Well it has been a quiet and frugal day today. A no spend day!! That is 2 this week, a record for me! I stayed home all day, used no gas. We are going to a dinner party tonight and maybe another one afterward, so no food costs!
We are driving the old car tonight, it is a 1933 Ford Victoria. I hope it can make it up that steep mountain.
It is clear today, so I am looking forward to seeing the moon set over the beautiful mountain view!

i can't believe it, I just got invited to another party tonight. They just decided this morning to invite 35-40 people over for a party!!
The guy that owns the local rental place, has a place all fixed up called "Rick's playhouse" He has a live band that he plays in for fun and there is a dance floor!
I know I am too old for this kind of thing, but I sure am going to try and make it to both parties if we can leave the first one early enough!
I wish I had these problems when i was a lot younger!!!

I am going to a party tonight. I do love parties, even as old as I am. It is at a house (that my husband built) with a beautiful mountain sunset view, which I really enjoy. We will have dinner with about 20 other people.
Last sat. night I went to a reunion dinner and the saturday night before, it was a 50's party where all the guests dressed up.(dinner too)
I love it!!

I did my stair challenge, my 30 plus minutes walking, my no go to town, waste gas, plus a little saving with my advantage car. Total is $6 to add to my challenge money.
Prev. total $5640.00
today 6.00
new total $5646.00

I bought my first christmas present today, two pair of jeans for dh. He has been needing them for a while, but I just haven't ordered them.
Now he is wearing shorts, so I will give them to him for christmas.
I usually get his jeans at Walmart, but the last time we looked they had none his size and his inseam.
He has lost almost 40 pounds and has a 34 inch waist. For some reason, I can't find them with a 29 inch inseam.
So I ordered from Penny's, but they were on sale for $22.
It is so hard to buy for christmas any more because there is nothing we need. (Food is a favorite present)

I always play the tv behind me when I am on the computer. This morning, the news was gruesome, so I switched to Home shopping network. Immediately a cuff watch caught my eye.
You see, I grew up with watches that you wind. (I still have one, but it does not work)
I have 10 other watches that I like, but the batteries are all dead. Last time we had a battery put in my husband's watch is cost over $20.
Heck, none of my watches cost much more than that.
So I headed to the phone with the HSN number in hand to order that pretty cuff watch. It is only $20 and I don't have a working watch.
I thought it over and came back up here to think of reasons why I don't need that watch!!
I have a clock in several rooms in my house and a real good clock in the car!!
Bt the time I pay shipping and handling, the watch will be closer to $30.
There is a clock on this computer!
How am I doing??

I just took a survey which will pay me a dollar. I wonder how some of you get the big paying surveys?

Not sure what i did!
prev. total $5638.00
today 2.00
new total $5640.00


sorry!!!

Not much to add to my challenge, but every little bit helps. I did my 30 minute walk (only 16 flights of stairs) and I saved a dollar on tipping last night cause the waitress was totally terrible. Oh, I gave her $5 for our $20 meal, but I usually leave $6. So I am adding that $2 to my challenge. I stayed home all day so far, so no spending and no gas oday 2.00

We went to our usual restaurant last night and got a new waitress. Oh, she had waitressed before at another place and knew us.
She seemed more interested in talking to customers than waiting on us.
Someone else brought our glasses and ice. She took our order and brought bread. My husband never got his salad and someone else brought out our food. I kind of wish I had a lot of singles, because she did not deserve a $5 tip (for a $22 meal)
I usually leave $6 for the girls, but I saved a dollar last night.

We have several checking accounts, but two we use mainly. I have not balanced them in almost 3 months, so I made my self sit down and work on that this morning. Happy to report the job is done and they all balanced to the penny!!

We have had a problem with moles in our yard for years. We finally asked the owner of the local Ace, what to do. He suggested using milky spore to kill the insects in the lawn, that the moles feed on.
So last year, we spent $1000 and spread it on the lawn. We have more moles than ever this year. They stop at our neighbor's yard.
The yard across the street is never taken care of. It looks great. We are frustrated, to say the least.
Wish I had that $1000 back!

Well there are certain critters that are determined that I won't sleep in late. The first was my dog, Holly, who had to go potty at 5 am. (that is our fault, we forgot to take her out last night)
Then my least favorite cardinal, starting pecking at my bedroom window at 6:30 am. I finally gave up and got up!
I need to balance all our checking accounts, but now I am too sleepy!

We bought a piece of property on Oct. 19th of last year. We are building a spec house on it. (for sale) I just got the title insurance on it today.
I wonder if someone is making a lot of money on title insurance.
Hopefully, we will sell that house this year and the owner will get title insurance on it again. Seems like a rip off, like we could just transfer it over without a fee. (it cost several hundreds for title insurance)

I ate dinner at home last night which saved at least $20. I did 30 minutes on my treadmill and also saved a dollar in gas from not going to town. I am adding $22 to my challenge money!
prev. total $5616.00
today 22.00
new total $5638.00

I have a cardinal that wakes me up every morning. As soon as it gets light, she starts hitting the window. Then she will go away and come back and do it again. Over and over, until I finally give up. I hung some alum. pans outside but that does not help. I sure wish she would go live somewhere else, but with four full feeders in the yard, I doubt she will.

I have had a no spending day today. This does not happened to me very much because we go out to eat every night except Sunday.
But today, I never left the house. I have supper cooking in the crockpot!
I used no gas! It is hard to believe!!

I have spent the past two hours paying bills, both mine and for the houses we are building!! I found some extra money had accumulated in the telephone and cable envelopes, so I am putting that in my challenge money, another $80!!
Prev. total $5536.00
today 80.00
new total $5616.00

It felt good to eat out last night. I hate going to florida because of the heat and also because the in laws do not eat supper at night. That usually means dh and I do not eat supper at night. We wind up eating junk food cause there is no restaurants in that town.
Last night we went out and had a normal meal like most people eat at night. DH splurged and got a big meal so he would have leftovers for his lunch.
Grass really needs to be cut, so dh is coming home early tonight to get it cut. Therefore, I am making a crock pot roast and potatoes!

Well, I got on my treadmill this morning for the first time since last Wednesday!! (been away on a trip)
It wouldn't turn on. I have had a treadmill and used it daily for about 20 years.
I got really upset, what do I do without my treadmill??
I got down on the floor, there is a re set button, but it was on. Well, I turned it off and back on, and yipee, the treadmill now works!! I have to walk off the 2 pounds I gained on this trip.

I got two bags of free dog food from the pet store, $10 a bag was the price. I pay about $5 a bag normally at the grocery store.
I filled two bowls with food for the dog, Lucy, while we were gone to fla. She ate all of the $10 food and none of the $5 food.
Even dogs chose the most expensive things. I hope she enjoys it, she goes back to the cheaper food when this is all gone.

Since, I have been on a trip, I have not added any money to my $20 challenge. Today I went grocery shopping. I hate to say this, but I spent $46 and got One bag of groceries!! ONE!!
I did save almost $4 using my advantage card, so I will all that to my challenge money.
prev. total $5532.00
today 4.00

new total $5536.00

I was really hoping we would not spend much money on this four day trip to Florida, but we spent about $400. We stayed for free in a duplex, so that was great, but I bet we spent $200 in gasoline. I forgot that we had to pay for the banquet and that was $60. They had a cash bar, but it was expensive, $7 a drink.
I am use to brown bagging it at home and paying nothing for mixed drinks. We spent about $40 there.
The rest just was spent at visits to Publix. We bought all kinds of neat snacks, some of which melted in the car before we could get them home. (chocolate)

Someone mentioned that they had never heard of Umatilla, Fla. It is in central florida, near Leesburg, eustis, and Mount Dora.
It is one of the ugliest towns I have seen. There is nothing to do and no place to eat except McDonald's. I have seen all the McDonald's I want for a long time. Even the grocery store moved out of the town. There is nothing to do in that town, but sweat!!! Oh well, I don't have to go back until next year!

You can keep Florida, it is hot when you wake up! It was in the 90's all the way home, when we hit Clayton, Ga. (in the mountains), the temperature dropped to 60. We had to wear a sweater when we cooked out last night. No place like home!

I feel frustrated that I cannot do anything to add to my challenge money while on a trip. At least I am taking all of my change and putting it in a little pocket in my suitcase. I can add it to my coin jar when I get home!!

Ok, you guys in Fla., how do you do it? I have been here one day and I cannot stand the heat. We have been sitting in the house all day. My dh wants to go and take rides around the area. One trip to Publix wiped me out!!

I use to write expenses down when I went on a trip, I guess I still should. I think it has cost me about $60 in gas to drive to Florida. I only spent about $12 for the two of us for breakfast and lunch. I have spent about $35 at Publix, only to realize that some of the stuff is chocolate and it is 100 degrees out and things melt quickly. We spent another $6 out for breakfast today. So far, that is a total of $113. We are staying in a free duplex, so that helps!!

We are here in Fla. for my husband's class reunion. We rode around to find out where the dinner is going to be held tomorrow and talked to some people that were at the dining hall.
The reunion is for anyone that graduated in the 60's. Each class is having a party tonight. We were told the party would be at one house at 6 pm. At the dining hall, we were told it was at another house at 7 pm.
Not much organization at this place!!

Hi, I am here and I am hot!! I sure miss the mountains of Georgia. It is too hot to do anything!! (or spend money)