Boomeyers's Digging Out of Debt

From out of the blue, a GIANT storm hurtled out from nowhere and kicked some butt! Rays wood business could benefit from all of the trees and limbs around here! Thank goodness we finally have rain! I don't know how many days it has been since we've had a good soaking rain, but I know it was about a week or more before the 4th of July.
Did'nt even get to blog yesterday, too tired from working!
Today was a spend day! Almost $100 at Walmart, but DD2 paid me back about $15 for something I paid for her. Two birthday presents and I stocked up on two more gift cards and some .49cent cards for future parties.
Will do some work for second job tomorrow!

Yep.... work, work , work. I am working alot too! But of course with the flexibility for the family! Now, as long as the pay checks do'nt bounce, we'll be okay!
Is anyone else melting?? We are talking 102 with indicies of 110. Yuck! I feel for my mom carrying my thru the month of July back in the "olden days". I think I'll send her flowers on MY birthday! What a lady!
Had to pick up some groceries today, but otherwise no spend. 2 days in a row eating at home!! :-)

We are finally back from vacation! I think hubby and I will consider going to work tomorrow recuperation from vacation! We had fun, got some sun and shopped a LOT! I am stocked for clothes now! I know DH is glaring and unhappy, but hey, he got some much needed shirts too! Picked up a couple of gifts as well! Yum, went to Coldstone Creamery. That place could be trouble, very addicting. Got some good deals while shopping, not just the outlet mall, but Target (but since we were on vacation, I guess we should be fancy and call it Tar-ghay). Got a bra on clearance for $2.98, a new purse for 18.99 and some comfy shorts (went for the mens, as in ladies there was nothing!) for $5.00. Got a really expensive and cute outfit at Dressbarn Women (early happy bday to me!) and a jacket for this fall.
Hubby took the girls boating one day, but most of the time was spent at the pools. Did'nt eat out too bad.
Glad to be back, time to go to bed!!

Why do I do these things? I have been working for the past 2 days and it has been busy... I am exhausted and ready for our vacation (ie..family trip, as it is usually NOT a vacation for mom!:-)) So being exhausted, we ate out BOTH nights. DH did'nt lift a finger to make dinner and I left a casserole which if you even mention the word in this house it is met with gags and groans. So I will stick the casserole in the freezer for when we get back from vacation. For heavens sake it is noodles, hamburger and cheese mixed with Ragu! Not exactly gross, actually more like pizza with noodles instead of crust.
Anyway just had to rant... Thanks!

Has anyone heard from Wild Blue Yonder? Did I miss something? Are we all still sending positive thoughts??
Just wondering.....

We will start our vacation on Tuesday. The two youngest have free tickets to Six Flags, so DH and I will use buy one get one. Not sure what to do about DD1? Hate to not use a BOGO for her too, so told DD2 she could bring a friend. Lo and behold, her friend has the free ticket too. Will think on this. Parking is $10 - boo! But we will pack a picnic for lunch.
The next day we head to the lake. Used my bonus money to pay for the condo, so in a sense it was "free". Using survey money and job #2 money for gas. Yikes! Up to $3.00 now!! Bought lots of food (budgeted $100, spent $60, just need to buy a couple more things.) will eat at the condo for MOST meals have 2 dinners out planned. Will take the girls to a matinee show while we are there too. Will do lots of outlet mall shopping. I am drooling to get there! They always have great clearance sales this time of year!
Looking forward to spending lots of time with the kids.

Yep, I did it again!! (((Applause))) Another no spend day - not even gas.... did'nt go anywhere!
I have been really trying to just stay at home. Not easy with 3 bored kids and no pool! But we have been doing it! One more week day down and then the weekend.
Supposed to meet the Bible Study Girls tomorrow for McDonalds, but we'll see...

Got a check from NFO surveys today. $20. Will put it toward our gas money for vacation. I have had good luck getting paid from all my surveys and getting my MyPoints gift cards too! Worth the time!

Yeah! Our July 4th party was a hit. The food was great, the weather super and the fireworks were entertaining. Love the day after a party.... Leftovers!
Had planned for a no spend day, but had to get gas. Kept it at $20. It is $2.81 here now.

Okay, yes I am entertaining yet again!! I figure it really helps keep the house in order!
Got to get off work early today. Picked up the girls from Grammies and we all got hair cuts. Came home and ordered them the promised pizza. Still hungry, I only got 2 peices!
DH took DD2 and DD3 to see the fireworks. Good time for mom to get some things done. I vaccuumed and cleaned the carpets upstairs when I got home from work. While the girls were gone I cleaned DD1's teenage cave!! Looks much better and ready for guests!
I know our water bill will be huge this month, but we have had NO rain. None! I am worried about someone starting our yard on fire, so I am watering like crazy!
Guess I'll go to bed and start on the food tomorrow. Too tired from getting the house ready!
HAVE A GREAT 4TH OF JULY!!!

Wow! Did'nt leave the house today. Was supposed to get near 100. I did go outside to move the sprinklers around. Have to make sure the house does'nt burn down with all the 4th of July fireworks going off!
Did lots of cleaning, multiple loads of laundry, getting ready for company. Cleaned the basement, straightened it, vaccuumed. If you ask me, this should be the place to be! It isn't really finished, but we have rugs down, couches and a TV with a gamecube and toys. It is so nice and cool down there! They are saying it might be stormy Tuesday, so I want an appealing place for the kids to go if that is the case.
I "fixed" the carpet cleaner too! With a psycho peeing dog, it is a necessity to own! A piece broke and I put some tape on it. It worked for about 6 months, then last time it would'nt work!! EEEKK! So I took off all the tape, put on new tape, and it worked like a charm! I will clean the rooms upstairs tomorrow after work.
Told the girls I would treat them to pizza tomorrow night, so tomorrow will not be a no spend day, but I bet Tuesday will!! :-)

DH and I took the splurge and went out to dinner! We did'nt exactly sneak out, cause DD1 had to babysit the younger ones, but...
Went to the Lobster. Did'nt have a coupon - horrors!
We have not had any time to just sit and have a conversation without getting interrupted lately. Despite yelling at our lovely young ones, they always interrupt! So we splurged on dinner and CONVERSATION! Worth every penny!

Well, we did pretty good in June. I finally have figured out a way to budget with DH's new pay schedule! Still overspent a little, will work on that this month. I never did fix the drying rack, so I will move that goal to July.
Did a great job with making dinner at home and not eating out a lot, and my food reserve is pretty good!

July will be a hard month with lots of entertaining and vacation. I have already started planning for each event in the hopes of doing damage control. Will use the money from job #2 for gas money for the trip. I would like to also pay extra on a couple of CC and when I budget for August, I will try to pay most extra to a target one and not spread it so evenly between many of them and see if seeing faster results on one help out. Other than that, I will just try to survive the July heat!!

Ahhhh, at last DD2 is back home and all is right in the world. Reuniting was pretty casual, but there were lots of spontaneous hugs during the day. She was sooo tired and she HATED camp. I was so proud of her for lasting both weeks! What a trooper. She said it was'nt worth it, even for time spent with horses and she won't do it again. We'll see how she feels next year.
We enjoyed her fav dinner, roast beef with cheese potatoes and biscuits and then we hit the mall (only so I could return something at JCP!) and enjoyed our show. (Devil Wears Prada, pretty good. I can never sit still for a movie and this one moved pretty fast and kept me entertained.)
Feels good to have everything back to normal (even the fighting!)

Well, I went shopping today. Mind you I took the two girls with me!
I am definately winding down on my SuperWalmart enthusiasm. The checkouts are too short and it takes sooo much longer to get through! Spent $165.00, saved $51 (no, those clothes and cereal were NOT on the list!! But DD1 does need some shorts. Would not have had a problem with her wanting clothes had I shopped at only the grocery store!)
Next stop was Aldi. Spent $25. Mostly fresh produce, spent a little more than I wanted to.
Next was Diebergs. Picking up all the meat for the 4th party. Spent $56, saved $22.
Lets see, todays totals:
Spent $246
Saved $ 73
Now, I could go into how I saved by running by Aldi and getting 5 packs of buns @ .59 instead of $1.29 or more at the grocery, but that is for another day!

Tomorrow will be a spend day! I will get two paychecks and pay most of our monthly's. I also have to do some shopping. I have the list made, color coded and the coupons ready! I even have a gift card to help out. We are having a bbq Tuesday, so I have to buy for that as well.
Friday is the big day I get to pick up sweet DD2 from camp. I CAN'T WAIT!!!!! I know she will be mad, but I am going to run by the salon with her on the way home and have them do a shampoo, tick check and a trim. Then it is home for her fav meal. Roast (in the crockpot), mashed potatoes (or maybe cheese potatoes!) and corn with biscuits. Yum! Then we'll head for the show to see our movie. (DD1 has to babysit all weekend, or we would go then instead..) It will be fun! I am picking up candy for the show during shopping tomorrow and using some great coupons!

Took DD3 to both jobs with me today. She was very good and even helped. Made $20 at the second job which I am using to take the girls to the movies on Friday when DD2 comes home from camp.
Got my electric bill today. We have budget billing and my goal was to get my numbers down for gas and electric. Mission accomplished. The electric is down by $7 per month. Will keep working on it! It has been so dry, the water bill will probably be expensive!
Did some overspending, especially on gasoline!! So I will try to buy all of our picnic food (having guests for the 4th) as cheaply as possible to compensate in the budget. I think it will be no problem!

Seems like with three "part time" jobs, I am one full time working woman. Too bad I don't get paid like that! All my jobs make about $10 per hr. My youngest, DD3, says she misses me. I will take her with me to job 2 and 3 tomorrow. Not sure how much patience I will get out of her, but she will get to see me!
Today was a no spend day except to get evil gas for the bus! Had dinner waiting in the crock pot for when I got home. Threw together some fresh veggies and dip and I was saved from take out!
Accomplished getting the office cleaned. Now I just need to go thru the file cabinets. Maybe tomorrow.

Friday night went out for sisters birthday dinner Free! Yum! Then we went over to a friends house. She was having a garage sale, so we where there to early bird the good stuff! I spent $30! Got a huge bag of clothes and shoes and swimsuits for the girls, a couple of toys and then I "donated" a little extra as this was for her daughters band camp fund. The girls should be set for the rest of summer and the start of school. Need to start working on the fall wardrobes.
I got up Saturday morning to do more sales. Did'nt find too much. Picked up a couple of things at the neighbors, but I was really picky. I don't want to end up with a bunch of impulse buy junk!
We took my friend out for her birthday Saturday night. The big 4 0! My one friend had a BOGO for the buffet at the casino, so we went there. $20. Then we each gave the birthday girl $10 to gamble with and I flushed my $20 limit down the proverbial toilet right away. Glad I don't make a habit of going there! So an expensive evening in cost, $50, but priceless time spent with old friends. (And I mean old!! She's 40!) (JUST KIDDING!!!)
Today, Sunday, I am working. Got to pay off last night! FIL and DH picked up DD2 from camp for the morning and was able to run her up to my work for a quick visit. It was soooo good to see her in one piece and hug her!! Can't wait to bring her home, but glad she is out learning new things. Will still worry the rest of the week! Going to my moms for dinner, so free supper! Yeah!

One check in and everything applied according to budget. Went over just a little in groceries, will make it up with the next check by taking out a little less. Gotta go with the coupons and sales!
Worked a little this morning and used that check for a little mad money and got myself and DD1 some lunch. Also, got to go to a pre garage sale and spent $30!! Got a lot and it was for charity!
Going to the garage sales in the morning. Hope I find some goodies!

Just got a mypoints page to visit a website called tickle to get a test to test for my IQ. Happily they tell me I am smart. Too bad those things do'nt judge "street smarts!" I sure got a kick out of it!
Sent DD2 a care package to camp today, then took the other two to the pool with some friends for a few hours. Pretty relaxing day!

I took leftovers to work!
After work I went to get gas (shot up 14cents in one hour yesterday) at Costco, but it refused my debit card. Guess it thought I did'nt have enough in the account to fill up the bus. Never have this problem anywhere else but there. Will have to pay higher price somewhere else tomorrow. I think DH gave me a coupon for 5cents off a gallon at Hucks. Will have to go there instead.

Wow! I took the van to the place DH insists we go to. They tried to sell me an $800 bill of goods! I wanted 2 new tires, an oil change and to know why the check engine soon light keeps going on and off irregularly. That was $800 without the tires!!!!!! I ended up with the 2 tires, the oil change and I let them blow my fuel injectors out. We'll see if that makes the light go off. So I ONLY spent $400 instead. Next time I am going to check around and too bad for DH. Even he says I got burned. I told him to take it himself next time. (haha)

I am back to focusing on saving money. Turned the AC up 2 more degrees, no one has noticed yet!
Took DH to dinner last night and used the rest of the garage sale money.
Will work on fixing my trash picked clothes rack.
Trying to think of things I can start buying ahead on for Christmas, but can't think of a darned thing anyone needs! Too spoiled! One year I went in August to Walmart and put stuff in layaway, but found that the good deals actually come RIGHT before Christmas. Will have to think about it some more!

Used my first Coke coupon at the SUPERWALMART on Thursday. Finally had chance to look at receipt... she gave me .89 back for ONE Coke - not five. Will have to make a trip back and it is not close. Will watch more carefully next time!

No, not done paying off my debt! :-)
Done - with the garage sale. Two day total 243.00! Yeah! The rest boxed and taken to Goodwill for a lovely tax write off!
Done - Fathers Day BBQ over. Cleaned up, leftovers in fridge, Daddies happy.
Done - getting DD2 ready for camp. Drop her off tomorrow. Hope I won't make a big blubbering idiot out of myself!!!
Is June over yet???

Splurged a little on DH for fathers day. 2 shirts and 2 ties, he will probably return. Garage saled money jar from DD2, some $1 golf nicknacks from Target and the biggy, a round of golf at an exclusive local club. (Something he can't return!!! HA HA!) He has a tendency to return everything I buy him, so I usually get gift cards. When I told him about the round of golf he said "Did you get a deal on it?" Nope.
Good deal for MY dad. He wanted a book. Picked it up at Borders with a $10 gift card. Only cost .97! :-)
My FIL is getting Good and Plenty candy and a gift card to the movies. (He takes the girls to the show all the time! The least we could do!)
The BBQ will be here. Chicken, beans, corn on the cob, deviled eggs, potato salad, tuna salad, baked potatoes, steak, fresh veggies and dip. Ice cream cake for dessert (looking for a DQ coupon!)

Well....there is not much DH likes more than a good trash pick. After the girls music lessons the other day, we saw a table that had obviously fallen off someones truck and broke, so they left it at the side of the road. We have been looking for a pedestal table, so I mentioned it to DH if he wanted to go and get it. ZOOM. Turns out a little wood glue will get it and it even has one of those leaves in the middle of the table that fold out. But the over all size of the round part of the table was too small. I put it in the garage sale today for $5. No takers, maybe Saturday???

Made about $100 in the garage sale. Need to find more stuff for Saturdays sale! We were picked pretty clean, but I had it marked CHEAP! The girls helped and got their "cut" of the money.
Have to plan for bbq on Saturday for Fathers Day.
Packing DD2 up for camp. Am already fretting about her leaving. Try not to let her see. She leaves Sunday for two weeks!

Still getting ready for the garage sale. Went to the dollar store to pick up some goodies to make signs with. This is exhausting, especially since I worked all day. Hope this is worth it!