My husband did a complete set of house plans, elevations, trusses, etc. for a friend's son.
He would usually charge about $2000 for a complete set (you would pay an architect about $12,000 or more) and he is actually better, because he sizes all the beams etc. He has been drawing house plans by hand for 35 years, but he does so very rarely. He just doesn't have the time. He just does his own houses.
But, this guy has been our plumber for over 20 years and dh gave him a break. He only charged him $250 plus $24 for the blueprints.
So, we got a check for $274 that we can add to our challenge money.
prev. total $1713.00
today 274.00
new total $1987.00

I am doing a load of wash for the car. My dh purchased all white towels for the car that are kept in the garage.
Each towel is used once and once only because there might be a grain of sand in the towel and it would scratch the car. He normally uses 3-6 towels each time he washes the car.
Yesterday, he got home early because of the closing, so he washed and waxed the car. Now I have a home load of towels to wash!
That is ok, my car always looks shiny and new. I had a 98 red camero rally sport and everyone was asking me if it was new when it was 7 years old.
He would never let me take the car to a car wash or let someone wash it.
I think his secret goal in life is to be a car washer. He sure is good at it.

Yes, we splurged last night. we have been saying that when we close, we will splurge and have a big meal. DH really wanted lobster, but no place in this town serves lobster!
So we just had a fancier meal than usual. Our meal usually runs about $16 for both of us, last night we spent close to $30! Plus we left a $10 tip!!
Ok,back to being frugal again. Have to think about the $20 challenge!!

We did finally have our much anticipated closing on our spec house yesterday. However, it really was not a smooth day. After spending an hour in the lawyer's office, we took the check to deposit it in our money market account. Because the check was large, they called the other bank to see if their were funds to cover it.
Imagine how upset we were when the teller came back and said there were not enough funds to cover the check!
We left the bank and went back to the lawyer's office, because the funds were supposed to come out of his escrow account.
It turns out they did not make their deposit yet, so they hurried off to the bank.
We went back about 10 minutes later and the funds were there.
Of course, as I said before, they put a hold on the funds for 7 business days, which I thought was strange. The banks are almost across the street from each other.
The last house we sold was for $280,000 and we were able to write a check on that immediately.
All I was going to do with the money was open a CD at another bank that is paying 5.75%, but I can wait!
We have been on that house for 14 months, so I am glad we can now move on. It is time to look for another piece of land and another plan to build.

Well, I am $390,113.02 dollars richer right now. We finally had the closing and we got the check.
However, we had to sign something that we really do not have access to that money for 7 business days, which will be Jan. 31st.!! That's ok, there is nothing that I want to spend it on!!
I just want to watch it earn interest!!

The new owners loved the house, they even liked all the fixtures I picked out and said I had good taste!! They checked the house over for a hour and a half and could not find anything wrong with it.
They especially liked the kitchen/hearth room. My husband build all the cabinets by hand along with a built in entertainment center. They said the kitchen ought to be in a magazine. I said, one of his houses was in a magazine, just a few months ago.
Looks like we will be closing in about 2 hours!!

Well, in less than an hour, I am off to show the new owners their new house. They bought it in Oct. and we are closing today. (I hope) When they last saw it, the dry wall was being installed. I hope they like what they see.

Then bank called me today. The owners are flying into atlanta and renting a car to drive up here.
They want to take a walk thru the house before they close on it at 2 pm.
The last time they saw the house, the dry wall was just being put on.
Can you imagine buying a house and not seeing the inside of it??
So, I will meet them with the keys at a 10 am tomorrow to show them their new house. Hope they like everything!!

Just went to the grocery store. We did not get the snow expected, but now they say we may get some on sunday. I just got a few things I was almost out of, plus some charcoal. I try and stock up on charcoal in the winter in case the power goes off and we have to cook on the grill. I had a coupon for $1 off popcorn and I saved another $1 using my advantage card, plus I walked a mile. That is another $3 for my challenge.
prev. total $1710.00
today 3.00
new total $1713.00

My window cleaner showed up this morning and cleaned 2 windows!! He said he will be back in the morning. At this rate, he is going to be here a long time, I have close to 50 windows!!
Oh well, I am not paying him up front!

The window cleaner is here. He has been here about 1 hour and is still on the same window. It is cold and rainy. all around us they are having snow and sleet, but we just have cold rain. What a yucky day to work outside.
However, my husband is building a house. For the past 5 winters, he has been outside while building. I wonder why it works that way?? I guess lots of people work outside in the winter.

Well, I did not spend a cent today. I needed a few things from the store, but when anyone mentions the snow word, the whole town goes crazy and the stores are mobbed.
So, I even saved money by using no gas. I also got my exercises in, so I have $3 more to add to my challenge money.
Prev. total $1707.00
today 3.00
new total $1710.00

Get ready to spend some money, we hired someone to wash our windows and he is coming tomorrow.
Our windows are terrible. My dh pressure washes the house every year and we have real hard water. So there are water spots all over the windows. He tried cleaning them, and it would not come off!!
This guy swears he can get them clean. He did come out and work on the window that is on the back door. It took him an hour and a half for one door, but he got it clean.
He is going to charge us $20 a window and he thinks he can get it done in one day. I don't think so.
We have about 45 windows (and that is not counting the side pieces) so the bill will probably be over $1000, but it will be worth it to me.
But why does everything happen at once?? My taxes are due (over $3000), my house insurance is due (over $1100), car tags are due (about $350) and we just spent $1000 on repairs and new tires for the van.
I am just glad I have the money to pay for everything.

Someone mentioned on the forums how they save money by doing something themselves. I am making distilled water right now and I realize that if I had to buy purified water every week, I would be really spending a lot of money every year.
Water is all that dh and I drink in the day time.(nights are different)
I am sure we go thru at least 3 gallon jugs a week in the winter and 5 or more in the summer time. I think I will start paying myself and adding that money to my $20 challenge.
I figure about $1 a jug would be right.
So, I will start today.
Prev. total $1704.00
today 3.00
new total $1707.00

Just 2 more days til closing, but I am worried because the new owners are flying in to Atlanta and renting a car tomorrow. They are calling for snow tomorrow and Georgia does not handle snow very well. I hope they can make it up here!
Lux told us to wear our hill billy clothes to the closing tomorrow. That is funny cause being a working builder, my husband's work clothes are pretty bad. Oh they are clean, but covered in paint, etc. and look grubby! He said he is going to wear his grubbiest clothes when he takes me to the bank to deposit the check.
I told the story one time when we went to the bank and told the lady we wanted to open the highest interest paying savings account.
The lady told me she was sorry but we couldn't. There was a minimum of $50,000 to open an account.
I handed her a check for $100,000 and she didn't say a word.
Hillbillie clothes it is!!(I don't own anything fancy)

Our house closing is 3 days away, this Friday at 2 p.m. I can hardly wait. We have been working on that house since November of 2005. That is a lot of money to have tied up for over a year.
The lawyer called this morning and said there was a problem with the contract. I just about got sick to my stomach.
But it turned out it was nothing major, just the mortgage company wanting to change something in the contract.
We had offered $4000 off so they could pick and buy their own appliances. The mortgage company wanted us to apply the $4000 to the morgage closing costs. All in all, we still come out with the same amount of money.
So, we went and signed the new contract this afternoon.
Keep your fingers crossed for us, and if you hear loud screams coming from North Georgia Friday afternoon, you will know that Ima Saver and dh have just deposited a really BIG check into their money market account!

We have had spring like weather this past week. It has been really nice to have the temp hit 70 this past Sunday. I think the warm weather is ending today. It is already getting cooler this morning. I have enjoyed the week without the heat running very much. Yesterday, it was almost too warm upstairs.
Well, things are changing. I need to walk on the treadmill to warm up.
I got in 2 miles yesterday plus 20 flights of stairs, so that is $3 to add to my challenge money.
Prev. total $1701.00
today 3.00
new total $1704.00

I finally did my final click for Inbox dollars and earned my first survey check. It will be for $27 but they state it won't be processed until March 1st.
I have been doing surveys for mysurvey and have had much better luck. I got 2 $10 checks in the past two months and I just requested my third one.
Several people from this site have e mailed me and I sent them an invite that earned me 150 points each time.
This adds up pretty quickly and you can redeem for cash when you get up to 1000 points!! Most surveys are quick and only take a few minutes. The only long survey I took, was about 45 minutes, but they paid me 1000 points, or $10.
Gosh, this is fun! I love getting checks in the mail this way.

Yeah, I had a no spend day. I went to play bridge with friends and did not spend a dime! I wish that happened more often.

I don't like Monday holidays. Monday is my payday and the bank is always closed. Today is MLK day, so the bank is closed and I cannot cash my dh's paycheck.
This is one of the few times i allow myself to borrow from one of my envelopes if need be. But I am sure there is enough in the misc. envelope to just use that.
DH informed me Friday that he was getting new tires for his van today. I did not have that in my budget, so I told him to charge them. I will find a way to get it paid off next month.

I can't believe it, but my dh is outside right now, cutting the grass.
On Jan. 14th!!
We mostly just have wild onions that he is mowing down.
I can't believe that man. He went to work this morning and came home early at 1 pm. He has cleaned out and washed his van, my vette,and is going to clean house and cook after he is thru with the grass cutting. I know, I am spoiled!!(I love it)

It is mid january and it is in the sixties right now. I know that Georgia is a southern state, but where we live, the weather is comparable to Maine. We don't get as much snow, but it gets really cold here. We are in the mountains and our county is the highest peak in the states.
I am not complaining tho. It is nice that the heat does not have to run all the time. right now it is warmed outside than it is inside the house.
I checked on my propane usage yesterday. We have used about 200 gallons in the past 3 months which is not too bad.

My husband likes to smoke a pork butt once in a while. (On the grill) We stopped last night to buy one after dinner. He smokes it all day and then he uses it for lunch for a week. The one he bought last night was on sale, so we saved $4 on it. I also walked over a mile yesterday on my tread mill, so i have $5 to add to my challenge money.
Prev. total $1696.00
today 5.00
new total $1701.00

I walked a mile on my treadmill and did my 20 flights of stairs yesterday, so I will add $2 to my challenge money.
Prev. total $1694.00
today 2.00
new total $1696.00

I have been looking for the south beach diet book to see if I would be interested in trying that diet.
Our libaray does not have it. I found it today at CVS and it was $7.99 for a little paper book.
I started reading it to see if it was worth the money and wound up reading the whole thing in about 15 minutes. It is a lot like the atkins diet, except they allow a few more things, but those were things I don't like anyway.
I am glad I saved my $8 but I am not going to add the money to my challenge.

Over a year ago, I signed up for a survey place called inbox dollars. You do not really take surveys, you get paid to read their ads. It is 3 cents a click plus once in a while they offer you a dollar to fill our form to get free quotes, etc.
You cannot get paid until you get to $30 and it has been a long hard process.
I check my account balance and it is $29.98, so I am just one chick away from finding being able to ask for my money. They take a $3 fee for mailing it to you, which is a rip.
I don't think I will continue with them. I like mysurvey a lot better and have already gotten 2 checks.
Anyone wanting to sign up for mysurvey can send me their first name and e mail address and you will be sent an e mail to join.
My e mail address is juliedenski at yahoo. com

Well, I have another $3 to add to my challenge money. I saved about $2 using my advantage card and I got in my 20 flights of stairs yesterday too.
Prev. total $1691.00
today 3.00
new total $1694.00

Buyers of a condo developement in New York City can now charge their down payment on their american express card!
Boy, that is one way to get frequent flyer miles!!

I am reading an article about payday loans. It seems that one in five military member in California are payday borrowers. The average borrower pays $660 to borrow $255. You can borrow for 2 weeks and renew the loan up to nine times. Families pay about $500 million in fees per year. wow. Not a good idea.

I have subscribed to this newsletter since it first came out, about 10 years ago. It was called Cheapskate Monthly but changed the name about a year ago. Mary Hunt sugeests that you live on the 10=10=80 formula. You give 10%, save 10% and use the other 80% to live on. she suggests saving the 10% even when you have debts to pay on, because everyone needs to have an emergeny fund.
Does anyone else read this newsletter?