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Archive for February, 2011

The heat did not run last night!!!!

February 28th, 2011 at 05:23 pm

Could this be a sign that spring is just around the corner? I hope so. The temperature was set on 64 but it was actually 66 in the house when I went to bed. The temp was still 66 when I got up this morning. I am ready for some warmer weather.

I had two no use gas days this weekend, so can add $4 to my $20 challenge.

Prev. total $3306.00
today 4.00
new total $3310.00

Melrose credit union

February 26th, 2011 at 08:59 pm

Well, in the last 3 months, I have cashed in all 5 of my c.d.'s. I can't find any place that is paying a decent interest rate, so I have decided to send part of that money to the Melrose credit union in New York state. They are offering a c.d. paying 2.9%. I have never invested in a c.d. for more than one year before, but I have a feeling that rates are not going to go up for a while.
I mailed a check off to them this morning and I will report back and let you know what happens.

I have 5 ones to add to the challenge.

Prev. total $3301.00
today 5.00
new total $3306.00

ps. the cd is for 5 years, so that is kind of scary!

I must like red cars.

February 25th, 2011 at 10:07 pm

If you asked me what my favorite color was, I could not tell you. It dawned on me today, that I have driven a red car since 1987. That was a red bronco. When I gave it away in 1997, Ibought a red sports rally camero. In 2004, I bought a red corvette. When it got "sick" last year, I traded it in on another red corvette. I guess red, is my color.
I had a not use gas day yesterday, ($2) and saved $2 using my Ingles advantage card today.

Prev. total $3297.00
today 4.00
new total $3301.00

$3.70 a gallon!

February 24th, 2011 at 05:19 pm

I just went to fill up my car. I paid $3.70 a gallon for premium today. It is hard to believe! Maybe this will encourage me to have more "no use gas days"
I also paid my electric bill. It was $50 under budget so I can add that to my challenge money. I had to stock and get car tags yesterday cause it is hubby's birthday today. It was $700 for the tags, ouch!!

Prev. total $3247.00
today 50.00
new total $3297.00

Don't tell my hubby, but..................

February 23rd, 2011 at 07:01 pm

I am paying off my car today. We have an agreement that he can never buy another car until the last car is paid off. So, I don't want him to know that I am paying it off.
The car is only 11 months old and has 3700 miles. We don't need a new car. His car is 3 years old and has 11,000 miles.
I had 3 c.d.'s coming due today at the bank, so I cashed them in. No one is paying anything in interest. I have a money market paying 9/10 of 1 per cent, so I put the money there.

I have decided to take my car payment money and add it to my $20 challenge each month. This month the corvette envelope has $815 in in, so I am adding that to the challenge money. I also got my regular check of $486 today, so that will be added too.

Prev. total $1946.00
today 1301.00
new total $3247.00

I've got a new man!!

February 22nd, 2011 at 08:00 pm

My husband is like a new man since he has this procedure in the hospital last Friday! He can eat anything he wants and he has no pain! I wish we had done this months ago!!
I saved $5 using my Ingles card today and I had a no use gas day yesterday ($2) so a total of $7.00 to the $20 challenge.

Prev. total $1939.00
today 7.00
new total $1946.00

My first hospital experience

February 20th, 2011 at 05:00 pm

This was my very first hospital experience. Believe it or not, at my age, I have never been in a hospital. (except for being born) Although, dh had been in a hospital once when he had his appendix out, but he was a teenager. So, this was his first experience in a hospital in a very long time.

The people are so caring and nice. Even the food was decent. The only complaint we had was that the nurses kept coming in to do tests and take blood all night. I came home to be with the dogs, but dh got no sleep that night.

The doctor told him yesterday that he had to take the day off and rest, so he did. (Me too) But he has gone back to work today.

I have 4 $1 bills to add to the challenge.

prev. total $1935.00
today 4.00
new total $1939.00

Back from the hospital

February 19th, 2011 at 10:24 pm

34 years ago yesterday, I met and had my first date with my husband. I did not expect to spend this anniversary day in the hospital all day.

It started with him walking up in pain yesterday morning. He has been having this problem for months and it is just getting worse and worse On tuesday, he had an MRCP and no gall stones could be found.
He was all set to have a EGD procedure on March 18th, but that is a month away.

So, I took him to the emergency room first thing. They gave him some medication, a shot, pill, etc. to ease the pain. Of course, all other kind of tests too.Finally after 3 hours, the doctor wanted to send him home, but I said, no, the pain will just come back when he gets home. He still was not feeling very much better.

She called his family doctor and then they admitted him to the hospital. The specialist that he had been seeing for this problem called at 2 pm and said they would proform an ERCP at about 4:30 yesterday. (this procedure is where they put a tube down your throat to look at everything!)

They found the gallstone! Even tho the MRI did not show anything! He is home today and feeling so much better!! I don't know how much money we spent yesterday (no insurance) but it was worth it.!!

Now he can eat again!

Adding interest!

February 16th, 2011 at 07:04 pm

As I have mentioned several times, I made 3 loans to a couple last year and they have been excellent about making timely payments as I knew they would.
I have been happily adding the interest earned to my $20 challenge each month.
Sadly, last week they paid me off, but I still have one weeks interest to add to the challenge.
I opened my an electric orange checking account at ING with the money and will continue to add that interest.
I also redeemed a c.d. that matured and opened a money market checking account at my local bank. I will also add that interest to my challenge amount.So, for the month I have earned (and been paid) $160 in interest.

Prev. total $1775.00
today 160.00
new total $1935.00

A trip to outpatient!

February 15th, 2011 at 06:58 pm

We had an appt. at the hospital for an MRI this morning. Dh has been having terrible pains in his chest following his gallbladder surgery.He had been having them every few days, but since Friday, they have happened after every meal. And the pain lasts for hours. So, on Saturday, he quit eating. He has had no food since then and has lost 13 pounds.
Poor thing. When we got home today, he ate for the first time and went on to work. I hope he can soon get some relief.

The MRI was $1500. They said if we paid up front we would save 15% or $225. We have no insurance, so we paid $1275 today.

Yesterday, I had a no use gas day, so I have $2 to add to my $20 challenge.

Prev. total $1773.00
today 2.00
new total $1775.00

Adding some one's!!

February 13th, 2011 at 04:48 pm

I spent quite a bit of time on the ING website yesterday. I was trying to open an electic orange checking account which is now paying 1.25% That is higher than I can get for any local c.d. around here.I had a hard time getting my husband added to the acount and even had to call customer service.
They wanted my husband to call them, but heck, he has never used a computer in his life.
Finally, I got something to work. The money is supposed to be transferred out of my local business checking tomorrow, Feb.14th. I hope it works.

I have 3 c.d.'s coming due in 10 days. I am thinking about putting them in the Melrose credit union. Has anyone had any dealings with them?

I have $8 in one dollar bills to add to my challenge.

Prev. total $1765,00
today 8.00
new total $1773.00

Loan paid off!

February 12th, 2011 at 09:22 pm

Last year I made 3 loans to some friends of ours. I was tickled to make 4% on the loans and they were happy not to have to pay closing costs at the bank.
The last loan was the biggest, they were buying a park model home and land, that they called "the cabin"

I only received 2 payments on the cabin and they called last night asking me to figure out the payoff for all 3 loans. (his mother is not expected to live, so he cashed in her c.d.'s) (only child)

Now I am back to wondering what to do with the money to earn some interest. I talked to ING today and they offered me 1.25% in their electric orange checking account. I guess I will try even tho I am a little leery of online banking and not good with a computer at all.

I saved $3 buying steak on sale, so it goes to my challenge money.

Prev. total $1762.00
today 3.00
new total $1765.00

Can you spare the change??

February 11th, 2011 at 08:45 pm

I keep about $10,000 in my personal checking account. I accumulate that money to pay property taxes, car insurances (5), tags (5)income tax and medical expenses.
Today, I earned 74 cents in interest for the month. I hope the bank can spare the change!! I keep all of my cash at this one bank ( near the fdic insured maximum), so I am a very good customer.

I filled my car up today with premium and spent $48. That was for 14 gallons. I am glad I don't drive very much.

I have 6 one dollar bills to add to the $20 challenge.

Prev. total $1756.00
today 6.00
new total $1762.00

snow won't stop us!

February 10th, 2011 at 01:58 pm

WE got snow again last night. We have a doctor's appointment about 40 minutes away in Blue Ridge, but we are going to try and make it. My dh had another gallstone attack again last night. They are coming every few days so we want something done asap. Of course, this is just a consultation, not the procedure itself. I hope he does not have to wait too long for the procedure.

Cleaning out the notebook!!

February 9th, 2011 at 07:34 pm

In spetember of 2006, I opened up a new money market account at my local bank. They were listed for several months in Money magazine as having one of the highest money market rates in the country.

The rate was 5.25% and I treated this account as if it was my savings account. I rarely wrote a check out of it.

We sold our last spec house in January of 2007 and I put the whole check into this account. One month later, the account paid us $1,793.00 in interest for just one month.
Since I never needed to balance this account, I kept the monthly statements in a note book. Things were great for a while. Then the interest rate dropped to 3.1% but still the interest was adding up.

(It has always been my dream to some day retire and live on the interest since we (dh and I) will never receive a pension from anyone.)

Yesterday, I cleaned out the notebook. We are now receiving an interest rate of 1/10 of 1%. My last interest payment was only $2.50. A big difference in that and almost $1800.oo!!!

So, now I will start putting my new money market statements in the notebook. It is only paying 9/10 of 1 percent, but still better than 1/10! I have 3 c.d.'s coming due in 2 weeks, but the c.d. rate is only 9/10 of 1%, so I might as well put that money in the new money market. As least I can get to it easily if c.d. rates ever go up. Oh yes, I will also add some to my ING account since it is paying 1.1% now and has been for a while.

I have an amortization book that I bought over 30 years ago. The lowest rate in that book is 3%. No one ever dreamed that rates would ever go this low. When I worked for Surety savings and loan, we were paying 6% on savings, 8% on c.d.'s and charging 9% on mortgages.

I miss the good old days!

Doctor's appt. for dh!

February 8th, 2011 at 09:03 pm

My husband had his gall bladder removed in august. He felt good the first few months. Then the gallstone systems returned. He is having the terrible chest pain again and then throwing up. I finally got him an appointment to go and see a doctor that specializes in the problem. He is going to have to have an ERCP. That stands for endoscopic retrograde cholangiopanraphy. (a tube down the throat)
We are not looking forward to it, but the pain is awful and it happens every few days.

I dropped my insurance coverage on him. We had paid for many many years with no claim. It has a $10,000 deductible per year, so it paid almost nothing for his gall bladder surgery. We are just lucky to have the cash to pay for this procedure.

I saved $10 today while stocking up on diet sprite and had a no use gas ($2) day yesterday.

Prev. total $1744.00
new total 12.00
new total $1756.00

The creek is full!

February 5th, 2011 at 08:15 pm

We had snow Thursday night that turned into rain and it rained all day yesterday. So, today the creek is very full. I love living on a creek.
When I lived in Florida, I had never even seen a creek. I saw one for the first time when I went to Gatlinburg, Tn.
When we decided to move to the mountains, I wanted to be on "water" We first built a house on the Toccoa river near Blue Ridge. I loved that river. It was fun to watch people tube and canoe by the house. There were no restrictions back then, so we were almost on top of the river.
Now, I live on a very nice big creek and I enjoy the noisy water flowing by. It is especially noisy when it is so full, like it is now. My husband built a deck over the creek and I am looking forward to spring time and listening to the creek.

I got a pinecone check for $3 and am adding $4 in ones to my challenge.

Prev. total $1737.00
today 7.00
new total $1744.00

A few dollars more!

February 3rd, 2011 at 09:36 pm

Every day I try to add a little something to my $20 challenge fund. Today the stock market went up and I have a few extra $1 bills. Every little bit helps.
Prev. total $1733.00
today 4.00
new total $1737.00

Loan payment checks in the mail.

February 2nd, 2011 at 09:34 pm

I made 3 personal loans to friends last year and I receive the payments between the 2nd and the 5th of every month. I am saving every check and of course, adding the interest that I earn to my $20 challenge. It is the only place that I can earn 4% on my money.
I have 3 c.d.'s coming due this month and the highest I can find around here is a measly 9/10th of 1%. I sure hope things change soon!

Prev. total $1254.00
today 479.00
new total $1733.00

Good start to February

February 1st, 2011 at 08:54 pm

I got a check for $50 From my chase rewards card today. Plus, the stock market went up yesterday ($1). I did my net worth today and even tho my husband has had no paycheck for over 3 months, our net worth went up. (Stock market)

$20 challenge

Prev. total $1203.00
today 51.00
new total $1254.00