I ran my net worth as of August 31st and it went up over 5% last month. Nothing like automatic 401(k) contributions to make the finances look better!

Also on the financial front, I tried a new commute (again). Once the kids start school, I can take a train to work. The net result will be a little better than what I currently have, some of my out-of-pocket will come out pretax, and my auto insurance should drop a little, because my round-trip commute dropped from 60 miles/day to 14. That should help with my enormous gasoline bill, too. So I'll start this daily on Friday.

Checked out the various rebate programs for September. Walgreens, as usual, has the best. Specifically, Pepcid 8-ct far, zone perfect bar far, 2 kotex maxi pads far, 4 pepsi 12-pks far (and different from the mail in pepsi rebate, so you can do them both!). Also rebates on batteries and children's tylenol and motrin, both of which I need to stock up on.

Also, I don't know that I'll take advantage of them, but they have buy $20 proctor and gamble items get $10 gc, buy $20 Huggies products get $10 gc, and buy $10 lysol get $3. These could be good deals if you combine them with coupons. In fact, I'm trying to figure out if I'll be invited to any baby showers coming up, because it may be worth getting the huggies deal and giving the diapers and wipes as gifts.

It's going to be pouring rain through Sunday, so it's a good opportunity to scour the sale ads and the coupons.

I'm planning a trip to BJs tomorrow, too. Haven't been in months, but I'd like to stock up on some things for school, and also for all of the baking and cooking I'll be doing this fall.

I've been working like a dog, and will certainly enjoy my relaxing long weekend. Hope everyone else does the same.

As promised, I increased hubby's 401(k) contribution this morning. Yippee!! He is now maxing out his contributions, which will not only help us save for retirement (I'm sure as heck not counting on Social Security!) but it reduces our taxes, too, because the money comes out pre-tax. Never thought we'd get to this point!

Followed up with Washington Mutual. They processed my request to get rid of the escrow account for my mortgage and sent me a check for $1,721.19 (balance in the account). I'm going to use the $721.19 to open up the checking account at Chase (and get that $75 bonus), and I'm going to put the other $1000 toward my heloc. Then, each month, I'll transfer money to the Chase account to cover the taxes and insurance so that when the bill comes due, I'll have the money to pay. And, I'll be able to put an additional $53.65 toward the heloc each month, seen as I don't have to fund the escrow account anymore! Wahoo!

I also called and left a message for the woman at the Board of Elections. Curious to see what this is all about - I hope she calls me back. Made two appointments and RSVP'd to a party. So all the easy things are done! Back to the rest of the list:

1) Go shopping for birthday presents - definitely today (I better - parties are tomorrow and Saturday!);
2) Laundry - Definitely some of it today. My 3 loads from two days ago is now more like 6 loads, plus my daughter's T-Ball outfit is in there, and I need it by 6:00 tonight!!
3) Plant peas and spinach - definitely today. The dirt's already turned over. I just need to drop in the seeds, cover, and water. Can you believe I'm procrastinating about something as simple as this?

The rest of the stuff will need to be done over the next few days:
1) Open the account at Chase
2) Box up clothes for my friend
3) Plant flowers
4) List books on half.com (will I ever get around to this?)

Have a great day!!

always costs a fortune! We both work in lower Manhattan, where everything is expensive! She usually works at home on Thursdays, when I'm in the office late and can take lunch, so we wind up missing each other. But for some reason, she's been in a lot on Thursdays lately. I can't pass up lunch with her, because she's a lot of fun, and I don't see her nearly as much as I'd like to, but at the same time, it costs me $30-40 each time! She's worth it, though.

So what I thought was a no-spend day actually cost me $43. (Glad I didn't stop for that Starbucks this morning!). It's still early in the month, so I can make it up somewhere. The rest of the day will definitely be no-spend. Tomorrow, I'm heading to the flower place that I didn't get around to on Tuesday, but I think most of the stuff I'll buy will be for my MIL, and she'll reimburse me. On Saturday, hubby is going to a communion with DS, while I take DD to her Tball game (unless it rains, then we'll all be going). I'm hoping that the communion only costs me $25, but it's hubby's family, so he decides. The good news is that we're not going to a wedding on Saturday (a few states away), also on hubby's side, and we only need to give $50 for that (I budgeted $100). So I think I'm making out here somewhere...

Other than that, things are quiet. I need to increase hubby's 401(k), using 1/2 of the raise he got in April. But first, I need to make sure that the money is going to the right category of investments. His company pays for a financial planning company to work with us in this area, so I just need to call them, then make the switch. The raise was effective in April, so I already went 1 month without increasing it, I really want to try to get the change in before the deadline for May. Also, with the whole thumb thing last weekend, I never got around to listing the books on half.com. I need to get to that this week. That's all for now...