September No-Low Spend Challenge: Week 4 of The Great Food Fight 2013

 

 

I am pleasantly surprised at how well we did this month on our Grocery Spending. I joined the Great Food Fight In April 2013. Crystal at Budgeting In the Fun Stuff is my motivator.

I don't do spreadsheets so I keep track in a small notebook. Above you can see that we spent $542.00 in Groceries this month. Last month we spent $685.00. This does NOT include personal care or non-perishable purchases. I have not quite figured out what my budget limitations are for those categories but I will be keeping track of them to monitor the purchases.

 

We spent $163.00 in eating out. Not too bad. In August we spent $232.00 in eating out.

Below you can see what was spent on non- perishables and personal care items. Now if you added them ALL together with grocery spending it will come to a total of $642.00, which is still pretty darn good for us.

 

What are our goals for for next month? Groceries, we will TRY to keep the groceries around $500.00. This should be easy because we will be going on vacation the third week of October. In fact, that will definitely affect the grocery budget, won't it?

 

I will still keep track just to see how it all comes out. It should be interesting.

There is also a sub total for our church pantry spending. We designate 10.00 a week to add items to the church pantry. This week I found 7 boxes of Kellogg's cereal on sale at Dollar General.

• How was your grocery spending this month?

FPU Financial Peace University: Week 2

 

Last night was week two of our Financial Peace University, "Relating with Money". This lesson Dave stresses the importance of working together as a team and getting on the same page about the money. It can make or break your marriage.

 

The meat of the message is to work together on your budget by respecting each other's money personalities and styles. That is where discovering if you are a "Nerd" or "Free Spirit" financially comes into play. You are both to take a quiz and the answers will determine if you are a Nerd and like to crunch the numbers or if you are a Free Spirit and you feel smothered by the constraints of the budget. I was surprised to find out that I am equally categorized by both. I am always on time. Always. But I don't care if my sock drawer is not neatly organized.

 

Dave also introduced " Budget Committee Meetings". This is where you and your spouse plan to get together and discuss the budget. The Nerd will come up with the budget and present it to the Free Spirit. The Nerd must be quiet while the Free Spirit looks over the budget and makes a suggestion or two.

 

Dave's grown daughter presented a section on children and money. She discussed the importance of paying the child for a chore or chores instead of having a general allowance that the child just expects. She suggests for younger children make saving money more visual by using a clear jar or piggy bank. For older children she suggested using three envelopes to manage their money. One envelope for giving, one for saving and one for spending.

 

We will have our Budget Committee Meeting and discuss or quick budget again. We will also talk about how we both think of money and how to better work with each other financially. I am just loving this program so far. It is inspiring my husband to work with me and become more of a team player when it comes to our money. I would like to focus on how to accrue our 6 month emergency fund.

Next Week: Cash Flow Planning

 

 

Image credit

 

FPU:Financial Peace University: Week 1

 

 

 

My husband and I attended our first class of "Financial Peace University". I count this as a huge milestone! The first class is titled " Super Savings" and it was an overview of the whole series of classes. My husband was interested and much to my surprise is on board with completing the "Baby Steps".

• Step 1 is putting $1000.00 away for an emergency. We have that covered.

• Step 2 is pay off consumer debt. Done.

• Step 3 build a 3-6 months Emergency Fund. This is where we are at.

We have both( actually he voiced it first) decided to stop funding our retirement accounts and working extra hrs is possible until we have put away 6 months of living expenses. Wow.

I am so grateful that as of now we can finally work as a "team" to manage our finances.

Next Week: Relating To Money

 

September No-Low Spend Challenge: Week 2

Two weeks into Carla's Low spend challenge and here is the damage so far.

 

 

Eating out: $94.00

Groceries: $ 233.00

My goal is to keep our groceries under $600.00 this month. I know, $600.00 is a lot for two adults and four dogs. But it is what it is. If I can stay under 600.00 dollars this month, then maybe I can get it even lower next month :-)

 

When I was keeping track of our grocery shopping earlier this year it was definitely a real eye opener! Our spending was out of control!

How are you doing with your grocery budget?

 

Grocery Shopping: Update

 Tuesday I went to Aldi's and picked up a lot of produce.  We have been eating salads ( Big salads!) almost every night.   Typically I will buy 3-4 bags of the romaine lettuce, red, yellow and green peppers, cukes, tomatoes.etc.  We have a protein with our salad, usually grilled chicken, grilled shrimp or just sliced sandwich meat (ham or turkey).  

 I also always add kidney beans to our salad.    Another thing I will get at Aldi's is coffee creamer.  This time I picked up two bottles.   And a couple of bags of delicious apples for our lunches and after dinner snacks.

I also went to Winn Dixie to get a few things before the ad changed yesterday.  I guess I should have taken a picture of it because now I don't really remember what I bought.

Here are the totals:
 Aldi:             34.00
CVS              10.00

 Winn Dixie:   19.00
  Total           63.00


  $53.00 For Groceries 9/3
  $49.00 For Groceries 9/2
  $10.00  For Groceries 9/5  (CVS Tuna)
  $31.50 for non-perishable/OTC drugs
  $10.40 Church Pantry
  $153.90 TOTAL



My goal is to keep my GROCERY shopping below $600.00 for September as part of my low/no spend challenge.  Only 25 more days left! :)




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The Great Food Fight August 2013

I decided to get REAL about our food budget and face the music. My inspiration is from Crystal at Budgeting in the Fun Stuff and her Great Food Fight. She and her husband are keeping track of their grocery and eating out spending on a piece of notebook paper tacked on the refrigerator door. You can see an example here.

I started the "Great Food Fight" in March 2013. That month I spent $740.00 in groceries and $218.00 on eating out. I know, that is a lot!!

Here are the numbers for August 2013. We did do better this month.

Our groceries are still high. I have to remember that these totals include personal items such as shampoo, deodorant, dog food, and beer. If we did not include those items the numbers would be a bit lower. Probably a lot lower if did not like our beer :-)

Next month I am going to try to keep my total groceries BELOW $600.00. I think it is doable.

How is your grocery budget doing? Staying on track?



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Getting Things Done Around Here

It was a big day for our dogs Princess and Cricket.  They got to meet their new Veterinarian and get updated on their shots.  Poor dogs, they get so excited to get to go in the car, and then as we get closer to the vets office they are as nervous as cats in a room full of rocking chairs!

It probably looked like the circus was coming to town when I was trying to get the dogs out of the car and not lose my purse, glasses or phone.  I only dropped my glasses.  Twice.  Of course the girls had to bolt to the nearest tree and sniff and pee.  After that they were a bit easier to manage.

Both dogs were tested for heart worms and thankfully they are negative.  My foster pups are heart worm positive and they have to take pills twice a day for 60 days.  For two office visits ( both dogs) exam, blood work, two shots each and a monthly  heart worm preventative they charged me $250.00.

I thought that was pretty good!  I called around and other vets wanted big bucks just for an office visit.  I will go back next month and get their monthly preventative for heart worms, probably enough until the end of the year.  That will be about 15.00 dollars a month.  At the end of the year, they will both be getting their 3 year rabies shot.

Both dogs were exhausted after all that excitement and we all had to come home and take a power nap!


Here is what else I did today!

Keeping Track of The Cash

Shopping, shopping, shopping! Probably one of my least favorite activities especially when it is grocery shopping. Today was three stop shopping.

Walmart was first on the list. We needed personal care items, mouthwash, soap, oil of Olay, pressed powder, toothpaste, etc. And... We needed beer. I love Lime-a-Rita beer by Budweiser. Have you tried it? It's really quite tasty. Wal-Mart does have the best everyday prices on the items I both today.

$66.00 spent at Wal-Mart

Next on the list is Walgreens. They had toilet paper on sale and I have never tried the magic eraser so I picked up one of those too. I also used some of my Walgreen points which reduced my purchase by $3.00.

Total spent at Walgreens $9.00

Now on to Winn Dixie. They had orange juice, peanut butter and jelly on sale. The peanut butter and jelly ( three of each) are going to the church food pantry. For all six we only spent $10.00.

The orange juice was 2/5.00 and the little Debbie's were 2/3.00.
Total spent $11.00

Total spent today $96.00

Out of the $400.00 cash I took out Saturday I have $200.00 left. This includes the 96.00 I spent Sunday on groceries, bowling and the thrift store.

Financial Goals 2013 Revisited. It's About Time!

 It has been awhile since I have even looked at my list of financial goals for 2013.  This year has been a whirlwind for a variety of reasons.  Most of which you all are very familiar with.  As with many things, I have been trying to get back to a new normal.  Reviewing my Financial Goals is just a way to get through ( or over)  the past and look forward to our new financial future.  Here is the quick look at the the before AND the new after. 

1. Pay off remaining Credit Card Debt. Balance $4500.00 At one point this year, our credit card debt was as high as $13,000. We had planned and expected for the debt to be paid off by the end of this year, but we had a few unexpected expenses pop up. PAID OFF!!!

2. Dental work for husband. New crown for one of his back molars. $340.00 PAID!

3. New suit for husband. My husband shops in Big and Tall (he is 6'5'). He needed a new suit right away because he was speaking at my dad's memorial. $500.00 PAID!

4. The rental house needs new tile in the kitchen. the dishwasher leaked and the laminate flooring is buckling. Cost: Unknown at this point.... getting estimates. Done! Tile was 500.00 and labor was 300.00.

5. Save $1200.00 for Christmas,Weddings, and Birthdays The Christmas/ Gift account is automatically funded each pay period. So far we are on track.  But I am thinking I will need to up the amount.  I don't think $1200.00 will be enough. 

6. Save $2000.00 for a trip to Las Vegas in Spring. We were planning to go earlier this year, but it did not work out. We are going to Las Vegas in October 2013.  I am using my eBay and Etsy shops to fund our trip.  Maybe I should put that another way.  We have the funds to go, but I want replenish our vacation account as much as possible before we leave.  This is motivation for me be more serious about online selling. 

 

7. Begin contributing to my Roth again. I have not made any contributions to my retirement accounts since I lost my full time job almost 18 months ago. I have move all of my account to Vanguard and I will begin an automatic withdrawal from my checking to start in January 2013 of $200.00 per month. I did start my payroll deductions in January of this year, but only $100.00 per month.

8. After all of the above are accomplished, it will be time to apply all extra money (at least $7000.00) to our primary mortgage. The balance on our primary mortgage is $98,800. We want very much to reduce the mortgage to $90,000 by the end of the year. PAID OFF!!!

When September rolls around, we will have a newly revised Financial Goals for 2013.  

Keeping Track of the Cash

This weekend I am transitioning back into using cash for the majority of my purchases. I will still be using my debit for gas purchases just because it is easier for me.

Saturday I had a hair appointment in town, so I was going to get my weekly cash out of the ATM and start my cash only adventure by paying cash to my hairdresser. Well, I tried twice to get cash out and both times I was denied. The bank ATM gave me a slip with a phone number I could call. And I also get a text message with a number I could call too.

I was running late and I did not have time to call before my hair appointment. Luckily my hairdresser was willing to go ahead and give me my haircut and I would pass by later with the cash. I also did not have any checks, those ran out last week!!

After my haircut, I started digging through my wallet and luckily I did have a blank check from my husband's account stuffed into my wallet. Whew!

I then called the bank and they said that there was suspicious activity on my debit which caused my card to be deactivated. After talking to the representative and going over my previous purchases we managed to clear things up. What a pain!

Back to paying with cash. Above is my grocery shopping trip to Aldi's from yesterday. Total spent was $55.00. I loaded up on produce since my husband and I are eating big salads every night.

Saturday expenditures:
haircut 30.00 ( paid by check )
groceries 55.00 ( cash)
Thrift store 20.00 ( cash )
Watch battery 5.00(cash)

Sunday expenditures:
Haircut for grandson 11.00 (cash)
Bowling for three 25.00(cash)

Total cash purchases:  $96.00

It was a busy weekend!!

Decisions, Decisions

I have been back to work for two weeks now. The old routine is feeling very familiar and comfortable. There has been a great outpouring of support from my co-workers, students and church family. I am very blessed.

We are still receiving sympathy cards, the latest one is from one of mom's MD Anderson cancer doctors. Definitely made me cry. This is an odd occurrence as most of the other cards did not. Then it occurred to me that it was the finality of not seeing that particular doctor with my mom. Yes, that is what trigger the tears. A touch of finality.

Every week I check on mom's house and collect the mail from her neighbor. This week, her mail should start being forwarded to my home. That will make it easier on her neighbor and me. I still plan to go and check on her house at least once a week,at least until we decide what to do with it.

With regards to dealing with the financial side of her estate,there a things I know about and things I probably don't know about. I do know that she has a substantial IRA. There're is also my day's bank accounts ( they kept their money separate ) which is a tidy sum as well. Mom had previously added me to that account.

Then there is mom's credit union accounts. From what I can tell, when she saved up $5000.00 she would put in an account or CD. I am not yet on that account.....or accounts. She did add me to her primary checking account at Chase. There is enough money in that account to cover her funeral costs. She may or may not have had a savings account there, because if she did, she did not put me on it. But, I think she did.


She does have a safety deposit box at Chase, as she mentioned that she has CD's in it that she left to my kids. I don't know what else in there, if anything at all. As you can see, there are lots of unknowns with regard to mom's financial legacy. Mostly because she was a very private person and kept her business to herself. As executor of her will, I do have the right to eventually gain access to all of her accounts.

Before I do anything with them, I need financial and legal advice. I have no clue as to what the financial and tax implications of a paid off home and several bank accounts with a yet to be determined amount of funds. My goal is to make wise, well thought out and properly advised decisions regarding my mom's estate.

There is one thing that does hold me back. I know that once ALL the account contents are revealed and dealt with, it will be another stoic reminder of my mom's passing. Another moment of finality.

photo credit

Getting Back To A "New" Normal

Thanks to everyone for the kind words and support on the loss of my mom. Each comment of support
meant so much to me. The viewing and funeral were this past weekend and although emotionally draining, I feel a great sense of relief and a small amount of closure. Time to embrace each day and move forward.

Before mom became really sick, I decided to close my eBay store. Between work and taking care of mom, I was completely overwhelmed with taking care of my eBay store. Little did I know that when I closed my eBay store, eBay would keep it open for another 30 days. I did not have the time or energy to delete each item so there were the occasional sale here and there. I quickly emailed the customer and briefly explained my situation with a prompt refund. I was so overwhelmed with taking care of mom I just did not have time to do any eBay stuff.

In fact, when I decided to close my store, I "purged" a large amount of my eBay stock via large construction trash bags to the curb. I guess I felt it necessary to do so as it was a form of something I could control in my life. At that time, there was not much else I could control.

The store did close, BUT the remaining listings remained active. Again, there were some unexpected sales this weekend, and again I had to email the customers and provide a refund and brief explanation. Several of my customers wrote back and said that they too had gone through a similar situation and that they completely understood.

I will be getting back to thrifting in the near future. It will be a slow return, but thrifting and re-selling gives me a great deal of satisfaction and pleasure. Oh, There is the stuff in my mom's home. So much stuff! I will be selling that on Craigslist and or eBay. Of course there will be items that I cannot part with, but for the most part, I will be selling or giving away a great majority of it.




Tomorrow I will be going back to work at my mobile ultrasound job.  It has been almost three weeks since I have actually worked so it will be nice to get back to it.  Since I am a part time employee, I have no PTO saved.  This means no paycheck for three weeks either. 



There are many decisions to make regarding my parent's estate.  One of the things they left me to take care of is their paid off home.  It is an older home but has always been kept up and is in great condition.   Should we sell it?  Should we keep it and rent it?   And if we did that, we could use the rental income to pay off early our "other" rental.....  I don't know.  We definitely need to get professional advice so we don't screw ourselves financially. No rush on that.  Suggestions on the house are welcome, leave them in the comments :)


We will be able to pay off our primary home with the funds available in my parent's estate.  That will definitely be a huge financial relief.  When that occurs, I will be resigning my other part time job at the local college. I want to  spend more time with my husband and family.  We also want to work on our physical health by working out and eating better.


We were talking the other night and we figured that since we moved into our new home 2 years ago, we have spent the last 18 MONTHS of those two years taking care of my parents.  We are both looking forward to re-connecting with each other, serving in our church and not taking for granted each precious day that God gives us.


We also need to get our financial life in order.  Starting with meal planning, paying off a credit card (we used for funeral costs) and communicating better with EACH other about money in general.   This will not happen over night, but it is an area we need to work on.  More about that later, of course.


That is it for now.  Hope your day is wonderful!

Joining The Great Food Fight 2013

The reality of our food budget was not by real. On paper, the food budget was "wonderful"! The numbers were looking good but that is because it was only on paper. Well, I decided to get REAL about our food budget and face the music. My inspiration is from Crystal at Budgeting in the Fun Stuff and her Great Food Fight. She and her husband are keeping track of their grocery and eating out spending on a piece of notebook paper tacked on the refrigerator door. You can see an example here.
Here is our notebook paper of shame.... Seriously! I am hanging my head in pure shame and disgust. But, that being said, I am determined to do better for the month of April. After you see the totals that we have for eating out and grocery shopping you can see we have a lot of room for improvement!!

Eating out and grocery shopping has cost us $1166.00 for the month of March. Definitely room for improvement. Our grocery budget included the cost of celebrating my deceased dads birthday ( which made my mom happy) and we did have my mom staying with us so we were buying for her grocery needs too. Somewhat lame excuses, but it is all I got.
We can do better this month by planning a weekly shopping trip instead of every couple of days. Utilize Aldi's more and Publix less.
How are your grocery costs? Are you staying within your budget?

Bright House Sucks!

Earlier this week I "upgraded" my BrightHouse Cable subscription.  I needed to add a phone line for my mom's life alert and since Bell South does not serve this area I had to go with BrightHouse.  The "upgrade" included whole house DVR, phone line and faster internet @ 30mbps.   The price was an monthly increase of $8.00, which I thought was pretty good considering we are now going to have a phone line to connect mom's Life Alert.

Since the change, I have had the WORST time with my internet speed.  It is now only 8 to 11 mbps and it is driving me crazy.  I just spent an hour on the phone with Brighthouse/Roadrunner going through different steps and connections to figure out why my internet speed is now so crappy.  I have unhooked my modem, router, and re hooked them.  I really want to throw them right out the window!!!

After all the connections and re-connections.... It has been determined that the new modem has caused my Norton Firewall to set a higher firewall protection.  Great.  I have already emailed Norton to ask how to change my Firewall settings to get my internet speed back.   An who is to say that the Firewall is REALLY the problem.  Honestly!   I don't know if I am more mad at Brighthouse for not figuring this out when they installed it OR if I am more mad that I rely SO much on my internet!!    Probably both.

I just want my internet speed back please.  Slow sucks.

Mom Update: The rest of the week was pretty good.  Mom is planning on going back to her home on Tuesday for a couple of days.  On Thursday, she drove her self to her hair appointment.  I think that was a major hurdle for her.  We are proud of her progress!  She has not really said what her living plans are going to be but we think she will stay at her house a couple of days and then come out here with us.  Which is fine with us.

Budget Update:  This week I  started my  auto withdrawal from my paycheck to my Roth IRA.  I am starting out with 50.00 per check even though I thought originally I could handle more.  Maybe in the near future I will adjust the amount.  There have been no big payments made on the credit card.  Our last paychecks were smaller than usual due to a week off earlier this month.  the upcoming checks should be normal deposits and then we will see where we stand.  I tell ya, that darn credit card is still hanging around.  And yes, I know I really need to get rid of it!

Here are my latest eBay sales....

Saturday Morning: Back to work

 

Glad it is the weekend! Going back to work after a week off is never easy,is it? My first week back was filled with a lot of driving. I work for a mobile ultrasound company and we go many places. Usually I don't mind so much but we have a lot of accounts in Daytona Beach and this week is Bike Week! Well, don't you know that two out of the three days I worked I was in Daytona! Turns out it really was not that bad traffic wise and it was entertaining to see all sorts of people riding their bikes! They are sure passionate about their bikes!

 

Yesterday,I finally turned in my Roth IRA direct deposit slip at work. I decided on just $50.00 a paycheck for now. I am so glad that is finally done. Previously I planned to put more in per check, but then after an adjustment in the Financial Goals, I am more comfortable with this new amount.

I also turned in automatic withdrawal amounts that are going to my formally ING Now Capital 360 accounts. Specifically I am sending 50.00 a paycheck to vacation fund and 45.00 to Christmas and gifts fund. I did hesitate on that for a bit, but I decided to go ahead a give it a try. I think this will help later on down the road with keeping track of the money.

Mom Update: This week we saw ALL of mom's MD Anderson's doctors. The good news is that her tumor markers are down and her remaining bloodwork is good. The plastic surgeon removed 30 staples from her scalp but is leaving the 20 some odd stitches in for the next 6 weeks or so. He is happy with her healing progress. Mom also finished her 6 weeks of antibiotics infusion ( the six weeks has gone by pretty fast).

Warning: next pic is kinda graphic....

 

This is what mom's scalp looked like three days post surgery, it looks a little better and her hair has grown back in a bit. Oddly enough, she has had no pain with all those staples. Here is what it looked like before surgery...

The not so good news is that the cancer is back in her scalp/skull and she again will need radiation. But, everyone ( the docs) want to wait for the incisions to heal as that is the same area that will be receiving radiation.

Mom talks about going home saying that she needs to try it to see if she can do it. But then she forgets or changes her mind. Time will tell and she still needs to rest and get her strength back.

Budget update: The savings account took a small hit because of the recent purchase of a new refrigerator, but at least it is paid for. There were some more unexpected costs last week, my car needed new brakes... And we did charge that. But will pay that back this coming Friday.

I will be working on a crock pot freezer plan ahead meal plan for the next couple of weeks. There are some great ideas on Pinterest and I can't wait to try them out.

One more day and I will be posting the winner of the whimsical wallet giveaway! If you have not entered, there is a link at the top left of my blog.

Have a wonderful weekend!

 

Financial Goals 2013: Revised Edition

When putting together my Financial Goals for 2013, I believe now that I had unrealistic expectations of what we could actually accomplish.  So it is time to revisit the original goals and revise them to better suit us.  

1. Pay off remaining Credit Card Debt:  Almost done.  The balance now hovers at 350.00 dollars.  The credit card debt  has been as high as $13,000.00

2.  Increase savings to 5000.00.  Revising this amount to $3500.00


3.  Save $1200.00 for Christmas,Weddings, and Birthdays.    This year, we took a hit our budget with  unplanned weddings and some special birthdays.  Going to do better this year.   Christmas I will still plan to keep it around $500.00    no changes here.  No money saved yet, but will definitely get going on it.



4.  Save $2000.00 for a trip to Las Vegas in Spring. Nope.  No money put aside, no trip.  Too much going on around here with mom.

5.  Begin contributing to my Roth again.  Only 100.00 so far.  

 6.  After all of the above are accomplished, it will be time to apply all extra money (at least $7000.00) to our primary mortgage.  The balance on our primary mortgage is $98,800.  We want very  much to reduce the mortgage to $90,000 by the end of the year.   Ah.... No.  There has been minimal extra sent to the mortgage company.  Boo! 


Below is what I thought I could magically do with the money in our budget.  Not gonna happen.


  The amount of extra or redirected money need to accomplish these goals for 2013 is

credit card debt  4500.00
gifts                     1200.00
vacation              2000.00
mortgage extra  7000.00    (or $580.00 extra per month)
TOTAL             16,500.00


Here is the revised, what has a better chance of happening :)  
 

credit card debt      350.00
gifts                        1200.00                     
vacation                  2000.00              
 mortgage extra    2000.00   

Roth                         1200.00
Savings                    2500.00                    
                                 9250.00
 

So, it is okay to readjust your goals.  Sometimes what you think should happen, well, reality gets in the way and opens your eyes to what will probably happen.

That is not to say that in a couple of months things won't change again.  Because they might.  But this is what we are going with for now. 

Spenders and Savers: Together Forever

via

While I was reading Carla's post this morning, "From Spender to Saver" it reminded me of my own spending and saving habits.  Most of the time I consider myself a "thrifty" kinda gal.  I can make do with what ever is on hand.  I learned these habits from my mom and dad.  They both grew up during and post depression era.

Mom was the last of fourteen kids in a family that grew up on a farm in Wisconsin.  Her mom made meals out of every part of every animal they raised on the farm.  Nothing was wasted.  Just about everything they ate was made by my grandma, rarely was there a store bought item in their pantry.  Mostly because it was too expensive and town was a wagon ride that took an hour to get to.

To this day, my mom can use up leftovers in ways that are creative and tasty.  She can also save her money wisely.  She watches every penny but has a generous heart.  Mom has never shared with me all of her holdings, but I am sure it is quite remarkable.  At times she will talk about money or CD's she has at such and such bank and that I need to split those particular CD's equally among her grandchildren. 

My dad was raised in an orphanage during the 20's.  His life was hard but he survived and had a successful career in the Air Force.  He too could squirrel away the money BUT he also could spend the money too!  I think that is because of his up bringing.  He knew he had to be careful with his money while a young man, but he certainly enjoyed his life.

credit

I fall in the middle of them with regards to saving and spending.  I can squirrel away the money ( I hide it) and save a substantial amount.  But, my husband is a true spendthrift. He has no qualms about spending large amounts of money on things needed for the house, cars and ourselves.  Only the best for us, and he will tell you so.  So I hesitate about "telling" him the exact numbers of our savings.  The savings will grow quietly as I move money from our checking accounts to our saving accounts.  Now, if he asks about the money I will tell him everything.  In fact, it thrills me that he is taking an interest!  But that does not happen very often.

I will give him updates on our debt and spending.  The updates are brief and he is okay with that.  I have tried for years to get us to work as a team financially but that has yet to be successful.  At least in my eyes.  If you ask him, he might tell you that all is right with our world financially.

There are still times that I will throw caution to the wind and become a spendthrift too.  I think this habit developed while I was growing up.  Whenever I went shopping my dad would give me 10.00 dollars to spend.  And spend it I did.  I would make sure that there was not a penny left from that 10.00!  When I would tell my dad what I bought and that I spent ALL the money that would make him happy!  What little girl did not want to please her daddy?

So as a mature adult I still make financial mistakes, sometimes they are real humdingers!  I try not to beat myself up about it too much and move on.  Being debt free is important to me, no doubt about it.  But, it may just take us a little longer to get there.  And that is okay too.    

Hello Saturday!

Good Morning to all and happy Saturday! Did you survive Valentine's Day?  Valentine's Day is a double whammy around here.  It is my husband's birthday too.  The stress of buying him a birthday present was avoided as he had picked out a highly desired hammer drill that was delivered last week.

We also went out for his birthday dinner last night at Carrabba's which was still experiencing a Valentine Day crowd.  The wait was about 30 minutes to get a table.  But as always, the wait was worth it.

My husband, (who is a kid a heart and still has to have birthday cake) always remembers to buy me flowers on Valentine's Day.  Yes, the price of the flowers are jacked up  because of the pseudo-holiday of Valentine's Day.  And for years I have asked for just a card instead of flowers because of the cost.  He never listens, bless his heart.

Here is what was awaiting both me an mom on Valentine's Day morning.....

 Two Lowe's bucket of roses and cards lol!

My mom was very surprised and very touched that my husband included her in the Valentine Day celebration.  Definite points were scored by hubs!

This weekend will be appliance shopping.  Since my mom is staying here a great majority of the time she washes her clothes here.  But she hates my washer and dryer.  They are OLD!  The dial on the washer spins and spins and you have to push it certain way to make it catch and start the cycle. It drives her crazy.  I am use to it.  She insists on the purchase, so we are going shopping today. 

Mom Update: Mom is feeling good but very tired which is completely normal considering her extensive surgery and weekend in ICU.  A visit with one of her MD Anderson team doctors told her it was okay to be so tired and to just rest and that when he sees her again in 4 weeks she should definitely be feeling better.

Budget:   Since I took of some time last pay period my paycheck is a bit weak this time.  I had hoped to eliminate the last 500.00 dollars on our credit card debt but it will have to wait until next pay period.  This credit card will always be active, as it has auto withdrawals for our toll road transponders,.  That usually runs about 120 to 150 dollars a month.  Payment is made at the time they post.  But I would rather use the credit card instead of my checking account.

Goal for this month:   I am working diligently on pulling all my paperwork together for our taxes and hope to get it done by the end of the month.  Fingers crossed. :)

Hope you have a great Saturday!

If The Bra Fits......

photo credit

Shopping for clothes is enjoyable some of the time. You know how it goes, you walk into your favorite store and the racks ( clearance racks are the best) are holding clothes that you really like AND they fit! I always like it when you can find a deal on cute clothes!

Then there are days when you go shopping for clothes and NOTHING fits or looks good. I can usually tell by the time I try on two or three items if it is going to be a good day shopping or not.



That brings me to my least  favorite kind of shopping of all time. Shopping for undergarments. Bras and panties. I don't shop at "fancy dancy" store for undergarments. I go straight to Wal-Mart. Now Wal-Mart is not my favorite place to shop,but when it comes to undergarments, especially bras,they have a better selection and the prices are affordable.



I confess, I don't try on the bras before I buy. I will buy a couple that I think will fit and take them home and then decide if they will work for me or not. Yesterday, that is just what I did. I searched the pull out drawers ( you ladies know what I am talking about) and found two that I thought would do the job.


This morning was the first time I tried them on, and I am happy to report that ONE of the two is a great fit!! That is such a big deal for me. Usually it takes more than one shopping trip to actually find a good fit so to speak. The other one does not fit as well and it is going back to be exchanged for one like the first one. So, if the bra fits...... Buy two of them!!

Do you have trouble finding the right bra for you?

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2012 Financial Goals Progress Report October

I am borrowing this format from Laura at NoMoreSpending  to help me stay accountable to my 2012 goals.

1.   Pay off credit card debt this year.  Yep, it has got to go.  We have about $11,5000 in stupid credit card debt.  The Credit Card debt has been as low as 7,900.00 and as high as 13,000.00.  Today it is at $5,100.00.  It would be great to eliminate the Credit Card Debt by the end of the year!!

2.  Increase Emergency Savings from $1000.00 to $3000.00.  Right now our emergency fund carries about $1200.00, but by the end of the year we would like to increase that to $3000.00 for a little more piece of mind.  Emergency savings is at 2700.00.  Most of our income has been going towards the Credit Card Debt.

3.  Christmas 2012.   I again will be working my $500 Holiday Challenge.  I was able to stay pretty close to the spending/ shopping budget this year, so I am pretty happy about that.   Acquiring gifts all year round at deep savings really helped the bottom line. I did get a few things in February, but still not up to speed or where I should be.

5.  Have more fun!  Life is short and I know that saving money, budgeting, and being frugal is important.  But....   having fun and enjoying life is just as important!   Living in Central Florida provides many opportunities to visit theme parks and be a kid again.  We have not yet decided which park we are going to get a year long pass for, but I am leaning towards SeaWorld. And next year.... Disney World.  I will be getting passes for me, my husband and my grandson.  Money well spent.  It is getting cooler now, so we can start using our SeaWorld passes again.   Now I just have to make the time to go to SeaWorld instead of just talking about it.

6.  Plan a Trip out West.  We want to go to San Francisco, visit Alcatraz ( I find that place to be very fascinating), Cross the Golden Gate Bridge, to name a few.  It may not happen this year, but it will happen.  I plan to save at leat $4000.00 dollars towards this goal.  Probably no big trips this year, but we are hoping to get to Vegas in the Spring.  


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