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Archive for February, 2010

I bought puppy a valentine's day present.

February 26th, 2010 at 06:28 pm

I got my little Molly a new toy to play with. They have valentine's day gifts priced at about 80% off at Wal Mart. I got her a cute little stuffed animal that sings and dances. Gosh, If I had kids, I would stock up on gifts AFTER valentine's day. I got a $5 bill in change today, so I will add that to my challenge.
Prev. total $3199.00
today 5.00
new total $3204.00

My puppy ate her bed!!

February 25th, 2010 at 09:43 pm

My puppy chewed her bed all up. She ripped all of the stuffing out of it a few days ago. Luckily, we had a 2nd bed for her. We keep one in the pantry and one in the kitchen. Yesterday, she ripped up the 2nd bed! Luckily, they were not real expensive, but now we don't know what to let her sleep on, other than the floor!
Even tho yesterday was my hubby birthday, we did not go out to eat. I gave him a choice and he chose to stay home and eat the steaks I bought on sale yesterday.
I had a no use gas today today ($2) and another $1 for not eating out last night.
Prev. total $3196.00
today 3.00
new total $3199.00

Cashed in my c.d.'s

February 24th, 2010 at 10:32 pm

I cashed in my certificates of deposit yesterday. My bank failed, was taken over by another bank and reset my c.d. rates from 4% and 2.75% to 1%
I was able to get almost 2% at another bank, so I was able to redeemed the c.d.'s without any penalty.
That has cut my interest income in half. I was hoping that someday I could live on the interest, but not with these rates.
My electric bil came and was much lower than my budget , so I am adding what was left in that envelope to the challenge money.
Prev. total $3096.00
today 100.00
new total $3196.00

My usual check

February 24th, 2010 at 07:55 pm

My usual check was deposited into my checking account this morning, and I will add it to my challenge money.
Prev. total $2610.00
today 486.00
new total $3096.00

coin jar

February 24th, 2010 at 06:33 pm

I took my coin jar to the bank yesterday and received $40 back in bills which I will add to my challenge.
Prev. total $2570.00
today 40.00
new total $2610.00

20 out of 22 points!

February 23rd, 2010 at 09:13 pm

I have only eaten out once this month, but last night I had dh stop and pick up some blimpie sandwiches for dinner, so I lost another point.
I have had 2 no use gas days on Sunday and Monday ($4) and will have $2 for not eating out on Sunday and Monday.This will go to the challenge!
Prev. total $2564.00
today 6.00
new total $2570.00

caved in and ate out!!

February 21st, 2010 at 07:45 pm

Friday night, we went out to eat at our favorite restaurant. It was the first night we had eaten out all month. I am really realizing how much money we save by eating at home.
I think I just got tired of planning meals, cooking and the clean up. (Although dh does most of the clean up)
I am planning to eat a lot more meals at home and save going out to eat as a treat once in a while!!

Wal mart doesn't need your penny!

February 19th, 2010 at 08:37 pm

I just got back from Wal mart. I buy only the groceries there that are cheaper than at Ingles. My bill came to $25.01 and I gave the cashier $40 and a penny. He gave me the penny back and told me that Wal Mart did not need my penny.
What happened to balancing out your cash drawer? That is what we had to do when I worked as a cashier. At the savings and loan I worked at, we had to balance to the penny every day before we went home.
Before all this snow, we went to wal marts to buy a copy machine. I make a lot of copies for business purposes and I always have to use the copier at the library.
The library is not always open, so I decided to splurge and get a copier.

I found one on roll back for $59. However, when i got home, I found they had charged me the original price of $74.

I took the receipt back to customer service today. They argued with me a bit, but finally refunding me $16.05. So I am going to add that money to the challenge since it was a bit of a challenge to get the money back.
I had a no use gas day yesterday ($2), stock market went up ($1) and I did not eat out ($1), so a total of $20 to add to the challenge today.
Prev. total $2544.00
today 20.00
new total $2564.00

17 points!!

February 17th, 2010 at 09:49 pm

I actually have 17 points in this month's challenge. We have not eaten out one time this month. I did not plan on being quite this frugal. I was planning on going out to eat on valentine's day, but we got snowed in.
I have been pretty much stuck at home for this entire last week. So, I haven't spent any money or gotten any $5 in change! I already paid $7 to the challenge for the first 7 days of no eating out, so I will add $10 for the last 10 days.
Prev. total $$2534.00
today 10.00
new total $2544.00

My first valentine's day NOT eating out!

February 14th, 2010 at 10:50 pm

So far, on this month's challenge, I have not eaten out at all. Not even a bag of chips or a coke! However, I had planned to eat out on valentine's day because it is just something we always do. Well, then we got invited to a friend's house for dinner for tonight and we accepted.
But the snow came in on Friday afternoon and we have been snowed in ever since. Of course our invitation got cancelled, cause they live on the top of a mountain and more snow is expected soon.
This afternoon, we got a break and the snow stopped. All the roads have been salted, so we made a break and went out to Ingles to stock up.
Snow is expected both tomorrow and tuesday.
So Valentine's dinner is at home tonight.
Of course, I am saving money, but my dh is not working at all. He can't stand to sit idle, so he is painting all the trim on the stair railings.
I did save $6 at Ingles using my advantage card.
Prev. total $2528.00
today 6.00
new total $2534.00

Happy birthday Abe!!

February 12th, 2010 at 08:03 pm

Happy birthday today, Abe Lincoln! I got married on this date to my first husband!
Well, we are in the process of being snowed in, again. My dh has already come home from work as the snow is starting to stick to the ground. I had two no use gas days in a row, Wednesday and Thursday, so $4 to add to the challenge. I did run out this morning to get something for dinner. I have yet to eat out this month, a record for me!
Prev. total $2524.00
today 4.00
new total $2528.00

They lowered the rate already

February 11th, 2010 at 09:50 pm

I got a letter from my bank that failed, saying that they had lowered the rate on my certificate of deposit from 4% to 1% as of next week. That means I will lose about $18 a day in interest for the next year, or $6570. I never thought I would see the day when a certificate of deposit paid only 1%.
Hey, but I am grateful that I have that money saved up! Gotta look on the bright side, right!!

I am SO ready for spring!

February 10th, 2010 at 10:56 pm

I am tired of winter!! This has been the coldest one I have seen in 25 years. It is so cold today with the wind and the snow that I haven't even been out of the house except to take the dogs out to potty! Dh stayed home because of the snow, but he is doing handyman work at a neighbor's house.
I read the fine print on the notice I got that my bank had failed. I have a c.d. there paying 4% for almost another year and they can lower the rate as much as they want. Darn!!
Well, I have to $5 bills to add to the challenge.
Prev. total $2514.00
today 10.00
new total $2524.00

My bank failed!

February 9th, 2010 at 09:36 pm

I got two letters in the mail yesterday (two accounts) telling me that my bank had failed and had been taken over. No one lost any money.
I am glad they raised the limit on the fdic insurance because I was over the old amount. Both of my accounts are c.d.'s, so I will just write to them and tell them I wish to keep the c.d.'s there.
I made it thru one week of no eating out challenge with 7 points, so that is $7 I will add to the challenge money.
Previous total $2507.00
today 7.00
new total $2514.00

Yay! The interest rate went up!!

February 6th, 2010 at 09:36 pm

That is pretty unusual these days. About a year and a half ago, my bank offered a great deal on checking accounts with a $1000 minimum. They were paying 3.1% interest, so I opened 3 accounts. One was for business checking, one was for personal checking and the third was for a local savings account. Last July 1st, the lowered the rate and it has been going down ever since. They have been paying less than 1% now for a couple of months.
I logged in today and see that they have raised the rates.
My savings account checking, the one with the biggest balance, is now paying 1.74%; the others are paying a lower rate, but still higher than last month.
Heck that is almost as good as I can get on a 1 year c.d.!
I had a no use gas yesterday and the stock market went up slightly, so I am adding $3 to my challenge money.
Prev. total $2504.00
today 3.00
new total $2507.00

miserable weather!

February 5th, 2010 at 07:55 pm

It has been windy and rainy, all day yesterday and all day today! Weathermen are calling for snow and rain tomorrow. My dh is keeping busy fixing leaky new houses. He checked out two this morning.

I have a 5 dollar bill in my wallet and got a $3 check from pinecone today for a survey I took last week. That is $8 more to the challenge.
Prev. total $2496.00
today 8.00
new total $2504.00

A nice addition to the challenge.

February 4th, 2010 at 06:32 pm

My husband has been doing some odd job work for the past several months. We know an older couple in their 80's. He is an attorney and she is a judge, both retired.
They hired a builder and their son to build them 4 spec houses in this area. Unfortunately, the houses were poorly built and did not sell, even tho they had great views.
The couple hired my husband, a licensed builder, to fix up their house and sagging porches. After he fixed it, they asked him to repair whatever was wrong with another one of the new houses. (doors hung wrong, house leaked, floor was buckled, etc. etc. etc.)
He has been working on the house, off and on since November.
Yesterday, he came home with a check for all the hours he has put in since last November.
Since I have not counted this money in our budget at all, I am adding the entire check to my $20 challenge.

Prev. total $1071.00
today 1425.00
new total $2496.00

Store was a mess!

February 3rd, 2010 at 08:54 pm

I went to do my grocery shopping yesterday. Ingles has been building a new BIG addition to the local store here. Yesterday, they decided to open the new part and transfer many of the products from the old area.
It was a mess and I could not find anything. I couldn't even find the sprite. So finally, I got some meat for dinner (they haven't moved that yet) and just gave up and came home.
I didn't buy much, but using my advantage card, I did save $3. I have also decided to pay myself $1 for every point I earn in the "no eat out" February challenge.
Prev. total $1,068.00
today 3.00
new total $1,071.00

Happy 1st day of February!

February 1st, 2010 at 04:42 pm

I am playing bridge all day today so it will be a no spend day. I did stop at the bank this morning to cash the paycheck and received one five dollar bill which I shall add to the challenge money.
Prev. total $1063.00
today 5.00
new total $1068.00