Don't you hate when all of your mail goes directly to the garbage can? That is the way my mail has been the last two days.
I get lots of catalogs and lots of offers for credit cards. They all go into the trash!
Remember when we use to write letters? Those days are long gone.
Oh well, maybe I will get a bill today? Or a check?? I prefer checks!!!!!

It was so nice to go out and eat last night after staying home for 2 nights in a row.
Then we went and filled my car with gas. I can't believe that it took $40 to fill it, but at $3.32 a gallon, it is no surprise!
We are expecting snow again tonight, so we may be snowed in this weekend.
I know people enjoy snow, but my dh does not get paid when he does not work. Plus, he hates staying home unless he has something to do!!
Guess I had better prepare to cook this weekend!

The best ways to lower your electric bill is to read your meter daily.
Write it down and keep track of how many kilowatts you use each day.
Walk thru the house and turn everything off. Get in the habit of having nothing running unless you are in the room.
No tv, lights, etc., on in an extra room.
If the plug feels warm, it is using power.
My best advice is with your electric hot water heater. Turn it off at the fuse box. Only turn it on about 20 minutes before you need it for a shower or to run the dish washer!!

Take what you save on your electric bill and add it to your $20 challenge each month. That is what I do!!

I usually grocery shop on the weekends, but they are calling for snow again on Saturday, so I figured I would go today instead.
I had a coupon for some free pudding which was worth $2.78, but I am not going to count that in my challenge money because I would not have bought the pudding if I didn't get it for free.
I used a coupon and my advantage card for a savings of $4, so I will add that.
Prev. total $1087.00
today 4.00
new total $1091.00

Last night, I cooked!! They had called for snow, so I was ready. I made comfort foods, meatloaf and mashed potatoes.
We spend about $20 when we go out for dinner cause we brown bag our drinks. So, I am adding that $20 to my challenge money.
Prev. total $1067.00
today 20.00
new total $1087.00

The snow started about 6 pm last night and we got an inch or so fairly quickly. The good news is, we did not get the sleet and ice they predicted, so the power did NOT go out.
DH was happy as a hog watching the old cars on Barrett Jackson auction and I caught up on reading some magazines.

I finished Jan. issue of money and saw that savingadvice.com was mentioned in there. Since I post so much, I told dh that that made me kind of famous. (lol)

Most of you know that dh and I eat dinner out, almost every night except Sunday. It is just our form of entertainment!

Last night, he wanted to watch the Barrett Jackson auction, so we went to KFC and got a bucket of chicken. I had a coupon, so we got 10 pieces for $10. I made some rice and we had a nice dinner, with enough left overs for a couple of lunches.

Since I usually spend about $20 for dinner out and this time I spent $10, I will add the other $10 to my challenge money!!

Prev. total $1057.00
today 10.00
new total $1067.00

opps, forgot to mention that I also made a liquor run before the big snow hits! I have to drive to North Carolina in order to buy liquor.
I always thought that by now this are would have allowed liquor sales, but I have been here almost 24 years and it has not happened!
Ok, we should be all set for the storm. I even stocked up on my favorite Hood low carb chocolate milk! Yum! I have cake and chocolate milk!!

They are calling for snow and ice to hit us sometime tonight, so like everyone else in my county, I went to the store to stock up on a few things.
We will stay home and cook dinner in tonight, so we won't be out, stuck , somewhere. That thrills my husband, so he can watch the Barrett Jackson auction again tonight!
So, I got some hamburger, a roast, milk, potatoes, and a cake to comfort me if I am snowed in.
I also picked up some prilosec because dh is almost out and has to take it daily.
I had a coupon for $4 off the prilosec and I saved another $4 using my advantage card.
That is $8 more to add to the challenge.
Prev. total $1049.00
today 8.00
new total $1057.00

Dh called his father tonight. We are still trying to see if we can get his name off of a loan that his brother made to fix the roof on FIL's house. We are told it is off, but we have no proof on that.
In the meantime, FIL says he is going to list his old car for sale.
Obviously, my dh got his love of cars from somewhere. My FIL was working on restoring a packard for over 30 years. He finally got to old to work on it and gave up.
He bought himself a 1941 packard back about 25 years ago.
He has decided to sell it. Guess who wants to buy it? You got it, DH!!
OMG, we practically have a recession and we are thinking about car #6!!
Good thing I really love this man and he works so hard!!

The stock market took another big dive today. I don't see how anybody's net worth is going to go up this month unless something happens.
The stock market did go up yesterday and I had a no spend day, so I have $2 to add to the challenge.
Prev. total 1047.00
today 2.00
new total $ 1049.00

Do birds eat more in cold weather. I filled up the feeders at noon yesterday and they are already empty. And we have 4 BIG ones!! My dh is going to have to get an extra job just to feed the birds!!

Today is the day to pay your estimated income tax, Jan. 15th. I just got back from mailing mine to Uncle Sam!!

I opened up a new account at Umbrellabank a few weeks ago with the minimum to earn 5%, which was $1000. Yesterday, I sent an extra $11,000 to the on line bank. I am a little leery of banking with a bank that is online only and so is dh.
I really sure put a large sum of money in there to earn the higher interest rate, but I will probably do it just a little bit at a time for now.
I am worried that I will transfer a lot into the bank, and then they will lower the rate, like ING did.
Does anyone bank with Umbrellabank??

Pennywise asked where did people keep their challenge money. I have a cash box that I have had for years and years. Every time I get any cash or check for the challenge, I put the cash/checks in there, plus I keep track of the running total on a notepad I keep right by the computer. Once a month, or more, I deposit this money into my money market local account, now paying 4.1%. So far, I have not added on the interest it is making, but I think maybe this year I will. Even tho it is not in a separate account, it is pretty easy to figure out how much interest it earns each month. Just take the total times .041% and divide by 12. I think I will start doing that at the end of this month.

The stock market has been open for about 2 minutes. It is already down 140 points. Do you think this will be a bad year for the market. Citi is really down today. Let's see what happens!

WE will be staying home tonight. Have you heard of the Barrett Jackson auction? Well, we will be watching that and my husband will be drooling over all the fancy cars!

They are predicting snow for Thursday. I hope they are wrong!

Today will be a no spend day for sure! The "girls" are all coming over this afternoon to play bridge. It is amazing how much fun it is to play bridge. I would do it every day if I could, and it costs nothing!!
We do have a few snacks which I buy in advance on sale if possible. The gals all drink water or bring their own drinks, since I never drink coffee or tea. I do have to warm the house a bit, can't freeze them to death!!

Hubby came back home this morning after leaving for work. Something wrong with the brakes on his van. We have had such an expensive time since October. I was hoping all the extra expenses would go away for a few months so we could catch up. It is not to be.

He took the new vette for his work vehicle today! At least it will class up the job, at the house he is building!

I was looking for my perpetucal calander today. A friend had a birthday today, but had no idea what day of the week she was born on, so i told her.
While searching for that in my desk, I came across a calculation that I had made many years ago.
I was figuring out how much money I would need in CD's to earn enough interest to live on.
I figured that we could live just fine on $24,500 a year. I just wonder how many years ago I figured that amount out? It sure would not be very practical today. Of course, I do know that some people do live on that amount so it is possible. We would certainly have to downsize and I guess we are not ready to do that.

I did a very short survey for Pinecone,so I was not sure if I would be paid or not. Sometimes you take a survey to qualify.
But sure enought, I got a check for $5 in the mail yesterday. They are so prompt. I also saved $4 using some coupons I had at the grocery store, so I have $9 to add to my challenge money!
Prev. total $1038.00
today 9.00
new total $1047.00

I still read the meter everyday and write it down. I think it makes me think about how much electricity I use everyday. I expect this month's bill to be higher than usual. We really did decorate a lot for christmas, outside. I love to see christmas lights, so of course, I turned them on every night, even if we were not at home. My neighbors across the street, decorated too, so our little end of the road really looked quite nice!
I am still being frugal about keeping the hot water heater turned off all day.

My husband always has subs working for him, but none of them seem to have much money.
Right now he has a framing crew of four guys. Of course,they are all younger than dh, but 3 of them are in their 30's.
They just all seem to live from paycheck to paycheck, but envy the fact that we live in a nice, big house and drive expensive cars.

These guys come to work every day at 8 am. They take off an hour for lunch to go into town and eat lunch. Then they knock off at 4 pm. Sometimes, they knock off at 3 pm. Or sometimes, they just decided they don't want to work. They take off every holiday and the day before it to. They won't work weekends even tho they might have been rained out for 3 days before. (they work outside, so no work in rain or snow)

On payday, they complain that they have no money to pay their bills and how are they going to get by. One guy is really worried about his mortgage at the bank.

Why don't they look to my dh for an example? They have all know him quite a few years.
Until a few years ago, he went to work about 7 am and came home at 9 pm. I have seen him work til midnight. He normally works on weekends too and on most holidays except christmas.
We take that money and save it, so we can afford nice houses, nice cars and nice vacations. My dh wants nice things, so he works hard for them.
He is finally slowing down and coming home at 6 pm now!
But he will always be a worker, that is just the kind of guy he is!
You can't really expect to live well if you only work 20 hours a week and waste an hours pay and $10 bucks a day to eat out. Dh has always made his lunch and he eats it in 10 minutes and goes back to work. Eating out every day is costing these guys over $100 a week at least, more for the head guy!

I got a sample of a new deodrant in the mail yesterday. I get to try it out and then take a survey on it, in about 2 weeks. It is a win-win. I already got paid for a survey, I got the deodrant for free and I will get paid for a follow up survey.
Of course, it is not a whole lot of money, but as we have all really learned these past 2 years, a dollar at a time (or two or three) really turns into big bucks after time.
I have always been a saver, but I am so glad that this site came up with the $20 challenge two years ago. It has really helped me to save more than ever!!

Fed ex just came and left me a tiny, flat package. In it was a gift card for $100 from citi bank.
I remember now. They had a promo that if you opened a credit card and charged $300, they would give you a $100 gift card to home depot.
Well, I opened it, charged my motel room in October, but citi put the charges on another card I already had open. So, rather than argue about that over the phone, I just forgot about it.
I certainly know what we will use it for; we will buy a new toilet to replace the one that leaked upstairs. So that is $100 we get to keep in our pocket,so I am adding that to my challenge money.
Prev. total $938.00
today 100.00
new total $1038.00

I signed up for two new classes on Thursday, one for bridge and one for computers, so I stayed busy all day yesterday. They offer lunch at the church between classes for only $5, but I came home and ate lunch here instead.
I had a no spend day yesterday plus the stock market went up, so I am adding $2 to my challenge.
Prev. total $936.00
today 2.00
new total $938.00

My account at the Umbrella bank is now open. I was able to talk on line with a bank rep. and they gave me a user name and password. I only sent the minimum to open the account, but now that I can view the information, I fell more comfortable about it. So, I will start earning 5% with that money.(and send in some more)

I have had two no spend days in a row, plus the market went up yesterday, so there is $3 more for the challenge.
Prev. total $933.00
today 3.00
new total $936.00

I have a certificate of deposit that comes due on Jan. 26th. I thought today I would call around and see what the four local banks were paying.
Since my dh was building spec homes, I like to keep a lot of cash very local so I can get to it quickly and easily!
Looks like three of the banks were paying between 4.5%-4.7%
The other bank, where I actually have the cash, is only paying 4.1% Gosh, my local money market is paying better than that. I guess they are going to let me walk out of that bank with a lot of money. We are talking jumbo C.D with a years worth of interest!! Bye, bye bank!!