I have a friend who gets a delivery from the UPS guy everyday. She shops on line constantly. She lives in a small house but the house is overflowing with "stuff" She is in the process of building a bigger house, so she can fill it with more stuff.
The sad part to me is that she is 60 and she and her husband had to let a loan to build this house. By the age of 60, you should really be mortgage free, especially if you make good money like her husband.
I thought you got wiser when you get older, but I guess that is not always true!

I am working on my net worth this weekend. I try and do that the first day of each month. Every single one of my mutual funds and stocks have gone down, all of them!
How have you done this past month?

That what it said on the news today. They counted down the 10 things most lied about by women.
Guess what was number one??
How much money they spend!!
Do you lie about money and how much you spend??

I am so glad it is March. Oh, I know we still are in a winter month, but things start to change this month.
First, daylight savings time begins on March 9th and the days will be longer. (more sunlight.
Then, spring begins on March 20th, less than 3 weeks away. Yeah for March!!

We are snowed in, today. We only have an inch or two, but the roads are slick. Dh is happy as a clam out working on his hot rod. Now, I know why he had gas heat put in this garage when he built it.
We had dinner at home last night and probably will again tonight. I am glad I had some meat in the freezer (dh does not like to eat any meat that has been frozen, but he will tonight)
Looks like a no spend day for sure!

I am having another no spend day today. The good news is the electric bill is smaller than last months. The bad news is that the propane bill is about the same as in October, but I got 100 gallons less than last time. It is really getting expensive to heat your home now.

A friend gave me the site to go to, to play mahjong! I have never seen anything like it before. I have spent the entire morning, playing that game. I guess I am hooked.
Well, it is a cheap way to have fun!

We are building a big fancy house! Most of the spec homes we have built were cute little homes, except for the last one.
We get to pick everything out,which is the fun part. Pick stuff out with someone else's money!!
This house is their spec house, so we are trying to save money. But it is a high end house, so we have to make it nice. (Price is $799,000)
What would you all reccommend that we use on the countertops in the kitchen?
In the bathrooms?
(I like tile, but have been told that tile is OUT)

I am $10 richer today.
Last year I opened up a new checking account just to use when we build spec houses. Well, we have not built one this year, so the account is pretty much just sitting.
I check my accounts everyday and noticed a $10 service charge on that account. On calling the bank, I found that I got charged because I was below minimum balance of $750.
When I opened the account, I was told the minimum was $500.
Yesterday, I found my paperwork and I was right. I took the paperwork to the bank and they put the $10 back in my account. Apparently they changed the minimums, but they did not bother to tell me!
It pays to keep your paperwork!

Today is a special day to me and it makes me think about my life so many years ago.
I did not have a happy first marriage and my first husband physically abused me. I guess it made him feel like a "big man". Well, he was. He was 6 feet 7 inches tall and I am 5 feet 2 inches tall.
I remember the very first time he hit me. We both worked; I made $1 an hour and he made about $1.25 an hour.
We had not been married very long. His cousin wanted us to go to the dog track and gamble with him.
I said "we can't afford that"

When we got home, he hit me and told me never to say that again. I don't remember if I ever said that again, but it did not take much for him to hit me again!

When I moved out, we split our assets equally. Within about 2 years, he was broke. He wound up living with his new in laws and never had any money the rest of his life. He never owned a house again, he could not "afford it"!

That was 31 years ago, when I moved out the first week of January, 1977.

Thirty one years ago today, I met my darling husband on a blind date!

I am off to take a bridge class in 5 minutes and I just wanted to wish you all a happy valentine's day. Dh and I were frugal, we recycled last year's valentine's day cards, but we are going out tonight to dinner with several friends. Have a great day!

Yesterday, I posted about going into my hometown bank that I have been using for about 12 years. I go there 2 or 3 times a week.
For the first time ever, I was asked for my I.D.
When I posted this yesterday, I got several comments. I guess everyone assumed that I got mad when the teller asked for my I.D.
Quite to the contrary, I was just in shock! It is the first time ever that I have been asked for my I.D. as a bank customer.
I think it is a very good idea. The teller did not know me and was fairly new. I think the bank is making it a requirement and that is a good idea.

So, I was just a bit shocked, but not upset a bit!! I will just make sure to take my purse inside with me from now on. ( I almost left it locked in the car)

I seem to do a lot of banking and I bank with several different banks.
I have bragged about my main bank cause for over a year they have paid 5.25% on money market funds.
I have banked with this particular bank for over 12 years and until 2 weeks ago, I had over 300K in there. They dropped their rate to 2.9% so I moved 200K to a c.d. at another bank.
Well, yesterday, I had 3 transactions to make; cash a check, make a deposit to one of the money markets and make a large deposit to my business account.

I approached the teller with my transactions in hand. After I handed them over, he said, "May I see your ID??
Huh?? I was shocked.
Do I look like a thief or something? A check forger? A bank embezzler?

I guess he was just doing his job!

I got married. Yes, it was on Lincoln's birthday and I eloped. It was not a smart decision. My first husband had one main interest and it was not me. It was sports, mainly football.

We were married for 12 long years. I finally moved out in Jan. of 1977. I met my dh in Feb. of 1977. He proposed to me on April, 2, 1977. My divorce became final on April 5th, 1977. We got married on Friday, may the 13th, 1977.

So, I was single for 5 weeks in the past 43 years.

This time, I got the marriage "thing" right!!

Oh my gosh!! My oldest granddaughter turned 19 today. It just seems like yesterday when she was born!!
I cannot believe that I am this old!
Oh well, they say you are just as old as you feel, so that is ok!! Just put on my favorite dance song, "Wipe out" and watch me dance!!
(hey and being this old sure beats the alternative)

Has anyone on this forum ever played a game called "Hearts"??
We have a church that offers classes four times a year to people who are 50 and over. I have taken the bridge class several times, but they are not offering it the next semester. Instead they are offering a game called "Hearts"
Has anyone on here played the game? I am assuming that it is a card game? Did you like it??

My business checking account pays interest. I sometimes have a lot of money in there. However, the interest rate they pay is 1/2 of one percent. (.005%)
so I can have like $17,000 sitting there and earn about 20 cents in interest a day. Not a very good deal for me, but a great one for the bank!

Well, after two days of no heat, the heater kicked on this morning for the first time. We have 70's weather for two days. Now it is down to 28 and the heat is back on, but I know I saved a few dollars. Still have not gotten my propane bill, so I don't know how much it is per gallon.

Ok, I had another no spend day. I did go to town after the storms left the area, but I just did my errands, picked up a check, paid a bill.I have had several no spend days here lately and that amazes me! I use to run to town everyday and I always stopped at the grocery store. I am getting better at this!

It hit 75 degrees yesterday. I even put the air on in the car. ( you don't actually put it on, you set the temp. and it comes on when it needs to)
It was much warmer outside than inside of my house, which I keep set at 63 degrees.
So, the heat has not run for the last 24 hours and that helps the budget a bit!

I just figured out that I am losing money by not paying cash for a new car, but not very much a month. Plus, it keeps my husband from wanting a new car every year. We were discussing insurance also and how much young men have to pay for it. When we got our first vette, young men were paying $1200 every 6 months.And this was in 1978. The most I have ever paid is $450 every 6 months! I guess it is my age and the fact that I have never had a ticket or an accident.

Don't look at the dow today. Bad news for sure!!

My dh and i were discussing car payments last night. It is the one and only debt that we both do not mind!! I think that is kind of funny that we both agree on that.
I cannot stand to owe money on credit cards or have a mortgage payment, but I am ok on having a car loan. It is sort of like the electric bill, it is just something we have to have!! Cars, they are a pleasure to us and also a necessity.
Unlike a house, where the majority of your payment is interest, I always make sure that the majority of the payment goes to the principal when I buy a car.

I understand that most of you will NOT agree with me, but we are just "car people" Some women have to have their hair done every week. I probably spend less on car interest each month then they do on their hair. Gosh, I have not had my hair "done" in over 40 years!! I wear it long and straight!! (and blond)
Instead, we indulge in cars!!

Well my car is fixed. It seems that someone left out a bolt when the car was put back together in Florida. You may recall that my car just stopped when i went to Fla. for my class reunion. It turned out that the fuel pump just quit working and the entire car had to be taken apart.
Apparently when they put the car back together, he forgot to bolt the shifter cable back on or something like that!! Anyway, it is fixed and ready to come home and go back in the garage with Ole yellar!! I miss that car!!

I drove ole yellar to the bank today. The car has 1200 miles on it now and it is only the 3rd time i have driven it. Too bad it was raining and I got it dirty. Today is payday.
I love payday, coming home and putting money in all the envelopes! Now, I have to get ready for bridge, so it should be another no spend day like yesterday!!

Woke up to a rainy day today. Actually, that is good cause Georgia has been having a drought! Finally, the creek is starting to look good again!

My husband is building a big fancy house for a lady who is going to sell it. (spec house) She has hired a young man to make videos of it, while it is being built. Yesterday, he came over and had my husband talk on the video. I left them alone while they did it, but I know my dh was nervous. It took them almost an hour to make a 3 minute video.
Next time, dh wants me to do the talking. I think this is really neat!! I hope it helps sell the house, cause NOTHING is selling around here at all!!

I did my net worth for the month of January. I knew it would go down because of the stock market, but it was not as bad as I thought. Because I was good in saving, my net worth only declined by $6000. Not too bad, better than I thought!

Ileft the house early this morning to go and start on my errands! I needed to go to two banks, a drug for prescription and another drug store that had "kissables" on sale. (we eat those for a bridge snack every week)
First, I took back a $4 carton of cottage cheese that I just bought last week. My dh opened to take for lunch and he said it was black inside.
So,I am happy that I got my money back, but when I came outside, I started my car and there was something wrong with the shifter!! I could not get the car to do anything but roll backwards.
Apparently something broke on the shifter, so we had to get it towed to the chevy place in north Carolina.

My dh brought me home and I took out the nvew yellow vette for only the 2nd time since we got it!

Errands are done, now I just want to get warm again!!

I just totaled the interest that I earned for the month of January 2008. It came to $2012.88. It would be nice if this amount would go up every month since I have not been using any of the money. Unfortunately, with rates going down, my interest payment will be lower too.
Next I am going to work on my net worth, which will be lower also. My mutual funds really went down last month.