Ima Saver's Personal Finance Blog

I am thinking of monkey mama and her dh today. Her husband is scheduled for brain surgery tomorrow and I know she must be worried to death. I believe she said that if all goes well, he can come home on sunday.
Let's all keep monkey mama and her husband in our thoughts and prayers for the next few days. Thanks everyone!

I stopped at the dollar store to get batteries and deodrant cause they are cheaper there than elsewhere. I was looking around the store and I picked up a new rawhide bone for my puppy, Molly, she has worn her out one out! It was only $1, much cheaper than the last one I bought.
I gave it to her when I got home and she has not quite chewing on it yet. (2 straight hours so far)
I also stopped at Bi Lo and bought New York strip steaks on sale. I saved $10 on the steak, which I will add to my challenge account.

Prev. total $412.00
today 10.00
new total $422.00

I had a nice bridge day yesterday. I actually had a few good hands. I did my grocery shopping a few days ago and saved $8 using 2 coupons and my Ingles card. I also had a no use gas day on sunday, so I have a total of $10 to add to my $20 challenge.
Prev. total $402.00
today 10.00
new total $412.00

We have a resort about 15 miles away from the house. It is a golfing resort and has a fancy restaurant.
I know that I have mentioned that my husband and I eat out a lot, but our dinner bill is usually under $20 for both of us. (Italian food) We are allowed to brown bag it, so no cost to us for drinks.

Last night we met the man we are building a house for at this resort. He suggested we get steaks for dinner. The cheapest steak dinner was $32.95. I have never paid that much for a meal in my life!
Instead I got a chicken/pasta dinner that was quite good and cost $22.95. The customer ordered a surf and turf meal that was $42.95; dh got a chicken dinner that was the same cost as mine.
I tried to pay the bill, but the customer insisted that he pay. He had eaten there the night before, so he knew the prices.
I think next time I will suggest we eat at our local place in town.
However, i am having some great leftovers for lunch today! Yum!!

I made it for 2 straight weeks without going out to eat. Now, if you didn't know it, I have been eating out 5 days a week for several years.The owner of the restaurant that I go to, calls me a stock holder!!
I have been trying to do better this past year! Last night, was the first night I have gone out to dinner in 2010!

Plus, I had a gift certificate, so I saved $20 on my meal. I am adding that and another dollar (cause the stock market went up yesterday) to my challenge money.
Prev. total $381.00
today 21.00
new total $402.00

I have listened to the news about Haiti all day today. I had the good fortune to visit Haiti 4 times while on cruises. It was so much fun to ride horses to the top of a mountain to see an old "fort". You didn't exactly ride the horse. One guy pulled the horse and the other one pushed the horse. It was straight up!!
We did that on our honeymoon. My dh's two "guides" had memorable names. One was John and was one Kennedy!
The country was beautiful, but so poor even back then, over 30 years ago. People lived in grass huts and had nothing. There was very little work to be had and cruise ships really helped the economy, Then sadly, cruise ships quit going to Haiti.
My heart goes out to all the people of Haiti.

My father was in the service for over 30 years. On his early 50's, he retired to Florida. In just a little over a year, he had a heart attack and died. It was a week before my 10th birthday.

My mother had never worked in her life. Women didn't work in the 1920's and 30's. She had let my father handle the finances and did not know that his military pension would stop when he died.

She had to find a job and she went to work at a small ladies dress shop chain, called, "Virginia Dare"

When I was 12, she got me a work permit and I starting working there on weekends, afternoons, holidays and summer vacations.

I was hired to be the "stock girl" but the manager soon learned how good I was with math and I loved to run the register. (You had to know how to count back change back then)

So, she had me doing the books every afternoon at closing. I would take all the sales tickets to the back room and balance the books. The adding machine that I used was NOT electric. It had to be hand cranked! I balanced the books and made up all the deposits.

I got paid a grand sum of $3 per day ( 8am to5:30 pm). I used this money to buy my clothes, school supplies, movies, etc., but I always managed to save a bit. My mother just could not afford to do anything but feed me and give me a home to live it.

I am very glad that I got this experience at a very early age and I never felt sorry for myself that I had to work. I think it took a lot of burden off my mother not having to buy things for me. She taught me one thing. Only buy something IF all your bills are paid first and you really need it. I never saw my mother buy herself anything in all those years!

I found a extra $100 in my car payment envelope, so I am adding that to the challenge.
Prev. total $281.00
today 100.00
new total $381.00

Today is my blog anniversary. I started this blog on Jan. 13th, 2006. Four years of being on Saving Advice! And I have enjoyed every minute of it! Plus, I have saved money too!!

We are finally able to get out of the drive way and go to town. We have been snowed in since Thursday afternoon. My dh made it to work this morning, although he says the last road is very icey. I hope he can make it home ok tonight.
I rode into town a little while ago to pick up a few groceries. According to my receipt, I saved $3 which I will add to the challenge money.
I am ready for spring!!
Prev. total $278.00
today 3.00
new total $281.00

We have been stuck at home since early thursday afternoon. We have snow, but not that much. Georgia is not really equipped to handle snow.However, it has not gotten above 30 degrees, so nothing is melting.
We have stayed home and spent no money. However, since my dh can't get to work, he is not making any money either.
As a matter of fact, he is driving me crazy cause he has nothing to do. I don't see how he could ever retire.
I have been studying up on mutual funds and decided to order up some new prospectus and applications.
The stock market went up yesterday and I have had two no use gas days in a row, so I can add $5 to my $20 challenge.
Prev. total $273.00
today 5.00
new total $278.00

Today is elvis' birthday! They are playing his movies on tv all day long. I loved his singing, but did NOT like his movies very much.
Well, I know today will be a NSD cause we are snowed in. My dh has nothing to do and is driving me crazt. He did decided that we should add a family room onto the house this spring, so he drew up the house plans. That will mean adding 900 sq. ft. onto our 3200 sq. foot house! Our house is big enough!!(plus we have an eff. room and bath in our other 2 car garage.)

I noticed today that gasoline (premium which I have to use) is up to almost $3 a gallon. A friend of mine had propane delivered today and it was $2 a gallon. I paid $1.39 a gallon back in September.
I got the doctor bill for my colonoscopy and it was $1900. The last time I had a colonoscopy, the other doctor charged me $400. Prices just keep rising.
It is snowing now, so I have been going thru paperwork and throwing lots of old things away.
I do my budget weekly and put cash in my envelopes. Sometimes an envelope gets over funded because of 13 weeks in a quarter instead of 12.
I had a no use gas day yesterday for a savings of $2 and I have an extra $155 in my envelopes to add to the challenge money.
Prev. total $116.00
today 157.00
new total $273.00

In June of 2008, my bank was offering a good deal. A free checking account that paid 3.1% interest if you kept a balance of $1000.
I opened 3 checking accounts; one for my personal checking, one for my business checking and one that I called my "savings" checking account.
My husband is a builder and we need to keep a lot of cash liquid in case we build a spec house. Right now, the house market here is very soft, so we are sitting on the cash.
Well, last June, the 3.1% ended and the rate dropped to just under 2%. In the past few months, the rate drop to under 1.5% and the 1.24 % Yesterday, the rate dropped to uner 1% (actually, .0088%) and this is for a fairly large sum of money. I stopped at the bank to open a C.D and their rates have dropped a lot just since last Friday.
I use to dream of making enough interest to live on. When I was younger, banks paid 5-6% interest and higher on savings accounts. Even more on c.d.'s!
I guess I will just let it sit (the money) earning practically nothing!!
I did save $5 using my Ingles advantage card this morning and the stock market went up yesterday, so that is $6 more to add to my challenge.
Prev. total $110.00
today 6.00
new total $116.00

I had a productive weekend this week. I spent almost all afternoon filing and throwing things away. I have a lot of mutual fund and stock forms, and I have just been letting them stack up. I took care of all that today.
I did spend a little money today at the grocery store. It is the first money I have spent this year and it was under $9. It is so cold here, it has not made it out of the 20's today and won't!

I have six $1 bills and they will be added to my challenge;
Prev. total $104.00
today 6.00
new total $110.00

I woke up to snow this morning. It snowed for several hours and is quite cold, but it really did not stick to the ground.
My handy man hubby is home for the weekend. He is putting in new baseboard in the breakfast room. He also decided to add a plug right behind the record player, so we do not have to use an extension cord. (Which we keep unplugged because of the puppy) Now, we can just plug in behind the table where puppy cannot reach) I don't know how anyone can live without a Mr. Fixit!

I have started the new year off right. I have not spent one penny. I had two no use gas days in a row, and I will add $4 to my new challenge money.
Prev. total $100.00
today 4.00
new total $104.00

Well, I am ready to start a new year. I hope 2010 is a great year for all my SA friends.
I am ready to start my $20 challenge today. I have a crisp new $100 bill to get my challenge started.
Prev. total 0
today $100
new total $100

Well, today is New year's eve, so I am making my last contribution to the $20 challenge today. Yesterday, the stock market went up slightly, I saved $2 using my Ingles advantage card and I have some one dollars bills, for a total of $6 to add to the $20 challenge.
Prev. total $17,569.00
today 6.00
new total $17,575.00


Yes, I am very happy with my total of $17,575.00 for 2009!!

This is the last week of the decade. In a few days it will be 2010. I hope it has been a good year for you; for many it has been a pretty tough year.
My dh is fortunate enough to still have work, but the work has been difficult. He is starting a brand new house right in the beginning of winter, which means he will be outside all winter long. (Starting the footers for the basement today)
He does have an inside house to work on, but the owner is insisting that he do much of the work himself,so dh is having a lot of time off. It seems the owner wants to use hubby's tools also. Even tho the heat can be turned on, the owner doesn't want to pay for propane, so it is very cold in the house. dh does have a kerosene heater, but the owner is always borrowing it and using it where he is working. All in all, it has been the very worst house he has ever taken on, to build. The owner is going to lay the tile next and has been asking dh how to do it. I hope he doesn't ask to borrow the tile wet saw!!(cost over $1000 new)
I guess we should just be grateful that he is bringing home a paycheck at all.

I stocked up on NT strip steak yesterday at Bi Lo and saved $11 according to the receipt. I will add that to a $3 pinecone check and $1 cause the stock market went up yesterday, for a total of $15 more to the challenge.
Prev. total $17,554.00
today 15.00
new total $17,569.00 I meant NY strip steak, sorry!

We had a very nice Christmas, just mem my dear husband and our two sweet puppies, Holly and Molly.
We do give gifts, but just to each other. I send my granddaughters each a check.
Our presents are not expensive; just things we need. Boring things mostly, like we give socks and underwear.
My husband did want a heavy duty DeWalt radio for the construction site. Plus we both felt like we needed some new cookwear.
We took a nice ride out to check out a house with some leak problems (dh did NOT build it, but is trying to fix all the problems) We took Molly with us to get her use to riding in the car.

For dinner, we did not have the usual Holiday fare. We just had turkey last week, so we had steak instead!!
Finally, my dh got to watch his favorite christmas movie, The Christmas Story.
He has been talking about it for about 2 weeks and we could never find it on tv until yesterday. TBS had it on all day, so he finally got to see it last night.

I don't usually care for television very much, but I enjoyed watching CNN's show, "Til Debt do us part" It was amazing how clueless those people are when it comes to money. One couple was spending more than $2000 a month on groceries and eating out. (A family of four, the two children were 5 and under)

I am ready for 2010 and a year of super savings!

I had never used a computer until about 4 years ago. (still no very little about it) After my husband got me one as a christmas gift, I found a local site and met some people. Most of them were nice, a few were trouble makers.
I found saving advice about 3 years ago, and I must say, this is the nicest group of people ever!!
Even when the troublemaker from the other site would follow me here to cause trouble, the saving advice group always took up for me! I appreciated that.

I have learned that you should stay where your friends are, so I have not posted anything on the local site in over a year!

I wish for all you wonderful people, the best christmas ever! Here is for "super savings" in 2010 for all!! Merry Christmas!

The stock market went up 4 days in a row and I got a $13 check from Tim Horton.

Prev. total $17,537.00
today 17.00
new total $17,554.00

My usual monthly check came into my checking account this morning. As usual, it got added to my $20 challenge.
This is my monthly social security check for $486.00!
I hope this is encouragement for all of you to save money for your retirement. It is impossible to live on $486.00 a month, I think!
Prev. total $17,051.00
today 486.00
new total $17,537.00

I don't really like winter, but if I had to choose what christmas weather should be like, today is the perfect day. It is cold (under 32 when I got up), frosty, but not a cloud in the sky. It is sunny and not a bit windy, so if you dress warmly, it seems nice outside.
I got my electric bill and it did go up a bit. However, we put up our outside decorations before Thanksgiving and have been turning the lights on every night. I love seeing Christmas lights! Many of our neighbors have outside lights too.
I am still $50 under budget for my electric bill, so I will add that to my $20 challenge.
Prev. total $17,001.00
today 50.00
new total $17,051.00

Today is the first day of winter. It is also the shortest day of the year which is good news! It means that the days will start getting longer, starting tomorrow.
It is almost time for this year's $20 challenge to come to an end. I saved $6 using my bi lo card yesterday, so I will add that to my challenge.
I had hoped to have saved $20,000 in my challenge this year, but it just didn't happen. However, I am happy that today I hit the $18,000 mark. That is really not too shabby an amount to come up with.
None of this money came out of my husband's paycheck; this is just extra money I have earned and saved during the year.

Prev. total $16,995.00
today 6.00
new total $17,001.00

The weatherman has predicted snow for all of Friday, Saturday and today. We got a lot of rain, but thankfully, no snow. We got so bored sitting home, waiting for the snow to come, that we went out to dinner last night.
Finally, the snow came in during the evening, but did not really stick to the ground. So, we were able to get out today and do a lot of errands.
It is still snowing lightly but I hope this goes away soon.
It is not even winter yet and we have seen snow 3 times this month in Georgia!
I have 3 one dollar bills to add to the challenge.
Prev. total $16,992.00
today 3.00
new total $16,995.00

We are having terrible weather. My dh is trying so hard to get a new house started, but the weather just won't cooperate.
It has rained hard all day and the weathermen are predicting rain, sleet and snow for the next 4 days! So far, all I can see is rain, rain, rain. The creek is almost out of it's banks.
Today, the property tax was due, so I had to take the check down to the courthouse. Tonight I am planning on staying home and staying warm and dry!
I have really had good luck with getting checks in the mail this month. Today, I got an $8 check from Wendy's. Of course, that will be added to the challenge.
Prev. total $16,984.00
today 8.00
new total $16,992.00

I got another check, unexpected, in the mail today. This time, I went to www.invescofairfund.com to figure out why I was getting this second check. It turns out that the SEC fined Invesco funds and the money is being returned to the people that held shares in their funds. Dh and I have two of our mutual funds there. It is a nice time of year to get extra money and I will add that to my $20 challenge!
Prev. total $16,830.00
today 154.00
new total $16,984.00

I made a frugal dinner last night. I bought a turkey breast on sale for only $2 right after Thanksgiving. We had turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, sweet pototoes and cranberry sauce, all for a cost of slightly over $5. My husband also has hot lunches from the leftover, for the next two days and I have turkey for sandwiches.
I did my grocery shopping yesterday and saved $8 using my Ingles advantage card. I will add that to my $20 challenge.
Prev. total $16,822.00
today 8.00
new total $16,830.00

i just went to the mailbox after playing bridge all afternoon. In it was a check for $236 made payable to me! It is from the invesco fair fund.
I do have Invesco funds, but I don't know why I am getting a check. It says it is my "distribution" I think maybe there was a class action suit or something. Anyway, I will take it and Merry Christmas to me!!
Prev. total $16,586.00
today 236.00
new total $16,822.00

We went to another christmas party last night. This time is was on top of the mountain.
The road to the subdivision is so steep that the county won't even maintain it; the homeowners have to. I don't know how anyone can stand to drive on this road daily. I guess the view is worth it.
The weather people were calling for rain mixed with sleet last night.
On our drive up there, it started snowing!
The party was great. There were about 50 people there and I swear the hostess fixed enough food to feed 200.
However, we kept a close watch on the weather to make sure the snow did not stick to the road. I guess if it did, we would have had a giant slumber party!
Thankfully, the snow did not stick and we made it home safely.
It sure does seem awful cold to not even be winter yet (Dec.21st)

I will be adding my $1's to the challenge today.
Prev. total $16,583.00
today 3.00
new total $16,586.00

We went to a very nice christmas party last night. When I was much younger, we had a lot of parties. The parties usually started about 7:30 or 8 pm.
Now, the parties start about 6 pm, before you have even eaten dinner! So, they really put out a lot of food to fill you up.
There were serving dishes of food placed all over the housse. The hostess was thoughtful enough to label what was in each dish! Since I am such a "funny" eater, this was very helpful to me.
She set up the bar, outside on the back deck. Since it was below freezing, no one lingered too long around the bar.

Well, the stock market went up two days in a row and I saved $4 at Bi lo this morning buying a BOGO, so $6 to the challenge.

Prev. total $16,577.00
today 6.00
new total $16,583.00