I hit my August savings goal of $800, actually went a bit past it. I had the auto deposit of $10 today but also went down and added in $17.15 bringing me to a grand total of $810. Just $190 to go to hit the big $1000 mark.

My goal for the month of September will to be to bank at least $100. I think I can do it. I think I can do better than do it, as I have the set $10 per week and I am supposed to be putting in the old cable payment of $65 each month now, though that went into new tires this month. With that though, that's $105 and I'll make a few bucks with PTR's so it shouldn't be a problem. If I could push hard enough, I might make the whole $190 bit I'm not sure I want to push that hard and with soccer I will have to spend more on gas. I don't want to cut to the bone.

We'll see. I have to wait on what the new payment will be on the consolidated credit card before I can finalize the new budget.

I am making my first step beyond a traditional savings account Friday. I am taking $500 in my savings account and putting it into a 3 month CD at 3.75%. I know that does not seem like a lot of money to you diehard savers and I know I can get 5% at an internet bank, but I just have not done enough research on the internet banks to make me happy. I figure this way, I'll have 3 months to research and if I still need more time, I can up it to another 3 months.

Plus, a 3 month CD seems like a good start, it won't tie the money up for too long, and I'll get used to it as being untouchable. Yet, I'll still have $300 instantly available to me in my regular savings account. I don't need this money before April at the earliest, so I think I can safely do this.

This is a very simple step and yet it is so scary to me. Not so scary that I won't do it, though. Hmm, and maybe if I push real hard, I can have another $500 to put into a 3 month CD by January 1st. They don't do $1000 CD's for less than 9 months at this CU, so if I want the money in April, that's the best I can do. But I am happy with the decision.

Last night I googled myself. Not me, but LuckyRobin, just out of curiosity. Wow. And of course, all of it related to stuff from here or some other blog sites that had cherry picked a couple posts. Never had any kind of presence on the web before. Certainly not with my real name.

I got caught up in an old forum post about ING vs. Emigrant Direct. It took me 5 hours to read the whole thing. So much good information there. Now I have to go read the one about ED vs. HSBC. I am a long way from making any decisions, not without more information.

The money from ReadRevenue showed up in my paypal account today so transferred that to my credit union and with any luck it will show up by Friday so I can add that $3 to my savings account. I was hoping to hit $800 in savings by the end of August, so after tomorrow's automatic deposit will be $7.15 short. So I think I will go on over there and add ten bucks more in since I will be in town anyway.

The closer school gets, the more my kids are fighting, it seems. I only have to get through 6 more days of that. Less, if I can talk Mom into an overnight with them. Here's hoping. I think they just may kill each other before that. I miss my good kids and wonder when they plan on coming back.

Soccer starts next week, too. I've heard from Rose's coach but not Tobias' coach yet. Hopefully, I don't have to spend a lot of time tracking that info down like I did last season. It is a pain in the neck to do. I'm not looking forward to the extra gas spent shlepping to practices but I think the exercise will wear them out and help them sleep better on the new change to school sleep schedule. Because I haven't had much luck trying to adapt them back off the summer schedule even though it is getting dark shortly after 8 right now.

I can't wait for next Tuesday!

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.

Tonight (or technically yesterday) was my mother's 67th birthday. It was me and my kids, my sister and her three youngest kids, my neice (from my other sister) and her husband, and my parents. My mother invited everyone over for dinner tonight, and out of my sister, neice, and me, I'm the only one who stayed in the kitchen to help my mother out. No one ever helps but me, anyway, but come on, its her birthday and they don't lift a finger? That is so not right.

But the meal was fabulous and I got a ton of leftovers to take home. A big gallon Ziploc full of fried chicken, a quart of gravy (only fitting, as I made this), 2 quarts of green beans, and a quart Ziploc full of broccoli/cauliflower (which I'd also made). No one else went home with leftovers, one of the benefits of working in the kitchen. Anyway, I have enough there for at least 4 meals for me and the kids for free. I just need to add potatoes or corn.

I may make soup with the bones, depends on if the weather drops out of the 80's or not. I am not having a stock pot on the stove all day in this heat. Well, maybe the crockpot, though.

DH is gone again, took him to the airport before I went to Mom's. Just as well, as there would have been no gravy left if he'd gone to Mom's, LOL.

We had a pair of twins move in 3 houses down today, a boy and girl aged 6.5. Tobias is in heaven. And they will come to our bus stop when school starts.

I listened to the first CD in "The Automatic Millionaire" and it was really good. I did it while I was doing my PTR emails. I wanted to be listening to Damia (book on tape by Anne McCaffrey) instead, but after the first 5 minutes I was really enjoying it.

I have just finished reading an anthology of Robert Heinlein stories, his juvenile space adventure stories which was quite good. I'm a couple chapters into The Best of Living Cheap News on the financial side and started 1 Million A.D., an anthology of speculative science fiction stories.

I am not buying anymore books this year unless they are by Elizabeth Moon or Anne McCaffrey. I have a list of financial books I am getting from the library as I finish one. And I have about 500 books in my den that I have ordered from the SFBC that I became a member of in 1990 but never got around to reading. Okay, that is an exaggeration, but I have a six foot tall bookcase double stacked on their sides with hard back books. I don't need to buy more. I just need to work through what I have and start listing them on half.com or somewhere to sell.

I am reading so much more without the cable tv. It really frees up my time.

The $3.00 from paypal from GaryMails was deposited in my account this morning, so I transferred that from checking to savings, bringing that account up to $782.85.

I cashed out ReadRevenue for $3.00 this morning. I'm not close on anything else at the moment, so it will probably be next week before I cash out more.

I'm only doing a couple right now. Once the kids go back to school, I may do more, but I've promised myself that as soon as school starts I will go to Curves to exercise 3x per week, and ride my bike outside for an hour at least twice a week. I will also spend 2 hours a day writing. I've got a great outline and 25 pages and just need to write oh, about 175 more. If I'm in the flow I can do about 10 pages a day.

Then there's all the housework to get done while the children are not underfoot, so I have maybe one hour a day to do click-thrus while no one is home. Maybe an hour in the evening during homework. But we will be running for soccer (both kids) so who knows?

I received the $3 from the new PTR cash out into paypal today so transferred that into my bank account. $1000 here I come, LOL.

I thought I would post the PTR's that I have actually received money from.

Classical-Mails
Time-Mails
YeahCash
ReadRevenue
CashOrigin
TinklyCash
GaryMails
CashforAction

And the one I have not received payment for so far despite follow up email:

Seekbizs

Our freezer quit working in a quite spectacular fashion. Combine this with the door being left open a couple inches and it was not a pretty site that greeted me. Since it is older than I am by a few years, I guess I'm surprised it lasted this long.

There is no fix to it, it won't turn on anymore and there were sparks involved and a rather obnoxious noise when it quit. So we had a nice 2 inch layer of water/ice cream/stickiness of unknown origin to deal with on the laundry room floor. Okay, well it is mostly cleaned up now, though there is still a high level of stickiness. But I am soaking that up with wet towels and hopefully by morning it will just wipe up. One can hope.

We probably lost about $300 worth of food since we had a lot of beef, chicken, and fish and shellfish in it. Very little was salvageable. Pretty much just the butter and some bricks of cheese and frozen berries that were in the back behind everything else and were still frozen solid.

Well, today was payday and we did have the $65 that we normally used for the cable bill when we still had cable that was going to go into savings and I was ahead on the house insurance payment, so the extra money I was sending there I combined with the old cable money and we bought a half size chest freezer at Sears for $189 with tax. At least the door to this one can't be left open. Well, it could, but people would notice.

Fortunately it only took the freezer 4 hours to get cold. We did a big Costco run today, $145, and were able to cage freezer space from a neighbor until it was cold, but we would have just used our ice chests if we couldn't have.

Obviously savings did not get as big a boost today as planned, but I did put in the $50 I owed it, so it is now at $779.85, so I have passed my goal of $750 and am on my way to my next goal of $1000. Just $221.15 to go. I'm a little irritated when I think it should be $844.85, but for the freezer debacle and then I'd only have $155.15 to go. I need to look on the bright side and consider that at least I had the money available to replace the freezer without putting it on a credit card. That is always a blessing.

This purachase wouldn't be quite so bad if it wasn't for the fact that DH's birthday is on the 30th and he wants a weight bench. Well, that will have to wait until next month. My mother's birthday is on the 28th and I have to figure out what I will do for that. I have to drive DH to the airport that same day. My sister and her family will be at my mom's for dinner so we will make it back in time to go there, also.

Today I also stopped at a farm stand and spent $10 on fresh fruit and some sweet corn.

Bills paid were the power bill, internet bill, propane tank rental bill, and phone bill. I also have to pay the mortgage out of this paycheck and the medical mortgage, but haven't made it into those banks yet. Will probably do so on Monday.

Also spent $55 to get a new tire for my ten-speed and had them put it on the wheel. It is made for bumpy roads or it would have been $15 cheaper for the tire. We have very bumpy roads out here, so felt the expense was justified. DH will put the wheel back on my bike in the morning and he has already put on the new, cushy gel seat and then he has to put the new pedals on his bike and we need to finish teaching Tobias how to ride without the training wheels, he's about five minutes from it so should be good by the end of the day tomorrow. Then we can start riding again, this time as a family.

Samples in the mail today were Degree anti-perspirant, biore face wash (2) and pore strip (1), and miessences body wash. I just sent for that last one this week, so it came super fast.

Paid fines at the library today (not my fines, DH, the kids, which is DH's responsibility as well, and one lost book of T's) and picked up my hold, which is a book on CD as the library didn't have the book at all. It is The Automatic Millionaire. Should be interesting.

I have to write a balance transfer check out and mail it off tomorrow. It will pay off the Chase card and then everything will be combined onto the other card, so we will be down to just two credit cards with balances on them. This one is at 6.99% until April. Two payments will be a lot easier to manage and keep track of.

I think that pretty much covers everything that we did today.

Today is the day of the weekly auto deposit of $10 to savings bringing the total in there up to $715.56.

Today I intend to deposit:
$8.29 check from the cable company refund
$7.00 that I borrowed from the change jar

That will bring the total to $730.85.

If all goes according to plan, then tomorrow I will deposit $65, which is the amount of the old cable payment, and $50 that I still owe savings from earlier this month.

Well, DH did not get the new job...but they are going to install the new software on his computer anyway so he can master it and they are going to start grooming him for that position for the intended opening of a new project in 12 to 18 months. So, better than what it he might have been left with which would be nothing. And the new guy could still go kaplooey.

Although, I suppose its not nice to actually wish for that, but so many of the new hires can't hack the work conditions, especially come winter. I mean, arctic circle people. It's gonna be dark most of the time. And cold. And then there's the family seperation, which some people are not suited for. I do okay, as I'm a loner and DH does okay though not as well as me, he's less of a loner. The kids are who its the hardest on. So maybe he'll have twelve kids and they won't be able to stand it. Though come to think of it, having twelve kids might make him want to stay up there, LOL.

Okay, so no bad wishing they go kaplooey, but we will be happy if they have to leave due to circumstances beyond their ability to cope. >;o}

Well, DH will be able to pick up an extra week in December and some extra days in January when his alternate goes on vacation. If we are careful and don't let it slip through our fingers, we should be able to bank about $2500 into the new car fund just from that. Here's hoping anyway.

I cashed out a $3 click-thru this morning. I am still trying to track down the missing payment of $5 from another one at the beginning of August. Still waiting on an $11 survey check.

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 sent in registration forms for Rose and Tobais for fall soccer along with the athletic fees of $52.50 per kid for a total of $105. Ouch. But considering that last year I was paying $85 a month for dance fees and nearly $140 a month for tae kwon do tuition, $105 for 8 weeks for 2 kids is pretty small and they get 4 hours of exercise each a week for that.

I've been saving Shell cards as I get them from My Points so that I will have the gas for all the extra running around, 12 miles one way to the practice field 3 to 4 times per week depending on whether the kids turn out on the same days or not, plus the 25 miles one way to the Saturday gamesplex fields. Hopefully by the time spring soccer season rolls around we'll have the hybrid and it won't be so bad.

Did okay on grocery shopping. Some stuff was on sale, mostly all of it. Had coupons for ketchup and it was on sale, so ended up getting two 36 ounce bottles of Heinz for $1.75 each. There are only 3 things in this world that I have brand loyalty, too. Heinz ketchup, Miracle Whip salad dressing, and French's mustard. Well, the last one is DH, who barely eats mustard but must have that brand for when he makes deviled eggs. But I now have a good stash of the brandies to hold us off for awhile and can go back to my no name store brand stuff for everything else.

Spent a few cents under $100 for 2 weeks worth of groceries. Was restocking some staples on sale or would have only spent $70. Haven't made it to Costco yet this paycycle and hoping to avoid it until the September paycycle begins.

Also went to WalMart to buy a birthday present for my neice's party today. While there I picked up the cheap meds, vitamin C, nasal spray, Rolaids. I was given a free sample of Oxy Clear acne wash or something like that. Well, maybe Rose can use it in a few years but so far puberty has brought no zits. Spent less than $30 total there.

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.

Well, Rose finally learned how to ride her bike today. Not just the riding, but the starting and stopping by herself part as well. It's been a long time coming but I am just so happy and she's through the roof.

Now we can work on teaching Tobias to ride without training wheels. I am sure he will pick it up about ten times faster than Rose did. But he's fearless.

Now we will have to get our bikes down out of the rafter's of Mom's garage. I need a new seat put on mine as I don't do that type of bike seat anymore. Mine will cost $20. The tires are still in good shape, just need air, and the chain is okay, just needs to be greased.

DH needs a new pedal and a new bike seat. This could get a little costly, but the return in family fun and exercise will be worthwhile. I just hope this old body will react okay with riding. I haven't ridden a bike since 1994, when I was 24. I've been pregnant or recovering from pregnancy or miscarriage, or having abdominal surgery or recovering from having abdominal surgery for the past 12 years. That makes bike riding hard.

But I seem to be past all that now, can't get pregnant anymore without those bits or get endometriosis or PCOS without those bits, don't have a gall bladder or an appendix, don't have much left they could take out, well maybe a kidney, my spleen, or another tumor, but let's hope not, LOL. So I think the bout of abdominal surgeries is well and truly over. And I can ride again. Well, we'll see. That could be an adventure.

Oh, that does sound melodramatic, doesn't it? Well, its not all that drama laden, but sometimes those titles are a bit hard to come up with.

Anyway, ride bracelets were more expensive this year. $20 each, so $40 total for 2 kids. Each kid got a $12 souvinier each.

Foods purchased:
2 kids cones with hard packed ice cream made on site--$5.00
2 adult cones, same--$6.00
2 rainbow snocones--$3.50
2 single flavor snocones--2.50
1 corn dog--$2.00
1 plateful of spatezle, hungarian goulash, carmlized onions and sour kraut--$9.00
large Pepsi--$4.00
3 20 ounce bottles of soda (grape, root beer, Pepsi)--$6.00
1 deluxe funnel cake with powdered sugar, about 2 cups of sugared strawberries and about a cup of whipped cream on top--$7.50
1 bag of cotton candy--$2.00

Total spent on fair food: $45.50. It looks awful but when you consider that is about how much it costs us as a family of four to eat out in a Mexican restaurant with tip, it doesn't seem quite so bad.

We did leave the fair grounds at 7 p.m. and walk the 8 blocks to McDonalds and had double cheese burgers and dollar fries there with waters. Then walked back. We spent about $10 there.

DH lost the reciept for the adult tickets we bought so I'm not sure on that. All in all we spent the $100 planned for the fair.

The ten bucks at McD's came out of the gas money, but I will replace it out of the grocery budget.

Oh, yeah, I did make a purchase of $4.50 to buy a bottle of organic honey mustard (they had samples, DH liked it and he doesn't like mustard usually) that was really good. But I took that out of the gas money, too but will replace it from my grocery budget.

Other loot we came home with for free:
several penicils
2 rulers
2 frisbees
2 can holders
1 yoyo
1 mini flashlight
1 glasses clip for clipping glasses to a sunvisor
a dozen stickers
2 Canadian maple leaf lapel pins from the Canadian border guard booth
2 coloring books
1 highlighter pen
1 antenna ball
1 jar opener that will also work as a coaster in a pinch from the US Customs/Border booth
2 buttons
several recipe pamphlets

I think there is more stuff, but the kids absconded with some of it before I woke up this morning and I didn't really get to go through it all

I'm glad the fair only comes once a year, though. I think we walked about 7 miles if I go based on what it said on Rose's pedometer. It was really hot, so I was glad there were several places we could find shade. Still got overheated though and I don't like that. I spent some time just sitting in the shade while DH herded the kids through the animal barns. That helped. Took me a few hours after the sun went down to completely recover. Feel okay today, just really sore from all the walking and I have a blister between two toes. Not too bad though.

I feel it was a succesful day and the kids know there won't be any more eating out this month and well into next month.

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.

Sigh. We blew a tire on the way into town tonight. This is one that has already been repaired 3 times so I knew there was no fix to it and I was right. Fortunately DH did not lose control of the car and we were able to pull off to the side of the road within 1/10 of a mile on a nice wide piece of shoulder. And it was a good place to pull off, too, which was a relief because of course it was on the driver's side, closest to the highway traffic.

I am so grateful DH was home. Two days ago I would have been trying to figure out how to change it by myself. I learned many years ago but that was on my old Nova. Even DH had to look in the owner's manual to figure out where the jack went. I'm just really glad I had the locking nuts removed the last time we bought new tires. Had to have them cut off at the time as the tool got tossed out accidently years ago.

Our spare went on as easy as can be but the tire pressure was different between the two front tires and that pulled the alignment out worse than it was already. We decided to go ahead and get two new tires as the tire place had a sale on right now, instead of just one. The other tire was still okay but the wear pattern was a little off and I prefer not to mess around with stuff like that too much when DH is gone so often.

So we bought the two tires that were on sale but ended up getting a free upgrade when they couldn't find the sale tires, even though the computer said they had them. We went ahead and had it realigned since it was so badly out of whack. I had planned on getting it realigned next week anyway when we got the oil change done, so I did have the money for that set aside. It was the tires and their installation money I didn't have.

Well, we charged the extra and we will pay that off next month. It means less eating out again, but we are getting used to that. We were lucky in that we got to the tire shop at 6:10 and they closed at 6:30. The only tire shop in the area that is open past 6:00. And we have bought tires there before and like the shop, too.

We are also lucky this did not happen tomorrow when we were on the way to the fair. I would have hated to have spoiled our day that we have been planning.

If an incident like this has to happen, it happened under all the best possible circumstances. I feel watched over today.

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.

Tommorrow we are going to the Northwest Washington Fair or as we call it, just the Lynden Fair, because it is in Lynden and is faster to say.

My sister gave me two free children's tickets that her kids won at a homeschool thing they do. But since they are in the process of moving to Mount Lake Terrace they aren't going this year. The value of the tickets is $3 each, so we'll be saving $6 for the kids.

I Believe adult fair is $6 each and then we have to get ride bracelets for the kids. They are now old enough that we don't have to get ride bracelets to go on with them now. Still they cost about $15 to $18 depending on the day. I think it's more expensive tomorrow but it was the only day we can go.

We are planning for one meal there and our other meal we are packing. We usually eat in the 4-H food building so can get quite a good deal on food over buying it at all the little stalls. And good food, too like chicken, fresh sweet corn, and potatoes. Not corn dogs or sausages on a stick or Bavarian doughnut balls or squirrely fries (which the latter has always been just an invitation to food poisoning for DH and me anyway).

Though we will get a funnel cake for the 4 of us to split and we will get a bag of cotton candy to take home for the next day, as eating both part of a funnel cake and half a bag of cotton candy in one day would make Rose's blood sugar go ballistic and we won't even say what that would do to Tobias and his temper. Too much sugar and he is monstrous in attitude.

Each child can have one souvenier that we will buy and if they want to use their own money they can get something more. We usually let them each get one face painting but I am going to try to avoid that this year and remind them firmly of how much their faces itched last time and how it was so hot they sweat the design off within a few hours anyway.

I have budgeted $100 for this day trip, so hopefully I can keep it under that and not right up to it. I will only have that much in my wallet so that it can't go over it. It seems very extravagant for me to spend $100 for one day, but as we are not having a vacation this year at all, one day isn't too bad for our biggest thing of summer.

Today was the day of the automatic weekly deposit of $10 to savings, bringing the total in there to $705.56. $44.44 to go to hit my next goal.

Well, we have a chance to refinance the $149,000 that is left of the mortgage my parents took out on their house to pay my medical bills. The interest rate is a lot lower, the payments would be $300 a month less than what we are making. And it would get paid off ten years sooner.

They are checking with one other company first, but it looks like it will be a go. She didn't want to say anything to me until she knew that everything checked out. So with that $300 a month we could make a car payment. By April we will have $5000 saved up for a down payment. Maybe more, depending on whether or not we can sell the Blazer.

So, this means that even if my husband does not get the better new job with his current company, we will still be able to get the sorely needed new vehicle.

The job closes tomorrow and then it is a waiting game. His boss really wants him to move into this new job, and he (the boss) has some say but not final say. But...there are 6 other people who have applied for it. One has a bachelor's degree who has been out of the industry for 4 years working as a carpenter. One is just finishing up his master's degree and has absolutely no real life job experience. 2 DH works with and and one has no drafting background which has been part of the problem with people in this position before not working out. The other is close to retirement wage and already makes more than the new job pays, which he didn't realize when he applied. So that leaves 2 wild cards we know nothing about.

I am hoping they are the flaky type they've had in the past. Where they ask for petrochemical experience and get a resume from someone who has pumped gas for the last 20 years. But I doubt it. I know that we are probably taken care of now on the needing to get a new car issue.

But I still want this for DH and I know how badly DH wants it, too. He wants to do this before his degree gets rusty. And I want it for our finances. To be able to throw $1000 extra at our debt each month would mean so much towards getting out from under all this massive debt.

Aside from the medical mortgage we still have about roughly $74,000 between the mortgage on our own house and what we have left on our credit cards. $223,000 total. I want it gone. Some days I wish we had declared medical bankruptcy instead of trying to pay this all off ourselves. I don't know where we would be if the hospital hadn't cut our bill in half and we hadn't had medical insurance at all.

DH is a hard worker and a good worker and he really deserves this. I so hope it happens. It would be the answer to so much. I don't have my hopes up though. I'm afraid to because I just don't want to be disappointed.

And to think I didn't think I had anything to blog about tonight and almost skipped. LOL Guess I was wrong.

Okay, let's see how I did, today.

Organic milk (gal.)--normally $5.49 on sale for $4.99
Regular milk (gal.)--normally $3.49 on sale for $1.99
Iceberg lettuce--normally (in summer) .99 on sale for .49
Green grapes--normally (in summer) $1.69 lb for total of $2.64 on sale for .98 lb--$1.52
32 ounce Heinz ketchup--normally $2.39 with .50 coupon $1.89
1 container Pilsburry milk chocolate frosting--normally $1.99 with .40 off coupon $1.49
4 jars Miracle Whip--normally $3.19 per jar, on sale 2 for $3.00 limit 4
2 packages Dannon Danimals drinkable yogurt--normally $3.19 a pack on sale for $2.99 plus $1.00 coupon if you buy 2
Kroger 2 lb cheddar cheese--normally $5.99--on sale for $4.99 with $1.00 coupon was $3.99
20 cans 8 ounce FMV tomatoe sauce--normally .33 each for total of $6.60 on sale for .19 each for total of $3.80

not on sale
2 nectarines @ $2.49 lb was $2.04
Vicks Sinex 12 hour ultra fine mist nasal spray $6.49

Fred Meyer Reward rebate coupon of $3.00 off any purchase

Total regular price: $50.62
Actual price paid: $37.32
Money Saved: $13.30


But I would never buy some of the stuff at the non-sale prices to begin with. The Miracle Whip and Heinz ketchup or the brick cheese for example would be cheaper at Costco in the big bottles or brick but with the sale and the coupons the weren't. So I don't know how true my actual money savings is. My total in non store coupons was $4.40 and with my rebate coupon of $3 I know for sure I saved $7.40 over what I would have normally spent.

So for me True savings was: $7.40. But it was still fun to calculate it all out.

Now if we turn my receipt over we have 1/2 off a second sandwich if you buy a sandwich meal at Port of Subs

$2.00 off any hair cut at Great Clips

$5.00 off two dinner entrees at On Rice Thai Cusine

$18.99 for an oil change and filter at Expert Tire

And a couple other coupons I wouldn't use.

We will for sure use the Great Clips coupon though. Both DH and Tobias need hair cuts and they like Great Clips.

With that coupon, I'd say true savings is $9.40 and if we use the oil change one its about $6 off the regular price around here.

$2 from paypal came through to my checking account this morning so I transferred that to savings, bringing the total to $695.56.

I don't think I'm obsessively worrying about whether or not DH will get this new job with his current company during the day but at night time it seems to be the only thing on my mind.

There is nothing wrong with his current job, it pays well enough to get us by. Maybe it is just that I am so tired of "just" getting by. And that this other job is such a large step up the pay scale.

I want breathing room. More than breathing room, really. I want to be able to buy a new car and not have to keep babying along the '92 and the '96. I feel like I just keep throwing good money after bad with those money pits. Its getting close to the point of not having much choice and if I can only keep one of them going until April when we get back our tax return we should have enough to get something better than what we have.

With the new job though, we would be able to get something really good. Something that isn't too old and gets excellent gas mileage and is reliable enough so we can go back to just having one car again. Maybe even a brand new car. I've never owned a brand new car. I'm not sure if I ever will, but I want to be able to have it as a choice that I could buy one.

So we are saving for it. That is what our long-term savings is planned for. That is what I so obssessively add money to and update on my blog each time I do. And then...I see other people doing stupid things that they shouldn't be doing and getting yet another vehicle they can't really afford. When they didn't need it. They just wanted it.

Other people being SIL and BIL. Again. I have deep running issues with the way SIL and BIL are about money. Mostly because they don't have it but still spend it like the do have it and this is after claiming bankruptcy 5 years ago. No, this actually goes back further than this. But I don't suppose I'll get into it tonight. Much.

Its just hard to watch people get handed things over and over and over again. And we are doing everything we can to sacrifice right now so we can get what we need and pay the hospital debt we owe. A debt we couldn't help. Not a debt we could help or a debt we walked away from. Sometimes I wish we had, but I don't think I was raised to believe it was an option.

There are so many issues that darn new truck of theirs brings up with me. I hate feeling like this. I feel petty and childish and surly. I know their lives have not been a cakewalk but it has been charmed at times beyond their fair share, you know? Stupid, jealous green-eyed monster has ahold of me.

My daughter is forever saying "Life isn't fair!" To which I reply, "Whoever said it was supposed to be?" Dang it, I wish it was supposed to be.

Did I mention that SIL and BIL have digital cable and digital internet? Okay, stop it. You are not a Jones. Quit trying to covet like one!

We'll get there. I know we will. Eventually. But that new job would really, really help. It would improve my attitude markedly as well. I like being positive. So negativity begone. Thanks for the rant.

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.

Received the new click-thru deposit to paypal today. So I transferred that $2 to the CU. That makes 4 confirmed 1 cent paid to reads that payout. I am going to discontinue the lesser amount PTRs as I hit payout and stick with these.

I had a nice little break from doing them, though and am not going to spend quite so much time on them. I do them around blog readings as the pages load or while watching a DVD or listening to a book on tape, but no just sitting and doing them.

I am still waiting for the payment from Classical Mails. They take forever. It says 3 to 15 days but last time they took the full 15 and they seem to be taking it this time, too. I don't understand why it takes so long when they are the same company that runs one of the one cent ones I do that pays out in 48 to 72 hours. I want my $5. Sigh.

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.

This is fairly new, but something I've started so I'll use my blog to plan. This is for family meals so I won't state quantities. We have a higher protein content due to Rose's prediabetes and the rest of us eat pretty much the same as she does and we eat our largest meal of the day at lunch. I can plan to use up leftovers and know what items I need to make larger batches of by writing it out. That's all this post is about so if you aren't interested, skip on.

Day One

Breakfast
organic O's cereal with milk
blueberries
cucumber slices
eggs

Lunch
small salad
corn on the cob
chicken
green beans
milk
homemade strawberry frozen fruit bar

Dinner
chicken quesadilla
broccoli/cauliflower

Day Two

Breakfast

turkey ham
cantaloupe
whole grain toast with blackberry preserves
milk

Lunch

Spaghetti noodles with homemade sauce of tomatoes, garlic, scallions, oregano, basil, rosemary, thyme, red bell pepper
3 cheese garlic meatballs
Homemade French bread with homemade garlic/parsley butter
kohlrabi
milk

Dinner
Meatball sandwiches made with the lunch leftovers of sauce and bread
broccoli/cauliflower
apple juice

Day 3
Blueberry Muffin
Frittata (eggs, turkey ham, cheese, chopped broccoli/cauliflower) topped with a bit of leftover sauce from previous day
milk

Lunch
tacos (meat, lettuce, cheese, shell)
blueberries stirred into vanilla yogurt
carrots
ice cream
orange juice

Dinner
taco salads made with leftovers from lunch
milk

Day Four

Breakfast

Homemade beef sausage patties
organic O's cereal with milk and blueberries

Lunch
big beef pot roast
mashed potatoes (make big pot, save out half before mashing) with homemade beef gravy
cucumber slices
big batch broccoli/cauliflower
milk

Dinner
small salad
roast beef hash made with leftover potroast and leftover potatoes
nectarines
carrot/apple juice (freshly juiced)
blueberry muffin

Day Five

Breakfast

Hashbrowns (from saved out potatoes and 1/4 of an onion)
Egg scramble with cheese, low-sodium no sugar bacon, little chunks of broccoli and cauliflower, and onion
pineapple juice

Lunch

Homemade pizzas made with leftover beef sausage, pepperoni, ham, green peppers, onion and pineapple (pineapple only for DH's portion)
rest of pineapple (the rest of us will eat it raw only, not cooked)
milk

Dinner
Last of held out potatoes, pan fried, with salt, pepper, cumin, and oregano
canned salmon over lettuce

Day Six

Breakfast

whole grain toast with blackberry preserves
canned salmon omlette with cheese
milk

Lunch

Cod fish nuggets (homemade, just chunks of cod dipped in milk then in parmesan cheese
Baked potato with cheese and broccoli
vanilla yogurt with blueberries stirred in

Dinner

Meatloaf: dice up and throw in whatever veggies need to be used up as well as eggs, crumbs, cheese and a bit of tomato sauce into a ground beef/ground turkey base

Day Seven

Breakfast

Turkey ham
organic 0's cereal with milk
plums

Lunch

whole roasted chicken
roasted carrots and potatoes
green beans
cucumber slices
cherries
milk

Dinner

Leftover meatloaf sandwiches
cantaloupe
chocolate brownies
milk


For snacks it will vary between peanut butter celery or cream cheese celery, crackers with either cheddar or mozzarella, sunflower seeds and almonds with carrot sticks, air popped popcorn (2 cups at a time) and a bag of Bugles (to be eaten in one cup portions) with a small protein choice, usually nuts, and the bad one, Cheez Whiz on whole grain toast. I allow for a bit of junkiness in the kids's diets, but not much.

And that's all she wrote.