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Archive for November, 2010

Busy day!

November 30th, 2010 at 10:36 pm

It was a busy day today. I am making another loan to a couple that we built a house for, about 10 years ago. We have become very close friends as we do with most of the couples we build for,
They want to buy a small cabin and I am loaning them the money at 4% interest.
When I went to get the cashier's check this morning, the bank's computers were all down and I could not get the check.
The couple panicked because the closing was today and the sellers had come all the way from Florida for it.

Finally, about noon, I got the call from the bank that the bank could now get me the check. We met our friends at the bank and gave them the check.

Then we did a little christmas shopping. My dh and I only buy for each other. We really have no extended family and I give my granddaughters each a check at christmas time.

We hit Wal Marts and Home depot so dh could give me some ideas of what he wanted.

Then we did our grocery shopping at 2 different food stores. Dh put the christmas tree up and we put some presents under the tree.

I love it that I bought many gift bags from QVC several years ago. We re use them and the tissue paper over and over and it makes putting presents under the tree a very easy job. Plus I think it saves money. I paid about $25 for the assortment of gift bags and tissue and have used it 3 or 4 times.

I finally had a no use gas day ($2), got $1 in the mail and my friends gave me a check for $62 for 6days interest. That is $65 to add to the $20 challenge.

Prev. total $15,821.00
today 65.00
new total $15,886.00

Let her eat steak!

November 28th, 2010 at 08:29 pm

My little dog Holly had surgery a month ago. Since then, she has not wanted anything to eat and we have been force feeding her baby food.
Thursday night, we cooked her a steak and she loved it. She has eaten steak everyday now, so today I went and bought her another N.Y. strip steak. Actually, I bought myself a steak too and saved $4 using my Bi Lo card.
I will add that to my challenge money.

Prev. total $15,817.00
today 4.00
new total $15,821.00

checks in the mail.

November 27th, 2010 at 10:42 pm

i always love getting checks in the mail especially when they are unexpected. I got a $50 rewards check from my Chase Mastercard, which I had ordered last week.

But I also got a check for $14 from the Sumter Electric coop in Sumterville, Fl. Apparently, my dh had joined the co op when he was married before. About every 15 years are so, they send him a check. I have no idea why but I will take it!

I will add these checks to my $20 challenge.

Prev. total $15,763.00
today 64.00
new total $15,817.00

Good deals at Bi Lo

November 26th, 2010 at 10:30 pm

We stopped at Bi Lo to get some steaks this morning for dinner tonight. That is what Holly (poodle) seems to like to eat, when she eats. (She has been real sick)
My girlfriend had given me 2 coupons. One was for a free dozen eggs and the other was for $2 off of any brand of toilet paper.
Plus all 3 steaks we got were on sale and one of them had another $1 off coupon. All in all I managed to save $10 which I will add to the $20 challenge.

Prev. total $15,753.00
today 10.00
new total $15,763.00

New grill!

November 26th, 2010 at 07:11 pm

That might seem like a funny thing to buy on black Friday, but that is what we bought. We use our grill more than our oven and our old one just died last week.
Home depot was full this morning, but no one seemed interested in buying a grill. We went and looked at them, did some more errands, then dh went back in this van to pick it up. (Won't fit in a corvette)
He is outside right now, trying to put it together.
We cook out all the time, even when it is snowing. We always use a charcoal grill and this one has a smoker like the old grill.
The electric bill came in and it was $50 under budget, so that money gets added to the challenge.
Prev. total $15,703.00
today 50.00
new total $15,753.00

Happy Thanksgiving!

November 25th, 2010 at 05:03 pm

I hope everyone has a great day today. Normally, we spend Thanksgiving day alone, but this time we are invited to a friend's house for dinner. They live in Florida but are up here in their vacation home for a week.
So, I hope you all have a wonderful day and don't eat too much!

Cashed in a C.D.

November 24th, 2010 at 10:51 pm

I had a c.d. come due yesterday and I went to the bank and cashed it in today. If I had renewed it, they were only offering 8/10 of one percent. Gosh, even ING pays better than that on just a savings account. I have never seen interest rates this low. I have an old amortization book that I bought over 30 years ago, and the lowest rate in the book is 3%.

When I worked at a savings and loan place, we paid 6% interest on savings and 8% on C.D.'s. I had always hoped I could live on my interest when I got old. Now you can't even live on the interest of 2 million dollars.

So, I am loaning the money to a friend to buy a cabin. They will pay me 4% interest and I will add that to my $20 challenge fund each month.

chicken marsala

November 24th, 2010 at 07:12 pm

That is what I had for my birthday dinner last night. It was sooooooooooo good and I brought home the leftovers for my lunch today.
I got a pinecone check in the mail today, I finally had a no use gas day Monday and the stock market is up today. That is $6 for the $20 challenge.

Prev. total $15,697.00
today 6.00
new total $15,703.00

Nice birthday so far

November 23rd, 2010 at 09:49 pm

Yesterday, my bridge buddies came over to play bridge and brought me a huge chocolate cake for my birthday.
Today, I gor a free turkey at Ingles and my social security check came in a day early. Tonight we are going to dinner with friends we only see occasionally, when they come up here from florida. So far, so good!

I will add the check to my $20 challenge;

Prev. total $15,697.00
today 486.00
new total $16,183.00

car insurance refunds

November 21st, 2010 at 08:07 pm

According to my On star subscription, the milage on my car is eligible for lower insurance. I called my insurance agent and reported the miles on my 2010 red corvette and also on my husband's 2008 corvette. His car has slightly over 10,000 miles (in 3 years) and my car has 2500 miles in 8 months.
Yesterday, I received 2 checks from state farm for a total of $130 in rebates.
That was very nice and will be added to the $20 challenge.

Prev. total $15,567.00
today 130.00
new total $15,697.00

sold some old jewelry

November 21st, 2010 at 02:29 pm

There is a jewelry store in town that advertises that they buy gold and silver. I had never been in the store until Friday. I was surprised, cause it looked like a junk store inside.
I took in some old jewelry. I sold three old rings for $145. I had two old necklaces of my mother's, but I decided to keep them.
I also had a 1879 $10 gold piece that I bought over 30 years ago for $300. They offered me $350. When I left with the gold piece, they were offering me $450.

So, I am adding that $145 to my $20 challenge money.

Prev. total $15,422.00
today 145.00
new total $15,567.00

Land sale!

November 20th, 2010 at 08:51 pm

We went to a land sale this morning. We went to one a month ago and learned a valuable lesson. Make sure you get the early appointment. By the time we got there for our noon appointment, almost everything was sold.

This time we had an 10 am. appointment and we got there before 9 am. They did not let anyone look beforee 10 am, but we got to talk with our sales guy and tell him what we were looking for. He reccommended a property with a good mountain view.

This was in a new subdivision, but the bank had foreclosed on the unsold lots and had priced them a lot more reasonably.

The subdivision is gated, has a clubhouse, tennis courts and a swimming pool. Our lot was 2 acres with a very nice far off mountain view.

The original price was $119,000 but the bank had priced it at $42,000, so we bought it. We may build a spec house on it, but I wouldn't mine living there at all.

My birthday is in 3 days, so I told dh that this would be my birthday present!!

Sure they can make a profit!!

November 17th, 2010 at 09:17 pm

In yesterday's blog, I discussed that I was upset with a former customer of ours.
They hired dh to build them a cabin. The now have it up for sale for more than double what they paid for it. I certainly do believe that it is their right to make as much profit on the cabin as they can.

What I object to, they told the realtor that my husband charged them $188,000 to build the cabin, when in reality, he only charged them $65,000 for the cabin; everything, labor and materials.

It sounds like the cabin cost over $200 a square foot to build, when it actually cost $80 a square foot.
Realtors sell land too, and are often asked to reccommend a good builder. I don't think we would get many reccommendations if the realtor thought my husband was overcharging.

Actually, I have been told by the past 2 homes that we built, that my husband was very reasonable in his hourly wage. (I say we, cause I handle all the money; my dh handles the building) Works great!

What a liar!!

November 16th, 2010 at 10:08 pm

We got a call the other day from a guy looking for a builder. He said he heard about my dh on the internet. Since dh does NOT know how to use a computer and I barely do, I typed his name in on google. Well, the internet did show pictures of a cabin that he built for a couple back in 2003.

They are asking $188,000 for an 800 square foot cabin with no garage or basement for storage.

I e mailed the realtor, asking why the house was priced so high.
She mailed me back, saying that that is what the couple told her they had in the house. Since it was built by my husband, I know exactly how much they had in the cabin.
We built the cabin next door to it and sold it for $115,000. It was 1200 square feet with a walk in crawl space for storage.
We agreed to build this cabin for $64,000 or $80 a square foot. They bought the lot for about $20,000, so they have less than $90,000 in the house.

They are really wanting to make a killing on this cabin. The realtor said that since it was a (insert husbands name) built house, she assumed they were telling the truth! Now my husband is the best builder anywhere cause he does all the work himself, but he sure does NOT overcharge anyone.

They wanted to make $100,000 profit on this little cabin! We would never build for these people again.

The Blob!

November 14th, 2010 at 07:37 pm

I saw that movie on tv yesterday. It is the first time I saw it since I was a kid in 1978. I use to go to the movies 3 times a week, every time the movie changed. Back then, it cost 14 cents to get into a movie and a box of candy was a nickle.
What I did not remember was that "The Blob" was the first movie that Steve McQueen starred in. He played a 17 year old teen, even tho he was 28. He made a grand total of $3000 to make that movie.
His girlfriend in the movie surprised me too. Do You remember Andy of Mayberry's girlfriend, Miss Crump? Well, she was the girlfriend. Her name is Aneta Corsaut!

Opps! I goofed, the movie was in 1958!!

On the money front, I did my grocery shopping this morning and really stocked up on several items that I use, that were on sale. If it was on sale, I bought double of everything.
Using my advantage card, I managed to bring my bill down from $92 to $68. That is the best I have ever done at the grocery store. I will add that $24 to my $20 challenge.

Prev. total $15,398
today 24
new total $15,422.00

The heat is on!

November 13th, 2010 at 10:22 pm

I am out of the contest. It is getting below freezing every night, so I have to run the heat at night now. Little Holly has a heating pad to sleep on but Molly, the puppy does not. I am sure Molly is very happy!

Happy Veteran's day

November 11th, 2010 at 06:21 pm

A big thank you to all the men and women who have served our country.

I am very proud of my father. He served in both WWI and WWII. Apparently,as a teenager, he lied about his age and joined the army. ( not many birth certificates back then) He was born in 1899.

I am sorry I don't know any of his war stories but I do know he was stationed in France and Germany during world war II. He made the army his career although I think he came out of the army after WWI for a while.

Sadly, he died the week before my 10th birthday, so I don't know much about his youth. I just know that I am very proud of him.

An expensive two weeks!!

November 10th, 2010 at 10:33 pm

I have had a very expensive two weeks. We talked to the hospital administrator about dh's emergency room bill. (It helps that we built his house) The hospital sent us an itemized bill. Gosh, I could not believe that a cat scan was $3750.00 They lowered the bill some and then offered us 15% off if we paid the balance completely.

So, I paid them $6000, then I paid the vet visits and surgery of about $1000 and sent $2000 to my FIL to pay his house taxes.

All this, with no income coming in. Dh is starting a spec house, but so far they are just putting in a septic tank.

I did save a little by buying some items on sale at Bi Lo, yesterday, so I will be adding $6 to my challenge money.

Prev. total $15,392.00
today 6.00
new total $15,398.00

An expensive 2 weeks!

November 10th, 2010 at 10:26 pm

It has been an expensive 2 weeks. We talked to one of the administrators at the hospital about the emergency room bill and got an itemized bill. (It helped that dh built his house)They charged $3750 for a cat scan. Gosh, I did not want to buy the machine!

Anyway, they lowered the bill some and also offered me a 15% discount if I would pay it all at once.
So I paid off the hospital to the tune of $6000, my vet visits and surgery came to $1000 and I sent $2000 to my FIL so he could pay his house taxes.

All this, with no money coming in. Dh is trying to get a spec house started and they are putting in the septic tank right now.

I picked up a couple of things on sale at Bi Lo yesterday and saved $6, so I will add that to my challenge money.

Prev. total $15,392.00
today 6.00
new total $15,398.00

Busy with sick puppy!

November 6th, 2010 at 07:51 pm

I haven't been on here for a few days. I have been busy taking care of my sick little poodle, Holly. I took her to a new vet last week and she had to have ememergency surgery. The surgery went well, but she just will not eat. She has gone from 6 1/2 pounds to 4 pounds, 2 ounces.

I have been back to the vets several times and have gotten a lot of medicine to help her little tummy. We are having to feed her by hand. We get a little food down her and then she throws it all up.
I finally got some medicine yesterday that is supposed to stop the throwing up.

She threw up several times yesterday, but so far today, the food has stayed down. We are giving her baby food and putting it in her mouth with a syringe.

I don't think she will ever eat dog food again! I think she is feeling better today. I take her back to the vets on Tuesday.

Molly, the puppy, can't understand why her big (but half her size) sister is so quiet and gets so much attention. I am so glad that Molly is so healthy.

Interest income

November 3rd, 2010 at 07:57 pm

I am taking the interest that I earn every month on a personal loan and adding that to my challenge money.
Yesterday in the mail, I received this month's payment. The interest I earned was $173.

Prev. total $15,219.00
today 173.00
new total $15,392.00

Turning in my change!

November 2nd, 2010 at 06:55 pm

Change does add up! I try not to spend any of my change except for pennies. I throw it all in a jar and every once in a while, I turn it in at my bank. They have a machine that counts it and it is at no cost to me.
Today I have $37 dollars more to add to my challenge money.

Prev. total $15,182.00
today 37.00
new total $15,219.00

No trick or treaters!

November 1st, 2010 at 10:06 pm

I put out my Halloween decorations, filled a bowl with candy, turned on the porch light, and waited last night. No trick or treaters showed up. We were kind of disappointed. I mean, they did have a big block party down on the square Saturday night, but last night was Halloween, and no one showed!
I guess the parents did not want to go out two nights in a row.
I got a great deal on a Halloween cake yesterday. It was $8.99 marked down to $1.50. I served it to the women in my bridge group today.
We still had a good time. One of our favorite movies was on last night, Forrest Gump.

I got a $50 chase rewards check in the mail today and I am adding that to my $20 challenge.

Prev. total $15,132.00
today 50.00
new total $15,182.00