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Archive for March, 2008

Met new friends!!

March 30th, 2008 at 09:45 pm

This internet stuff is great sometimes. I have made a lot of new friends using this computer. I am on a local forum and last night, we met with a new couple from Florida. There were 8 of us and all 4 women had met over the computer.
We went out and had a very nice dinner together last night.
Yesterday, I had a no gas day and I won 4 games of mah jong. That is $5 more to add to the challenge.
Prev. total $6636.00
today 5.00
new total $6641.00

Electric bill

March 29th, 2008 at 03:56 pm

I paid the electric bill today. It was only $80, which is $80 under budget, so I will add that to the challenge money. I also had a no spend, no gas day yesterday, plus won 3 games of mahjong, so that is another $5.
Prev. total $6551.00
today 85.00
new total $6636.00

2 checks!!

March 28th, 2008 at 02:42 pm

I just checked yesterday's mail and I got two $50 checks from my Chase rewards card. This makes $300 That I have received so far this year, just for charging and paying off my balance every month!! Got to love that!!!!!!!!
$20 challenge

Prev. total $6451.00
today 100.00
new total $6551.00

almost missed a day!!

March 27th, 2008 at 10:22 pm

I almost missed a day posting on savingadvice.com. I have been so busy today, but I have a minute before we go out to dinner. I signed up to learn how to play "hearts" There was no newbies, just me and we just played. Needless to say, they were all pretty good. And all men!!
I splurged and had lunch out with my husband today. We only spent $7.
I did have $200 ridge money to add to my challenge.
Prev. total $6251.00
today 200.00
new total $6451.00

another check

March 26th, 2008 at 04:03 pm

I got another check in the mail for $551 to add to my challenge money. I am catching up on reading Money magazine. It is depressing to see how far down the rates have come since the February issue. I have an account that was earning about $18 a day and now it is earning $7. My goal was to earn $20,000 in interest this year. I don't know if I can or not??
Prev. total $5700.00
today 551.00
new total $6251.00

My husband got a raise!!

March 25th, 2008 at 04:45 pm

Of course, I gave it to him!! I have always given him an allowance. He uses it for gas and his $80 a week isn't making it. For the last few weeks, I have had to give him more money out of my allowance, so I revised the budget and am now giving him $120 a week. He always has two jobs going but they are never next door to each other, so he does a lot of driving. Plus he is constantly pick up materials.
The past two days I won 7 mahjong games and the stock market went up yesterday, so that is $8 to add to my challenge money.
Prev. total $5692.00
today 8.00
new total $5700.00

Back from the grocery store

March 23rd, 2008 at 04:45 pm

I did my grocery shopping this morning and it was sure quiet at the grocery store. I saved $6 using my store card and coupons, plus I won 4 games of mahjong yesterday. That is $10 more for the challenge, so I am caught up to date.
Prev. total $5682.00
today 10.00
new total $5692.00

Happy Easter

March 23rd, 2008 at 01:13 pm

I hope all of you have a nice easter sunday. My dh has gone to work today; I told you he is a workaholic. Actually, he took on two remodel jobs because he was afraid he would not get another house to build. Of course, he DID get another house, so now he is pushed to get these two big jobs finished.
Friday, I won two Mahjong games and walked a mile. That is $3 to add to the challenge. I also got 2 checks in the mail yesterday; One from state farm for $95 and one from Tim Hortons for $15. So I have a total of $113 to add to my challenge money.
Prev. total $5569.00
today 113.00
new total $5682.00

crummy evening!!

March 22nd, 2008 at 01:49 pm

We went out to dinner last night a little late. We just sat down, when Mr. and Mrs. Pest showed up and asked if they could join us! These are easily the most boring people in the world!! they use to pull this on us all the time. I think it is so rude to just show up and join people for dinner! Needless to say, I did not enjoy my evening out!

lowered rate again!!

March 21st, 2008 at 06:54 pm

Durn. I just checked my money market accounts and the bank has lowered the rate to 2.2%, down from 2.9%. When I first opened the accounts, they were paying 5.25%, so they have really come down a lot the past several months. I need to keep some cash locally, but I guess I need to shop around a bit! If I had to live on my interest, that sure would have been a sharp cut in pay this past 3 or 4 months!!

a beautiful day!

March 21st, 2008 at 05:42 pm

It is a beautiful, sunny day here today. Yesterday, the stock market went up, I saved $3 using a coupon at KFC (dinner and 2 lunches) and I won 3 games of mahjong! So, that is $7 I can add to my total.
Prev. total $5562.00
today 7.00
new total $5569.00

Free tool!!

March 20th, 2008 at 03:16 pm

My husband advised me that he needed desperately, a new staple gun. I had put away a free gift card that I got for opening a credit card. The gift card was for home depot in the amount of $100. So his staple gun, which came to about $97 with tax, was completely free to him!! That was nice!!
I walked a mile yesterday and won 5 games of mahjong yesterday, so I am adding $6 to my challenge money.
Prev. total $5556.00
today 6.00
new total $5562.00

Challenge money

March 19th, 2008 at 03:53 pm

Yesterday the stock market went up; I walked a mile; I had a no spend, no use gas day and I won 4 mahjong games, so I am adding $8 to my challenge account.
Prev. total $5548.00
today 8.00
new total $5556.00

gasoline

March 19th, 2008 at 01:50 pm

Gasoline is starting to become a real budget buster!! Last week, we spent over $200 on gasoline and this week we are up to $180 so far.
I gave my husband his $80 allowance on Monday and I had to give him another $40 today.
You all know we have 5 vehicles, 4 of which take premium gas. One of those, the older corvette is never driven, but the rest of them are.
Last night we took the hot rod. We had to stop and put $40 gas in that one. Right now, we are paying $3.55 per gallon for the hot rod and 2 vettes.
I am really making a point of having as many stay at home and use no gas days.
Yesterday I needed milk, but I did not go to town. I waited til we went out to dinner and then stopped and bought milk.

It is mostly my husband that uses so much gas. The two jobs he has going on right now are about 17 miles apart from each other and he is constantly having to drive to town for materials.
Oh well, I am just thankful he has enough work to keep him busy!!

Fed cuts

March 18th, 2008 at 07:30 pm

Well, the fed cut the interest rate again, today. I guess this means all of our savings account rates will go down again. Darn!

Back to the challenge!

March 18th, 2008 at 03:29 pm

I have not done well the past two weeks on the $20 challenge. I have NOT been exercising, the stock market has NOT gone up very often and the braves are Not playing major league ball yet.
So, I have decided to pay myself $1 for every game I "win" at Mahjong. I have kept track of it, and the most times I have won in one day is 5, so that would be $5. I will start today.
I do have $2 to add to my challenge money; one was for the dow going up slightly yesterday and the other is for a no spend day.
Prev. total $5546.00
today 2.00
new total $5548.00

Wasn't as bad as I thought!

March 17th, 2008 at 09:46 pm

I just got home from playing bridge and I see that the stock market went up 21 points. They were expecting a big down turn today, so things were not as bad as I had expected. I am so glad!

Top of the morning!!

March 17th, 2008 at 01:14 pm

Just wanted to wish everyone a happy St. Patrick's day. Be sure to wear something green today. My grandparents were both born in Ireland, so I really do have some Irish blood in me!!

Much needed rain!

March 16th, 2008 at 01:23 pm

We had a lot of much needed rain yesterday. The creek looks nice and full now. However, the weather turned pretty nasty in Atlanta, about 2 hours south of us.
We lucked up and only got hard rain, thunder and lightening!
My last dog, Lucy, was terrified of thunder, but my little Holly just barks at it!! She is my brave puppy!
I ran out real early to do my grocery shopping before the storms hit. I only spent $31 for the week and saved $2 using a few coupons.
Of course, I will add that to my challenge money!
Prev. total $5544.00
today 2.00
new total $5546.00

More gas!!

March 15th, 2008 at 03:43 pm

I give my husband $80 a week for allowance which he uses to buy gas. I had to give him $40 more the other day, he was so low on gas.
Last night, we put over $50 in the yellow vette and today I put $23 in the red vette.
That is $200 a week for gasoline!! Twice as much as eating out!

$20 challenge

March 15th, 2008 at 12:22 pm

I have been pretty lax about the $20 challenge the past two weeks. I have discovered how to play Mahjong on the computer, so I have missed adding money for no gas days, stock market, etc.
well, I know that the stock market went up on Thursday (down the rest of the week) and I have had several days when I did not spend a dime, but most importantly, I did not use the car and thus saved on gas. Our premimum gas is now $3.55 per gallon. We filled up the yellow vette last night and spent more than $50.
I use to think our big luxury was eating out, but now it is gas! we spend double on gas as compared to eating out.
Anyway, I will add $5 to my challenge money.
Prev. total $5539.00
today 5.00
new total $5544.00

new house interview

March 14th, 2008 at 01:34 pm

We went to talk to a couple about building a house, yesterday afternoon. We have really loved building spec houses. That way we could build a house the way we wanted to and they all sold quickly.
However, there are now 700 houses for sale in our small area (county population is 19,000) so we do not need to do any more spec houses for a while.
So, we are back to building custom homes but right now, no one is building anything.
so, we don't know yet if we have this house to build or not.
We are working on a big house now, so dh is staying busy for now. We just don't know what the future will bring.
So far, we are not too worried, but it would be nice to get another house to start on. Keeping fingers crossed!!

Tried to save money

March 13th, 2008 at 01:57 pm

I tried to save money last night, but cooking dinner. I had a meat loaf all made up and ready to cook.
Dh came home all excited. It warmed up yesterday, no rain in sight and he was ready to drive his hot rod. He had not driven it since early October because of a tail light problem.
He took his birthday off and worked on the problem and finally got it all fixed last week.
So off we went, out to dinner and cruising the town in his 1933 ford victoria!!
He was happy as a clam and so was I. He is eating the meat loaf for lunch for the rest of the week!
(I just wish the hot rod had a heater!)

What a nice day!

March 12th, 2008 at 06:28 pm

It is a beautiful day today, nice and sunny and almost seventy. My neighbor is cutting his lawn and I have been walking on my treadmill.
Yesterday I did 20 flights of steps and the market went up, so I will add $2 to the challenge.
Prev. total $5537.00
today 2.00
new total $5539.00

Does anyone save aluminum cans?

March 12th, 2008 at 01:42 pm

Does anyone save aluminum cans and sell them. I do not because there is no place around here to sell them. However, I overheard a man at Sears last night, talking about selling them for $1 a pound. Can that be true??

wow, the dow!!

March 11th, 2008 at 08:13 pm

It went up 417 points today. That is good news for today anyway! I got my deposit in the bank today before 2 pm. So I earned an extra 20 cents in interest today!!

The Ridge Money

March 11th, 2008 at 03:11 pm

For the past two months, I have forgotten to add the Ridge money to my challenge money. I am making up a deposit to my savings account today, so I will add that to my challenge money.
Prev. total $5337.00
today 200.00
new total $5537.00

Down 46K

March 11th, 2008 at 01:48 pm

I just looked back at my mutual funds portfolio for the past 3 months. On Dec. 12th, I had 46K more in my mutual funds than I had yesterday. Let's hope today things go better!!

Grocery shopping!

March 10th, 2008 at 09:44 pm

I did my grocery shopping yesterday and noticed that everything seems to be going up every week. I did save $5 using my Ingles advantage card, so I will add that to my challenge!
Prev. total $5332.00
today 5.00
new total $5337.00

No spender!!

March 10th, 2008 at 12:58 pm

I had a no spend day yesterday and should have another one today. I am going over to a friend's house to play bridge, and that costs me nothing! These no spend days are getting easier. for sure!!


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