I am having lunch today with a few friends. We all met over the internet at a local forum. We have had lunch before, but there is always someone new to meet.
we were all going to meet in the park, but it is supposed to be cool and real windy today, so they are coming here, to my house, instead.
It will be a frugal lunch, we are all bringing our own lunch, plus something to share,if we want to.
I bought some chips and chocolate fudge, my favorite. someone else is bringing blueberry crunch! Sounds like fun!!

I had a $4 off coupon for prilosec plus the braves won the game last night, so that is another $1 towards the challenge.
Prev. total $7542.00
today 5.00
new total $7547.00

That is the name of the carpet cleaner that I use to remove stains when my little Holly (poodle) spits up on the carpet. I ordered a big jug yesterday and hope she can be good for a week.

also, Kelly asked about the $20 challenge. You start with $20 and add to it anyway that you can. Some sell on e bay, have garage sales, etc.
I save all my change. I pay myself to walk a mile or climb 20 flights of stairs. I take the savings from coupons and my store cards and add it to my challenge.
Any extra checks that come in, go to the challenge money. I take surveys.
When I underspend in a catagory ( I budget $160 for elec.) I take the rest of the money and add it to my challenge money. I paid off a piece of property in Jan. (called the ridge) so I still make that payment, but to my challenge fund.
You make up your own rules and the key is just to find ways to save and enjoy it!

Well, I picked up my taxes and I will be getting money back from uncle sam this year. That is because the spec house that my husband worked on the entire year, did not close until Jan. 2007, so the tax on that profit will be paid next year. When I get the check, I am going to add that to my challenge money since it was certainly unplanned.

I just got my mail. I got a dividend from state farm on my corvette. I don't understand it, but I will take it! I also saved $2 using my advantage card today, so I have a total of $44 to add to my challenge money.
prev. total $7498.00
today 44.00
new total $7542.00

I have a white house, white walls, white furniture and white carpet.
My little Holly is very well potty trained, but her little tummy gets upset easily and she spits up.
No,she won't spit up on the hardwood floor, it has to be on the carpet or the white couch.
I have had the greatest carpet spot cleaner and it really works. I have had a huge jug of it for years. Yesterday, two spit ups right before company came, and I used the last of it.
I can't do without it and I can't find it anywhere. My husband suggested that I look it up on the computer. (like he knows how to do that??)
But I found it and I ordered a huge jug again. It will cost me $52 ( includes shipping) but it is just something that I have to have!! I hope it comes quickly!!!

I received another check in the mail yesterday from nfomysurvey. so I will add that plus the $1 for 20 flights of stairs that I walked, to my challenge money.
Prev. total $7487.00
today 11.00
new total $7498.00

Well, I broke down and ordered propane this morning. I was going to try and wait until next winter, but it is just too darn cold. I checked 2 weeks ago and I had 100 gallons, but I am just afraid of running out.
I had a great time playing bridge today and only spent $4. I stopped and bought some colorful little bowls to serve snacks in. I certainly ate about 10,000 calories in candy today!!

I got my husband to use a 10% off coupon when he went to Home Depot yesterday. so, he saved $11 when he bought all his gardening stuff for the lawn. That, plus the braves won, adds $12 more to my challenge money.
prev. total $7475.00
today 12.00
new total $7487.00

There ought to be a law requiring the names of bad builders to be published. We just came back from looking at a spec house at the owners request.
The house is dangerous. Even I could tell the floor was sagging and the doors would not close. The roof was sagging!
There was jacks in the crawl space, holding up the floor. The rock had all fallen off the fireplace. The list of things that had failed inspection was 2 sheets long.The large windows in the bedrooms were above my head, that is against code.(You have to be able to crawl out a window in case of fire) There was no way to even fix that without tearing off the roof. What a mess!It will take a lot of money to fix what can be fixed and a lot of it cannot be fixed because the house is too far along. I wish we had better news to give to the owners.

So I get to add $1 to my challenge and another $1 for walking 20 flights of stairs, but $165 for "The Ridge" money.
Prev. total $7308.00
today 167.00
new total $7475.00

My dh had to run to home depot this morning because his clorox ready mop quit working.
He came back with an easter present for me. A new toilet seat. Got to love him!! (He got the new mop too)

Happy Easter day everyone. My dh actually took the day off. so far, he has cleaned the house and now he is shampooing the carpet. we have no family, so we will be alone today and cook steaks on the grill for supper. It got very cold last night and by the time we got to the car show, everyone had left. Sadly, it looks like all the leaves on the maple trees got frozen, but as always, they will come back. Have a great day and don't eat too much!

I think I will keep up with the braves games this year. They are playing right now. I have decided that I will pay $1 to my challenge fund for every game they win. Right now, they won the first three and lost last night to their arch rivals, New York mets!! I have $3 to add.
prev. total $7305.00
today 3.00
new total $7308.00

Gosh, I just got back from the grocery stores and they were mobbed. I guess everyone is planning a big meal for Easter. As I mentioned before, we do not have any family, so we spend holidays alone. If it warms up, we might just go look for land tomorrow. I did save $3 using my advantage card plus I can add $1 for walking 20 flights of stairs.
Prev. total $7301.00
today 4.00
new total $7305.00

I can't believe it, but it is snowing here in North Georgia!! It is not expected to lay on the ground, but snow is coming down. There is a car show on the square tonight for old cars, so I am sure we are going. It is supposed to be 20 tonight and windy. I wouldn't mind so much, but we are taking our old car down there, a 33 ford victoria! (described to me as a ZZ top car)
The car has no heat!! It will be a cold evening but at least the show is free.

It was a good mail day. I got a check for $95 back from home depot. We had returned an item about 4 months ago and I had not charged on the card since. I only use the home depot card when they send me a 10% off coupon. The rest of the time I use the card that pays me 1% back in cash. so, it is added to the challenge money.
prev. total $7206.00
today 95.00
new total $7301.00

For the first time, in over 2 weeks, the heat is running again. I kept it set on 60 and it was cold yesterday, but still about 62 in the house. It is supposed to get down to 20 tonight and this weekend.
I thought I was thru with worrying about ordering propane until next winter. I still have 100 gallons left, so i can probably make it.
The first old car show is tomorrow night on the square. I am sure we are going, cold or not. One nice thing, it is FREE!

well, I did go into town today. I wanted to take advantage of some bogo items. I am having the bridge group over on Monday, so I needed some chex mix. It was buy one get one free, so my husband can have his own bag.
Then I stopped at the other grocery store. I am switching mouthwash to a much cheaper brand that they just started carrying.
They had my favorite ice cream, buy one, get one free also. So I am now going to have a snack and add the savings to my challenge money.
Prev. total $7199
today 7
new total $7206.00

Brrr, it has turned much colder. It is supposed to freeze tonight and the next few nights. I hope it does not kill all the pretty blooming trees.
I never did go out yesterday even tho I planned to. It got late, so I stayed home. I did walk a mile and do 20 flights of stairs, plus I used no gas yesterday, so I will pay myself $3 towards the challenge.
Prev. total $7196.00
today 3.00
new total $7199.00

Well, the yard looks good and we saved money. We stayed home from eating out last night, do dh could cut grass. It is really growing fast.
so the yard looks good and we saved money by eating at home. I am going to take the $20 I saved and put it in my challenge money.
prev. total $7176.00
today 20.00
new total $7196.00

I just watched the weather. Everything is blooming here and looks so pretty. Now they are calling for below freezing weather for the next 5 days. Oh no, will that kill all the pretty buds and flowers?? Time to take OFF the shorts!!

We decided to stay home and skip dinner out tonight so dh can work in the yard. He usually does that on Sundays but it rained all day.
I started to make lasagna, but figured out by the time I bought all the ingredients, I would spend about $8 and then dh would be stuck with eating lasagna for the next 4 days. (I only eat one piece)
So our old standby, is breakfast for supper!! It is quick and it is cheap!!

Everything is blooming and it is so pretty here. Spring has come to the mountains. It is my favorite season. I took a ride over to North Carolina and enjoyed the scenery.
I bought my dh two bottles of liquor today, so that I don't have to make the trip again next week. That will save me a few dollars in gas money.
I filled up last night for the first time in 2 weeks. It was $2.75 a gallon for premium.
I have walked 3 miles the past few days plus I just saved $1 using my advantage card at Ingles today, so I have $4 to add to my challenge money.
Prev. total $7172.00
today 4.00
new total $7176.00

I have started keeping track of our net worth on a monthly basis. I posted it here the other day, but a friend from my other forum thought I should delete it. I have "stalkers" that follow me here from the other local forum and she thought I should not post my net worth.
I am certainly not rich; my husband has to keep working everyday cause we cannot live on the interest. We will never get a pension. There will not be anything other than a small amount from social security for us to live on.
So I have to save and hope that someday we can live on what we have saved.
My net worth did go up last month about $11,000. My stocks went down, but my mutual funds went up.
I was also able to add several thousand dollars to my savings last month.
My husband had some pretty good pay days since he has worked 7 days a week the entire month.

I have started keeping track of the interest that I earn on my savings, money market and my checking account. I only have one checking account that pays interest and the amount is tiny, .005%, but it is better than nothing.
I have a money market checking account and I can write 3 checks a month, but that is all.
I keep our spec house money there. I also opened up my first cd the end of January. So the total amount of interest that I earned for the month of March 2007 was $1993.05.
That is less that February, but my biggest account covered 33 days last month and only 28 days this month.
Interest is so cool!! Free money!! (I will be so sad when I have to start using the money to build)

I got another gift card in the mail today from Ace Hardware. I just redeemed one for $135 and got myself a new firepit! This one is only for $25 but it is still nice to get freebies! We buy a lot of paint from Ace. I played bridge today and the only money I spent was less than $2 buying brown eggs.

Well, I am glad to see that things are back to normal here at savingadvice today. I did not say anything about the bright new colors yesterday, but I really did not like it that much. However, I love this site so much, I will not ever put down anything Jeffrey and Nate do. At least we can say we had a colorful day!! But today, is much easier reading. I play bridge today. So except for stopping and picking a few things up at the grocery store, I should have a no spend day.

to add to my challenge money. We were planning on taking the day and looking at land to buy, but it has rained all day. So after inspecting a house that is all but falling down for a friend this morning (new house, cost $425,000) we really had nothing to do. Dh could not even work in the yard, so off to work he went this afternoon. I am cooking dinner in the crockpot as he is working late.
I did my grocery shopping and saved $5 by using my store card.
Prev. total $7167.00
today 5.00
new total $7172.00

I got a check from Pinecone for a survey that I did. They do pay out very quickly, but my favorite is still nfomysurvey. I have earned $50 with them since December. They take about 2 weeks to pay, but that check always come thru.
Prev. total $7167.00
today 5.00
new total $7172.00