Lucky Robin's Personal Finance Blog

Well, all the leftover Mexican food got eaten for lunch today. I plan to finish off the veggies and a slice of pizza for dinner. Then all the leftovers will be gone, without having been wasted.

Today's auto transfer of $10 brings my long term savings account to $380.34. The transfer from paypal has not shown up yet. I also need to deposit $20 more into savings this month to meet my goal of $60 beyond the amount of the auto transfers. I will probably do that on Friday. The paypal money doesn't count for this goal. This is beyond that as well.

We went out to eat so much this past week that we have a whole lot of leftovers, so I decided that I am not cooking anything new until all the restaurant food is either gone or has gone off.

For breakfast I had one slice of thin crust pizza with Canadian bacon and green peppers. Had to take a rolaid, too or the green peppers kill me. Lunch was half a French dip with au jus and jojos. Dinner was one taco al carbon and half of my son's toasted cheese sandwich with a little Mexican rice. There are still a couple of enchiladas, more rice and some more jojos that will get eaten tomorrow. I also have some veggies to use up before they go off as well, so somewhere along the line there will be a zucchini, a crookneck yellow squash, a cucumber and some lettuce.

Received a coupon for a free 2 liter bottle of 7-UP. Of course, not before I went to the store and bought some to help nurse us through my bronchitis and Rose's sinus infection. I hate weather swings. We always get sick when it goes from one extreme to the other. Oh, well, on the bright side, I didn't get a weather migraine from the change in barometric pressure.

Today's expenses:

$15 co-pay for doctor's visit--Rose
$40 co-pay for brand name medicine--Rose
$15 co-pay for doctor's visit--Me
$40 co-pay for brand name medicine--Me
$ 5 co-pay for generic medicine--Me
$12.52 for Robitussin cold gels--2 packs--Me
$25 two types of ice cream (all natural), 2 bottles of 7-up, several boxes of Mrs. Grass Noodle Soup

Total damage: $152.52

I thank God we have health insurance on days like today.

My power bill came. It was $22.75. No that is not a typo. I had a credit of $70.25 and my new budget amount is $93. It was at $110, but the just refigured it. They do this quarterly on the budget plan. My actual usage would have cost $64.96. They may adjust it downward more, but who knows at this point. I'm just happy to free up $17 a month.

My KWH usage for the Apr-May period was 967. For the same period last year it was 2668 KWH.

The changes I have made are to avoid the dryer as much as I can. I have a five load bearing clothesline, 2 drying racks and 2 shower rods that I can hang clothes on from hangers to dry that way.

I have unplugged everything that does not need to be plugged in unless the outlet is too awkward to get to or it is like the TV or VCR/DVD player where you have to reset it each time you unplug it.

I am vigilant about turning the fans off when we are not needing them.

I make sure my son turns his CD player off every morning and unplugs it. He sleeps with it playing music all night. I'm trying to convince him that he should just let it play through once but he still thinks it needs to be repeating the CD all night long.

I am vigilant about lights not being left on when someone is out of that room.

We are turning our computers off at night.

I am using the microwave more often. When I do use the oven I try to bake more than one thing at a time and in large quantities so they can be divided up and frozen and then later thawed and cooked in the microwave. I am unplugging the microwave when not in use. Resetting it is easy.

So one big thing and lots of little things. It really does add up.

A little flyer that came in my bill is offering a handmade copper and brass coffee scoop and two bags of organic, shade grown, fair trade coffee from Grounds for Change (local to the PNW, uses 100% of its energy from the green power program) if you sign up for Puget Sound Energy's Green Power Program. This program charges at the minimum a $4 a month surcharge on your power bill that goes to support the development of renewable energy resources in the PNW. You can also contribute more to this program in increments of $2. So $4, $6, $8 and so on.

I am going to think about it for awhile. It's good until October 15. If I am saving $17 on my power bill now by reducing use, $4 might be worthwhile to me. That would only be a savings of $13 then, but I do strongly believe in the development of non-oil based or polluting energy sources. I think it is a necessity and when we can afford it we will get a hybrid car.

The thing I must ask myself is, if I put that $4 in the bank to go towards the car (which is what my long term savings account is for, if I hadn't mentioned it) will it make a bigger difference in the long run of getting the car earlier and polluting less that way? Or will supporting the development of resources now make a bigger difference. Like I said, I will have to think on it.

I deposited that check that had gone missing but I found last night, so it is safely in savings. I also got two piddly payments from paypal to verify the account and then put through a request for the funds transfer of $50 from my Vindale payment. Now I just have to wait for it to show up in my bank account. It says 3 to 4 business days, but it said that about the two piddly deposits, too and those came through today when I made the request on Saturday, so hopefully it will go fast and be there in the next two days or possibly even tomorrow.

It just has been such a long, drawn out process to get everything in place to receive money through paypal and now that it is all in place, I want to get that money in the savings account as soon as possible. When I do, I shall have $420.34 in long term savings. Not bad for a girl who just 2 short months ago had only $125 in one savings account, and $5 in the other. Now the $5 account has over $200 in it. That's over $500 in savings, I'm over the halfway mark to $1000. How on earth did that happen? And also, wow.

I have to earn 200 more points from MyPoints before I can cash out for another gas card. Gas prices are finally going down here. Average is now at $3.23, cheap Arco is at $3.11, Costco is at $3.09. The Shell station is at $3.15. I am glad I chose to get the rest of my gas cards from Shell because the Exxon/Mobil stations are at $3.23. I only have one Exxon left to use.

Spent $60 today on food. Not good. We had out both lunch and dinner. Now we have leftovers from both that will equal one more meal for all of us. It was the last day of school and Rose had early dismissal (Tobias had his last day Friday), and I think we all got a little over excited about having freedom this summer, so we celebrated a little too much.

I think eating out is really my Achille's heel. I have to keep a sharper eye out on that. We still could have had two meals out for around $25 if we'd just done McDonalds or DQ or even Arby's twice. I think I will make it my goal for the rest of the month. No more eating at restaurants. And just so I get the intent right from the actual words, no more getting takeout from restaurants, either. Know thyself. I know DH will want to go out when he gets home. At least once. Well, he doesn't fly out again until July 3, so I'll just make him wait until the 1st so I can honor my ban.

I found the check that I misplaced, so now I can deposit it into my savings account tomorrow. Well, today actually since its after midnight. I have to go to town for a chiropractic appointment anyway, and I had to go this CU anyway also, so the finding of it was convenient. Now if I can just find out what happened to the check that disappeared in February from the orthodontist reimbursement for overpayment, I'll be really happy.

Didn't do much today, er...yesterday. Spent $15 for lunch for myself and the kids at McDonalds, this included desserts, too or it would have been closer to $10. We stayed for a couple of hours so they could play and I could have a little time to myself (sort of). Then we went to MIL's house to give FIL his Father's Day card. We did my Dad's card yesterday.

DH won't get his until he's back in the state. He's at a safety conference in Anchorage right now, he has per diem for meals and usually ends up ahead on that. It's $30 a day but they provide lunch and snacks, so its not hard for him to have some leftover. It won't be any huge amount or anything, but he'll probably end up with at least $40 to put in the long term savings.

I added $40 today to my long term savings account, bringing my total up to $370.52. I am still looking for the check I misplaced from Send Earnings, which is also earmarked for that account and is $49 and some odd cents. I also received my 4th Shell gas card from MyPoints today.

I added $27.95 to my freezer money account, bringing the total of it up to $209.14.

I received my first box of checks for the new checking account and my first debit card ever that goes with it, along with my pin. I had everything shipped to the CU because it is safer than having it shipped here. We have kids that like to fool with the mailboxes out here and I have found anything from a chewed up nerf football to a paper plate with a pizza crust folded up in it in my mailbox before. So far no mail has turned up missing, but still.

My 4th Shell gas card from MyPoints arrived today. So I now have a total of $50 in gas cards and $20 in Bed Bath and Beyond cards.

I've been trying for awhile to find a specific item on freecycle, its been a few months now and I post for it once a week. So far no luck, so I decided to mosey on over to almostfree, didn't find it there, so decided to amble along to tradecycle. Low and behold I found the very thing I wanted and had they very thing they wanted to trade for. So tomorrow I will be receiving several bright orange dinnerplate dahlia plants and she will be digging up my fully established asparagus crowns that are currently in full fern, so really easy to locate. Yay!

It used to be I could never leave Costco under $100, usually $150 but that was with a case of diapers or pull-ups and wipes. Then after we didn't buy those anymore, I still couldn't get under $100 for a long time. Last time I went I came out of there having spent $48. And this was after a month long challenge to not go there at all. I was so proud of myself.

I write a list and stick to it now. I do not go through the toys, dvds, cds and books at all. I avoid the office supply section like the plague. I wouldn't go by the bakery at all if you didn't have to to get to the walk-in refrigerator. Well, I could go the long way around, but the bakery doesn't tempt me now that I bake from scratch. Just not as good as what I can do.

I have to go tomorrow, just for a few things (cheese, milk, eggs and veggies, maybe fruit if the price is good). I found out you can buy a Costco cash card and then use it at their gas station. It won't take cash, which I hate, but of course will take credit and debit. So I don't buy it there up to now. Last time I went it was at $3.11 a gallon, which is 2 cents cheaper than the cheapest Arco, the average is still running right at $3.29. Since I will be there anyway, I will try this. I am saving my gas cards for when things are tighter. Usually that is the one week each month we don't get a paycheck at all.

Since it is coming up on summer we won't be driving as much. No dance, no sports except one or two week long sports clinics, and only swim lessons twice a week in town. I will try to bundle everything that is needed in town into those two days. Less driving equals less gas consumed equals smaller amounts of money going into the gas tank.

I cleaned up in the mail today! Three of the four $10 gas cards from Shell that I ordered from MyPoints arrived. Supposed to take 2 to 6 weeks and I ordered them last week. Don't know what happened to the fourth one but it may turn up tomorrow. Boonies mail delivery not always that on time. Also received a new product to test that I am really hoping works as advertised. And my Swiffer hand held duster thingy sample and another Olay sample. I know I signed up for 3 offers with Olay but I think this is my fifth or six sample from them. Kind of like that.

With today's auto deposit into savings of $10, my new long term account total is $330.52. I have not gotten around to opening an ING account. I have been waiting for the checks to come in on my new checking account first. They have finally arrived and I will pick them up tomorrow, which is payday. The CU said it didn't have the routing number until the checks came. I don't know if that is true or not, but I certainly didn't have it until they came.

I'm so far behind in so many things right now, due to my back being wonky. But it is finally feeling better so I am getting caught up. Or starting to. Yesterday I was able to tackle about a third of the weeds in the garden. Six kitchen garbage bags full, which my neighbor hauled to the green drop off in town. It takes garden waste and composts it ($2 a truckload, neighbor was going anyway) at very high temperatures and then uses the compost in the parks and gardens and roadside plantings throughout the city.

Last year was the first year they had to charge for it, but its still a great way to get rid of stuff for cheap and know that it is going to be used to good purpose. Normally I will compost it myself but this stuff had seed heads and tap roots and an annoying pernicious local fern that can propagate itself from the smallest piece of root left over, and my compost pile does not get hot enough to kill off the seed heads, I am a slow composter (or a lazy one) and only turn my pile a couple times a year. It still turns out okay, just takes longer.

I am also getting caught up on dishes again. I could not stand for long at the sink without putting strain on the tweaked muscles and as it was the kids had to put stuff in the bottom for me and hand stuff up to me when it was time to empty the dishwasher. Now I can do it myself. We've been eating a lot of the stockpile of TV dinners so that I didn't get overwhelmed with new dirty dishes while tackling the old.

Yesterday I made the decision that I could not wait any longer for it to stop raining so I used my dryer for what couldn't fit on the two shower curtain rods in the bathrooms. Still have so much to do. 3 weeks with a bad back and DH in Alaska for all but 5 days of it, does not a tidy household make. And he will not be back for another 6 to 8 days. Sigh. Its a good job and it pays well, but sometimes I hate it.

Not much else going on. Tomorrow is payday, so I will deposit at least $10 into the freezer account and mabye $20 or $30 into long term savings, we'll see after I pay that set of bills.

I'm going to wait until the absolute last minute before I pay the homeowner's association dues, which is due the last day of July. It looks like the association is going to fall apart, the golf course was sold awhile ago and they've closed the pool due to the roof falling in and mold, so there seems no further purpose to paying dues. They don't maintain the greenways or the roads like they are supposed to and I don't want them to go belly-up with my half year dues in their account. So I will play it by ear.

We still want to refinance the house so we will probably pay the dues anyway if they haven't fallen apart, because if we don't they can put on lien on our property. Can't refinance with a lien. Plus we have always kept current with our dues, though it seems no one else has. Probably why the pool problem hasn't been fixed. Whatever happens, happens. I'll have the money set aside whatever the course.

I did a survey near the beginning of last month for $4. It was evaluating a commercial for a cell phone company that hadn't come out yet. Well, I just saw it on TV, slightly changed, and one of the changes I had suggested was actually made. Now, I don't expect it was just a suggestion I made. I'm sure others made it as well. But still, I was never expecting to see this commercial so soon! And it really makes me feel like my opinion is actually counting in these surveys.

I decided to figure out exactly where I am on my house mortgage and I have exactly 11 years (minus 1/2 a month's payment). Each payment I try to make a little extra. Usually it is $24.14 but if I have it, I will try to make it $124.14 extra. We have had it for what will be 3 years in October, so we've managed to knock off over a year already. It doesn't seem like it makes that much difference as we go along, but obviously it does. Total balance left on the mortgage is $36,890.07.

Okay, so I've made it through 2 months of blogging and 2 months of saving money. So what is my plan for month 3? Well, I want to save $100. Because of the way the weeks fall, I will only have $40 automatically transferred into savings, so I will need to come up with an additional $60 from somewhere. I think I can handle that.

There are things I have been wavering on that I need to make sure I hold firm on. Like not giving into the kids and keeping cable when DH and I have decided it is an expense that needs to go.

Like not driving to town just because I am bored at home. When a round trip to town takes nearly 3 gallons of gas, this is extremely wasteful.

Like getting my library books, the kids's library books and DH's library books back on time so we don't pay fines. Our library actually has a one week grace period and this is on top of a 3 week check-out, and you can do one recheck for an additional 3 weeks online and have an additional grace period of one more week. I mean, please, if I can't get my stuff read in 8 weeks and go into fines, then the book is obviously too boring so why am I hanging onto it? Ditto the kids.

That's about all I can think of, but I think that will do for month 3.

Just a little spending this payday, its just the little one with 2 days on it. So $48 in groceries, mostly produce but $18 on turkey for lunches and turkey ham for breakfast, $15 for allergy meds, $9.21 for lunch at my favorite Mexican place with a $3 tip and enough leftovers for one more meal for me, and enough rice for both kids to have a serving, also. $44.01 for gas and the tank actually had an F on it, that's been awhile. Was over on the right side of town so went to the cheapest Arco at $3.13 a gallon.

On the way home I stopped by the berry farm which started selling strawberries yesterday and got a full flat for $15. The same amount in town at the store from the same farm would cost $32. I'll keep a couple boxes in the fridge for eating fresh and then cut up the rest and sugar them. I'll freeze a couple of Ziploc quart bags full for later use.

I had the massage therapy appointment this morning so that was $50 and I have one more appointment for Wednesday and that will be another $50 and then I should be okay and not need anymore physical therapy, here's hoping.

I still have to pay the cable bill, most likely the last one, depending on when I can get the tech out to pull the box. Other than that no other bills until next payday.

Okay, maybe it was a spendy day after all, LOL. But it was small amounts spendy, not big amounts spendy.

Yesterday was the day for the electronic funds transfer to my savings account. It now has a balance of $320.52 after today's $10 went in. I seem to have misplaced the check I got from Send Earnings. I remember putting it in my purse and then it wasn't there when I went to deposit it. I'll give it a few more days to turn up and if it doesn't, I'll see if they'll cut a new one or not and cancel the old one.

The only places I haven't looked are the car, which needs a desperate cleaning, and the computer table area, which seems to have bloblike tendancies and has swallowed the homeschool book area and has begun expanding ever so slowly day by day towards the front door. I'll tear it apart tomorrow before it develops legs and walks out the front door on its own. Was planning on it anyway, as I am working towards organization.

Once I do deposit that check, I'll be $30 shy of $400. Wow, not bad for a girl who had barely any money in savings two months ago (today) when I started blogging and seriously trying to get my act together.

We got $37 of extra overtime pay for DH's working on Memorial day, so if I can make it through the week without spending that it will go in savings. I'll decide on Tuesday when the grocery ads come out, because if there is a good sale I'll use it for that instead. I'm low on a few things, not in danger of running out just yet, but one never knows.

I have been bugging my parents to make out their will and write down their wishes for end of life care and treatment for about five years now. I am so glad they are now in the process of doing it. I have known what they want to do these years, but I wanted it written down because I have a feeling one of my sisters would fight me to go against what my parents want.

They both want DNR's, organ donation, and burial by cremation. My father is in the early stages of dementia and has MS. If mom goes first, and he no longer can function on his own, he wants to be placed in a nursing home in eastern WA so he can be near his younger brothers and sisters. Of course, he wouldn't be near his kids or grandkids that way, but if its what he wants, than that is what I'll do. I don't really think he'll outlast my mother though. He's five years older than her and she's healthy as a horse.

Mom's mom had alzheimer's disease so she has been very specific in what she wants for herself, too. She's made me her medical and her financial power of attorney, and I would be Dad's but only if she dies before he does or becomes incompetent. Which is fine.

I am a little leary of the fact that she is also making me executor of the will, though. I'm not sure I should be doing both. But I'm also the only one of her daughters with any sense (her words), so she wouldn't trust the other two to do it. Which she's right on the one sister, but not the other one.

It seems like an awful lot of responsibility for me to take on, I am only 36, but my parents are older. Mom was 30 and dad was 35 when I was born. And someone has to do it, and I'd be the only one willing, I think.

I guess I should be grateful they are finally doing this and realize that I will find the reserves in myself to do this. My parents have always had more faith in me than my sisters because I never ran off and did anything stupid (Mom's words again). Ha! I just never got caught running off and doing something stupid. Okay, and that was only mildly stupid comparatively.

Okay, I'm rambling now, so I'll just end this here. I guess I'll put this under goals, since getting my parents to get their will and other stuff in order has been my goal for the last five years.

I got a sample of Biz detergent in the mail today. It was a lot bigger than I was expecting. I think I can get four or five loads of laundry with it. I was hoping for enough to do 2 loads. I love getting samples!

I picked up a pizza for my Mom today and she paid me for it and told me to keep the change, which was 57 cents. That brings my people just giving me money total to $1.51.

Lots of samples in the mail today. I think the mail lady has been hoarding them to deliver all at once. Anyway, two different olay samples, Clean & Clear cleanser, nexxus shampoo and conditioner, and a free t-shirt and sample of protein powder from Isopure.

I used to save my MyPoints points for Christmas time and get Toys R Us gift certificates, but the one in our town went out of business, and though I could order from them online, when I do my Christmas shopping I like to really see the toys up close and personal.

Anyway, I decided to cash out my points for gas cards instead, so I should be receiving 4 $10 gas cards from Shell. There's one halfway between here and town and its right off the highway, so easier for me to get to than the Exxon that is by the airport or the Exxon in the IGA parking lot, which can be very hard to get back on the highway from, even turning right.

So those should show anywhere from 2 to 6 weeks, but I usually get them in about 10 days. With this and the 2 Exxon cards I have in my purse from one of my trial offers, I'll save $60 off my gas budget.

I did a product evaluation this morning, well it is in two parts, I did the first part, and have to wait for the product to arrive before I can do the second part. It pays $23 but part of that covers S and H, so really it is a net of $13.50. It's already in my account. I have had a lot of luck with product evaluations, more so than with trial offers. This one is for something that if it works I would actually buy it.

I also found $2.19 when I cleaned off my computer desk. Courtesy of DH, who likes to plop his change in various nooks and crannies around the house, even though he knows full well where the change jar is located. Sigh. Oh, well, it makes for nice little surprises from time to time. Better a surprise like that then the ones my kids like to leave me (half eaten hot dog behind the couch that has mummified, for example).

I had my massage therapy appointment this morning and feel so much better. I have one more on Friday and then I think I can put this muscle strain behind me. I can walk without pain and I can sit without pain, but the getting up from lying down and the getting up from sitting and the trying to bend down still is painful, though not the excruciating pain of when I first did this. So the total hit of all four appointments is $200. Insurance will reimburse half if they decide it was justified. I'm not holding my breath.

I was able to hang laundry. Yesterday it hurt a little to do it, today it wasn't that bad. I did five loads, as that is all my clothesline will hold. We are still behind badly from all the rain. It's a good thing we have so many clothes, although it takes forever to get them all clean and then I feel like we have too many. Admittedly, I'm also washing all the spare bed linen as I just put fresh on everyone's beds and washing the winter blankets so I can put them away until October.

Put $20 worth of gas in the car when I was in town. I went to the Arco closest to where my appointment was, which was $3.15 a gallon. The cheapest Arco is $3.13 a gallon, but since I was only getting $20, I would have spent more than the amount I saved, driving the five extra miles. At least its not $3.29 like the vast majority of stations around here, though the Citgo is at $3.21.

What I would really like to see is a 2 for that first number. Wildest fantasy would have a 1. My parents talk about when candy bars were a nickel or a dime and buying their two story house and 1/2 acre property for $23,000. I wonder if I'll be telling my grandchildren (not yet born, oldest is only 9) someday about when you could use a 20 dollar bill to fill an 18 gallon tank and get change back and when a starter home could still be bought for under $100,000.

Okay, that got tangential (and that probably isn't actually a word).

I did four surveys today. Only one of them paid in money, the other 3 were all points, though one was a lot of points. I got my first survey invitation from ACOP today, that was the one that paid $4. Not bad for 15 minutes of pointing and clicking and about 50 words typed in.

Now that I have been paid by both the trial offer/survey places that I had made it to the cash in amount on and know that it is legitimate, I will go ahead and do some more offers.

I have to call two places tomorrow to cancel trial offers on their face creams. One made my skin red. The other was nice, but at $89 for a one month supply, I'm not switching to that after the trial is up.

I also need to cancel a couple of other autoships that I never got to when I first started blogging almost two months ago and went through my big cancellation frenzy, Feature Films for Families and Lifescript personalized vitamins.

Both kids are in school tomorrow so I can spend some uninterupted time on the phone.

My other plans for tomorrow are to do a ton of laundry if it is sunny (it cleared up this afternoon and was really nice for Rose's soccer clinic). It is supposed to be nice tomorrow, but I'll believe it when I see it. And maybe get some weeding done in the garden if my back will put up with it.

I got my first check from Send Earnings in the mail today. $49.82. This is so cool. So far this month I have been paid $99.82. For surveys and trial offers. Who knew? I will deposit the money in long term savings on Wednesday when I go in for my next massage therapy appointment. I had one today, too and am feeling a lot better so hopefully the next one will have me back to moving normally again.

The sun is finally out today so I can hang laundry again. We actually had to dry a load in the dryer last night. But now I can hang some out today. Last month we had to dry clothes in the dryer four times, so my goal for this month is four times or less. It should be less. It is June. June should not be as rainy as May, but the PNW never goes in much for what the weather "should" do. If I can keep cutting back on dryer useage, I should really start seeing it on the electric bill. I am also limiting how long the kids can stay in the shower, so that should help, too.

Well, I was right about never seeing that $5 from the neighbor again. And I probably never will.

Yesterday my DH let him use our lawn mower, despite the fact that it was the first sunny day in over a week and our own lawn was way too long and the forecast said it would rain today (which it did). And of course, the idiot neighbor promptly plowed it into a rock that bent the blade at a 90 degree angle from its previous direction.

Did he come tell us right away? Oh, no. He tried to "fix" it himself. With a sledge hammer. When he couldn't fix it, then he finally came over and told DH. DH tried to fix it, but because of the sledge hammer, there was no fixing it.

The neighbor did some hemming and hawing and said "Guess it looks like you need a new one." DH goes "Yep." Neighbor goes, "I guess I should buy it." DH goes "Yep." Neighbor says, "Well, I can't buy it until Tuesday, why don't you go buy it and I'll pay you back." Right. Like he paid back the $5. I don't think so.

We had the kids's recital last night so we took off shortly after and didn't get home until really late. First thing we see when we pull in is that the neighbor has left both our gas mower and our old fashioned push mower on his front lawn instead of bringing them back or locking them up in his garage.

So DH went and got them. He left a note saying he had so they wouldn't think they were stolen, though I was tempted to just let him think they were stolen and see if he came over to even tell us. But DH said no, and added to the note that we were sleeping in and not to come over in the morning. We were exhausted from the recital.

Anyway, the guy had the nerve to come over this afternoon and ask if he could borrow the mower once we got the part fixed. DH said no and that he couldn't borrow it anymore at all. Neighbor wasn't happy and DH was even less happy. The guy has been there 2 months. Its about time he bought his own lawnmower or asked for one on freecycle.

FIL came out tonight with the replacement part and it is at least working again. It only cost $17.55, but that is $17.55 that could have been used for something else.

Oh, well. We are done being good neighbors. Now we will just be indifferent neighbors. I like it better that way anyway. And besides that, the guy was starting to give me the creeps.

Vehicle expenses for this payday.

$34.67 Oil/Filter change and maintenance check for the Blazer
$40 gas for the Crown Vic (@ $3.13 a gallon, it has dropped 4 cents since last time, averages gas stations around here have dropped from $3.29 to $3.25, so its going down all around, looks like)

Today was payday. Payments made today:

$800 Bank of America Visa
$400 House Mortgage ($375.86 + $24.14 extra principal)
$104 2 month water/sewer
$175 Medical
$50 Physical Therapy (with an additional $50 PT on Monday)
$115 Eye Doctor (DH), but most will be reimbursed through insurance
$34.67 Oil change and maintenance check on the Blazer
$12.45 Library Fines (need to keep a closer eye on this, utterly unnecessary expense)

I got my first payment from Vindale for their market research surveys! $50. Whoopee. We had to open another checking/debit account so we could transfer it from my new paypal account, since DH already has our regular checking account hooked up to his paypal account. I was planning on it anyway, as this new one is hooked to the savings account our long-term savings is in. When the checks come in I can write my first check to open my new online account with the good interest rate. So it will be a week before the routing information comes through so I can actually move it from paypal to my checking, and then to my savings until I set up the online one.

But when it does come through it means my long-term savings will be at $310.52. Not bad.

I also deposited the $17.11 into my freezer money account bringing it up to $181.19.

I have also been issued a check from another company that should arrive in the mail sometime in the next week. It is just under $50, that will be added to long-term savings.

In my quest to find extra income sources, I am currently reading the book, "The Mom's Guide to Earning and Saving Thousands on the Internet." It is interesting. I found out about 3/4 of this information on my own or through others from this site, but it gave me 1/4 of the book more information to investigate further that I had not discovered on my own. I am not quite finished with it, but I am done with the earning part, now its going into the shopping, rebates, and couponing part.