DD2 asked to come home from camp one week early. We went ahead and pulled her as she had endured 100 temps all week with heat indices over that. Ugh! Poor baby is so grateful to be home! Yeah , mom is a hero - this time!

I was buoyed by my two payoffs, but am now back in draggin' land. Seems like the "I need" emergencies keep popping up like crazy with the end of the year festivities. Barely able to juggle and rob Peter to pay Paul. We are still eating in and the cupboard is getting a little bare. We are going to start reaching the freezer burn yum yums soon. June should be a little better as far as the money, but I think that and the "I need" emergencies pop up again!

Enjoying the new job as much as I can. I already got a raise and they have begged me to continue in the fall when the baby comes. I will tell them yes, as prospects of a "real job" are still extremely slim right now. I will tell them we will reassess at Christmastime.

DD1 is doing a German exchange student program. Our student comes in October. I am pleased to say, besides spending money, which she has saved for, all it will cost is the plane ticket. What a relief! We will start fundraising soon!

I like how frugal getting your hair cut can be. I had about 8 inches chopped off and it is so freeing!! I used a coupon making this a frugal endeavor. Now I use less shampoo and conditioner, less time combing out tangles and just the general cut loose feeling a nice summer cut can give.

Even more frugal, DD3 had over 10 INCHES chopped off her head to donate to Locks of Love. And since it was for donating, the cut was free and all it cost us was a tip!

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!

I was buried in bread!! Each Sunday I make up the kids lunches for the week and store them in the fridge. Apple slices, chips (individually divided into zippered snack bags), a sweet treat (yep, store bought this week - oops)and a drink. Oh, and the sandwiches, 15 of them suckers. DD3 prefers the bologna (cut into a cute christmas tree shape), DD1 peanut butter straight up and DD2 the old PBJ! All set for another week. I can't tell you how happy those sacks lined up in the fridge make me at 6 in the morning!!

Wow do I feel blessed! I told DD3 we would have to go over the hand me downs because it is SUPPOSED to get cold (some day). We pulled out all the hand me down clothes and jeans from her big sis, and all the stuff I bought at my neighbors garage sale. Looked like a good blend, but a little long on the jeans and short on the shirts. Lo and behold my other neighbor sent over some wonderful hand me downs and there were lots of cute shirts! A little small, she will have to wear them right now, but that is okay!

Been having spend free days and cooking at home. Still no job, things are slim around here. Been pointing out to hubby every time he spends. Nudge, nudge, point, point - see! It's not all me!

As discussed before, my main money leak is the kids. I spoil them terribly. So I picked the main culprit, DD2 and told DH he is now in charge of her money needs. If she asks me to buy something, I will tell her she has to ask her dad. It is amazing that she will buy no clothes or anything, but loves to blow money on junk! Hopefully this will plug one of the money holes on our sinking ship!

DH was getting a bonus on this check. We were using it to pay for the taxes on his new car. With some of it, I stocked up at the meat sale at my favorite local grocery store. They also had good sales I combined with good coupons, plus a coupon for 5 dollars off meat as a competitive coupon savings. I spent about $300 (unheard of for me!!!), but "saved" about $75 to $77 and loaded up on meat and school lunch stuff that will last a month in a half to two months if I stretch it out. Woo hoo.

Still have heard nothing about the library job.

Cashed in $20 from the NFO surveys.

Trying to make it through our birthday "month" (all the kids have birthdays at the same time!!) without breaking the bank. Had DD3's party at the mall today. We did a little scavenger hunt. Loved it cause I did'nt have to clean my house! Good time had by all! Tomorrow we will got to church and take her to her favorite resturant for lunch.

Happy dancin' for me! Mom and Dad seem to be back on their feet, everyone is healthy for now and the kids are back to school full days! Tomorrow I am off work, but much to do! Will try to sneak in a nap. Have set a couple of financial goals I will tell you about later! Have a great weekend!

No, not a sandwich, the girls hamster Peanut Butter went on to the big hamster cage in the sky. He was a good little hamster who did'nt mind when they forgot to feed him or clean his stinky cage. He did really good, he lasted three years which is quite old in hamster years. They made him a "coffin?" (highly decorated and quite large shoe box), will take me a while to dig that hole! DD1 took it pretty hard. I think pets are an excellent way not only to teach kids about responsibility, compassion and well....life.

I worked on the budget, made it neat and tidy and even included paying myself. I want to list a bunch of stuff on ebay to help pay for groceries, part of my new "plan". I will be making a little more on my check. Not sure how I will distribute that. Each month I pay for the month ahead and I find myself getting confused and double paying sometimes!

DD3 will be going to a birthday party and DD1 just got invited to one too. Am thinking of using my JCPenney birthday gift card of buy $15, get $15 off to get something for DD3's friend (as she is a good friend of the family) and giving the $10 GC for Walmart to DD3's friend whom we don't really know well. Sheesh! I'm just trying not to spend any more money!

Will go up to visit my sister Wednesday and Thursday. Hope it won't kill me in gas.

Also need a new backpack for DD3 who will be starting back to school next week. (Cycle schools for grade schoolers here!) Have most of her supplies bought or already in our school supply box. Even ready for lunches!

Took DD3 to the clinic to have her ear looked at. Tried to treat it at home first, but too painful.

$15 copay, $35 (!) drops! Geeze! $50! It still isn't feeling better. They said if it did'nt get better to bring her back in. What then? $40 antibiotics? Wish they would have just given her antibiotics instead. It has always worked before. Oh well, I'll give the drops another day and see what happens.

(I apologize for the ramble!)

I love this man, but sometimes he just makes me dizzy! Go to work, he says, make more money, quit your job, etc, etc. I think the stress from his job is affecting his brain!! I have not asked him for any extra money than he has been bringing home for the last 6 years and he thinks I should be asking for LESS! Has'nt the cost of living, gas, food, electric shot up??? Another job for more money and more hours came up, but he did'nt want me to take it because of the hours?? Anyway, I shake my head.

BTW, our electric rates are increasing by 2.1%. Our last bill was $84, this bill was $222. Grrrr.

Been exercising, sticking to the low carb and I GAINED weight. Maybe its muscle -right? Hah! Ate cookies and said to heck with it!

Took $60 out of my check and treated the girls, and some friends to a matinee and popcorn today. Saw Oceans 13. Pretty good, especially if you have seen the first two. Nice hot day to spend a cool time in a dark theater with George Clooney!

Oh well, tomorrow is another day. I did tell DH to find me that perfect job with the perfect hours and I will gladly send in my resume. Will see what he comes up with!

We did our dental appointments and we did not have any co-pays!

I went to Aldi, since I was in that direction. We bought some fruit and so such. I did get the girls each a candy bar there. That was about $52 total.

Took the girls to the library to sign up for the summer reading program and they got some books. Free!

Filled up the van! Ouch! 62.60! This should last me 2 to 3 weeks.

Picked up the family some Fritz's (frozen custard stand). Again Free! Had a gift certificate.

On the diet/exercise side: kept up with the low carb, did'nt buy Fritz's for me, and did my Pilates work out again! I am working hard to get it down another pound!!

Wow! More misc. money to add to the pot. I got a 33.70 from an overpayment to State Farm and 10.00 for a rebate that FINALLY showed up!
The garage sale yielded about $125.00. Not too shabby! We are keeping it up in the garage so we can put it out for the subdivision sale on May 5 when we get back from our trip. I hope to add more to it over this week. We split the money between the 5 of us! DD2 spent some already on magazines for the trip, but otherwise, they are keeping it for souveniers on the trip!

I have been in the lurking mode, cheering you all on from the sidelines. Been crazy busy with Scouts, etc. Finally took pics of the newly redecorated bath, so I will try to post those tomorrow.
Had DD1 be a "head model" for a friend of mine who works at a fancy salon. It's a free haircut for DD1, as long as my friend can use her as a "learning head". DD1 likes her new look and it was FREE! (Did tip friend $5, could'nt help it!)
Getting ready for a garage sale this weekend. Finding it hard to keep motivated, so I put an ad in the paper. AHHH! Now I'm accountable. Better go WORK!

Well, things are really slow at work, so they are having us leave after 4 hours instead of 6 or 8 unless it is the weekend, then we get 6. I have been working lots of hours right now covering for someone else, so I am not so worried about the cut now, but when I am back to regular hours, it will be a bummer.

All the bills are paid for April except one - yeah! But not enough coming in to pay ahead on any CC's. Guess I will just have to be content that they are paid for the month. Not anticapating any extra cash coming in either.

We are gearing up to take the kids to Florida at the end of the month to tag onto DH's business trip. Doing lots of online research to try to make it affordable. Found round trip tickets and a rental car (mini van) with unlimited miles for only $240 per person. Not bad! Will keep checking things out. Going to try to Cocoa Beach for a couple of days, then just hammer out the Orlando stuff, Disney, Universal, Sea World.

I'm throwing in a picture of the girls at the TV station. It was so interesting and they had a blast and learned a lot!
(Ut-oh! Looks like techinical difficulties on the photo front again!)

As for money, still no Federal in. Will try tomorrow, cause of the holiday today. Hopefully it will be there. As AiYa! said about the new Chinese new year of the Pig, I am being blessed with money! My realtor friend did give me a $500 bonus and my mom is giving me $300 to help her decorate her new house. Crazy! Aiya! also said it would go to frivolous things, which I am trying to keep from happening. I'm not sure how to present to DH, so I am just waiting until I have it all in hand!

Oh, look at my blogoversary count! Two more weeks! Neat!

For the last year my youngest has been taking piano and my middle taking voice lessons. We are actually picking up a new piano teacher, (not cheaper, but not more expensive and she will come to the house)and DD3 will take from both teachers for a couple of weeks until she decides which one works best for her. But since finances are so tight,I have to consider letting this go. DD2 is only taking for pleasure and not for advancement or career. DD3 is very talented and I think it could be really useful to her later to persue this, but how do you pick one over the other?
For now, I will suck it up and pay for DOUBLE lessons, because it is already budgeted, but it sure would make a NICE bag of groceries!!

I must confess, I did give myself a little nap with the puppies on this rainy morning. That will keep ya out of the stores!
Had pudding for the girls after school snacks and planning spaghetti with meatballs and salad for supper. Early supper as DD3 has lots going on tonight!

*Cut dryer sheets in half.

*Ate leftovers for lunch. DH came home and ate lunch too.

*Will eat dinner at home.

Some excitement as DH is going to get a 3% raise on his commissions. Will see how this year pans out.

The DH and the DD's are all safely back to their respective work/school. DD1 and 2 only have a half day. So the dogs and I took a short breath of relief and I cleaned the carpets and took a shower. Got all of Christmas tucked away and all our tax stuff out and ready for the W-2's. Now to run to the grocery store and try not to spend much. Hopefully can get enough to last till next week.

I was very excited to get a JCPenney catalog with some good deals on some new clothes for ME!:-) I talked to DH and he said go for it. Then in the mail came an ADDITIONAL 20% off on Sunday. So I thumbed the pages and made my game plan. Then I get online to make the big purchase and yep, you guessed it.... NOT AVAILABLE! Holy cow, everything in the stores must be sold out!! So yes, I picked up a couple things, I will try them on at home and return them if they don't fit, BUT I was really disappointed!
Also, the kids get ANOTHER snow day tomorrow, bringing the grand total of days home in a row to about SIX!! So much for recuperation, although DH has been very helpful!!

Well, still trying to heal and get through the pain. Healing is hard with three kids on hand. They had a half day of school yesterday, got out early today because of snow and will be off tomorrow because of the weather! Then... the weekend. No rest for the weary! My DD1 has been awesome and helpful. You never know what you will get with those teenagers! DD2 is laying low, but DD3 has been a spoiled menace.
It has been sleeting and pouring ice for the last 4 hours here. Glad we still have electricity! The snow is supposed to start after midnight and come down in about a 6 inch amount. Yee haw, no more 70's!!
Paid bills today. Got the check from our old escrow account with the old house loan company, but I have to make sure that someone is paying the real estate taxes! This happened to us once before when we switched loans and I had no idea no one paid till the state came a-knocking! So this time I will cover my rear and find out who needs to pay!
Friends of ours braved the horrible weather and brought us a delicious dinner for the family!! They are so kind! Any ideas for a thank you I can give them?

Forgot to mention that - Hooray!! The Cardinals are the World Series Champs! Wooo Hooo! Yippeee! Underdogs Rock!!!:-)
Anyway, just had to celebrate a little! We spent many happy evenings, cheaply! watching our favorite team on TV! Even the girls curled up to watch! Inexpensive family fun with an awesome result!

Well the colonoscopy was big fun and highly successful. As was the endoscopy. All looked good. Now I just have to go for some gallbladder tests on Tuesday and we will consider the plumbing to be rock solid! Now a check on the old mammogram and a visit to the dermotologist and I will feel like I can go another 40 years! :-) Just have to lose those 40 pounds!
Still waiting to hear that the refi is done and funding. I will set some goals when that happens and even post them! Will feel good to have all ducks in a row!
DD3 got pole-axed at a soccer game Friday night and might have broken her elbow AGAIN (this would be a 3rd time!!) This will cost at least 150.00 between the ER and the orthopedic guy. That select soccer is way more expensive than we bargained for. If she did'nt like it so much and be so good at it, we would pull it for sure! I will hear from the ortho guy tomorrow and go from there.
Spent too much this weekend and ate out like crazy people.

In our home the birthdays are a "season". We kick off on Sept. 16th for DD3, Sept. 20th for my mom, Sept. 29th for DD1 and Oct. 5th for DD2. Whew! There is barely time to recuperate before Christmas comes. We keep the birthdays pretty low key, although I do still pick up cupcakes (heaven forbid you can't make them to take to school! They must be store bought!) for DD3 in grade school. They will each get a little "friend" party, and we have one big family party in the middle of all the birthdays. We only get them one small present apiece, as they get PLENTY from everyone else!
Let the games begin!............

I faithfully kept track of my boyfriends...(kidding!) ummm I mean EXPENSES in my little book last month. In the end - it talked trash to me and I did'nt like it!
I have been keeping track again this month, and I did not set any goals to beat or anything. I am just trying to spend wiser and LESS! And if I have a no spend day - I mark the date and put a smiley face by it. So far 4 smileys. Will try for more! At least 10, we'll set the bar low and hope we exceed it - it is hard to do with kids!

Okay, you know your over scheduled when... you go to the grocery store, buy the groceries, take them home and forget they were in the car. AHHH! Hours later I am talking to DH and bing! There is the thought, Oh *&^%! I forgot the ice cream, turkey, sour cream, bananas, etc. Believe it or not, most was still cool even though they were in the back of the van and it is warm out here. You think I will kill the girls if I still give them turkey in their lunches? It was still cool and smells okay. It sits in their lunch boxes for hours everyday anyway (although I try to put in a ice pack with it!) I don't know, I guess I will stick to peanut butter tomorrow until I decide.

Well, I did it! I got invited to a picnic each night of the weekend! NO COOKING - yeah! Last night I took chips and dip (which we had), tonight we are taking brownies and tomorrow I am not sure. (Don't worry we're not sponges, we equally treat all of these families!)
I am also excited that we have started fundraising for daughters soccer. I had'nt even thought about it, but we still owe close to $300 for this select soccer team and someone on the team suggested fundraising! Hey, if we can save, that is awesome!

We had a lovely day at the ballpark. Did'nt spend too much either. FIL paid for parking and first round of food. Probably spent a total of $40.
Then took DD3 to church with me and we went to Steak n Shake compliments of my mom!
Settling down to watch a little football now! Go RAMS!

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8/26
Baseball game 40.00