mjrube94's Blog

Great mail day...I got two $10 rebates for signing up for two gift card trials, and I got a $5 gas rebate back that I've been waiting on for weeks. I'm still waiting on two more $5 rebates, so I'm hopeful that they'll come to.

I also closed down one of the bank accounts that I opened for the bonus. I wasn't making use of it, and they sent me a letter that it was going to convert to an account with an $11 monthly fee because of inactivity. Forget that...

I also caught up with a few friends that I haven't spoken to in a few weeks. I still have a few more, but at least the list is narrowing.

Relatively quiet night tonight, then back to my to-do list tomorrow!

We went to a wedding yesterday. It was 2 1/2 hours away, so we stayed over at the hotel, which made for a pretty expensive night, between the hotel, the gas, and the gift. And the wedding wasn't even that great. They had the ceremony outdoors, but had no tents set up. (Hello...it's the middle of July, thunderstorms happen all the time. I'm all for containing costs, but splurge for the tents!). Needless to say, it started raining about 5 minutes before the ceremony, and stopped 5 minutes after the ceremony. (A sign from above? I'm not sure). Luckily most people had umbrellas, and there was some cover. The reception was just ok, food and music wise. I'm glad it's over!

As an aside, can anyone comment as to how they decide on a wedding gift? We almost always give money, because that's what most young people need and want, but how to you determine the amount? Do you always give the same? Do you base it on the cost of the place? I left this up to hubby because it was his friend, but I'm curious how other people decide...

Went grocery shopping today and did pretty well. I spent more than my weekly goal, but got some pretty good buys thanks to loss leaders, and should be well set for a while.

I'm hoping for a quiet week this week. I have a haircut and color on Tuesday. I had to cancel my appointment from 2 weeks ago because of work and my grays are REALLY showing. I'm reading Flash's and Diva Jen's experiences with the home hair color closely, but I'm a big chicken when it comes to this. I always worry that my hair will end up green! It would be great to save the $105 bill every 7 weeks, though, so I may need to get over myself!

Totally spur-of-the-moment, hubby and I decided to take the kids to the beach today. It was 85 and sunny, perfect weather. We had an absolutely great time. The kids were fantastic and we had a load of fun. No "buyers remorse" here, but it was a bit of an expensive day. I haven't added it up yet (I'm afraid) but between gas, lunch and dinner, boardwalk rides, and beach passes (good old NJ...charging $$ to get on their beach!), it'll probably run close to $100. Heck, it's 160 miles round trip, so gas alone will be $25. Spending quality time with the family: priceless.

I was disappointed with the mail today. We needed to buy a part for the pool, and it came with a rebate that expires 7/31. When the pool company installed it, they didn't leave me the warranty card, which I need to submit with the rebate. I called the pool company and got somebody totally clueless, who said she'd look into it and get it in the mail to me. After a few days, I called and got the owner, who knew exactly what I needed and said he'd get it in the mail to me. I haven't gotten it yet, so I need to call him back tomorrow. I hate frustrations like this. When I do my job, people don't need to tell me how to do it right, they don't need to remind me of deadlines. Why do I feel like my second (unpaid) job is babysitting grown men and women who don't have their act together? Totally frustrating!

But it's not going to ruin my great day...I'll update my progress tomorrow.

Hubby and I both get paid on the 15th, but I have the stubs already, so I'll be able to update my July numbers. I'm looking forward to seeing how I'll end up this month, because I have no idea, and knowing is better than not knowing...

I mailed out the coupon train, and got a $2.74 Aquafresh rebate in the mail.

I also received my 2nd mail order RX from Medco. I wrote about this a few months back. Both hubby and I take prescriptions that cost $25/month to fill at CVS. Going through Medco mail order, we pay $50 for a 3-month supply, saving $100/year on each prescription. Can't believe I didn't know about this sooner. When I was on their website, they also list all the RX that we've filled recently at CVS, and the savings if we switched to Medco. In most cases the prescriptions were one-shot deals, and so not eligible for mail order. But even my kids prescription vitamins, which are $9.95 at CVS are $5.83 at Medco. Worth looking into for sure.

I was pretty proud of myself on Monday. A children's clothing store near MIL's house was going out of business. They're clothes are inexpensive normally, and now they are just dirt cheap. I went in thinking I'd pick up some things for the kids. Found a few things they could use, but nothing that totally wowed me. I picked up those few things, but the checkout line was huge, so I said "forget it" and put everything back. I may go back again before they close at the end of the month, but I was proud of myself for not spending "just because it's on sale".

In fact, other than takeout last night ($12.50), I haven't had many unbudgeted expenses. That's key for me.

That's about it in mjrube land...

Wow, did I make out like a bandit at Walgreens, taking advantage of their monthly rebates and in-store specials. Here's what I got:

1) Kotex maxi pads - Spent $10.47-$2 coupons-$10 mir. So I "made" $1.53, in addition to getting the 3 packages.
2) CuraHeat 2 pack. $3.99 far.
3) Herbal Essence hair spray $3.99 far.
4) Sunsilk conditioner - $4.49 far.
5) Glade 2-in-1 candle - on clearance for $1.79-$2 coupon = free.
6) Maybelline lipstick - on clearance $1.59-$2 coupon = free. This last one reminds me of someone's post where they were questioning how long the makeup sits on the shelf. I'll contact Maybelline on Monday to see how I can tell; otherwise, I'll use it right away.
On top of all that, if I get the rebates in the form of a Walgreens gift card (as opposed to cash) I get a 10% bonus, for another $1.25. They were also missing a few things I was looking for, so I'll try to track them down over the next week.

Then I went to Eckerds and fared pretty well:
1) Schick quattro blade 4 pack: $10.99-$1 coupon-$6 mir = $3.99
2) Tom's toothpaste $4.29 (*2)-$2 coupon and $1 mir = $2.80 each.
3) Aquafresh - $1.99-$1 coupon-$1 mir = free.
4) Butler oral care products - $1.19-$1 coupon-$1 mir: I "made" $.81.
5) Revlon nailpolish: $2.99 far
6) Birthday cards B1G1 $1.29.

So a great shopping day for me...Used $6 worth of coupons from the trains, bringing my coupon train savings up to $39.24.

Aside from getting this rebate thing down, I actually noticed two tearpads with coupons. Yesterday at the supermarket I saw $1 off meat with purchase of 2 participating Kraft products, and today I saw $1 off Tom's toothpaste. I ripped off a few of each to include in the trains, but was just happy I even noticed them. Usually I'd pass them right by.

Hubby took the kids to his mom's for the day, so I was able to shop in peace (which is probally why I did so well!). I need to make a few phone calls and finish up with the coupon train before they get home.

We had a great weekend. My sister came Friday night and brought a ton of food with her. I'm enjoying the leftovers tonight. We had other friends over on Saturday, and I'll enjoy the leftovers from that tomorrow!

I'm looking forward to a pretty busy, but quiet week. Hubby has a dinner meeting tomorrow, and an overnight trip on Wednesday. I've got some organizational/housekeeping type things to do (as always!).

A few weeks ago, I cashed a $15 check to enroll in Citibank's credit protector 30-day free trial. They must have thought I was a good find, because they just sent me a $10 check to sign up for their identity theft 30-day free trial. I'm disciplined enough to cancel before the 30 days, so I'm thinking of doing it.

(By the way, re: the credit protector, they normally charge $.89/$100 balance. In the promo materials, they say they waive it for people that pay their balance in full, but when I received the materials, it wasn't anywhere in there. I'm going to call and cancel tomorrow, and see what exactly the deal is).

Other than that, a pretty uneventful day. Hubby's friend is visiting for the night, so we ordered takeout Greek food ($30). We have a pretty quiet weekend planned. Sister and nephew are coming for a sleepover tomorrow, and hubby's friend from HS will be here with his family Saturday. I'll need to check the freezer to see what I can cook. We may go raspberry, blackberry and peach picking on Sunday.

Hope everyone is well...

First, a few musings about our vacation in the Outerbanks: 1) I've never seen thunderstorms like I did there. Every late afternoon, the skies would open up and absolutely POUR! Torrential! Luckily it didn't affect the day too much, as we were good about getting out to the beach mid-morning, pool in the afternoon, so the kids were ready for a break when the storms came. 2) What should have been an 8.5-9 hour trip took 12.5 hours on the way home. Every road we took had traffic or an accident, and we ran into major thunderstorms between Washington and Baltimore, then again in NJ. Got home at 10:15 on Sunday and we were all exhausted. But we did have a great time!

I updated my net worth when I got back and was up just under 2% for the month. I need to finalize the June numbers and see what July looks like.

A few good pieces of news when I got back: First, the $14000 transfer from the HELOC to the 0% card went through, leaving me with a HELOC balance of about $1700. I'll try to pay that off as quickly as possible, then tackle the 2 0% cards. Second, Citibank deposited the $200 bonus I was supposed to get for opening that account. I also got a few rebates in the mail that I was waiting for.

As for the challenge, I'm thinking about wrapping it up for the year, too. The Citi bonus was the last big thing outstanding, and I was planning on using the money for my trip to California at the end of this month, so I'll be draining all the money from the account.

Of course, I'll still take advantage of rebates, book sales, etc., but that money will be going toward the HELOC, instead of into a separate account. I need to take a break from the bank offers and free trials, which were a big part of the money I've made so far this year. I loved the challenge, though, and will be back in 2007!

My next step is to recap the first half of the year and see what's good, what's bad and what's ugly.

...every time you call you get a different price! Last time we brought the car in for an oil change, the guy said that we would need breaks. They didn't need to be fixed immediately, but should be fixed during the next oil change. So here comes this oil change, and a different guy mentions nothing about the breaks, but by the way, we really should get the 45,000 mile service (for $450). Uh, next time. I'll need to work that one into the budget. So the cost of the oil change and the a/c fix (which ended up being a switch problem) came to about $120. The windshield was successfully repaired the next day for $275. Both expensive, but less than I thought, and I haven't had many "maintenance" charges this year, so I'm still within budget for the category.

Aside from the car stuff, I haven't had much spending for the past few days. Went to dad's today, he treated for dinner, and have been spending much of the night preparing for our vacation in NC. We're leaving tomorrow morning. Should be a cheap week, as the house is paid for, we eat in (and split the cost of the groceries with DB), and don't really go out too much. Grandma gave the kids money for souvenirs, so they're set.

I'll be back next Sunday. Hope everyone has a great week!

Here's my saga with the 0% credit cards: I had a heloc for about $22,000 from a capital improvement we made to the house. I was able to transfer about $7000 to a 0% cc from Citibank, leaving me with a balance of about 15k. When I opened the heloc, the rate was about 3.5%, now it's 7.25% and rising. So a few months ago, I applied for a Chase 0% cc. Thinking it didn't go through (they sometimes take a while), I inadvertently applied for a second one from Chase. Realized it and cancelled the first one. Then, the balance transfer didn't go through on the second one because I gave the wrong payment address. (Argh!). The deal was that you can only transfer at 0% on the day you open up the account, so even though it was an innocent mistake, they wouldn't redo the transfer. So I closed that account too. By this point, I was a bit discouraged so I let it go. But after 2 months of paying $100/month interest, I revisited my decision.

So I recently applied for another 0%cc (turned out this one, too, was with chase, but a different one than before). I see online that the credit card was approved, with a $16k credit limit. I requested a $14k transfer, so I'm crossing my fingers that it goes through no problem. Man, I'll be happy to pay this bear off!

Other than that, a quiet day. I went to work, hubby came back from his trip. Had an annual doctor visit (no charge - preventative visits are covered). All good.

We did need to put the car we're bringing to NC in for an oil change, and they need to boost the A/C because it's only working intermittently. Not sure how much that will run us, but we can't go on an 9-hour trip without it. Also, a truck kicked up a rock onto the windshield, so that's being fixed on Friday, for $275. A lot of money, but less than I thought it would be. Can't believe vacation is only 4 days away...

Freebie of the day (actually from last week but I think I forgot to mention it): A new, state-of-the-art Exxon opened up in my town. Nicest gas station you've ever seen, with the car wash and the store. They're having a grand opening promotion where you can stop in and get a free travel coffee mug (with coffee), so I did. I always bring coffee in the car when I'm driving to work, and so the mug will work out great.

On to today, I stayed at home all day, except to drop off and pick up DD from school. I called Citibank re: the $100 bonus. The rep saw that I should have received it, and she's putting through an investigation. I should hear back in 5-7 days.

Ever since Jeffrey wrote the article about embracing junk mail, I've been taking a good look at mine. I mentioned yesterday that I cashed the $15 check to try out the Citibank credit protector program. Well today, I received an offer for a free auto insurance quote from another company (it would take a lot to get me to switch from Liberty Mutual, but I always like to check out the quotes anyway).

I also received an offer for Accidental Death Insurance from PNC Bank. Their rates are astronomical, relative to what we can get through work for the same coverage, but here's the question: They will "give" you $1,000 in coverage for free. No obligation, no cost. So I'm debating whether or not to do that. I get offers like these ALL THE TIME, some for trial periods, some low dollar gimmes like this one. I imagine it will add to my organizational burden by requiring a new folder, but other than that, I'm not sure of the downside. It's amazing how much "stuff" (money, product, etc.) people are willing to give you if you have your eyes open.

I'm off now to update my June numbers and see how things shake out for the rest of the month, then off to bed early...

Recapping the last few days: Saturday, we did indeed go to the town fair. What a fun day! The fireworks were GREAT and the kids loved the games and rides. The weather, which has been close to 90 for days, was great. Glad to see my property tax dollars hard at work . We spent $31 for dinner, which bought burgers, dogs, and soda for 5 kids and 3 adults. Not too bad, and the proceeds support the firehouse. Sister bought Italian Ices afterwards. Well worth it.

Father's Day was quiet. I was able to use gift cards I had on hand to buy his gifts, so that worked out well. He slept late, I made breakfast, then we went to MIL's for a BBQ. Another fun day, but felt like 100 degrees! Man it was hot!

DD finishes school tomorrow. She had 1/2 days today and tomorrow, so I'm working from home. My great buy of the day: I got a 30-pack of Klondike bars for $2.99. Normally $9.99, BJs had a $1.00 off coupon, and I had a free coupon up to $6. We don't normally buy them, but I like to have them around for those times that I run out of ice cream. (Another deal - I went there to get a case of Ensure Plus for Dad. Normally $36/case in ShopRite, $32.99 in BJs. Again, they had a $4 coupon, and I had a $1 mfr coupon, so I got the case for $27.99 or $7/6-pack.)

On to the challenge front, I still need to call Citibank about the $100 bonus, but did get an email that they'll give me $25 if I pay 5 bills by the end of the month. Seems easy enough. I also received in the mail a $15 check from my Citi credit card if I enrolled in credit protector. I've thrown so many of these out over the years, but I deposited this one. I have a 30-day free trial (and already made a note in my calendar to cancel), and they don't charge you the (really high) fee if you don't carry a balance (which I don't). So it seemed like a good risk...Also found 2 quarters in the grass, but I gave one each to my kids for their piggy banks. A pretty good day...

Hubby is away through Wednesday, and we're driving to NC on Sunday morning, so my goal is to use up the perishables we have on hand so nothing spoils. I also need to start thinking about what I'm going to pack so I can make sure I have the right laundry done...

Happy Fathers Day to Price Plus and the other dads that post (or lurk) on this site. I really enjoy reading your perspective on things. Have a great day with your families...

OK, so the title is a bit disingenuous. I only decided to save the food because I was so disgusted at what I had to throw out as I cleaned out my fridge. So I salvaged what I could.

We had company last weekend, and I bought fresh basil, parsley, cilantro and sage. I used a few tablespoons (max) of each, and left the rest in the fridge. Fortunately, I was able to save it. I chopped it all up and froze it, so I will have "fresh" herbs next time I need them, until my herb garden fills out. Ditto with some celery that was starting to go, but would be perfectly good in soup. I also froze a cup of chicken broth and about 1/2 of a 28 oz can of tomatoes. I throw out WAY too much food and need to get a grip on it...

I also started going through my pantry and checking expiration dates. I usually do a pretty good job of rotating stock. However, there are a few things that don't have dates stamped on them (they use factory codes instead - I don't get why they can't put the date on). Anyway, some of these don't have contact numbers, or their websites don't have info on shelf life, so I need to be creative and figure out how to get that info so I don't waste the stuff.

I'm also doing the same in the bathroom. I've acquired quite a few tubes of toothpaste, deoderants, mouthwash, etc. through freebies and rebates and I need to check the dates to see when they expire, and prioritize their use.

A bit off topic, but I have a question for Flash. Do you have any idea why coupons don't all expire on the last day of the month? I have no problem with the 6-weeks or so they give me before they expire, but it's SO annoying to find a coupon that expired on 6/17. Why not 6/30? Don't get it.

Tomorrow, our town is having a fair and fireworks. Free, though we'll probably get dinner there. (The fire department sells hot dogs, burgers, beer, and soda as a fundraiser). Other than that, we'll be pool side. I need to get a few gifts for Father's Day, but I have gift cards, so there shouldn't be too much cash out of pocket.

On the challenge front, I need to call Citibank about that first bonus, and mail out another gas voucher. But nothing came in so the total is the same. I also mailed out the coupon train earlier in the week for $4.05.

New Total: $1079.75/$2000

Outstanding items: $100 (Citi bonus 1), $100 (Citi bonus 2), $2 (Chandon rebate), IDT Phone card(s)(?), $5 (PNC gas voucher), $5 (PNC Gas Voucher 2), $10 Shoppers Essential Voucher, $20 Passport to Fun Voucher, $30 Sprint phone card.

Coupon Train Total: $33.24

Some progress on my todo list: I applied for a 0% credit card that I had been preapproved for. Hopefully, the transfer from the HELOC will go through this time and I can stop paying 7.25% interest. I should hear about it in 2 weeks or so.

I also checked out the dates AAA is offering the defensive driving course: July 8 at one location, August 5 at another. I'll check our calendars and sign up for one of those.

I signed up for a California 529 because of a promotion they were doing a while back. I've been meaning to close that account and merge the funds with my NY529. Thought it was a bigger deal to do this. Turns out, I need to download a form from NY's site, fill it out and mail it in. They take care of the rest. Can't get much easier than that!

I also went on to Marriott's site to get details about the points mixup from our trip to Baltimore. Before I actually spoke with someone, I realize that we have enough points to pay for 2 of the nights we'll be in California in July, so rather than go through the hassle of having them credit us for the Baltimore trip, I may have them apply the points against the California trip instead. It all comes out in the wash...

So as always, I still have a lot to do but at least I feel like I'm making a dent. I need to think about what else needs to get done and make a new list (I'm a list person...). We're leaving for vacation in NC on 6/25, so I'd like to have things organized (relatively) before then...

On the challenge front, I'll update the totals next time, but I got the free coupon for a free iced tea 1/2 gallon from Turkey Hill. (BTW, this is a great company. If you call or sign up with them, they send you a calendar each year, filled with coupons).

The pool party was a raging success. It amazes me how long kids will stay in the water for! Now I feel like I can relax for a bit...

I managed to get a few things done tonight. I reset the coupon train and will mail it out tomorrow. I also checked into some company stock and options hubby has. I've been meaning to do this for a while and never got around to it. The options are worthless. He needs to hold the regular shares for at least 3 years, so we can sell them beginning next March, if we so desire. No big dollars or anything, just nice to know.

I'm taking a vacation day tomorrow because DS is in his end-of-year show at preschool. I'm planning on taking care of a few more things tomorrow...

It's been 4 days since my last post. Not ideal, but typical. Looking over my to-do list, I'm making progress on 2 of the 4 things: I'm targeting July 3 or 5 to get the kids' passports done, because both hubby and I are off. Also, I received an offer for a 0% credit card in the mail so I'll be signing up for that tomorrow. I still need to look into the defensive driving and accident insurance costs.

This was a good weekend. I received the coupon train on Friday (it'll be going out tomorrow. Sorry for the delay, ladies). I also received a $10 check for one of the gas vouchers I sent in.

Just found out today that the hotel we stayed in in Baltimore charged us, instead of using our points, so I need to call them today or tomorrow to get that credited back.

DD is having a pool party today for her friends from school, so I've been a bit preoccupied planning for that. The rest of the week looks blissfully quiet...

Even though I'm on this site every day (and usually several times a day), I feel like I haven't been focusing on my finances as well as I should be. I find that instead of posting daily, I've only been posting two or three times a week, and I've lost track of some things I wanted to do.

So I went back and reread my entries from the first of the year, and wrote down the following things that I meant to do, but never got around to. I'll try to tackle these over the next week:

1) Schedule a date/time to get the kids passports. They sure don't make it easy, as both parents need to appear, or one must send a notarized letter to let the other get them.

2) Check out defensive driving courses. We held off b/c hubby's company usually offers them for less than AAA, but they haven't yet and the year is half over. So I'll check out dates and times and sign us up. Cost will be $120 for the 2 of us, but we'll get a $120 break on our (sky high) auto insurance for 3 years, so it's worth it.

3) Revisit 0% credit cards. I had one with a limit of $7500 that I transferred part of the HELOC to. I tried to transfer the rest of the HELOC to a Chase 0% card, but the transfer didn't go through (my fault, wrong address), and the 0% offer w/ no balance transfer fee was only good the day you opened the card. So I cancelled the Chase card. Despite getting 0% offers regularly, I haven't taken advantage of any others. I still have about $15k on the HELOC, and am paying about $110/month interest (at 7.25%, deductible), so I really need to get going with this.

4) Double check accident insurance rates. Hubby and I both have it through work. I need to check out other companies to see if our rates are competitive. I'll do the same for life insurance, although I checked that not so long ago...

I vow to get back on the wagon...

Two other thoughts as I look back and look ahead...For all of you who did the trial memberships, I've sent vouchers in after I've cancelled and have still received the $10 checks. However, for the last one I tried, I got a letter back from the company saying thanks, but because I cancelled they can't send the $10. Change in policy? Really alert customer service rep? I don't know, but for the $.37 stamps, I'll try once or twice more to see if it happens again.

Second thought: I started MyPoints on 4/15 and I already have 2800 points, primarily for filling out the surveys and clicking on all the emails they send. I need to look to see how much I need to redeem for a gift card, but that added up pretty quickly.

I never recapped my challenge at the end of April or May, so I took a look at it now. I added $70 from 7 days worth of commuting savings, and some misc. savings (half.com deposit, coupon savings, etc.), bringing my new total to:

New Total: $1079.75/$2000

Outstanding items: $100 (Citi bonus 1), $100 (Citi bonus 2), $2 (Chandon rebate), IDT Phone card(s)(?), $5 (PNC gas voucher), $5 (PNC Gas Voucher 2), $10 Shoppers Essential Voucher, $20 Passport to Fun Voucher, $30 Sprint phone card.

Coupon Train Total: $37.29

My breakdown goes like this:

1) Bank bonuses ($900) - $225 in hand, another $200 on the way, and an offer for a $75 bonus that I'll take advantage of if I can get my act together before the offer expires. So I'm on track with this, though I may lower the goal because I'm drained from doing so many of these.

2) Books ($360) - $158.07 and counting. Doing ok without ebookdrop, though I'm considering placing a small order with them using books around the house to see if they've got their act back together. I'd feel much better if Diva Jen could get her situation with them resolved...

3) Rebates ($120) - Already have $123.50 in hand, with more outstanding. It's amazing how many are out there...

4) Recycle ($100) - $1.95 'Nuff said.

5) Other - $346.93, thanks primarily to the trial memberships

6) Everyday savings - $224.30, thanks primarily to my new commute and coupon savings.

So I'm over halfway to my goal. The three big things have been the trial memberships ($250 worth of gift cards for $12), the rebates (they're everywhere!), and the $10/day from my commute, which is really adding up. Always on the hunt for new and interesting ways to build it, though...

I'm still feeling the effects from my car being towed! Got a certified letter in the mail on Saturday with the TICKET that went along with the towing of my unregistered vehicle. $56. Again, I thought it would be worse, but that brings the total for this little event up to $176! Hopefully this is the end.

I've talked in the past about Main Street Savings, where I can get certain gift cards for 20% off. Well yesterday I ordered the plane tickets for our trip to California through Travelocity, and after I was done with my order, they had a "Get $20 back now" offer. I figured it was for one of the free-trial deals that I've been signing up for, but instead, it was a free trial to Passport to Fun (free $20), and another for Shopping Essentials (free $10). They're just like MSS, and run by the same company, but with different gift cards (and some overlap). I think I'll cancel SE after the month's up, because I didn't really need the stores they had, but I think it would be worth it to keep PTF. These invites are hard to get, in that if you go looking for them, you can't find them. So if anyone is interested in joining, keep your eyes open on your credit card websites (where I found MSS) and when ordering online to see if any offers like these come up.

Not much on the challenge front, though I did go to Eckerds to take advantage of some sales/rebates, and used a $2 coupon from one of the trains, bringing my train totals to $37.29.

As usual, I'm feeling a bit disorganized. I need to take some time tonight to file some papers and get my act together!

Crazy as usual...Anyway, here's what's been happening:

May ended on a good note, thanks to my brother paying me back. I'll total up the categories this weekend and post my progress. Looking forward, June is going to be an expensive month. We owe the other half of our beach house rental for vacation, the towing charge for the car, gardening-related expenses, etc.

The savings from my commute has been useful. $10/day has been going to my challenge, and $10/day has been going to the HELOC. So I was able to pay down $90 on that. (A drop in the bucket, but a start).

On the challenge front, I'm adding the following: $50 (commute), $8 (FritoLay), $4 (April Walgreens), and $.25 (April Eckerd), for a total of $62.25. I also mailed out 3 half.com books for $4.53, so the net add is $57.72, bringing my new total to $953.09. Almost halfway there.

New Total: $953.09/$2000

Outstanding items: $100 (Citi bonus 1), $100 (Citi bonus 2), $2 (Chandon rebate), $10 gas voucher (Jan-Mar), IDT Phone card(s)(?), $5 (PNC gas voucher), $10 EV gas voucher, $30 Sprint phone card, ??(half.com)

I made it through the last week without grocery shopping. I mailed out the caboose ($2.79), bringing my coupon train savings to $35.29. Pretty good...

Oh, another cost of my disorganization: I was late making my car payment this month, and was charged a $9.50 fee. I pay online on the 15th of the month with my other bills, and for some reason, I overlooked this one. I had it set up on auto-pay a while back and ran into a problem with it, but I may try it again to prevent another oversight like this. So between the car getting towed and the late payment, my disorganization cost me $129.50 this month! YIKES!

I went to ShopRite last night to do my BIG shopping trip. I had a 30% off certificate, and a mound of coupons. I spent the whole week before planning this trip to get the best deals. End result: $342 of groceries for $190...a savings of $150! There were definitely some treats thrown in there that I only bought because of the discount/coupon but most of it was stocking up on non-perishables. $28 of the savings is due to the coupon train, so thanks again, Flash, for setting them up.

I'm going to try to limit June groceries to milk, bread, fruit and veggies, since I've stocked up on everything else!

Today will be busy...I need to go to the post office to mail half.com books and the coupon train. (I made another half sale yesterday, for $1.00). I also need to pick up clothes from the dry cleaner and go to the bank. I got a nice surprise yesterday...my brother paid back the balance of what he owed me. It was one of those situations where I never expected to see the money again, so it's like a treat to have it back!

So that's it for today...looking forward to a great rest of the weekend!

New coupon train savings total: 38.08

That's what it took to get my car back. First thing Thursday morning, hubby went to DMV to renew the registration ($48.50). After we dropped the kids at school, we went to the police station in Newark to show them the new registration and get our car released. Then, we had to drive to the towing company in Jersey city to actually pick up the car. I don't know how many of you are familiar with North Jersey, but what is literally a 5-10 mile trip took about 45 minutes! The towing company charged us $120.

Here are my thoughts after this ordeal:
1) Thanks, everyone who posted comments of support...I was happy to read them all!
2) Hubby and I took this a lot better than I thought we would. We were patient, and not too stressed. We were resigned to the fact that it was our fault and there was nothing we could do but make lemonade out of lemons. At least we got a few hours of quality time together...
3) I'm fortunate to have a job where I don't "punch a clock" and a boss who's flexible. Hubby's job is the same. I think that's why we were able to keep a cool head.
4) Finally, I have now put reminders in my calendar to register the cars when they come due. Hopefully I can learn from this...

Other than that, I cancelled the last of my trial memberships today. I have offers through mypoints for two more, but I think I'm going to pass for now. I'm trial-membershipped out. I am pleased with the way they worked, though. Definitely worth it.

And in a big way! My car was towed today! Apparently the registration expired in DECEMBER 05, and I never renewed it. The transit police were doing a random check in the parking lot where I parked, ran a check of the plates and towed it. So now I need to renew the registration first thing tomorrow, then go to Newark to recover the car. I have no idea how much it's going to cost, because their offices are only open 8-4, and it doesn't say on the website or the phone message. Sigh...

I'm reaping more rewards from my new commute. Tonight I checked out the parking situation at the station which would give me the absolute best deal. I drove into the brand new parking lot, plenty of spaces, clean and well lit. When I went to the ticket machine to see how one goes about paying for the parking, I saw several big signs that parking is FREE until September 1st! It doesn't get any better than this! I will be heading there tomorrow morning, and $10 more to my challenge account for today.

Sold 2 books at half.com for a total of $4.50. It usually costs me less to ship than they reimburse me; I'll update the total when I actually ship them out.

Also on the challenge front, Chase emailed me to say that they're so glad I opened an account with them a few months ago, wouldn't I like to consider opening a second checking account with them, for a bonus of $75? Well sure, I'd love to! I have until mid-June to get it done, so I'll tackle it sometime over the next few weeks.

Still need to take care of some financial housekeeping. My problem is that by the time I think of it, it's usually too late in the day.

New Total: $895.37/$2000

Outstanding items: $100 (Citi bonus 1), $100 (Citi bonus 2), $2 (Chandon rebate), $10 gas voucher (Jan-Mar), IDT Phone card(s)(?), $8 Tostitos rebate, 4.00 (Apr Walgreens), $.25 (Apr Eckerd), $5 (PNC gas voucher), $10 EV gas voucher, $30 Sprint phone card, ??(half.com)

Coupon Train Savings Total: $10.08

I opened a bank account last month to get the $50 bonus. I received my first statement today and it had a $12 maintenance fee listed! I called up and explained that the account I signed up for was free everything, no fees. The rep agreed and said she would put through a credit right away. But I hung up wondering if they make this "mistake" on purpose, knowing that some (many?) people really don't pay close attention to the fees and don't challenge them. $12/month is highway robbery!

I had a great weekend shopping! I'm adding $10.63 to my challenge for coupon-train coupons and rebates that I used, and another $10 to my challenge for using my new commute today. I'm also gearing up for my big grocery trip later this week.

I took care of some paperwork today, completing my Eckerd and Walgreens rebates, completing a gas voucher and a voucher for a $30 Sprint phone card from Everyday Values. I need to cancel that membership tonight or tomorrow.

So an all-around pretty good day today.

New Total: $885.37/$2000

Outstanding items: $100 (Citi bonus 1), $100 (Citi bonus 2), $2 (Chandon rebate), $10 gas voucher (Jan-Mar), IDT Phone card(s)(?), $8 Tostitos rebate, 4.00 (Apr Walgreens), $.25 (Apr Eckerd), $5 (PNC gas voucher)

Coupon Train Savings Total: $10.08

So I'm going to qualify for the 30% off certificate at ShopRite after all. I'm on $60 away from the total needed. I'm going to Dad's tomorrow to do his shopping, but the promotion ends today so I'm going to run over there and get some food that I know Dad needs to put me over the top. (He uses Ensure. At $8/6pk, it adds up quickly).

I'm so excited (and tend to obsess about stuff like this), so here's my plan. I have 2 weeks to redeem the certificates. Sales at the Shoprite run Sunday to Saturday. Our Sunday ads come in Saturday's newspaper. So I'm going to look through this week's paper and see what's on sale. Then, next Saturday, I'll do the same for the following week. If this week's ad is better, I can go next Saturday and buy everything. If the following week's is better, I'll wait.

In the meantime, the Caboose for our coupon train is on its way to me, so I'll have those coupons to consider as well. I'm really looking for a big score here, as I stock up on things we use that never go on sale, and get some things that are usually too expensive but with 30% off and double coupons will be worth it. Yahoo!

I sent in a rebate for Listerine. The bottle had a rebate tag around its neck. I glanced quickly at it, and didn't see that the expiration date was 6/30/05 (I thought it was 6/30/06!). So I sent it in and it was returned to me. Ugh. I'm going to check the rebate forum to see if there's a different Listerine rebate I can use the receipt for, otherwise I'm out a few bucks...

Day 2 of the commute went well. I transferred another $10 to my challenge account, and $20 to the HELOC. Wahoo!

New Total: $864.74/$2000

Outstanding items: $100 (Citi bonus 1), $100 (Citi bonus 2), $2 (Chandon rebate), $10 gas voucher (Jan-Mar), IDT Phone card(s)(?), $8 Tostitos rebate, 4.00 (Apr Walgreens), $.25 (Apr Eckerd), $5 (PNC gas voucher)

Hot dog! The new commute worked out very nicely. I made the connections with no problem, and it only took a few more minutes than normal.

Best news is that I found a new twist on the commute that may make it even better! If I go to a different stop on the line, I can park for $2.50 instead of $7, which would save $4.50/day=$22.50/week=$90/month MORE than what I'm already saving by doing today's commute!

I also convinced hubby that $10/day of my savings can go to the challenge account to help pay for our trip, and the rest of each day's savings will go toward the HELOC balance.

Also a good mail day. I received another $10 gas voucher from one of those trial memberships. Glad to see they're paying out, despite the fact that I cancelled. So that's $20 more for my challenge today!

New Total: $854.74/$2000

Outstanding items: $100 (Citi bonus 1), $100 (Citi bonus 2), $2 (Chandon rebate), $10 gas voucher (Jan-Mar), IDT Phone card(s)(?), $8 Tostitos rebate, 4.00 (Apr Walgreens), $.25 (Apr Eckerd), $5 (PNC gas voucher).

Tomorrow should be busy and quiet at work. Nothing on for tomorrow night, a bunch of local errands (and a badly needed cut and color) on Saturday, and down to my dad's to do shopping on Sunday.

I came up with 5 different ways to commute to my job, all of which are less expensive than my current route. I think one of them will work out everyday, so I'm going to try it out tomorrow. (The rest depend on where my kids are and when they need to be picked up). The new daily commute adds up like this:

Gas: ~$10.50 (vs. $12)
Tolls: $1.40 (vs. $2.05)
Parking: $7 (vs. $20)
Mass Transit: $6 (vs. $3)

Total: ~25/day vs. $37.05. Doesn't Jean Chatzky have a book about saving $10/day? Here it is! And if I can take advantage of some of the other options sometimes, they're even cheaper (and of course, working from home or vacation is the best!).

So I'll try it out tomorrow and see how it goes. Because the kids' schedules and mine change, I'll need to plan out each week or month to see what the best combination is for me. I really hope the timing of this new way works!

On to my coupon train savings: I went to the store today and saved $3.50 using coupons from the train. I paid 4.05 to send the train on, so I'm down -$.55. Not to worry, I'm saving my coupons for a week or two from now when I get to use my 20-30% off certificate.

On to the regular challenge: I called Citi and confirmed that I would be getting the first $100 by June 15th, and the second $100 90 days thereafter. A long wait for sure, but for $200, I'll suffer. I received the $5 Green Giant rebate and another $10 gas voucher, so I'll add the $15 to the challenge, bringing me up to:

New Total: $849.74/$2000

Outstanding items: $100 (Citi bonus 1), $100 (Citi bonus 2), $2 (Chandon rebate), IDT Phone card(s)(?), $8 Tostitos rebate, 4.00 (Apr Walgreens), $.25 (Apr Eckerd), $5 (PNC gas voucher), $10 (EV gas voucher).

I mentioned a while back that we were moving our trip up to the end of July. I checked about using Frequent Flyer miles but none are available on the flights we checked. Regular r/t flights are running in the neighborhood of $450. We were only planning on paying for one (and were hoping it would be cheaper), so I'm going to need to absorb this too. Perhaps my $10/day savings with my commute can fund it...

Wow...I never actually thought about just how expensive it was to commute to work each day until I put it in my blog yesterday. ($35/day - yipes!) It is now my goal to get this down.

A few things are contributing:
1) I go into work (in NYC) everyday since I switched jobs at my company in February. Commuting to NYC is expensive no matter how you get there.
2) I work part-time, so I leave work in the middle of the day to get home in time to pick up the kids at school. Unfortunately, mass transit doesn't run as frequently in the middle of the day as it does at rush hour, so my options are limited if the kids are at school.
3) Two days a week, my son is at MILs because he doesn't have preschool, so I need to drive him to her house, which is on the way to the city (but eliminates the train as an option).

So my normal process is to drive to Hoboken (65 miles r/t ~$12 in gas + $2.05 tolls), park ($20) and take the Path ($3 r/t)

On the plus side:
1) My company credits us for the first $100 of mass transit expenses. So while my parking and gas aren't covered, $100 of the PATH (subway), ferry and train costs are.
2) My company allows us to pay the first $205 of parking expenses each month pre-tax. That can equate to about $60/month savings.
3) When the kids are out of school and I won't need to pick them up exactly at 3:00 (they'll be with MIL) I'll have many more options and can pick the cheapest one.
4) My boss is very easygoing about working from home, so I do that a few times a month.
5) Most importantly, I love my job, work for a great company, and have no desire to quit, so it's a good thing that my salary covers all this...

Tonight, my goal is to calculate all of the different options for getting into work, look at the calendar for the rest of May and June and see what I can get June's bill down to.