Ima Saver's Personal Finance Blog

Today I will add the ridge money to my challenge.
Prev. total $10,190.00
today 165.00
new total $10,355.00

I took my change jar into the bank today and got $32 for my coins. I will put that in my challenge money.
I also got free lunch at the bank. It was customer appreciation day.
prev. total $10,158.00
today 32.00
today $10,190.00

I try to be frugal in the winter and I keep the heat on 60 and dress in sweaters.
But, I cannot stand hot weather. That is the main reason I wanted to move from florida. I can't stand heat.
Of course, i want my electric bill as low as possible and it has been great since last October. But now it is getting hot!!
What do you set your temperature on?
Right now, it is 87 outside and I have turned on the a/c for the first time this year.

I forgot to pay the water bill!! This is the first bill I have been late on ever, in my entire life! It was due yesterday, the 10th and I just forgot about it! I will have to pay the $2.10 late fee. Oh, it is not a lot, but I am embarassed that I am paying it late. I will take it into the office TODAY!

I just looked at the Atlanta Braves site and saw that the braves won their last 2 games. So, that is $2 more to the challenge plus another $1 cause I walked a mile.
Prev. total $10,150.00
today 3.00
new total $10,153.00

Today is my bridge day and that was fun. Afterwards I went to the dollar store and bought 2 graduation cards for $1.00 (for both of them) I hate wasting money on cards that get throw away.
I also picked up some prilosec for my dh and some diet 7 up. I had a coupon for $4 off for the prilosec and $1 off the 7 up. It takes enought like diet sprite to suit me and it was cheaper with the coupon. so that is $5 today that I saved that goes to my challenge account.
Prev. total $10,145.00
today 5.00
new total $10,150.00

My husband was raised by his parents that insurance was a waste of money. They never had health insurance or life insurance.
I did take out a 10 year term policy on my husband when we built this house for about $200,000.
However, when it expired a few years ago, the new policy was so expensive we could not afford it.
I took a small policy out for $25,000 from AARP. It started out $30 a month and it is now almost $45 a month. I know it will just keep getting higher.
I was discussing it with dh last week and he wants me to drop the policy and just save the money.
We have plenty of cash in the bank and he thinks it is a waste of money.
I will continue to save that money and add to my challenge.
Just wondered what you all think?

When I buy something I really don't need, I think I have wasted money. today I bought my little doggie a chair. She is a small (5 pounds) black poodle and she has a little folding tot chair (canvas) that she likes to sit in. When it is cold, we put a heating pad on the chair.
The problem is, she likes to sit in the living room in the daytime, so at night, we moved her chair into the pantry and close the door.
Now, we don't have to move the chair every time, which is nice, but I do feel like I wasted a little money that I did not need to spend.
By the way, the chair looks like a dog. I could have chosen from a bear, a frog or a dog, so i took the dog.
It doesn't go with the decor of my home, but Holly loves it.

I got a roast on sale, $4 off with my advantage card. I also had a coupon for a free 2 liter bottle of diet 7 up, so that was another $1. I shall add that $5 to my challenge money.
prev. total $10,140.00
today 5.00
new total $10,145.00

We had a new gazebo delivered to my next door neighbor's house today. It really is pretty and they placed it near the creek.
We thought about a gazebo but decided to build a deck over the creek. This way, we can sit right on top of it and listen to the water flow by.
I hope it is warm enough this weekend that we can set up a bar and have drinks outside on the deck at night. Sounds nice.

I just finished a survey with NFO mysurvey. It is amazing to me how fast those points add up. I just requested another $10 check. I should have kept track of them, but I think this will be number 7. If anyone is interested, send me your first name and e mail address and I will send you an invite.
The checks do take about 3 weeks to arrive.

I got another pinecone check in the mail yesterday, so that is $5 more to add to my challenge money.
Prev. total $10,135.00
today 5.00
new total $10,140.00

Our little town is getting a 5 star resort. who would have ever thought this would happen to this area. I guess building will be booming. I hope our house prices really go up too. Soon, everyone will want to live here.

is a broom!! I don't know where the brooms go in this house, but they always disappear.
I am sure my husband borrows them to take to the job and they never come back. The broom I have now is about 20 years old and just does not do what a broom should do. I would love to sweep off my front porch, but I need a good broom!
Actually, I would like a card too. I have never had a mother's day card. Even one of those 50 cent ones from the dollar store would do.

Well, the braves came from behind to win the game today; I walked a mile, had a no spend day and a used no gas day. So i am paying myself $4 to add to the challenge.
prev. total $10,131.00
today 4.00
new total $10,135.00

I was thinking about beer this morning. It is a big deal to buy beer around here. You have to drive to another county.
I have to drive to North Carolina to buy liquor, but they don't sell beer there. I can buy beer in Georgia, but no liquor.

My husband likes beer and drinks one a day. When we buy beer we buy 2 big suitcases. a suitcase holds 12 long neck bottles of bud lite.
A suitcase costs about $10. It just dawned on me that it has cost $10 for years and years.
With the price of food and gas going out of sight, why hasn't beer gone up?
Too bad I don't like beer at all.

Our anniversary is about a week away. We had planned to go to Gatlinburg but that was before my old dog started acting funny.
She is at least 16, we don't know her real age, cause we found her abandoned in a barn.
She has quit eating dog food for the past two weeks.
I have to keep finding people food for her to eat.
today, I cooked her some chicken.
I feel like if we went away and left her for even a short time, she would die. She can barely hear or see anything.
I could take her to the vets, but she is terrified of going in a car and I don't want her to be terrified during her last days.
So, I think we will stay home with the dog.

I did a mile of walking and 20 flights of stairs yesterday, plus the braves won, so I can add $3 to my challenge money.
Prev. total $10,128.00
today 3.00
new total $10,131.00

My dh and I both had a free breakfast this morning. The guy that he is building a house for, gave him a free ticket to the pancake breakfast at the Methodist church.
Our local bank is having customer appreciation day today. They are giving away free tomato plants and free hot dogs. Well, I never had a hot dog for breakfast but it was pretty good. They also had free cake, but I resisted that!!
Now to plant those tomato plants.

I went to Bi Lo to get eggs for my husband and some dog food for my little dog. They were both on sale dog. They were both on sale.
So was N.T. strip steak, my favorite. When you can get 2 steaks for $6 that is a good deal, so I got four of them. Then my diet sprite was on sale.
I wound up with a lot more than I had planned, but every single thing I bought was on sale. I saved $12 to add to my challenge.

Prev. total $10,116.00
today 12.00
new total $10,128.00

ps. I meant N.Y. strip steak.

Government agencies are handing over unpaid public fees such as library fines, parking tickets, court fees and moving violations to private collection companies.
These companies can report these fees to the 3 major credit bureaus and that can affect your credit score.

I was looking up a stock price and saw a question on that same cnn page. It was asking my age and my income.
Then I compared myself with the average american.
The average person my age only has a net worth of slightly over $200,000.
The average person with my income (really my husband's) only has a net worth of slightly over $100,000.
That means that most people entering their retirement years do not have nearly enough money to live on. I wonder what they will do? I sure could not live on $500 a month social security.

An all time high for the Dow today and the S&P went above 1500 for the first time in 7 years. Hope we all made money today.
I had a no spend day, walked my 20 flights of stairs and the braves won last night. That gives me another $3 to add to my challenge money.
prev. total $10,113.00
today 3.00
new total $10,116.00

I really love this forum. I am on a local forum and if you mention anything at all about money, they jump all over you.
They say "you can't take it with you"
On this forum, you get so much encouragement. I don't think there is a negative person on here.
Obviously, the people on the forum are like me and I guess we are in the minority. I would love to teach the others how to save and budget, but they won't listen to what they don't want to hear.

I have started keeping track of how much interest I earn in my savings, checking, money market and c.d. accounts every month.
For the month of April, I earned $2,069.46. Not too shabby!!

Well, I got no checks in the mail today, but I did take a pinecone survey.
The braves won Monday night and I walked two miles. I saved $2 using my advantage card at the grocery store and I saved over $1 using a coupon for a large bottle of free diet 7 up.
Prev. total $10,107.00
today 6.00
new total $10,113.00

I opened up a new C.D. yesterday. I was looking at my account online and they have already credited me with about $15 in interest.
However, my check has not cleared the other bank yet, so that bank also paid me $15 in interest. Free money.
I will add that to my challenge money.
prev. total $10,092.00
today 15.00
new total $10,107.00

Well I added this week's "Ridge" money to the challenge money and I have gone over $10,000 for the year!!
Prev. total $9927.00
today 165.00
new total $10,092.00

I noticed that everyone was doing their net worth today, so i did mine too. The first of the month is an ideal time to do that.
My net worth increased $26,317.00 this past month. Most of it was due to the stock market, all of my mutual funds went up in value.
Plus i was able to increase my local savings account about $8000 due to my deposits and interest.
It has been a very nice day today!

I stopped at the bank yesterday to open a jumbo C.D. The lady said they are only paying 5%. I asked her to ask the prsident of the bank if he could do better.
She just called and they will give me 5.5% now, plus I can have it as long as I want. I wonder how long I should take it; 6 months, 1 year, 2 years, 5??
Anyway, it pays to ask and that will earn me an extra $500 a year.

I asked at the building store for a rebate and got back several thousand last year and already over a thousand this year.

Just ask and see what happens!

I just want to wish everyone a happy May day. When I was a little girl and lived in Virginia, they celebrated May day at school. We even had a May pole. I don't know if they do that anymore or not.