Ima Saver's Personal Finance Blog

Most people think saving money is depriving them of "things" that will make them happy.
Actually, saving money does make me happpy. I think it is a lot of fun to watch that interest add up!!
Today I logged on to check on a new money market savings account that I just opened a month ago. I just earned $488.78 in interest this past month.

Now who doesn't think that is fun???

We had a really late dinner last night. We had planned to have a nice steak dinner. (and we did) However, dh got a call that his grading guy could do a job that needed done about 8 pm. It was actually 8:30 last night that we were all out at the job site, digging holes for the porch posts.
It did not take that long, but we did not get home til after 9 pm.
By the time we got the grill going and the potatoes cooked, it was 10:30 by the time we ate.
I usually add $20 to my challenge when we skip going out to eat during the week, but I had to give the money to my dh instead. He had used all his money buying gas this week and he was broke.
He has two jobs going and they are so far apart. He tries to get to both of them at least once or twice a day.
It was a neat night, we saw a bunch of baby deer coming home. And the steak was just as good, just kind of at a late hour!

I don't sit and watch tv all day, but I do keep it on for the noise. So, every once in a while I will glance at it and the dow will be way up, then way down.
Last time I looked this afternoon, the dow was about 30, when it closed a short time later it was up to 153!!

Oh well, the stock market was up yesterday, the braves won their game and I walked 2 miles. That gives me $4 to add to my challenge money.
Prev. total $16,238.00
today 4.00
New total $16,242.00

We have a 1933 ford "hot rod" bright red. My dh loves to drive it when we go out to dinner. Last night, we did not go to our usual place, we went to a place where we could park close to the window and watch the car.

Lots of people go over and look at the car. It has sucide doors and no door handles so you have to use the push button control on the key to open the window, reach inside and unlatch the doors.

We were having fun watching the people. They would look in the car window and from inside the restaurant, we would push the button and lower the window. Of course, they would wonder what happened. After doing that a few times, I would go outside and tell them we were just teasing them.

We all got a good laugh out of that!

Dinner was good too.

Boy, it has been hot. It has been reaching between 95-100 degrees every day, even here in the mountains. I feel so sorry for my dh and his framing crew. They are just starting a house out in this heat, no shade at all.
Even tho I do read my meter every day and try and keep my electric bill down, I do keep my house cool, at about 75 degrees.
I will put on extra clothes in the winter and keep the temp. around 60, but I can not stand really hot weather.
I keep my electric bill pretty low most of the year, but this month I will happily pay extra to stay cool.

I stopped back at rite aid to stock up on the sugar free candy. It is almost 40% off and candy is good for quite a long time. I also used my rite aid card which is good for 10% off of Tuesday. I only saved $4 altogether, but hey, $4 is $4 which I will add to my challenge.
Prev.total $16,234.00
today 4.00
new total $16,238.00

The dow has really been moving today. At one point, the dow was down 100 points, then at the highest it was up 135 points. It just closed at about 31 points up! Well, up is better than down!
They are going to talk about the stock Cisco next and I am curious. I have stock in cisco, so I hope the news is good.

Many of you know, I was a waitress for years. That was when I learned how to invest my money. I was only making $2.01 an hour.
Guess what, they still only make $2.15 an hour.
I talked to the young man that was our waiter last night. I gave him my usual little talk. "Did you know if you saved $2 a day and put it in a good mutual fund, you could be a millionaire when you are my age?""
Turns out he is already investing. He is 17 and has a roth IRA and has bought stock in apple.
His father is a local doctor. (Heck, he was one of the first people we met when we moved here 23 years ago. He had just gotten married)
His father is matching everything that our young waiter is putting in his roth. I predict a very good future for our young waiter. He wants to become a doctor too.

Yow, we had never even heard the name of this "builder" (I use the term lightly) a few years ago, now we hear a complaint about him every day since my husband took over the house he was building.
We talked to a young couple at the party Saturday night. They moved into one of his houses a few months ago. They had a very long list of things that needed to be fixed in their house, but so far, he has not fixed anything.
I cannot believe how many people do not get references before they build or buy a house.
We have about 30 letters, complete with names and phone numbers that we give out to all prospective customers wanting to build houses.

Today was a great day! The braves won their game last night! The stock market went up a lot today! I got to play bridge today and never went set!!
What more could anyone ask for?

I will add $2 to my challenge fund.
Prev. total $16,232.00
today 2.00
new total $16,234.00

Today has been busy. First we had dinner at friends last night and did not get home til after midnight. So, I overslept until 9:30.
Today is pay day and bridge day, so I had to get to the bank and post office early. I reminded myself that I am all out of sugar free candy and need to get some.
However, I didn't think of that when I left the house and I took my little Holly dog with me. So into, the drug store she went with me cause I will not ever leave a dog in a hot car no matter what.
She was the hit of the store. The hit for me was discovering that my sugar free candy was on sale, 70 cents a bag off. I got 5 bags (some for dh too) and saved over $3 which I will add to my challenge money.
Prev. total $16,229.00
today 3.00
new total $16,232.00

I had a no spend day yesterday. Actually, I never even left the house until we went over to some friends for dinner last night. These are people we built a house for , about 5 years ago. We usually stay good friends with people we build for, which is nice.
So it was a good day.
I walked a mile, the braves won, I used no gas and heck, I even got a free meal. (hamburgers, my favorite food) She even gave me all the brownies she made to bring home for my bridge group.
I will add $3 to my challenge money.
Prev. total $16,226.00
today 3.00
new total $16,229.00

Well I dreamed abut pink flamingos last night. We went to a birthday party and that was the theme. There were flamingos up and down the drive way, hundred of them.
We all put on pink flamingo things on our head, pink flamingo leis and even pink flamingo sunglasses!
I have never seen so much food in my life. I am afraid to weigh myself this morning. Everything was so good and we had a great time.
We did bring home about 1/2 of the platter of sandwiches that we took, so guess what we will be eating for the next few days?

I recieved a check from Pinecone yesterday for $5. I also walked a mile, but the braves and the stock market did not co operate yesterday. I will also add my ridge money for a total of $171.

Prev. total $16,055.00
today 171.00
new total $16,226.00

We are going to a party tonight. I have to go to blimpie and have a platter of sandwiches made. The couple having the party requested that everyone bring a plate of appetizers. Since i am not much of a cook (because I eat so funny), I am going to have someone else make up the platter.
So, I will spend about what I would have if I went out to dinner tonight,but this should be a lot more fun.

I went to fill the bird feeders this morning and there was a snake in the large container that I keep the bird seed in. Do they like sunflower seeds?

Anyway, I am not afraid of snakes, so I just carried him and put him outside.

That is one thing that I do spend money on, sunflower seeds. I have four feeders and I have to fill them constantly. We do buy the seed by the 50 pound bag, but I noticed that went up this month, almost $6 more a bag.
Oh well, the birds are worth it!

We are invited to a birthday party tomorrow night. So today, I bought a gift certificate to my favorite restaurant to give as a gift. People always like free food, as least I do.
The stock market ended up yesterday, I walked a mile and did 20 flights of stairs, so I have $3 to add to my challenge money.
Prev. total $16,052.00
today 3.00
new total $16,055.00

Building of new homes is certainly slowing down around here. You use to have to get on a wait list for getting a basement poured, now they are out there in a few days.
We talked to the engineer at the power company and he says very few houses are getting started.
We talked to the guy in charge of the building dept. and no one is pulling permits to build spec houses right now.

There are over 700 homes sitting on the market in this county, and we only have a population of about 19,000. We have so many friends who are sitting on and paying interest every month on their spec house.

We have been so fortunate. We have decided to take a break from building spec houses until things pick back up. We are starting two homes for customers that will take over a year to build, plus we are talking to another couple on Synday. If they can wait a year, we will take on their house too.
So, we should be fine.
In the meantime the cash we have accumulated to build the next house will be sitting in the bank earning 5.25% interest.

Oh my gosh. There was a skunk in our yard yesterday. I have to admit, I have only seen skunks in the road, run over. This one seemed to be playing in a pile of grass clippings. It was rolling all over for about 20 minutes while Holly and I watched, from inside.
I would love to have gone outside and gotten closer but I was kind of nervous of what might happen if I did. Holly did some serious barking at the skunk, but he/she did not seem to mind.

I turned my change jar in at the bank this morning. I do this about once a month. I had $34.01 (where did the penny come from, I don't save pennies, I use them)
On my way home, I stopped and bought some hood chocolate milk, using a $1 off coupon that I had. So, I have $35 to add to my challenge money.
Prev. total $16,017.00
today 35.00
new total $16,052.00

Disney steve mentioned having some money missing at the bank in one of his posts. I have had a missing check for about 3 weeks.
I mailed my car payment the beginning of July but it has still not cleared my checking account as of today.
I got worried so I call the bank I sent the check to cause I did not want to have a late payment.
They say they got the payment. Ok, where is my check??
Floating around in space, I guess. As long as I am not making a late payment, I won't let it worry me.
I have never made a late payment in my life except once. I somehow mailed my electric bill without a stamp and it took two weeks to come back to me.
I am sure my check will turn up someday. Too bad this isn't a checking account that pays interest.
I have one of those, but the rate is very tiny, like 1/2 of one percent.

My husband has bill collectors coming to the job.
He took this job over from another builder who was ripping the people off and doing a terrible job.
Apparently he was also not paying his sub contractors. Everyone my dh comes in contact with, says the other builder owes them money.
Yesterday a bill collector came claiming to be owed for two portolets for two houses for over a year! He went to the guys house but could not find him. I hate that there are people like that in my little town.

Well, the braves have won two games in a row and the stock market went up, so i have $3 to add to my challenge money. I have not been exercising much the past few days cause my knee is hurting me. I need to get back on the treadmill.
Prev. total $16,014.00
today 3.00
new total $16,017.00

I did our net worth this afternoon. I usually like to do it on the first day of the month, but I was a little late today. I had to take my beautiful puppy to the groomer's.
Anyway, I was kind of dreading it because the stock market has been down so much the past several days.
Sure enough, most of my stocks and all but one of my mutual funds were down.
However, I had done some good saving last month, plus earned decent interest on my cash holdings. The fact that my 6 month certificate deposit paid me $2796.00 helped too.
So my net worth actually went up over $3000 last month and I am pleased!

I just went out to visit a house my husband took over from another builder who was fired. The house was a total disaster, even if it was brand new.

My husband has ripped off all the doors (they wouldn't close) all the rock that had not already fallen off the fireplace (which was most of it), torn up the baseboards, etc. etc.
It looks like a totally new house. The fireplace (which he laid the rock) looks beautiful. He fixed the terrible big hole in the kitchen and turned it into a pantry. He somehow managed to fix the garden tub, which I can't even describe how bad it looked.
He has put down new baseboard, new doors, new copper guttering, et.
He has really done magic on this house!

I just totaled the interest that I received for the month. It was $1957.88. That is last than last month; however, I transferred 100K into a new account so that I would be insured for everything in the bank. I transferred the money on July 3rd, and after 3 days, they paid interest on the money. So that is why my total interest in almost $300 less than last month. I have about 24 days of interest unaccounted for which will be paid around the 6th of this month.

The only day I was ever in a wedding (other than my own) was the first day of August. I was a bridesmaid in my sister's wedding and that was on aug. 1st, 1959. I still remember the ugly pink dress I wore.
The marriage last until 1978 but i don't think it was real happy. When my mother died, my sister moved out of her house and into my mother's vacant house.
Just last month, my ex brother in law and his wife stopped to visit me. They seemed happy.
Well, I hope your first day of August is a great one.

I haven't said a word today and I miss that!! It has just been a nice quiet day. I did pick up 3 things at the store for lunches for my dh, but nothing was on sale. It has really gotten hot here, so the a/c has pretty much been running all day.
I finally finished reading Money magazine. My subscription is about to run out, but I am sure I will subscribe again; I love that magazine!
I am just waiting on my darling hubby to come home and take me out on a date!!

I guess I don't go to that bank enough for the people to know me. The first time I went there was with my husband in his carpenter work clothes.
I asked if we could open an account and get the high rate they had been advertising in the paper.
The lady behind the desk told me no, because you had to put in $50,000 to open the account. I told her I would put in $100,000.
She opened the account.
I went today to see what the new rate would be on C.D's. Sadly, it has gone down from 5.75% to 5.35%.
I renewed it; this time they wanted my driver's license to see if it was really me. Hmmmm......

Ok, back to the challenge. I bought n.y. strip steak on sale yesterday (enough for two meals) and saved $8, I just bought prilosec at Ingles where is was $5 off, plus I had a $4 off coupon, so I saved $9. The braves won their game, I walked a mile, plus another one for today, so I have a total of $20 to add to the challenge.
Prev. total $15,994.00
today 20.00
new total $16,014.00

MY first certificate of deposit is coming due tomorrow. It was for 6 months, earning 5.75%. I made $2,796 in interest for the past 6 months.
I have to go into the bank tomorrow to roll it over. I am sure that I will if I can get at least 5.25% or more.
I am thinking about taking the interest out as that puts me over the fdic limit. Well, actually, it doesn't. I forgot that if you have two names on the account, you have double the insurance.
I got a check from ace hardware on a rebate that I sent in. I usually do not mess with rebates, but this was for a tool that my husband needed. The check was for $10 and I walked a mile, so I have $11 to add to my challenge money.
Prev. total $15,983.00
today 11.00
new total $15,994.00