Ima Saver's Personal Finance Blog

WE are packing tonight, heading out to gatlinburg in the morning. I hope this cool weather is in Gatlinburg too. It has been a perfect day today , no air running the entire day. If I had screens, I could really cool the house down, but alas, they are packed up in the attic.
We are also saving by not going out for a big meal tonight, just burgers at Wendy's! We have a $20 off coupon that we must use it or lose it by tonight, so we will head to Home Depot and buy something for the spec house.

I took my first pinecone survey today. thank you so much to the person on here, who gaves me the information to sign up. Thanks a bunch. I am looking forward to my first check!! I hope. I do the click thru ones also, but at 3 cents a clip, it takes forever to get my total up to $30, that is when you get paid.

Went to bi lo yesterday and picked up a few items on sale. I saved almost $2, so i will add that to my challenge money.
Prev. total $13,766.00
today 2.00
new total $13,768.00

I read somewhere that the only credit score that counts is equifax? Is that true? If so, why do we have 3 agencies reporting?

My hsband has just about finished a house (she needs shower doors) and the lady is moving in and going to spend the night, tonight.
So, she wanted the a/c heat installer to come by and hook her up, so she can run the heat tonight.
I am sitting here in shorts and 80 degrees wondering why she is going to run the heat tonight?? (She is in her 80's)

My water bill was so late last month, it came the day it was due. so I had paid it (drop it off in a box at the bank)before the due date and I paid $20, because I was not sure of the amount. I wound up with a $3 credit. I have budgeted $20 for the bill, so I now have $6 left over to add to my challenge money.
prev. total $13,760.00
today 6.00
new total $13,766.00

I am going to gatlinburg, tenn. this week. we go every year, to the car show in Pigeon Forge, but we like to stay in gatlinburg so we can walk to everything.
We usually spend at least $500. It is about $200 for the motel room and the rest is food and gas.
The place we like to eat is expensive. By the time we have filet mignon, a bottle of wine and leave a 20% tip, we blow close to $100 just for dinner.
The place we LOVE for breakfast is the pancake pantry. It is so good, but so expensive. Breakfast, which is usually cheap, runs close to $20 with a tip. I just get a plain waffle and water and that is $7.
Food is just expensive in a tourist town. I am going to try and cut down on my expenses this week, but having at least one cheaper dinner, I hope.
I really hate to blow the money but this is one trip my husband looks forward to all year long.
If you have read my blogs, you know my husband works 7 days a week, so this is a real treat to him.

I am back from the bank, with $20's in hand. Got all my envelopes and did my budget for the week.
We stayed home for dinner last night and saved that money, so i will take the $20 that we saved and add it to my challenge money.
prev. total $13,740.00
today 20.00
new total $13,760.00

My husband usually works 7 days a week, starting on Monday and ending on Sunday. So, Monday is my usual payday. Of course the banks were not open yesterday, so today is pay day. I AM REALLY BROKE TOO. This seems funny cause I have quite a bit of money sitting in envelopes that I could borrow, but i don't. I have been doing things this way for so long, I never worry about cheating!

The restaurants are all closed around here, so we are eating home tonight. dh came home from work at 5 and is cutting grass, so i am going to actually cook. I guess that will be some money to add to our challenge account.
I am feeling pretty broke today. Usually payday is on Monday and I had to go into my misc. envelope to buy some prilosec. I will pay it back tomorrow.

I was going to have a no spend day until I realized my husband had run out of prilosec which he takes daily. Had to run to the store and get some. I did get in my walking and my stairs yesterday, so that is $2 more to add to the challenge.
prev. total $13,738.00
today 2.00
new total $13,740.00

I bet my husband is the only one celebrating the day the correct way, he is laboring!!

It is cool and rainy this morning. I hope that means it will say a low electrical power day like yesterday. It is nice on savings, but makes it hard to get the grass cut.
Hope this does not spoil anyone's picnic!

I have been reading my meter every day at noon and recording the amount of kilowatts of electricity I have been using. for the first time since June, the kilowatt reading was under 30! It was 29. It really helps when it is cool like this. I still expect a large bill this month, but I feel sure it will be under my budget and next month's bill will be even lower. I love that, cause I add the difference to my $20 challenge.

I ran to Ingles to get something for dinner home tonight. It is so quiet in the store on sunday mornings. I found kleenex on sale and had a coupon for dog food. I also found 15 cents! I saved $4 at the store, plus I walked for 30 minutes yesterday, so i have $5 to add to the challenge money.

Prev. total $13,733.00
today 5.00
new total $13,738.00

It was so busy at the grocery store that you would think they were passing out free food.
I went to stock up on sprite which was on sale this week, 4/$10. You can only buy 4 cartons at a time, but it is a good deal. I got some sugar free candy from the drug store on sale too. All in all, I saved about $8 which I will add to my challenge.
prev. total $13,725.00
today 8.00
new total $13,733.00

We went out to eat last night. One of my husband's favorite meals is prime rib. They have new menus and I noticed the prices have gone up. Prime rib went from $15 to $17, pretty expensive in our area. Good thing my meal is usually only $7. I noticed the prices have gone up, but waitresses still make only $2 something an hour. I think that is awful. I started waitressing in 1985 and i was earning $2.01. Now, 20 years later, they make about 12 cents more an hour. That is terrible!!

There is going to be a car show down at our old courthouse, on the town square.We are going, driving our 1933 ford victoria. I also have a 778 vette, but i am leaving it at home, cause I don't like to drive at night.
The car show is free and should be fun tonight! Afterwards, we will go out to eat. Just wish this rain would quit, so the show will have lots of cars!

The end of the month, I do a sheet on our net worth. Not really total net worth, but I keep a list of mutual funds, IRA's and stocks and I update the totals once a month.
I don't add in the cash in savings and money markets, because mine goes DOWN every month. I know that is NOT what it is supposed to do, but the only time my savings goes up is when we have a closing on the house we have been building. The rest of the time, I am taking money out to pay the construction bills.
I am happy to report that my mutual funds, ira's and stocks increased about $7000 last month.
Does anyone else keep monthly checks on their stocks, bonds, mutual funds, etc?

My husband was reccommended to a guy that is looking for a builder. Lake lots go for a half mil and up around here, so we knew it would be a nice house.
My dh just went and picked up the plans. He doesn't know the amount of square feet yet, but says that the house plan looks like a resort. He said it will take years to build that house!
I would love for him to take it, but he has no crew and the locals just won't work more than 20 hours a week.
It would be really good money I am sure, but he is just one guy!!!

Well, it is the first day of september. It is still warm, but hopefully, the electric bill will start to go down. I budget $160 a month for it and so far, I have been under budget every month. This month, i was only $5 under budget, but at least I was under!

I really stocked up when coke products were on sale before 4th of July. We still have plenty of diet sprite to last us. No having to spend $8 a week for 2 -12 packs has been great.
Well, they are back on sale again, 4-12 pack for $10, a savings of $6.00 I guess it is because this weekend is a holiday. so I will stock up again, keeping my old stash seperate from my new stash.
I got some really good savings today using my advantage card and buying almost everything on sale. I saved $13 to add to my challenge money!

Prev. total $13,712.00
today 13.00
new total $13,725.00

I got a catalog in the mail yesterday, from Hammacher Schlemmer. On the cover is 120mph electric car. You can drive it 40-80 miles on one charge. (Is it 40 or is it 80, big difference??)
It is pretty ugly and only 39 inches wide, the passenger sits behind you.
Are you ready to order this? Think of all the gas you can save!!
The price tag?? $108,000!! Seriously!!

At $20-30 a week for my gas consumption, it is going to take me a while to justify the cost of this car. Think I will keep the vette!

I got a lot of bills in the mail today, all business related. One was for over $1800. I had already paid that one.
The next was was for the concrete finisher. He charged me $928 for concrete. My dh had already paid the concrete bill which was for $815. I guess the extra $113 was his handling fee. You really have to watch other people and their bookkeeping!
Well I stayed home yesterday and used no gas, walked 30 minutes, did 20 flights of stairs and saved $2 using coupons today. More money for the challenge.
prev. total $13,707.00
today 5.00
new total $13,712.00

Well, we stayed home for dinner last night. The nice thing was, it was left overs from Sunday night, so all I had to fix was some rice a roni
prev. total $13,687.00
today 20.00
new total $13,707.00

I saved about $20 not going out to eat, so that is added to my challenge money!

I have a little bit to add to my challenge money. They had large bags of charcoal on sale yesterday, so I bought one. We use a half bag of charcoal every time we cook out. That cost is about $2.25 per cook out. You really could run the oven a lot cheaper than that, but food tastes better over the grill.
I get tired to buying a bag for $4.50 every week, so I got a really big bag for a few dollars more. I figured I saved about $2 there and $1 for walking 30 minutes.
Prev. total $13,684.00
today 3.00
new total $13,687.00

Sunday night, we had drinks and watched the sunset at the house we are building. We also watched a bear in the back yard eating berries from a bush. The next morning my husband went to work at the same job, He was laying rock when 2 big bucks just walked up to him. Country living is nice!

This was my 2nd trip to wal mart all this year. Whenever i go, I always find stuff I need and blow money!
I really needed some office supplies and we do not have an office supply place in this town. I needed columnar paper, for a while I thought they had quit making it. I also needed invoice books and my husband need the car washing stuff he loves.
Of course, they had charcoal on sale, deodrant and hair conditioner are always cheaper.
I wanted some pyrex dishes with lids for dh lunch. I really needed some comfy slippers as my moccasins are totally worn out. A few little groceries and I walked out of the store $54.04 poorer. I am going to take the slippers back (not comfy at home) and one of the pyrex dishes is probably too big, so I will get that total under $40.
Good thing I don't shop much. Everyone wants wal mart to come to our town, I don't know, I think I would be there eveyday!!

Last night I had a dream that I was getting some money back from an airline ticket agent. (strange since i don't fly) Bad thing is, I woke up before i got the money.
Ok, well, I saved a little today. I need some ham for sandwiches and it was on sale, so I saved a dollar. Then I went to Bi lo and bought the kind of hot dogs we like, it was buy one, get one free, so I saved $4 there. (We only like the expensive ones) I walked 30 minutes yesterday, so that was a total of $6 to add to my challenge money.
prev. total $13,678.00
today 6.00
new total $13,684.00

I got all the bills paid today. I only had $5 left over in my electricy envelope this month, but at least I stayed under budget.
I also saved $3 using coupons at the grocery store today, so that is $8 more going into my challenge money.
prev. total $13,670.00
today 8.00
new total $13,678.00