http://luckyrobin.savingadvice.com Getting Rid of Massive Debt info@savingadvice.com Lucky Robin en-us http://luckyrobin.savingadvice.com/2008/11/12/savings-update-and-random-thoughts_45039/ Well, I dropped off the face of the Earth for a couple of weeks. I'm getting over walking pneumonia. Isn't that lovely? But I am feeling like a human again and starting to resume living.<br /> <br /> We finally got all of our books for the virtual school week before last and are plowing full... Wed, 12 Nov 2008 13:51:56 PST lckrobin@yahoo.com (Lucky Robin) http://luckyrobin.savingadvice.com/2008/10/25/coin-jar-update_44497/ $31.61 beginning amount<br /> +09.74 deposit<br /> -------<br /> $41.35 ending balance<br /> <br /> I had a bunch of ones in my purse today so I decided to go ahead and throw them in the coin jar when I cleaned out the change pouch. I also found a quarter and a dime on the floor of my room so added that in,... Sat, 25 Oct 2008 19:32:40 PST lckrobin@yahoo.com (Lucky Robin) http://luckyrobin.savingadvice.com/2008/10/25/payday-today-and-coin-jar-update_44483/ $28.91 beginning balance<br /> +02.70 deposit<br /> -------<br /> $31.61 ending balance<br /> <br /> So I've officially met my goal of saving an extra $30 this month to put towards vacation. Since I still have a week left in the month of October, I'm going to up my goal to $40.<br /> <br /> Today was payday and I paid... Sat, 25 Oct 2008 00:04:45 PST lckrobin@yahoo.com (Lucky Robin) http://luckyrobin.savingadvice.com/2008/10/23/what-my-family-wants_44454/ This is what my family wants for Christmas. They want to get a Wii. Now I am not intrinsically opposed to getting this gaming system, I just kinda think with the fact that we've got the NES, the Super NES, the original Sega, the Nintendo 64 and the Nintendo Game Cube, plus various... Thu, 23 Oct 2008 22:17:51 PST lckrobin@yahoo.com (Lucky Robin) http://luckyrobin.savingadvice.com/2008/10/22/throwing-away-food-makes-me-cringe_44372/ What is it about throwing away food that makes me feel so awful? Even when I'm doing it for a good cause it raises something in me that just makes it feel wrong. I suppose it's better that it feels wasteful than that it not, but every little piece of the money saver in me is protesting... Wed, 22 Oct 2008 14:17:53 PST lckrobin@yahoo.com (Lucky Robin) http://luckyrobin.savingadvice.com/2008/10/22/coin-jar-update_44355/ It's been a very stressful week and at the moment I don't really want to talk about it. I likely will soon. I need to. But not now while it's fresh. Meanwhile, life grinds on. I'm almost to my goal of $30 in the coin jar for the month of October and it's only the 21st. Well,... Wed, 22 Oct 2008 00:14:13 PST lckrobin@yahoo.com (Lucky Robin) http://luckyrobin.savingadvice.com/2008/10/16/school-expenses_44201/ I picked up all the art and science supplies that I should need for the entire school year according to the WAVA curriculum guide for both kids to the tune of $106 tonight. Yech. The good news is that should be it now on out of pocket expense. Everything else is provided by the... Thu, 16 Oct 2008 21:41:29 PST lckrobin@yahoo.com (Lucky Robin) http://luckyrobin.savingadvice.com/2008/10/16/it-worked_44191/ I talked yesterday of my plan to put our picnic quilts (since we don't need them until spring) up over the two windows in my bedroom between the shades and the heavy duty drapes to help fight against the cold, since my room is the coldest one in the house. And it worked. I didn't... Thu, 16 Oct 2008 12:38:11 PST lckrobin@yahoo.com (Lucky Robin) http://luckyrobin.savingadvice.com/2008/10/15/major-household-purchases-and-homeschool_44160/ I think I am starting to get back into the swing of blogging again. I'm by no means back to the daily thing, but I'm moving along at a few entries a week, and today, well, this'll be my second entry.<br /> <br /> In the last seven days we have made some major purchases for the house, the most... Wed, 15 Oct 2008 16:54:41 PST lckrobin@yahoo.com (Lucky Robin) http://luckyrobin.savingadvice.com/2008/10/15/trying-to-beat-the-cold_44154/ My room gets colder than the rest of the house for some reason during the winter. It also gets hotter than the rest of the house in the summer. The second part makes sense because the sun sets on my end of the house in the evenings and it's over there a good portion of the day, from... Wed, 15 Oct 2008 14:54:35 PST lckrobin@yahoo.com (Lucky Robin) http://luckyrobin.savingadvice.com/2008/10/14/yet-another-coin-jar-update-and-bills_44121/ I added $1.33 to the change jar today. This was change from some gift certificates to McD's that we used as it was drive DH to the airport day. So no out of pocket money spent and change recieved.<br /> <br /> $24.80 starting balance<br /> +01.33 amount added<br /> -------<br /> $26.13 ending balance<br /> <br /> I... Tue, 14 Oct 2008 21:49:05 PST lckrobin@yahoo.com (Lucky Robin) http://luckyrobin.savingadvice.com/2008/10/14/yucki-had-to-buy-a-new-purse-today_44086/ I hate shopping for purses. It sucks. I am not a twenty purse kind of girl. I am a one purse kind of girl. Give me a good, solid purse with lots of slots for cards and photos so I can avoid carrying a wallet, and a nice old shoulder strap so it can go around my neck and across... Tue, 14 Oct 2008 01:14:16 PST lckrobin@yahoo.com (Lucky Robin) http://luckyrobin.savingadvice.com/2008/10/12/lots-of-rambling-thoughts_44037/ Yesterday we filled up our gas tank at $2.89 a gallon at Costco. I really hope it keeps dropping like this. It's freeing up about $50 a month in the gas budget at the moment. It's only been a few months since I was paying nearly $4 per gallon. If this keeps up I'll be adding the... Sun, 12 Oct 2008 12:29:31 PST lckrobin@yahoo.com (Lucky Robin) http://luckyrobin.savingadvice.com/2008/10/09/economical-recipe_43977/ Since I've mostly been posting boring things like coin jar updates lately, I thought I'd pass along one of my favorite meals. It's pretty fast and easy to make, despite the fact that you have to assemble a dough for it and there's a short rising time, and it's delicious and tastes... Thu, 09 Oct 2008 22:39:52 PST lckrobin@yahoo.com (Lucky Robin) http://luckyrobin.savingadvice.com/2008/10/09/coin-jar-update_43976/ Cleaned out my purse and DH cleaned out his wallet of coins and added to the coin jar today.<br /> <br /> $18.26 beginning balance<br /> $02.36 added<br /> -------<br /> $20.62 ending balance Thu, 09 Oct 2008 22:30:08 PST lckrobin@yahoo.com (Lucky Robin) http://luckyrobin.savingadvice.com/2008/10/07/another-storm-another-power-failure-and-_43896/ We lost power again last night again during a windstorm. Fortunately it was only for a couple of hours in the middle of the night, it didn't really affect us and we didn't lose any food because of it.<br /> <br /> We've started using the wood stove for heat now anyway and will be for the rest... Tue, 07 Oct 2008 12:46:53 PST lckrobin@yahoo.com (Lucky Robin) http://luckyrobin.savingadvice.com/2008/10/05/big-storm-and-power-failure_43821/ Well, I say big storm. Not exactly a hurricane or the like, but relatively big for our area. It was enough to knock power out through much of NW Washingtion, us included. It went out at about five, just when I was in the middle of cooking a lasagna. It went into the fridge with... Sun, 05 Oct 2008 10:56:03 PST lckrobin@yahoo.com (Lucky Robin) http://luckyrobin.savingadvice.com/2008/10/01/emergency-fund-goal_43688/ So we are slowly building our emergency fund back up. I met my primary goal of getting back up to $1000 last month. Now I'm setting a goal for $2000. I no longer do the $10 a week deposit, instead I now do $150 every four weeks and then if there is any little bits of extra money... Wed, 01 Oct 2008 00:13:15 PST lckrobin@yahoo.com (Lucky Robin) http://luckyrobin.savingadvice.com/2008/10/01/coin-jar-goal_43687/ Well, it's been a long time since I've done one of these, but I thought it'd be nice to get back to it again. All coin jar money will go for vacation savings. I will save all coin and throw in one dollar bills, too. When I was doing this before I was averaging about $30 to $40 a... Wed, 01 Oct 2008 00:01:48 PST lckrobin@yahoo.com (Lucky Robin) http://luckyrobin.savingadvice.com/2008/09/30/not-as-expensive-as-i-thought_43669/ I've been doing some serious research into homeschooling and the money outlay I'd have to put out and I've discovered that my state has two tuition free online schools that are work at your own pace and have access to many, many courses that I would be at a loss to try to teach myself.... Tue, 30 Sep 2008 13:45:33 PST lckrobin@yahoo.com (Lucky Robin)