Ima Saver's Personal Finance Blog

It is another frosty day here in the mountains. My window cleaner just showed up. What a hard worker he is. He is just like my dh and works 7 days a week. He has another job, but does window washing on weekends or whenever he is off. I hope he finishes today so i can pay him what I owe.

Another date night in Georgia!! Hope everyone else is having a good night too.!!

Now, that I have a computer, I love the fact that you can check on your bank accounts, checking, savings, money market, etc.
When i put in that big check last Friday afternoon, I have been checking every day to see what my balance is. My balance has stayed the same. They said they would put a hold on it for 7 business days and I guess they meant it. The banks are only 1 block apart, so I know the check has cleared.
I wonder if they are just doing that to keep me from moving the money.
I do plan to go and open a jumbo CD to get an extra 1/2 % on some of the money.
I love looking at the interest it has earned too, $258.79 for just 4 days.
Well, I did earn a dollar walking a mile and I saved another dollar by buying shampoo and getting conditioner for free. Both for just $1.
Prev. total $3089.00
today 2.00
new total $3091.00

My window washer is back. He has been here for 4 1/2 days so far. I have no idea what the bill will be, but I am sure it will be expensive. I got all my end of the month bills paid yesterday, now I just have to balance all the checkbooks. I think I will grocery shop today too cause I am almost out of diet sprite. I love stockpiling it when it is on sale, but I have run out. Hate to pay regular price!!
Our waitress last night, said she told her boyfriend how we came into her restaurant every night for our "date" Instead of saving, wow, that is romantic, he said, wow, they must be rich!!
My husbands says we can eat out cheaper than we can cook at home. That works for me! (Besides, no one wants to cook)

I had a no spend day today. I was supposed to go to my bridge lesson, but I just didn't feel like it. It is really cold and windy. So, I just stayed home and walked on my treadmill for a while. Now I think I will go and pay my end of the month bills. I got the final electric bill from the spec house to pay also.
So, a no spend, no gas day. I love the fact that it is staying a little lighter every night!

I walked on my treadmill for 2 miles, so that earned me $2 towards my challenge money. I only spent about $12 yesterday but that was for several grocery items that we were out of. We tried a different restauarant last night and it was good, but no cheaper than our regular place.
Prev. total $3087.00
today 2.00
new total $3089.00

Just 11 more months til christmas!!

Well, I checked on my accounts today to see if they have taken the hold off of the big check I deposited Friday. (I was told it was taken off, but it wasn't)
In my checking account was a new deposit, just made this morning, from the U.S. government, in the amount of $538. This is new money to me, so I will add it to my challenge money this month and every month that I save it.
Prev. total $2549.00
today 538.00
new total $3087.00

I want to thank you too for voting for me. I came in 2nd in the $20 challenge. I won $75 and I know you ALL know what I am going to do with it. Of course, put it in my new 2007 $20 challenge. My husband doesn't believe I won anything. I can hardly wait to show him the check. Thanks again!!

I just requested my state farm credit card check. If you use the card, they give you back 1% of the purchases that you can use on state farm products, like your insurance. They also gave me a $15 bonus for opening the card.
So, I will be getting a check from state farm for $100 to help in paying my house insurance of $1100.00 due in Feb. I mentioned before that Feb. is a high bill pay month.
I owe $283 for car insurance, $1100 for house insurance, $350 for vehicle tags and then my property tax is a total of $2700 for two pieces of property. I have this all budgeted for but because taxes went up, I am about $200 short. This $100 will cure half the problem.

The big check from the house sale that I deposited Friday afternoon has shown up in my money market account today.
Until I take out the money to buy the next lot and start the next house, that money is earning me $64 a day.
Do you realize that I have never earned $64 a day in my life. I have never made more than minimum wage which would come to about $41.20 a day, before taxes.
When I was a waitress, I usually adveraged about $20-40 a day in tips and about $16 a day in wages.
Makes me hate to have to take it out to start the next house.
Building is slow right now, so I am going to let the money sit for a little while. Just let it sit and enjoy it!

2 years ago we bought a beautiful piece of property with a 270 degree mountain view. There is a view in the front and on both sides of the property. The view is of Brasstown Bald, which is the highest mountain in Georgia.
I financed the property and we have been making payments on it for the past two year.
The subdivision of 15 lots is named "The Ridge at Owltown"
I paid it off on Friday, so now I can start taking the money in "the Ridge" envelope and adding it to my challenge money.
I am making a deposit tomorrow into my savings account, so I have $495 from my ridge envelope to add to my challenge.
Prev. total $2054.00
today 495.00
new total $2549.00

We just had a luncheon for our local town forum, blairsville.com. Everyone wanted mexican except me. I eat plain food, that is all. They all assured me that the mexican place had hamburgers.

Well, the did, for kids under 12. But I persisited and they brought me one, wrapped in tinfoil. I swear they went to McDonald's, got a kids happy meal and gave me the tiny burger.

We were all kidding about what kind of meat they would use for the hamburger, chihuahua maybe?? Anyway, it was not good and I had to pay $3.50 for it.

But I had a great time and met some very nice new people, so it was worth it.

Today is called Blue Monday. It is supposed to be the unhappiest day of the year.
First, the weather is bad.
Second, all the christmas bills are due.
Third, all the new year's resolutions you made 3 weeks ago have been broken.

Well, I don't know about you, but i am very happy today!! I had a great steak dinner last night, my windows are sparkling and I am meeting people from my local forum for lunch today, some of them for the first time!!

Happy Blue Monday!!!

I forgot to get my mail yesterday, so just went out to the box to pick it up. My electric bill came. It was slightly under $95. Since I budget $160 a month, that means there is $65 left over to put into my challenge money.
prev. total $1989.00
today 65.00
new total $2054.00

It seems awfully cold in this house and I could hear the heat running downstairs. Glad I check it out, the front door was standing wide open. It is only about 37 degrees here.
I think my window cleaner did not shut the door tightly and it blew open. I am just glad my little poodle did not wander outside. So, I am giving thanks!!

I never got to exercise Friday because of showing the house and the closing, so I managed to get a mile in on my treadmill and walk 20 flights of stairs. That is $2 more to add to my challenge money.
Prev. total $1987.00
today 2.00
newe total $1989.00
I did this exercise yesterday!

Our window cleaner is back. He is the only guy besides my dh that I know, that works on weekends.He was here all day yesterday too. As a matter of fact, he has been here for four days now.
Dh took down all the inside window grids this morning.
He was amazed at how many windows we actually have. I wasn't, I remember paying the window bill 11 years ago and it was over $50,000 for these anderson windows.
Anyway, they are slowly but surely getting down. I am expecting about a $1000 cleaning bill, but it will be worth it to get all the spots off the windows. The spots were caused by the house being pressure washed with hard water. I wish it would quit raining, so he could get done. It is amazing how much stuff you have to move when you get your windows cleaned.

My husband did a complete set of house plans, elevations, trusses, etc. for a friend's son.
He would usually charge about $2000 for a complete set (you would pay an architect about $12,000 or more) and he is actually better, because he sizes all the beams etc. He has been drawing house plans by hand for 35 years, but he does so very rarely. He just doesn't have the time. He just does his own houses.
But, this guy has been our plumber for over 20 years and dh gave him a break. He only charged him $250 plus $24 for the blueprints.
So, we got a check for $274 that we can add to our challenge money.
prev. total $1713.00
today 274.00
new total $1987.00

I am doing a load of wash for the car. My dh purchased all white towels for the car that are kept in the garage.
Each towel is used once and once only because there might be a grain of sand in the towel and it would scratch the car. He normally uses 3-6 towels each time he washes the car.
Yesterday, he got home early because of the closing, so he washed and waxed the car. Now I have a home load of towels to wash!
That is ok, my car always looks shiny and new. I had a 98 red camero rally sport and everyone was asking me if it was new when it was 7 years old.
He would never let me take the car to a car wash or let someone wash it.
I think his secret goal in life is to be a car washer. He sure is good at it.

Yes, we splurged last night. we have been saying that when we close, we will splurge and have a big meal. DH really wanted lobster, but no place in this town serves lobster!
So we just had a fancier meal than usual. Our meal usually runs about $16 for both of us, last night we spent close to $30! Plus we left a $10 tip!!
Ok,back to being frugal again. Have to think about the $20 challenge!!

We did finally have our much anticipated closing on our spec house yesterday. However, it really was not a smooth day. After spending an hour in the lawyer's office, we took the check to deposit it in our money market account. Because the check was large, they called the other bank to see if their were funds to cover it.
Imagine how upset we were when the teller came back and said there were not enough funds to cover the check!
We left the bank and went back to the lawyer's office, because the funds were supposed to come out of his escrow account.
It turns out they did not make their deposit yet, so they hurried off to the bank.
We went back about 10 minutes later and the funds were there.
Of course, as I said before, they put a hold on the funds for 7 business days, which I thought was strange. The banks are almost across the street from each other.
The last house we sold was for $280,000 and we were able to write a check on that immediately.
All I was going to do with the money was open a CD at another bank that is paying 5.75%, but I can wait!
We have been on that house for 14 months, so I am glad we can now move on. It is time to look for another piece of land and another plan to build.

Well, I am $390,113.02 dollars richer right now. We finally had the closing and we got the check.
However, we had to sign something that we really do not have access to that money for 7 business days, which will be Jan. 31st.!! That's ok, there is nothing that I want to spend it on!!
I just want to watch it earn interest!!

The new owners loved the house, they even liked all the fixtures I picked out and said I had good taste!! They checked the house over for a hour and a half and could not find anything wrong with it.
They especially liked the kitchen/hearth room. My husband build all the cabinets by hand along with a built in entertainment center. They said the kitchen ought to be in a magazine. I said, one of his houses was in a magazine, just a few months ago.
Looks like we will be closing in about 2 hours!!

Well, in less than an hour, I am off to show the new owners their new house. They bought it in Oct. and we are closing today. (I hope) When they last saw it, the dry wall was being installed. I hope they like what they see.

Then bank called me today. The owners are flying into atlanta and renting a car to drive up here.
They want to take a walk thru the house before they close on it at 2 pm.
The last time they saw the house, the dry wall was just being put on.
Can you imagine buying a house and not seeing the inside of it??
So, I will meet them with the keys at a 10 am tomorrow to show them their new house. Hope they like everything!!

Just went to the grocery store. We did not get the snow expected, but now they say we may get some on sunday. I just got a few things I was almost out of, plus some charcoal. I try and stock up on charcoal in the winter in case the power goes off and we have to cook on the grill. I had a coupon for $1 off popcorn and I saved another $1 using my advantage card, plus I walked a mile. That is another $3 for my challenge.
prev. total $1710.00
today 3.00
new total $1713.00

My window cleaner showed up this morning and cleaned 2 windows!! He said he will be back in the morning. At this rate, he is going to be here a long time, I have close to 50 windows!!
Oh well, I am not paying him up front!

The window cleaner is here. He has been here about 1 hour and is still on the same window. It is cold and rainy. all around us they are having snow and sleet, but we just have cold rain. What a yucky day to work outside.
However, my husband is building a house. For the past 5 winters, he has been outside while building. I wonder why it works that way?? I guess lots of people work outside in the winter.

Well, I did not spend a cent today. I needed a few things from the store, but when anyone mentions the snow word, the whole town goes crazy and the stores are mobbed.
So, I even saved money by using no gas. I also got my exercises in, so I have $3 more to add to my challenge money.
Prev. total $1707.00
today 3.00
new total $1710.00