Boomeyers's Digging Out of Debt

Friday night, out with the bunko girls for dinner at the winery. Then friend (who was driving) wanted to go to the casino. Lost $16.
Saturday took two oldest girls to "Phantom of the Opera". They are so into that! Then out to dinner. A nice one, no gift cards. :-( Oh well, worth the price of the precious time spent together!
Today had to work. Filled up the tank - $50!!
Hopefully tomorrow can be no spend!!
Getting ready for our garage sale. Cross your fingers. Making money is great - getting rid of junk is priceless!!

Merck is sponsering free cervical cancer awareness bracelet kits and they are donating money for each bracelet making kit sent out. It is all free, no shipping or anything. They don't even try to sell you anything!
Heres the link:
https://www.maketheconnection.org/order_beadkit/default.asp
Enjoy!

Well, I went to three different stores to try to save the money. Really tried using the coupons. I had two of the girls with me, which does'nt help the "wannas", but I think I controlled it pretty good. I bought a lot of stuff to make things with, instead of premade stuff.

ALDI - 47.37
Dierbergs - spent 38.79, saved 21.79
Shop n Save - spent 95.75, saved 16.19

Not as good as I wanted, but I think this is it for a while. I still have the meat stockpile from my rebate check, so we will lay low with this and see how long it can last.

Yes, another no spend day!! Tee hee! I did order DD2 some jeans, but will take back the ones that did'nt fit and actually come out ahead!
It is nice having the girls home from school. (Already sick of I'm bored from DD3!!) We are setting up for the garage sale. Tomorrow will drop DD1 off at a pool party and then DD2 and 3 and I will go work at job #2 for a little bit and then hit the the grocery stores. Tomorrow is the extra $10 off a $50 purchase day at one and is honored by the others! Plus, we'll hit Aldi. Stock up to feed these hungry beast now that they are home.
Looking for something fun and frugal to do with the girls after the garage sale is done. (Park, water park, something)

I had a NO SPEND DAY!! (echo, echo, echo). Not sure how it happened. Gave birthday gifts to the girls at work (bought on sale in advance), picked up breakfast with a FREE coupon, ate lunch at work and kept the kids too busy to want anything! Threw together a dinner (not a healthy one, but did'nt order out!) and then stayed home tonight. I know tomorrow will not be another one, so I guess I will enjoy this small success!

Enter June..... I am spending like money is growing on trees. Not sure what is spurring this urge on, but the girls are sure enjoying it (and taking advantange of it instead of trying to help mom out!) Nothing crazy, clothes for DD2 to take to camp and camp things, redoing DD3's room (paint and such) before her new bed gets here (already paid for that!), and a few things for DD1. Took them to the mall, do'nt ask me why, I guess I was trying to make up for the Oklahoma disappointment. Lunch, Claires, cha ching. Today I took them out to lunch after church and then to Walmart. Must pull in the eating out reins! Tomorrow is another day!!

Took the girls to try out for the alumae production of "Oklahoma" at my high school. They sure got a get out of trying out and did the reading and sang like pros. Kind of iffy on the dancing! Anyway, turns out they did'nt have enough people, (and no men) for the show, so they called it off. The girls were disappointed, but not crushed. It was a good experience for them.

Here is a list of my May goals:

May goals:
*start walking 3x's a week (Nope)
*list some things on ebay or half.com (DID)
*follow 50/30/20 budget (DID)
*no new debt (NOPE)
*look into new employment (DID, NO RESULTS YET)
*add SOMETHING to my $20 goal! (DID)
*work on a garden or at least a couple of tomato plants (DID)

Almost accomplished everything!

June Goals:
*No new debt
*start walking twice a week
*redo DD1 and DD3's rooms cheaply
*add something to the $20 challenge
*have a monster blow out garage sale and get rid of some of this JUNK!

Added $10 to my $20 challenge! Yeah!

Received two more Coke coupons today! Will serve these up at my birthday party!

The boss paid us today AND cut me another check to replace the one that bounced. Immediately after work, I drove to HIS bank (way out of the way, but....) and CASHED both those suckers! Now I will take the money and put it in my bank. Hope the DH lets me quit this job soon. He is really disgusted. I have been looking for kids that might need child care over the summer, but no luck yet. I want to find some kids that my kids like or would enjoy getting to know. Cross your fingers. Even 3 or 4 at $50 a week, could buy my freedom from the job. We'll see!

Found enought money to pay most of the bills. Will still need to catch up once my money from work comes in. (Have'nt heard from them, but I work tomorrow.)So we're safe for another month, but I did not have enough to hold out for food, gas, misc. Will have to work on that later and do my best with what I have!

Well, DH found a lovely car he would like to buy, but unfortunately because we are paying off our debt "the hard way", I told him there is no possible way to squeeze out a car payment with all of the high interest CC debt floating around. He was good about accepting that.
The really bad news is that my paycheck bounced. Boy, it really took it a while. I called my office manager on her cell and told her. I feel bad because it is not her fault. Oh well, nothing we can do till Tuesday, but she said she would try to get the boss to give me cash (adding in for fees and "pain and sufferig".) This is the second time it has happened. I do not look forward to telling DH.....however, this is a good point for staying at home (right Ray??). I could be saving lots more and no bounced checks! At least hubby got some money from his jobs, so I will see what I can pay. I hate being in this position. We have the money, we just can't seem to get it paid to us!

Ready for Junes bills. Got budget worked and tweaked. One little problem. NO MONEY! Dh's job is switching around and the money is going to trickle in. How do you explain that to the mortgage company? Oops? Dh has set some money aside, but I don't know if he is willing to part with it or not.
On a happier note, the little girl I babysat growing up is moving back, close to the nest. I asked her if she would be interested in letting me watch HER little ones. DH was even in approval of the idea. We'll see what pans out....

I had some good luck fixing some stupid mistakes today. In my new budgeting zeal, I paid my Citicard late. Bye bye 3.9%. I prepared to move this to another card. I also signed up for the MyPoints insider club. Lo and behold I did'nt cancel the membership on time, something I did'nt realize until I looked at the credit card bill.
I called Citi and asked for my payoff amount. She asked me why I was late, I told her and she reverted my interest rate back - yeah!
I called the Insiders Club. I guess they are used to this. They credited back my credit card.
I was feelin pretty lucky, so I called the pediatric orthopedic office to see if there had been some mistake about the 299.00 charge I was told I had to pay for DD3's broken arm. Wasn't so lucky there, yep we have to pay. It's part of the deductible for this insurance. So we will have almost covered her deductible and now they are changing insurance on us. Boo.....

Received two of my free coke coupons last week. I am really excited, they don't expire till August. Will be great for having company this summer! Wonder if I will get any more?? (I am supposed to!)

Wow! Four whole days since I have checked in! I missed you all!
DD3 had a big Girl Scout sleep over that I had to plan and instigate this weekend. It was fun, but EXHAUSTING! I still have not recouped! Between graduations, church and work too, I really did'nt have a weekend. And this week I am working extra and at the second job and possibly working for the agent in my office again, AND I have to work next weekend too! Geeze, I'm already exhausted and the week has'nt even started! My weekend will be next Sunday and Monday! Hope I live that long. At least all the GS troops are done meeting for the rest of the summer! :-)
Moneywise, things have been okay. We did eat out too much this weekend, but I got my other rebate check, so that paid for Saturday nights dinner out and hubby bet on the winning Preakness horse, so dinner tonight was his treat! (Poor Barbaro!)
I have been working on the budget for next month. DH will be getting paid from his old job partway and then from the new merged company after that. Different pay and different insurance. - ugh! It will be a rough month.
I am going to try to make some goals to complete this week too (in my spare time-right?) The kids school is almost done, not much time to get some of those little things tied up!
Ahhh - enough of my novel... good to be back!

Took two checks to the bank today. $20 from a Synovate survey and a $49 check from DD1's contact lenses! Still waiting on a paint rebate from Behr. Love it when things pay off!
Went to the grocery store for a few things, but otherwise no spending.
Getting the flu, spent the evening drugged up so I could go to DD1's drama club banquet. Very disappointing, she did'nt get the spot on the committee she wanted. Don't much like the way the teacher runs it, but I do'nt have a choice. She is acting like a typical teen, into her room to lick her wounds. Parenting is hard....

Nothing earth shattering going on.
Today was a basic no spend day. We ate at home for dinner and I walked for 20 minutes on the tread mill.
Went to nephews graduation, tomorrow night is drama banquet night for DD1, so no cooking! :-) And papa paid for banquet tickets!
Like Priceplus, just trying to sneak along with out anything big popping up!

I can tell you that with my husband in charge of spending this weekend.... it will take some time to work out the budget again! Thank goodness everything is paid!
Did a very unfrugal thing, made a late payment on the Citicard. One unfortunate glitch of my new budget! They immediately back dated my 3.9%, made me pay the difference and upped me to 21.4%. I have a 4.9 for 6 months from AmEx (where I orginally moved this debt from), so it looks like I will be moving it back there and closing the Citi account. It actually should have been closed years ago, but I guess it just went dormant, so this time I will make sure it is closed! That 3.9 for the life of the loan did'nt last long!!
My goals for this week is to eat at home every night (which will be a HUGE challenge this week if you saw the schedule!) and exercise at least three times! We'll see how it goes!

Hubby and I go out of our ways to do up Mothers/Fathers day and birthdays. So guess what! This is my weekend! Ahhhhh! Bunko with the girls tonight, I think I want to get up and go garage saling tomorrow, maybe a nap, church, then hubby will treat me to dinner (no cooking!), Sunday, breakfast in bed, gifts and accolades from DD's, and lunch at my SIL's.
Spoil yourselves girls! Mothers or not! Have a great Mothers Day WEEKEND!!!

Wow! I flew through last week , finishing my goals feeling pretty good. Now, financially, I am doing pretty poorly. I have been spending (said as an alcoholic having fallen off the wagon.) Nothing too wild, but a little here, a little there. Hopefully tomorrow I can pull in the reins and have a no spend day.
Bought DD1 and myself a few new peices of clothing today, and I treated the family to Buger King (after I made a new crock pot dinner and they all rejected it!!!), plus bought some candy for myself. Would you believe part of my problem was that our Thrift Store is no longer there! Gone! But JC Penney was so close.... Next time I will have to drive to the other thrift store. Wonder where it went????

I've been working for the last two days. Can't say they have been no spend days either. Goals are still on track for May. Been spending a little too much, but will tweak budget for next month. Hubbys new job buy out place just sent us the insurance info. Wow! It will be almost double. Our individual health insurance we had would be cheaper! Will look into this. We have to have all the answers of what we want turned in by this Friday. Not much time....

I had a lot of fun today with the girls. We went out for about 3 1/2 hours. I got a lovely shelf for the newly redecorated bathroom (5.00), a Christmas tree for the kitchen (.25), a nice big colorful mesh beach bag for our pool trips (.25).
I have always wanted a bicycle and call me crazy, but I got a brand new mountain bike 15 speed for 10.00. Am I nuts to buy at bike at 40? Maybe!
Another much needed purchase was a big pot to put my (May goal) tomato plants in. Got one for 3.00! Ran by Walmart to get soil and plants, Viola! Another May goal scratched off the list!
Boy, when I took that bike for a ride, my knees were popping more than firecrackers on the 4th of July! But I exercised - so staying on track with May goals there too! Just need to get a helmet!

Talked to DD's. Have 2 committed to going out tomorrow morning with mom to garage sale! Not really looking for too much, except for clothes for them and maybe some stuff for the lawn/garden. Been looking for two years for a bicycle pump for DH.
Got an exciting freebie today. I have been inspired by lots of you on the site to hang clothes, but my neighborhood is too snooty to allow clothes lines. So I was going to look into buying 2 racks I could set on the deck. Lo and behold walking past the neighbors garbage today on the way home from the bus stop - a drying rack. Quickly trash picked it and ran. Can't figure out how to put it up, its probably broken. Will put hubby on it to jerry-rig it to usefulness!
Good luck to everyone having sales tomorrow! I will let you know if I find any treasures!

Read this interesting book about a writer who tried living on minimum wage in various parts of the country, as an experiment. Not very informative, but quite entertaining!

*No new debt
*No spend day
*Still on budget
*Instead of walking today (and to help hubby out) I mowed the front and side yards and trimmed all the bushes! Working in my outdoor "gym". With all the clippings I picked up, I figured that to be tons of toe touches!
*Listed 5 books for auction. Will see how it goes.

Will work on getting a tomato plant or two going this weekend.

Ate at home with our own Cinco de Mayo spread. Hubby loved it!

Well, it is only May 4th and I already have stuck to 1/3 of my goals: no new debt, keep with the budget and add to my $20 challenge!
*Tomorrow I will try to start walking. Went to do the tread mill the other day and the key was missing! After much interrogation and searching, it has been found and safely hidden away!
*Inspired by KarenSue, I will also list some books tomorrow and see how it goes!
*As for looking for a job, well I did tell DH tonight that I am working at my dream job and that I will gladly go back to work in a full time position a little furthur in the future. He did'nt say much except something to the effect of being dead by then. We'll see!

Took the youngest DD's Garage saling this morning before school. Yes, they love it and will even wake up early for it! Will go again on Saturday morning and hit some subdivision sales.
I was amazed at what was out there. One lady was moving and selling some furniture and home decoration. You know it must have cost a fortune new!
I really wanted this beautiful carved wooden hall tree. It had a mirror and a marble top. This was one of those cases of I don't need it but.... it was only $25!! I have looked at these before and they go for hundreds of dollars! Wanted to buy it even if just to resell it! But DD2 talked me out of it. Still pondering....

I added money to my $20 challenge! (Applause!)
Saved money by sending bills online and saved money in coupons at the grocery and did'nt buy some things I wanted.
So (drumroll) I am up to $106!!!
Yeah!

Still have been cooking dinner at home. The girls have been very (ahem) accepting of our "budget" changes and have'nt been whining for the wannas too much. I did treat them to Fritzs (frozen custard) last night. With hubby out of town I have been dragging them everywhere with me and they are really good (except for the sibiling squabble!)
The bills have been paid (online, saves postage!) and the budget is coming along beautifully. We have too much money left over, but a lot of month ahead of us. Pray I can control it and keep it even!
Saved $7 in coupons at Shop n Save and only spent $38 at Aldis. Would have spent less, but had to pick up some things for school for DD1.
Hubby home, no more discussion about full time work. I will keep looking around, but half-heartedly. Maybe I'll tell him I'll do day care out of the house again, like I did when the kids were little. Lots of ladies in the neighborhood do it. It used to drive him crazy! That would probably keep him quiet for a while, so we can see how the budgeting goes. I also picked up a few more hours at job #1 for this month.