mjrube94's Blog

I'm inspired by creditcardfree's accounting of all of the little ways she's been saving up for Christmas 2012. I've been trying to do the same thing paying down my HELOC. So far this month, I've put an extra $167.73 toward it. The money has come from all sorts of things, including coins, selling books/dvds, cutting costs, etc. More on the way with my recent ebay sales. No one thing is a lot, but every little bit helps.

So I ended up with three sales on my ebay auctions. I relisted the other 7 for 10 days figuring, what the heck? Two of the three have already paid, so that's a relief.

I also balanced my checkbook. I have to deposit a check tomorrow and pay all of the end of the month bills. Looks like January was a success. Wahoo!

I am so inexperienced with Ebay! I just got an email saying that $19.50 was deposited in my Paypal account. Turns out, one of my auctions ended with 2 bids. I assumed that I'd get email updates letting me know that people bidded on the items, but I didn't, so I assumed I had no bids. I went back and looked at my other items. One auction has a bid for $3.99 (a nib Hanna Montana board game. Really? Who buys this stuff?). That auction ends tomorrow. There is also an auction that has a bid for $9.99 that ends tomorrow. One other auction has a watcher, but no bids yet. That ends tomorrow as well. So I'm excited...

I need to pay for shipping on the sold item, but everything leftover will go to the HELOC. I'll get that out tomorrow or Friday. Woohoo.

The other big money news today: I submitted my travel voucher for my trip. I'm getting $277 back, minus the $30 for parking = $247 to the HELOC. Turns out they reimbursed me $.55/mile (I had assumed only $.45). I think I'll get it in my 2/15 paycheck.

I made dinner in the crockpot today. Pulled pork (yum). I was proud of myself because we've been eating out way too much over the past two weeks.

I should be able to finalize the month's expenses tomorrow. I'll get my paystub online, and will pay any remaining bills. It feels so great to have already paid cash for everything and have a small credit card bill. Refreshing...

The weekend was every bit as good as I anticipated. Relaxing and enjoyable. I got to my sister's in time to watch the second football game. I feel bad for both of the losing team's kickers. How do you recover when your entire job is to kick the ball in pressure situations and you blow it? I'm sure they replay the kicks many times over in their head.

Anyway, I'm back in the office today, so I'll fill out my travel voucher. I'll get back mileage, tolls and parking. I would love to deposit all of it (less the parking - $30!) into the Heloc account. I'm anticipating it'll be about $175.

Still no action on the eBay postings. And I'm tossing my deadbeat brother $50 today. I have gotten much better about saying no (or avoiding his calls - lol) but he is in a tough spot and he caught me at a weak moment. Want to see what he looks like? Look up "champagne taste on a beer budget" in the dictionary. That's him...

I couldn't write a better script for this weekend! Went grocery shopping last night after work to stock the house for the next several days. I was home by 8:00, had a great dinner and watched a movie with hubby and the kids (which I got free from Swapadvd .com - sister site to paperbackswap .com).

Today the weather report is calling for 3-6 inches of snow. We have 2" on the ground already. The best part: It's supposed to end by noon, is enough to use the snowblower, but not so much that it will be a terrible chore, and all of the sports today are cancelled, which means I don't have to leave the house!! Woohoo! And, hubby took in all of the outside Christmas decorations yesterday afternoon by himself, which means I avoid one of my most hated chores.

Then tomorrow, I'm off to my sister's house near Boston for an overnight. I have a business trip there on Monday, so I get to see her, and get reimbursed for gas. I don't see her nearly as much as I'd like so I'm really excited.

I just redeemed my first $5 Amazon gift card from Swagbucks for 2012. I'm going to track them on my sidebar and save them for Christmas. I'd love to earn 1 per week, which would be $225 by the end of the year.

I have a few bills to pay, so I'll knock them out today and get my finances up to date. I've been keeping pretty close track, so nothing should be a surprise.

Have a great weekend. For those in the snow zone, stay safe!

This is not a financial post, but a few things about work (and non-work) stress have come up with others this week and have been weighing on my mind.

We're in the middle of a huge project at work. Started late Nov, going to late February. Late nights, early mornings, weekends, the whole bit. I've been holding my own, thanks to my hubby and kids who have stepped up in a big way, but I can see the toll it's taking on others, including one team member who had to take some time off this week because the stress was so great. Reading everyone's blogs on this site it seems that many are swamped at work as well. I'm concerned that this is becoming the "new normal", which isn't healthy at all.

On the other hand, I have a good friend who's been unemployed since June, 2009. She has exhausted her severance and unemployment and has been looking for work for a while, with no success. She posted an entry on Facebook earlier this week after finding out that she didn't get a job she applied for and I could feel the stress and frustration jump off the page as I read it.

I guess I just feel helpless because I don't know what to do to help either of these people and I want to make sure I don't get sucked into the black hole of doing nothing but work 24x7.

Thanks for the opportunity to vent...

I found a 1/2 roll of quarters in the bottom of my car's glove compartment! I was like a kid in a candy shop! So I deposited that with the $22.73 check from secondspin and transferred $27.73 to my HELOC! Brings the balance down to $44,232.31. Longggg way to go, but every little bit helps!

I went to the post office to mail a book and a package. $8.xx spent, and it was my only spending today. And I'm THIS close to finishing the credit union application. Hubby got his form notarized, I just need him to sign the application, which he'll do tonight. Everything else is ready to go.

No Ebay action on my listed items. Not surprised, few of the other listings of these same items had any activity. But they're listed for 10 days, so we'll see.

Bob B inspired me to check the daily amount of interest I'm paying. I pay approximately $14.16/day for my mortgage and $3.44/day for my HELOC. The mortgage doesn't bother me so much. I have a great rate (3 7/8%) for a 15-yr fixed, and it'll be paid off in Feb 2018. The HELOC rate is 2.74%. The balance has been out there for years and just needs to go!

I finally got around to listing 10 items on EBAY. The good news is that most items were already listed by others, so I got a good sense of asking prices, shipping rates, etc. The bad news is that most of those items didn't have bids! I listed them all for 10 days, figuring if any pan out, great, if not, it's not costing me anything, and I can always relist. I've only sold a few things on EBAY over the years, so I'm pretty much a novice.

I'm off from work today, so I'm trying to organize, clean, etc. Garbage day is tomorrow and I'm committed to getting 2 extra bags of junk out of my house! And hopefully take down the Christmas decorations too...

I should move to Alaska...

It is 15 degrees today, with a windchill close to zero. Other than taking the dog out (and only long enough for him to do his business) I am on the couch in pajamas under a blanket watching football. I'm not spending a dime today. I made pancakes for breakfast, and I have dinner in the fridge from my trip to the store yesterday. So a cheap, easy, relaxing day for me.

And I'm getting completely caught up on everything: work, finances, personal stuff. It feels great. Now if I could just get motivated to take down all of the inside Christmas decorations. Perhaps tomorrow...

I was up and at em early today. DS had a basketball game from 8-9 (ugh), so I was up at 7:00. After his game, we went to pick up the car from the shop (it was sitting there for a few days until I could get a ride). Then I went to Home Depot and paid the final bill for some carpeting they installed. (I paid with a discounted gift card, so I saved 8%). Then I went to the bank and the grocery store.

I was proud of myself for going with a list, and sticking to it, but I still spent $157, which is more than the $125-$150 I was shooting for. I can do better.

DD hurt her finger in a game yesterday, so she couldn't play basketball today, which meant I had the afternoon to relax and putter. My two favorite things. She did have a soccer game tonight which was exciting, and character building if you know what I mean. (They lost 5-0 and it wasn't even that close!).

We had tortellini and meatballs for dinner, but I did treat the kids to ice cream. I have some work to do tomorrow and will be watching the Giants, hoping they lose. Oh, and the secondspin check came already. That'll go into the Bank and transferred to the HELOC on Tuesday.

Ate out twice today. I was on the road for lunch, so I stopped at Boston Market ($9.12). And DD and I had some bonding time, so we went to Dunkin Donuts after school, for another $3.75. I've been pretty good about keeping dining out down to a minimum, so I'm not going to sweat it.

The weather here is crazy. It was between 45-50 yesterday, and now in the 30s and SUPER windy which makes it unbearable. DD has an indoor soccer game tonight, then it's on the couch under a blanket for me!

I have a 3-day weekend. I have some work to do, but plan to spend some time getting my financials up to date, organizing, etc.

I dropped my car off at the shop on Sunday night. They called with a quote of $1156 + tax ($1225). Back in December, I received a coupon for 15% off service. I put the coupon on my fridge, knowing I would need it. But of course, forgot it when I dropped the car off. Even though it said that you had to present the coupon at drop off, I called them up and told them that I dropped the car after hours, so I didn't leave the coupon, and would they still apply it? THEY SAID YES! So it worked out to $183 being taken off my bill. Woohoo...

It's tough to top that, but I had some other good finance news. I sent off a bunch of videos to secondspin .com. I got an email from them that I'll be paid $22.73, which includes $19.50 for the dvds and $3.23 for shipping. They didn't accept two dvds which were scratched, for which I was expecting $3. Not terrible. As soon as I get that check, I'll add it to my HELOC.

Speaking of HELOC, I deposited my coins in the bank yesterday. Ended up totalling $48.71. I rounded that up to $50 and sent it to the HELOC, which makes $140 extra paid so far this year.

And I found a penny yesterday, and another one today.

But it wasn't all money in. I went to the post office to send off the (almost) last batch of books to paperbackswap. Bought gas for $54. And I went grocery shopping for about $48.

The kids wanted pizza for dinner last night, so while I was grocery shopping, I bought a 16" store bought pizza $6.99 with a 50% off coupon because it was so late in the day (around 5:30). Can't beat that, and the kids loved it. The price for pizza in the pizza place has skyrocketed. A plain large pie is about $14 now.

So almost halfway through the month and so far, so good!

Thsi is my mantra for the day. Car was way overdue for an oil change, and was really sluggish starting up over the weekend. We took it to the shop and - cha ching - $1100 later (plus tax), I'll get my car back. Of course the oil change and new battery (which caused the sluggishness) were a given. But while they were looking at it, they found x, y, and z. My car is 8 years old, with 128,000 miles. I've been going to this shop forever, and the car hasn't been in since last June, so I'm inclined to believe them. After getting over the initial sticker shock, I kept reminding myself, "it's cheaper than a car payment". It's been 7 months since I spent any money on the car, which works out to be about $165/month. Could be worse.

That got me thinking...there are 3 places where, without fail, I always walk out spending more money than I thought I would going in: 1) the car shop, 2) the vet, and 3) Target. Don't know why, but it's true.

I was hoping to be super productive this afternoon, but got called into a call for work. I did manage to deposit some cash and checks at the bank, for me and for dad. I can now move over $80 to my HELOC payment.

Tomorrow I'm on vacation, and will hit the bank to cash in my coins and go to the post office. I also have to go grocery shopping, but it should be a fairly inexpensive trip. And relax, can't forget to relax!

I got home late last night and was beat, so I'm posting a two-fer today...Sunday and Monday updates!

Sunday was crazy busy. DD had a soccer game, then we dropped the car at the shop to get checked out. I went to dad's for dinner, got home around 9, and had some things to take care of to get ready for my week. It was a no-spend day, and I ended the week with $10 leftover, which will go into my "mom fun" account. The envelope has $15 in it. My plan is to use the money I save to fly down to my SIL's for her graduation from her Master's program in May. It's a Thursday night, so hubby and the kids won't be able to go. I'd stay with Bro and SIL, so the only expense would be the flight.

Today the big news is that I avoided fast food. It's just me and the kids, and I didn't feel like cooking at all. I suggested Wendy's to the kids, and DD said no, she'd prefer chicken quesadillas. Easy enough and SO much healthier and cheaper. So we went with that and, other than setting one of them on fire because it was too close to the broiler (oops), they were really good.

The book requests from paperbackswap .com continue to roll in. I have another half dozen to mail tomorrow. Also have to get to the bank. I should be getting a copy of my 1/15 pay stub tomorrow, so I can confirm my assumptions of how much will come out in taxes, etc. and finalize the 2012 numbers.

I had a no-spend day today, second one of the week. I rarely have no-spend days, so this is pretty impressive for me.

Some happenings for the day:

1) I went ahead and transferred the $10 in train savings from earlier in the week to the Heloc. I updated the balances on my sidebar.

2) I found a penny. My first found money of 2012. I added that to the sidebar as well.

3) I received the check in the mail for my 2011 Death Bet winnings. I'll deposit that into the bank on Monday and transfer it to the heloc as well.

4) Tomorrow should be a pretty good day. DD has a soccer game in the afternoon, then I'm heading down to Dad's for dinner. Assuming tomorrow should be another no spend, I'll end the week with at least $5 of my allowance left to put in my "mommy fun" envelope. Woohoo!

5) Hubby's travelling this week, which should make for a cheap grocery week. It's much more casual when he's gone, food-wise. The kids and I will make Bobolis, or scrambled eggs for dinner, and I try to use up whatever we have in the house.

One week down, 51 to go. 2012 is off to a pretty good start...

I'm eligible to participate in my company's credit union. I first found out last summer and was interested, but not motivated enough to follow through. Having direct deposits and automatic payments makes the thought of changing so overwhelming.

Then last fall, Bank of America proposed charging customers a fee each month that they used their debit card for a purchase (even if they used it only once in a month). I found that astounding. It's so much easier / cheaper for them if customers pay with a debit card, and they get a fee from the merchant. Yet they were going to tack on another fee from their customer. They backed off almost immediately due to the outrage and news coverage, but the fact that they considered it in the first place is enough for me to switch.

Given the craziness of work and the holidays, I didn't get around to filling out the paperwork to make the switch. But this was one of my goals for the New Year. Today, hubby got his signature notarized so he can be listed as a joint owner, so now the packet is ready to go.

The thing I'm most looking forward to is that they allow you to open sub-accounts for a Christmas Club, vacation club, and other savings. I'll be able to direct deposit money directly into these each month from my paycheck. I'm hoping to have everything set up and transferred over by the end of February.

In other news, I mailed another dozen books and a bunch of dvds. I have another 6-7 books to go. My shelves look bare! (Well, not really, but it's getting there).

My car was a little sluggish twice today when I was starting. I really hope that it's nothing major, because a huge car bill is the last thing I need. We'll see how it goes tomorrow...

I'm just on my way home from work now. When I work this late, the company sends us home in a car, instead of having us take mass transit. So I didn't spend the $10 train ticket, so tomorrow I'll move that money to the Heloc.

The only money out today was at the post office, where I mailed off 12 of the books. Still many more to do, which I'll knock off tomorrow. I brought my lunch (well, not really lunch - granola bar and nuts), but better than buying at work.

Here's the spending for today:

Lunch @ work - $11.75 (It was sushi day, and my last hurrah. Packing lunch tomorrow!)
Post Office - Mailed a book - $2.41
Fruit & Veggie Store - $23.05 (hubby)
CVS - Mailing supplies - $34.88 - $17.50 ECBs
Tickets for the family to a charity basketball game - $51.98

Deposited checks from my dental insurance for the kids' 6 months visit. I had to pay $155 out of pocket, because the insurance only covers flouride treatments once a year. And unfortunately, I underestimated my flexible spending for 2011, so I had none left. I was reimbursed for the rest ($345).

Made an awesome dinner of ground lamb and Greek spices in a pita. I was proud of us for not eating out. I got home late from work, and hubby didn't feel like cooking. It was a pretty easy recipe, so rather than order out, I did the cooking. Quick and delicious. We haven't had any fast food / takeout yet this year (yes, I realize it's only the 4th, but for us that's pretty good).

I had a low-spend day today. I had coffee at home, but then grabbed another cup at work with a co-worker (as much a social thing as an "I want coffee" thing). I also had lunch at work. We pay in the cafeteria by swiping our ID card and having the money come out of our paycheck. Super convenient, but dangerous, because I never really pay attention to how much I'm spending. To that point, I don't know what I spent today, but think it was around $7.50. Hmmm, need to pay more attention to this.

My only other spending was the train ticket and subway ride. I'm saving a few bucks on the train this month. Instead of automatically buying a monthly ticket, I actually figured out when I would be in and out of the office, and priced out a combination of weekly, 10-trip and single tickets. Turns out that instead of buying the monthly for $234, the combination of tickets will be at most $213. That's just for the train. The subway is an additional $1.50 each way. Fortunately, my company pays the first $100 in mass transit costs, then the next $125 comes out of my paycheck pretax. Still super expensive, but every little bit helps.

I need to go to CVS tomorrow and get envelopes to mail my books and dvds. I'm up to 21 books to mail on paperbackswap, and 4 dvds on swapadvd .com. I also have to mail the second spin dvds. Fortunately, the mailing envelopes are part of this week's CVS promotion "Buy $30 Get $10 Gift Card" so that'll help offset some of the cost.

I ended last week with $5 of my allowance left over. That goes into a special "me" envelope, along with some money I got from MIL for Christmas. I'll save it for a girl's night out, or some other unbudgeted splurge.

Got home late from work (7:45). We had lasagna for dinner that I had defrosted from the freezer. Have enough leftover for the kiddies to have tomorrow night. Still on track 3 days into the new year. It's a beautiful thing...

It's back to work tomorrow. I thought the kiddies had to go back to school as well, but they don't go back until Wednesday, so they'll hang with hubby tomorrow.

I made good use of my day. I made a ton on meatballs and sauce, enough to have tonight for dinner, and freeze 4 more meals for the family. I cleaned out the fridge and inventoried the pantry. One of my goals for 2012 (always) is to eat out less and plan meals. That'll be much easier now that I know what I have! I also did a few loads of laundry that had been neglected.

Money-wise, I did some spending, but all of it is in the budget. I ordered the kids' lunches at school, got DS's haircut, picked up dry cleaning, and got our weekly allowance from the ATM. I also ordered a discounted gift card for Staples, which I'll use to pick some things up later this week. And I went to the gym, for the first time in months!!

I try to buy discounted gift cards whenever possible. The Staples gift card was 5% off, and I recently picked up a PetSmart for 10.2% off. There are a number of different, reputable sites out there, and they offer quite a variety of cards. If you're interested, check out cardpool .com, plasticjungle .com, or giftcardrescue .com. We recently bought new carpeting from Home Depot, and I paid for that using gift cards that were 8% off.

I missed out on a coupon opportunity at the dry cleaner. I picked up $46 worth of dry cleaning. When I dropped it off, I gave the kid a 10% off coupon. He was a bit flustered and didn't apply it. I realized too late (note to self - check receipts). If the owner had been there when I picked it up today I would've asked for it, but it was another kid, so I didn't bother. So I missed out on $4.65.

I have 14 books and 2 DVDs to get in the mail tomorrow. I still need to take the pictures for the Ebay items and update half .com.

With the exception of the Cowboys getting absolutely crushed by the Giants, today has been a great day. I slept late, spent time with hubby and the kids, walked the dog, and did some MAJOR, desperately needed cleaning in our den.

Here are the highlights:

While cleaning out the den, I went through all of our books and dvds so I could figure out which to get rid of. (I don't think my 11- and 13-year-old kids need "Biscuit Takes a Bath" and "New Tracks for Thomas"). I sold 8 DVDs to SecondSpin .com for a total of $22.50. Assuming they are all accepted, that money will go toward the HELOC.

I listed the books and the rest of the dvds on Paperbackswap .com and Swapadvd .com. I don't get any money for these, but I'll get credits which I can then use to get books or dvds that I'm interested in. I use it primarily to get summer reading books for the kids and new movies. Definitely recommend checking it out if you haven't already. Anyway, 7 books have been claimed already, and another 17 are on people's wish lists, they just need to be claimed.

I still need to update the books on half .com, but that'll be one of tomorrow's to-dos.

While cleaning out the den closet, I came across two old direct tv receivers and a few Lenox and Mikasa bowls and vases that I've never and will never use. My first thought was to list the bowls and vases on Ebay and chuck the receivers, but then I thought, what the heck, let me search ebay and see if there are any on Ebay. Sure enough, they're both listed, one for a low price of $20 and one for $12. I'll undercut that by a few bucks and consider it gravy if they sell. Three of the Lenox/Mikasa things are listed by others too, for prices between $10 and $25. Two more are not currently listed, so I'll put them up and see what happens. I don't have a ton of experience with Ebay, but what do I have to lose? They've been collecting dust in my closet for years anyway, so a few more weeks won't matter.

I filled 3 garbage bags as well. Much of it was due to shredding documents that I can't even believe I still had. I'm talking every pay stub since I started working in 1991, and bank statements from our first account as a married couple, back in 1994. I have enough shred for a ticker tape parade.

I found another $.65 while cleaning, and I didn't spend any money all day.

On the docket tomorrow is some more cleaning and cooking. Kids don't go back to school until Tuesday, so another quiet day in store.

I was inspired by Bob B's blog (say that 10 times fast), so I counted out the change in my piggy bank. $40.77, which was accumulated over most of 2011. Not too shabby. I'll bring it to the bank next week, along with any other change I scrounge around the house between now and then, and make it my first 2012 payment to the HELOC.

I spent the day cleaning the house and grocery shopping. We're having friends over for dinner tonight. Very low key, which is what I like best for New Year's. Tomorrow I'm making sauce and meatballs for the freezer so we'll be less tempted to eat out. I'm also planning on foraging through my refrigerator and freezer over the next few days and using up what I have in the house. Between Christmas and New Years, we bought a lot of food, and I'm not entirely sure what all is left. So a few flexible, potluck dinners coming up!

I hope you all have a great, safe evening! Happy 2012!

Labor Day and New Years are my two favorite times of the year. I feel like they both offer me an opportunity to wipe the slate clean and start fresh (Labor Day because the kiddies go back to school and I can get my life back in order after an unstructured summer and New Years because, well, it's a new year).

I usually update my blog at year end to look back on the year that was and look ahead to the next. This year has been challenging. Dad pinched his sciatic nerve in June and was in the hospital/rehab until the end of July. He didn't fully recover until after Labor Day, then spent the fall trying to pack on the weight he had lost. Fortunately, he has great insurance (the bills were insane). It really made me appreciate what those without insurance must go through.

I've paid my Christmas and other bills and am ready to start January fresh, using cash whenever possible. I also have my envelope system set up. I am determined to track and follow my budget, and hopefully pay down my ever-present HELOC. I'll update the totals on the right and track my progress.

I just finalized my 2012 celebrity death bet picks. Barring some unanticipated event over the next 36 hours, I'm poised to win the 2011 contest, thanks to Jane Russell (where did I pull that one out of?!), Steve Jobs and Kim Jong-Il (another long shot that panned out). Apologies to any readers who are offended at this. At the same time, I know that my picking them on this list did not in any way contribute to their demise, so I'm still sleeping soundly at night.

I'm looking forward to the new year. Although I haven't posted in ages, I stay in touch with many SAers through Facebook, and lurk on the blogs pretty regularly. I'm always excited to read about the progress everyone is making on their goals! I hope you all have a happy, healthy 2012!

I haven't posted for almost a month! Lots of things going on. Dad is in the hospital. He pinched a nerve and was in tremendous pain. He was in the hospital for a week and has since moved to a rehab center. I've been consumed with making sure that he is being taken care of and is getting the help he needs. Fortunately, I have a strong support system and several people helping me out. It's amazing how draining it is even though I'm not doing any of the work!

He still has a ways to go, but at least he's on the right track. The big financial impact on me has been the amount of food I've had to toss because I wasn't home to cook it! Minor in the grand scheme of things.

I have one week left before our annual vacation in NC. I'm looking forward to a much needed rest! Looking forward to spending the weekend catching up with everyone's blogs and getting back on this site.

After two crazy weeks, I have a day with absolutely nothing to do (besides grocery shopping, but I don't count that).

I am caught up on the May finances. Turned out Citibank only dinged me for the interest on the late payment, not the late payment fee, so I avoided $35 there. I'm no putting the due dates in my calendar so I don't forget them again! DH got a ticket this month ($87, but it's the points I'm worried about). This is the first time either of us have ever gotten a ticket, and I think our auto insurance company has a forgiveness policy on the first one, so I'm hoping it doesn't hurt us too much. Our rates are already through the roof just because we're in NJ. And I paid SIL for the 2nd half of the beach house payment, so our vacation is all paid for. Woohoo - 6 more weeks!

We're closing on the mortgage refi tomorrow. That was the smoothest process ever (so far).

On the extra income front, things have definitely come to a screeching halt. I haven't been on Swagbux in forever (no time), so no $5 amazon cards. I also haven't sold anything on half .com for a while. I do have a book for paperback swap .com to get in the mail. No money for this, but a credit I can use to get another book. I'll have to check the kids' summer reading list.

Finally, things seem to be calming down a bit. Hopefully that'll get me on this site more often.

I've heard about this show, and today watched a few episodes for the first time. (Taking advantage of a really rainy day). Wow! On the one hand, I'm totally impressed; these people regularly save 90% of their bill through careful planning and great organization. I'm also impressed that in some of the cases, it was driven by people being resourceful in response to tough family circumstances like layoffs, illnesses, etc. On the other hand, it seems like some of these people are treading a fine line between good money management and sickness. I don't care how upset your stomach gets, can you REALLY use 75 bottles of Maalox before they expire? (note that these and other things do not appear to be donated; instead, they're taking up every nook and cranny of their house). I spent the whole episode going back and forth thinking, "wow, I should try to do this" and "uh, maybe I'm ok with my couple of coupons each week". Interesting, anyway.

I balanced my checkbook today. I have to pay SIL for our portion of the vacation house we rent. Also planning for nephew's confirmation next weekend, which requires a card, gift, and something for DS to wear (I assume sweats don't count!).

I tried Peapod again for groceries. My reverse psychology is that when I go into the stores, I always get tempted to buy stuff that's not on my list, and my bill is always higher than it should be. Alternatively, when I order online, I only order what I need. Peapod is affiliated with StopNShop, so we get those sale prices, and they do accept coupons. If the order is $100+, delivery is $5.95 + gas surcharge, and they often send coupon codes for free delivery. Anyway, I placed an order yesterday for delivery this morning from 7-9. It was absolutely POURING out, and it was SO NICE to have the guy bring all of the groceries right into my kitchen. Worth every dime, for sure. I'm going to stick with this again next week and see how it goes.

After months of nothing new with my finances (not that I'm complaining, mind you), I finally have news to report: I just refinanced my mortgage with Chase.

My current mortgage with Chase has 7.5 years left on a 15-year fixed, at 4.625%. They offered me a no fee refinance to a 10-year fixed at 3.875%! My monthly payment drops from $2005 to $1433. My concern was that I'd be adding 2.5 years on to the term, but there's no prepayment penalty, so I arranged to continue having the $2005 automatically withdrawn from checking each month, which will result in my paying the loan off 2 months sooner than I currently would, and save $4k in interest. Also, because the payments are automatically withdrawn, they give me a 1% bonus each year which they apply toward the principle, which is another $175 or so. Wahoo! I know it's not much, but I'll take it!

Not much on tap this weekend. I got paid today, so I have some bookkeeping to do. Weather is supposed to be crummy, so maybe we'll do some clean-up projects in the house...

Happy Mother's Day to all my SA mom friends. I was able to sleep late, until about 10:00, which is an incredible treat! Hubby and the kids are making me breakfast burritos (thanks to many leftovers from last night's cinco de mayo party), and coffee in bed. DD has a soccer game today, followed by dinner with MIL. A quiet, relaxing day for sure.

On the financial front, I had no luck with Citibank waiving the late fee for last month's late payment. To be expected, as I did the same thing not so long ago. I get on the credit card companies for a lot of things, but this one was 100% my fault.

May is shaping up to be an expensive month. I owe SIL the second half of our beach house payment, which will be about $1000. Also, I bought much-needed new clothes and shoes for me and the kids. (As an aside, let me tell you how depressing it is to go shorts shopping for tweens. I can't believe how short these shorts are! It took us forever to find ones that were long enough).

There's not much going on financially this week. I'm learning my lesson from last month and putting all of my due dates in my calendar! Other than that, looking forward to a slow week...

Can someone please tell me where my time goes? How is it that 1/3 of the year is over, and I remember New Year's Eve as if it was yesterday? I feel like March and April came and went in the blink of an eye.

The financial repurcussion of losing track of time: I missed the deadline for my credit card payment. It was due on 4/28 and I just paid it today. This is super frustrating because I have no excuse beyond my own disorganization. And I can't even call up and have them take pity on me, because I did the same thing at the end of last year when I completely stopped tracking my spending. The finance charges shouldn't be too bad because I paid it in full today, but I'm sure the late payment fee is in the neighborhood of $35. An expensive lesson in organization...

Wow, that's a bummer.

Needless to say, I'll spend some part of the weekend paying the rest of the month-end bills...

I am definitely going through one of those phases where I'm so busy with life that I'm not focusing on my finances as much as I should. Which means that I need to make it a point to get here and post more regularly to keep me on track.

I made a decision to back off of couponing for a while. I was keeping all of the coupons that come out, in case opportunities to match them to great sales came along. Keeping it all organized is sapping me of energy, and I'm not sure that I'm getting the most bang for my buck (no pun intended), so I'm going to take a break. I'll keep coupons that I know I'll definitely use, but other than that, I'll let them go. I can always go back to it again.

I received the PediaSure rebate and a small deposit from half .com. I also got an email from ebay that I can list 50 items for free. I haven't yet gone down this road, so I'm going to see when the offer expires and try to post some items.

I need to go out today to get some items for the kids' Easter baskets. Nothing major; they're both old enough to know about the Easter Bunny, but I'll get them a few small things. Easter dinner will be at MILs, which means no cooking and cleaning for me, and plenty of leftovers .

I hope everyone who celebrates has a great day! That didn't come out right...even if you don't celebrate Easter, I hope you have a great day too!

An unlikely combination, but I got both over the weekend. The friends who came for dinner on Saturday got a high-end (SUPER high end) dishwasher when they remodeled the kitchen. Apparently, the manufacturer recommends Electrasol, so they gave us the Cascade they had on hand. 2 big bottles of liquid, and a box of powder! This will last me for months!

So that was the savings. On the spending side, I went to Kohls on Sunday to buy clothes for ME!! I rarely by clothes for myself, and needed them desparately so I don't feel at all bad about it. Everything was on sale, I had a 20% off coupon, and I used a discounted gift card. I still ended up spending about $250, but got everything I needed.

The only other discretionary spending was for the new Harry Potter movie. It's technically a birthday present for DH. We pre-ordered it over the weekend from Best Buy, and they had the Blu-Ray for $24.99. We're watching it now. I'm not a huge fan, but hubby and the kids dig it, so it's a good family movie night...