalgia, because I have never been diagnosed formally with it, so I was hoping someone would finally have said, "Yes, we believe what you are feeling is real." Ugh.

Happy St. Patricks Day!

March 18th, 2008 at 04:07 am



Hope everyone had a safe and fun St. Patricks Day!!

Anyone have a spare chicken??

March 16th, 2008 at 09:31 pm



I guess I'm really looking for a laying hen. Hmmmm.... guess the neighborhood association would'nt like that. Maybe I could pay them off in eggs? They are getting as costly as gold!

I have been doing an unscientific study to see who has the cheapest food. I have actually been working on a price book! The eggs at Aldi, as of now, are $1.79 for a dozen. Followed closely by $1.80 at Costco, but they must be bought in bulk of 36 eggs. Walmart came in at $1.92. Our local "nicey-nice" store is $2.67 a dozen!! I almost fainted when I saw the 18 count pack for $4.09!!!!

That is all for the egg report. I will follow up with milk and bread!

Targets newest "Return Policy" from he**

March 14th, 2008 at 10:04 pm

Well, if you wanted to return something without a receipt before, now is definatley a worse time! IF you choose to buy something from this store, PLEASE do not lose your receipt, especially if you had the NERVE to pay CASH (God forbid!!Frown) If they can look it up by your CC or debit, you are okay, but if you paid cash and it was over $20, you a NO LONGER ALLOWED to return it AT ALL! I did'nt care if they had to send me a check or give me a in store credit, but you are not allowed to return it PERIOD. So, you know I have a long standing problem with this stores "rules", but now it is beyond, beyond!! The clerk smiled at me and told me to use it as a gift!!

Is a NS worth mentioning? (Oh, and apparantly other meanderings!)

March 12th, 2008 at 03:49 am

YES! I had a no spend day. Woo hoo, happy dance. They are few, they are far between, but soooo appreciated when they are here!

I also have come to realize just how much I LOVE staying at home. I need to make peace with the debt and work hard at not making new debt, but I still don't have that screaming urge to head for the desk and work, work, work. I'm thinking I am going to live in the status quo for now and try to reverse process.

I remember when the kids were smaller and we were in debt. We got out of debt, overcame it and excelled over it. (Much, much thanks to Amy Dacyczyn!!) Grant it, it was'nt this huge overwhelming amount of debt we now have, but I think we can do it again with me still working part time and being a homemaker. I told DH as soon as the kids are independent enough, I will glady hit the grindstone and he can stay at home! Smile I appreciate his hard work and sacrafice for us. Anyway, this is what I have been pondering today. Hopefully DH can hang in at his job, but that is a story for another day!

Decisions

March 9th, 2008 at 03:49 am

I have two decisions to make. One is that the library has another position open for a secretary. As you recall, I was passed over the last time. The hours are'nt my favorite, but I guess I could make it work, even keep working my current job if I wanted to. Plus my side jobs. My DH says would'nt it just be easier to hold out for a good full time job instead of juggling all the PT jobs. Thoughts?

We have a $360 rebate from Costco. I know it does'nt go far there! Should I just take it and buy lots of meat and stock up things? DH and I can't think of anything large we need right now, except for things to use to finish the basement. You have to use the whole amount at one time and it must be used by August. I think I am leaning toward stock up. Thoughts?

Blogoversary!!

March 7th, 2008 at 03:48 am



Geeze! I just let it slip by. Seems like I've been here forever! Smile I missed it by a couple of days, but hey, lets celebrate it nonetheless!

Been busy trying to keep at the no spenders. I did spend yesterday, but in gift cards, no credit cards! Yeah!

Am busy changing our withholding and having DH lower his retirement contributions by just a little, so we have enough money to pay bills every month. Hope it will help. He gets paid next week, so we will see if it goes into effect that quick. I think we can change our healthcare plan in June, so I will look into lowering that amount too.

FREE is GOOD!

March 5th, 2008 at 04:39 am

Today we had 7 inches of snow in 3 hours. Cool! Helped to make today a no spend day! Better yet, the mailman brought me a free Senseo coffee maker that I could return to Walmart for around $63.00! And for lunch DH used a free coupon for a burrito at a local mexican joint. Free is fun!

The girls and I hunkered down to watch the snow fall. I made us some cookies and some yummy chicken chili for dinner! I do hope they go back to school tomorrow! Smile

I'm a bad goal setter!

March 2nd, 2008 at 04:38 pm

Here are my Feb goals:
1) Use tax refunds to fund the EF to $1000.
2) Eat out no more than 8 times.
3) Use tax refunds and salary to cut down debt by at least $1000.
4) Assume no more new debt.

Well I did close to #1, go the account up to 800.00, but I have already used it up to pay bills. Will try again with the ammended tax money.

We ate out a lot because of the fibromyalgia. Hopefully it is waning and March will be better. I will be more realistic with 10 times out instead.

I did cut down debt a lot!! I will post my new totals tomorrow!

Assume no more new debt. Okay (are you listening Front Porch Mom? Don't feel guilty, you have company!) I did do this! I let my daughter talk me into a new outfit for a dance and one outfit that was a complete waste of money, plus I treated myself to two new bras (sorry boys, cover your ears) and boy did I NEED them. So I have a JCPenney balance I will chip away at with the Am EX.

I was able to snowflake $60 to the AMEX!! Woo hoo! And it really helped me think twice about putting anything on it! Yeah! No new debt on any Amex for me! Smile

I did receive my rebate for my Costco from Amex. They give you cash back to spend a Costco depending on how much you spent on it last year. Since we took two big trips, it was a lot. We have about $360 to play with. Am discussing with DH how to spend this.

Will think about new March goals and post them later.