Lucky Robin's Personal Finance Blog

I picked up 8 temporary checks from the Credit Union today so I could write out the rest of my bills. They were:

Garbage for this house--$50.65
HSBC/Best Buy for laptop (took out of laptop fund)--$100.00
Comcast Phone for old house--$44.92 (complaining did me some good!)
Comcast internet for this house--$65.55
AAA Yearly Renewl Fee--$121
Car Tabs--$75.77

I also had physical therapy today so $90 for that. I was able to walk down the stairs today one foot per stair instead of two feet per stair. I'm starting to see some actual progress on my knee.

Then the car payment is due on the 19th which is a Saturday, so that won't come out until the 21st. I've the money set aside for that and will transfer it on Friday the 18th.

I found $1 in change on the floor of the old house while we were cleaning today so that went into the coin jar. Tomorrow we are going to go do some more work out at the house and make a dump run so we will be borrowing FIL's truck which means putting at least 3 gallons of gas in when we are done. So that'll be $10.40 or so.

Wednesday we might go out again, but will have to be back before six at night for DS's science fair. I hope it's one of those things where only a brief appearance is needed. I'm still feeling under the weather and DD is quite ill. If I can pop my head in and oo and aw over things and then leave DH to hang around and do the parental thing, that would be nice.

We have to go to the court house in the morning to pay for car tabs and find out why we haven't been mailed our propterty tax bill yet, since it's due April 30 and they usually send them out in February. They might still have the wrong address. I need to see about getting my temporary disabled parking permit. Should only need it for six months if all goes well surgically.

I need to fill out my juror's questionaire and then enclose the doctor's note with it excusing me and mail that in.

We might go out on Thursday as well. I have to do a lot of sitting down and supervising DH, but I do what I can. And it keeps him company. We won't go out on Friday because that is our 16th wedding anniversary and we're going to a nice steakhouse for dinner. We had talked about a movie but it's really hard on my bad knee to be straight down on the groung like that. It needs to be elevated after about an hour to an hour and half and most movies today are far longer than that. So maybe we'll just watch a DVD together when we get home.

I have a feeling it's going to be long week.

Momcents also wanted my pizza dough recipe so here it is.

1 TBSP active dry yeast
1 cup lukewarm water
1 TBSP oil (I use a basil infused olive oil)
1 TSP salt
2 and 3/4 cups flour

I make this in my bread machine on the dough cycle, but it can also be made in a stand mixer with a dough hook or if you are particularly so inclined, by hand. If by hand knead for five minutes. Let rise for at least one hour (1 1/2 is recommended but my dough cycle is only an hour and I'm impatient).

This makes one 16 inch pizza or two 12 inch pizzas or 4 calzones.

Press dough out on pizza pan (one of those round ones with the little holes works better than a plain pizza pan, but use what you've got).

On the 16 inch pizza I use half a can of tomato sauce and sprinkle on Italian seasoning (or if I don't have it, basil, oregano, thyme and marjoram. Or if I have leftover homemade spaghetti sauce I'll use that. I use a pound of shredded mozzarella (but you could use less, we just like extra cheese) and then top with whatever toppings I have on hand, usually ground beef, sausage, turkey ham, bacon, proscuitto, salami or pepperoni and onions and peppers.

Bake in a 425 degree oven for 25 minutes. I have a gas oven so electric might vary on the timing. You'd have to check it until you know for sure how long it takes in your oven.

Momcents asked for my taco seasoning recipe. I make a lot of my own seasonings because so many of the packets have fillers and things from making them stick together, not to mention sugar. I like a pure mix of herbs and spices. It just tastes better and I don't have to worry about allergens. I tend to keep a lot of spices on hand, which makes it really easy to throw these things together.

1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablepsoon dehydrated onion flakes (or 1 tsp onion powder)
3 cloves fresh garlic, crushed (or 1 tsp garlic powder)
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon black pepper

If you use fresh garlic and onion flakes those get stirred into the hamburger while you cook it. If you use the powders instead just mix all the seasonings together and add to the hamburger with a 1/4 cup of water and cook the water down until it is gone. You can change the heat by either reducing or increasing the red pepper flakes.

Well, I just went through my wallet and DH's to retrieve one dollar bills like I do at least once a week and I found $4 between us. I also emptied both of spare change and had $1.72 for the coin jar. It looked like I had enough quarters for a roll and I did, and I thought I'd count pennies as well and had exactly 50, so that's another $10.50, so altogether I have $14.50 to add to the laptop fund. Doesn't make up for the $50 I had to take out for DH's carelessness, but it's a start.

Tomorrow's meal planning:

Breakfast:
Pancakes with real maple syrup ($2)
Eggs (free, from chickens)
Milk ($2)

Total: $4

Lunch:
DS--
PB and H sandwich (.50)
orange (.50)
rice cereal bar (.50)
water

2 adults, plus DD (too sick to go to school)
Chicken noodle soup ($1.39)
Chili (.79)
Grilled cheese sandwiches with ham ($3)
1 can pineapple ($1)
yogurt ($2)
water

Total: $9.68

Dinner:
Tacos
--lettuce (.50)
--cheese ($2)
--hamburger ($1.73)
--taco shells ($1.39)
--homemade seasoning (.50)
Milk ($2)

Total: $8.12

Total for day: $21.80

Eleven years ago today I gave birth to a bouncing baby boy. Today he's still bouncing, though it tends to be off the walls, off the ceiling, off the bed. My husband managed to lose one of his presents last night. He only bought it on Friday, it shouldn't be that hard to remember what he did with it. Wouldn't have been that big of a deal if we had gotten more than two things. It was a used video game that DS wanted desperately, so it was one of those tiny ones for the Nintendo DSI.

So DH made an unexpected trip down to Burlington to a Game Stop there and picked up another one. The first one cost $22. The second one cost $43. Both were used. Needless to say I am slightly annoyed with DH. I took the money out of my laptop fund, because we'd already used up all the birthday money I'd budgeted. Then DH decided it was okay to use the leftover money from the $50 I gave him to buy modeling glue! So I didn't end up with any of the money back.

DS and my mother made cupcakes tonight to take to class tomorrow. A lovely homemade chocolate cupcake with chocolate frosting made from cocoa. I was jealous, but we'd already had homemade yellow cake with homemade white frosting for his birthday. Anyway the ingredients for the cupcakes were $2.

Tomorrow is going to be a difficult day to get things down to the school. 28 cupcakes and a science fair project. Oh, well, we'll manage.

My friend Katie in Japan reported in to the US Consulate who called her sister. She's safe! She's been in a shelter and was finally able to get word out. I am so incredibly grateful for her safety.

First, my friend is still missing in Japan. There has been no news, but communications are seriously damaged in her area, so I hold out hope. I have to. I don't want to think about what it means to not.

DH and I went out to the house today and we cleaned out the top floor of the shed and half of the bottom floor. We ended up filling up the garbage can. Rats got in at some point, probably back when DH was always forgetting to shut the door and lock it up after putting the lawn mower away when we still lived there. He had a box of MRE's leftover from his Civil Air Patrol days that he had stored in there. I did not know he had stored food in there or I wouldn't have let him do it.

Anyway, they got in and they chewed through those suckers. If you've ever seen a MRE you know that their packaging is pretty darn heavy duty so it took a lot of effort on the rats' part. Fortunately they were not on the top floor at all. It would have been very hard for them to get up there.

We took a load to storage and I still think everything is going to fit. We've got about two loads of stuff left to pack up and take there. And DH needs to do a dump run very soon. We also need to find out if there is a recycling fee on old microwaves, because we have a couple broken ones. Hmm...I wonder if I could donate them to the technical college? They have an appliance repair class.

We ran out of checks yesterday. I had ordered some but they haven't arrived yet. On Monday I will go to the CU and get some free temporary checks. They will give me 8 and they print all the information on them so they are just like regular checks. Then I can send out the rest of the bills. Thankfully nothing is due before the 22nd so plenty of time to get them sent.

Everyone ate leftovers today for all meals so I'm not doing a meal plan for today. Basically it was leftovers and $4 worth of milk.

Tomorrow's meal plan was picked by my son who will be turning 11:

Breakfast:
Pancakes with jelly ($1)
Eggs (free, from chickens)
Bacon ($2)
Milk ($2)

Total: $5

Lunch:
Leftover pizza (free)
Leftover spaghetti (free)
yogurt ($2)
bananas (.50)

Total: $2.50

Dinner:
Beef Pot Roast ($5.89)
Mashed potatoes with gravy (.25)
Green Beans ($1)
Homemade birthday cake ($1)
Milk ($2)

Total: $10.14

Total for day: $17.64 My mother will be eating dinner with us, so dinner will feed five instead of four.

It's hard for me to focus on finances right now. All updates from my friend's family have her still listed as missing. I did find her facebook page (didn't think she had one), but no news yet and google's people finder has her listed as missing. But I do know that I can't allow myself to slip up on finances even though there is a giant knot in my stomach.

So...turns out that new prescription isn't covered by my insurance. They didn't deny it, they just don't cover it. Weird. But it's very expensive. $150 for 30 pills. I do have a $25 off coupon, but still. Ouch. And I can sign up to receive more coupons from the company, but still that only brings it down to $125. I am hoping I won't have to be on it very long and can stop taking it after the surgery and also that I can get samples of it from my regular physician since it is so pricey. The pharmacy doesn't even have it. They will have to order it. I'm glad I have samples.

The payment I made to BoA VISA posted this morning and it's back under $20,000 at $19,687.44. So there was a bit of progress made there. I made a payment of $1300 to the BoA Master Card today which will bring it down quite a bit. $84.23 went to interest so subtracting that out should bring the balance to $3260.27.

$24,238.69 previous BoA credit card balances
-22,947.81 new BoA credit card balances
------------
$1290.88 went to Bringing Down the Evil Empire

From now on there will be a lot more progress made each month, though. I thought I would have to wait until May to pay off the MC but I'll be able to get it paid off in April, so only one more month. Yay! Then the whole amount can go to the VISA from May on. That means I should have it paid off in November and not December like I thought. Although I don't know what the surgery is going to cost, but it's probably at least the amount of one VISA payment. So maybe I should stick with December.

I still need to do the rest of the bills for this paycheck, and will probably get that done tomorrow.

Money spent on prescriptions today was $60.25. We got a XL pizza from Round Table for $27.11. DH picked up DS's big b'day present for $65.43. I think that's it.

I am worried about my friend Katie in Japan. She's been teaching English there for the last couple of years and she was just getting ready to come home this month. I haven't heard from her since before the last tsunami and earthquake. She was fine after the first earthquake, but no one has heard from her since the second and it was really close to where her apartment is. I really hope she is okay.

I did finally hear from the doctor's office at 4:55 yesterday. I got an excuse to get jury duty deferred until after surgery which I have to go pick up today. They called in the prescription. Now I just have to wait on the Virginia Mason stuff, which will supposedly be taken care of on Monday.

Made an appointment for my daughter at the doctor's office. Pediatrics was full up even though we called right at 8, so she'll be seeing a physician's assistant. We think she has strep throat and an ear infection. I swear this kid has been sick since October. She's so miserable. And I just got on antibiotics for the sinus thing again two days ago and I woke up with a miserable sore throat. I so do not want strep throat. I can feel one of my ears starting to ache just a little.

I'll be picking up three prescriptions of my own today for my lovely medical cocktail and then if they give something for DD those, as well. I'm not sure how much that is going to cost, but one of them is pretty pricey so I doubt I'll walk away for much under $60. Plus the $20 co-pay for DD at the doctor's office.

I've got to sit down and figure out today's paycheck and get everything going where it needs to go so I can do the BoA Master Card payment. And we need to get gas. Costco is on the way back from the doctor's offices so we can just stop and do that then. That'll probably be around $38.

Have you ever walked into the store for one thing and then walked out again with everything but that thing? *sighs* I did that today. Okay, I had planned on picking up other things, but the main idea was to get the heartburn medicine which was on sale and I had a good coupon for. DH will pick it up later when he goes out to gas up the car. One of the side effects of my current medical cocktail is heartburn and I'm out of them.

I am slightly annoyed that the Jiffy mixes (the only boxed mix besides Krusteaz that doesn't have allergens in it so it's safe for my son) are no longer all .79. I've finally wiped out my stash this morning so I went to pick up two blueberry muffin and two cornbread mixes. Blueberry muffin mix is now 99 cents a box. On the bright side Cornbread mix has dropped to .59. Technically it's a wash. I paid the same amount overall for four boxes of mix that I used to, but it still rankled a little bit. It is probably the cost of blueberries. I live in blueberry country and last season was erratic to say the least.

I went and parked myself at the doctor's office today. Since they don't feel like returning my phone calls, I decided to go be difficult in person since I was out of medication and they did not call in my prescription on Monday like they were supposed to. Being out was not fun. My body immediately reverted to how it was before I started the med. Anyway, they gave me two weeks worth of samples and supposedly are calling it in. There still has been no word on an appointment with the specialist at Virginia Mason. I don't even think they've called them.

They were supposed to have put that in motion when I had my appointment on the 15th of February and he decided I needed to see a surgeon who specialized in operating on scar tissue at previous surgical sites. I really think that 23 days is well and truly enough time for them to get their act together and do what they are supposed to so I can move on with my life, please, 'kay, thanks. I hate being in limbo.

I also made sure they were going to ask the doctor about a deferral on my jury duty. With what is going on with me I'm simply not going to be capable of serving. I need this surgery first and to heal or it will simply be unbearable. The official resummons came in the mail yesterday and I am running out of time. April 4th will be here before I know it. If I have to go sit in their office every day until I hear from them I will.

I had to cancel my dentist appointment this morning because my symptoms were so bad without the one med. I've rescheduled for next Thursday. I am glad they were able to get me in so soon. At my old dentist if you had to cancel it could be months before you got back in.

I went ahead and paid $1500 on the BoA VISA today. We were going by the bank anyway. Even though we will have to go back tomorrow to pay the Master Card with the extra money from payday and I could have just waited, I figured if we did it today it might actually post by tomorrow and I'd get to see that balance go back down below $20,000. It is a psychological thing. Fortunately the bank is by the high school so it is not out of the way to go there. I will have to wait until Monday though for the MC to post. *pouts* Don't know why they can't do same day posting when you do it in the morning. They used to.

Okay, I feel like I am doing a disproportinate amount of whining today so I will stop now.

Meal planning for today was:

Breakfast:
Cornbread Muffins (79)
Eggs (free from chickens)
Milk ($2)

Total: $2.79

Lunch:
2 kids--
PB and H sandwich (.50)
Turkey ham and roast beef sandwich ($1)
plain potato chips (.50)
banana (.20)
orange (.50)

2 adults--
leftover spaghetti (free)
yogurt ($2)
orange (.50)
apple (.30)

Total: $5.50

Dinner:
Salmon (free, from Mom)
fried potatoes (.25)
broccoli/cauliflower leftovers (free)
Milk ($2)
Biscuits (.50)

Total: $2.75

Total for day: $11.04 Woo hoo!

Well, DH's travel expenses for the month have posted to the BoA VISA and it's not as bad as I thought. I thought it was closer to $1500, but it was $1291.67, a difference of $208.33. Interest is $189.93. Which comes to $1481.60. I've set aside $1500 thinking I'd have to come up with a few hundred more just to stand still this payment, but I don't. And it'll even have $19.40 going to the principle. Yay. That means for sure all extra money this paycheck can go to BoA Master Card.

As much as I don't like standing still on this card, if it means paying off the Master Card in a couple more months, I can do it. Then I can slam the VISA with all the Master Card money. And I have to look on the bright side. At least we CAN stand still on the VISA. It would be much worse if that total were to actually rise overall each month. I just need to hang in there until June and then we can slam that VISA so hard it won't know what hit it.

At least I'm pretty sure it was Saving Advice that ate it and not the internets in general. It was a long and detailed post, too, and I do not have the energy to redo it. So, the highlights:

1. Got a ten dollar rebate on some Brita stuff I'll be sending in.

2. Can get a $2 off coupon if I sign up at Brita for filter refills.

3. Got a $3 catalina coupon for health and beauty products at Kmart today when I bought a swimsuit ($20 cheaper than the one I was going to order online).

4. Found a $2 coupon for Afrin nasal spray in a box when I was doing the recycling.

5. Dinner was delicious, but there were no leftover meatballs to make meatball sandwiches tomorrow.

6. I did my meal planning for tomorrow but do not want to retype it right now. It came to $14.65 for the day. I know because I didn't close the computer's calculator yet. I will enter it tomorrow.

7. I made more dough for making bread tomorrow. DH has been snacking on it and the peanut butter without telling me so I can adjust the food calculations. *sigh*

8. Got a gallon of milk for 99 cents today because it had a sell by date of tomorrow. Got my son's special milk for $5.29 a gallon (2 of them) which is usually $5.99. Has a sell by date of 3/23 so it will be good for a while.

9. Spent $14.92 for two prescriptions.

Today was a really long day, but I feel like I got a lot accomplished. And dinner was fantastic. It has been an age since I've made my garlic cheese meatballs. Usually when I make the fancy sauce from scratch I just don't bother with adding protein to the meal because it is a pretty hearty sauce, but we had a pound of hamburger thawed out leftover from making cheeseburgers last night and the kids had been asking for these so I did, with the idea that there would be leftovers for tomorrow night to make meatball sandwiches with. Umm...I'd forgoten how good they are. Suffice it to say there was exactly two meatballs leftover which is not going to make anyone a sandwich, but at least can be crumbled up and thrown on pizza when I make it this week.

DH and I went jeans shopping for him. Unfortunately we only found one pair that fit him right. There were four pairs in his size, but only one brand fit him right. I kind of wish clothing manufacturers woiuld be more standard. So we might have to wait until next month to buy him the other two pairs, but we will check back next week in case new stock came in.

While we were there, totally unexpectedly, I found the perfect swimsuit for me. I was going to order one off a website, but was hesitating because of the price. The suit I found at the store was $20 less. It was just what I wanted, in that it had thick shoulder straps instead of tying behind the neck, a good built-in bra that doesn't show off more than I'm comfortable having the world see, and a skirt that wasn't so long it gets in my way when I do the crawl stroke, but was long enough to cover what I wanted covered. We got a $3 catalina coupon for health and beauty that is good until mid-April at the check-out.

The suit is a little...loud, but not garishly so and most swimsuits are these days. Just more than I would normally wear. Looks like confetti all over a black background. I will have to cut these goofy bows off that serve no purpose and then I will be completely happy. I've been making do with a suit that's too big for a while now, (wore it when pregnant with my almost eleven year old) so I'm glad I'll have something that fits better now that I swim so much more than I used to. I'm going to start swimming again tomorrow. I hate to see what kind of shape I'm in. I was doing 40 laps when I got sick and quit. I think I'll be lucky if I can do 10.

We went to Lowe's and bought replacement filters for our Brita faucet filter and my mom had us pick up a filter for her, too. They had a $10 rebate for if you bought a replacement 2 pack and a filter. Mom doesn't rebate so I got it and I will send it off tomorrow. It also came with a thing that if you sign up at Brita for reminder emails for replacement filters they will send you a $2 coupon.

We got a gallon of Darigold milk today that was marked down to 99 cents because it's sell by date was tomorrow. My son's special milk was on special for $5.29 a gallon (usually $5.99) with a sell by date of March 23 so we got two of those. I also got some bananas that were 48 cents a pound. Normally the best I can get them for is 59 cents a pound, so yay.

We went to the pharmacy and got 2 prescriptions for $14.92. I was afraid that the drug part of our medical plan had changed, but it hasn't. Very happy about that. I am still waiting on the one doctor to call in another RX. I will have to call tomorrow. I called on Monday and they said they'd call it in but haven't. I only have 2 samples left so they better get a move on.

I'm going to have to make more bread tomorrow. I usually only do it twice a week, but we seem to be eating more than previously. Or maybe my mother is filching more than she used to. She does like fresh bread. DH is probably snacking on it without telling me. I've noticed a big dip in the peanut butter jar, too. I'll have to ask him as I'll want to account for it in my meal planning if he is.

Meal Planning for tomorrow:

Breakfast:
French toast with powdered sugar ($1)
Milk ($1.50)

Total $2.50

Lunch:
2 kids--
PB and Honey sandwich (.50)
Turkey ham and roast beef sandwich ($1)
banana (.20)
apple (.50)
hard pretzels (.25)

2 adults--
All meat chili ($3)
Cornbread (.30)
bananas (.40)

Total: $6.15

Dinner:
Chicken legs ($3)
Mashed potatoes and gravy (.50)
Broccoli ($1)
Cauliflower ($1)
Milk ($1.50)

Total $7

Total for day: $15.65

The buns I made turned out beautifully, but my bread fell. My mother was up there banging around, slamming cupboard doors, so of course it fell. She's worse than my ten year old sometimes. It's still edible, tastes good in fact, but it's just a lot shorter than I was expecting it to be. Oh, well. I'll try to bake it when she's out of the house from now on. She wasn't even mad or anything she's just a slammer and a stomper by nature. Some people sound like a herd of elephants walking down the stairs. She's one of those.

If it hadn't have been good I'd have just used it to make bread stuffing or French toast or something other than for sandwiches. I would not throw it out even though it's only 50 cents to make it. The good bread (the kind without corn syrup or raisin juice for sweetening) is just too expensive at $4.50 a loaf. Even on a really good sale it's 2/$5.

Prices have taken a big jump this week, I noticed. I'm sure it has to do with gas prices skyrocketing. I'm glad we have plenty of potatoes, onions, carrots, apples, and oranges right now. We do have to pick up bananas tomorrow but they are still (fortunately) on sale. We may have to cut our milk consumption back to once a day if the milk gets too much higher. I've got a lot of cheese stockpiled so I'm not too worried about calcium.

I'm also glad we have plenty of chicken, hamburger, fish and pot roast in the freezer and lots of canned goods in the cupboard. I don't have to buy any of that at least until April. I will definitely really be keeping an eye on the leftovers and meal planning with the best of them. I do need to buy flour though and soon.

Tomorrow's meals:

Breakfast:
Blueberry muffins (.79)
Eggs (free from chickens)
Milk ($2)

Total: $2.79

Lunch:
2 kids--
1 PB and Honey sandwich (.50)
1 turkey ham and pastrami sandwich ($1)
1 orange (.50)
1 apple (.50)
goldfish crackers (.50)

2 adults
DH--
Egg salad sandwiches (.50)
banana (.25)

Me--
1/2 can leftover TJ's chicken noodle soup
orange (.50)
1 PB and homemade blackberry jelly sandwich (.50)

Total: $4.75

Dinner:
Spaghetti with homemade sauce--
--1 pound spaghetti (.99)
--2 tomatoes (.97)
--2 cans tomato sauce ($2)
--2 small cans tomato paste ($1)
--1 cup onions, diced (.25)
--1 tbsp garlic, minced (.25)
--herbs (.25)
Meatballs:
--hamburger (1.73)
--1 tbsp garlic, minced (.25)
--1/3 cup cheddar (.75)
--1/3 cup parmesan ($1)
--1/3 cup romano ($1)
Milk ($2)

Total: $12.44

Total for day: $19.98. A litle high but there will be at least two days worth of spaghetti leftovers for lunches for me and DH and there will be leftover sauce and meatballs for making meatball sandwiches for dinner one night.

I guess the 18 months same as cash deal for the laptop comes with a credit card, not just a line of credit, because I got a Best Buy Credit Card in the mail today. I immediately put it into the drawer with all the other unused credit cards. I have no intention of using it. I'll make my first payment on Friday, $75 more than the minimum payment of $25 a month. $100 a month is a much better number for getting it paid off well before the 18 months are up.

Costoco AMEX sent me out a new card. I'm not sure why since the one I have doesn't expire until 7/14. It's got the same number on it. Maybe it's because we bumped up to the executive level at Costco being as we've already earned enough this year to pay for it and then some when rewards time comes around. I guess I can thank high gas prices for that. I'm a little miffed as I finally just got around to having my photo put on the old AMEX and now I'll have to do it again. *sighs*

I had physical therapy today but had to cut out early. I started getting really queasy about ten minutes before the end and ended up throwing up in a garbage can. That was fun. I don't even know where it came from. One minute I was fine, the next, blech. Anyway PT cost $90.

DH spent $21.37 picking up milk and yogurt with live cultures (we've all been on too many antibiotics lately). He also spent $8.73 for two big rolls of packing tape with a dispenser, 2 permanent black markers and a box cutter. It came in a kit and was cheaper than buying it all seperately.

There was no school today so all meals are at home. I forgot to send in my meal planning yesterday but I did do it.

Breakfast:
Pancakes with the last of the huckleberry jam we bought on vacation in July ($1.50)
Eggs (free, from chickens)
Milk: ($2)

Total: $3.50

Lunch:
Chicken noodle soup ($2)
Tuna sandwiches ($2)
2 bananas (.50)
2 oranges ($1)

Total: $5.50

Dinner:
Hamburgers ($1.73)
Homemade buns ($.25)
Cheese slices (.50)
tomato (.50)
lettuce (.25)
condiments (.25)
diced onion (.25)
French Fries ($1)
1 can of green beans ($1)
Milk ($2)

Total: $7.73

Total for day $16.73

We're doing much better than all those $20-$22 days now. I'm glad I did most of the baking and the dough making this morning before PT because I wouldn't feel like doing it now. I made one batch of hamburger/hotdog buns, a loaf of bread, 1 batch of biscuits, 1 pan of corn bread and a batch of blueberry muffins. The buns and bread have finished rising and have just gone in the oven, but everything else was baked earlier. I may have DD put in the ingredients for pizza dough into the bread machine for making pizza later in the week (after my stomach settles down).

I need to remember to call two of my doctors today for medication refills and see what is going on with the referral to Virginia Mason. It's been 3 weeks and I haven't heard anything yet.

Every time we bring stuff to storage I always think there is never going to be enough room for everything and then we reorganize everything and voila, there's more room. Today was the third time we reorganized it and this time boxes go all the way up the ceiling. We will have absolutely no problem getting the rest of the stuff from the house and shed in there and also the stuff we have temporarily stored in Mom's garage (which will make her jump up and down to be rid of it.

I am hoping that we will be able to get it all cleared by the end of next weekend and then all we need to worry about is moving the piano, cleaning, finishing the shower, ripping out carpet, replacing 4 interior doors and frames, replacing one pane of window glass and painting inside and out. New floors of some sort will have to go down, too. We will do most of it ourselves but we are going to hire a guy who used to work construction to do some of it. He's been laid off for a while (so went back to school) and he needs the money. He knows his stuff.

I found out about a product called Gripper which is a primer that works on vinyl wallboard which is what the house has (never again!) and then you can paint over it with regular paint with no problems. We're going to take all the battens off and tape and mud them. Battens are ugly and just make the place look less attractive than plain painted walls.

Once everything in the house is done then we will likely hire a landscaper to fix up the yard and garden. Or another handyman type, I'm not sure. Since I can't get down on my knees anymore since the surgery there's not too much I can do in the yard at a ground level. I really need to start saving up for all this. I don't think we're going to be ready to put it on the market by summer. I was hoping so, but I don't think so now.

DH and I stopped at an open house today for model homes that will be being built in the next three years, just to see what they had. We're not ready yet and we made that quite clear, but I liked seeing the plans for the ones that will be ready in 2012 and 2013. The price ranges were perfect.

The one we looked at was fairly nice, but the Master Bedroom is on the 2nd floor and I don't want that. And though it was a 2 and a half bathroom house, there were no bathrooms on the main floor. The half bath was located up off the first landing of the stairs. I don't want to climb stairs every time I need to use the bathroom because of my bad knee, so that would definitely be a no go. But otherwise I really liked it. The master bath had a sit down shower, no tub, which would be nice with my knee when it acts up, but there is a tub in the main bath for a nice soak if wanted.

They are building single level homes in the next couple of years so it works with our time frame. The only thing is it's in a different school district from the middle school my son will be attending next year. Same high school, though. It's something to think about, anyway.

I did absolutely nothing financial today. No money in, no money out. Didn't leave the house and didn't even think about finances. Just a lazy day spent reading and playing on the computer. Well, and doing five loads of laundry.

Tomorrow DH and I are going to our storage facility to rearrange things and repack some smaller boxes into larger ones for better stackability. We've still got to fit about three truckloads in there to finish emptying the house and the shed. There's room, but only if we move things around. Speaking of storage, that goes up by $11 next month. *sighs*

Menu planning for tomorrow:

Breakfast:

Pancakes ($1)
Homemade brown sugar syrup (.25)
Boiled eggs (free, from chickens)
Milk ($2)

Total: $3.25

Lunch:
2 kids eating at grandma's house (free)

2 adults (leftover pizza from tonight (free)
oranges ($1)

Total: $1

Dinner:
Pot roast ($5.89)
Mashed potatoes and gravy (.50)
Can of green beans ($1)
Homemade cheddar garlic biscuits (.50)

Total: $7.89

Total for the day: $12.14 A nice low day after some spendy ones and there will be leftover beef and potatoes and gravy for lunch on Monday. I don't know if it'll be enough for all four of us, though. The kids have the day off for a teacher work day or something so they will be home.

All right, so I've balanced the checkbook (to the penny, I might add) and I've stuck the $3000 into the holding tank portion of my savings. $1500 will be held to go to BoA VISA, $1009.25 will be held to go to BoA Master Card, and $490.75 will be held to go to the car payment.

That leaves us with $282 until next payday. $90 of that will pay for my physical therapy on Monday, $70 for DH for work jeans, $60 for my son's birthday present and $90 for food (though I don't think we'll need it all since I have plenty of produce and protein on hand, so probably just buy milk and any extra will be saved for later groceries). Oh, and I took money out earlier before I balanced the checkbook so I also have $40 in cash for anything unexpected.

The small paycheck next Friday (with just two days worth of wages on it will cover the cell phone bill, food for two weeks, old house phone, internet, two weeks of physical therapy, and garbage. I should have just under half of it left over, and when the first paycheck of the new cycle arrives, anything I have left over will go to the Master Card.

DH and I had a finance meeting tonight so I could explain where everything stands and so we are on the same page. He finds it boring, but he agrees that he doesn't want to be one of those clueless spouses who just hands over the paycheck and doesn't know where everything goes. We've decided to do this once every six weeks.

Now, on to meal planning.

Breakfast:
Chicken sausages ($3)
Blueberry muffins (.79)
Milk ($2)

Total: $5.79

Lunch:
Leftover ribeye steaks (free, already calculated)
Salad ($1)
Bananas ($1)
Homemade garlic and cheddar biscuits (.50)

Total: $2.50

Dinner:
Homemade pizza
--dough ($.50)
--leftover spaghetti sauce (free)
--leftover meatballs, crumbled (free)
--pepperoni ($1)
--proscuttio ($2)
--mozzarella cheese ($2)
Can of green beans ($1)
Milk ($2)

Total $8.50

Total for day: $16.79

Today is payday. I'm still figuring stuff out as far as the bills go. We went to Costco and bought $45.14 worth of food and a case of toilet paper. We don't need to do any major shopping this week at all. We will have to pick up milk, de-icer spray for the car windows, and jeans for DH, but that should be it.

I have to set money aside for the cell phone due on the 12th, the VISA due on the 21st, the MC due on the 17nth, and the car payment due on the 19th. Ticket prices have gone up on airfare and DH had to buy one this time around for a total of $950. Ouch. That's about $250 higher than usual. I'm sure that's due to gas and oil prices going up so high right now. Add that to the $70 for the hotel and the $40 for travel food, plus the interest for the month and that VISA is basically going to just be standing still this month. I am glad I already made an extra $1000 payment to it last week.

I was going to make an extra payment to the AMEX but I think I will hold off on that until the 1st and just make an extra large payment then instead. It's not due until April 3 anyway. The extra will go to the Master Card instead. For now I will transfer $3000 to the holding tank and then pay those bills closer to when they are due. Two weeks of interest isn't much, but it's something.

I added 34 cents to the change jar and $85 to the laptop fund.

$475.44 beginning laptop fund balance
$+85.00 amount added
-----------
$560.44 ending laptop fund balance

I got the statement from Best Buy for the laptop in the mail today. They only require a $25 payment. Sheesh. I'll be sending them $100 a month. Even though I have 18 months to pay it off without interest, I am not even going to come close to not paying it off in time. It's due on the 22nd, so I'll take $100 out of the laptop fund to pay it, and continue adding what I can to the fund as I go.

Breakfast:
Bacon ($2)
Homemade biscuits (.50)
Eggs (free, from chickens)
Milk ($2)
Total: $4.50

Lunch:
2 kids
PB and H sandiwch (.50)
PB and J sandwich (.50)
bananas (.50)
goldfish crackers (.50)

2 adults
1 can cream of mushroom soup (.79 + .50 for the milk to make it)
1 can Healthy Choice Chicken Noodle soup ($1)
1 can tuna fish ($1)
salad dressing (.25)
Lettuce (.50)

Total $6.04

Dinner:
Ribeye steaks (were on sale for $3.99/lb during superbowl week and will be leftovers for Saturday's lunch) $5.99
Baked potatoes (.50)
Can of green beans ($1)
Oranges ($1)
Milk ($2)

Total: $10.49

Total for day: $21.02

Not much going on here today. We went to Kmart as DD needed poster board for a school project. While we were there we got some tree sap remover and a microfiber cloth to get some gunge off the car before it wrecks the paint. It's supposed to remove tree sap, bug gunge, and bird droppings, all of which seem to have attacked our poor car lately. So we spent $6.80.

We also paid our monthly chiropractor bill of $215 for the upcoming month. Our chiropractor has a family plan where you can have as many visits as you want for every member of the family for a month for $215. Since one visit for one person would cost a $20 co-pay plus 20% of an $80 visit, and all four of us go two to three times a week, it is much cheaper for us to do it this way. We all have certain spinal issues so cutting back on visits isn't an option.

I am ridiculously anxious for Friday to get here so I can pay off more debt. It's almost silly how much I am looking forward to seeing those balances drop. Meanwhile, trying to get those grocery costs to stay under control, so here's the plan for tomorrow.

Breakfast:
French Toast with real maple syrup ($2.50)
Homemade beef sausage ($1.73)
Milk ($2)

Total $6.23

Lunch:
2 kids
PB& Honey sandwich (.50)
Turkey ham sandwich ($1)
Apple (.50)
Orange (.50)
baggy potato chips (.50)
baggy natural Cheetos (.50)
water

2 adults
Leftover spaghetti (free)
bananas (.50)
water

Total $4


Dinner:
Homemade meatball sandwiches
--Homemade French Bread ($1)
--Pound of hamburger ($1.73)
--Cheddar, parmesan, romano cheeses ($2)
--Garlic (.25)
--leftover spaghetti sauce (free)
Milk ($2)

Total $6.98

Food for the day: $17.22

It's going to be a lot harder to keep the costs down while DH is home. We tend to have more protein then. Still if I can keep it under $20 a day when he's here, that's still pretty good.

DH is safely home from Alaska. The plane had to circle the runway for an hour though on account of the wind gusting up to 72 miles per hour today. (The wind is just ridiculous. There are branches everywhere. Our basketball hoop fell over.) They were afraid they were going to have to go back to Seattle to land. I'm glad they didn't because then who knows how long it would have taken him to get home.

Food expenses will go up now that he's home, as we'll be feeding one more person, so I really need to keep an eye on that and make sure it doesn't get out of control. I also need to stand firm on not eating out much, because it is very easy to do that when he is at home. We have a lot of meat and cheese in the freezer and plenty of starch (pasta, rice, potatoes, bread) so I really just need to worry about fruit, veg, and milk.

He is going to need some jeans for work so I'll need to budget three pairs into next payday's expenses. I'm really glad that Kmart has a big and tall section now. He's got really long legs. It used to cost us $35 per pair of his jeans because he'd have to get them at Carharts (usually by special order). But now he can usually get 3 good pairs for around $50. That's the only unforeseen expense going into this paycheck, thankfully.

We spent $37.03 at the grocery store today. We bought milk, broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, lemons, bananas, frozen blueberries, frozen strawberries, frozen peaches, and apples, so we should be set for the next seven days or so.

I use a credit monitoring service for various reasons (not the least of which is that I had my wallet stolen in the early 90's and so I'm a trifle paranoid about keeping an eye on things). Anyway, the new monthly report came out and my credit score has gone up 12 points! From 780 to 792! Finally, things are shaking out from the big payoffs we've done so far this year.

I was a little worried that taking on the 18 months same as cash financing for the laptop would muck things up, but it appears to have actually helped. Or else they've just finally caught up with everything that's been paid off.

My goal is to get it back up over 800 (it's been at 803 in the past so I know it's possible), by the time we are ready to purchase a new (to us) car and a new house. Seeing something positive like this is renewing my determination to get this debt gone by year's end. And to stop looking at and being tempted by pretty Siennas.

I've noticed that since I started slacking off on posting my meal planning that I've also been slacking off on keeping the meals economical. Part of this has been due to illness, but part of it has been due to laziness as well, so I'm going to go back to posting the meals and relative prices, or otherwise I'm going to go so far off track that I won't even be able to see the train. DH gets home tomorrow morning so he'll be accounted for in these meals.

So for tomorrow:

Breakfast:
Pancakes ($1)
Real Maple Syrup ($1)
Scrambled Eggs (free, from chickens)
Milk ($2)

Total: $4

Lunch:
2 kids
Organic Deli meat sandwiches on homemade rolls ($3.25)
Orange (.50)
Banana (.25)
Baked goldfish crackers (.50)
water
$4.50

2 adults
Chicken and vegetable soup ($2)
Grilled ham and cheese ($2)
Bananas (.50)
water
$4.50

Total: $9

Dinner:
Spaghetti ($1)
Homemade Sauce:
Onion (.40)
2 cans tomato sauce ($2)
2 small cans tomato paste ($1)
2 large tomatoes($1)
Garlic (.25)
Basil, oregano, marjoram, thyme, salt and pepper (.50)
Milk ($2)
Total: $8.15

Total for day: $21.15

It's a little high, I usually try to keep it closer to $13 to $15 a day, but there will be enough spaghetti for leftovers for a few days for me and DH for lunches, so that will bring lunch costs down this week and it will all even out. There should be extra sauce beyond what is used on the leftover spaghetti so I will likely make a ravioli, sauce, and cheese bake with some leftover frozen ravioli I have.

I added yesterday's change to the coin jar, a whopping 90 cents.

I added $10 to the laptop fund.

$475.44 beginning laptop fund
$+10.00 amount added.
--------------
$485.44 ending laptop fund

I paid out $2 to my son who lost a tooth

My monthly ING interest came through so I added that $5.07 to the EF.

$7468.65 beginning EF fund
$+005.07 ING interest
---------------
$7473.72 total EF

It appears that we're going to have to pay $800 less in taxes than previously thought. DH had forgotten about the Making Work Pay tax credit. That will make things a little easier.

I really don't know why BoA takes forever to post payments. They didn't used to, but the last few months have been a lot longer than in the past.

Regardless, it finally shows the amount and so I can put up new numbers. The whole payment went to principle this time so actual noticable progress was made.

$20,895.77 BoA VISA starting amount
$-1.000.00 Payment
------------------
$19,895.77 BoA VISA ending amount


$19,895.77 BoA VISA
$+4,342.92 BoA MC
---------------
$24,238.69 Total still owed to the Evil Empire

Slowly but surely we are paying it down.

My physical therapist rescheduled for tomorrow, because she said she had so much snow where she lives she couldn't get out of her driveway. That really surprised me since it is 45 degrees and sunny here and she only lives 30 minutes south of me. This is the third appointment in a row she has cancelled. I'm starting to think about finding a new one, one who actually lives here in town and doesn't just work here. But I really like her. We're rescheduled for tomorrow. I hope she can make it. My leg is seriously starting to ache.

I slept seven hours straight last night. I haven't done that since October. It was nice not to wake myself up hacking. Now if I can shake off the rest of this I'll be a happy camper. I'm still tired though. I can't make up for weeks of not sleeping well in one night, though.

I'll be picking up prescriptions today so not sure how much will go out on that. Probably around $20 since they are both generics. I have my physical therapy today, so that will be $90. She cancelled on me twice last week, once when her truck broke down and then again when it snowed really bad. So it's been two weeks since I've gone and I am really feeling it.

Both kids are back in school today, albeit the younger one with a pocketful of cough drops and a note saying he is not to go outside for recess or PE this week because it's too cold and I don't want him getting a relapse when he's still not 100%. He's just not contagious anymore.

I don't know why I keep torturing myself by looking at used Toyota Sienna's online at the two local delearships near us. I've found two that would be perfect for what we want. Well, other than color, and when you're buying used, you don't get much of a choice in the matter. They are both around the same price, just under $28,000. They both have leather seats and FWD. One is a 2006 LTD with 54,000 miles on it. One is an XLE 2008 with 34,000 miles on it.

What we own right now is a 2009 Toyota Matrix with about 33,000 miles on it which we actually bought in April of 2008 (they had a very early model year. So in April we'll have had it for 3 years. It still has 2 years left in the car loan and we owe $16,236.70 on it. Because of the stupid brake recall thing, the Matrix hasn't held it's value like it would have done without it. So for a private sale it would be worth $15,500 or so, and for a trade in value it's worth $13,600. That's a difference of $2,636.70.

Everything I've ever read about finance says don't roll over an upside down car loan into a new car loan. I know we could come up with about $1500 of that money, but that would still leave us $1136.70 upside down. I could temporarily slow our debt payback to come up with that, too, but I really don't want to do that.

I wouldn't even be thinking about a new (to us) car right now if my children would stop growing! My daughter (who sits behind me when DH is home) and I are constantly jockeying for leg room in this little car. Because of my bad knee, I can't go too long without being able to stretch it out. It makes longer car trips unbearable. DD is taller than I am now, and she feels like she's always squashed into the space allowed her. And so do I.

So far my son isn't having too many problems, he sits behind his dad who has to have the seat even further back than I do. But he's about to turn eleven and he's going to grow. He's already past my chin. We're running out of space and there's also very little space in the back for shopping. One large case of toilet paper and you're lucky if you can fit anything else back there.

The plan was (and likely still is) to get through this year of debt repayment and then use the money that was going for that to finish paying off the car and then trade it in. And also to sell the Crown Victoria which KBB says is worth about $2000 in a private sale. It's a 1992 and in excellent running condition, just needs a lot of cleaning in the interior. If we could get $2000 that would go towards paying down the car loan and getting us close to having the value of what we owe left.

But my mind keeps saying that we ought to just go for it. Used Sienna's in such good shape are really hard to find. The fact that there are two at two different dealerships (so we might be able to use that against each salesman to lower the price) is even more rare. Our payments would be slightly less than what we're paying now and the loan would be for four years instead of the two we have left. We should qualify for the 2.9% loan since we've paid off $50,000 worth of debt since the last time we applied. But even if our interest rate stayed the same as it is now we'd still have payments around the same (about $10 difference) and a four year loan.

Why is this pulling at me so hard? This is the reason I won't go and look at houses yet. I'm afraid I'd fall in love with something before we were ready.

I guess it's just a question of comfort, really. Are we prepared to continue being squished every time we go somewhere? To take rental cars whenever we go on a road trip? To make smaller, more frequent grocery runs because of a lack of storage space? To never be able to haul the kids' friends around?

Am I being short-sighted in sticking to our plan? Or is this an investment worth making since it'll really cause no difference to our bottom line of how much money goes out to debt each month?

I was reading an old thread in the forums about whether or not it pays to buy in bulk and whether or not it pays to have a membership to a warehouse club. For the majority of the posters they didn't find having a membership was worth the price. I don't know about places like Sam's or BJ's, we don't have them here, but for me Costco has been well worth the membership price. And since we bumped up to the Executive level, we will more than get back the cost of membership when we get our yearly cash back from the club. In fact, we've already spent enough this year to have earned back most of it.

So what do I buy at Costco? My number one purchase would be gasoline. And with the Costco AMEX I'm also getting 1% cash back on every gas purchase. In our town Costco and the other cheapest gas station (cash only one) have the same price on gas. I do check some of the other less expensive places, but I've never found any place to be cheaper here.

Toilet paper. Because of my son's allergies there are only three brands of toilet paper he can use. One of them is available at Costco, and often the Costco booklet that comes out each month will have a $3 off coupon for it. I have, on very rare occasions found a sale, that combined with a coupon will cost less, but it is usually only if I buy the 4-pk. I'll get it, but then I'll still turn around and buy the 36 roll case from Costco. I'd rather not be shopping more than once a month for toiletries and the 36 roll pack lasts six weeks.

Flour, yeast, and sugar. We bake. A lot. Again, because of my son's allergies it is almost impossible to find bread products that don't have one of the ingredients he is allergic to. So we buy the 25 pound bag of flour and the 10 pound bag of sugar and the 2 pound bag of yeast. I've never found yeast cheaper. Flour and sugar I only find cheaper at Christmas time and shop accordingly. We have a large, plastic, airtight bulk bin that holds 20 pounds of flour and one that holds 10 pound of sugar. The extra five pounds of flour goes into a canister for my mother to use.

Butter. My son cannot have margarine and the health risks they've found related to it makes me unwilling to buy it. Butter, while a fat, is a natural fat and tastes so much better. Buying the bulk one pound cubes tends to be cheaper than even the best sales on butter, with coupons. Even at Christmas. And unsalted cubed butter for baking is also far cheaper than in regular stores.

Extra virgin olive oil. No contest.

Cheese. If cheese is on a really good sale at the regular grocery stores, it might be cheaper, but it seldom is. I keep an eye on the sales, but it's rare to find a better deal. At best I can find the same deal. Also Costco sells shredded cheese at the same price as unshredded cheese, which seems to be rare in the grocery stores around here. Because we make our own pizzas and casseroles that use cheese, and use it on sandwiches a lot, I don't mind getting five pounds at a time to save money, but I do make sure I freeze the excess (shred before freezing or cheese will just crumble).

Oranges and lemons. We go through oranges by the case in the winter and for lemons we use them year round and make our own lemonade from scratch. Although I will buy them elsewhere on good sales, I find that the quality of the ones at Costco tend to be far superior and the size of the fruit is consitent (so four lemons will equal one batch of lemonade every time). That doesn't mean I won't open up the box and check every single orange for mold spots. One bad one will ruin the ones around it and then you are wasting money.

Potato products. Hashbrowns, french fries, and organic mashed potato flakes. Costco happens to carry brands that don't interfere with my son's allergies and at prices that beat the regular stores on sale with coupons. I will buy actual potatoes there at times, but only when I can't find a sale elsewhere. If I get the 20 pound bag I make my own french fries out of it.

Peanut butter. There are only a few brands it is safe for my son to use. We don't like the oily ones, they are too much of a mess to deal with so this leaves us with Jif. We go through a lot of peanut butter so we often buy it from Costco, but on really good sales it can be cheaper elsewhere so I do pay attention to the sale ads.

Cashews. Even from the bulk bins at the grocery store I cannot find these cheaper and these ones don't have anything added to them that I have to worry about. It's just cashews, peanut oil, and salt. No additives, no preservatives, no coating.

Boneless, skinless chicken thighs. Unless it is marked down for quick sale, the price on these is hard to beat. And they come in a six pack of meal sized portions for our family of four. We make our own chicken nuggets so one of these tends to be perfect for us, with a bit left over to throw in the stir-fry bag in the freezer because of uneven sizes. Most other meats I can find cheaper elsewhere on good sales, even seafood. I used to buy the organic eggs there, too, but that was before we had chickens.

Aluminum foil, wax paper, plastic wrap, garbage bags, and Ziploc bags. Sometimes I can find the Ziploc bags and the garbage bags on sale for cheaper with a coupon, but it is really rare. I won't buy the cheapy garbage bags because they break too easily so if I do get a non-Costco brand of garbage bags it will be Glad or Hefty, not a store brand. Store brand is not worth it if it shreds on the way out to the rubbish bin.

Canned green beans, pineapple, organic tomato sauce, organic diced tomatoes, and orgainic tomato paste. Unless someone is having a case sale, it's hard to beat these for price anymore. I will have to find another source for green beans though as they have switched from S&W to Kirkland (store brand) and green beans are something we are very finicky about, since we eat a can almost every day. I have a few cases left, but when that runs out I'll have to get them at the grocery store (either S&W or the Haggen store brand).

Sea salt, peppercorns, chili powder, minced garlic, basil and oregano. Most other spices I get at the reglar grocery store where they have a larger selection and smaller bottles. But for the things I use most in cooking, the bigger, cheaper bottles (one pound) are the way to go.

Vitamins, Ibuprofen, and cold medicine. I don't quite pay as much attention here on prices as I should. In this case I want them in bulk so I don't have to buy them every month. Sometimes they run cheaper, but not if there is a good sale on. I stick to Naturemade on the vitamins because they have a rewards program.

Krusteaz pancake mix in the 10 pound bag. I have tried to make my own baking mix but it honestly doesn't save me any money and isn't worth the hassle. We can't use Bisquick because of my son's allergies. We make pancakes and waffles and biscuits out of this and it is definitely well worth it. Pretty much anything you can make with Bisquick you can make with Krusteaz, which is great because there are a ton of Bisquick recipes out there and very few Krusteaz ones.

By picking and choosing what I buy there, I save money, more than make back the price of membership, and seldom run out of anything so meal planning is a breeze.