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Archive for September, 2010

Looking for land!

September 29th, 2010 at 08:18 pm

We went out looking for land last weekend. Even tho nothing is selling here, my dh can not stand to be out of work and wants to build a spec house. There are a few vacation cabins, under $150,000 that are selling here.
So, we went looking for cabin lots. We went to a subdivision where we almost bought a lot about 2-3 years ago. It had some nice view lots and was resticted to cabins.
There are a few houses out in the subdivision but two of them are vacant and in foreclosure. No one is mowing the grass, so the subdivison looks terrible.

We do own a beautiful 1.5 acre that we could build on.
It has 180 degrees mountain views from the front and side of the house. The view is of Brasstown Bald, which is the highest mountain in the state of Georgia!
Of course, we paid a fortune for the lot, thinking we might want to live there someday.
However, with my husband's love for cars (and his need for many garages) , we need to live on more level land like we do now. (2 flat acres on a creek)

So, we could build a small spec house on this property, but it would have to price more than $150,000 cause we paid $80,000 for the land!!

What to do?????????

Well, I grocery shopped yesterday and saved $4 using my Ingles card, and I have 3 one's left over for a total of $7 to add to my $20 challenge.

Prev. total $13,822.00
today 7.00
new total $13,829.00

Day 2

September 27th, 2010 at 11:14 pm

Well, it is day 2 of the unemployment of dh! I played bridge today, so it was not too bad. DH went over to talk to a lady that he built a house for about 14 years ago. She wants a new deck put on the house. He has several small jobs lined up.
On the mail front, I got a $50 rewards check from the Chase visa card in the mail. I will add that to my challenge money.

Prev. total $13.772.00
today 50.00
new total $13,822.00

1st day of Unemployment!!

September 26th, 2010 at 11:23 pm

For the first time in 26 years, my husband does not have a house to build.
He had never built a house in his life when we moved to the mountains 26 years ago. He built our Lincoln Log house on the river, completely by himself. That included lifting every log, doing all the plumbing, electric, tile, cabinets, etc., completely alone.
Other people were so impressed they asked him to build their log home.
For the first few years, he only build log homes, but then he branched out cause actually log homes were getting too expensive to build. He has built every type of house now. From 800 square feet to 7500 square feet.

He finished up his last house on Friday and spent yesterday bringing home all his tools. Today, he had nothing to do.

We have the money set aside to build a spec house, but nothing is selling here except real bargains and foreclosures. There are hundreds and hundreds of homes on the market as this area got so overbuilt the past 2 years. (Every body thought they were a builder!!)

He is bored already, so today we went looking at lots. The new cabin subdivisions have not been taken care of and look overgrown. Cabins are the only thing selling here; homes under $150,000. Our last spec house sold for $400,000 and the first couple that looked at it, bought it.

We may have to build a small spec house just so he will have something to do. Otherwise, he will drive me crazy!!!

Anyone want to build a house in the mountains??

Three more months til Christmas!

September 25th, 2010 at 09:08 pm

Yes folks, today is just three months away from the big Holiday. I only buy for my dh, all others I give money. We have really cut down on Christmas the past few years, because we really have everything we want and/or need. Hope you are getting ready!!

Melrose Credit Union

September 23rd, 2010 at 10:20 pm

I wonder if anyone has ever heard of it. It is located in Briarwood, N.Y. and has some of the higher savins rates in the nation. Plus, anyone can join!!
They have a 5 year C.D. paying 3% right now. I have 5 c.d.'s coming due in the next 5 months 3 f them on the same day. I think I am going to try and ladder them, so I will have one coming due the first part of the month, each and every month.

Our mail comes late (after 4pm) but it was a good mail day. I got a check for $113 from Edward Jones, a $3 check from Pinecone and I am adding $2 for a no use gas day for a total of $118 for the challenge.

Prev. total $13,654.00
today 118.00
new total $13,772.00

4th Wednesday of the month.

September 22nd, 2010 at 05:27 pm

That is the day that my social security check gets deposited to my checking account. They recently changed my checking account number, so I had hoped there was no problem and there wasn't. As a matter of fact, the check was deposited a day early, which has never happened before.

Years ago, social security checks ALL came in about the 3rd of the month. I guess that must have cause an awful lot of work for the banks, so the practice was changed.
Now all of the checks come in on a Wednesday, but they come in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Wednesdays. The date chosen has to do with the date of your birth. I was born on the 23rd, so I get mine on the 4th Wednesday.

As always, I add this check to my $20 challenge cause I have never spent a penny of this check.


Prev. total $13,168.00
today 486.00
new total $13,654.00

Free $50!!

September 20th, 2010 at 11:16 pm

I have gone thru a couple of bank take overs this year. A few weeks ago, one of the banks had to close our checking account and open up a new one for us. They sent me a letter offering me $50 (plus free new checks) if I brought in all of my old checks and deposit slips. Last week, I took them all into the bank and turned them in.

When I next checked my account, I had a free deposit of $50! That was very nice and will be added to the $20 challenge.

Prev. total $13,118.00
today 50.00
new total $13,168.00

drip

September 19th, 2010 at 06:47 pm

I have some stocks and I do believe in drip plans. (That is dividend reinvestement plans. I do reinvest all my dividends in all but two stocks.


when Wendy's bought out Tim Horton, somehow I got dropped out of the drip plan when it formed a new company. Now Tim Horton has split and Wendy's has hooked up with Arby's.

Every few months, I get small checks from both Tim Horton and Wendy's.
Yesterday I got a check for $8 from Wendy's.

The braves won their last two games and I had a no use gas yesterday, so I will take the $12 and add it to my $20 challenge.

Prev. total $13,106.00
today 12.00
new total $13,118.00

Good deal on gas today!

September 17th, 2010 at 08:02 pm

I signed up this summer for the new Bi Lo card. I do not do a lot of my shopping there cause Ingles is cheaper. However, they do have steak on sale a lot, so I buy steak at Bi Lo.
The cashier pointed out on my register receipt that I was eligble to get 25 cents off on every gallon of gas using my Bi Lo card. I filled up today and saved about $4 which I will add to my challenge money.

Prev. total $13,102.00
today 4.00
new total $13,106.00

I hate cigarettes!!

September 16th, 2010 at 02:53 pm

When I was growning up, everyone including all the movie stars, smoked. It made them look glamorous!

My parents both smoked all the time. Heck, they even collected coupons off of the cigarette packages to get some great free gifts.

My mother told me I could smoke when I wanted to, as long as I did not sneak around to do it. At age 12, I started smoking in front of her. I had a job, so I could buy my own cigarettes. I soon became addicted and smoked 1-2 packs a day. Back then, you could buy a carton of cigarettes for $2 (10 packs)
I wish I could tell you that I quit at a young age. But I did NOT! Husband #1 smoked and so did Husband #2. (current hubby)

Finally, sometime in my mid 40's, I decided that I was wasting an awful lot of money and I quit cold turkey. I talked dh into joining me a few months later.

My mother died of lung cancer from smoking, so did husband #1. My best friend's husband got such bad breathing problems from smoking that he couldn't even take a shower or fix something to eat. The last few years of his life he was forced to sit in a chair and stare at the tv, cause he couldn't do anything else.

I had a friend that died this Monday. She and her husband were heavy smokers all their lives. She developed breathing problems about 5 years ago and quit smoking. She begged her husband to quit but he did not. She begged her children. They still smoke.
Her husband developed lung cancer and died within a month; that was 2 years ago. My friend still struggled to breath and was on oxygen all the time.

This Monday, she could not breathe and by the time they got her to the hospital, her heart had stopped.

She was 54.

If you smoke, please stop. If you don't, don't ever start. It is not nearly as cool as all those old movie stars made it out to be! Believe me.

No bridge today.

September 13th, 2010 at 10:29 pm

We play bridge on Mondays every week. Today, we were short handed so could not play. I love bridge; I could play it every day.

Instead I did my grocery shopping. I saved $5 using my Ingles advantage card. I also got a $18 check in the mail from the Tim Horton co. I will add this $23 to my $20 challenge.

Prev. total $13,079.00
today 23.00
new total $13,102.00

Wasted day!

September 12th, 2010 at 09:27 pm

Dh has gone to "Shades of the Past" car show every year for over 20 years. It is held in Pigeon Forge the weekend after labor day, every year. (near Gatlingburg, Tn.)
He left yesterday morning about 5:30 a.m. Poor guy, he got about half way there and it started to rain. It rained the entire day and he got soaked. He even had to pour the water out of his shoes before he got into the car.
So, he wasted a day's pay and really did not get to see many cars cause they were covered up. He finally left early to come home.
I know the braves won twice and I had a no use gas day, so I am adding $5 to my challenge money.

Prev. total $13,074.00
today 5.00
new total $13,079.00

Sept.11th

September 11th, 2010 at 09:17 pm

Just thinking of all those who died on 9-11-01. Our prayers are with their families and we will never forget.

Finally got some checks!!

September 9th, 2010 at 07:00 pm

My old bank failed in March. A new bank took it over and things have been fine. This past, long weekend, their website was down while they converted every account over to the new bank.
I received a letter on aug. 30th, that they were having to convert one of my accounts to a different number. I was to stop using those checks and start using the new (free) checks by Sept. 6th!

Unfortunately, I did not get the checks by Spt. 6th. I have 4 checking accounts but this is my business account. I use this one the most!! Thank goodness, the UPS guy delivered the checks last night about 6 pm.
I am back in business!!

This checking account is also the account I use to transfer money to my ING account also. Since ING is paying 1.1% interest, I will probably start transferring some of the funds over.

I have several C.D.'s coming due in the next few months and the rates are terribly low!

I have $7 in one's to add to my $20 challenge.

Prev. total $13,067.00
today 7.00
new total $13,074.00

Checking on rates!

September 7th, 2010 at 09:02 pm

My main bank was closed in March and taken over by another bank. The rates went down a lot. I am getting 1/2 of 1 per cent on my business and personal checking accounts and 1% of the account that I use for my savings account.

This weekend the new bank shut down their website to set up a new web site.
When I checked my accounts this morning, the website no longer told you what interest rate they were now paying on your accounts.

So, I went into the bank to ask. I can still get 1% at the ING site, so I might transfer some money over there.I found out from customer service that the rates are still the same, but they will be going lower.

I can remember when you could live on the interest on a million dollars. Those were the good old days. No body is paying much higher than 1% these days, so living on the interest on a million would be tough. I couldn't live on $10,000 a year!

I did do my grocery shopping today and saved $7 using my Ingles advantage card, so I will add that to my $20 challenge.

Prev. total $13,060.00
today 7.00
new total $13,067.00

Labor day means, "going to work"

September 5th, 2010 at 07:41 pm

That is certainly what it means to my dh. He has never taken a labor day off from work. He rarely takes off any holiday except Christmas. He use to take off Thanksgiving when we lived in Florida and his mom was alive, but now he just take off Christmas.

It has turned much cooler here and I am hoping that the a/c won't have to be run as much. I would love to get my electric bill back under budget.

I had a no use gas day yesterday, the braves won and the stock market went up on Friday, so that is $4 to add to the challenge. I also received a $3 pinecone check for a total of $7.

Prev. total $13,053.00
today 7.00
new total $13,060.00

Interest from the loans.

September 2nd, 2010 at 10:04 pm

I made 2 loans to some friends a few months ago at 4% (It was cheaper than they could get at the bank, plus no closing costs.)
I am adding the interest to my $20 challenge every month, so I have $176 to add this month.
Prev. total $12,877.00
today 176.00
new total $13,053.00