I trimmed my own bangs this morning, cutting off about two inches. I am getting better and better at this as the years go by. It only took me three minutes and there are no scraggly pieces or uneven lines. They look great!

The local cheap salon charges $8 for a bang trim. Used to be $6. Before that $4. No way am I paying $8 for 3 minutes (if that!) of work.

I only get my hair cut 2 to 3 times a year and not at the cheap salon, either. I go to mid-priced Regis. Since I was not ready for a full cut, but I was sick of bangs down past my eyes, I just had the urge.

Saving $8 when I can do a good job is great. Now, if I couldn't do a good job, that is a whole other story.

Yesterday I got one of those $100 Tempurpedic pillows...for free. My mother had bought it a couple of months ago, slept on it for a couple weeks and decided she didn't like it. For whatever reason she didn't try to take it back, like she did the bed when she decided she didn't like it. I've used it a couple times when I took a nap at her house when I wasn't feeling well and I liked it.

Anyway, she offered it to me. Last night I slept on it and had what was probably the best sleep of my life. Combined with the new mattress, I may never have serious back, neck or hip aches again.

I have been wanting one of those pillows because I have just never found a regular pillow that I really liked. But I really didn't want to shell out $100 when that money could go to so much better use elsewhere.

I am a happy camper. My insomnia is almost completely gone now.

My next agenda in the bed department is to replace the children's mattresses. Neither one of them has ever had a new mattress. Their mattresses are garage sale finds that had been used but kept in plastic. Neither mattress is that comfortable (in my opinion) just to sit on.

Costco has some really nice twin mattresses for $139 (boxsprings are extra). I don't need boxsprings since Tobias has a Captain's bed that used to be his Daddy's and Rose's boxspring is in good shape. With tax it should come to $302. So we will get those with part of the extra money from DH working extra weeks.

I'm doing pretty good for the month of September so far. That makes 3 no spend days.

I used the pre-paid cash card to buy gas today, but that was paid for last week so I don't count that. as spending. Filled up the tank for just under $40. Costco gas is still at $2.559 a gallon while everyone else but one ARCO is upwards of $2.799. I know Costco can buy wholesale and get a better deal, but that much better just seems suspicious to me. The other places have to be doing some gouging.

The wait in line for gas today was ridiculous, though. I didn't even go at a busy time. I suppose it was the after holiday fill up.

School went great for the kids today. I am always happy to hear that. They also did tae kwon do class today. Tuesdays aren't a normal class day for us but the dojang was closed yesterday so we made up that class today. Rose doesn't want to do tae kwon do on Tuesdays and Thursdays because she has 72 minute long P.E. classes those days. Can't say I blame her!

We came home to another crockpot beef roast, tender and delicous. Both kids were whining about wanting nuggets on the way home. Tough. I'm not taking them out to eat for a good while, and especially not when there is a meal waiting for them at home.

Tomorrow will be a spend day as I have a 1.5 hour physical therapy appointment. $75 for that. My hip is pretty much back to normal so this will most likely be my last visit. I'll see what the girl has to say, but I think she'll agree with me.

My appointment is at 10:30 and the school bus leaves at 8:46, which means I could get to Curves by 9:00, workout, and still get to my appointment on time. I think my hip is well enough now to do that. Though maybe I should wait until I see what the girl says about it. Oh, who knows?

Mom gave me 20 pounds of red potatoes from her garden so I'm going to have to start working those into meal plans along with all the green beans and blueberries. They are a very good tasting potato so it shouldn't be a problem.

DH and I spent a good portion of today repairing one of the boxsprings to our King size bed. It took some doing but we finally got it done and back in place and flipped and rotated the mattress and I can feel a huge difference already just sitting here on the bed. I also vacummed the boxsprings and mattress while we had the bed torn apart. Wow, there was a lot of dust there.

We need to buy a new bed pretty soon. This fix will probably allow it to last up to another year, but it is well past its warranty and I think it is part of the problem I have been having with my hip.

So DH and I are going to start researching beds. He's all for the sleep number bed but I'm not so sure. It's air pockets and to me that means they can pop, so what good is that? Does anyone have any experience with a sleep number bed? I'd be interested to know.

I found 39 cents under the boxspring when we took it out so I added that to the coin jar. Today was also a no spend day.

I almost had scary neighbors again. Or a scary neighbor. I hate that the house next door is a rental. There's only four rentals in the entire development and why does one have to be next door to me? I wish the owner would just sell it.

Anyway, after Tobias got on the bus to summer school today I ran into board president of the development and he told me that the house next door had almost been rented to a guy who had said he had one misdemeanor for pot possession ten years ago.

Well, fortunately the owner of the rental ran a background check because he had that misdemeanor all right, ten years ago. Of course, he had failed to mention the ten felony counts of manufacturing crack and meth that he'd gotten in the years since then. Or that he was currently using, which is why he was thrown out of his last home. So why is this guy not in prison? I thought we were tough on drug offenders?

This isn't even that kind of neighborhood. The puppy mill out of that house was bad enough. And they were really creepy. This guy would have given me nightmares and made me fear having my kids out in the yard. It's such a nice house. Why does it attract the freaks?

Okay, anyway this afternoon we went to town to see the chiropractor. Then I picked up organic milk and tortilla chips (2 1 pound bags for $3) at the grocery store and cherries at the gas station. No, that's not as odd as it sounds. They have various cherry stands around town and this one is at the gas station near the grocery store. I spent $8.65 for the groceries and $10 for 8 pounds of bing cherries. That works out to $1.25 a pound, way better than anywhere else.

We also had dinner at McDonalds which came to $12.17, and stayed in the lovely air-conditioned playland for an hour.

The temperature was 86 today. There was a breeze but it was still pretty stifling. We stopped by Mom's for an hour before heading home with a bag full of snow peas and kohlrabi. I've been watering since we got home. The ground has gotten really dry really fast and the flowerbeds and the garden really needed it. I am tempted to leave the garden on all night, but if I do it when I get up at 7:45 to get T ready for school I can let it go until 11:00. The question is will I remember to do that in my sleep deprived state? I don't know. My timers only work for 2.5 hours so if it needs longer I either set it and forget it or go out in the pitch dark and I don't wanna.

I added $2.55 to the coin jar today.

Today I received a free Gillete Venus Breeze razor in the mail from Vocalpoint. It came with 6 $4 off coupons for the razor. I don't know if anyone else does Vocalpoint here, but the point of it is to use the product and talk about it to your friends and family and give away the coupons so other people can buy the product at a good discount. I had been wanting to get this razor at the store, but I held off thinking it was too expensive. Now I'm glad I did because free is always the best point.

I also got a "sample" side dish from Knorr in the mail today. It's actually a full-size package of chicken flavored rice and veggies. It says it makes 2 servings. This one I got through A Freebie Empire, which one of the newbies to the blogs wrote about last month. Can't remember which one, but thanks to whoever it was.

I recieved a .42 ounce sample of Ban deoderant in the mail today from WalMart. That's about a half size but it will last a month. I haven't bought deoderant in a year now. It amazes me how many samples of it there are out there.

I signed up for seven other samples today, including 3 for cat food samples for when Lucky comes visiting. That is what I call the lovely ginger cat that did not end up taking up residence here, but comes by about once a week for a cuddle and a bite to eat. He is such a sweetie, but I am glad I am not the one responsible for him. He ended up at a good home, though.

So far while I have been organizing and cleaning today I have found $1.40 in change. I added it to the change jar.

My mother over bought on her veggie starts so I now have the kohlrabi starts I was looking all over the place for last week. It looks to be about ten or twelve, so that's a good row and I will start seeds next to them when I plant them this coming week. Love it when stuff is free.

She also took my kids garage-sailing (yes, like the sailboat, that is what we call it) and Tobias ended up with a Razor scooter, brand name Razor, one of the really fancy ones for $5. This is the kind that was $100 when they first came out. But that was grandma's gift to him, so free, no out of pocket expense to me.

I've already had to institute a helmet and elbow pad rule for it. You only have to look at his elbow's to see why. I had gotten away with never buying scooters as I don't think they are particularly safe for little kids. But T is at an age now where he can handle it. He loves it, and now he can ride with the twins if they go on theirs.

He also learned to ride his bike with no training wheels last week, so he is leaving the ranks of the avid pedestrian behind. That has always had a helmet rule.

Anyway, that's my free stuff for today. It's been awhile since I have gotten any free stuff as I haven't been signing up for freebies for awhile. I should really get back to that again.

And I got one today. Just don't ask me what I was doing ordering bad for me food after eating bad for me food yesterday. Tomorrow I will eat healthy food again. And for dinner tonight, too.

Anywho, I ordered takeout from Little Ceasar's from the one down the side pass off the mountain. It's a fifteen minute drive and it normally takes them 10 to 15 minutes to do an order.

When I got there there was no sign of it. It was in the computer, the girl at the counter remembered taking the order, but apparently the printer didn't print it because it was out of paper and so it never got made. So I figured oh, well its not that big a wait and I was prepared to just sit there while they made it and I was very polite about it, these things happen, and I didn't have a couple hungry kids with me, so no big deal.

But...they offered it to me for free because they'd messed up. Which I thought was very nice customer service. And a few minutes later I had my wings and crazy bread and was on my way.

I had my appointment with the specialist today and had an ultrasound done. He decided to sign me up for another test, so I will go back on March 27 for some kind of scope thingy. It is out-patient and doesn't require drugs. $15 co-pay for that.

Spent $10 to buy a small pizza and a soda from Round Table. I ordered it in the parking lot of the doctor's office, swung by the credit union, and it was ready by the time I got there. It cost $10.23 but for some reason the employee gave me $10.25 back from my twenty dollar bill. I didn't notice this until I got back home and looked at the receipt. I do remember him taking some coins out of the take a penny, leave a penny container. Maybe he didn't want to give me all the ones that $9.77 in change would give me?

Oh, well, so not only did I save 23 cents, I earned 25 cents on top of that. I did call them up and they said not to worry about it. I wasn't worried, but I remember what it was like to have a till off when I was a college student so, I guess that is why I called.

I ate the pizza on the way back home and arrived at the school in time for Tobias' parent/teacher conference. Did that, then went to Rose's. I'm glad that's over for another while.

Now I feel all stone in the stomach though, from eating white flour and drinking white sugar. Bad choice, I know but I haven't had good pizza in so long and I had to grab something or I'd be really hungry as I couldn't eat before the ultrasound. I should have got tacos, at least they are marginally healthy, especially if you get them in the whole wheat tortilla like at Taco Time.

DH finished the pizza off when we got home from conferences. I had eggs and no-sugar bacon and a kohlrabi for dinner. The kids had leftovers of theirs.

I haven't been doing a running log of my novel writing since DH came home. Mostly its because I have less time to myself to write when he's home. But I'm up to page 72 in the story and have 105 pages of other stuff to work in and around the main plot line. And some of it is for the second book, not this one anyhow. But it is coming along.

I got accepted at PineCone and am now just waiting for the surveys to start coming in.

I cashed out at NFO MySurvey today after doing a 200 point survey that put me over the limit, so will have $10 coming in the next 3 to 5 weeks. And still have 150 points in my account. Only 850 more to go to cash out again, LOL.

Still no news from ReadRevenue, TinklyCash or Dayslook on payments.

DH is taking the kids to his mother's house tomorrow. I am not going. I love his parents but they have a cat that is all over the furniture, which is bad enough, because I clog up and have a hard time breathing, but if they run the air cleaner and I sit next to it, I do okay. But his sister will also be there with her kids and their dog, and I'm more allergic to dogs than I am to cats. Badly allergic. And the in-laws let that animal run around inside the house.

Which I would never allow myself, I get irritated with people that think it is okay just to bring the dog in because it is their dog and they don't ask permission, they just do it. (Worse at the grocery store when someone brings in a puppy in a purse which is illegal in a grocery store! Service dogs are of course not the issue at all, they go where they need to.) Which is what SIL did the first time and now they can't say no because they already did it. And I'm "Hello, its your house, of course you can say no to your spoiled youngest child." Sigh.

This is, by the way, the pedigree puppy that was bought when SIL and BIL had had their phone turned off, their gas turned off, their cable turned off, their mortgage behind, their car payments behind, and were about to have their electricity shut off and to lose their cell serivce if they didn't come up with a $400 payment. And they can't declare bankruptcy as its only been five years or so since they did that last time. So, I'm also not fond of the dog for that reason, but really it is secondary to my need to breathe.

Plus MIL's cat is scared to death of the dog. I don't want to come across as an animal hater, because I'm not. I love cats, but I just can't have them around much. Not terribly fond of dogs but don't hate them if they are properly mannered and on a leash. I have real issues with ones that are allowed to run around free all day as we have a county leash law as well as it being in our CC&R's for our housing development. A couple of the roamers have attacked children. So, in that respect I am anti-dog. Well, maybe more anti-bad-dog-owner, as dogs, like children, only do what they are allowed to do or have been taught.

So anyway, being in that house tomorrow would mean I would probably end up having to use my inhaler and it wouldn't be enough and I'd end up visiting the ER. So not how I want to spend my Saturday. Instead, I will stay home and do some writing and get caught up on laundry with my lovely new dryer.

I guess if MIL wants me to come to their house she's going to have to make a choice between standing up to her daughter about the dog, or me. And I'm okay if its the dog, I'm perfectly content to have a phone call once a week with her that lasts an hour.

Turned into a bit of a rant there, sorry.

I had my second cranial sacral therapy session today. It was more intensive than the first one. My mother is paying for me to have six sessions in the hope that it will fix me. Apparently I'm broken. Well, my immune system is not the best, never has been and I've had all sorts of soft tissue damage in my life.

I didn't realize it until the therapist asked today, but my arm, the one that I tore all the tendons in between the wrist and elbow in a horrific accident about 12 years ago hasn't hurt since the first session. And I have been doing A LOT of typing in the last two weeks, which always makes my wrist and elbow and hand hurt and it isn't. So I guess there is something to this voodoo that he do so well. Ouch, that was a bit of language slaughter, wasn't it?

Oh, well, whatever happens happens. And the price is right so bring it on, I guess. Though I wouldn't mind going for a massage sometime soon. Ah, just dreaming. Not going to pony up $50 any time soon for that. But DH is home so maybe I'll have him do it, he's pretty good at making the muscles feel better.

Today school was delayed an hour because of the snow and then the kids had early release 2.5 hours early. I don't have a clue why. They usually have early release on the last Wednesday of the month, which this is not. I hope they aren't still going to do it that day, too.

We went into my mother's house to do some laundry. When I was there she told me she had closed out an old joint bank account we had that I had forgotten about. It was mine, but her name was on it as she used to make deposits for me when I worked nights and slept days. Anyway, it had $85.75.

Oh, I also spent $36.06 filling up the car with gas. I thought I'd be under my gas budget this month, but I just met it. Darn. Oh, well.

I spent under $12.95 and $16.95 on books, plus $2.34 sales tax for a total of $32.24. I bought Smart Couples Finish Rich, which I have read previously and The Automatic Millionaire Workbook, which supplements another one of David Bach's books, both in paperback. I feel like I am ready to face working through the workbook now and getting all my ducks in a row.

The rest of the money I have set aside until 1-26 and I won't make any decisions on where to put it until then. I am tentatively thinking about putting it in the vacation fund. My trip to California is coming up in May and the convention for my disease lasts 2.5 days and then some of us are going to Disneyland for 2, possibly 3 days.

My airfare is free through DH's miles and I will have a roommate both at the convention and at Disney. So I'm trying to save $1000 to cover hotel and food. I'm not interested in souveniers other than my one lapel pin that I get no matter where I go. So far I have $116 saved up. I will have $500 from the tax return that I get to use. Well, technically its $800, but I want to push to save as much as I can and only use $500 from the tax return, so I can use most of it to pay debt.

So I have $116 saved, and $500 dedicated, which means a total of $616 and I need to come up with $484 in 3.5 months. Without dipping into the $10 a week that goes to the EF no matter what.

I saw an ad for donating plasma in the paper today. They are claiming up to $200 a month. I don't know if I can donate or not. I have high blood pressure but it is completely controlled with medication, diet and exercise. I will have to look into the requirements. If I could do that and max it out, I could earn $600 in the next 3 months. Oh, plus a $10 bonus if I bring in the advertisement.

So far this year:
we have found 3 pennies on the ground
we were given our nickle back because the convenience store didn't have pennies, netting us 2 cents
we have found one nickle on the ground

That is 10 cents, almost a penny for every day of the new year so far. Sure would be fun to keep that rate up!

We've been Christmas shopping the last couple of days and have paid for everything with cash this year. I think this is the first year in ages that we haven't used a credit card at all.

The kids are all taken care of, they were easy though. They only wanted two things each and those things happened to cost the limit of what they will get. So they each got a Nintendo Gameboy DS, one black and one white, the game Dogs--Dalmation version for Rose, and the game Mario Vs Donkey Kong 2 for Tobias. They will get stockings and nothing else this year. I did get the game systems on sale so I was really happy about that. They may go on a better sale the Friday after Thanksgiving, but I don't shop then, and its done and out of the way now.

We found the weight bench DH wants and its within the budgeted amount so I'm happy there, too. We haven't bought it yet.

I also found the gifts for MIL and FIL, but not bought, and the neice I haven't bought for yet. I am making up 2 batches of lasagna and freezing them for our gift to SIL and BIL. That just leaves my parents and 3 nephews. My sisters and I don't exchange, we just do the kids under 18. I am making my dad some knitted hats. I am not sure what I will do for my mother yet. Maybe a blanket if I have time. Or some knitted slippers or socks. I found directions for making them with the knitting looms online, so I think I will at least try that.

Oh, we also went to Lady Foot Locker and bought basketball shoes for Rose and a new jacket. It's down and very warm. She finally outgrew the jacket we bought for her four years ago (we bought it big). We got the jacket for 1/2 price and a free bag of athletic socks ($9.99), since they had a buy one get one half price on anything at the store.

I just have to rave about how wonderful the service was that we got at that store. The girl worked with us for probably 30 minutes, making sure everything fit right and finding what we needed. I told her how much I appreciated her taking the time and that I was really impressed with the service. You just don't get that in shoe stores anymore. I mean the men's Foot Locker was, "Here's the shoe, try it on and I'll get back to you." I think it is very important to say thank you for good customer service.

We bought 5 packages of LED Christmas Lights at Target to start replacing some of our other ones. The energy savings should be pretty good. I am going to replace them all over the next few years, I think. They are a little more pricey than the other kind but they are supposed to last longer, too. We also bought a swag light, a green one with a red bow in the middle. I have been wanting one for a few years.

Anyway, so a lot of money spent these last two days but everything on or under budget so I am happy.

Post # 4 today.

Okay, I admit it, I'm trying to be clever with my title but it just isn't quite working. But...I fixed the damper on my wood stove! So technically it is on. It's been broken for nigh on 8 years now. It's the kind with a knob you twist, not ones you push up or pull down. Well, I pulled the knob off today, realized a screw was loose, tightened it up, stuck the knob back on, turned it, and voila, the damper will now stay open all the way. Before it would only close or be open 1/3 of the way, which meant a lot of fighting to keep the fire going. I am a happy camper, not only because it worked, but because I did it myself.

Although a little annoyed with myself that I didn't think to do it sooner! But not that much. I spend too much time in my own head to be really annoyed with myself for long.

Or to those of you who aren't sick...a cold in the nose, well in the whole sinusy section of the face. Rose has successfully passed it onto me, oh, joy. I am actually functioning pretty well, though as I went back to sleep after the kidlets got on the school bus, and didn't wake up again until 12:39. My taste buds are off, so food doesn't taste that good, I hate that.

I had enough points to cash out at NFO MySurvey today, so will be receiving a $10 check from them within 3 to 6 weeks.

Today was the auto deposit of $10 into savings, bringing the total of that savings account up to $1010. I rolled coin today and will be depositing that money tomorrow, $16, bringing savings to $1026, and then also depositing the $65 that used to go for cable, bringing the total to $1091.

I am awaiting account verification from paypal off a new account and as soon as that is received and activated, I will have $70 more to add into savings. This account is going to be used for selling on ebay and half once we are set up.

I have started reading Tax Loopholes for Ebay Sellers. I haven't gotten very far yet, but from reading the index I think it will cover all the information I need to know for how to set up an ebay business and how to handle taxes. It isn't about avoiding taxes, really, just how not to pay more than you have to and how to pay them and that kind of info. I think it will offer a lot of insight into this next phase of our adventure to make more money so we can use it to get out of debt and start saving more money. Plus declutter.

I bought this book about six months ago, just before I joined this site. I think I would buy it now anyway, because I will be referring to it often. It looks to be an excellent resource. Most of the time I check stuff out now, but I think buying the stuff you will really use can be an acceptable purchase when trying to avoid unnecssary ones.

Today I paid the water/sewer bill for 4 months (new system switch over, I just wanted to be ahead) of $256 and the power bill of $93. I also had lunch out (unnecessary expense, but I felt unable to cook and I really didn't want to) which came to $12.25 plus a $3.00 tip. I know that's over 20% but this is the usual girl, she never screws up anything, she's working her way through college, and as a former restaurant employee I believe in tipping well for good service. Not that I'm justifying, just explaining.

Dinner was much cheaper, just a can of chicken and stars ($1.09 at Kmart, cheapest I've found it here) and a glass of Pepsi (about .30). The caffeine helps with the sinus headache. I probably should have done this for lunch, too since I really am trying to cut way back on eating out. Maybe I'll have to do what Amber does and every time I eat out, put an equal amount of money into savings. That would pinch but might help me to alter my behavior.

Tonight I wrote out a check for basketball. It is only $25 this year instead of $30 as the sponsors are kicking in more. That was nice. Now I just have to remember to mail it tomorrow.

I got two samples in the mail today. Degree clear from Degree itself, and Olay Definity from WalMart. The Olay sample was really tiny, just like the one from Target. I've come to expect much more from the WalMart samples so I was really disappointed in the size. On the bright side, between the two of them there should just be enough to use on my whole face.

Today I received the Titanium Quattro razor and a sample of Advil PM from WalMart.

I spent $15 as a co-pay for Rose's doctor's visit and $10 for an antibiotic.

Not much else today.

Rose has lost two teeth this week, her first molars and Tobias has a very loose top front tooth. And Rose has another one that is quite loose. I don't know about these children, conspiring to part me from all my lose $1 bills. They get $2 per tooth because they so far do not get an allowance, so this is the only time they really get money outside birthdays and Christmas. I'm not sure if I'll continue the $2 per tooth once the allowance starts. Probably pretty much locked into it now.

Oh, forgot to mention in my previous posts this week, I received a 3 pack of different Jergen's lotions, more Herbal Essences shampoo and conditioner, and the Shick Intuition razor. I haven't tried it yet, I can't shave my legs for 4 more days due to product testing, but it sure seems awkward in the hand. I hope it works better than it feels. If it doesn't, I don't mind pitching it as it was free, after all.

I had to fire up the wood stove last night/tonight. It got so cold. I don't think it can be colder than 45 but that is cold enough to make the walls feel cold. It was nice to make the house all toasty and warm, but if I have to start heating the house already, I don't see how what I have on hand in wood will last past January.

I'll have to get on the horn to FIL and ask him to bring out the wood he's been saving for me since the sumac blew down. He's got a truckload or so and I know my mother has a small truckload. We should be able to squeak by on that without buying any this year. I've got to get a new permit for taking deadfall from the river banks so we can get started on next year's supply for free. And hope so more trees blow down at FIL's place. He has plenty.

Today was the weekly auto deposit to savings of $10, bringing my account to $957. The $3 transfer from paypal should come through tomorrow and I will be depositing $40 to hit my goal of $1000.

When I hit $1000, I am going to bite the bullet and open an ING account for six months with $250 to get the $25 deposit bonus. I am also going to take $250 and open an Emigrant Direct account as it is now at 5.15%. The remaining $500 will stay in my CU in case I need something for an emergency. I don't want to touch it, don't intend to touch it, but I'd rather have access to it quickly.

I will transfer the $10 weekly to Emigrant, plus the $65 monthly there as well, so that account will grow. When the time comes I will probably leave only $50 in my ING account so that if there ever comes a time when they are competitive again I can easily transfer money back there. Or so that if I am able to get referrals, I can get the bonus for that. I think I may end up opening accounts for my kids there, just so they can each get the $25 and I can get the $10 each for reffering them. But first their savings accounts need to build.

I am about to institute allowances with my kids. I will have them save 20% in their savings accounts that is not touchable, 10% will be used for church offerings, and 20% will be used for their piggy banks for them to save up for stuff they want to buy, or if they want to use it for buying presents at Christmas or birthdays. The other 50% they can spend as they wish.

I am thinking $20 a month each. Which seems high to me until I realize that they only will have $10 a month to blow. And I will keep their church money and their short-term savings money in my room so they can't just have at it. I think I'll make it a ritual, also. As in taking them to the bank to make their $4 deposits, counting out $2 in quarters for their church money and letting them clink them into the church banks, counting out the short-term savings money and having them put that money into that bank.

I am also thinking about putting $1 into their accounts each time they deposit their $4. They get a punch card at the bank and for every $5 deposit they get a punch and after 5 punches they get to pick a prize from the prize box. Good prizes, too like books and puzzles, not chintzy stuff. I can use it to explain a bit about 401Ks and how they match your retirement savings a bit.

The only difficulty I forsee is scraping up the $40 a month to do it. DH is supposed to get a raise in January so maybe it'll have to wait until then. I think it is important though to do it. I feel like teaching them to save and to make charitable contributions is an investment in their future. An investment that is just as important to me as investing in DH's 401K is.

Oh, the gas station I went to to get milk today didn't have enough pennies to make change so ended up giving me 10 cents in change instead of 9 cents. One more penny to add to my people keep giving me money total, bringing it to: $1.81 since April.

My loot from the last couple of days has been high. I received 6 free tea lights from Lilly's Country Cottage and they smell wonderful without being overpowering. Not quite pretty to look at but that may have to do with being in the mailbox for several hours yesterday in 90 degree heat. I also got samples from Clean Home Journal (SC Johnson). I got a Off! Deep Woods Towlette (R) with a $1 coupon off any of their insect repellants, a Windex Dry Microfiber Cloth (R) with a $1 coupon off same, and a Ziploc Double Zipper (R) quart size storage bag with $0.75 coupon off any Ziploc brand bags.

Pretty nice haul for 2 days.

I have already been using the double zip freezer bags as Costco switched over a bit ago and I love them. It does make a difference, even though they were good bags before. And it is easier for my kids to get them really closed. It put a stop to the dried out hotdogs because the little one couldn't always get the bag shut all the way. Now he can.

Today saw the $25 Shell gas card from MyPoints arrive in my mailbox. The $3 ReadRevenue transfer from payapl to my CU showed up today so I moved that to savings, bringing the total in there to $813.

I did not get over to the other CU to open the CD, probably won't until Wednesday. I had to go finish getting school supplies, and stuff for school lunches, and then I had to get the kids new soccer gear, Rose needed socks and shin guards and Tobias needed bigger cleats. They both had their first practices today. Unfortunately, after next Tuesday their schedules will divirge, which means we will be at the practice fields four days a week and the game field once a week. Yuck, ugh, and blech. Their first game isn't until the 9th.

I stopped by the school and got their class lists. Tobias is happy because his best little girl friend is in his class and so is the female half of the new set of twins who moved in down the block. And two boys and two other girls from his kindergarten class are in his first grade class also.

Rose is really thrilled because two of the girls she really likes and has been friends with since kindergarten are in her new class. I'm thrilled, too. These girls come from good families with similar values, don't swear or smoke (the parents), and have the same sort of background as we do. I much prefer her being with these girls than one of the others who wasn't the best influence and had a totally disagreeable personality, at least around me. She's not in the class.

It's an advanced class of grade 5, they will be mixed in with some kids from grade 6 for reading, writing, science, computers and math, but have music, art, p.e., and history at grade level. This could be quite a challenge for Rose, because even though she is very smart, she is also lazy about school. I hope it challenges her in a good way. She gets frustrated fast when she doesn't "feel like" learning. But she also got frustrated fast being bored with being ahead of the rest of grade 4 last year and having to wait for the others to catch up.

I am really looking forward to Tuesday. I don't know which of us is the most excited. LOL

Today I cashed out 3700 points at MyPoints to get a $25 Shell gas card. I got a sample in the mail of Aquafresh Extreme Clean toothpaste with a $1 off coupon. This is the first toothpaste sample I've received despite signing up for at least a dozen. I think I signed up for this one back in the beginning of May. I've done a few PTR's and 3 surveys.

The kids are out in the yard with 3 of the neighborhood kids and I don't have to start dinner yet, since I only have to warm it up, so time to settle down with my laptop and read a few blogs and then if there is time, a chapter of the fiction book I'm currently reading.

After the kids go to bed tonight, I will do some more PTR's while I listen to the 2nd CD of The Automatic Millionaire and at least one side of one tape of Damia.

Okay, so it has been a pretty boring day and I just can't make it interesting. Oh, I'm waiting to hear back on a massage appointment because my hip is tweaked again, so that will be money out this week if I can get in.

And DH made it safely up to work. And the guy who has the position that they were hiring an alternate for before that DH applied for but didn't get the position, well that original guy has injured himself and now his slot may be vacant. He was close to retirement so he may not come back, hasn't made the decision yet, but there is a possibility that they may put DH in that slot. I am not getting my hopes up this time, though. If it happens it happens, and I'll be happy if it does, extremely happy. But no chickens in that basket.

Back on the 4th of July I had problems with a new scripto lighter not working, which really put a damper on our fireworks while we ran around trying to find some place open to buy a new one.

I wrote to the company, they sent me packaging to send it back in and I did. Well, yesterday I got two new better model lighters from them and they both lit right up so I'm happy with that result.

I won't have to buy any lighters for the woodstove this winter at all.

I also received a sample of dandruff shampoo from WalMart.

I got my Garden Botanika catalogue today. I forgot it was coming with a sample, and the sample was on the inside, the Prickly Pear Jojoba Advanced Renewal Hand Treatment. This came fast, within just a couple weeks.

Infusium 23 shampoo and conditioner samples (my 2nd set, I think from a different promotion).

$4 off coupon for Opticleanse contact lens solution. I am going to be switching back to contacts in the near future, I think, and the coupon does not expire for some time.

A refund check from the cable company finally came today. $8.29. That will go into savings but not until Monday.

A sample of Lysol Sanitizing Wipes in Citrus scent. It came with two individually wrapped wipe samples.

I got a good freebie in the mail today. A six ounce bottle of Motions CPR Protein Reconstructor, which is a fancy way of saying heavy duty leave in for 5 minutes conditioner. It also has an option of sitting under a hair dryer for 10 additional minutes before rinsing it out. I think I'll try heating a towel in the micro and wrapping it around my head instead.

This should help repair some of the damage I did to my hair a few months ago. Well, not really repair, but improve the appearance of the fried bits until they grow out a bit more and I can snip them off. I am normally a dark reddish auborn haired person with medium curly hair. I got it into my head awhile back to try to go blond. My daughter is blond after all and her complexion is really similar to mine, so I thought it would be okay. Well, three bottles of hair dye later I was back to red hair again, but it was very brittle. Now its almost grown out but the ends are nasty. So hopefully this will help.

My MIL gave me $100 today. She had spent that much on her daughter's family and she likes to keep things even with us, too.

I also paid back savings $6. I still owe it $50, but that will have to wait until next payday. DH's check was short by about $60 due to a delay with the charter plane that goes from Anchorage to Kuparuk, so he got into work a couple hours late his first day up and didn't get started as soon as usual. Sigh.

So total added to savings was $106 today. Not as good as $156, but much better than I thought it would be. I'm happy. I breezed right by the $600 mark and the $650 mark and landed at a total of $$693.56. Forgot to add the 44 cents to even it up, but I can live with that. I'm just $6.44 from $700 and just $56.44 from my next goal of $750 and I will hit both of those goals this month. Then onwards to my fourth goal of $1000. Wow. This savings thing is really starting to get fun!

I don't think I've ever had this much money in savings except when I've had a tax return back. Nice.

Okay, I got the $15 in rolled coin deposited today and I cashed the check from SendEarnings. I put $2.85 of that check into savings and kept $50. I will pay that $50 and an additional $6 back to savings on Friday. Total in savings now is $575.85.

I also went to the doctor today. He doesn't charge me my copay, he just charges the insurance company what they pay. I love my doctor. He delivered me so I have known him all my life! He is a very good man and he always makes sure I can afford whatever medications I need.

Well, today I had a raging kidney infection. He does the lab work right there in the office and he says its the worst he's seen me have. I do get them a couple times a year, and this one did feel worse. The onset was very fast, too. Anyway, I ended up with only having to pay a total of $20 for 2 prescriptions, both generic at my insurances $10 copay for each.

Had a nice chat with the pharmacist. Love my pharmacist, too. I've known him since I was a kid. He always makes sure I know what I need to know about new meds and how the will or will not interact with any other meds I'm on. So basically, no interactions, take with food, stay out of the sun. The last of which I am only too happy to oblige right now. I just don't like 80 degree weather.

So all I spent today was that $20. I had a free dinner at my mother's house. Two double cheeseburgers from McD's. She buys them 20 at a time and has them on hand for Dad or when the grandkids stop by. Big meal for me but I didn't eat lunch. Then I went out back and picked some blueberries for dessert. Took a quart size Ziploc full home with me. I'll pick a bunch more on Thursday when we go in again. There's at least 10 gallons worth ripe on the trees right now.