Layout:
Home > Archive: July, 2006

Archive for July, 2006

July Wrap Up

August 1st, 2006 at 04:31 am

I received $5 from paypal this morning and added that to savings. My savings is now $538. I did not make it over there today to deposit the rolled coin.

My total earnings this month was $36 and all of that came from click-thrus, except a four dollar survey. I did no trial offers this month. My total earnings since the beginning of June is $135.82.

Today I cashed out a survey account for $11 and should receive a check shortly. I am also expecting a check the first month of August from SendEarnings. That one is just over $50. August will be a bigger earning month, maybe even than June. And I will cash out a $5 click-thru account tomorrow and another $5 one and a couple smaller ones by week's end. Still waiting on a payment of $1.71. Added up that is coming up on $80 already for August. Not bad at all.

When I started my blog in April I had $105 in my savings account. Today I have increased that by over $400. I am finding my way. Slowly but surely.

Recycled Cans and Car Talk

July 31st, 2006 at 05:30 am

We recycled just over 5 pounds of aluminum cans today at $0.36 per pound and got $1.86. They paid all in change so I just threw it in my change jar. Rolled coins today and have one roll of quarters, one roll of dimes and a another Sacajawea dollar, a total of $16 ready to deposit into savings next time I go buy that CU, which is probably tomorrow.

DH and I talked about it last night and we are going to approach BIL about trying to sell our SUV for us and we will give him 10 percent of the sale price. He sold his own SUV, which was also a Chevy Blazer and was one year older than ours, had 50,000 more miles than ours does and was not a luxury model just before Christmas for $4000. We figure trade in value would only be around $2000. BIL has a good network of car people so chances are he could get a better price and with a ten percent commission as motivation he will get the best price he can.

Plus, BIL is around. DH is out of state 16 days out of every 28 working. Kind of hard to show a car that way and I don't want to do it, there are too many kooks out there for a woman in the boonies home alone with little kids to be dealing with.

Then that money could go in the bank and start earning interest for us while we save up the rest we need, and we could also not be paying insurance on two vehicles once it sold.

Still not 100 percent sure what we will do with the Crown Vic. I am quite partial to it and I can get 20.6 miles per gallon average with it, but we just don't need two cars. Not with DH having an out of state job that provides vehicles when he needs one. Well, we still have awhile to think on it, anyhow.

12 days and $12

July 31st, 2006 at 05:07 am

So this is my challenge for the next 12 days, which will be our next payday. I have $12 left of non-targeted funds. I don't think it will really be an issue, since I bought plenty of fill in the cracks groceries today at Costco (spent $33) getting a giganto bag of lettuce, kosher beef hotdogs (14 per pack), pack of pepperoni for making pizzas, 2 lbs of deli ham, and 2 jars of peanut butter. Then a quick stop at the IGA to get celery (didn't have any at Costco for the first time in forever) and strawberry and blackberry perserves (spent $10).

I can make bread when we run out. We have plenty of fruit (plums, apples, cherries, raspberries from the garden, strawberries we put up in the freezer, blueberries I picked at Mom's and a canteloupe. I have cucumbers, green beans, cabbage and kohlrabi for veggies from the garden.

So probably the $12 will go for milk. Since the organic milk is the one thing we always get, that should cover 2 gallons, but since we have 2 gallons in the fridge now, I doubt we will need to buy more than one more before that payday.

I still have money set aside for Rose's birthday presents, and a much better idea of what she wants now after running her around Fred Meyer while DH and Tobias went blinkie hunting. Didn't buy anything there except the afore mentioned milk.

Anyway, I am challenging myself not to spend the $12 at all, but to try to get to the end of this period with all of it intact. Then it will go in savings.

Spend Day

July 30th, 2006 at 08:54 am

DH and I drove down to Burlington today to do some shopping. Well, we did a lot of looking, but not much buying. We spent a little over $5 at the Target there, but we might as well have just gone to the one in Bellingham. It has a better selection.

We visited one of the hardware stores they don't have in our county but it was so poorly laid out, badly lit, dirty, and smelled like kitty litter that I didn't want to buy anything there, let alone stay in the store.

We looked in one of the stores at the outlet mall, the kitchen one, but they did not have the hard anodized cookware that I want. At all. Even Target has it. Just not in anything bigger than 10 inches and I need a 12 inch pan. I do not want to buy the entire set at Costco just to get the one pan that I need.

DH and I went to Outback for dinner. I had an appetizer for my entree, kukkaburra wings with celery and bleu cheese dressing and a baked potato on the side. Oh, and the rye bread they serve. I still have five kukkaburra wings so they will be for tomorrow's lunch.

The girl gave me an extra loaf of the rye bread to take home free and also a big tub of their bleu cheese dressing. Also free. I normally hate bleu cheese, but this is the only place I really like it. They make it from scratch. I asked, as I was hoping to get the brand name so I could buy it and she said she'd just get me a big old tub of it. It's at least a 4 ounce container. Might even be 6.

So, I'll be eating a lot of celery to use it up over the next little while.

So we spent $39.35 for dinner and an $8 tip. DH had no leftovers.

Oh, and because we had too, according to DH, we bought a dozen doughnuts at Krispy Kreme. So not a needed expense at all, but I give once in awhile, otherwise it is just discouraging to always, always scrimp. And it was all planned before we went, anyway. It was not an unplanned expense.

My daughter's birthday is coming up and I did not see anything in the store for her at all. She'll be ten and that is an awkward stage to buy for. I'm thinking about a used Game Cube from Game Stop. A couple of books. And maybe some clothes that will double as school clothes. Not too crazy about the looks of the clothes right now. Kinda raggy ratty. This is a fashion?

She wants to get her ears pierced but I said she has to wait until she turns 12 for that. She only wants them now because her cousin got hers done when she turned ten. Most of her friends had them done as babies, but I have always been of the firm opinion that my daughter's body belongs to my daughter and I didn't feel I had the right to put holes in it without her consent. Just my opinion, I know other people do it all the time.

She can have the holes when she can take care of them well on her own. I'm not dealing with infected ears. Hence age 12. And hope she doesn't wear me down.

Filled up the gas tank in Sedro-Wooley on the way home. $2.95 a gallon. Saw one place that had $2.94 but DH didn't want to go across all the traffic he would have had to go across to get there. The best price in my county is $2.99, which is why I saved our fill up for today. It's always a bit cheaper just across the county line.

Payday and Savings and Musings

July 29th, 2006 at 05:11 am

Today I deposited 2 rolls of pennies, one Sacajawea dollar, and the $9 the neighbor owed me into my savings account, that $11 brought my total in savings to $533.

I had another $3 payment show up in paypal.

I paid out today:

$400 to the house mortgage--$375.86 regular payment plus $24.14 extra to principal
$250 to Chase Visa
$30 to MBNA Master Card # 2
$124 for our 2 month water/sewer bill
$125 half year dues to our homeowner's association
$100 to Allstate for house insurance
$50 withdrawn for gas money

The homeowner's association finally has gotten the pool fixed and now are just waiting for permission from the health department to reopen it. Hope its soon, although it did finally cool off today. Only 71 degrees F, just the way I like it. I feel like I'm living in NW Washington again. I knew the weather was going to change. I started getting a weather headache yesterday morning and that always happens with barometric pressure changes this severe. Fortunately, it was not a weather migraine this time. It is starting to go away now.

Spent the rest of the day cleaning up the playroom. We are converting it into an exercise room. It will have our treadmill, gazelle, weights, bands, exercise balls and a tv/vcr/dvd for our Zoomba, tai chi and aerobics programs. Or to watch a movie on the treadmill.

We have moved the children's desks and their computers into their rooms. They aren't online, they have to come out to the living room for that. But having those out of there gives us so much space for things. Of course, this is where the wood stove is also, so come winter, I'm not sure how much exercise will get done. I guess I can put a fan in there, too.

I am determined to be as healthy as I can be. Four surgeries in three years did not do kind things to my body, even if it did remove many of the health problems I had. Hopefully, I will continue to get better as I have over this past year, as my strength rebuilds from the assaults those surgeries inflicted on me. Maybe I'll be healthy by the time I pay off the medical mortgage. Hopefully, way before then. Being sick is expensive.

Time Mails Already & Ebay start-up

July 28th, 2006 at 06:45 am

I am always amazed at the turn around time of Time Mails. It's been less than 24 hours since I cashed it out and it already showed up at paypal, so I transferred that $2 to my CU and it should show up on Monday. It has got to be the fastest on its payout time. I'm glad I've figured out the trick to doing these PTR's. Now I've got more coming as me than I can handle, but that's okay as I am phasing out the .5 cent ones as I hit payout and phasing in the 1 cent ones as I do. Eventually, I plan to just do the one and two cent ones, though I may hold onto Time Mails, just because it goes so fast. We'll see.

I'm taking a break from the trial offers, sometimes they are just too hard to keep track of. At least with the PTR's they are completely free and you never get charged anything if you forget to cancel because there is nothing to cancel. Yes, PTR's are time consuming, but if all I'm doing is watching the kids swim anyway, it goes fast enough. Or if I watch a DVD, I can do them at the same time.

I'm also hoping to get set up on ebay before DH goes back to Kuparuk. I have about eight years of dance clothes and shoes to sell from my daughter's stuff and 3 years from my son's. Costumes from the recitals, too. And then soccer shoes and socks, also. I'd like to get that set up and going before the new dance and soccer seasons are in gear in September. Also, anything that is left in the lost and found from the dance stuidio from the previous season that I want, I am given. That works out well.

Shopping for Glasses, Buying Towels

July 28th, 2006 at 02:03 am

Yesterday DH and I had some time off from the kids who went to swim at my mother's house. We went to LensCrafters to buy safety glasses. DH needs them for work when he is in the oil well houses or walking down construction wiring or for when he walks the pipeline.

Anyway, work will reimburse him 100% on safety glasses, but we still have to buy them first and then submit the receipts.

Well, we found an attratctive pair of safety glasses right off the bat. That never happens, by the way. They were $100 for the frames, good for safety glasses with permanent side shields. The lenses, because they are perscription safety glasses, came to almost $200, so $300 something with tax. Ouch.

Then the lady says, "But we have 90 days same as cash, interest free." Well, after a bit of back and forth, we decided to do that. So he will submit the reimbursement paperwork when he goes back up and starts work on Tuesday. It takes about 4 weeks max for reimbursement. They will auto deposit it. So we end up not having to come up with the money out of pocket at all. And it will have 6 weeks or so to sit in our savings account and earn interest, too.

We cut through Penney's to get there so went back out that way. As we were going through linen we found the perfect towels on sale. I have been looking for a bright, lime green for awhile. They have had this kind of almost right color in several stores, but it was more muted and towards the ugly. This green was perfect to go with the turquoise towels in our redecorated bathroom. I have been waiting a long time to find them. It makes the bathroom so much brighter and perkier. Very tropical. I was so done with burgundy and forest green.

The towels happened to be on sale, also. So we got 8 large bath towels, 4 hand towels, and 8 wash clothes for $68. So now our whole bathroom matches for the first time in our marriage. We are weeding out all the other weird towels we have acquired since our wedding eleven years ago and they will be pool towels until they finish wearing out.

The kids have purple and yellow towels in their bathroom (their two favorite colors) and it goes suprisingly well. We did those back when we got the turquoise ones for our bathroom.

It seems like such a little thing, but it makes me happy to have matching towels of some quality.

Savings Update

July 27th, 2006 at 10:49 pm

Yesterday a $3 transfer from paypal came in so added that plus 1 cent to bring my total from $508.99 to $512. The .99 was bugging me, so I got rid of it. Today was the day of the automatic transfer of $10, bringing my savings to $522.

Yesterday I cashed out a $2 click thru and early this morning I cashed out a $3 click thru. Those will probably not show up in paypal until Monday.

I still need to deposit the $9 from the neighbor paying us back some of the money he owed us, but I still have it set aside in my purse to do so. A few months ago I would have already spent it.

Did the Math

July 25th, 2006 at 02:56 am

I decided to work out how much money I will have in long-term savings, which is our car fund by the end of April of 2007.

With just the $10 deposit every Thursday, the amount of our usual tax return, and the the amount of my DH's annual bonus, all of which we will receive by April's end, we will have $5312.00. We are assuming a low trade-in value of $2000 for our 96 Blazer, so that is $7,312 right there.

This doesn't count any of my click-thru earnings or trial offer earnings at all, since I won't know what those will be. So far my earnings have been anywhere from $100 to $30 a month, but it'll definitely all go into that fund. I think I'll put the freezer money account on hold for now and deposit my rolled coin and recycled cans money into the car fund, too. Our old freezer is adequate right now for our needs. It is not as energy efficient as the new ones, it is at least 32 years old, but we keep it full so it runs at peak condition.

This really gives me new heart. I'm going to try harder to see where I can save money. I'm not sure how much longer the 96 or the 92 will last. But I'm banking on the 92 lasting longer than the 96, based on past performance.

If I could save $8,000, plus the $2000 trade-in, we could be looking at actually buying in a year instead of two. We'll have to see how long the other's last and I'd prefer not to finance at all if we don't have to, again, depending on how long the other vehicles last.

I wonder if the car place would take two cars for trade-in? Do they even do that? Hmm. I'll have to find out. Anyone on here a car salesman or married to one?

Savings Again

July 25th, 2006 at 02:39 am

My transfers from paypal of a $2 and a $3 click thru payout arrived in my CU checking account today, so I transferred that $5 to savings, bringing my total to $508.99.

Even though we went to town today we were not on the right side of town to deposit the $9 from the neighbor paying us back, so that will wait until at least Wednesday as we won't drive to town tomorrow.

I am waiting for one more paypal transfer from a click-thru that paid to come through of $3 and one of $1.71 which won't go through until month's end, I believe. That one I don't wish to continue. It takes too long unless you want to sign up for a bunch of useless clubs and I don't. That's why the odd amount, I'm just going to take the money when it comes through and close down the account afterwards. I've had one company pay me $9 and another $10 in the amount of time it has taken me to build this account to $1.71.

I am happy otherwise though, with the four that have paid out so I know they are legitimate.

Late Summer Vacation

July 24th, 2006 at 04:36 am

DH and I have been trying to plan a vacation for this summer to Victoria, but I don't think it is going to happen. The round trip ferry costs $150, and a four night stay in a hotel with a kitchen and 3 beds that also has a pool is $820. So that is $970 before we even do anything on the Island. We would have brought any food over the border that was allowed and purchased what else was needed at the grocery that is between the ferry port and the hotel. But just keeping it to 4 touristy things we want to do and one meal out per day, that's at least another $500. Okay, that is Canadian money but the exchange is a lot stronger than it used to be, only about 10% difference now.

In the past, we would have just put it on the credit card and worried about it later, or robbed whatever little savings we might have had and put the rest still on the credit card. But we won't do that now.

Fortunately, there is a compromise. We can still go to the Island, just not during the summer. My parents have a travel club (not a timeshare) membership and one of the places they have condos is in Victoria. Well, if we wait until November, the kids will have 3 days off from school plus the weekend, and DH's schedule works out that he will be home then. It won't matter that it is Thanksgiving up in Canada, so nothing will be closed that might be closed here in the states.

So that will be free lodging and we will still bring as much food over the border as we can. So then we will only need to come up with the ferry fee and the money to do the four things we want to do and then a few meals out. That we can handle.

And my mother will also reserve the condo again for us next summer so we can truly have a "summer" vacation during the right season.

Revived!

July 24th, 2006 at 04:27 am

After an hour in the swimming pool, I feel like a whole other person. Who ever came up with these quick set pools, the kind with the blow up ring and its made out of vinyl, should be given a medal. The water was the perfect luke warm and we stayed in until the air began to get a little too cool. It was fantastic, though the kids didn't want to get out when DH and I did. He stayed out a little longer while I ran in and took a quick shower to get the chlorine out of my hair. Now I feel like I have a whole new attitude.

Plus the house is starting to cool off. Always good.

The pot roast in the oven is smelling fantastic and it is a really big one so it should last for several meals. As long as DH doesn't start "snacking" on it. Nothing ruins my menu planning like that.

Too Hot, Just Too Hot

July 24th, 2006 at 03:04 am

I tell you, the last few days have been so ridiculously hot that I feel like a puddle of wax melted on the floor by eleven a.m. We don't see temps at 100 in North Western Washington, we just don't. But once this week and a couple high 90's and the last two days of high 80's, I just wasn't built for this kind of heat.

Heat like this makes it very easy to eat out, because who wants to cook anything, knowing the stove or oven will just add to the discomfort in the house? So to combat that I have been cooking at night. Last night I made fried chicken at ten and tonight, I just put a pot roast in the oven, on low heat, to slow cook between now and midnight. It is just starting to cool off and we can have the curtains open, the windows up and the fans going to bring in the (finally) cooler air from outside.

We have adequate cooked protein for several days and we are eating a lot of cold veggies, cucumbers, lettuce, radishes, kohlrabi and instant potatoes. Sure makes it so much easier. Plus we have sandwich fixings so that's another no cook meal. Having the choice of ready made foods in the house instead of having to decide between cooking or wasting money at a restaurant, it is easier to choose to stay at home.

Tomorrow we will go to town and we will pack sandwiches with us so we don't get tempted to go to Mickey D's. Too many trips there can really break the food budget.

I'm usually up pretty late during the summer, so I might even make a cake after the roast comes out tonight. Then the begging to go get cookies or whatever will hush. It's gotten kind of annoying today.

Neighbor paid us back

July 24th, 2006 at 12:57 am

The neighbor who borrowed $5 gas money and also broke the blade on our lawn mower ($17.55) paid us back some money yesterday. Only $9, so he still owes us $13.55. But it was money I never expected to see again being as it was back in late May, early June when it happened.

I will put it in long-term savings.

401K

July 23rd, 2006 at 12:45 am

Our quarterly 401K statement came today. It was nowhere near what last quarter was, but I figured it wouldn't be. I figured we'd see a correction and we certainly did.

Beginning Balance: $35,802.11
Personal contribution: $678.19
Work contribution: $535.92
Market Loss: -$728.19
Other transactions: $133.42
Fees: -$43.71
Ending Balance: $36,377.74

So the balance of the account rose by $575.63, but that was not even as high as the amount we put in ourselves and barely over what work put in.

Still, year to date earnings are: $3425.95, and long term thinking is where we have to be with something like this.

Hopefully things will turn around soon. I like to at least break even rather than lose more than I put in.

Random Stuff

July 23rd, 2006 at 12:31 am

I cashed out on another click-thru, this one $3 and did another survey for $2, yesterday and Thursday. Didn't qualify for a $5 survey. >Embarrassment{

Yesterday was Friday and payday, so we paid the medical mortgage, $1000. We also did a small grocery run for fresh produce and they had some chicken on sale cheap and some London Broil on sale cheap, so we had chicken tacos today and we will be making beef fajitas tomorrow. I also picked up milk on sale. $2 a gallon. Not quite as good as Costco but I spend more when I go to Costco so it evens out.

Spent some time yesterday at Mom's and a lot of time in our pool. It was 99 degrees in the shade on our porch thermometer yesterday. It's only (ha, only) 89 today.

I have to sit down tonight and pay the rest of the bills. It is too hot to think and do math right now.

I'm in the middle of trying to plan a last minute vacation to Victoria. We can usually get a good hotel deal at the last minute and going to Vancouver Island is one of our favorite trips to do. The kids love the ferry ride and the city seems so much older than some of the cities in WA, even though it isn't. But the culture and the look of it, we enjoy.

Haven't done much else. They finally shut the cable off Thursday morning. So we ended up with 20 days free. Not bad.

I guess that is it.

Hit my Savings Goal

July 20th, 2006 at 10:31 pm

With Wednesday's deposit of the library refund of $5.45 and Thursday's automatic transfer of $10 to savings, my total is now $503.99 in long-term savings. So I have hit my latest savings goal. I have decided to make my next goal just be $250 more and not $500 more. I did like the idea of doubling my goal each time I hit one, but I do think I would feel discouraged if I had to wait that long, so I'll stick with the next goal being a total of $750.

One of my click-thrus made it to paypal and its in the process of being transferred to this account. The other one should hit paypal tomorrow.

Total earnings paid out so far this month is $22.

Too many late nights

July 19th, 2006 at 10:10 am

Oh, my, I am up late again in the middle of the night, after far too many nights like this. I've had a nasty bout of insomnia, and reading hasn't helped, and watching tv hasn't helped, so maybe typing for a bit will help.

I've been lax on my blog this month. Or rather I've had huge spurts of writing followed by days of nothing.

So first up, I cashed out on two click-thrus this week, one for $3 and one for $2. The first one has paid out twice so I trust them. The second one I've never cashed out on before, but if it pays that will make 4 that do pay, or at least that do pay me.

I took a $5 survey today from surveyspot, first one I've qualified for that paid and that hadn't been filled up. And only because I was checking my email when it came through. So luck does go both ways with that. Figured it had to change after missing so many because I wasn't fast on the draw or qualified. Most of them have been for drawings, but I had been plodding along with them, especially once I found out they do eventually pay. Of course, it will be four to six weeks and even then, I'm not sure if I'll be getting a check or if it will just show up in my account.

I have to deposit a check from the library tomorrow that I forgot to do the other day. So that will put me at $500 in savings this month, by the end of this week actually.

DH flies in tomorrow and I am more than ready for him to be home. The kids have been going at it like cats. I was going to say like cats and dogs, but on the face of it, they've just been cats. Nasty in a fight, defending their turf, clawing the heck out of each other and then you turn around and find them curled up together on the couch happily getting along and looking at you like you are imagining they were ever anything less than happy. I miss school! Oh, and to think I used to homeschool. That feels like sacrilege to say I miss school! But I do, LOL.

Oh, well, soccer camp is coming soon! But having DH home will take a tremendous amount of stress off me. We are hoping that this hitch home he will actually get Rose all the way to riding a bicycle on her own. She is so close. If she hadn't grown so fast at the wrong time she would have learned far before now. But her center of gravity kept shifting and she had a devil of a time even keeping upright on skates for awhile. But she's close. She'll be ten next month and she is embarrassed that she can't when her friends can.

DH has been holding off on teaching Tobias, who is six and ready right now, I think, because he didn't want Rose to have to deal with her brother learning first, but I'm of the opinion he'll teach himself by the end of the summer.

Haven't really done terribly much this week. Mostly laundry, separate the kids, weeding, separate the kids, cooking, separate the kids, go to the library where I threatened the kids before we went in that if they did not behave they would not be allowed to check anything out for the rest of the summer. They did behave. That would be worse than death for them now that they can't watch cable.

Speaking of cable, they still haven't turned it off. It's only hooked up in my room though, they don't know we still have it. I saw a cable truck out here today so I thought they might be switching it off, but no. I'll call them again on Friday, I don't quite trust that they won't try to bill me for their failure to turn it off when they said.

Well, can't think of anything else to say to drag this out with and I'm still not tired. I guess I'll go watch the new Doctor Who dvd set again. Billie Piper is brilliant and that Christopher Eccelsten is amazing. Shades of Tom Baker charisma-wise.

Savings Update

July 17th, 2006 at 09:58 pm

2 paypal transfers came through to my CU today, increasing my savings account by $6 to $488.34. Just $11.66 to go to hit my next savings goal of $500, which I will get to this month.

I have to decide if my next goal will be $750 or $1000. I had been doubling my goals but I'm afraid I might lose a bit of my motivation if it takes me another $500 to meet my next goal. I tend to be more of a baby steps person. And at the moment, I can't quite conceive of having $1000 in my savings account.

Of course, 3 months ago, I don't think I would have thought $500 was possible, either. But Thursday will bring an auto transfer of $10 and I should be cashing out a click-thru tomorrow, which should appear by Friday, and that means that goal will be met, for real, in actual cash. Wow.

I am looking forward to that.

Payday

July 15th, 2006 at 10:20 am

Today I paid a few bills.

$700 to Bank of America Visa
$60 to MBNA MC # 1

I know something else needs to be paid, I'll have to look through my bill box. I think it is water delivery.

I made one frivilous purchase today but it was a planned expense. The 1st season of the New Doctor is now out on DVD so I bought that.

Went to Lane Bryant and they've discontinued the perfect, most comfortable bras in the universe and I am so mad. No other store makes them like this, anywhere. I'm writing corporate. The stupid things they replaced them with are awful.

Did my shopping at Costco and got out of there right in the low $70's. Went to WalMart, bought a few things that I needed, but kept that total down way low, nowhere near $100. Bought produce and some yogurt (Toobular, a knock off of gogurt) for the kids and also organic milk.

Oh, I did have one more frivilous expense. I bought a large Pepsi from a drive-thru restaurant. I only got 3 hour of sleep last night as Rose was up all night with stomach cramps after having eating a food she was allergic to. She finally fell asleep at 6 and then my son woke up at 6:40. I hadn't even managed to sleep yet. But he did go back to bed and they both slept in until ten so I got 3 hours before having to get up. Definitely felt like I needed the caffeine to make the drive home and I don't do coffee.

My kids are staying over with my mother again, until Sunday morning, so I should be able to get stuff done tomorrow that needs doing. Especially the part of the lawn by the road. The taller but smaller yellow flowered weeds that look like dandelions are up right now and I want to mow them down before they turn into wishing stars (as my kids call them) or seed pods. And also before the association gets snippy. And add chemicals to the pool and weed the garden some.

3rd click thru came through

July 15th, 2006 at 10:05 am

My third click thru company came through with a $3 check to paypal, so I've sent that to transfer into my CU account with long term savings.

I forgot to cash the check today and add it to savings, but I did add an additional $5. Total amount in long term savings is now 482.34.

Pending:
$3 from click thru one
$3 from click thru three
$5.45 check to be deposited

$500 here I come.

Buried in Berries

July 14th, 2006 at 03:52 am

My mother just called and she picked up 60 pounds of strawberries from the strawberry farm for $72. Did I want half like last year. Why yes, I do. She even cut them up, sugared them and put them in quart size Ziploc bags and has them waiting in her freezer. She's also giving me a quart size jar full of the excess juice so I can make frozen juice bars out of them. I make it in layers, freezing some strawberry juice, than freezing some leftover pineappl juice, and making stripes. The kids love these! So that is 30 pounds of strawberries and at least 12 frozen juice bars for $36 and the berries usually lasts us a year.

After that phone call I went on out to the garden and picked my first quart of raspberries for the season and there will need to be another picking done in 2 days and again in 4 days. This is the most these have produced, they are about five years old.

While I was out there I noticed six strawberries hanging forlornly in their bed, so picked those and then went to check on the Saskatoons and they should be ripe any day now.

Checked on the bush cherries and despite having bloomed prolifically they have not produced. They are only 2 years old, though. Maybe next year. I've got five cherries on my cherry tree that are up way too high to pick. My pears are coming along nicely though.

Then Mom called me again to say there were some ripe berries on her blueberry trees (not bushes, these things are 7 feet tall), about a quarts worth so I could pick those tomorrow when I come in to drop off the kids. I usually get several gallons of blueberries over the course of the season, but its always fun to get the first ones.

I'm going to drive by where the farm stand is and see if they have any more cherries available. The season is so short and the 15 pounds for $15 was finished a week ago. We love eating them fresh, but I read a thing recently that said you could pit them and freeze them, so I may try that. Mom has a cherry pitter if she can find it.

Sometimes I wonder

July 14th, 2006 at 02:36 am

You know, the schools here have only been out for 24 days. My first flyer for back to school specials came in the mail today. WalMart. I wonder why the do that so soon? It seems crazy to me, because school doesn't start back up again here until September 5 (I think) and August would certainly be soon enough. I suppose since I am going to WalMart anyway, I'll look the stuff over. It's hard to find what I need if I wait too long. What I need being a yellow folder, yellow three ring binder, yellow pencil box, and hopefully a new yellow backpack to replace the one that was murdered by the car door and pulled along the highway without my son apparently noticing. I wasn't on that side of the car or I would have noticed. It was in shreds when we stopped 35 minutes later. It took me forever to find a yellow backpack last year. And why aren't any other colors acceptable to my six year old son? Sigh.

At least with Rose, I can go pink or purple or even green (although lime or neon only). Yellow is hard. But that's Tobias for you. Fixates and doesn't deviate.

I really need to go through the kids' clothes, weed out what no longer fits and what has stains on it that can become play clothes instead of school clothes and then whatever is left make an inventory of the garment type and the colors, so I can buy compatible colors so they can all mix and match. My daughter has been the same size for 3 years except that she keeps growing taller, so needs longer and longer clothes. Tobais was a size 4 at the start of kindergarten and he's just starting to outgrow his 6's. We got a couple of hand me down jeans that were never worn in size 7, so that's a good starting place for him.

I think I will start cashing out G.C.'s for Target or WalMart or Kmart when I do MyPoints now, instead of gas cards. It's going to be pricey. But not as pricey as last year. Maybe half the cost. Rose has a birthday coming up so I'll nose it around that clothes will make good presents. She has far too many toys, though books or video games are okay. But mostly clothes from us. And the dreaded slumber party. Well, she'll get plenty of loot from that.

I guess I'm using the blog today to order my thoughts and strategize my plan.

I just realized I have been blogging for just over 3 months now. Where did the time go and how did my attitude towards finances alter so much?

WalMart Run Tomorrow

July 14th, 2006 at 12:27 am

Okay, this is another store I have a very hard time getting out of without spending over a $100 and I need to go there tomorrow to get PH chemicals for the pool. Without getting sidetracked by the gardening stuff. Without getting sidetracked by the CD's and DVD's. Without going anywhere else in the store except the back to get new shoes for my son. His feet just keep growing. Well, he can now tie his shoes so we can have a little more selection than just whatever has Velcro fasteners on them.

So, pool chemicals and shoes. It shouldn't be that hard, so why do I have a feeling it will be?

Costco Run Tomorrow

July 14th, 2006 at 12:21 am

Tomorrow is payday and I will be making a run to Costco. It is often quite hard for me to get out of Costco without paying over $100. My goal is to be under that. So I will make my list here of what I need, so I can stick to it and hopefully it won't be too high.

Kosher beef hotdogs
Large pack shredded romaine leaves
3 pack English cucumbers
bananas if they have them and they look good
paper towels
Omega 3 organic eggs
Paradise Valley organic creamy mashed potatoes (dehydrated)
pepperoni
Canaian bacon
Kraft Singles

That should do it. I just need to avoid going through any sections of the store that I don't need to go through.

Book Report Vent

July 14th, 2006 at 12:11 am

Right now I have a book out from the library called Not Buying It. It has been talked about before, as I learned about it from one of the blogs here. I'm about five chapters in, and it took me until about page 50 before I could adapt to the writer's rather choppy writing style.

I don't know, she's awfully foul-mouthed for someone who wrote a non-fiction book and it always jars me right out of the text. I'm not big on swearing, but I do recognize that there might be places where it could be utilized appropriately, such as someone dropping a ten pound ice block on their foot and letting out an expletive. I do not, however think it should be used casually and this author is very offhand about it. We have too much stuff is fine. We have too much s*** seems very unnecssary. It makes her sound less educated than she obviously is.

Beyond that, so far I feel like her experience is that of a pampered princess who chose to deprive herself of consumer goods simply so she could write a book about it. I get the feeling the whole time that that is the only reason she is doing it at all, to one year later make a profit. Just makes me glad I didn't buy the book, but got it from the library.

Maybe its just too hard for me to empathize with someone who gave up caviar or new skis and thinks that is a sacrifice. That that is rouging it.

I hope the book gets better, I still have seven months to go.

Library Refund

July 13th, 2006 at 11:59 pm

My husband lost a book from the library several months ago and had to pay for it, $6. But you have up to a year to find the book and return it and get your money back. Well, he found it last month and turned it in. Today I received the refund check from the library of $5.45, the total minus DH's last 15 cent overdue fine. So that goes into savings tomorrow when I do all the banking.

I have been very careful about getting my items turned in on time, DH not so much, but he is getting a little better. It just seems so silly to pay anything for books that are free to read for 3 weeks, with an additional 3 weeks if you recheck it. And you can recheck it online. Not that I've been perfect, but since I've been trying not to, I haven't had an overdue on my card.

In My Mailbox

July 13th, 2006 at 11:52 pm

Today I got samples of Dove Sheer Moisture Shampoo and Conditioner and Dove Shampoo Therapy and Conditioner. Each one is single use for me, though if my hair was short I could get two uses out of it. Growing it out though, so I don't have to pay for haircuts all the time. No coupons.

I also got Herbal Essences hello hydration Shampoo and Conditioner, which should easily both give two uses, possibly three. At first there didn't appear to be a coupon, but I hadn't taken off the plastic wrap completely. Between the plastic wrap and the cardboard there was a little fold out paper that was the same color as the box and I would have missed in entirely if I hadn't double checked. It looked like just a long picture of their products until I unfolded it completely, and there at the very end was a $1.00 off coupon for any one shampoo, conditioner, and styler in their line.

Pays to double check is the moral of my story.

More in Savings

July 13th, 2006 at 09:55 pm

Today was the day of the automatic transfer to savings of $10. That brings the total in that account to $477.34.

One of my click-thru payouts made it to paypal yesterday and I am waiting for the transfer from paypal to my CU account. That is $3.

I am still waiting to hear from the other one as it is not in paypal yet. I should be able to cash out another click-thru on Friday.

I've also signed up for a couple more and deleted 2 that pay 1/4 and 1/3 cent per email read. That is just a waste of my time altogether. Sticking with mostly the 1 cent ones. So far this month my click thru earnings have been $19. Not bad for something I do while listening to a book on tape or watching a DVD.

Unnecessary Things

July 12th, 2006 at 02:58 am

Now we've gotten rid of 2 things to cut our expenses. The first was digital cable (all cable, not just digital) and the second was the daily newspaper. I am debating on what to cut next that I consider to be a much wanted, but not needed item. I'm thinking about the 2nd phone line. That's a tough one, since I'm online a lot and we are still on dial-up. I wish our cell phones worked at our house, we have to go a mile down the road and then our reception is fine the whole way to town except a small 1/4 of a mile stretch in the valley of two foothills. That would make dropping the extra phone line so easy. Oh, well, unless they actually decide to use the technology of floating cell receiver balloons over areas of bad reception, I'm out of luck.

Oh, and even though we are not paying for cable anymore they still haven't shut it off. They were supposed to on Friday. I called to double check and we are not being charged. So, however long it takes them, I get free cable.


<< Newer EntriesOlder Entries >>