Enought of this snow and being out of everything! I managed to get out to the grocery store and bought more than I have bought in years! I really stocked up on the only food my oldest baby (poodle) will eat. She is such a picky eater but loves people food. But is upsets her tummy, so she has to eat a certain type of dog food. I was down to one pouch left for her. Fortunately, my puppy will eat dry food, so she was fine.

According to my Ingles receipt, I saved $5 using my advantage card. I also had a no use gas day yesterday (cause I was snowed in) and that will add $2 more to my challenge total.
Prev. total $3209.00
today 7.00
new total $3216.00

What is with this weather. We are snowed in again. Dh tried to go to work this morning, but had to turn around and come back home. We live in North Georgia, not in Alaska!
I filled up my car with gas on Sunday. I had to pay $2.95 a gallon. I don't think gas prices will ever go down. I can remember when I could fill my tank for $3. Good old days!
I did get a 5 dollar bill in change at the gas station, so I will add that to my challenge money.
Prev. total $3204.00
today 5.00
new total $3209.00

I got my little Molly a new toy to play with. They have valentine's day gifts priced at about 80% off at Wal Mart. I got her a cute little stuffed animal that sings and dances. Gosh, If I had kids, I would stock up on gifts AFTER valentine's day. I got a $5 bill in change today, so I will add that to my challenge.
Prev. total $3199.00
today 5.00
new total $3204.00

My usual check was deposited into my checking account this morning, and I will add it to my challenge money.
Prev. total $2610.00
today 486.00
new total $3096.00

I took my coin jar to the bank yesterday and received $40 back in bills which I will add to my challenge.
Prev. total $2570.00
today 40.00
new total $2610.00

I have only eaten out once this month, but last night I had dh stop and pick up some blimpie sandwiches for dinner, so I lost another point.
I have had 2 no use gas days on Sunday and Monday ($4) and will have $2 for not eating out on Sunday and Monday.This will go to the challenge!
Prev. total $2564.00
today 6.00
new total $2570.00

Friday night, we went out to eat at our favorite restaurant. It was the first night we had eaten out all month. I am really realizing how much money we save by eating at home.
I think I just got tired of planning meals, cooking and the clean up. (Although dh does most of the clean up)
I am planning to eat a lot more meals at home and save going out to eat as a treat once in a while!!

So far, on this month's challenge, I have not eaten out at all. Not even a bag of chips or a coke! However, I had planned to eat out on valentine's day because it is just something we always do. Well, then we got invited to a friend's house for dinner for tonight and we accepted.
But the snow came in on Friday afternoon and we have been snowed in ever since. Of course our invitation got cancelled, cause they live on the top of a mountain and more snow is expected soon.
This afternoon, we got a break and the snow stopped. All the roads have been salted, so we made a break and went out to Ingles to stock up.
Snow is expected both tomorrow and tuesday.
So Valentine's dinner is at home tonight.
Of course, I am saving money, but my dh is not working at all. He can't stand to sit idle, so he is painting all the trim on the stair railings.
I did save $6 at Ingles using my advantage card.
Prev. total $2528.00
today 6.00
new total $2534.00

Happy birthday today, Abe Lincoln! I got married on this date to my first husband!
Well, we are in the process of being snowed in, again. My dh has already come home from work as the snow is starting to stick to the ground. I had two no use gas days in a row, Wednesday and Thursday, so $4 to add to the challenge. I did run out this morning to get something for dinner. I have yet to eat out this month, a record for me!
Prev. total $2524.00
today 4.00
new total $2528.00

I got a letter from my bank that failed, saying that they had lowered the rate on my certificate of deposit from 4% to 1% as of next week. That means I will lose about $18 a day in interest for the next year, or $6570. I never thought I would see the day when a certificate of deposit paid only 1%.
Hey, but I am grateful that I have that money saved up! Gotta look on the bright side, right!!

I got two letters in the mail yesterday (two accounts) telling me that my bank had failed and had been taken over. No one lost any money.
I am glad they raised the limit on the fdic insurance because I was over the old amount. Both of my accounts are c.d.'s, so I will just write to them and tell them I wish to keep the c.d.'s there.
I made it thru one week of no eating out challenge with 7 points, so that is $7 I will add to the challenge money.
Previous total $2507.00
today 7.00
new total $2514.00

It has been windy and rainy, all day yesterday and all day today! Weathermen are calling for snow and rain tomorrow. My dh is keeping busy fixing leaky new houses. He checked out two this morning.

I have a 5 dollar bill in my wallet and got a $3 check from pinecone today for a survey I took last week. That is $8 more to the challenge.
Prev. total $2496.00
today 8.00
new total $2504.00

I went to do my grocery shopping yesterday. Ingles has been building a new BIG addition to the local store here. Yesterday, they decided to open the new part and transfer many of the products from the old area.
It was a mess and I could not find anything. I couldn't even find the sprite. So finally, I got some meat for dinner (they haven't moved that yet) and just gave up and came home.
I didn't buy much, but using my advantage card, I did save $3. I have also decided to pay myself $1 for every point I earn in the "no eat out" February challenge.
Prev. total $1,068.00
today 3.00
new total $1,071.00

I am always glad when January is over. It is the longest, coldest month of the year to me. (I know, February is just as cold)
I ran to Walmart's to get a few items that are cheaper than at Ingles. It is so nice to see the sun shine after the last few gloomy, snowy days.
I am not spending any five dollar bills, so I have one to add to my challenge money.
Prev. total $1058.00
today 5.00
new total $1063.00

I had another c.d. come due today. Too bad that I have to renew it at a much lower rate. 2% is the highest I can find anywhere.
Gosh, in the good old days when c.d.'s paid 8% interest, I didn't have any money. Now, I have money and can't earn decent interest.
I had to mail some reference letters at the post office, so I got a 5 dollar bill in change. Yesterday, the stock market went up slightly, so a total of $6 to add to the challenge.

Prev. total $991.00
today 6.00
new total $997.00

I had a certificate of deposit come due yesterday. I earned $8386 in interest for the year. I am so glad when I got the c.d., I took it for 2 years and it is paying 4%
I did my grocery shopping yesterday and according to the receipt, I saved $6 using my store card and coupons. I will add that to the $20 challenge plus my check which came into today for $486.

Prev. total $499.00
today 492.00
new total $991.00

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 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 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.

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

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.)

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

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

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