Boomeyers's Digging Out of Debt

Yep, you guessed it! A no spend day! Went to work, left dinner in the crockpot. Yeah! Tomorrow I will have to buy groceries.

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

Is any one scared of the spooky ghosts and goblins popping up in local stores in AUGUST?? Or even more terrifying - in the next aisle you find SANTA and his reindeer!! The horror!
Our local news even had a story on this phenomenem and they titled it the "Christmas Creep". It crept from December, to November, to October, to September, to August, to the good old "Christmas in July"!
"They" say they are getting indicators by early sales on what people are buying, so they can stock the stores with the "hot" products. LETS NOT BUY IT!
While at first I had to have a recovery time to digest this cramming of Christmas cheer down my throat, I now look at it as the encouragement to finish my Christmas shopping, frugally started last January, at least by the end of September. Barring the urge to pick up jingle bells and holiday doodads, we frugal folks can celebrate the encouragement to get the job done!

Did pretty good today. Only dinner out with 2 girls. DD3 Scout troop went swimming, did'nt have to pay.
Waiting to see if I get a 0% card approved. Will be a small step.

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8/25
DD1 4.00
Dinner 11.00

I was thrilled to be able to babysit my sweet little niece today. She is all of TWO and soooo cute to boot! I love snuggling up to watch Elmo and "reading" picture books!
My sister-in-law offered to take us out to dinner in return for me watching my niece (totally unnecessary as I enjoy it). We were unable to do so because DD3 had soccer practice. So she offered to pick up something on the way to get my niece, but there is nothing conveinient, so I offered to pick up some fast food for us and her family. After getting here she said she had to run. As an afterthought she said " can I offer you some money". Well duh - she had offered to pay for it over the phone. "Not how much do I owe you?" Well of course I try to be all benevolent with "no thats okay". So my own fault, $30 in the toilet for a meal I had planned to make at home. Need to do some soul searching...

Went on a little fun jaunt today. Headed out for a day with a friend from work. Lunch, and Super Walmart. She had never been, so it was fun to explore with her. We kept each other in check as far as our spending. One expense we did add on was getting a gift for a coworker that is expecting. Oh, and getting ice cream at Cold Stone - yum!
Did splurge on dinner. A large pizza for the girls. I had a headache and just felt icky. I let myself say, hey, it's payday, just let them have a treat. I've been really strict about no fast food lately. Oh well, I will forgive myself this time! :-)
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8/23
Lunch 20.00
Walmart 58.38
Cold Stone Ice Cream 4.70
Baby gift 11.00
Dominos 20.00
(Getting itchy to add up my totals! I know it will be bad.... but a learning experience and a challenge for next month!)

Woo Hoo! A NO SPEND DAY!! Did'nt go anywhere and it feels so good!
Fridge is still gimping along. No repair till THURSDAY! Geeze! Putting bottles and milk jugs of frozen water in the fridge to keep it cooler.
Retaped the carpet cleaner and cleaned the carpets today! Much better!
Other than that, still feeling depressed and overwhelmed by our debt and the huge interest rates we are paying. Do you think I should try to get some of these 0% deals they keep sending in the mail? I hate to open new cards!! I am worried about the FICO. But if I don't do something we will drown in the high interest! Thoughts??.........

Our fridge has been slowly losing its cool for the last two days. I put in a service call, but I also checked all the normal stuff, vents, etc and cleaned the coils. Cross your fingers. The thing is only 2 years old and no I did not buy the extended warranty!
Did good on my grocery shopping last week. Got 78.00 worth of groceries for $45! Then stocked up on meat at another store for about $38. Not bad for under $100 bucks!
I have my eye on a new digital camera. There is no way we can afford it! So I am thinking about selling DD1's outgrown, disgustingly expensive (Papa bought them!)Riddell figure skates. That would help alot! Then we have credits in Paypal from selling stuff and NOT buying anything (go figure). Will see if I can make this work and keep you posted!
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8/20 Walgreens 13.61
8/21
McD 2.32 coffee and bottled water for work
Michaels 1.81 (26.81-25.00 GC)

Not that all my blogging friends don't give me the best inspiration ever, but when I'm financially down in the dumps, I need success stories to pep me up and get me going! Anyone know of any good sites where financial triumphs are listed on?

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8/17
Dierbergs 59.04
Shop n Save 45.00
8/18
lunch with DD3 2.50
Walgreens 30.17
QT 30.00
Library fine .80
8/19
DD1 soda .50
Lunch w/DH 36.02

Not much exciting has been happening. I've been lurking more than blogging! The girls will finally all be "officially" back to school tomorrow! Going to do some grocery shopping (made list, pulled coupons, ready to go - minus the costly helpers!) and clean the office.
Job has DH very stressed, so going to have to reevaluate everything around here. Love the no spend day challenge everyone is trying! Would love to do the same!

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8/16
Vettes 37.93 Lunch with girls
Target 69.52 clothes for DD3, niece bday gift
ALDI 37.97 milk, produce, ice cream, etc.

I applied for the 6.9% loan for $30000 to get rid of the HELOC at 11% and consolidate in another CC that is at 12%. They gave me a 9.9% loan. Now this is fine, but here is the clincher. You can pay off the loan early, with no penalty, but you still must pay off the whole interest amount (about $10000). It comes with a set monthly payment you make for about 72 months. So really the loan is for $40000. I'm not very good at math. Is there a loan pro or a calculator that could tell me which would be better? I'm thinking of keeping it the old way, because I do plan on paying the amount off early. Thoughts.....

When I got to work this morning there were 5 newspapers on the front stoop!! All of them had two coupon inserts inside! At least I will have something to do at work. It has been extremely slow at work. Hoping they would cut our hours more!

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8/11
McDonalds 17.00 dinner
Blockbuster 10.51
Dollar General 19.42
8/12
Swimming/Snacks 18.00
Walgreens 98.18
8/13
McDonalds 4.83 Breakfast for me

I have been spending way too much money on the kids this last week. I want to treat them to nice things and get them ready to send to school.
Today I took them to the beauty salon. DD1 got a eyebrow wax and nail buff and polish. DD2 just got the eyebrow wax. I just remember how much I got picked on in school, so I want them not to have to go through that. I don't make them the best dressed or anything, I just want them to blend in. They are all sweet, smart girls and I like them to feel good about themselves. We still only buy sale, or resale clothes and I make them buy over and above what they want. Hopefully, they are taking in the right message....save when you can, splurge sometimes.
I think I overpaid off one of my accounts by about $90. I'm sure they don't reimburse you for this, so I guess we will have to get a few oil changes! I guess I was'nt thinking straight!

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8/10
Imo's 36.85 Pizza
Yearbooks 34.00 DD1/2 for next year
Walmart 96.69 Cleaning, school, food
8/11
Carey O'Breins 76.06 Girls at salon
Choc,choc,choc 11.81 Treat at chocolate store
Lunch w/DD3 at school 2.40
Bunko 5.00 Moms fun!

I am becoming a professional juggler. Money juggler, that is! I am tired of the 11% HELOC and a CC that they lowered to 12.22%. So I applied for a 6.5% life of loan to consolidate these on. Cross your fingers! Then I had a 4.9% that I have paid down enough to consolidate 2 other higher rate CC's onto it, with only about $2000 left to pay off. Hope it will all work out!

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8/4 Fritz's 6.60
8/9
Pay DD1 back 25.00
Platos closet 15.22 clothes for DD2
PTO 40.22 Fundraiser
Scholastic 11.90 books
Dierbergs 15.60 (used some money from return of cable booster)

I will get to return the cable booster I purchased from Radio Shack. I never cancelled the cable guy service call and when he came out he put one on for FREE and fixed all reception on every tv. They all work great!! For FREE! My favorite!
When I return the booster, I will then use that money at the grocery store. They are have a 10 for $10 sale. Love those! Especially with coupons! I think our train has crashed though, have'nt got any new coupons lately.
DD1 asked if I would pick her and her friend up at the movies. The theater is the one at the mall, so I took DD2 as well and shoed both of them for school starting next week!

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8/8
Baseball tickets for PTO 48.00
Creative Memory refill from friend that gets it at 30% off 131.91
New entertainment book 25.00
Payless shoes 32.25

The threat of gas prices going up I decided to top off my tank. Filled up at 2.87, then topped off at 2.99 (gee, what a bargain!) with threats of it going up to 3.19. I still showed over 3/4 of a tank, but it was almost $20.00 to TOP OFF! Yikes! Its hard not to get frustrated when getting gas.
Food prices too, are crazy! Even barring the coupons and the trains! We only get double up to .35! It is HARD out here! Glad to be taking this ride with great people like my bloggy friends!

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8/7
Gas :-( 19.07
Music lessons 116.00
Dierbergs 85.62 (No meat, either!!)
Walgreens 38.94 (School supplies for DD1 & 2 Had GC, so free!!)

A couple of months ago, we purchased DD3 a loft bed for her small room. At the time she was very excited, but when it was up, she did'nt like it and would not sleep in it. We would put her to bed and in the morning find her sleeping on our floor or one of her sisters floors. After a couple of months of bribery, threats and etc. to no avail, we gave up. My friends daughter wanted to get rid of her day bed and her son wanted a loft bed, hence the switch. Yes, in the long run we did lose money as the loft bed was purchased for a pretty penny brand new, but we did'nt SPEND any money for a new bed she will sleep in! It's really cute and fits right into her room with a trundle bed for guests even!
Picked up DD1 from camp today. My FIL drove, so no gas out of pocket and he took us to breakfast! Still have to put away and clean up all the "camp stuff". DD1 ecstatic to be home!
Did spend some money yesterday and today. DD3 won her soccer tournament, so I took her to McD to celebrate. And our cable booster box got fried in the lightening storm, so had to buy a new one at Radio Shack.

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8/5
McDonalds 8.46 DD3 celebration
church 15.00 Donation
8/6
Walgreens 10.00 prescription
Radio Shack 57.98 booster
Culpeppers 66.96 welcome home dinner dd1

Well, I chose to spend. I splurged and got myself a carwash and bought DD2 lunch. Still keeping track of the spending book and trying not to buy anything much, not even groceries until I absolutely have to!
I did look into the Angelfood Ministries as it was suggested by Frontporchmom and in the Dollar stretcher. There is one nearby so I will see if my mom would like to go in on it as well.
DH liked his birthday gifts. He is glad it is over!
Still anxiously awaiting being able to pick up DD1 from camp on Sunday.
Topped off my tank today as gas prices are supposed to shoot up into the 3.17 range. Yikes!

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8/3
Sonic 9.75 Lunch for DD2
Red Lobster 16.86 DH bday dinner used gift cards so out of pocket amt low
Office Depot .13 copies
8/4
School 2.40 Lunch w/DD3
Carwash 23.39 Plus lunch for DD2
Gas top off 15.55
Mc D dinner 8.46 DD3 running to soccer practice!

DD2 and I went on our errand run today. We returned a few things and purchased a few things. I have spent over $200 on DH's birthday tomorrow, but all gift cards that he will use. Hey, it's his 40th, otherwise he would'nt be getting that extra golf gift I gave him. Payback for the massage gc he got me!
Still keeping my spend book and trying to be very careful about every little thing I spend!!
DH asked me for money at DD3's soccer game tonight and I told him that I was sorry, but I am trying not to spend any money. (And then of course I gave him $5, he is so spoiled!!)
Will probably pick up DD1 and bring her home from camp on Sunday. A bit early, but from the sound of her letters, she is ready to be done! Will always be great to have all chicks in the nest again!!

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8/2
Dollar Tree 5.26 DH Bday cards/candy
Dierbergs 7.13 DH bday
(returned 19.98 from party)
Party world 1.66 DD2 for DH bday
(returned 7.48 from party)
Target 12.33 toilet paper
(used 8.84 of it in a GC)
Home Depot 4.82 new handle for toilet
(used GC for purchase)
Costco 60.41 Gas - ouch!!
Soccer 22.00 Fees for tournament
Taco Bell 5.40 Lunch for me and dd2
Golf 169.98 DH bday
(charge on amex will pay next month)
Lotto ticket 1.00 Wellllllll
Scratcher lotto 3.00 DH bday
Soccer snack 5.00 for DH!

Yep, a no spender day, did'nt leave the house. Tomorrow going on a return fest. Will be nice to have the money back!
Hope we don't all melt, over 100 here today!

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8/1 0.00

Figured I give it a shot. I have the Costco Amex and never paid attention to the interest rate, as all mine had always been excellent. Did'nt realize I was paying quite so much for the "rebate" at the end of the year. My interest rate was 17.22%! Holy crappoli!
So I called them and they lowered it to 12.22%. I took it because it is better than nothing and we just received an offer for a 6.9%. Until I make that happen, I took the 12%. Nuts and crazy! I don't need the rebate that much, so now we will just use it for DH's reimbursed business expenses and nothing else!!

I thought it would help to start posting what I put in my little book as expenses, so you all can play along! My goal is to try not to spend money, not necessarily have no spend, but wise spend! :-)
Having trouble recouping from the big party. Really overdid myself and my body was telling me and I was ignoring it!
Have to make some calls today. Had those Merry Maids come clean for me last week (as a bday gift) and they just did'nt do a very good job. I hate to be a complainer, but.... money is money!

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7/31 Dierbergs 4.76 water/tom. juice for dh
7/31 Dierbergs 4.84 coffee for dh
7/31 Gamestop 25.00 gc for dh bday

Now that the big party and turning 40 has passed, it is now time to buckle down and focus on money and saving it!
The party was great. A huge storm moved in and set us back as far as setting up and my sister surprised me by having an old friend drop by an hour early, unexpected, but not unwelcome. It was just soooo many people and it is still soooo hot here! Anyway, good time, lots of food and friendship and now moving on...
Dropped DD1 off at camp today. I just worry so much!! I am glad she got to go with a friend, but the temps are supposed to be in the low 100's with heat indices of 110 or higher! And this won't break until Thursday. Keep some prayers for her!
Tomorrow I start keeping my "little black book". I'm hoping I find it easier to not spend than to write something down!
Couldn't make it through without all the friendship and great advice I receive here!! Thanks guys!

New adventure, new fun! The big 40 has come knocking! :-) All ribs, barbs and jokes accepted!

Thankfully its pooped out and not pooped on! :-) Getting ready for the big party tomorrow night. I always get myself into a tizzy to make everything nice. Had the Merry Maids come to clean today. Part gift from SIL and part I paid. Can't say I was overly impressed. Could do a better job myself, but I guess the key is I did'nt have to do it myself!
The family took me out to dinner for an early bday dinner and DH gave me some chocolate, a gc to Michaels and a gc for a professional MASSAGE!! I have never gotten one before and I am so excited! I had to go pick my dad up off the bathroom floor a couple of weeks ago and I did something wrong!! This will be heavenly. We let you know when I go get it!

Nope, it's not to track all my boyfriends (yes, DH is my only boyfriend, or boy toy? Anyway....) My new little black book is to track my SPENDING! I have fought doing this for a long time - way back to the Amy Dacyczyn days! But I read a story on another web site about someone who still could'nt control their spending no matter what resolve they had or tricks they tried. The only thing that worked was keeping track of spending in a little notebook. So I went to Walgreens and picked out a special one for .50! I guess I will start my goal on Monday, to start my "little black book".

Making the grocery list. Trying to match up the coupons with the sales. Having another big party this weekend. DH and I are turning the big 4 0 (me on Saturday). Invited all and sundry to the big event! Trying not to go over budget for the bash!

My friend and I had a great time scrapbooking! I finished 34 pages. Up to 1996 in DD1's book! Ten more years to go to catch up!! :-)

This weekend is something I have never had before. A "Me" weekend. My friend and I both have birthdays within a few weeks of each other, so this year we are treating ourselves to a scrapbooking retreat weekend! Two full days of scrapbooking, sleeping (maybe) and food and snacks are provided by the coordinator! I won't be far from home, but I am sure I will miss the family! DH has been a good sport about taking over as the family chauffer!
I'm off to have fun! Fill ya in on Sunday night!
(Gotta go finish a freelance job before I go!)

Ebay is having a 20cent listing sale today and tomorrow. Went on and listed about 5 things. DH and I are hoping to raise enough to refurbish the trampoline for the kids. The storm the other day really added insult to injury! Wish me luck!