There is valentine candy on sale all over. I usually don't buy it. However, the 3 ladies I play bridge with all love the new candy, kissables. (Hershey little kisses with a candy coating, like m and m's)
They had it on sale today, the all valentine red colors, so I saved some money for my next bridge refreshments. So I will add $3 in candy savings plus a dollar for walking a mile yesterday to my challenge money.
Prev. total $3923.00
today 4.00
new total $3927.00

Thirty years ago today, Feb. 15th, 1977, I went to see Elvis in concert. I had been a fan of his since he first made records, in the 50's. He had come to Daytona when I was young, but I was not able to get to see him.
Finally, in 1977, he came to Orlando, florida and I was able to go and see him. I was getting a divorce, so I went with 2 girlfriends. Elvis was fantastic!
I still have the ticket stub from that concert. Heck, I still have the outfit that I wore, a brown suede jumpsuit!!
That was definately one of the best nights of my life!!

Wow, the stores are mobbed. I had to go to 3 places and everyone was grabbing valentine stuff, cards, flowers and candy. A lot of money is being spent today and some of the people don't look like they can afford it.
One of the best presents I ever got was a homemade card my husband made me about 1980. I still have it sitting on my desk! Little things mean a lot!

Happy Valentine's day! We don't spend much money on valentine's day. We recycled cards from last year. Somehow, our puppy, Holly, got us a little box of candy that we both like.
I prefer giving over getting.
There is a little teen girl that works at the restaurant that we go to. She is an orphan and has no money for clothes. She wears the same two outfits every time we see her.I am giving her a card and some money for valentines. What a nice day it is!!

Almost 2 years ago, we sold a house to a young guy, about 40. He does not work except to sometimes sing at weddings. He had 4 houses, the one he lives in most of the time, his lake house, his beach house and ours, his mountainview house.
A few weeks ago, he capped a leaky faucet outside and it blew and he had a bad plumbing problem.
He e mailed me to see if dh could fix it. DH worked on it all day and got the outside repaired. Of course, I mailed him a bill for all the work.
Today I got a check for $180 which I will add to my challenge money.
Prev. total $3743.00
today 180.00
new total $3923.00

I often recycle cards. I buy a birthday, valentines day, christmas, easter, etc. card and use it again.
I got out the valentine's day card to give to my husband tomorrow. He will never remember that it is the same one he got last year. So, I saved about $4 not having to buy a new card.

Prev. total $3739.00
today 4.00
new total $3743.00

Today is Feb. 13th. I would say we are about half way thru with winter. Now, that is a happy thought!!

42 years ago today I eloped. Within the first year, I knew it was a mistake, but I think the person making the biggest mistake was my mother.
She did not like the man I was dating because he did not graduate from college. I was 20 years old then and a legal adult age was 21 back then.
I had won a full scholarship to college and was going completely free, except for my books.
At the time, I had finished the first half of my junior year.
In order to break us up, my mother took away the phone and my car, (which I had paid for, but could not yet be in my name because I was not 21)
She also withdrew me from college. Because I was only 20, I could do nothing about this, so I got a job.
I had to walk to work.
With no car and no college, I decided I might as well get married, so we did elope. (I was not old enough to marry in the state of florida, but I was in South Carolina)
I wonder how my life would have been different if I had finished college?

Well, after meeting my dh 30 years ago, life has been really good for me, so I am not complaining one bit!

I cashed in my change jar and received $30 to add to my challenge money.
Prev. total $3709.00
today 30.00
new total $3739.00

One of the warmest days in weeks. We decided to ride over and look at a house that I never got to see, but my husband built it for an elderly woman.
Then we rode around for hours looking at lots for sale. There are so many new spec houses in this area, it is scary.
I did have one savings. My dh works outside and desperately needs some long johns, new ones. (His are about 10 year olds) I found new ones at the dollar store for $2.50, I doubt I could find them any cheaper. My only expense for the day, we had to stop and buy a bottle of water, we got so thirsty.
Now we are going to make a home made pizza tonight.

Since I have no more payments on my land I bought, I am still putting the payment money into "The Ridge" envelope. Why break the habit? It is already in my budget. I am going to add this to my challenge money every week.
"The Ridge at Owltown" is the name of the subdivision that the property is in. There are only 15 lots and mine is about 1.5 acres. What makes it so special is that it has a really great mountain view on 3 sides and you can see the highest peak in Georgia.
If and when we sell our house, I think we will build there. It will be our first mountain view home. We have lived on the Toccoa river and Coosa creek for the past 23 years.
prev. total $3544.00
today 165.00
new total $3709.00

My husband was talking to me last night about the young fellow that does his house framing. He is about 27 and makes very good money, but he does not have a pot, if you know what I mean.
Dh says he just hates to give him this big paycheck every week, knowing the money will just be wasted. He does buy tools once in a while, but he never takes care of them, just throwing them in the back of his pickup.
Last week, he spent $800 for a camera. He has no savings, no EF, no ira, nothing. Just rents a place and makes payments on his pickup.

It is annoying to see all the young people that make the same or more than us, but all they do is waste their money.
People on my other forum make fun of us because we have money. What I can't get thru their thick skulls, is that we have money because WE SAVE IT!!!

We made out pretty good last night. Not only did we get a nice meal at a friend's house, but they sent us home with some food. She had made up a great mexican dip and she gave that to us, along with all the chips. Then she had a bunch of little smokies in sauce and we brought those home too. They were leaving today to go to florida, so they could not use the leftovers.
That made a great lunch for my husband today. He came home for lunch to get his feet unfrozen for a few minutes.

This is funny. We got home late and there were 2 calls on our answering machine. Both were from the owner of the restaurant we eat at every night. We had missed two nights in a row and she was worried that we were sick.
Boy, it is nice to be missed.
Anyway, I saved at least $20 not eating out last night, so I am going to add that to my challenge money.
prev. total $3524.00
today 20.00
new total $3544.00

I just did my grocery shopping. I had coupons and saved $3. I also walked over a mile on my treadmill and climbed 20 flights of stairs, so that it $2 more to add to the challenge, for a total of $5.
prev. total $3519.00
today 5.00
new total $3524.00

I can't believe it, but my granddaughter is 18 today. She is an adult. It just seemed like yesterday when we left the hospital at 4 am. I remember that it was 8 degrees outside.
How did I get to be this darn old?? Well, at least I don't feel like I am old.

We had a great evening with friends last night. They invited us over for dinner. she has just gotten interested in making wine at home and sent us home with all kinds of literature. too bad the only wine we like is Boones Farm!!

I love my long distance plan from a company called Lightyear. Although my dh calls his father long distance a lot, my bill is usually under $5 a month.
I got this past months bill and they are now charging $3 a month extra to send out a paper statement.
Even though I am no good at computers, I managed to figure out how to go to their site and sign up for automatic bill paying on my credit card.
That will save me $36 a year in extra charges!

We ate out at a different place last night. We have been there a few times. It is a new place but nothing fancy. You stand in line to order your meal and you get a number. They bring out your food and you eat on plastic baskets with plastic knives and forks.
My dh likes to go there once in a while cause they have good flounder. They have a good burger too.
When we placed our order, the owner was running the register. Our meal is $14 for the flounder and $6 for the hamburger, so $20 plus tax.
He rings it up, it comes to $59.95. I said, that can't be right.
Then he rings it up and it is about $30. Again, I said, no,it should be $20 plus tax.($1.40)
He says, give me $15!! I said, no that is not enough.
He says, that is all I want.!!

Hey, I don't argue. I just saved $6 on my meal and he is happy with the $15.
So, I will just add that to my challenge money.
Prev. total $3513.00
today 6.00
new total $3519.00

I am so excited!!I just got my prize money from winning 2nd place in the $20 challenge. So I have $75 to add to my challenge money.
Prev. total $3438.00
today 75.00
new total $3513.00

Yahoo!!

Dh and I were talking about the good old days. When we moved here 23 years ago, he built our house and we lived on our savings for a year. So we were pretty broke back then.
Besides building houses, we tried to sell Lincoln log home kits, but we lived so far in the boonies, we got few lookers.
We finally sold one and the commission was $2000 but there was a catch. DH had to built the house and the land was a 2 hour drive, one way.
He took the job to make the $2000 plus the $10 an hour for building the house.

Because of the long drive, he would go to work 3 or 4 days a week but not come home. He would sleep in his van most nights. He found a cheap motel ($21) and he would stay there one night. He did this for many many months to support us.
I remember him coming home from that job hungry cause he had run out of money and did not eat that day.
I guess that is one reason we don't like to waste our money. I was working at the time making $3.15 an hour and when ever I bought something, I thought about how hard my dh had to work and could I do without? Usually the answer was yes!

It is amazing how much we have been able to save the past 20 years.
So, if you are 40 and just starting to save, it is not too late!!

I did get in a 2 mile walk yesterday,so I have $2 to add to the challenge. Did not spend any money today since I played bridge all afternoon. And the ladies' house was only 1/2 mile or so away, so used little gas. Cards are sure a cheap way to have fun!!
Prev. total $3436.00
today 2.00
new total $3438.00

My bank, where I keep most of my money, is in Money Magazine!!
Under the list of best places to get a 6 month C.D., my bank is listed 2nd. You can get a 6 month c.d. for 5.43 with a minimum of $10,000. The name of the bank is Appalachian Community Bank.
Send your money to
Appalachian Bank and Ima will watch it for you!!

For 2 days, we have been trying to get the oil changed in the vette.
This car is different and uses a different type of oil. There is a gauge that tells you when to get the oil changed, about every 10,000 miles. When you get it changed, the mechanic has to reset the gage.
Yesterday dh took it to our local garage. (before that, we had gone to the chevy place which is 20 miles away in North Carolina)
The mechanic did not know how to reset the gage and also asked, when did corvettes get automatic transmissions?
That got my husband to wondering how much this guy knows about cars.

This morning, dh took it in again, hoping that the owner would be there and do the work. The owner was out sick but the office lady said, Jamie can do it, it is his first day.

Dh took one look at Jamie and brought the car home. Jamie worked for us for about 3 weeks. He was supposed to be a carpenter, but he wasn't.
Someone broke into our spec house shortly after that, and from the discription of the car, we are sure it was Jamie. He stole a thousand dollar tool and several other things.

Now Jamie is a mechanic?? Not on our car, he is not!

One good thing is, we figured out how to reset the gage ourself, now just to get the oil changed!!

I just got a copy of Money magazine. I have subcribed for years and then decided to stop. I missed the magazine, so I subscribed again. This month's issue showed how some of the larger mutual funds did for the past year.
I have our Ira's in the vanguard Index 500 funds. according to Money magazine, the index fund produced a 16.2% gain last year. That seems pretty good!

I received a survey check for $10 from nfo my survey. I ordered the check on Jan. 15th and it took 20 days to get here. Well, even if it was slow, it got here. That is the 3rd $10 check I have recieved from them the past few months. If anyone is interested in joining mysurvey and making money, send me your first name and your e mail address to my e mail address which is, juliedenski @ yahoo.com. (and leave the spaces out)
Prev. total $3426.00
today 10.00
new total $3436.00

I have $3 more to add to my challenge money. I walked for over a mile yesterday, climbed 20 flights of stairs and had a no gas day for a total of $3.
Prev. total $3423.00
today 3.00
new total $3426.00

I stopped to buy some baby clothes for a young lady who is down on her luck. she is 19, has a one year old son and had a baby girl this week. Her husband has left her and she is home with a blind mother.
I did get some cute outfits and they were all on sale, so I was happy about that.
Our local forum is collecting items to take to her next weekend. None of us have ever met her. It makes us all feel good to help someone out. What goes around comes around!!!

My dh worked yesterday. When he got home, we decided to cook steaks out on the grill, even tho it was freezing out there. About 8, he cooked the steaks. we dined by candlelight in the dining room and listened to music. Then we got up and danced in the living room. It was a very nice evening. (so glad my husband does not like football)

I just checked my ING account and I have another $10 in there. I gave an invite to a very good friend, but that was at the beginning of December and I had just about given up on her. So that is another $10 I can add to my challenge money.
Prev. total $3413.00
today 10.00
new total $3423.00

I walked on my treadmill for 2 miles yesterday, so I have $2 to add to my challenge money.
Prev. total $4311.00
today 2.00
new total $3413.00