Lucky Robin's Personal Finance Blog

I spent $17.70 at Fred Meyer today. DS got his pillow and DD got her box of hair dye. Had a coupon for the hair dye. Then we stopped at Trader Joe's and got their nitrate/nitrite free pastrami, black forest ham, and roasted turkey for school lunches. The regular roast beef looked weird (kind of shiny and scaled) so we got the pastrami instead. I still have plenty of tortillas and baby spinach for wraps which is what they like in their lunches these days.

We also got a bag of peppermint taffy (no artificial ingredients or food dyes). All of the other kids have been bringing in Christmas candy and DS wanted something he could have that he's not allergic to so he doesn't feel so left out. This fit the bill. I spent a total of $15.56 there.

Has anyone else noticed that often cashier's fail to give you your total at the end of checking your groceries these days? It happened at both FM and TJ's today and I have noticed this more and more of late. Only one of these had a easily viewable screen for me to see the total on. The girl finishes checking and then starts wiping her stuff down without ever telling me the total. I don't like that type of customer service. Maybe they are so used to people just swiping their cards, but what about those of us who still use cash or write checks? It's not as bad as the checkers that talk to each other over your head and never greet you, but close.

I should be able to stay out of the stores until Friday now. That is the plan anyway, though I might have to buy bread. Or just download the manual for the bread machine Mom gave me and make some.

I made broccoli and beef stir-fry for dinner. It was the last of the bagged kits. I'll be making them from scratch from now on, but I am going to make my own kits, because it's really the prep work that takes the time. If I pre-do all the prep work then I will still be able to have dinner on the table in 15 minutes, which is quicker than driving to pick up a pizza or burgers and much, much healthier. I've got some time tonight so I will make up some of my own kits. I will let you know how that goes.

I have been taken off my most expensive medicine. The pills cost $150 a month until the deductible is met and $60 a month after, so I had been planning I'd have to have $150 to set aside each month for that come January. But at my appointment yesterday the doctor says I no longer need it. It was planned into the overall HSA money in next year's budget, so it will stay there anyway, but now it can be used for other medical reasons.

This means I am down to two prescriptions that I take daily and one that I take only occasionally as needed. Considering a year ago I was on five, I am very happy.

Also, I added $2.60 to the coin jar.

I'm glad I have all day to rest because we have been running since 10 a.m. Friday when I picked up my daughter from school and the two of us went down to VM for another surgical followup appointent. I have been given a clean bill of health for that and have been told it was my final followup. He said I've healed so well he can hardly see the scar, so that was wonderful news.

Driving wasn't too bad. We arrived in Seattle close to noon. I paid for valet hospital parking $10, because it is only $2 more and it is very much worth that $2 to me to not try and park the mini-van in those narrow little slots and then have to navigate traffic on foot back to the hospital. Plus there is no elevator in the parking garage and I still have such difficulty on stairs. I didn't want to set myself up for a painful knee for the rest of the weekend.

We ate lunch in the hospital cafeteria. This weekend has been long planned for and the money set aside so even though we ate out this weekend, I don't consider it part of the no eating out thing I'm doing, even if technically it is. Anyway, we spent $23.22 on lunch. I had the pot roast special which was roast beef, baby red potatoes and my choice of broccoli or mixed vegetables. I chose mixed veg. I also got an orange and a drink. My daughter ended up with a mega slice of pizza, a bag of chips, a chinese bean thing (not sure exactly what it was) and a soda. They've raised the prices since the last time we ate there.

It was one by the time we were done eating and we decided to go up early, even though my appointment wasn't until two. Sometimes they will take you early. They did, after ten minutes and I was out of there by two. It took a little bit to get our van and then we hit the road. Traffic wasn't too bad and we were in Marysville by three thirty, where we stopped at Fashion Bug.

DD got 2 pairs of jeans, a hoody, and 4 camisoles and I got 3 sets of long sleeved pajamas with full length bottoms and one long-sleeved thermal shirt. I remembered to bring my coupon. It cost $275.83. A bit pricier than I had hoped for, but still 100 times cheapter than the same clothes if we'd got them at Lane Bryant.

After that we went to our hotel and checked in. Hotel cost $124.05 after taxes. It was a nice enough hotel, but the walls were pretty thin and you could hear everything that went on in the hallway. We won't stay there again because of that.

DD and I walked over to Arby's which was just next door for dinner and I spent $17.96 on dinner. Prices have gone up since the last time I ate at an Arby's or else it's just far more expensive there than at home.

For breakfast we ate at an IHOP around 11:30 for $26.32 and that included a 20% tip. We got the breakfast sampler and split it and added a couple more sides to round it out for the two of us.

We stopped somewhere along the way at a Haggen to buy some cold medicine. I can't find the receipt but it was under $20 for some ibuprofen, cough drops, and cold medicine.

Then we went to Burlington and went to the outlet mall and got new tennis shoes for DD, $53.54. A boy's size 12. She's going to end up with feet like her father's I'm afraid. Then we went to The Avenue and DD got three tops and a bracelet for $36.42.

Then it was time to eat so we went to The Outback. We ended up spending $62.43 with the tip. We brought back half an order of lambchops, mixed veg and a bowl of baked potato soup for DS, who stayed with grandma during this time. He was very happy to see it. He loves the food from there, but we go so rarely because of the location and the expense.

So it was a very spendy weekend, but we didn't go over the set budget. DD and I really enjoyed the time together alone and we got some much needed items. I think the long pajamas are working, too. Last night I only needed to have the heater on 70 instead of 76 in my room despite the fact that it was well below freezing.

Today I have to go to Freddy's. DS needs a new pillow and I need to pick up milk and a few other items, so this way we only need to go to one store. I plan to keep it under $60 and then a quick stop at TJ's for the lunch meat DS needs and then no more spending until Friday.

And I am most definitely back on the no eating out challenge until the end of the year.

DH says that bonus checks will be mailed on the 16th. Still no word on what his percentage will be. I'll probably know before he will because it'll arrive in the mail before he comes back home on the 21st. They will tax it at 25%, because they do that with bonuses, but he will get most of that back when we file our tax return. He's already met the one tax cap for the year anyway.

He also did a preliminary run at our taxes. Of course until he knows about the bonus amount it won't be completely accurrate, but with just the information we have now, we're looking at around $8500. Now before someone starts on about changing our witholding, a good portion of that is due to medical reimbursement.

And the part that isn't, around $3,500, well, it wouldn't matter. DH works 26 weeks a year, but he is taxed as if he worked 52. It is stupid, but it is the way it is for slope workers. We have tried numerous times to do something about it, but until they change this particular quirk of the tax code there is nothing we can do about it. They take out what they take out and that is that.

Still, it means a fairly massive payment to debt come March. And if the bonus is the rumored 10% of a year's salary, we just might be out of CC debt entirely between the two. Which would be awesome.

We need to look into the sales tax deduction as well. We have no state income tax so we are allowed to deduct sales tax, but we never have because we have never itemized. It was never more than the standard deduction in the past. It might actually be worth it this year to do so. And if it is we can take the sales tax deduction. We have bought some big ticket items this year (including the car). That could push our return even higher. It sure would be nice to temporarily get the governments' hands out of our pockets for a minute or two.

I deposited $35.50 from my coin jar into the Safety Net (the readily accessible part of my EF) savings account at CU#2 yesterday.

$637.52 Beginning SN
+_35.50 Amount Added
------------
$673.03 Ending SN

This brings the total emergency fund to $3326.11. $173.89 to go to hit my December/end of the year goal of $3500.

I also added $5.13 to the coin jar today.

DS came into my room a minute ago and said, "Mommy, what's my Christmas budget this year?" I so love the fact that my kids know we set a Christmas budget, and other types of budgets, and want to work with us to stay within that budget. When I told him the amount he frowned for a moment and then his face lit up and he said, "I think I can get what I want if we buy it used!" I also love the fact that my kids don't think it's a bad thing if their Christmas gifts are used. In the past this was more because it meant they could get more stuff, but nowadays it means they can get better stuff that is still of high quality.

So many parents hide the facts of budgeting from their kids and I worry about what that means when these kids become adults and try to stand on their own two feet, but have no idea about bills, or living within their means, or what credit cards can do to your available income. Every day, in so many different ways, I teach my kids these things. We don't hide the truth of our money situation from them. It's surprising how much this cuts down on the "I wannas."

DS saves up his allowance and his can money (he collects aluminum cans from the neighbors for recycling) for things for long periods of time. It took him 9 months to save up for his 3DS and he treats it like it is priceless because he had to work so hard to get it. Before that he saved up for five months to buy a used DSI from a pawn shop. Right now he is anxious to turn in his cans, but he knows he will get a better price if he waits until he has 50 pounds. DS has learned the value of waiting and I used to think he was the most impatient person in the world.

DD is learning these things more slowly. She tends to want to spend her money faster, but she works very hard and at least understands the concepts of saving and budgeting for bigger expenses. And the great thing is she seldom asks for things anymore, figuring out how to spend her allowance and baby-sitting money to get what she wants faster (usually by buying used or bartering with friends). I overheard her explaining budgeting to one of her friends who had never even heard of the concept at age 15. Wow.

Stopped to buy milk this morning. I had my coupon from the Organic Valley website (they let you print two a month) so didn't have to pay full price. $5.32. I put the change, $4.68 into the coin jar. I will definitely be making a deposit today. My envelope is so fat with ones I can barely get it closed. I'm starting to think my goal of $3500 in the EF by year's end is going to be too easy to hit. Well, if I do, I guess I'll rethink it.

Mortgage details finally posted to the account and the amount left on the mortgage is $18,833.82. So of the last payment $87.64 is interest and $288.22 is principal. I still remember when those numbers were pretty much reversed and it is much nicer to be on this end of things than they other. It is really tempting to throw an extra $100 to principal every month, but it's the lowest interest rate we have (except the car) and it feels silly to put extra money there. Yet at the same time, it's close enough to being paid off to taste it. *sighs*

I had enough in the coin jar to roll dimes and pennies and combined with my ones I'm over the $30 mark so I have enough to make a deposit tomorrow. It's a self-imposed limit, otherwise I have the mentality to run over and deposit far more often, which isn't worth the gas. I need to go that direction tomorrow anyway, so I'm not even making a special trip. I am confident I will have the EF to $3500 by year's end.

He doesn't even want to do surgery. He says it only has a 50/50 success rate with my injury. He also said it wasn't a torn and my doctor had read the MRI wrong. So he is recommending a different type of physical therapy for me instead.

I guess if it works that's a good thing. And it also means that that $2500 set aside for next year's deductible can just sit there and be whittled away slowly instead of all in one big chunk. Might even earn a smidge of interest off it. I just hope it works. I'm tired of being in pain all the time.

Though I got at least six hours of sleep last night, it does not make up for the less than three the night before. Today after my doctor's appointment I am taking a nap. I meet with the knee surgeon today so cross your fingers for me that I can get in for surgery this month and not have to wait until January or February on the new deductible. I would really prefer not to have to hand over $2500 right out of the gate.

Was extremely tempted to break my no eating out challenge this morning on day one, but didn't. I wanted to go to McD's and get a large hot chocolate because it was just so cold this morning. And an egg McMuffin. I do not need either one of these when I am trying to eat healthier right now and lose another 10 pounds. I resisted. Instead I am having chicken sausage, oolong tea, and cucumber slices for breakfast. Much more satisfying and definitely much better for me.

I found a New York strip steak that I got on mark down a while back in the freezer so I am having that for lunch with a lettuce, baby spinach, and e.v. olive oil salad.

Dinner will be roasted turkey thighs and necks that were marked down after Thanksgiving, baked sweet potatoes, and green beans. We all love turkey necks here. They are so tender. Most people just throw them in the gravy or use them for soup stock because there isn't too much meat on them, but they are wonderfully delicious roasted.

I added $5.67 to the coin jar today. I also spent $14.33 for DH and I to have lunch at Boomers Drive-In. They claim to have the best burgers on the planet. I don't doubt them.

I'll be starting a new no eating out challenge for the next two weeks, as I've been lax on my diet for the last three. I'm still holding at 45 pounds lost but I have a bit still to go and restaurant food is not your friend on a diet.

The new smaller jeans I bought, I am thinking maybe I should have gone down one more size as I had to hitch them up today.

If anyone wants to join me on the challenge let me know and we can root each other on.

...would you consider buying a house where the carpets are completely ruined by paint and possibly ground in food and soda stains, the majority of the doors had been kicked so they had holes partway through them, every interior door needed to be reframed, and both inside and outside needed to be painted but was otherwise sound? Now...what if it was selling for half of it's assessed value? The owner's are selling as is and don't want to put in any more effort at all (was inherited and they don't want it).

It is not something I am considering (we are not handy), but I am wondering what people in general would do. It is a 4 bed, 2 bath, 1600 square foot rambler selling for $50,000. Good roof, walls, and foundation. I guess I am just shocked that no more effort is going into it, but then again, maybe someone would still want to buy it. It's assessed at $97,000 and in an okay but very remote area.

I added $4.78 to the coin jar today. Things are moving along nicely for my December/end of the year goal.

Also, we finished the movie on time so $1 instead of $2. Silly thing to be happy about, but, yeah, I'm a goof, so I am. Cute family movie, too. The Zookeeper, if anyone is interested, and rather a minimal amount of bathroom humor for an Adam Sandler production (he's not in it, though, it stars the guy from that mall cop movie).

We got an hour of free music today. DS's friend (the girl he went to the dance with) had a recital at the library so we went to that. I finally got to meet her and her mother. They seem like good people. Never thought I'd meet anyone who had a higher energy level than DS, though, but A does. That should prove interesting.

...or near hit if you want to be technically accurate, since it nearly hit our wallet, or actually missed it, not nearly missed it, but if you go by how people actually use the phrase... It's a lot like thaw and dethaw. People mean thaw, but when they say dethaw it would actually mean to freeze. But I digress.

We rented a movie from one of those boxes at the store for $1 and DH couldn't find it today. Turns out he left it in the shopping cart last night and the employees set it aside so when he called it was there. Yay. That could have been a $25 mistake, which is the replacement value of the DVD. Or what they charge anyway. In reality it'd cost more like $15, but whatever. Point is we didn't have to pay it and if it isn't too long a movie we might even get it watched before 7. Still if we have to pay $2, it isn't $25.

I had a medical bill come in today so I paid that, $215.00. Ugh. I sent $500 to AMEX and paid the mortgage, $375.86. The mortgage is now officially under $19K now. I won't know the actual number until the payment is reported in the next day or two, but it should be around $18,900 or so, give or take a few dollars.

Interest hit the ING account today, so I added that $3.89 to my Emergency Fund. That brings the total EF to $2809.73. After looking at how much extra I had, I decided to go ahead and put some of it into the Emergency Fund, too. It was $480.88 extra, so that brings the total EF to $3290.61.

My goal for the month of December was originally to hit $3000, so I've blown past that. So I am making a new goal of getting the EF to $3500 by the end of the year. $100 of that will be the monthly deposit so I need to scrape up $109.39 extra to hit that goal. I think I should be fine to do that.

I had originally thought I'd put the money into the January/HSA money fund, but I can hit my goal for that without it, so the EF made the most sense.

I've been sort of at a loss lately on what to do about dinner. Meat prices have skyrocketed so I am trying to make do with poultry as much as possible. We have a lot of boneless, skinless chicken thighs in the freezer. By a lot, I mean 32 pounds. And I've been trying to come up with alternate ways of making it than just grilled with seasoning on the George Foreman or in stir-fries.

I was perusing some of my old recipe files and came up with something I haven't made in ages, a recipe I made up several years ago when I first started eating controlled carb: Chile Cheddar Chicken.

It's so simple I can't believe it has skipped my mind all these years. So I'm making it for dinner tonight. And the best part is the leftovers are great in a bun or shredded up and rolled in a tortilla.

Chile Cheddar Chicken Recipe:

1 4 ounce can diced mild green chile peppers
1 pound package of boneless, skinless chicken parts
As many slices of cheddar cheese as you have chicken pieces (I slice my own off a brick or sometimes use shredded)
Olive oil

In a medium sized skillet put in enough olive oil to cook the chicken. Dump in the can of peppers and saute for a minute on medium high. Arrange the chicken pieces evenly and turn heat down to medium. Cover with lid. Turn after five minutes and cook another five. Check for doneness by slicing into a piece and cook longer if necessary. Top each piece of chicken with cheese and let melt. Remove from pan. Spoon green chiles on top of the chicken pieces. Voila. You are done. Jack cheese works well, too.

I guess the sweaters were a good investment, because I've at least not felt chilled to the bone since I started wearing them. I still don't feel completely warm and I'm keeping my bedroom heater on 72, but I did have it up to a ridiculous 76 before, so it's an improvement. We had a very hard frost last night. It looked like it had snowed, it was so thick. Guess I'm lucky not to have woken up feeling frozen over myself.

I'm sick again which may be why my internal thermostat seems so wonky right now. I think it's just a cold though and not an infection. At least I hope so. I've got too much to do this month to be sick on top of it all.

DS is going to his first dance today after school. He is "meeting a girl" by their lockers and they are going to "hang out" together at the dance. I don't even know what that means. He's only 11 so it can't mean too much, right? They seem to have become best friends this year. I don't know if it's more than that. He's excited though. And according to the girl's mother, so is she. The dance starts right after school so I packed him an extra half a sandwich in his lunch box. With his allergies he may not be able to eat the provided refreshments.

DH is on a plane to San Francisco today. He'll be back around 8:30 p.m., though. It's going to be a long day without him here.

I've got bills to pay today. So far I have dealt with deducting the autopays of life insurance, car insurance, house insurance, storage, and the security system from the checkbook. I've paid the electric and I need to do AMEX and the mortgage on the old house. I believe that is all until the 16th. I'll have to double check my spreadsheet after I pay those two things.

Oh, yesterday we wrote a $35 check for DS's next belt test at tae kwon do which is next Thursday. I also spent $65.32 at the grocery store. They had turkey thighs and necks pretty cheap so I stocked up. Beef prices are so ridiculous and nothing was marked down for quick sale. We're going to be eating a lot of chicken and turkey until the prices decide to get reasonable again. I also bought milk, oranges, lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage. I also picked up a copy of Clean Eating Magazine and have already found a couple of recipes I want to try this month.

I added $9.56 to the coin jar today.

I did a bit of clothing shopping. It's been a very long time since I've bought much in the way of clothing, but since losing the 45 pounds almost everything is too big. I have also been very cold lately to the point that jacking up the heat doesn't help and neither does three blankets on the bed.

So I got a couple of turtlenecks to wear under my nightgown. I also got three chenille sweaters, two zip front and one pullover, and I got two new pairs of jeans in the smaller size. That gives me four pairs of jeans (I had two in my closet from a long time ago). I think this should keep me until spring.

If the turtlenecks don't keep me warm I may end up getting an electric blanket. I don't particularly like using those because I always take water to bed with me and I have a tendency to spill and I'm always worried I am going to shock myself or something. It's getting so that the only time I feel warm is in the car with the heat jacked up or in the shower.

DH bought a new pillow and we got some medicines and a new pair of tweezers and (very bad) four bottles of soda. They were cheap, at least.

I transferred the money from ING to my checking account today for first of the month bills. Of the money I had set aside I still have $648.08 left. I will probably put $200 in the emergency fund and then if I don't need the rest between now and the 16th, I will put what is left into the January/HSA money.

We got paperwork in the mail in case we want to put DH's bonus into his 401K. We don't, it's earmarked for debt repayment, but if they sent him that, it means he is definitely getting one. And also I wouldn't think they'd send out 401K paperwork unless it was a substantial amount to put in there. Two to three more weeks to go to find out just how much it is going to be. I hate living in suspense. But it is at least good news that there will be one.

Why is a post I wrote yesterday showing up as being written today about an hour and a half ago? It's jumped postion up the list and it looks like several other blogs have been reordered also.

I just spent the last hour fixing my spreadsheet for my Emergency Fund and Holding Tank money. The last set of updates either didn't save, or didn't get transferred correctly from the laptop that's now in the shop and the one I am currently using.

Thankfully I was able to figure it out by using the numbers I found on my blog. But from now on I'm going to be even more detailed than I currently am, because I didn't quite write out everything and I had to do a little guessing on what I'd set aside some of the money for. It equalled out to the correct amount in the end, though, so I think I am fine.

I have gotten the hang of Open Office and I'm not sure I'll ever buy regular Office again for a computer. Especially since they limit how many times you can install it. I'd still be using a previous version of Office that I own if they'd let me install it more times. It's not like I'm installing it everywhere, I've just had cruddy luck on a lot of my computers in the past. I paid enough for it that I should be able to install it on my laptop when the previous ones break down. But the stinginess of that limit means I will be far less likely in the future to purchase these types of programs from Microsoft. They basically shot themselves in the leg with that one.

Now if I can find a good program for photo editing that is either free or doesn't cost an arm and a leg, I'd be happy. I used to have a good one that I was given for Christmas, but it only runs on Windows ME or previous versions. There's all kinds of incompatibility with anything current.

I balanced the checkbook today, which wasn't hard since I've been doing the math all week instead of leaving it to the last minute.

I am hoping that I won't have to use all of the money that I set aside in the holding tank for first of December bills. I've got over $1000 from the last paycheck and I think I can get away with using only half the money I put in the holding tank and if so, I'll have maybe another $700 to set aside for January/HSA money, which would be really nice. I might put $100 of that $700 into the EF. We will see how it goes.

Please pray for my neices' father, who had a heart attack yesterday. He is only 46 years old, and they are only 16 and 12. Ex-BIL may have been a jerk to my husband's sister, but the girls still need their father in their lives.

I don't normally go out and about on Black Friday. I'm more of a curl up in bed with a book all day sort of person after Thanksgiving, but we had an appointment for an oil change and the stuff they do at the first 5000 miles, so rotated tires, checked fluid levels, etc. One of the things that we got for buying the car in this model year was free maintenance for the first two years. This is not a maintenance package that we paid for in advance, it was simply one of the perks Toyota was offering this year. But I had totally forgotten about it, so I assumed I would be spending $60 or so today on that. It was nice to be reminded I wouldn't need it.

We haven't actually hit 5000 miles yet, but I figured I would soon (it was 4,640, so close enough) and I didn't want to bother with it myself while DH was gone so best to do it a little early while hes home and be done with it, especially before I have to drive down to Seattle on the 9th.

After the van was done we filled up at Costco at $3.47 a gallon. We paid $45.35. I about fell over. We haven't filled a tank for less than $50 in forever. And then of course when we got back home we saw a station at $3.39. Oh, well. Anywho, after Costco we headed up to Fashion Bug in Marysville. We figured it was enough off the beaten path that it wouldn't be swamped with shoppers, and it was around 3:15 when we got there so it wasn't bad at all and plenty of parking right in front.

I found a parka for the winter like I've been wanting. There were two I liked, identical but for color. One was purple and one was a jewel tone blue. The purple one clashed with my gorgeous blue purse so I went for the blue, which I liked better with my skin tone anyway. It was $99.99, but marked down 40%, so we paid $59.99. It's really warm and should be much more useful in warding off the cold winter mornings than my ski jacket has been. That's all we bought there.

On the way back we stopped at the Outback in Burlington and had dinner. I had an appetizer plus a baked potato for my dinner and DH had a burger and baked potato, plus baked potato soup. There was also the rye bread and we each got a strawberry lemonade. It came to $31.88 and we left $40. The server did a really good job so we tipped a little bit extra. It was nice to have a little date with DH without the kids along.

When we got back home my nephew (who was born when I was 9), his wife, and my great nephew were here visiting my mom. My eldest sister was also here. We all visited for a while. My great nephew is just 18 months old and he is such an adorable baby. He's very verbal and you can understand quite a bit of it, too, and also very active. This is the first time they've been up here since he was born that I've not been too ill (bronchitis, stomach flu, and recovering from surgery the three previous visits) to be around him. Usually I have to stand in the doorway for a minute and that's about it, but this time I actually got to interact with him and talk to everyone else. And my nephew's wife announced that she's pregnant again and the baby will be here in June.

Today was also payday and DH's reimbursement check for changing his flight so he could work those extra weeks came in the mail today as well. That is $145. Which is perfect, since we've already absorbed that cost. It should about cover what we need to give his sister between cash and gas to help her out right now.

...what are you going to do with your Thanksgiving leftovers? I've got plans in place for pot pies, soup, noodles, enchiladas and quesadillas, as well as a few TV dinners with leftovers as is.

Found out today that DH's sister is in a precarious financial position. Worse than we'd ever thought. And this week is a breaking point. Her work isn't depositing her paycheck until Monday because the bank is closed on Friday. Her mortgage company took the payment out early because the bank is closed on Friday. Unfortunately she wasn't prepared for that and her account is $90 short, and now she has an overdraft fee as well. And she simply can't afford it.

This is yet another thing in our lives that points to the importance of having an emergency fund. We are going to give her some money so she can get through this and then we are going to try to give her $100 a month in grocery store gift cards. DH is also going to take her to fill up her gas tank. It'll make some things tighter for us, but she'll at least be able to feed her kids.

We have definitely hit the cap on out of pocket insurance for this year. We have never done that before. I know it was a crazy year for medical, but not even the year I gave birth to my daughter and we had to stay in the hospital for five days with her in NICU, we never hit any caps. So hopefully I really can schedule the knee surgery before January.

If not, well, considering how much it costs, we'll likely hit the cap again next year, too, but a lot sooner in the year. At least I have enough saved so far to cover next year's deductible. That will be a help.

My deposit finally hit ING yesterday and my interest for yesterday and today jumped quite a bit. I mean, it's still small, but before this last deposit it was piddly. I should earn around $4 in interest this month from ING. Some people might laugh at that, but I never laugh at free money. I only wish they'd go back to paying out 4%. This .9% business is ridiculous.

Well, DH went back to the pharmacy to pick up the other prescription the pharmacist didn't see on the shelf last night and it was free, too. This one is normally $40, so we have definitely hit some sort of cap. Of course, I can't find our medical benefits file. DH had it when we opened the HSA and didn't put it back and doesn't know where he put it. Of course I can find the one from 2010, but that changed so radically this year that I'm not sure it's comparable. Still it did have an out of pocket limit so I'm assuming this one does, too.

DH is trying to find something on the insurance website, but good luck with that. Basically every time he signs into the insurance website, the website waggles its fingers in its ears, sticks out its tongue, and blows us a raspberry. Quite possibly it flips us off and flips us the bird simultaneously as well. Okay, okay, its just very user unfriendly and likes to crash like a toddler learning to ice skate (frequently and without any grace). If it weren't such a good insurance I would be far more cranky about that than I am.

If I could end up having that knee surgery this year, though, that would mean nothing out of pocket and that would be incredibly amazing. I am going to ask them to please find me any time or date before year's end. I will go in on Christmas if I have to, to not have to pay anything for it.

I went to Trader Joe's today and spent $95.44 on groceries and my cart was packed. I haven't done that at any other store in a while. Usually it's half a cart for twice as much money. That left me with $4.56 to put into the coin jar. My end of the year EF goal is definitely in sight.

I am exhausted, but I have been running all day. I had two medical appointments today, one at 11:00 and one at 2:15. And DS had early release at 12:15. DH had an appointment at 1:00 so he dropped me off at my first appointment, picked DS up after school, then we switched and I took DS and the car, ran home for a quick lunch and DS stayed with my mother while I ran to my doctor's appointment at 2:15. DD got out of school at 2:15 so DH walked from his appointment to the high school (six blocks), then he and DD walked from the high school to my second doctor's appointment (eight blocks), and then we all went home together.

Life with one car can be a little tricky sometimes. Well, technically we have two cars, but the battery is dead in the Crown Victoria and it needs new brakes, so...eh. One car. We'll charge the battery when we are ready to get the brakes fixed. But that's $700 I just don't see spending right now. We may end up trading it in at some point on a small, more gas efficient used car before getting it fixed, but not until our credit card debt is paid off and we can pay for it in cash.

Most of the time we really can get by with one, but DD will be 16 in August and it'll be a little more complicated with 3 drivers in the family. DD has more and more activities and I really am getting tired of playing chauffeur all the time and it's only going to get worse. I think we'll go as long as we can stand it though and then shell out for something in the $5000 range.

DH's family has put his grandparents' place on the market for $189,000. It's a fairly big house on a half acre with four bedrooms, two bathrooms, an old fashioned parlor, living room, decent sized kitchen with pretty modern appliances (less than five years old), a garage, and a double carport. I think it's a steal at that price, but they are pricing it to sell. Apparently the state won't get any of it, since the rental on it paid for the nursing home care. So whatever it sells for, DH will inherit 5%. If it sells for the $189,000 it'll be around $9000 after the realtor's fee is taken out. Not a bad little windfall. It's in a prime neighborhood, but the market is bad all over the county, so who knows when it'll sell?

I added $3.67 to the coin jar today. 11 cents was found money. The rest was change from buying bread and milk at the grocery store. I've really got to download the manual to my mom's bread machine so I can go back to not buying bread.

DH picked up two prescriptions today. It was supposed to be 3 but DH didn't know that and it had been called in on Friday so it was in a separate bag on the shelf and the pharmacist didn't see it. So we'll have to go back. I guess maybe we'll to WalMart tomorrow since we have to go back that way and I need to buy at least 2 pairs of smaller jeans.

Anyway, the one prescription was $10 and for some reason the other one was free when it's usually $2.99. I am wondering if we've hit some kind of cap for the year? We've certainly spent enough on medical (probably just around $10,000 for our portion) and I know there's a cap somewhere, but I was thinking it was $12,000. Although it's entirely possible we've hit that amount out of pocket, too. I did accidentally shred some statements before we set up the HSA and I know at least one of them was for around $1000 and the other close to $600. I'll have DH look it up.

So I ended up with some serious, serious pizza cravings tonight. I didn't want to order out and I didn't have the time to make dough from scratch, but I did have one of those ready made pizza crusts from

http://www.rusticcrust.com/ in the house, plenty of tomato sauce and herbs, shredded cheese and sausage, onions, and peppers, so I made it and it was delicious (though I still prefer my own dough) and perfect for a fast pizza without buying a frozen pizza, store made one, or ordering out.

I love Rustic Crusts. We've tried a couple different ones and find them very flavorful. (Crazyliblady, they have a gluten free one). I find they taste way better than Boboli which I have never liked either the thickness or the flavor of or all the additives and preservatives. (DH thinks Boboli are great, but then he likes those cheap cardboard pizzas, too). And, at least in the store where I buy them, they are less expensive than Boboli as well, despite being organic.

So far every time I have bought one there has been a coupon inside for 50 cents off your next purchase.

I forgot to mention that I filled up the gas tank for $53.31. It was running on fumes, and I am still not used to filling it on less than $65. But it is down to $3.49 a gallon. The last time I filled up it was $3.69 and the time before that $3.89 so I am really liking this general downward trend. Let's hope it lasts through the holidays.

I made the kids do a general clean up of the back of the van. It was getting ridiculous and I told them both that no one would be sitting in the front passenger seat on cold mornings on the drive to school if the back didn't get spic and span pronto. Front seats have warmers in them so this is a major threat. Those seats can be cold in the morning. I never thought I'd love such a "useless" and "luxury" gizmo, but I really do.

I am still in love with our van and our choice to get it still feels like the right one for our family (even if we could have gotten an almost as nice one that was five years old and didn't have everything we wanted for a lesser price and the interior wood was weirdly colored and it was white on the outside). I was expecting to feel a little bit of the shiny wear off by now, but nope...still shiny! And the fact that I can stretch out the bad leg whenever I need to and the easier accessibility with getting in and out reinforces my decision every day. There's a lot I am frugal with and a lot I am willing to give up, but I am happy to have splurged on this vehicle, despite how nervous I was about it at a time.

It's getting a lot of that winter dirt on the outside, so we'll be taking it up to the $13 car wash (wash and wax) this week. Since we plan to drive this car for at least ten to fifteen years, maintenance is important to keep it looking nice. Also going to have to schedule an oil change as the little warning screen popped up saying so. I do love having more than an oil light or an engine light.

Gadgets can be useful. The other day at the courthouse when I was getting my temporary disabled parking permit renewed for another six months I somehow or another locked the steering wheel. Not on purpose, but I must not have straightened it out in the parking space. Anyway it wouldn't start (totally freaking me out), but then the screen pops up saying that I had locked my steering wheel and I needed to unlock it while starting the car, so I knew exactly what to do. Otherwise I might have sat their quietly freaking out then called AAA and looked mighty stupid.

I am happy with the choice of the vehicle, even if it was an expensive one. We pinch in enough other areas and physical comfort really is important when you are disabled.

...to spend one $40 gift card? Seriously, DH and I picked up the organic free range turkey today at Safeway and we got an 18 pounder. It was marked as $37.21 and the milk we got was $3.09. So we whip out that gift card and then hand over our store card and...$9 off! So, yeah, we still have $9 and some change left on the gift card. Neither one of us wanted to try to use it up today. I did look around while we were there for anything else, because we just rarely drive out there, but I was not going to pay $7 for 10 pounds of potatoes (can you say price gouging?) or any of the other ridiculous produce prices there. Especially when we stopped at a different store on the way home and they had 15 pound bags of potatoes for $3. Seriously, these things are supposed to go on sale for the holidays, Safeway. Get with the program. And also another reason why I rarely shop there aside from the distance, it is just far, far, far too expensive.

So today we are going out to eat mid-way between lunch and dinner, since the restaurant we want to go to is slowest at that time. This is the only meal out we are planning for during the next two weeks. I figure with Thanksgiving next week there will be plenty of leftovers. I have a bunch of divided containers that will be perfect for freezer TV dinners of leftover turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, and stuffing. Then just pop one out, cook it, add a salad or other green veggie, and you're set for a future dinner.

With the leftover turkey I will also make turkey enchiladas, turkey pot pies, and turkey vegetable noodle soup, some to be frozen, some to be eaten. I will make quesadillas at least one night.

DH's work gave him a $40 gift card to Safeway for Thanksgiving so our turkey will be free. I am going to get the biggest organic free range one I can find for that amount. I don't generally like going to Safeway as it is a 30 minute drive away. I am hoping to have enough leftover for two bags of Great Horn Valley bread for my simple stuffing. If not, I'll make a couple loaves of homemade bread myself on Tuesday. I just have to download the manual to the bread machine my mother gave me when mine went kaput.

DH's family should provide the potatoes, sweet potatoes, milk, butter, pumpkin bread, pies, salad, green vegetable, and not green vegetable (probably corn). I will make one chocolate pie myself so my son can have something he's not allergic, too. I just need to find the right kind of graham crackers for the crust and TJ's chocolate pudding mix. There will probably also be apple (he's allergic to apples), pumpkin (he's allergic to cloves), and lemon meringue (usually a store bought one so usually has yellow #5). I may try my hand at a key-lime this year if I find the right kind of graham crackers.