Ima Saver's Personal Finance Blog

I just got back from town. I needed some make up. I don't like spending money on it, I think it is a rip off to pay so much money, like $8 for some eye liner. But I was almost out of everything.
I also wanted some purple eyeshadow. I bought some wet and wild products cause they are so much cheaper. The eyeshadow says, sealed for my protection. I have worked on getting the darn thing open for an hour and still haven't. The U.S. army couldn't get that darn thing open.
So I bougght 2 bags of candy, eyeliner, eye shadow, foundation, glittery lip stick and infusion hair conditioner. I spent $20, but we had a good pay check this week, so I feel better about that. DH worked all weekend.
I wonder how he will like my glittery lipstick??
I had a $2.50 coupon from cvs and for some reason they took $1.50 off cause I bought 3 wet and wild products. So I will add $4 to my challenge money. Now if I could just find someone to smootch with my glittery lips!!
prev. total $4445.00
today 4.00
new total $4449.00

ps, I have done 18 flights of stairs so far today, Ray!!

Thrifty Ray and I have decided to get more exercise by climbing our stair cases 20 times a day if possible. There are 16 stairs up and 16 down for a total of 32 stairs per trip. That is a total of 640 stairs a day! If I make it, I am going to add $1 a day to my challenge money! (Plus maybe lose a pound or two) Join us if you want!!

I finally sat down and read some of my comments and notice that thrifty ray had challenge me in stair climbing. She mentioned 25 times a day! I don't know if I could do it, but I can try.
What I have started doing is using poker chips upstairs. Every time I go back down the stairs, I take a chip and put it on the newel downstairs.
The first day I made 17 trips, which is
544 steps. Yesterday, I did 13 trips which is 416 steps.
Ok, Ray, let's have a go! (Do you need to lose weight? I do!)
I won't feel bad if you win a lot, I think I am probably older than you.

Just got home from the grocery store. They have several items that I use on sale, so I stocked up.
I had a coupon for $5 off if I spent $50 so I made sure that I did. I did not buy anything I did not need, but I just stocked up on some of the sale items, like my favorite crackers are usually $3 a bag and today they were $2 a bag.
With my coupon and advantage card, I saved $10.97 today, so I am adding $11 to my challenge money.
prev. total $4434.00
today 11.00
new total $4445.00

ps, i bought several bags of chocolate covered pretzels which I surely don't need but taste soooooooo good!!

Well, I stayed home today and used no gas. So at least i saved a dollar in gas which I will add to my challenge money. Gas has gone up here to almost $2.70 a gallon for premium. I don't use that much, but my husband makes so many trips to town and back (for business) that he uses a lot of gas.
I got my electric bill and it went up this month. We have the ice machine hooked up in the garage now and it runs full time. I wonder if that made the differenct?
Previous total $$4433.00
today 1.00
new total $4434.00

I just had lunch with my dh. He is working in the neighborhood today. The neighbor wanted all of the tile chipped out of his counter tops, new tile and sink put back in.
His lunch consisted of a frozen chicken patty and a can of potatoes, that I got a great bargain on, 4 cans for $1. Now we have to eat them.
Speaking of eating, the birds have really been here the past several days. I fill the feeders (4) up in the morning and they are empty by three pm. Well, that is one thing I can't be frugal about, have to feed the birds.
I use to buy the sunflower seeds at the grocery store, but it is much cheaper to now buy them by 50 pound bag at the feed store.

Well, I tried to put in some smilies, dancing, but they didn't show up. Since I am Irish, I am doing a little jig today.

Well I went to the store and looked at all the people not wearing green. There were a lot of them, but no one that I knew. I figured that I had better not pinch a stranger.
Of course, once I pinched them, they would not be a stranger.
I had to mail some bills to a customer, but I use the same envelope I mailed to her last time (she gave it back) so that saved about 30 cents. I went to the dollar store and got a birthday card for my grandson and it was only 50 cents. He doesn't care about the card, just the check inside.
Happy St. Paddy's Day to you!!

I wish I could say I have gotten better at staying home at night and having dinner since I joined this forum.
I haven't. I just don't like staying home and watching tv.
When my husband was younger, he use to work til about 9 pm and we would eat supper after that.
Now he gets home at 6, and I just can't stand to sit down and watch tv.
So, we eat out every night. I have learned a lot since I joined this forum, but I have not yet broken this habit.
Plus, my husband enjoys it too.

I made a trip to the store for a few items. With my advantage card and a few coupons I saved over $5 and spent less than $3. Took my Holly in the car with me, she loves going in the car.
Prev. total $4428.00
Today 5.00
New total $4433.00

I thought I would keep track of how many times I go up and down the stairs each day. We have 16 stairs, so that is 32 stairs each time.
I have never used one of those stair stepping things. How many stairs do you usually do on one of those machines?
Just thought I could count it as exercise.

My husband is out washing the car before we go out to dinner tonight. I guess the repair on the vette is to his satisfaction cause he did not wash it until after it was repaired. He is very unhappy with the basement we just paid $20,000 to have poured. It is off by several inches and he is having to build wood walls to correct the problem. At least he is passsing all inspections since they just started them a few months ago.
Have a wonderful evening!

Went to two grocery stores, looking for things on sale. Managed to pick up toilet paper for 68 cents (the good kind) Bought 4 cans of potatoes for $1 usually, 99 cents each, bought some cookies on sale and am trying a genetic brand of mouthwash (which I will not give up) for $1. All in all I saved $6 which I will add to my challenge.
Prev. total $4422.00
Today 6.00
New total $4428.00

They are putting alcohol by the drink on the ballot this summer in our little county. I don't know If I am for this or not. I like brown bagging, it is so much cheaper. alcohol, beer and wine are not sold in this county and that won't change. this is just an effort to get some of the larger chain restaurants to come to the area.
I kind of like it small, can't decide how to vote, but I am sure it will pass with or without my vote. Oh well!
Stayed home yesterday and spent no money til we went out to dinner.
My husband takes his lunch every day. Yesterday, one of his framers was complaining that he had just got back from lunch. a burger, tater tots and a drink for $9! Glad my husband likes leftovers.

I wanted to go to town today, but I didn't. It is pretty and sunny out, but oh so windy! I just stayed home and walked on my treadmill.
So it is a no spend day, which is a good thing. Since I am saving money in gas today, I can add that total to my challenge money. I have my challenge deposit all ready to go into my savings account tomorrow. Adding that dollar to my challenge money brings me to $4422.00 for the year.

WE ate out at our favorite place last night and the owner showed us the new menu of the new restaurant she is opening about 2 stores down. It is going to be a tex mex restaurant, but there were plenty of items on the menu that I could eat. (I am a funny eater) Looking forward to having a new place to go that will allow brown bagging.
Monday is always a spend spend day. I cash the paycheck, fill my car up and go to the liquor store. Hope to get back on track today, but I do need to buy some hair conditioner!
Hopefully there is a crew working on my husband's new spec house. We have been waiting on them for months.

Decided to take my coin jar to the bank, so I can add that to my challenge money. It had $81 and some change in it, so i added the change back and am putting the $81 in my total.
We had framers on our new spec house. we pulled the permit 5 months ago, today and this is the first time wood was being put on the house. Things take time here in the mountains.
Of course, it rained at noon, so they all went home. Maybe tomorrow.
Prev total $4340.00
today 81.00
New total $4421.00

We got no sleep last night. The neighbors from hell came home. He moved in with grandma across the street 10 years ago and has been nothing but trouble. He was 15 then, he is almost 26 now. Never had a job, just slept all day and stayed up all night.
Kept all the big flood lights shining in our bedroom window all night, even tho we called a hundred times and asked them to turn them off.
His dog wrecked havoc with our yard, tore up bushes, scratched at the doors and windows and attacked me and my puppy whenever we went outside.
Three weeks ago, he moved out. But yesterday he came back with a moving van. They have been coming and going all night, doing what I don't know, but I finally moved to the couch at 5 am.
Hopefully, he will be gone for good, the house is going up for sale and maybe we will get nice neighbors this time!

Beautiful day here today, up to 77 degrees, unusal in the mountains. This is the warmest my house has been since October. The heat has not run in 2 days. We went to get something for dinner and spent about $8 at the grocery store. We will cook pork chops out on the grill tonight, plus I am cooking cube steak in the crock pot for my dh lunch this week.
Looking forward to having a mixed drink and sitting outside tonight!!

Can you imagine someone my age crusing the town. That is what we did last night after dinner. Cruised in our 1933 ford victoria, called Miss Vicky, She is bright red and real pretty. Too bad she takes high test gas!

I got my first free samples. I am actually excited. I got enough d/w stuff to do 3 loads of dishes and a sample deodrant that will probably last me a few months. Smells good too. I am only sending for things I know I will use.

i recieved 2 $5 off coupons from my grocery store, Ingles. But I had to spend $50. So I added up my purchases as I shopped. I use to have to do that when I was young, only had so much money.
So with my advantage card savings, that came to almost $8. (I round up) I will add that to my challenge money.
prev. total $4332.00
today 8.00
new total $4340.00

Under general discussions, a thread titled Great free gift, told how to own a piece of land in every state. It is only 1 sq. inch, but hey, it is free!! Cute idea.

My Holly (5 lb. toy poodle) chased her first squirrel today. I caught her before she fell into the creek. The day was so pretty I just stayed home and took a walk, so a no spend day so far. I can add a $1 in gas money to my challenge money.
Prev. total $4331.00
today 1.00
new total $4332.00

Thanks to this site, I just acquired land in Hawaii, Alaska and California. The kind of land I like, no taxes, free land!

Good news, I just got my car back a day early. My husband has not seen it yet!!As sorry as I am about the accident happening, I am so glad that I did not have to pay for it.
I got 2 $5 off cards in the mail today for my grocery store. Of course, I need to spend $50 to get it, but that is not hard to do if I buy meat.
Well it is time to go out tonight for dinner and celebrate!!

Well the old vette got me to town and back safely. The clock didn't work and neither did the speedometer, but the 8 track player worked fine.(Anyone need to explain what an 8 track it)
I got to the bank and picked up a few things we needed at the grocery store. Since I did not go to town yesterday, I will add $1 of gas money plus I saved $2 at Ingles with my grocery card for a total of $3.
Prev. total $4328.00
today 3.00
new total $4331.00

This has really been a fix me up car week. First we took the new vette in on Tuesday morning to have the bumper repaired and they still have it.
Yesterday my husband sat there for over 2 hours while they aligned his van. Today I had to take him up to a different places to get his tires rotated and the oil changed. It was $80 yesterday, I don't know what today's charges will be.
In the meantime, i have stayed home rather than drive our 28 year old vette. It has no automatic door locks, the radio baretly works, no automatic seats so I can see over the steering wheel and worst of all, No cup holder!! How did people get by without cup holders?

Well my husband took his van into the shop today. An alignment and something else, I know he spent $80, Now he has to take it somewhere else tomorrow to have the tires rotated. He is self employed, so he is loosing pay.
My car has been at the shop for 2 days and we hope to get it back on Friday. It won't cost anything cause the man that hit us is going to pay the shop directly. However my husband is already talking about getting a new car, cause he says the paint won't match and the car will never look the same. I hope he is wrong, that will cost us a bundle.
He has not washed the car since it got hit. I know he can not stand to look at it.
He has washed his cars every day or two since the first day we met.
I have not been to town in two days. I am afraid I will get to town and the car won't start for me, so I have just stayed home. Oh well, I save money that way.

I have to agree with Money talks$, buying lunch out can really add up. My husband use to have a crew to help him build, and everyone of them had to take an hour or more off for lunch every day. Not only did they lose that hour's pay, but they spent a minimum of $5 for a lunch.
My husband makes his lunch every morning. Very often it is left overs. If we find a roast or chicken on sale, we make enough for several lunches.
I wonder how much money we have saved over the past 20 plus years by taking our lunches? Even when I worked in a restaurant, I took a sandwich to work every day.