It finally rained last night. It only lasted a half hour or less, but it came down hard.
We spent about $500 last month on grass seed and fertilizer (we have 2 acres of grass)
It never came up. No grass because of no rain. I hate that we wasted all that money.
I did walk a mile yesterday, do 20 flights of stairs and the stock market went up, so I will add $3 to my challenge money.
prev. total $11.791.00
today 3.00
new toal $11,794.00

Today,I hit the $10,000 mark in interest. One of my goals for the year was to earn $20,000 in interest.
Now, it looks like that would be easy, but only if I don't take any money out of my savings and c.d.'s.
Because we build houses and sell them, it seemed impossible not to touch that money for a whole year.
We have been on the look out to buy property to start a next house to sell. However two houses just kind of fell in our laps these past two months.Both couples want us to build and pick every thing out! We love that!!
So, I might make that goal after all!

I did my grocery shopping today for the week and I spent under $25. I used my advantage card, plus I had a coupon, so I saved $6, plus I walked a mile for a total of $7 to add to my challenge.
prev. total $11,784.00
today 7.00
new total $11,791.00

The team has let me down this week and has lost several games. So I haven't been able to add that money to my challenge money.
Maybe I should add a $1 every time the stock market has an up day! This has not been a very good week for the stock market either. I lost (on paper) almost $4000 in the stock market this week.

Finally, the check from one of our customers came. We get the money in draws to build a custom house. Most customers are sooooooooo slow. I mailed them the paid bills with their balance total on may 28th. By the time, I get the check, I usually need more money!! Oh well, I walked 2 miles and did 20 flights of stairs, so I have $3 to add to my challenge money.
prev. total $11,781.00
today 3.00
new total $11,784.00

I spent $36 for gas for my car last night. That is the most money I have ever spent at one time.
That probably seems cheap for a lot of you with big SUV's but was a shocker for me!!
Of course, I have to buy premium at $3.19 a gallon, so I got less than 12 gallons.
However, I did not buy gas last week at all, so this is for 2 weeks of use. I guess I will start buying gas every week so I won't be in shock!

I had a no spend, no gas use day yesterday. Also, the braves won a game. I did buy a few things at Bi Lo today, but I used my bi lo card and saved $7. so I am adding $10 to the $20 challenge.
prev. total $11,771.00
today 10.00
new total $11,781.00

I was just reading a blog about someone who went to the movies and the ticket was $14!! Is that for real?? Last time I went it was $5 and I thought that was too much.
Our movie theater closed down a few months ago and now I know why.

Debt, I have always treated it like a $20 challenge. Any extra money I could come up with, went to paying off our debt.
A few years ago, we bought a beautiful piece of property with a view of Brasstown Bald. (the highest peak in Georgia)
We put down 20% and financed the balance of $64,000.
Every month, I made the regular payment of $660 plus anything I could save up during the month, usually at least $1000 or more.
I got the land paid off in January, just two years after I took on the payments. I paid it off 10 years early and saved us thousands in interest!!
I do not like debt at all, but I feel this property is worth much more than I paid for it. I expect to either build on it someday or sell it for a large profit.
This property is called "The Ridge at Owltown"

We took another house to build yesterday. We had pretty much decided not to take any more custom homes to build. But we see how much house building has slowed down around here and how many spec houses are sitting on the market for sale.
We have always had great luck selling our spec houses because our houses are built much better than most houses. My husband is not a builder, he is a craftsman, and does all the inside work himself.
We have already taken on a big house to build. It will be a spec house, but not our spec house. An attorney is building this one for sale.
Looks like we will be eating for the next year and that is all that is important!!

I just received an invitation to my class reunion. My class has one every 5 years starting with the 10th reunion.

They use to be so much fun. We would all meet at a bar after the football game on Friday night.
Then Sat. night would be a fancy dinner with live band or disc jockey.

The last one we met at a bar on Friday, but only had dinner on Saturday.

This time we are meeting after the parade on Friday, no Friday night meeting. There will be a bar b que dinner on Saturday at 4 pm. Who eats at 4 pm?? No dancing?? I love to dance!!

The cost is $70 per couple. That is a lot of money for a bar b que dinner. (which I won't eat cause I hate bar b que)

For the first time ever, I am considering not going, cause it is a 12 hour drive one way. I don't know??

Sounds like a bunch of old codgers!!

I was having a dream this morning. I had just been offered a job that would pay $50,000 every six weeks. Unfortunately, my husband woke me up when he got up and I never found out what the job was all about.
Do you ever dream about money? I tried to go back to sleep and pick up the dream where it left off, but that didn't happen!! Darn!!

It was from Tim Horton's. When they spun the company off from Wendy's , I got shares in tim Horton's. I apparently have never been asked if I want to reinvest in the drip plan, so I get a little check every quarter. It was for $11 plus I had a no spend day today. I will add $12 to my challenge.
prev. total $11,759.00
today 12.00
new total $11,771.00

Last night, i ran out of alumimum foil and glad wrap too.
I just went into the pantry and got two new rolls.
That made me think. When I was young and newly married, if I ran out of something, that was it. I was out, completely.
It took many years before I could stockpile and always have 2 of the same item.
I started early, with the envelope method and no one showed me what to do.
I allowed myself $12 a week for grocery money and that included $2 for a cartoon of cigarettes. I added up my groceries as I picked them up, and when I neared $12, I stopped.
That was eating all dinners at home.

I am glad the budget is not as strict anymore. Of course, I only made $1 an hour back then. I am happy to say that I still managed to save at least $15 a week, which I used for a down payment on my new house.

My husband took a rare day off. Of course, he has cut the grass, washed the car and drawn on house plans all day.
We decide to splurge on lunch out this afternoon at the waffle house.
We were both pretty frugal, just have a plain waffle each and water. So lunch was under $7.
I bought steak on sale at bi Lo and saved $7 using my bi lo card. They seem to have steak on sale every weekend. I will add that to my challenge money.
Prev. total $11,752.00
today 7.00
new total $11,759.00

My ex brother in law and his wife stopped in for a visit yesterday. They live in florida, but were in the area.
One of the first things she asked me was if I have had a face lift!!
I don't know if that was a compliment or an insult??
I got asked that at my last class reunion too.

We had a nice quiet dinner out all by ourselves last night. We have had so many people wanting to join us for dinner lately. We may have to change restaurants for a while.
We splurged on dinner last night because we were celebrating the fact that my husband finally got his georgia contractor's license. (We applied last October)

Gosh, I went to a picnic for lunch, had company I had not seen in 20 years and got some good news in the mail.
My husband has just been licensed as a builder by the state of Georgia. We have been waiting for that for 8 months!! The braves won too today, so i am adding $2 to my challenge money.

prev. total $11,750.00
today 2.00
new total $11,752.00

I have company coming in a few minutes. It is my ex brother in law and his wife. I know I have not seen them in over 20 years. I wonder why he is coming to visit. He divorced my sister almost 30 years ago.
Oh well, the braves won yesterday and I walked 20 flights of stairs. That is $2 more to my challege money.

Prev. total $11,748.00
today 2.00
new total $11,750.00

We are having a "gathering " today. Some of the members of the local forum are meeting for a covered dish lunch. We have several members coming from Florida and one is even here from Switzerland.
It sure would be fun if the saving advice forum could get together some day!

I just figured out my net worth for the month. It went up over $21,000. $12,000 of that was due to the stock market. My mutual funds were all up pretty good. All in alli May was a pretty good month for us financially.

I just added up the interest that I earned on savings, checking, money market and certificate of deposit. My grand total for the month is $2,394.30 in interest. Pretty nice!!

I need to add some money to my challenge, so here is the weekly ridge money that I pay myself every monday.

Prev. total $11,583.00
today 165.00
new total $11,748.00

Happy first day of June. It is time to figure out my net worth. I usually do it the first day of each month. I know my savings went up, not sure what my stock and mutual funds did.