Ima Saver's Personal Finance Blog

I found a lucky quarter while we were at Ingles today. We went to a land sale and did not buy anything, which is unusual for us. But we have about 6 pieces of vacant land already, one with a finished, "for sale" new house that we need to sell first.
Friends took us out to dinner Thursday night cause they were so happy with the new carport that dh built for them last week. We did another good deed by fixing a bad leak at a friend's house. (They live in Fla. and their leak wasted 265,000 gallongs of water and ran up a very big bill) DH put in new pipes so that can not happen again. (leak was under the basement floor, under concrete and NO, we did not build the house)
WE are hoping that the water dept. will give them a break on the bill cause they were not here.

Today I received my s/s check of $529 plus I got a dividend of $89 from my Qualcomn stock. This will be added to my $20 challenge:

Prev. total $4482.00
today 618.00
new total $5100.00

And I am so glad. Things are starting to bloom. Our weeping willow tree in the front yard it starting to really look pretty. WE have started on the new house, but now the rain is messing us up. We want to pour the footers on Monday, but they are calling for rain for most of the week.

$20 challenge

Prev. total $4457.00
today 10.00
new total $4467.00

I received a capital one rebate check yesterday for $10.

Are you wearing something green today?? I have been out sick for a few days, so I have missed a lot of entries on here. I am not sure what I had, but I did make a trip to the emergency room because I felt so badly.
The new house got started yesterday (septic tank and ground breaking) so hopefully, I can get back on track to saving.
Congratulations to Lucky Robin, Banker Gurl and birthday girl, Thriftorama!

We finally got the go ahead to start a new house in the lake subdivision. We have been waiting for over a month on approval from the home owners' association.
Sadly, that means my husband has been out of work for the whole month of February and part of March.
Of course, we have the money in the bank to live on, but I would rather not keep doing that.
It is a lot more fun to put money into the bank than to take it out of the bank.
We still have had no offers on the house that he finished up in Jan. Wintertime is not a good time for the real estate market around here.
I have not been saving much, but I do add a little somthing to the $20 challenge every day. My balance:

$20 challege $4400.00

We took a ride yesterday just to get out of the house. On the way, we passed a church with a sign that read:
If you are praying for snow, please stop!!

I agree.

Today is the day the interest is posted to my bank accounts, all except Melrose Credit Union, which is every quarter. I always add the money to the $20 challenge:

Prev. total $4139.00
Interest 35.00 mysavingdirect
extra 8.00
interest 102.00 C&S bank
interest 22.00 cap.one
interest 2.00 GE bank
total $4308.00

This has not been a very good month. My husband has not been able to work all month. First, he went to see his father in Fla. for a week and the rest of the time, we have had terrible weather. I cannot remember it being this cold for so long. There has been snow on the ground all week long and today, is not exception. He got out to take things to the dump. (Hope he makes it back ok) He has been doing a lot of decluttering and today he hopes to paint the garage. I just hope for spring!

$20 challenge:

Prev. total $4129.00
today 10.00
new total $4139.00

WE did get out for a short while, but last snow we had a lot of snow, so we are stuck in the house again.
My husband is so bored. We have decided to build a cabin on a lake access lot that we own, when this weather breaks. He also has a custom home that should start in April if the owners quit changing their house plan.
No lookers at the spec house for sale. Not much going on in this weather.
We did get a housekeeper for dh's father and girlfriend. Of course, we are paying the bill every month. Dh's brother has no money to help out.

Got my s/s/ check yesterday and will add that to the challenge:

Prev. total $3590.00
today 529.00
new total $4119.00

Today is my husband's birthday and we are snowed in. I had planned on taking him out for a nice dinner on his birthday, but I guess we will have to stay home. They are calling for more snow tomorrow.
I had to install a new furnace last winter. Ours was 20 years old and having problems.
The heating guy that we have used for 30 years instlled a heating system with a heat pump. I do not like it at all. Our electric bill has been double these last few months, and I am always cold.
I sure wish we had our old Lennox system back. If I ever need a new system, I will insist on Lennox Gas system. We have put them in all the houses we build, but our old heating guy does not carry them anymore. Needless to say, we are using a new company that carries Lennox, in our spec houses.

$20 challenge

Prev. total $3570.00
today 8.00
new total $3578.00

We are snowed in right now. This happened on Thursday too. I am hoping it will rain and clear the roads so we can go grocery shopping. This is the coldest winter I can remember. Our little dogs don't want to go outside and I don't either.

$20 challenge
Prev. total $3547.00
today 9.00
new total $3556.00

Today was a snow day, but we got out this afternoon. Our car tags are due by this Tuesday, hubby's birthday. So, we managed to get them this afternoon, including a new one for the new car.
I received a check in the mail from Capital One which I will add to my $20 challenge.

Prev. total $3514.00
today 25.00
new total $3539.00

I closed one of my local accounts today. I like to keep my money locally cause it is easier to get to and I like supporting local banks.
My money market account, paying 1.25% ended yesterday and they had nothing better to offer. I hate settling for 1/10th of 1 percent, which is what my checking accounts are paying.
I transferred the money over to Mysavingsdirect at Emigrant bank, which is paying 1.04% and Capital One 360 which is paying 9/10th of one percent. I am only going with capital one cause I have a checkbook for that account. Actually GE capital bank is also offereing 1.04% which is a better deal.
I have not completely closed my local account cause I have to leave it open til the end of the month to collect the interest for the month.
I will probably put the rest of the money into GE capital bank.

$20 challenge

Prev. total $3501.00
today 6.00
new total 43507.00

Today is the day I met my husband, 38 years ago!

Yesterday was my Elvis day and I did not forget. I attended his concert on Feb. 15h, 1977 with my two best friends. We got front row seats. It was a wonderful concert. Elvis died just a few months later. (August 1977. I still have my ticket stub and the poster I bought that day. (I even have the jumpsuit I wore to the concert.)

WE ent out with friends for dinner last night to one of their favorite mexican restaurants. I was not very hungry, so I just got a side order of rice, hubby got a shrimp dinner. Our total bill came to $9.25. (we are allowed to brown bag it, so we took wine.) Gosh, can't beat that for a night out!

Hope you are having a great valentine's day. We don't usually do much, but we are going out to dinner tonight. Hope we don't get snow on the new car!

WE got a new car today. I would like you all to guess what kind of car we got??????

I hope today is a lucky day for you. I got married on Friday the 13th and it has been lucky for me.


$20 challenge:

Prev. total $3465.00
today 7.00
new total $3472.00

My little girl, Molly has been sick. We took her to the vet about 3 months ago with neck and shoulder problems. She got an adjustment, but on Monday, she was acting like she was in pain.
We took her to the vets again and they took x rays. The vet said she would need surgery to fix the problem.
She needed to go to a specialist to get evaluated. On Tuesday,we took a trip to a town near Atlanta to the special vet there. They are going to try medication and confinement for 3-4 weeks, to see if surgery can be avoided.
The two vet visits were $460 and the surgery will run about $5000.
There is no question that we WILL spend the money on the surgery. Molly will be 6 next month and is such a joy to us. We will spend whatever it takes to make her well.
(Molly is a malta-poo. Her mother was a pure bred black poodle and her father was a pure bred maltese. She looks like her daddy and is the sweetest dog in the world.)

50 years ago today I was married. There are not many on this board that can say they have been married for 50 years.
However, I have to fess up. I was married twice. The first time was for 12 years. While going thru my divorce, I met my dh. (a blind date) It was love at first sight and we were married just 5 weeks later. I don't reccommend that to everyone, but it has sure worked out! He is a wonderful husband!
We have been married for 38 years. (12 the first time.) (12 and 38 make 50)

He got home on Sat. night. I was so glad to see him. I hope he does not have to go away again for a long time.
He is kind of frustrated because he feels like he just wasted his time (and money) At least he got a water purifier and put it on for his parents, so they don't have to buy bottled water any more.
We will just keep our fingers crossed that the parents will get by ok for a while.

It has been 4 days since I have been alone. I'll admit, if I was younger and had kids, I would probably welcome to vacation. But I am use to having hubby around for almost 40 years and I miss him!
As i thought, his going to Fla. did not do a bit of good. He was looking for someone to come in and do some house cleaning once a week, to take the burden off of his elderly father (93) and his elderly girlfriend. (90) He did find a lady that would work out; she is the daughter in law of a friend there.

However, his parents don't really want anyone else in the house with them. Also, hubby tried to persuade girlfriend to stop driving and she will not hear of it!
I knew he was wasting his time, but he feels better that he at least tried. His brother and SIL live there, but they are terrible money managers; they can't even pay their taxes. I made hubby leave the checkbook at home so he could not make any loans to anyone.
I talked to him last night and he said he was coming home tonight, so I am excited! The girls have been looking out the window for him for 4 days, so i know they will be excited too.

$20 challenge

Prev. total $3425.00
today 6.00
new total $3431.00

I get very lonely being alone. I don't know how people live alove. Maybe cause I have not done it
ever. I went from living at home to being married for 50 years.(two different husbands, but only single for a few weeks.)
Hubby has gone to Fla. again. He just went 3 months ago. He is trying to find some part time help for his elderly father and his elderly girlfriend of 22 years. I hope he has some luck. His younger brother lives right there, but seems to be no help at all.
My girls are company, but they sit and look out the window all night, waiting for their daddy to come home. Well, at least I am saving money on groceries and still adding to my $20 challenge.

Prev. total $3408.00
today 6.00
new total $3414.00

I did my grocery shopping today. Total saved with my advantage card was $8. That is pretty good since I only spent $41. The last two weeks, I spent over $100 each week. That is cause dh went with me. It is funny how much more money you spend when you don't go alone to the grocery store. It gets added to the challenge money:

Prev. total $3393.00
today 8.00
new total $3401.00

I wish all montths could be as good as this Jan. However, it helps that I started off the 1st of Jan. with $2007 in interest from the Melrose credit union.

It just started! Hubby is home today, drawing house plans for a custom house he plans to start in April. The party last night was nice.
I received $223 in interest from my C & S account was $223 so I will add that to my challenge.

Prev. total $3146.00
today 223.00
new total $3369.00

Tonight, we are invited to a super bowl party. Neither my husband or I care about football, but we like parties.
Our spec house is finished. I am very disappointed in the price my real estate agent told me to list it for; $249,000. I have $260,000 in the house.

It is probably the only brand new house on the market around here. It is 3 bedrooms, 3 1/2 baths, with a family room with small kitchenette, in adddition to the other regular rooms. There is a garage, laundry room,lots of closet space, etc. The lot is over one acre, on a creek with a nice mountain view.
I am going to have to price it at, at least my cost to break even.
I received my first interest on MySavingsDirect account. It was $18 and change and I will add it to the $20 challenge.

Prev. total $3128.00
today 18.00
new total $3146.00

That may not seem like a big deal to some folks, but it is to me. For most of my life, I have pretty much had no relatives. Father died at my age 10; grandparents all died before I was 11, I lost all my aunts and uncles by the time I was 32 and then my mother passed. Also, my half sister, who I was not close to all all passed.
I knew I HAD some distant cousins, but did not know if any of them were alive.
I thought I found one two weeks ago, but I wrote to the address and have gotten no reply.
I have looked for a favorite male cousin for years, but with no luck.
Today, I found him. We have not seen each other for over 50 years. I e mailed his job to ask if he might be my long lost cousin, and he e mailed me back. He remembers me. I am so excited! He lives all the way out in Washington state.

Today was also s/s day, so I can add that to my $20 challenge:

Prev. total $2575.00
today 529.00
new total $3104.00

WE just got a dusting of snow this morning. No porblem with the roads. Dh is trying to get the spec house finished up this week. He may have to go to Fla. next week. His father is 93 and the girlfriend that lives with him (for over 20 years) is almost 90.
They really need someone to come into their home and help them out several times a week. Dh's brother, who lives in the same town, is just too busy to help. He and his wife are going to inherit the duplex, cars, etc. that FIL owns, so you would think they could help out a little. (Take out the garbage, changes the sheets, etc.) But they can't seem to find the time.
Dh is going to make a trip and see if he can find someone to help out part time. Of course, we will have to pay for it.

Still working on the $20 challenge:

Prev. total $2545.00
today 8.00
new total $2553.00

I got the dividend from my Emc stock yesterday. It was for $48 which I will add to the $20 challenge.

Prev. total $2476.00
today 48.00
new total $2524.00

I get a rebate check from my capital one charge card every month. They send it in the form of a check. I also get a rebate from my Chase credit card, but it is deposited directly to my bank. I saved $5 using my Ingles advantage card while grocery shopping. I add money to my $20 challenge daily, but I just keep track of it on paper, I don't report it here. I pay myself so much each day, depending on what I do. For example, $2 for not using gas, $1 for not buying a donut, etc; s that is why my $20 challenge goes up everyday. Today I will add the rebate check.

Prev. total $2445.00
today 15.00
new total $2460.00