Tree Is Up and Updates

The Christmas Tree went up the day after Thanksgiving. We went to KMart on Black Friday and picked it up for half price. The tree we had last year, the lights eventually went dead. That is what happens when you use your Christmans tree for a night light for about 3 months.

 

This is our third year with a white artificial tree. I really like it.

 

This weekend, my husband and I went to my mom's house ( currently renting to my son) to pick up some of her Christmas stuff. The is a manger scene that I had put together with the the of Woolworths that I wanted to display at my house.

 

Since we had my daughter's truck we decided to go through all of the remaining boxes of my mom's stuff. Initially, I thought I neded to keep some if not most of her things. My way of hanging on I guess. But, it has been six months since she passed and I know feel differently. All of the boxes of the Early American Prescut ( there were two truck loads) were sent to Goodwill.

 

Then I went through the remaining bags of clothes and other household items that were in her garage and went to the Goodwill too. All in all, almost four truckloads of stuff went to Goodwill. It was bittersweet, but I feel like a weight has been lifted. I did save her Christmas stuff and what I don't want I am letting the kids pick out what they want.

 

Sunday marked a year since my dad passed. We did not do anything special, although I thought I might. The day was more for reflection than anything else. Plus, dad was not the type for any attention when he was living. In fact, one of his last wishes was that he be buried in Wisconsin without ceremony or anyone there. He stated he wanted to leave this world like he entered it, "alone!"

 

Tomorrow is probate court. I have no idea what to expect and even after asking the paralegal, I still have no idea. Curiously enough, the judge presiding is the same judge who presided over the Casey Anthony case. The honorable Belvin a Perry. The paralegal did say dress appropriately ( not in beach wear) duh.... And remove all sharp items from your purse.

 

I hope after tomorrow we can move forward regarding mom's estate. But, I won't count my chickens before they hatch.

 

Today Will Be A Busy Day

I have been up since 5 AM getting some last minute gift wrapping done.  I sent my husband to the store for a few last minute items, he is not usually a morning person but today he is managing :)

The house has been spot cleaned, I mopped all the tile floors throughout the house last night and vacuumed the dog hair off the couches. (English Bull Dogs shed like crazy!)  The kitchen is next with just a few dishes to do.

Dinner is ordered from Olive Garden and will be picked up at 2PM.  Meanwhile my husband will drive to Orlando( 45 min away) to pick up mom so she can celebrate Christmas with all that show up today.  Oh.. on on the way back from picking up mom, they will have to pick up the food too.

Christmas Star downtown Orlando

Meanwhile, I will have my grandson and we are going shopping for his parents.  do you think a 3 1/2 year old can keep a secret?  I don't know but we are going to try.

Earlier this morning I updated all of my accounts on Mint.com.  I like it because I can quickly look and see all of my account balances and if there are any changes.  There for a while, (about the last six months) I had no idea of what was in our retirement accounts.  Completely clueless.  But now I have moved old 401ks and Roths to Vanguard.com and I am starting to feel more in control of things.

We are as ready as we can be for today.  Hope you all have a great Saturday!

Here are my latest eBay sales

Let It Snow....

Oh.... there will be no snow here in Central Florida this year.  But a girl can dream, right? 

 Not much going on here today.  My husband is off this week, and we are taking easy.  We are still at my parent's house but to tell you the truth, we are getting use to it.  I imagine we will be here at least long enough for mom to get her radiation treatments.   After that we will see how she is doing. 

Christmas Star downtown Orlando 2011

 Tomorrow will be busy.  I am going to my mom's rehab to "learn" how best to assist her when she gets home.  After that, a hair cut and then maybe some shopping.  My husband will be home with my dad, so I am getting a break of sorts.  I will be taking full advantage of it!

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Monday Odds and Ends

 Did you all survive/enjoy your Christmas?  I hope so!  Our family was able to get together for Christmas Eve at my parent's house and we did have a great time.  There was great food, the opening of presents and just the fact that family was able to be together was a blessing in itself.  Mom did decide to not come home from rehab for the celebration.  She thought it would be too hard on my dad to see her have to leave again to go back to rehab.   I have to agree with her that she was probably right.   The kids and their families made it part of their plans to pass by the rehab to visit mom.  They staggered their visits so not to overwhelm mom.  

the high school sweethearts..... and now the old married couple

Today is my 33rd wedding anniversary.  Dang....33 years is a long time!  I married my high school sweetheart right out of high school, and have been blessed with a loyal and loving husband.  Granted, back then we both thought we knew it ALL, and that this whole marriage thing would be a piece of cake......little did we know!  I think any marriage is a work in progress, and that growth in the relationship is constantly taking place.  If not, the bond between both individuals would grow lax and eventually shrivel up and blow away.   


There is not going to be an "Day After Christmas" shopping today.  There is really nothing I need to get, so I am going to stay out of the stores.  In order to get ready for next year's Christmas, I will be starting my $500 Holiday Challenge again.  By trying to stick to this $500 budget for Christmas and track my purchases all year long, I was able to accomplish most of my shopping before December arrived.  The list of purchases also help me to keep track of what I did buy and what I still needed.  I used Swagbucks to acquire Amazon Gift Cards for Christmas, but what I did NOT know is that you cannot purchase gift cards (which was part of my gift giving for Christmas) with a gift card!  I will have to plan better next year.  
Time to get busy and get ready for another great day. 




Cents To Save is a part of  Yakezie Carnival hosted by My Personal Finance Journey 
 and the Canadian Finance Carnival at Canadian Finance Blog

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Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!   

The Elves Are Fired......

It would be wonderful if there were Elves to help with all the last minute details of Christmas, wouldn't it?  Last night, all remaining items were wrapped and are ready to be put under the tree.  Today, it will be time to clean up and get ready for the family to come over tomorrow.  The food has been ordered (we cater Christmas Eve dinner) and extra tables and chairs have been borrowed from the church.  

My mom had decided to NOT come home for Christmas Eve.  She had all week to think about it, and she feels that it would just be too upsetting for my dad to have her home and then she has to leave.  Actually it would be too upsetting for them both.   She is just not up to all that drama, and she does not want to put my dad through it either.   We will make the best of the situation.

Thanks to everyone who has stopped by Cents To Save!  I appreciate your comments and your support.  Time to get back to the last minute cleaning, maybe some grocery shopping and getting ready for tomorrow.  Merry Christmas to you and yours!

Oh.... and if there were really elves, I would never fire them, I need all the help I can get.

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Oops, I Almost Forgot About Christmas

 This is week two of living at Mom and Dad's again.  Things are going smoother this week, I pretty much have my dad's routine down and he is adjusting to me and my husband living here.  This week, we took dad to his doctor to check out a scratch on his leg that was not healing.  In fact it was becoming red and angry looking.  The doctor prescribed Keeflex to help clear it up.  My dad has diabetes too, and I have been keeping track of his blood sugars all week.  They were all over the place even with his oral medications.  Evidently his doctor has been wanting to put him on insulin for the last several years but my mom did not want to do that.  I can see why, my dad can be a bit of a handful at times.  Cantankerous  might be a better word.   Anyway, we took the doctor's advice and switched him to insulin.  It is only day two, but he seems better and his blood sugar numbers are much improved.

Today I was doing a mental  inventory of the Christmas gifts that I have purchased both wrapped and unwrapped.  I still had to put together a couple of calenders for two of my kids and I did that this morning.  They should be here in about one week.  Just a couple of gift cards to get and then I pretty much can say my Christmas shopping is done.  But there still is the wrapping......bah humbug.

The family was going to come to my house to celebrate Christmas, but since my mom's hospitalization we are going to play that by ear.  She was moved to rehab today, so depending on her progress..... well, we will just wait and see.

The plan this weekend is to go out to the other house and get the presents (both wrapped and unwrapped) and bring them here to have them all in one place.  Finish wrapping, and get ready for Christmas.  I still plan on catering Christmas dinner, especially now.  It will be much less hassle.  Not to mention the super easy clean up!  Sounds like a plan to me.
 






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$500 HOLIDAY CHALLENGE UPDATE ~119 DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS~

In less than four months Christmas will be here.  Are you ready?  Are you planning financially for the big spend?

Here are how some of my readers are getting ready.....

 Sharon writes: 
 Lisa,
I just cashed in another $10.00 to Amazon from swagbucks. I've started collecting stocking stuffers and made out some lists. It's time for me to get a bit more serious with swagbucks and other sites that earn gift cards to reach my $500.00 goal. I plan on using my snowflakes to add to my Christmas funds too. Gift creativity will help too! Let's hope!


ltjacobs704 writes:

I collect the My Coke Reward Points --- I usually do it to keep the Princess in her Seventeen magazine subscription. This year, I hard core saved them, and used them for our admission tickets to the World of Coca Cola when we to Atlanta for Princess Penelope's birthday concert. I had collected enough to cover the cost of admission for me, the Princess and one of her friends --- that was a $48 savings!

Carla:
This year I cut back to $1300, but I think next year I'm going to have to go to $1K, as it's just not in our budget to save that over the course of the year,

Louise:
I cut my Christmas budget back to $200 a few years ago and it's still quiet do-able, it would be more if our kids were young though. It's amazing how much less we need to spend once we start spending more consciously which is what these sort of challenges do, make us aware of what we spend. Good luck with the challenge!

Frugal Student:
I have a budget of $200 for all expenses to do with Christmas, tree, extra food, presents etc. but I hope to get it down a bit. I make a yearly budget so I just add Christmas expenses in the budget and it is there when I need it but I would like to have kids and have to move my budget around.

 Jane:
My goal is to save $1500 which seems pretty extravagant compared to your numbers, however that is also for birthday gifts/wedding gifts throughout the year. I know I have 3 weddings this summer already so I'm still going to try to save that much as last year I saved $800 just for Christmas and that wasn't quite enough! The kicker is that I take my DD on a weekend trip before Christmas so that is included in the total.

Jpkittie:
I'm planning on $600 for Christmas :)

Jan:
I have a cash gift envelope for all gifts throughout the year, but never have enough, and I don't give extravagant gifts. I'm going to start a separate Christmas cash envelope this year.

Laura: 
I would love to do this. I've set a budget of £420/$664 for Christmas, but I'd love to reduce this.
Good luck. I'm really interested to see how you all do on this challenge :)

Aspiring Millionaire: 
I decided to do this too after seeing it on The Saved Quarter and here.

My sister has decided to join in too, but we are aiming to do $100 for the whole lot, presents, food, everything. Fortunately we don't host, our mum does, we just take something nice.

I was so excited the other day as I got my dad's birthday, Christmas and Fathers Day presents for 41ea. They are the hardest to buy for and the bookstore near us is closing down. I managed to pick up 4 books he likes for $1ea! Their normal price is $33.95 (books are overpriced in Australia).

So I totally think I can do this challenge. Looking forward to your updates.

 Nikki:

You Christmas shopping is going really well. We have a goal of $1200, but I think we might lower it to $1000. 

Are you ready?  Have you started your shopping, or are you already done?  Maybe you are one of those that loves to wait until the last minute and get all the bargains?  

Feel free to share or update us!  I would love to read about your progress!

• $500 Holiday Challenge

•  $500 Holiday Challenge

• $500 Holiday Challenge 

• $500 Holiday Challenge

• $500 Holiday Challenge

• $500 Holiday Challenge

November Goals....One Week Late

A week late in posting goals for this month, I guess is better than not posting any goals at all! Here are a few of the things I want to accomplish this month.

1. Spend less on groceries. In order to accomplish this, I will attempt to plan out a weekly menu, coordinating with the weekly flyers and what I already have on hand. I try to budget about 500.00 dollars per month, and I would like to save 100.00 this month. So far this month I have already spent 67.00 dollars...... Gonna be tight People!!!

2. Reduce my electric bill by continuing to hang clothes outside, and on my Ikea drying rack for inside drying. Currently my bill is on the average billing plan, and I am obligated to pay about 176.00 per month. My bill is up for re evaluation every 3 months, so I want to work on lowering that.

3. Start shopping for Christmas. I am going to budget (for right now) about 500.00 dollars. Is that a lot? It might be.... but I like to get giftcards for most of the adults in my family because I don't really know what else to get them that they will use.

4. Start listing some items on Ebay that I no longer use. My goal is to net a profit of 200.00 this month.... I better get started on that right now!!

That is all I can think of for now. I am sure there is more, but I will keep track of these goals for you and you can follow along and see how I do!



Oh yes.... I forgot. I need to budget in Thanksgiving Dinner too! Oh Dear!

Post, Post, Christmas Shopping.

I figure if I confess to all of the bloggers, I can wipe the slate clean. I have been to CVS twice today. Once before work ( 6 AM) and once at Lunch ( 12 noon). I am still picking up a few "deals" when it comes to Christmas Shopping. Some are presents for next year and some are decorations.

I also picked up a few things for my daughter, ( she recently moved into her own place). Where will she put it, I say shove it under the bed!!

I have used all of my ECB'S, so cash out of pocket is not so bad. I am so hopping the "urge" to get more stuff will pass me by. I know it will be there next year. Duh! But that is not helping this urge today. In case you wanted to know.... Actual amount spent is 75.00 dollars. ECB's used is 40.00 dollars. Actual amount that I would have paid if items not on sale would be approx 475.00 dollars. This amount also includes a small shopping spree at Target, also 75 percent off.

I now have 12 Christmas Chili bowls, 38 cents each. 12 Christmas Salad plates, 38 cents each. One large serving bowl, 3 large oval serving platters, 1.50 dollar each. And they are so cute!!! I am now ready for our Christmas Eve dinner of Chili and cornbread 2008. Sigh......

ADDENDUM DECEMBER 2011:    I never once used the Christmas dishes.  They stayed in my cupboards until last May.  I offered them to a friend, but she did not want them.  Off to the Salvation Army they went.  

Preparing Better For Next Christmas

As I was reading through a few blogs this morning, I found a particular post at Money, Matter and More Musings that reminded me of how much I really spent at Christmas.

I really wanted to just forget about the total amount of money spent by me and my husband for each other and our family members. I guess in the back of my mind I know it would be okay, because of a stash of money we have left over from a house refinance. The refinance we did in order to put my husband through school full time. This way, he would not have to work and could accomplish his goals in a year as opposed to two or three years. Well, I know how much money is left over and in my mind I told myself that it was okay to spend all that money. How much you ask?

Between the two of us, we spent about 4000.00 dollars. Yep,,, that is a lot of money. I cringe every time I think about it. Its all paid off due to left over moeny from the refinance. But we just spent too much.

Hubby and I are of a different mindset when it comes to money. I like to save it, (except during the Christmas holiday :)) and he likes to buy things he wants when he wants them. We don't budget together. We have separate accounts. Most of the time that will work for us. But I know in order for us to successfully fund our retirements we are going to have to face this and work together.

Hubby has no retirement. At his last place of employment of 12 years, he chose not to contribute to the 401k program. The palce of employment before that, he did contribute to the 401k program and had saved 40,000 dollars. At that time, we were in HUGE, DEEP DEBT! We decided to cash out the 401k and payoff the bills.

That was a temporary fix. We eventually found ourselves in DEEP DEBT again within a few years.

So, hubby is currently looking for emplyment in his new field and I am hoping he will decide to join the 401k at the new place. We shall see.

Getting back to overspending at Christmas... I have to work with my husband and we have to come to an agreement as to how much to spend at Christmas next year. AND we have to start to fund that endeavor starting now.



I will keep you posted on how this all works out.

Christmas Present

I was quite tickled to find under my Christmas tree the BOSE Radio/CD player I was wanting! The sound is awesome and I just love it! Hubby also included the CD changer!

Christmas Shopping ,,,,,

Back to the mall again. Hubby and I went to get him a couple of dress shirts. Pennys had them 50% off, and I had a coupon for an additional 10 dollars off. What a deal if you only bought one or two.

Nope. We bought 5(FIVE) shirts AND 5(FIVE) ties. What were we thinking!? I know I can't take hubby shopping anymore. Yes, I am to blame as well. Oh well,,, time to make adjustments to the shopping budget again.

On paper, budgets work well. In real life with real temptations it's a lot more difficult. Oh well, I guess you can call my budget a work in progress....

Holiday Parties

Is it me or is it the hardest thing to decide "what to wear" to a company Christmas party? Good Lord. I went shopping twice looking for just the "right" top to wear. I know it's not that big of deal to anyone else, but to me and my inner voice I have to make sure that its the "perfect" top.

Maybe it's because I wear scrubs and sneakers everyday that getting dressed up is an alien experience to me. Just wondering if anyone else has that much anxiety about getting "ready" for a party....

Well, the party was last night and don't you know that the outfit I had on was just fine. A lot of stress for nothing. But It happens every time.

Christmas Shopping

Christmas Shopping is hard work! I have been attempting to finish Christmas shopping these last couple of evenings. The first night I took my husband. We went to the mall and were able to get the task started. The grandkids(we have 6) are finished. Now we have to finish our kids and my parents. Parents are the hardest to buy for. They already have "everything"! My dad always says "don't buy me anything!" Right, dad. That's not gonna happen. So I have found him the New Testament on cassette tape. That and a golf shirt, and maybe shorts. My mom is getting tickets to see the play "The Lion King" when it comes to town in January.

Now my kids will get clothes, which I have almost taken care of. And They will get a gift card to their favorite store. That' about it. I still have to get their gift cards. Hubby is getting a new scope for his muzzleloader rifle.

How do we pay for it? Well, overtime my husband have come to a financial understanding. We have seperate accounts ( but in reality they have both our names) and we divide the bills. He pays the house payment, the house taxes, the insurance, the medical insurance, car repair (he is a mechanic) and any eating out, AND gift shopping which includes Christmas.

I pay the rest.


It works out for us to do it that way. We each have control over our own finances, and we each have responsibility for our own financial being. This blog keeps me on task with my finances, I feel accountable to myself and to those that read it. By having to be accountable I am so much more aware of whre my money goes and how I can make it work for me.

It's a great feeling.

It's Monday..............

I was driving into work today thinking how I could find "hidden" money to fund my emergency savings. So, I decided to NOT take the toll road in this morning and that is a savings of 75 cents. Not a lot initially, but it will add up. I WILL be taking the toll road home, the 75 cents is well worth the quick trip home.

Also, since I am no longer visiting the 7-11 daily and spending at least $5.00, I will add that to my account as well. Oh, and another plus today, My wonderful dad filled my gas tank up, ( yes, I am spoiled) so that is an additional $33.50. The grand total is $39.25. Yoo Hoo!! I will be making the transfer tonight. Where else can I find "hidden" money? I will be on the lookout and I will let you know!

Well, as I stated in a previous post I have a clothesline up and ready to go. What is the forcast for the next 2 days? yep, you guessed it. RAIN. So I will wait until Thursday to try it out. We are able to keep the windows open and not run the AC, so that is a plus.

Yes, the update on the Christmas shopping I did this weekend. For 5 Grandchildren, I spent a total of 180.00. Not too bad, definitely room for improvement. And I did charge it. But I have money coming in from PayPal ( I sold a bunch of kitchenware on Ebay), so that will cover it.

And I have to budget for my classes next sememter. I am taking 4 online classes at the university so that should run around $1100.00 to $1200.00. I need to register to get a total. Where is that money coming from? Well, If you remember I have 2 adult children back home, and the rent that they pay is paying my tuition. Don't tell the Kids!!!

One adult child is very good about paying, but the other is struggling with personal problems and well ..... I don't know. Anyway, I will have enough by the time is it due.

So there you go, my Monday. Have a good night.