Added the auto deposit of $10 to the EF today.

$2593.67 Old balance
+ 10.00 auto deposit
---------
$2603.67 New balance

Just a brief update on Rose, she is doing much better. Thank you to everyone who sent good wishes our way.

I made several deposits to the EF last week. I took interest money made on my safety net and temporary savings accounts and transferred it to ING along with the regular weekly $10, and a refund check from the orthodontist, for a total of $302.57.

$2291.10 Old Total EF Balance
5.77 Interest
286.80 Refund Check
10.00 Auto Deposit
----------
$2593.67 New Total EF Balance

The last payment on my mortgage posted finally bringing the total left on my house to $32,014.98. Slowly but surely we're getting there.

I finally got around to adding the CU money to ING, plus needed to add in the amount of interest from the last two months to arrive at my new total in the emregency fund.

$2198.58 Old Balance
80.00 auto deposits
6.10 November interest
+ 6.42 December interest
---------
$2291.10 New Balance

So I have about $500 to save to finally have a half a month's pay in the bank. Then onward to the next goal of one month's pay.

Expenses for today were $20 to the school for my son's hot lunch account. Otherwise, nothing.

Today was the day of the auto deposit of $10 to savings. I transferred it to ING.

$2188.58 Old EF Balance
+ 10.00 Deposit
---------
$2198.58 New EF Balance

I also spent $74 on the 3rd Series DVD set of Doctor Who which came out this week and arrived in my mailbox today. It is nice living so near to an Amazon shipping warehouse. 2 day shipping for the price of 3 to 5 business days. I won't be making my usual monthly music CD purchase. Not that they are comparable in price but my deal is one purchase like this a month whether it be a movie, a DVD set, or a music CD.

Not too much going on. We've got a long weekend here. Today was early release at school and then the kids don't go back until Tuesday.

I will be taking Rose shopping for basketball shoes later this week, which will cost, and a couple pairs of winter pants. She really only has two pair now that the weather has turned and the cold season has started. Since there was snow in the rain today I need to rectify that pretty quickly. She's grown 4 inches since the start of the last cold season so not much fits. I think we can get by with only buying her two more pairs unless there is a really good sale.

I sent the monthly $100 deposit to ING today.

$2088.58 Old EF Amount
+ 100.00 Deposit
---------
$2188.58 New EF Amount

I also did some organizing in the pantry and in one of the freezers. Still have a bit more to do until I can inventory what I have, though. I should get through that tomorrow.

Tomorrow I will be making a pot roast in the crockpot and a chicken on the rotisserie and we will use that meat for dinners this week. I'll have to freeze some of it so it won't go off before we can use it all.

I'll also be cutting up veggies ahead of time. I've done onions and a red bell pepper and I tomorrow I will do broccoli, cauliflower, celery, and tear up a head of lettuce to store in my salad spinner.

I also diced up a bunch of ham and shredded up some cheese for making omelettes in the mornings. I'd started buying those premade omelettes from the grocery store and they are a sorry tasting, preservative filled concoction that in no way tastes anything like my own. It only takes five minutes to make an omelette in my large fry pan and then I can split it between me and the kids.

I think I may make up little omlette making kits and toss them in the freezer, just a little container that has the diced ham, diced onions, and diced red bell peppers in them in pre-measured portions. Then take one out the night before to thaw in the fridge.

I can't believe I was letting myself by those omlettes. It cost $5 for a package of two. I can make ten omlettes that would feed the three of us for ten days for that same amount. That's how far I had fallen.

I suppose I ought to do up menues for the week as well, though that may not get done until Sunday. We'll see. Don't want to overtax myself.

Today was the day of the auto deposit of $10 to savings. I didn't do anything with the one last week either, which meant I had $20 to move to ING today. Interest was also posted to my ING account today.

$2062.87 Old EF Balance
20.00 Deposit
+ 5.71 Interest
---------
$2088.58 New EF Balance

It's coming along nicely. I'm almost up to half a month's expenses now.

And this is just how badly I'm not thinking. I paid my property taxes today, well, techinically yesterday since it's after midnight. Pretty big thing to forget about, isn't it? Well, at least I didn't forget to pay it. Now that really would have been bad.

So $335.88 out the door for half year taxes. Yes, those are low. We're not a city out here. More like a blink and you missed it, with the accompanying services (few, mostly volunteer), and most of it goes to the schools anyway, which are good.

I also added 2 handfuls of change and $7 in ones to the coin jar. Didn't count the change. Still too apathetic at the moment, but I'm trying, anyway.

I deposited the rolled coin into the safety net today, bringing the total in the safety net to just over $500.

So new EF amount is:

$2039.87 Old EF amount
23.00 Deposit to safety net
--------
$2062.87 New EF Amount

For those who don't know, my safety net is money I keep in a local account for quick access in case of an emergency. The rest of it is in ING. I figure $500 will do me fine until I can get more from ING if necessary. So getting the safety net up to $500 was my goal for it, which I hit today. Happy on that score.

I transferred $20 (two weekly auto deposits) to ING this morning and an additional $15 in ones I had in the coin jar from earlier in the week.

$2004.87 Old Balance in EF
+ 35.00 Deposit
---------
$2039.87 New Balance in EF

I'll be depositing $23 in rolled coin into the safety net, hopefully today, as well, but I'll add that in after I do it.

I also got the 401K statement yesterday and since July 17 it has increased by $2455.58, bringing it to $50,250.89. I am quite happy that we have finally hit and gone over the $50K mark. That feels good. Obviously we still have a long way to go until retirement but this is a major milestone for us.

Well, really I still am sick. Really sick. Just this side of pneumonia sick. One big plus of this is that I have not been spending much in the way of money, because I haven't gone out any more than I've had to.

For some reason life just seems to carry right on whether I feel like getting out of bed or not. I'll have to spend tomorrow because I'll be out of cold medicine and needing a refill on my prescription by the afternoon. And well, DH comes home so I'll have to drive in to town to pick him up, too. Then he can drive for the rest of my life as far as I'm concerned. Or at least until it doesn't feel as if my entire head is made up of gunk.

I didn't even bother to do any surveys for like two weeks now, I didn't transfer money to ING last week so I'll wait until tomorrow and do both Thursday deposits then.

Basketball sign up happened yesterday so I did write a $25 check for that. One of the cheapest sports available, soccer is like $70 now but they aren't playing that anymore apparently.

I feel like I've been living on caffeine and cold pills, not a very good combination at all, but what else can you do? Moms don't really get to be sick, we just blunder on.

Anyway, I really need to do better on keeping up with my blog. My focus is way off on financial stuff lately and I'm pretty sure that's from not writing on here. Let's hope I can get my act together again, 'cause I sorely need to.

I made it to the new Trader Joe's yesterday. It was nice to have so many choices in healthier foods, though I was kind of surprised how much they had in the way of junk food. So many cookies and candies and chocolate covered nuts, and candied dried fruit dipped in sugar. Organic junk food is still junk food and at least it wasn't made with corn syrup.

Still I managed to find $55.61 worth of stuff that we could eat. I tried their store brand milk and it's decent tasting, though I will probably stick with Organic Valley and buying it from Fred Meyer since its a dollar cheaper there.

Never made it to Costco, just didn't feel good enough. Mom took the kids for the weekend, I get them back Sunday noontime. I am spending a lot of time sleeping and a lot of time reading over at Teaspoon and writing some. I've told myself that if I write a chapter on something over there, I've got to come and write at least one blog entry on that same day.

Yesterday was payday so I sent $100 to ING. That brings my EF to $2004.87 and my goal of $2000 is now achieved. I need $600 more to meet my goal of 2 weeks wages. That will take a couple of months.

I've been ignoring my surveys lately, just haven't felt in the mood to answer a bunch of repetive questions. I suppose I should get back to it, as it does help the EF to grow bit by bit. Just kind of apathetic about it.

Part of the apathy has been being sick and part of it has been the onset of SADS with the fall overcast. Time to dig out my light box and start light therapy again. It always hits me very hard in the fall, but it seems like it always a couple weeks in before the light bulb clicks on and I realize what it is I need. I think there was a bad pun in there somewhere.

I need to sit down and do bills still today. I am just in a lazy lay around do absolutely nothing physical mood today. Other than emptying the dishwasher and doing a load of towels, that is. I suppose I ought to do more. The laundry won't take care of itself no matter how hard I wish for it.

I have a really bad chest cold, so my idea of getting my act together and blogging as usual have just really not been top of the priority list.

But today was the auto deposit of $10 into savings, which I then took and transferred to ING. I also remembered to check last month's interest while I was there. It was $3.54.

$1891.33 Old EF Balance
10.00 Weekly Deposit
+ 3.54 September Interest
---------
$1904.87 New EF Balance

In today's mail I got a refund from the orthodontist, so I took that to the bank along with DH's boot reimbursement check from work.

$1444.53 Starting Balance
286.80 Orthodontist refund
+ 160.00 Boot reimbursement
---------
$1891.33 Ending Balance

So I've blown right past my goal of $1500 in the EF and am well on my way to the next goal of having $2000 in the EF.

I didn't realize I hadn't posted since the 16th. The kids have been sick and whiney, I haven't been feeling great either, I haven't spent money because we haven't gone anywhere and I've been playing in the Whoniverse. Found a fan fiction website for Doctor Who (see sites I frequent for more info on what that is) and have been having a grand old time reading and writing. And it's free entertainment, my favorite kind!

But its time for the real world to impinge once again. So, today is the day of the automatic deposit of $10 to savings. I transferred that to ING, bringing the amount in the EF to $1444.53.

DH sent me a reimbursement check for his work boots that arrived in the mail yesterday. I will try to get it in the bank today. That will be an additional $160 to the EF. But I won't add it in until I do it.

Today was a long day. I dropped the kids off at school a bit early today so I could take the car in to the dealership on time. They had estimated that the work would cost $679 but it cost $559, so I added that extra $120 to the EF, along with the GTM check and $2 I had in my purse. I'm coming up pretty fast on my goal of $1500 for the EF.

$1262.53 Old Balance
50.00 Survey Check
2.00 in ones
+ 120.00 car less than estimated
--------
$1434.53 New Balance

I can feel a real difference in how the car is driving now. It accelerates better and doesn't buck when it goes through the automatic gear changes. It makes it feel much smoother, like it used to be when we first got it. Definitely money well spent if we can keep it going for another year or two while we save up for a hybrid.

I'm glad to have this taken care of before winter hits. I really should have the other vehilce repaired before winter, too, but I'm not sure if we can swing that. I suppose I can take money from the EF if I have to, but I'm not sure I should for this. We just don't drive it that much with gas prices so high. And with Humberto and the Mexican gas explosions, it's only going to go up again.

Today was the automatic deposit of $10.00 to savings. I sent that, plus an additional $12.50 off to ING today.

$1240.03 Old Balance
+ 22.50 Deposit
---------
$1262.53 New Balance

I haven't deposited the $50 check from Global Test Market yet. I will do that tomorrow when I do my banking and send it off to ING.

Today I spent $5.82 and added $4.18 to the coin jar.

$12.69 Old Balance
+ 4.18 Added in
-------
$16.87 New Balance

I did some shopping at a few different places today. I had to buy DH some new underwear and ship it up the slope. Don't know why he can't think of these things when he's home! Spent almost as much for shipping 2nd day air. Picked up a few groceries as well. So I ended up with quite a bit to add to the change jar.

I added $6 in ones and $2.82 in change. I won't, or shouldn't be, spending any more money like that this weekend, but I do have to pay some bills, so I'll get around to that this afternoon and post it later on.

Total in the coin jar is $12.69, 1 bus token, 1 button, 1 washer, and one big paperclip (tee hee). I was able to roll one roll of pennies out of that, but nothing else is close.

Today was the first paycheck in the first full paycycle that DH gets at the new pay rate. So I am able to start sending $100.00 a month extra to the EF now. This is in addition to the $10 a week I already send. Also when I added in the interest last month, I did it a day early, so it actually earned $2.72 instead of $2.63.

$1139.94 Starting Balance
.09 Adjusted interest
+ 100.00 Deposit
---------
$1240.03

My check from GTM should arrive tomorrow. It would be nice if it came today so I could dump it into savings before the weekend. But I doubt it will come even one day early.

I added $4.80 to the coin jar and will be making a deposit tomorrow.

I will be putting $19 in the Safety Net account and depositing $10 in the CU connected to ING, and will be sending that off with the regular $10 Thursday deposit.

$88.31 Old Safety Net Total
4.00 ACOP check
5.00 dimes
+ 10.00 quarters
-------
$107.31 New Safety Net total

$1100.94 Previous Full EF Total
19.00 Safety Net Deposit
+ 20.00 ING Deposit
--------
$1139.94 New Full EF Total

I cleaned out my purse today and added $6 in ones and 51 cents to my coin jar.

The interest for the month of August was available from ING, though it won't post until tomorrow, I don't think. It was $2.63. But since I won't be looking there again until next Thursday I'll add it in now.

$1098.31 Old Balance
+ 2.63 Interest added
--------
$1100.94 New Balance

I don't have all of my ING in EF or the interest would be higher, but I like to have some money available locally in case of some emergency where I need to get at it quickly.

Does anyone keep any money on hand at home for emergencies? I am thinking of putting $200 in a little firesafe combination lock box to hide in my house in case an emergency happens on the weekend. Although maybe not, if it were a true emergency I could use a credit card and just pay if from the EF on Monday. I'm not sure I'd feel comfortable having that much money in the house with DH coming and going like he does, even in a safe and with a home security system. I just don't like the idea of using a credit card like that.

Today was the auto deposit of $10 to savings. I also deposited $26 in ones from my coin jar. I then sent that $36.00 off to ING.

$1062.31 EF Old total
+ 36.00 Today's deposit
---------
$1098.31 New EF Total

Interest for this month is going to put it just over $1100, but it is not deposited until tomorrow or Monday.

Don't ever tell me little bits can't add up to an EF. I'm living proof they do. Just have to keep at it.

I've added in some money to the coin jar the last couple of days. Totals now are:

$21.00 in ones
10.75 in quarters
5.40 in dimes
1.05 in nickles
.37 in pennies
------
$38.75 New total

Today was the auto deposit of $10 to savings, which I transferred to ING. This brings the new total in my total EF to $1062.31. I peaked at interest earned ths month while I was there and it was $1.94. I have just over $700 of my EF in the ING account. The rest is in the local CU for fast access, but pathetic interest rate. Still, I don't want to wait 3 to 4 days in a true emergency to get at it all. Trade offs.

I added five ones and a handful of change to the coin jar today, then counted up everything in there. I rolled dimes and should be able to roll quarters by the end of the week.

$15.00 in ones
9.00 in quarters
.90 in nickles
5.40 in dimes
.28 in pennies
-------
$30.58 Total in coin jar

The money from paypal from Pinecone showed up in my CU today. I added it to the Safety Net portion of my EF.

$83.31 Beginning balance
$ 5.00 Pinecone money
-------
$88.31 Total Safety Net balance

This brings the total in the full EF to $1052.31.

DH finally emptied his pockets, so a whopping 61 cents was added to the coin jar. Sometimes I feel silly to be so happy about adding little bits to my jar but I know it adds up. It's added up to a few hundred dollars this year into the EF.

So many times I read about people who think it is not worth saving such tiny amounts of money, whether it be the coins, or the $10 a week I put in, or the spare dollars that show up, and how if I had listened to them I wouldn't have over $1000 in the bank right now. Most of it saved in little bits and pieces.

Starting next month I will be able to add $100 every four weeks into my EF on top of the weekly $10. So instead of just $520 a year, there will be an additional $1300 a year, for a total of $1820 that is planned money. Anything on top of that, my coin jar, or surveys, just will make it grow that much faster.

I am hoping to add $100 this month, but I have to see where everything shakes out after buying school clothes for my two kids who insist on continuing to grow taller all the time. Hopefully I can still squeak it out.

I received $5 from Pinecone into my paypal account last night and transferred it to my CU. It should arrive Tuesday or Wednesday and it will go into the Safety Net portion of my EF.

I peaked at my interest at ING last night and it is already at $1.51. Every little bit helps.

To my coin jar last night I added:

$ 9.00 in ones
$ 1.50 in quarters
$ .10 in dimes
-------
$10.60 total

DH still hasn't emptied out his pockets from the fair, so I'll probably be adding some more in.

Today was the weekly auto deposit of $10 to savings, which I transferred to ING, bringing the new total in the EF to $1047.31.