That is what I am going to commit, if people don't quit bothering us while we are having dinner.

The guy I call Mr. Miami showed up again and bugged us during our valentine dinner. I am staying home tonight. I just can't enjoy myself. I guess that will give me some money to add to my challenge.

I asked yesterday, but no one commented. Should I add the interest that I earn on my savings and money market checking to my challenge money? Any thoughts or comments?? Please!!!

Boy it was good to get out today. we were snowed in again this morning, for a while. dh made it almost to work, but entrance to job was full of ice. He has done a lot of work around this house. The bar area is all fixed up now. hardwood floor has been sanded and painted, new trim, cabinet built for wine cooler. Today he started painting all the trim in the kitchen.

Now if Holly (darling dog) and I can just stay away from it.

Today is my budget day and I always look forward to that. Went to the bank and got his paycheck cashed, then to Ingles to pick up a few things and to ace hardware. I used a $2 coupon, so I am adding to my challenge money.

Prev. bal. $2875.00

today 2.00

New bal. $2877.00

and the sun is shining!!!!

It was snowing and sticking to the road this morning. We went out to dinner last night, but we had our usual "visitors" who just show up to eat with us. Very annoying. I ate quickly and left.

DH is working on the bar area today. He has sanded the floor. We decided to fill up the hole where the ice machine was, with a wine cooler. We will never use it, but lots of people love them. (since all we drink is the $3 wine, boone's farm, we never needed a wine cooler.)

The road warmed up, so dh was able to get to his second home, the Home Depot to purchase the cooler and some grout for the new tile he put in.

I am going to make beef strognoff for supper tonight so this would have been a no spend day if he had not bought a $100 wine cooler. He is having to build a base to sit it on so that it will fit in the same space as the old ice maker. I hope we can get the ice maker working and just keep it in the garage, if not, we will sell it cheaply. That thing ran about $900 brand new.

This has been a noisy house today with all of the noisy tools and air compressors going. I am looking forward to dinner ALONE and a nice drink in hand. Maybe we should eat by candlelight in the dining room tonight.

If you don't have an ice machine, dont get one. We have one behind the bar. It was always having to be fixed, so finally g.e. gave me a new one.

About a month ago, we noticed water on the floor, dh turned off ice machine. Today another leak. Now floor is ruined, baseboard has been taken off and will have to be new put on.

Repairman also cracked the tile on the bar, so that is now being chipped off to put new tile down on the bar. Glad my husband can do all this, but it is a mess. If i ever have another one, it will be in the garage!

It has snowed all day, but has not stuck to the ground yet. I have just walked on the treadmill and watched tv, boring, boring. I had hoped to go out to dinner tonight,but it is snowing harder, so I don't know.

On a positive side, I have not spent any money today, but I also have not come up with any new money to put towards my challenge money. My dh is smoking his first turkey on the grill. I don't like smoked turkey but I hope it turns out well for him. My challenge money stands at $2875.

It is snowing right now and we wonder if we will be able to go out to eat tonight. I had another no spend day yesterday, two in a row.

We got invited over to look at house plans and to have dinner with a couple that wants us to build them a house. we were there for 5 1/2 hours and I really got bored. Dinner was good, but I was glad to come home.

So we have not been out to eat since Thursday night, and I am ready. (I don't count last night since I really did not want to go)

I was looking forward to tonight, but it is snowing, so I don't know.

I went to the grocery store and stocked up on sprite which was on sale and got some pork chops (just in case) on sale.

All in all I saved $12, so I added that to my challenge money. The total is now $2,734.00.

I had to draw out money for my husband's pay out of our personal savings and I hated that. He has 3 jobs sitting and they all depend on the grading guy coming out and doing some work before he can proceed.

This weather is not helping either. Oh well, I am just thankful that we have the money in our personal savings to live on!!

Today seems like a slow day. My dh stayed home and is cleaning out his van and the garage. I am trying to think of frugal things to do everyday. I know how some of you all feel. I sit here at 60 degrees with two sweater on, and the heat is running out in the garage while he works. Guess I should go sit in the garage.

Today looks like a no spend day until we go out to supper tonight. We are supposed to get snow showers today and tonight.

Nothing to add to my challenge money today.

Husband just came home. I didn't ask for details, but he spilled the black looking stuff he is coating the basement with, (waterproof stuff) all over himself. He had on new jeans, new boots and a new warm coat that we spent $100 on last month. They look to be ruined, but I am washing the coat now, so we will hope for the best.

Anyway, I spent $7.94 in Rite Aid and $17.58 at the grocery store yesterday. I saw a sale on sprite, 12 pack cans, were 4 packs for $10, so i am stocking up. I also buy toilet paper every time I go in cause I have a $2 off coupon. I hope to buy enough toilet paper this month to last me all year. The coupon expires the end of the month. I already have 49 rolls of toilet paper in the house. They cost me 22 cents each.

Last night was dinner out and that was $24. I know that is my big downfall and I wish I could be motivated to stay home.

It is not that I am too lazy to cook, it is just that my husband is so tired, he just wants to sit and rest and watch tv. I absolutely hate to watch tv before 9 pm, so it is costing me money!! My challenge money remains at $2671.00

Boy I am glad to be home. We left early Friday morning determined to get to central Fla. before dark. That meant we had to eat our meals in the car.

We had Mcdonald's for breakfast and Wendy's for lunch.

We got in and were informed they had already had dinner. There is only one place to eat in the entrire town, McDonalds so we ate peanuts and candy for supper.

The next morning we were informed that they only eat one kind of cereal for breakfast, so we went to McDonalds.

We were told not to eat lunch, they were taking us out to a fancy place for dinner, but we cheated and Went to Wendy's for a few chicken nuggest.

Dinner was good but I am not used to eating at 4:30, we usually eat after 8 pm.

Breakfast the next morning was runny eggs which I cannot stand, so I ate more candy.

We went to the store for something for lunch and by then, I did not feel so good. For the first time in over 2 years, I bought an egg custard pie and 3 chocolate iced donuts. I had the pie for lunch.

We went to an anniversary party that afternoon and I ate cake.

When we got home at 5pm. we were informed that they were not hungry, they were eating ice cream bars for dinner.

So I had more pie and candy for dinner. Back in the car to come home, we stopped at Mcdonald's for breakfast and Krystal for lunch and ate while driving.

We both gained weight. I have not eaten so badly in all my life.

On top of that, we spent most of our time sitting in a house that was 85 degrees with the heat running.

It was 75 outside and we wore shorts.

It is true, there is no place like home, especially when you can control the food and the heat.

I started out tracking our money each day, but fell behind, but we spent about $200, most of that was for gas. I am looking forward to getting back to my financial challenge.

I did set the heat down to 50 when I left, so I know I saved a little money on heating the house for 4 days!! Time to look forward to the month of february!!!

Sitting here in Florida, wearing shorts for the first time in months. Haven't spent too much money on this trip, we are staying at my FIL's duplex and it is pretty nice. We have eaten every meal out, so it has been pretty much fast food for the last two days. This town is so small there are two places to eat, McDonald's and Pizza Hut. (I don't like pizza) I have probably spent less than $100 on this trip and most of that has been for gasoline. I paid $2.59 a gallon yesterday for premium. I will be glad to get back home and back to the challenge. Can't save money when on a trip. We are going home tomorrow.

We are getting ready for a trip to fla., one that I am dreading. It is a 12 hour drive, we will stay two days and drive another 12 hours back.

It is to go and visit my in laws who are in their 80's so we will most sit and sweat because they keep their heat on 90 degrees.

Today I packed and ran errands. I went to the grocery store so I would have a few things on hand when we got home on Monday night. With my Advantage card, I saved $4.04 so that brings my challenge amount to $2551.00

I don't think I will have any money saving days the next 4 days. I have agreed to stay there for 3 nights, rather than a motel like I prefer. So, in a way, I am saving money, but I am not too happy about it. I don't like staying with people at all, but it is hard to find a local motel that will take a small dog. I never travel without her.

Well I have never done a blog before. Not even sure what that is?? I am brand new to computers and at my age, I don't learn real quickly. I should take computer lessons. thanks to Jeffrey for helping me out!

Today should be a no spending day except for dinner out. We spent about $18 for dinner out and I really did not enjoy it so much because we had a guy sit with us most of our meal. He does that about once a week. I can't be rude cause he wants us to build his new house, but he has been talking about this for over a year.

We are going to Florida on Friday, so we should be spending quite a bit this week, plus my husband can't seem to get this house started, so we are going to have to draw money out of savings. I hate doing that, it will be the first time in ages that I have done that.

It is a beautiful day today, so I made my "liquor run" to Murphy, N.C. We live in a "dry" area, you can't even buy beer. The funny thing is you can buy liquor and wine in Murphy, but you can't buy beer! You have to go to a different county for that.

Oh well, my husband is feeling better. He is coming home early and we are going to go meet some people who are interested in building a house.

Dinner was pretty cheap last night. Even tho we ate out, we only spent $10. all dh wanted was chicken soup.Then, I spent $1.93 at the grocery store buying TP and a notebook. I keep a notebook for every job my husband takes and he took a new house to build last night.

I am very please with my $20 challenge and I have build my total from $20 to $786.83 in just 24 days. I got $611.13 in interest credited to my checking account yesterday. I was going to count that because when this 1st house (our spec) gets started, we will use the money that is drawing interest, and there won't be much interest paid on this checking acct.

It is a money market acct. and I can only do 3 checks a month, plus I have to keep a high balance. Once the balance goes down, I will lose the high rate it pays.

What do you think?

Should I use the interest I get every month in my checking and add it to me challenge money?

I am not going to count the interest in my savings.

I will do what you all think! I don't want to look like I am cheating.

Is anyone counting the interest in accounts that they already have?

My hubby felt no better, so headed to the dr. this morning.(He will work you in) Spent $45 there and got $67 worth of prescriptions. He went to work for a few hours but came home early and is laying down now. So, that has been an expensive day because he works for himself, by the hour. No work-no pay!!

I cashed the paycheck today but did not spend anything except for my tp stockpile. Going to use that $2 coupon everytime I am near the store.

We are going to leave for fla. on Friday, I am dreading it cause it is a long 12 hour drive and I hate Florida.

We are going to visit my dh father who is 85. This is going to be an expensive week with a trip to Florida and about 5 days of lost pay when we go.Oh well, at least we have the money.

It as rained all day so I did not visit the consignment shop like I wanted to. I felt very guilty getting my nice clean car all dirty in the rain.

My husband never sits around watching tv in the daytime, so I know he is really feeling sick today.I worked on cleaning out a closet and checked on the consignment place. They say to call first for an appointment. Then we rode to Home Depot and I took back a large recessed bulb. My husband buys them in packs and says there is always one or two that don't work. Those bulbs are $3.33 each and too expensive to just throw away like he has been doing. I got a new one instead.

Had a coupon to take $2 off the toilet paper, so stopped there then went to drug store for throat drops. I can tell this is going to be a long day. Plus I have to cook supper tonight too. At least we had a dinner by ourselves out last night. That is always nice. I told my husband I was going to print up a sign that say, "If you are going to sit with us, you have to pay for our meal"!! Think that will work?? (Of course he told me not too and I won't but I can wish, can't I)

I also cleaned out his van and came up with over $10 in change for my change jar, so I feel like I have had a productive day, money wise.

Well we had a nice dinner out with drinks last night. Then home to fill the tub, light the candles and soak and sip on our drinks.

I did my grocery shopping today and really paid attention to what things cost. We spend a lot on diet sprite which is usually about $4 a 12 pack. (We take it out to supper so our drinks are free) I am going to try the store's equivalent of diet sprite cause it is $2.50 for a 12 pack. Rather than get stuck with something we hate, I just bought the large bottle for 88 cents to try it out.

I really watched what I bought today and my grocery total was only $38, plus I had over $4 in savings on my advantage card. I got a store coupon giving me $2 off my next pack of cottonelle aloe toilet paper, so I will get my next pack of double toilet paper for only 88 cents. That reminds me of the "good old days"

I am happy that in the first 3 weeks of this year, I have added $760 to my challenge money!

Have a wonderful day and night!!

Well I have spent the whole day waiting for the sears man to come fix a dishwasher in a house we built. I am just doing this to be nice, but it makes me mad to have to stay in the house and wait all day. The people that bought the house live out of town, oh well.

Went out to dinner last night and spent about $17. Got stuck with a couple sitting with us for a while, AGAIN!

Don't people know it is rude to push themselves off on other people all the time? This couple has done this over and over again. I know we should change restaurants, but it is the only one in town we like. And we really don't like driving out of town at night anymore.

Went to Ingles to buy prilosec and saved $4, with my advantage card and a $2 coupon. I discussed moving my money from local bank paying 3.59% to ING paying 4.75 til 4/15 with my husband. He is worried with my poor computer skills, that I will goof up and something will happen to the money. I accidently deleted everyone's address in my Inbox and I did not have them written down.

I think he is afraid that I will accidently delete all our money!

I have enjoyed the $5000 challange and am constantly trying to think of ways to make money. (other than getting a job)(the only place I could get a job is at a fast food place)

It is a sunny but boring day. I have stayed home all day and done very little. We ate dinner out last night, that was $17. At least it was a peaceful dinner, no one had to come and talk to us or sit with us. I don't mind it for a few minutes, but we get these people that drop in and stay an hour.

Then we stopped and filled up my car, that ran $28.75. I got a wedding dress out to take to a consignment shop today, but just have not gone out yet. I guess I want to go and check out the consignment shop first and see if they even want the dress. I have got to go thru some of these closets and throw things away.

I even have the jumpsuit that I wore to an elvis concert on Feb. 15, 1977. ( I still have the ticket stub in my "elvis" room)

I made my weekly trip to N.C. to buy liquor today. We spent about $26 dollars for dinner out last night, but had enough left over for my dh lunch. I spent about $20 on a prescription and some vitamins. Wound up going over to my husband's job to see the basement he is finishing and then he rode with me to N.C. He had to go and order some carpet, so we wound up going to Wendy's for lunch and spending $6. (something we never do)

Still have to fill up my car with gas tonight, so it has been an expensive day! I was annoyed last night at this guy from Miami. He bought a house here and is fixing it up and every time we see him, he annoys us for at least a half hour talking about his "wonderful" house. We want to go out and be together, not stuck with Mr. Rude!

Hope he is not there tonight!

Today the weather is terrible. It is rainy and windy and cold. All I did was drive to the drive in window of the bank to cash my husband's paycheck and right back home. Took my dog, Holly with me to get her a dog bone. She loves to hide them. Then I have to find them in the car.

I have done my budget and besides my regular savings, I have an extra $60 to put with my challange money. We spent $16 on our dinner out last night, I usually make a trip once a week to the liquor store in North Carolina, but it is too ucky to go today.

I am planning on having my first garage sale in 10 years this spring. Today I cleared out a big cupboard in my kitchen so I can put lots of the stuff in there that I am planning to sell. I was going to lug everything upstairs to one of the spare rooms, but that is a lot of climbing. Then I have to bring everything back down the stairs. I threw away a bunch of junk, so that is handy.

No spending money for me today until we go out for supper tonight!! Guess I will walk on my treadmill.

We had a nice steak dinner in the dining room last night, by candlelight, and listening to music. That was very nice. I also cooked a meat loaf so dh can take his lunches all week. He never eats out thank goodness.

I did go to the grocery store to get a few things we needed and spend $9.16 cents. I buy dh shampoo and conditioner there, he likes the VO kind for 97 cents.

Today is normally my pay day and budget day, but the banks of closed for Martin Luther King day. I will have to borrow $20 from my misc. envelope to go out tonight, since my allowance day won't be til tomorrow. I probably have enough money in my wallet for dinner, but just in case , I like to carry a little extra. I don't like to charge food to my credit card.

I discovered e bay today and tried to sign up for pay pal. I don't know anything about it. Maybe that is a good thing, I really don't need to be buying anything more.

I have spent most of this weekend watching the 35th anniversary of "All in the Family" reruns. We went out last night and spent $23 on our dinner. Today, to celebrate our winning the law suit, dh wanted to cook steaks out on the grill.

I went to Bi lo and found porterhouse steaks on sale for $5.99 a pound. Also found some betty Crocker potatoes, buy one get one free.Got a few more things and spent $16.55, but I saved $5.22 using my store card, so I added that to my $20 challange money.

Since diet sprite is a big expense for us, I am looking for something cheaper.

DH did the dance of Joy in the doorway of the bedroom, before he left for work this morning!! It has been a good weekend.

BTY, when I watch tv, I walk on my treadmill, so I am not totally wasting my time, I am getting exercise too.

Remeber the little guy on that tv show, Belke, was his name I think. When he was happy, he would do the dance of joy!! Well that is what I am doing now.

I just got the verdict from the magistrate judge on the small claims court decision and we won!!

Since we did not use an attorney, this has not cost us one penny!! It was nerve wracking, but just proves that what goes around comes around!!

This guy sued his last builder too, so he is just one of those types! We are not used to people like that, here in the boon docks.

Ok, saved $7000 today!!!!!!!!!!

Well, we went out to dinner last night and spent about $20. As I have mentioned, we eat out every night but Sunday and that is because the restaurant we liked is closed on Sunday.

My husband works 7 days a week usually and I consider this our date, every night. We sit next to each other and just talk!! We have cocktails and it is very relaxing.

Because we live in a dry county, we are allowed to brown bag in our drinks, so that keeps the cost of the meal down. I know this is one area I need to work on, eating at home.

We use to just go out on weekends, but I am so bored with tv, I just can't stand sitting there watching it.

Early this morning, we got our first snow!! I was suposed to go to a luncheon but it got called off because of the weather. I went grocery shopiping and spent $56, but I saved $6.42 using my Ingles advantage card, plus about $5 for my lunch and tip. So I added $11.42 to my challange money today. I also added over $1.50 to my change jar. We are supposed to go tonight, but I bought meat just in case we don't. So far, the snow is not sticking to the road, so we will probably go anyway!

I got my mutual fund statements in the mail this week, and all of them increased, which is good.

I realize that the journal should be about saving and spending money, so I am going to start recording what I spend each day. I looked and managed to find a new little notebook that I can put in my purse to carry and record what I spend. I have been reading the journal entries and it seems like no one records regular bills, just the day by day stuff that you spend on, plus emergencies.

My down fall, I guess, it that we eat dinner out every night but Sundays. (cause the restaurant we like is closed) We like out in the boonies and there is nothing else to do, but I hate watching tv.

So every night is sort of like a "date night" to us.

We go out, sit next to each other and talk for several hours. We have been sitting next to each other for close to 30 years. We won't sit at a table for two unless we can sit next to each other.

So last night, we went to try and new restaurant, did not like it, and went to our old place. (new one was too noisy, we got to talk to each other, not shout at each other)

Spent about $20. Today is a stay home day, but we will go out to eat tonight !

It seems fitting to start this journal on Friday the 13th. I got married on Friday the 13th and it has always been my lucky day.

We had to go to small claims court for the first time in our lives this week.My husband had just started a job and was having a grading guy put in a driveway when the owners decided to stop the job.

That was fine with us because we had a bad feeling about these people. We were right. They decided to sue us and the grading guy for $7000 each and we don't really know why.

They hired a different guy and he put in a different driveway over the septic area and it cost him $7000.

I guess he wants us to pay for his drive.

I was prepared to handle the whole thing and had great notes and lots of paperwork to show the judge.

But the judge would not let me say a word, and my husband was a nervous wreck and had little to say.

We will know the verdict next week. I sure would hate to pay out $7000 for a job in which my husband made about $500.

I think we will stick to building spec houses!!