mjrube94's Blog

We have a group of friends that we get together with frequently. It's great because we all get along, the kids all get along, and it's always a really fun time.

The downside of all this fun is the hit on my entertainment budget. Every time we get together, even if we're not hosting, we bring something toward dinner (pasta salad, corn on the cob, watermelon, something like that). We also bring a bottle of wine or a 12-pack of beer. So we easily spend $20. Of course if we're hosting, it ends up being more, even if we're just doing burgers and dogs.

I guess because summer is coming to an end, we've been getting together more frequently, so my budget has taken a hit. (I refuse to call these "grocery" expenses, and put it toward my "entertainment" budget instead).

I told hubby we need to be creative about this going forward. Think about an inexpensive meal we can serve when we host, and plan better what to bring. Today, we're bringing a watermelon, on sale for $3.88, and maybe a bottle of wine we already have in the house. Always a challenge.

Speaking of challenge, I did the 3rd week of grocery shopping yesterday. I went to one store and spent $72. I wanted to go to a 2nd store to take advantage of the sales, but didn't get around to it. If I get there, I'm going to limit myself to $28 to keep within my $100 budget. This is a big change in mindset for me, because normally I'd take advantage of whatever sales I wanted to, and it cost what it cost. This time, $100 is the limit!

I also have to run August numbers and plan for September. That's on the agenda for this evening...

The good news: I got the electric bill and used an average of 44.66kwh/day, down from 53.12 in July and 55.59 last August. Definitely going in the right direction. We haven't used the air conditioning nearly as much as in the past and we haven't missed it at all.

The bad news: I'm on a budget billing plan that resets in November and as of this month, we have $47.02 in our favor, and actual usage was about $25 over our budget billing amount. I was hoping for a noticeable reduction when the bill resets, but even if I could get it up to $120, that would only work out to a savings of $10/month, not counting rate increases. (Don't get me wrong, I'll take it, and I'm glad to see the results of my efforts, and there's still more to do. It's just that I'm stuck with the reset rate for 6 months, so I was hoping to make a bigger dent in it).

One thing I did notice: the bill isn't due until the 22nd of the month, but they were doing the automatic debit from my checking account on the 8th. It would help me from a cash-flow perspective if they could take it on the 15th, when we get paid. I called and the rep said they couldn't switch it. So I cancelled auto pay and I'll pay it myself on the 15th. A little more inconvenient for me, but it's worth it.

Cell phone is a totally different story. Hubby dropped his in the pool by accident (don't ask). Unfortunately, he just got a new phone 2 WEEKS AGO! HE's not eligible for a reduced price upgrade and we don't have insurance for the phone, so he was looking at $225 to replace his phone. Uh no. Turns out, my MIL's line, which is on our plan, is eligible for an upgrade. Supposedly, we can get the upgrade through her, but activate it under hubby's number. I'll need to go to the Verizon store and have them do it, but hopefully it will work. We'll still need to pay for the phone, but not $225.

As a result of the frustration of the cell phone event, we ordered out from the pizza place for dinner. I was a little bummed because I had something available for dinner and we've done a great job planning our meals, but such is life. We'll have tonight's dinner tomorrow, and at least it reduced the stress level a bit...

I've felt great about spending the past few days. Yesterday, I spent about $40 for pool chemicals, but other than that, it was a no-spender. Despite the fact that I took the kids to the dentist for their 6 month checkup (no cavities, covered by insurance). Then, after the pool store, I took the kids to Wendys for dinner and used some of the paper gift certificates I had. (Store took them, no problem). Today, I'm home all day.

Made dinner in the crockpot yesterday and today. I'm really enjoying the idea of having dinner done by 1:00 pm. It also gave me the opportunity to clear out my pantry a bit (beans, tomatoes, etc.). So all in all, a pretty good day...

It's weird when two people mean the same thing but say it in two completely different ways. That's what's happening with me and DH. He's totally on board with the idea of controlling our spending, but we approach it from two completely different angles.

He wants to focus only on the big-ticket items that seem to come out of our budget every month (some planned, some not). I want to look at every last dime, because I know that sometimes the big things (car repair, etc.) can't be avoided.

We did agree that one of our problems is that we were tracking our spend in a very reactive way ("Oh look, we spent $x on food last month), instead of proactively setting a budget for the upcoming month and sticking to it. So we're going to do that for Sept-Dec and see how it goes.

I am glad that he's into it though. Makes it a lot easier...

Even though the challenge won't "officially" start until September, week 2 resulted in $89.52 spent ($111.44 before bonus card and coupons). Again, I'm relying on a few things in the freezer, but so far so good. Here's my plan to keep this going: Each week, I'm going to use a $100 grocery store gift card. If there is anything left, I'll just hold on to it and use a fresh $100 card the following week. That way, if a week comes along where I need more than $100, I can use one of the cards that has a remaining balance. Otherwise, I can save those cards for the holidays when I know full well that $100 isn't going to cut it. We'll see how that goes.

The trip to Baltimore went well. Friend offered to pay for the tix, but the cost was offset by my share of the gas (they drove) so we broke even. Fun time, but I'm not sure it was worth the $250 or so that it cost us in the end. We're thinking about dropping the trip next year.

I can't wait for my electric bill this month. The weather has felt like September lately. Cool mornings. The house hasn't gotten above 74 degrees so the A/C has been for a while.

I'm looking forward to getting organized for the week, and heading back to the gym tomorrow morning (man have I been slacking!). At least all of my meals are planned!

For those of you who fondly remember the Love Boat, I'm done being Julie McCoy, Cruise Director.

A few weeks back, we went to the Police concert. I got 4 tickets ($110 each), for me, hubby and another couple. Shortly after buying the tix, the other hubby decided he didn't want to go, and the wife got a friend to go with her. On the night of the concert, other wife (one of my best friends) told me she forgot her checkbook and will give me the check next time she saw me. Wife's friend gave me a check that night for $110.

Earlier this week, I find out that wife's friend's check bounced. I know the girl, but not THAT well, so I feel a bit awkward calling her about it. (I'm figuring that she'll see her check bounced and call me to have it redeposited). On top of that, wife never gave me her check, either. I'm not entirely sure what her financial situation is, but I know things are tight, so I don't want to ask. Do they have an emoticon for a smiley face with a lollipop for its head (i.e., SUCKER!)

We're going to Baltimore tomorrow with another couple to see the Yankee game. Again, fronted the tix months ago. To her credit, friend (different friend from the wife above) asked me what she owes, but things are SUPER tight with them, so I'm not holding my breath.

It goes beyond tickets. It's class mom, team mom, anyting else that requires me to lay out money, and others to pay back their share. I'm done. Capital D. Let someone else do it. I'm happy to pay whatever they tell me I owe, but I'm not doing it anymore. JUST SAY NO!!!

Wow that felt good. I think I'm just sleep deprived because the Olympics are ending SO LATE, but they've been SO GREAT that I've had to stay up to watch. Going to bed at 12:30 and getting up at 6:15 for two weeks has definitely taken its toll on me. I need to go to sleep!

I sold a book on 1/2.com for $2.00 plus shipping. Not much, but better than nothing. Someone also requested a book from me at paperback swap . com, so I need to get that in the mail as well.

Cancelled my newspaper subscription. I love the paper, but I can read it online just as easily. The only thing I'll really miss are the coupons, but it turns out that it would be cheaper to buy the Sunday copy than have it delivered everyday, (if I can't bum coupons off my friends, that is!).

I also changed a service on my cell phone that I was receiving and used, but I didn't love it enough to keep the $15/month charge.

I'm really trying to weed through my expenses and shave them down wherever I can. Next call: insurance company to raise auto deductible to $1000. Slow and steady wins the race...

That's the grocery total for the week. Woohoo. Spent $23.56 at the A&P, and $76.52 at the ShopRite.

On the plus side, we stayed to $100, and were able to accommodate last minute guests for dinner, without blowing the food budget, which is huge for us. On the down side, we didn't stick to the list entirely. Things that were on the list were taken off last minute, and things that weren't on our list appeared in our carts!

I'm super curious to see how this continues. We had a number of meals in our freezer that we'll be using this week, so that helped keep costs down as well. On the flip side, looking closely at what we bought, there are definitely things (Rice Krispies treats!) that I could make SO much cheaper at home. So far so good.

Peach picking was a success, but we were too early for blackberries and raspberries. It was an absolutely gorgeous day! Today we're heading down to brother and SIL's house for dinner. They live about 90 minutes away (yikes on the gas), but should be an otherwise no spend day.

Also on the plus side, I found $50 in Walmart gift cards that we received as a Christmas gift last year (but we don't live that close to a Walmart, so I forgot about them!). There is one near MIL's house, so I'm going to save them for either Christmas shopping, or one month if the grocery bill needs some help. I also got 2 $5 gift cards for Target.

On the down side, I received a call from a Market Research firm hired by the auto company for the car we drive. They wanted me to spend 90 minutes taking a survey and would pay $120, but they were looking for people who go to Jiffy Lube and places like that for service, and we always go to the dealer, so I couldn't participate. Huge bummer...

Hope all is well with everyone. Have a great day!

Although DH's official grocery challenge was to begin September 1st, he's actually so into it that he suggested we start this week. (Who are you, and what did you do with my husband?!)

Phase 1 is done. We've read through the sale ads and planned our menu. Our goal is to shoot for $100, but be flexible to have it go to $125, which will keep us between $400-$500/month. Based on our list, we should be just around $100, though I had to guess for some things like meat, where I won't know the exact price until I see the piece I get.

I'll post after the shopping is done to give you an exact figure, but so far so good.

Later on today, we're going peach, blackberry and raspberry picking. We do this every year at a local farm and it's great fun.

...and my financial planner story.

I'm back. Vacation was great. Not necessarily relaxing with 2 young kids at the beach and boardwalk but really fun. (I'm like a kid myself - LOVE the rides at the boardwalk)! But now I'm back to reality.

Hubby and I have been having major conversations about our financial situation over the last few months. The prices of everything are through the roof, and it's too tight for comfort for me. I showed hubby the numbers and indicated that we really need to crack down on all areas of spending. His response: the problem is the grocery bill, which averages about $600/month (including detergent, personal and paper products).

While that's certainly not the only area we could attack, it's definitely a good place to start. We could plan meals better, waste less produce, etc. to get it down some. But I think he may have an unrealistic view of how low it can go. (He's thinking in the neighborhood of $400).

So I gave him a challenge. I'll give him $400 (or $450, or $500 - whatever he finally decides) on September 1st and he will be completely responsible for grocery shopping for the month. I'll help him however I can, as far as planning meals, cutting coupons, whatever, but he's going to the store and shopping. If he's successful, maybe I can learn some of his tricks. If he's unsuccessful, at least he'll have an appreciation for what things cost and agree to attack some of the other categories that he's avoiding now. Either way, it's a win-win for me.

On another note, we met with a financial planner yesterday. What an absolute crock! We did it as a favor to friends who used this guy and recommended him to us. He's a "wealth management" advisor. His advice: 1) stop overfunding your 401(k). (We currently max out). His suggestion was to only contribute to the company match and invest the rest in his investment vehicle. 2) Refinance our current mortgage. We currently have a 15-year fixed at 4 5/8%, with 9 years left to pay and a balance of about $187k. He wants us to take out a 30-year fixed, leaving only 20% equity in the house and invest the rest in this investment vehicle. His logic: The return on the investment plus the additional tax deductions more than make up for the additional interest you incur moving from a 15 to a 30-year.

Are you kidding me? I won't bore you with the details of his argument, but suffice it to say that we weren't biting. I'd much rather have the peace of mind of being debt free with no tax deductions, then having a $600k 30-year mortgage hanging over my head at the age of 38. I'm sure people who aren't as cynical as I am lap up what he says, and are probably responsible for all of the "for sale" signs going up in my neighborhood. Unreal.

Plan for today is to work on cutting some more expenses, filling out some FSA paperwork, and the like. I'm also going to open the windows and let some fresh air in!

Got an email from the 1/2.com person. Turns out they didn't need the book and asked if I would issue a refund, since I hadn't shipped it yet. Bummer...

The back to school papers are starting to come home. I got the kids' teacher assignments, milk and lunch order forms, etc. I'll take care of all that when I get paid on the 15th.

Not sure if any of you have Commerce Bank by you, but they're running a promotion over the summer where, if your child reads 10 books, Commerce will deposit $10 in their savings account. Valley Nat'l had a different $10 promotion which I took advantage of a few years back. I'll switch the kids' money before school starts to take advantage of the extra $$.

We're off for a long weekend at the beach. We go every year with MIL. I have to dig out a few gift cards form the boardwalk that had money on them last year (don't expire). MIL pays for hotel and food, so aside from the boardwalk and water park (which is actually really expensive, everything else is free to us.

I'll report back on Monday when I return. Have a good weekend!

Sold a book on 1/2.com today. This was a good one: $4.65 + shipping. That will go into my $20 challenge, along with the $.15 I started with.

Trying to be frugal this week. I have $90 to spend at Kohls (bonus $ that expire on the 12th, due to some overspending last week!). We also went a little overboard at Blockbusters (2 kids movies/2 adult movies. Total, just under $20). People talk about the dangers of shopping with kids all the time. Hubbys are just as bad!

We're meeting with a financial planner on the 13th. It's a favor to a friend, who used this guy and really liked him, and gave him our name. No money out of pocket, but I've no doubt that he's going to suggest we move our money out of our mutual funds into annuities and load mutual funds. Maybe I'm being cynical. We have a pretty good hold on our financial picture so, while I'm interested in hearing what he has to say, I'll definitely think twice (or thrice) before doing anything he suggests.

That's about it for today. Gearing up for a long weekend at the beach this weekend (courtesy of MIL).

I work one block away from a Godiva chocolate shop. For the past week they've been adveritising smores. They look absolutely amazing on the poster...you can practically taste the graham crackers, gooey marshmallow and melted chocolate. I was thinking about picking some up for me, hubby and the kids as a special treat, until I saw the price tag right above the picture: $3.75 each. That's $15 for the four of us. Are you kidding me?

I totally had a craving for them (I don't think I've ever had a real smore in my life!), so when I went grocery shopping yesterday, I bought a box of Keebler graham crackers ($2.50), a jar of marshmallow fluff ($1.89), and a Hersheys chocolate bar ($1.50). For less than 6 bucks, we each had 2 smores for dessert (they were REALLY good), and we have enough left over, except for the chocolate to make more. I recognize that stores are in business to make money, and I'm all in favor of them jacking up the price a bit in return for convenience, but paying $6 for 8 smores plus leftovers, vs. $15 for four is ridiculous!

We're going to see the Police in concert tonight. I paid for the tickets a while ago, but our two friends are repaying me tonight, so that's cool. We're going to get sandwhiches to eat before the concert, so it will be a cheap dinner.

Hubby came home late from a trip last night. Instead of ordering out, as we'd normally do, he suggested that we make the frozen ravioli we had. I figure we saved $20-$25. Not bad. A big key for us is keeping food like that around that we enjoy eating and can get right out of the freezer.

I went to the Wendy's website. It says that they will still honor paper gift certificates indefinitely, so maybe I just hit a franchise that didn't want to be bothered. I'll try them at the one closer to my house and see if I have better luck. If they don't take them, I'll call customer service about exchanging them for a gift card. At least I won't lose their value, which is cool.

Back on MyPoints. I have a balance of 1885 points, which can actually get me a $10 gc somewhere. I'll hold off and get more and get one when we get closer to the holidays. Also cancelled my Weight Watchers membership. I'm paid through the 16th, so I can always go on before then to get whatever info I need.

I went to the Today Show website and checked out that piece on what percentage of your income should go to different things. They must have been talking net pay, because they said it should break down like this: Housing (30%), Transportation (18%), Debt (10%), Savings (10%), Food (14%), Utilities (7%), and Other (11%). There's no way we're keeping to 11% for other, especially if you include taxes and health insurance, which come out of our gross pay.

So I checked out what our percentages are (gross), and they break out like this:
Housing: 16.14% (mort, insurance, prop tax)
Auto: 8.82% (car pmt, insurance, maint, gas, pkg)
Debt: 0.69% (Payments on HELOC)
Food: 3.43% (groceries, eating out, food @ work)
Savings: 16.91% (401k, 529s, whatever's leftover)
Utilities: 4.35% (gas, elec, phone, cell, internet, cable)
Taxes: 30.53% (fed, state, fica)
Insurance: 2.35% (health & life)
Other: 16.77% (everything else)

I think utilities, food and other are the 3 big categories for me to focus on. My goal is to be able to live on one salary, which would put a lot of these categories out of whack.

Walgreens first:

As expected, they were out of the Pert. No surprise, they never have everything I'm looking for. Regardless, I got the other 2 bottles of shampoo (11.98), the Walgreens-Brita filter (6.99), the 4 pack of light bulbs (1.99), and 3 small mailing boxes ($.55 each). The total with tax came to about $24, minus the $5 coupon. $19 out of pocket, and I'll get $23.06 back on a Walgreens gift card ($20.96 + 10%). Not a bad deal at all.

Stopped at Wendy's for dinner. Stayed late at work and had to get home for a meeting, so I had to grab something quick. While I was cleaning out my desk this past weekend, I found about $20 in old Wendys gift certificates. They have to be at least 3 years old. I tried using them, but the manager told me they don't accept them anymore. There's no expiration date on them, so she told me to call or email the company. I'll see where that gets me.

Finally, got my electric bill today. Used an average of 53.12kwh/day, instead of 55.29/day last July. So I'm heading in the right direction, albeit slowly!

That's it for tonight. Quick post. Hope all is well!

I got a coupon from Walgreens in my email, save $5 off $20 on an in-store purchase, Thursday only. (There's a link to forward to a friend, so if anyone is interested, let me know). So I checked out their new rebate booklet, which started 7/26 and goes through the end of August, and I've laid out my strategy:

1. Walgreens 4pk lightbulbs $1.99 (FAR)
2. Walgreens "Brita" water filter $6.99 (FAR)
3. Pert Plus shampoo 13.5oz $4.29 (FAR)
4. (2) BIO Infusion Shampoo/Cond $11.98 (FAR)

Hubby just told me this week that we need lightbulbs, we use a Brita pitcher instead of bottled water, and hubby is loyal to Pert Plus. The kids and I use whatever shampoo is on sale, so I'm great with that, even though I've never tried it before.

The total comes to $25.25, minus the $5 coupon and minus a $1 Pert coupon, for a total out of pocket of $19.25. All of the items are free after rebate, so I'll get the full $25.25 back, plus an extra 10% for having it put on a Walgreens gift card, instead of getting it as cash. So basically, I'm making $8.53, plus getting the stuff for free. Sounds like a great deal to me. Now, I just have to hope that my WAG has all of this stuff in stock, which is not always a given...

My thoughts, not me. I'm staying at home! Here they go, in no particular order:

1. I was rereading HouseHopefuls blog, catching up on some back entries. I really need to get back to the Mypoints thing (it's painless), and I need to get back to some of those trial memberships where you get the free gift cards. Requires some organization, but nothing a calendar can't handle. Plus I've been getting myself more organized, so I think I can handle it.

2. Myrtle's Money mentioned that she bought a "Save a Watt" to check how much her appliances are costing her in electricity. I can buy it locally for $20. I'll try to hold off buying it and just do what I know I should (shut down computer, unplug things, etc.). I'll see what effect that has, and pick one up in a few months if it doesn't help.

3. We paid off one of our cars last month (woohoo)! I need to call the insurance company so I can raise the deductible. The loan company required a $500 deductible, but now that we don't have a loan, we can bump it up to $1000. I also need to sign up for the driver ed class that has been on my list of things to do for YEARS! It will cost $60 each for me and hubby, but will save $120/year for 3 years.

4. I'm also going to check into a programmable water heater (thanks Ima) and an insulation blanket for the water heater, though ours is pretty new, so I imagine it's pretty efficient.

5. I'm cancelling my Weight Watchers online membership. I joined in February, and have lost 11 pounds, which is great. But I was never great about tracking my food and points. I think I'm just more aware of what and how much I'm eating. I have all the tools at home (the points scale, the book, etc.) and many of my friends do it, if I need to get on line for something. I'd rather save the $16.95/month.

6. I also have one other online membership for $7.95 that I need to cancel. I use it a few times/year, so it would be cheaper for me to just join when I need to.

7. On the today show, I saw a financial planner from CNBC talking about what % of your income should go to housing, transportation, savings, etc. I only caught a piece of it, but I'd like to track it down so I can compare it to our numbers. (I know housing is 30%, but I'm not sure about the rest). That's my plan for the evening.

Whew, that's a lot. Better get going!

I called up my electric company and asked for my average daily KWH usage (total kwh/# of days in billing cycle), from January 2007 through my last bill. Computers never cease to amaze me; the rep had them for me in about 30 seconds. Here's what I learned:

Electric
2008 vs. 2007
Avg. kwh/day
January 38.63 < 41.77
Feb 31.31 < 34.90
March 29.72 > 29.62
Aoril 26.55 > 26.14
May 28.18 < 29.31
June 56.76 < 57.03
July ???? 55.29
August ???? 55.59
Sept ???? 52.13
October ???? 32.13
Nov ???? 35.21
Dec ???? 44.80

eta: sorry this is hard to read. The first number is 2008 use, the second number is 2007. For months where I have both years data, I indicated if it was < or > from 2008 to 2007.

My usage was up slightly in March and April vs. last year, but down the other 4 months. Overall, through the first 6 months of the year, avg daily usage is down by about 1.7kwh/day. That's pretty good. My bill, however, has increased during that time from $186/month in July 07 to $250/month now! I'm on the budget billing plan, so they reset my rate once/year, based on the previous 12 months. I assume rates during this time have gone up (alot, apparently). I'm going to keep trying to lower my usage vs. last year, and I'll put a reminder in my calendar to see what happens when the rate resets, and raise heck if it doesn't go down at all.

Then, I did the same thing with my gas company, and found this:

Gas
2008 vs 2007
Total CCF
January 377.476 > 118.404
Feb 334.972 < 494.868
March 370.392 < 432.124
Aoril 279.312 > 276.276
May 79.948 < 163.944
June 74.888 < 107.272
July 33.396 < 92.092
August ???? 39.468
Sep ???? 68.816
Oct ???? 93.104
Nov ???? 46.552
Dec ???? 246.928

Here, I was also up 2 months, and down the rest. My bill from July 07 to now went from $252/month to $264/month, which includes $11/month for a maintenance contract on my air conditioner, which I think I have duplicate coverage for. (Yes, I pay $500+/month for gas and electric, which is ridiculous! That's why I'm so bent on getting these down!). The winter is tough, because it's so dependent on the weather. My summer usage has gone down a lot because we have a pool that we used to heat pretty regularly last summer, and I think we've only used the heater twice this year. The kids don't mind the cold water, and I mind it a lot less when I think about how much it costs me! So this one will be harder than the electric bill, but I'm going to think about what else I can do to get this down, especially as the fall/winter approaches. (We replaced our front door last year, and we use digital thermostat timers to turn down the heat when we're out of the house. I have to drill down to the next level of ideas).

Fortunately for us, water is cheap, and costs us only $27/month. (Not even, as that's also on budget billing, and we always come in under).

So that's my challenge for today, tomorrow, and the rest of the year: To continue thinking about ways to get this down. All thoughts are welcome!

I was inspired by Lux Living Frugalis! Now that I'm back on the site more, I picked out a few of my favorite authors, and started looking at old entries. I came across Lux's first foray into the $20 challenge, when she started with all of $.34. She was so excited! I decided that I could probably find a nickel or a dime to get started too, so why not?

I actually participated in the challenge a while back and did quite well by selling books. Unfortunately, most of the books I have now are not worth anything, so that probably won't be a good avenue. As I declutter my house, I'm going to see what I can get rid of on ebay, etc.

I also revamped my categories, so I can better find old entries that I'm interested in. One of the things I did a while back was to go through every line item on my budget and brainstorm what else I could do to lower it. It's been a long time, so it may be worth it to revisit them and see what I've slacked off on.

I went to a baby shower yesterday. Driving home, I was thinking about how totally excessive it was. (Full disclosure, I had ridiculously excessive bridal and baby showers too!). It's one of those things where I "wish I knew then what I know now".

In both cases (bridal and baby), we registered for gifts. (One store each in my case, two stores this time, and I've seen even more)! Looking back, I registered for things that I thought I absolutely had to have, and ended up never using. If I had it to do over, I would have registered for more diapers and wipes, and less of the gadgets.

The mom-to-be yesterday got an extraordinary amount of stuff. She knows she's having a girl, so it was a "princess" theme. Every single thing she got was pink or purple. I thought to myself, "what happens if her next child is a boy?" She likely won't have another shower to get it all again, but in blue. Crazy. I'm sure she got enough outfits and onesies that the baby will not have to wear a duplicate outfit for the first 6 months of her life!

All that said, I know how excited she was, and I was too. I just wish I had an experienced mom tell me that the wipe warmer that you plug in the wall to keep the wipes warm when they hit baby's hiney wasn't really necessary, that you could warm them in your hand just as easily. The Diaper Genie, where you store used diapers until you're ready to throw them out, wasn't really needed, especially when the refills were $5 each. We move our garbage to the garage every day, and it goes to the curb twice a week. Throw it right in the trash and there's no smell in the house! Amazing...But I did get an amazing free meal in the process.

Today we have a stay-at-home day, except for Church. It looks like it may rain, which is ok for me, because I have things in the house that I need to take care of. Also, with July wrapping up this week, I need to finish paying July bills and see where we're ending up.

One little, one big.

I called CVS. Turns out that they can't extend the expiration date on ECBs that were given when you purchase products (like rebates). The only ones they can extend are the quarterly ECBs that they give you based on your spending. So I'm out the $2. Lesson learned.

Tougher lesson: I'm out $100 today. My job pays for the first $100 of public transportation costs each month. You can arrange for any money you need above that to be automatically withdrawn from your paycheck. They give you a special credit card to use whenever you buy your tickets. Normally, I use the same amount each month, so I put in the amount and set it to repeat each month. For the summer, my commuting pattern changes because the kids are out of school. So I did a 1-time change to my new amount. Unfortunately, I forgot to do another 1-time entry for August, so I'm not getting my $100 this month. I went in today to reset it for September (must be done by 8/1), and I realized that I forgot it. I haven't figured out my exact costs for August, probably $75-100. Expensive lesson learned. I'm putting a reminder in my calendar on the 20th of each month to double check. Ouch!

So today was not a banner financial day for me. I'll hope to improve it tomorrow...

In NJ, you can shop around for a 3rd party supplier for both gas and electric. The utilities make it pretty easy, too. On the bills, they spell out exactly what your usage is, and what the price to compare is. In an effort to try to get my bills down, I spent the better part of this morning checking it out.

Alas, I was disappointed to find out that in most cases, the 3rd party suppliers were actually providing alternative sources of energy, and would actually add a few cents/unit onto my bill. For those who are interested in reducing their carbon footprint and going green, it seemed really reasonable and worth checking out. I may come back to it, but my focus today was to try to save some money, and it didn't work. At least I can cross it off my list of things to look into.

Stopped by Walgreens today to take advantage of some back to school sales. The store was a madhouse and of course all the really great deals were pretty much sold out. I did manage to pick up a few things on my list, and spent about $6.

Has this happened to anyone? I have a piggy bank where I dump all of my change at the end of the night. It's getting really full, and I'm so tempted to count it out, but I'm afraid if I do, I'll make up a reason to spend it. The temptation is killing me, though. I'm going to try to stick it out until Christmas time.

Working from home tomorrow. I have a date with my washing machine. I'm also going to spend some time decluttering my house...

Called CVS yesterday, but there office had closed. Will try again on Monday. Went there to pick up a few things however, and was pleased to find a $5 ecb for a survey I filled out a while back, as well as another $2.50 in ecbs. I'll make sure to use these before they expire!

Today I'm heading down to dad's. I spend a few hours with him, do his grocery shopping, run some errands, and have dinner with him. No spending, other than for him.

I'm looking to continue decluttering the house. In addition to paperback swap and the others, I'll keep my eye out for anything I can pass along to my younger nieces and nephews, sell on ebay, etc. Not sure how much it will help financially, but it will definitely help my mental state!

I emailed the electric company to see if they had a "time of use" program. They offer it for NY residents, where your rates are super high from 9am-9pm M-F, and super low the rest of the time. It would definitely make sense if you're out of the house during the day (we are) and you can arrange your laundry, dishwashing, etc. during the cheap times. For some reason, they don't do it for NJ residents, and I didn't get a good understanding from the customer service rep as to why. My utility bills are through the roof, though, so I'm definitely trying to come up with ways to significantly reduce.

I've rambled enough. Hope everyone has a good day!

I'm going to call CVS tomorrow morning. I do their Extra Care program, and got a coupon for $2 that expired at the end of June. I read that if you call them and tell them that you haven't used the coupon, they'll reset it and extend the expiration date. I've been such a slacker the last few months (which is why I didn't use the coupon in the first place). Normally, I would have thrown it out, but no more. I'll call and see what they say. I'll let you know tomorrow.

On another note, I know I've spoken in the past about Paperback Swap . com. For those of you who haven't heard of it, you post books you want to get rid of, and others do the same. The only cost to you is that you pay the postage if someone requests one of your books. For every book you mail, you get a credit which allows you to request a book from someone else. Easy as that. My kids are into Harry Potter and I just got the first 5 books using my credits. They also have sister sites where they swap DVDs and CDs. I started doing that too. The first 4 DVDs I posted were requested by others right away. They don't seem to have as good a selection of new movies, however, as I wanted Alvin and the Chipmunks and it had to be put on a "wish list". Still, it allowed me to declutter a few movies from my house.

We've had a sea change in the way we handle finances in the family. Hubby has been complaining for as long as we're married that he has no idea about our finances (I pay the bills). We've finally reached a compromise that's working. We're writing every single thing down on a piece of paper in our bedroom. That way, at the end of the month when he wants to know where our money goes, he can see it all in black and white. A side benefit is that I think we're subconsciously spending less. Writing down every dollar really does help. Go figure. This will also allow me to get back to tracking our expenses so we can see what needs to be cut, so that will be another positive coming out of this.

Thanks for all the kind words from everyone. It's good to be back on the wagon...

Can't commit to jumping both feet in the pool, but I'm dipping my big toe in. After months away from this site (and really much longer since I've been really focused on this stuff), I'm back.

Funny how things change and yet they're still the same. I'm trying to get a grip on all of our expenses, and cut them where I can without lowering our quality of life. Much tougher now with gas and grocery prices. Usually, I don't feel it so much when they talk in the news about this stuff but over the last few months, I've definitely been seeing it. My utility bills are also through the roof, despite significantly lower usage over last year.

So hear I am, anxious to catch up with my old friends, and ready to read about some of the new posters. I'm always looking for good tips. Until my next post, I'll leave you with this tip, which I came across as part of a fundraiser I'm involved in:

In our area, non-profits sell grocery store gift cards. Many of the major chains have this program, where the charity buys $1000 worth of gift cards, but only pays the store $950 (5% discount). They then sell the gift cards at face value, so they make $1000 and keep the $50 as profit.

I always assumed that the stores only made this deal available to charities. However, the stores (at least the ones by me) will give this deal to anyone who buys $1000+ worth of gift cards. That's a 5% savings! And with people's grocery bills these days, the savings would add up quickly. A family who spends $500/month on groceries ($6,000/year) would save $300/year doing this.

The only trouble is coming up with the money up front. One alternative to make it easier is to partner with some family or friends and share the benefit.

If you're interested, check out your store's website and surf around for gift cards. If you don't see it, call the customer service #, as it's not always well advertised.

I'm happy to be back. Hopefully I'll be able to get my focus back...

We went out last Monday to celebrate Valentines Day / Anniversary. We went to an upscale Greek place. Everything was fine, but not worth the money. (For people who know me, when I say something is "fine" it means it's not really that great, but I don't want to be rude). Anyway, the food did taste good and the wine was great, but we left feeling a little let down.

Then on Thursday we ordered pizza for dinner. Doubly wasteful here because I defrosted something that hubby wasn't really into, so that went to waste and we paid for the pizza. Ouch.

Finally on Saturday we went out to dinner again (Christmas gift, along with a Broadway show). We went for more of a Bennigans-style restaurant and we left feeling great. We each had appetizers, entrees, and drinks, and walked out for $70 including tip.

Needless to say I need to get back to the discipline of NOT eating out so much!

I've been making good use of Paperback swap dot com. I just mailed a few more books and ordered a few I'm interested in. I need to update my inventory on half.com, because that's about to expire. Just need to find the time to go through them all.

Is anyone else amazed that it's already the end of February? The year is flying by, as usual...

Aaaah, I needed this!

We're off on Monday and I'm working from home on Tuesday, so I'm set up for a nice long weekend at home.

I picked my nephew up Friday night. He's staying until Sunday, which basically means that my kids will be fully occupied until then. Tonight we're all going to a friend's house for dinner, and the kids will be going to grandma's for a sleepover on Monday.

We're going out to dinner Monday night. (Cheaper than going on Valentine's Day), and we picked up pizza for the kids last night. I'm making an appetizer for tonight, using stuff I already had in the house, so I'm all set there.

I returned books to the library (before they were due, thank you very much). No fines yet during 2008. I also went to the Post Office to mail books for Paperbackswap.com.

So that about wraps up my spending. I'm planning my menu for next week, looking to use up a bunch of stuff in my freezer, but I'll need to go to the fruit/veggie store, probably tomorrow.

Have you guys tried these? Our printer broke, so I bought a new Dell Printer/Copier/Fax/Scanner for $150 minus a $50 rebate. I also bought an electric pencil sharpener for $20 minus a $10 rebate (ok, a bit of an impulse buy, but with two grade schoolers, I need sharp pencils and I can never get them sharp enough by hand!).

Anyway, a rebate copy of the receipt and the rebate submission form automatically print from the register. You go online, enter a few numbers, and boom, within a few weeks you get a check. I've done this several times over the years and it's always a pleasant experience. (You don't hear the phrase "pleasant experience" and "rebate" in the same sentence too frequently)!

I also deposited a few checks that I had, from my dad and DH's mom to reimburse us for stuff we bought them. The 15th of the month is big for us because that's when I get my first check, I pay most of the bills and get a good handle on where we sit financially. Our first installment of the vacation payment is due ($950) and we're trying to put $1000 toward the HELOC for the renovation we recently did. It'll be tough to get both. We'll see how it shakes out.

I always pay my ccs off in full each month. Last month, I thought I set up a scheduled payment for one of the cards, but I either forgot, or it didn't go through right. Whatever, the payment wasn't made by the due date. I made it the morning after. When I got my bill this month, they hit me with finance charges of $39.54. (No late fee, surprisingly). Anyway, I called up customer service and explained the situation. She told me she would give me a "one-time courtesy credit" and remove the charges on next month's statement. I was all set to pay them, but it's great that I didn't have to. All it took was a phone call.

There have been two other times when a call like this has done wonders. The first was calling Direct Tv a few months back (see previous post), the second was with this same cc, when they charged me the annual fee. (Does anybody pay an annual fee for a cc anymore?). They reversed that charge as well.

I'll keep my eyes open for other opportunities to save money with a phone call. If anyone has any others, I'd love to hear them!

Rereading the frugal books that I got from the library has reminded me of my dilemma: I'm quickly reaching the point where I've taken advantage of the obvious, easy financial changes, and the only things left are things I really (really, really) don't want to do. I guess what I give up going forward depends on how desparate I get!

The other thing I realized is that the advice is basically the same from book to book. Granted, I've read a lot of these types of books over the last few years, but there's not usually much new in them. I find it much more valuable to read through the blogs for a great website or find from one of the fellow bloggers.

I finally wrapped up my 2007 Flexible Spending Account. A check for $507.42 was deposited today (Yay!). I can now turn my attention to 2008 FSA. I already have about $200 in charges this year, so I'll try to get them in next week.

I also submitted the last set of claims for DS's speech therapist that are covered in network. We only had authorization to use her in network through December, and they wouldn't extend, so I now need to use her as an out-of network. The difference is about $15 extra out-of-pocket for me per visit. Still some coverage is better than nothing.