I have been writing down my totals in mutual funds over the past year. Since Dec. 10th of last year, my mutual funds are down $93,000. I lost over $20,000 just yesterday. I know I keep too much in cash, but this year I am glad it is sitting in the bank, earning me a little interest.

I had a no spend day yesterday. I stayed home and used no gasoline at all. dh took the day off and got lots of chores around the house done, including washing all of the cars. He is a perfectionist and loves to wash and detail his cars.
I will add $2 to my challenge fund for the no use gasoline day.
Prev. total $20,995.00
today 2.00
new total $20,997.00

My dh is taking a very rare day off today. Of course, he went to the neighbors first and did some plumbing.
He really wanted to ride around somewhere today, but had no clue as to what he wanted to do. At $4.35 a gallon and gas being rare to come by around here, I would just as soon stay home.

I did win 5 games of mah jong yesterday, so I can add that to my total.
Prev. total $20,990.00
today 5.00
new total $20,995.00

I couldn't believe my eyes. That is how much a pound of butter is now.
We had read an article several years ago that butter was much better for you than margarine, so we switched to butter. I still use margarine for cooking. Guess I am going to have to use it for eating too. Food prices are getting so high.
Our favorite restaurant had to print new menus and raise their prices. They just had to.
Today, I did my grocery shopping and saved $3 with my store card. I will add this to my challenge money.
Prev. total $20,987.00
today 3.00
new total $20,990.00

I love these cool mornings. It is still in the 60's now at 10:30 am. That means no air conditioning and no heat running.

It is so hard to keep the tv on these days. There is nothing but bad news on. I am scared to death about this big government bail out and what is going to happen. Plus, my dh is running out of work.
Now, we are having trouble finding gas. We could not find premium for the yellow vette last night.
Well, let's take a deep breath and try to look on the positive side on life. Yesterday I won 3 games of Mah jong, the stock market went up and I had a no use gasoline day. That is $6 I can add to my challenge money. ($2 for no use gas)
Prev. total $20,981.00
today 6.00
new total $20,987.00

Did anyone else notice that christmas will be here 3 months from today?? Time to go shopping!!!

I have ordered 600 gallons of propane to add to the almost 200 gallons that I have in my tank. I called around to get the best price I could get.
I am paying $2.45 a gallon, so my bill will be over $1600. I remember the first year we lived in this house, it cost about $300 to heat it.
How much are you paying a gallon??

I have $40 in insurance money (AARP) to add to my challenge money.
Prev. total $20,941.00
today 40.00
new total $20,981.00

This area is starting to really have tough times. The North Georgia mountains has done well the past 15 years because of real estate sales and lots of home building. Now, all of that has stopped. There are almost 800 homes for sale in this small county with a population of only 19,000. No one is building anything. I have friends who are getting foreclosed on. One friend yesterday told us that he is getting his old house back. He sold it a few years ago and held the mortgage. Now the new owner can no longer make the payments on the house, so he is giving it back to the first owner.
The previous owner has since retired and was counting on the payments to help fund his retirement.
A truck driver friend says that lots of states are doing just fine, but Georgia sure does not seem to be one of them.

Funny thing, we all worked so hard to get our Georgia's building license and now there is nothing to build. We have to have liability insurance to keep our license and it is so expensive but we have to pay even if we are not building. If we drop it, we lost our license. I really can't see things getting better next year either. I am just glad that we have savings to tide us over.

My dh has to take prilosec every day. I remember when it was over $3 for one pill. Now I can get 42 pills for $30. Today I bought the 42 day supply with my advantage card, saving $2 and with a $4 off coupon, so I have $6 to add to my challenge fund.
Prev. total $20,935.00
today 6.00
new total $20,941.00

I had heard of gas shortages in Atlanta, but we were having no problems here. Yesterday, dh called me from Murphy, N.C. where he is building a house. There was no gasoline at the stations!!
I remember the gas shortages in 1976! It was terrible. My dh has to drive his work van about 60 miles round trip to work every day, so he really needs the gas. I told him I would fill up the vettes and he could use them for work. Luckily, he was able to fill up his van at the corner last night, so he should be good for a few days. He spent close to $140 on gas yesterday. He even filled up his old van, just in case.
Things are not looking too good right now.

My dh is a very talented builder. We have stacks of letters of reccommendations.
He can do almost anything. He does the plumbing, the electical, lays tile, hardwood floors, builds his own cabinets, furniture, etc.

So, he is always being called to fix something. I don't mind that, but I don't think he charges enough.
Last weekend, he had to do some plumbing work in a neighbor's shower. He spent two hours over there working, plus made two trips to Ace hardware to get nuts and bolts.
His total bill for labor and materials is $50. I think that is too cheap.

Once a year, I have to call the a/d guy to come out and add freon to the upstairs airconditioner cause there is a slow leak somewhere. (And he installed the air conditioner, so it's his fault)
He always charges me $115 and he is here for less than 10 minutes!

No wonder, dh has so many friends!

(btw, I meant to say a/c guy)

We have a food pantry in this town and anyone can go in and ask for a helping hand. Lately, the pantry has been having articles in the paper about how empty they are. I guess they are getting a lot more people who are down on their luck in this bad ecomony.
I am buying 2 or 3 things for the pantry every time I go grocery shopping.
Here is what they are asking for:

canned potatoes
canned peas
chunky soups
bagged rice
instant potatoes
canned tuna and chicken
peanut butter
jelly
powdered milk

Maybe you could pick up a few items to donate to your food pantry too.

According to my Ingles card, I saved $3 today, so I will add that to my challenge money.
Prev. total $20,932.00
today 3.00
new total $20,935.00

I just got back from sav a lot. I know they do not have a lot of brand items, but they do have some. Their prices are much cheaper than at Ingles. I have been using their olive oil and I think it is fine and much cheaper. I also can buy my brand name link sausage for $1.50 less than at my usual store. Do any of you shop there?

Are these becoming the rage now? I was invited to a jewelry party brunch this morning. There were over 20 ladies there, all decked out!! Sipping champagne too!! Of course, I had to order something!!
What am I doing with all these rich women? They even hire women to serve the food at their parties!!
Well I played mah jong yesterday and won 3 games, so that is $3 I can add to my challenge money.
Prev. total $20,929.00
today 3.00
new total $20,932.00

My little poodle Holly is off being groomed today. I am so lonely when she is gone. I cannot imagine life without a dog around.
She went to a new groomer today, so I am kind of nervous too. I hope she does ok!!
We finally got our mower repaired and my dh cut grass last night. It really needed it. So, we had breakfast for supper last night. I figured that I saved at least $10, so I will add that to my challenge.
Prev. total $20,919.00
today 10.00
new total $20,929.00

I can't get over the stock market today. Did I see it right? Has it been way up and way down today?? When my dh comes home from work, he asks me how much money he lost today!
I don't even want to look at my funds right now.

I love this time of year. We don't need heat, and the a/c has not run at all. That helps with the electric bill.
I used my store card today to pick up a few groceries and saved $2. I will add it to my challenge.
Prev. total $20,917.00
today 2.00
new total $20,919.00

I had a quiet Tuesday. Thank goodness the stock market went up today and I saved gas by not going anywhere, so I can add $3 to my challenge money.
Prev. total $20,914.00
today 3.00
new total $20,917.00

dh and I sat out on the back deck last night, listening to the creek and thinking back. We have both worked very very hard since we were young teens.
I remember wanted to move to the mountains before I turned 40! And we did it.
We came here not having any idea what we would do for a living. My dh drew house plans back in Florida.
In the N. Ga. mountains, there was very little building going on and no need for house plans.
We lived in a travel trailer for almost a year and my dh built our Lincoln Log home completely by himself. He could not find anyone to help him. (to hire) He lifted every log by himself.
After that, he got an offer to build another Lincoln Log home.
We became a dealer for Lincoln Logs, but we lived so far out of town, we had no lookers.
Finally someone contacted us. They would buy their home kit from us if dh would come to Franklin, N.C. to build the house. That was close to a 2 hour drive one way, but we wanted that commission so badly, he took the job.
He would drive there and spend days there, alone, at the job site. Again, he did everything alone except for help putting the roof trusses on.
He slept in the back of his van to save money and washed up in the creek.
He did that for months until he finished the house. It was a long and gruleing time for him.
I worked as a waitress. Most days I only made $20 for working all days, some days it was much less.
So, we both were working pretty hard.

Oh yes, the commission that we made for the sale of the house. It was around $1500 and we were so happy to get it!!