I just got the online bill for my electric company, and the total is now $158 in the company's favor!!! The cycle ran from August 25 through September 26. I know the AC was on pretty much non-stop from the 25th until Labor Day weekend, but since then I've made a huge effort to keep it off (except for some hot overnights). I thought for SURE there would be a credit in my favor this month. This coming month has got to be better. There's absolutely no need for the AC now (in fact, I'm lucky I don't have to put on my heat yet!), and the pool will be closed on Friday, so the filter won't be running. Best I can tell, those are our two big uses of electricity in the summer. I think I have two more bills before they rebalance my account. If so, I may be able to salvage it. If not, it will end up the same ($131/month) if not slightly higher for the next year. What a huge bummer.

My goal today is to finalize the September budget. I need to print out my pay stub and see what bills I have left. Also, birthday party season has hit with a vengeance now that school's back in session. We had one last Saturday, yesterday, and two more so far in October. I better get online and get some more Toys R Us cards...

Things have been nuts! Tuesdays are usually my running around day, but today was exceptionally busy. I had to go to ToysRUs to pick up some birthday presents. I did pretty well...I had a $10 off $50 coupon, plus discounted gift cards, so I only spent $11.63 out-of-pocket. Then I went to Kohls to return some school clothes for the kids and pick up some others, for a net credit of about $15 . Finally (I had to save this for last), I couldn't last until Oct. 1 with the groceries so I went to BJs. I needed milk and half-and-half, and because I don't like to go there too often, stocked up on some other things. Spent about $50. At least I start fresh October 1.

Then today, as soon as I picked up the kids, we had a birthday party from 4-6, and I had a church meeting from 7-9. I feel like I'm just now able to take a deep breath and relax.

The rest of the week should be more of the same, especially with work being so crazy. But it's all good, so i won't complain. I'm hoping tomorrow I'll have time to finalizing the September budget and see where I stand. Other than that, nothing much new...

Nothing, nada, not one stinkin' dime! No parkway tolls, no quick run to the grocery store, nothing! And I'm thrilled to say that I almost spent $5 on a sandwhich out with a friend but decided to have lunch at home instead. This just about never happens. Wahoo.

The other thing I did today that almost never happens: I ventured into my freezer and took an inventory of everything that was in there. I had to throw out a few things, but for the most part was pleased with all the stuff I found in there. Next week (Oct 1-8) we rented a beach house down by the Jersey Shore. The kids are off from school Oct 4-6 for Jewish holidays and a teacher in-service, so we're letting them play hooky (1st grade and preschool, mind you) on Thursday and Friday. We've stayed at the house before and it's beautiful, and also steeply discounted because it's so late in the season. I'm hoping to get off pretty cheap. I'm going to try to bring most of the groceries from what I have on hand (and from the freezer ), so I'll only need to buy milk, half-n-half, bread, etc. down there. So I should be able to keep within my $75 grocery target. Second, it will cost me less in gas to get down there then it would if both DH and I were commuting for the week, so I should be able to stay within target there. Basically the whole week will consist of hanging out on the beach (not in the water BRR), the park, bike riding, roller blading, and RELAXING!!

Tomorrow will be a clean-the-house, putter around type of day until the clam bake tomorrow night (which is free, except for the babysitting, which I'm splitting with a friend). Should be a good day all around.

Which makes my total for September $298.93 (target $300). Not bad. I'm assuming that hubby won't need to fill up the car before he leaves for his business trip tomorrow.

I forgot to mention that another goal for tomorrow is to finish making pesto with the rest of the basil from the garden. I made and froze a lot of it a few weeks ago, but there's still a lot left. So I'll make pesto with most of it, and freeze the remaining basil leaves for use over the winter. I'm not sure how the rest of the herbs look (I think they may have been scorched during the really hot weather a few weeks back), but I'll salvage and freeze whatever I can.

Another update - I'm still doing pretty well on the no a/c front. I stopped tracking the number of days, and we have put it on overnight a few times, but it's pretty much off other than that. The electric meter reading should happen in a week or so, so I'm anxious to see the result. And I've been reading more stories about the expected increases in heating prices this winter. I'd like to get dd a blanket for her bed, to go between the flannel sheets and comforter. (Toasty). Everyone else has it, and I'm hoping it will allow me to keep the temp down a bit overnight. By starting now I can comparison shop and figure out where the best deal is. I have discounted gift cards for target and jc penneys, so that's a start, and I can pick some up for Kmart and Kohls, if the deals look better there.

I need to make a list of stuff to get done while hubby's away. I try to get a lot of my filing, paperwork, organization stuff done then. I need to break out my Christmas card and gift list, to see what's what, and I need to get my calendar straight through the rest of the year. It's amazing how the squares fill up once the kids are in school...

Phew, I'm beat. Work is still crazy - but I still manage to get to this site once or twice a day. lol!

Two big news items today: I mailed a book I sold on half.com. The bummer is that I (once again) was not prepared with padded envelopes at home, so I had to buy one at the post office. I only ended up netting $1.65 after paying for the envelope, postage, and delivery confirmation, although the full $4.91 will go into my funmoney account when I get it. Second, as you may have seen in the forums, I got my first $50 Sharebuilder bonus today, exactly one month after my first transaction. I'm happy to see it because I also opened two accounts for my kids, and I'm never really sure how legitimate these things are until the bonuses are actually in my hands. So this is good news for me.

The next few days should be relatively quiet, money wise. Today, aside from the Post Office, I bought lunch for $6.50 (Chinese takeout, couldn't resist) and my usual parking and tolls. I'll probably fill up the car on my way home from work. I could stretch it out another day or two, but I'm afraid in the wake of this storm, gas will shoot up, be less available, who knows what, so I'd rather be prepared and do it today.

Tomorrow, we're getting together at the park after school to celebrate my friend's 40th birthday. We're chipping in for a cake and a gift card, but there are 3 of us (I think), so it should be about 10-15 each. Saturday, we've got a birthday party (need to get a gift using my discounted Toys R Us gift card so no out of pocket), then after the party DD has a soccer game. Then, hubby is leaving on a business trip through next Friday. Finally, on Sunday, we have nothing during the day, then I'm going to a clam bake with some friends while my niece babysits again. The clambake will be free, and my niece will be watching my friend's two kids as well, so she's going to split the babysitting charge with me.

Aside from picking up a gallon of milk and two loaves of bread tonight on my way home, my big goal is to not go shopping until next Saturday morning! That will leave my grocery total for September at $437.39, which is way higher than the $350 I was targeting (and it doesn't include the "Entertainment" money from when our friends came to dinner last weekend!). I think I can do it. I have food in the house for tomorrow night, then with hubby away on business, it's much easier for me to use up whatever's in the fridge/freezer/pantry. And the sales run Sunday to Saturday at Shoprite, so even if there's an "I have to have it" sale, I can still pick up the stuff on Saturday. Grocery shopping continues to be a problem for me. Intellectually I feel like I should be able to keep it to $75/week and I'm closer to $110. I've got to devote some energy to this...

As for my other September goal, keeping gas under $300, I should come in right around there. So far, I've spent $262.33. I need to fill up tonight, which will probably be in the $35 range. The only variable is whether or not hubby needs to fill up. Assuming he doesn't, then I'll definitely be ok because, again, with him travelling, he won't be using the cars next week, so I can use whichever one has gas. We'll see what happens if gas hits $5/gallon. Yipes.

Things were status quo today. Work is crazy - I've been absolutely swamped. I spent money on lunch at work ($3.00 - but no breakfast!), my usual Garden State Parkway tolls, and splurged for a car wash ($8). That was it. Hubby had to go out with some colleagues for dinner, so I was on my own with the kids, and just picked at some leftovers. It's so easy to do that, but I feel like I should be eating more "real meals", especially with him travelling more and having more "working dinners". At least this is good for the budget!

I need to update my September budget. I get so antsy I can't wait until the 30th to see where I stand. By now most of my bills have been paid and I have a good idea of what's left, so I should be able to get a feel for what's what.

DD just got out of bed. What is it with kids that they don't appreciate sleep? If someone told me I needed to go to bed every night from 8:00 through 7:15 the next morning, with no concern of laundry, dishes, etc., I'd jump at it. Youth is wasted on the young...

I agree with whomever posted, that there are so many people writing journals that I had to scroll way down to find my last one. I think that's great - I always catch up with what everyone's doing and most people seem to be doing pretty well!

What's been going on with me the last few days? I had a good weekend. Dinner for our friends turned out to be a bit on the expensive side (but delicious). I'm having trouble categorizing the funds. I think they should go against our grocery budget, because they were groceries we bought at the store. Hubby thinks it should count against our "entertainment" fund, because we only incurred the expense because we were entertaining. The bottom line, I guess, is that either way the funds are gone. I'm going to go with hubby on this one and call it entertainment, partially because our grocery category is going pretty well this month and I don't want to blow it...

Sunday I went to my dad's. He's having some trouble with one of my brothers (44 years old, no personal accountability, expects everyone else to bail him out of trouble, then when dad does, acts like the total ingrate he is). My dad is not usually a sympathetic figure, but I think we're all feeling for him over the last few weeks. It was a good visit nonetheless, and he treated for takeout!

Monday was my birthday (35 yipes!). I worked, then we took out subs for dinner, and had ice cream cake (my favorite). There are two slices leftover, but I'll give them to the kids after dinner tonight. Hubby came through with two great gifts - Curb Your Enthusiasm Season 4 (my favorite show!) and a gift certificate for a much needed massage. I got money from dad and mil. I deposited both checks into my fun money account until I decide what I want to do with them. It was good to build that back up a little, after I pretty much emptied it this summer to go to the Jersey Shore.

Today's my day off from the office. My son has swimming lessons at 11, and we have back-to-school night tonight. The great thing (though potentially expensive) is that my 18 year old niece now goes to college 20 minutes from us and is a built-in babysitter for my kids. They love her, and she could use the $$. Great for me, but the downside is that the only other sitters we have ever used are my older sisters and my mil, neither of whom accept payment. So if I get in the habit of using my niece, the $$ could add up. I'll have to work this into the budget, though, because with hubby travelling more, she'll come in really handy.

That's it for now. I need to catch up in the forums later...

but I won. I currently pay $17.97/month for the service ($215.64/year). I called up the regular 1-800 onstar number, told the woman that I got the service for a year when I bought the car and renewed it last year, but hadn't used it at all. Given that I have AAA and a cell phone, and the fact that I haven't used it, I was thinking about cancelling, but didn't really want to, and could they offer me any discounts to make the $18/month bite a little less painful. She told me the best she could give me was a prepaid year for $199 + tax ($210.94). At first I jumped at it, but then I figured out it only saved me $5 for the year! You've got to be kidding me! So I asked her to give me a number for customer service that I could call.

They transferred me to their sales department (better than the cust service reps). After reminding me of all of the great features onstar has to offer (blah, blah, blah), I finally got their "cancel save" offer of a prepaid 12 months for 169+tax=$179.10. It's only a savings of $36.54 for the year, but I'll take it, especially since DH really wants it! Plus now it's prepaid so I don't have to look at the monthly charge on my credit card bill. Given my recent success knocking down my DirectTv bill by $75 ($10/6 months and $5/3 months), I'm now encouraged to call all of my service providers that I'm no longer contractually obligated to and see what they can do for me. (Not sure who else that is, because I'm still under contract to Verizon Wireless, but I'll go through the budget and find out).

I think the key to my experience for both Onstar and DirectTv is to not stop at the first person you speak with, and get to sales people if possible, because they have more of a vested interest in keeping you as a customer.

I also looked into the wireless phone jack. I found one at Circuit City with decent reviews for $60. I still have $25 in discounted gift cards, so it will only be $35 out of pocket. Significantly better than the $175 or so for Verizon to come back. I'll pick it up today or tomorrow and see how it works out.

I also need to head to ShopRite today - I never made it there earlier in the week. Also, we're having another couple for dinner tomorrow night, so after I figure out what I'm going to serve, I need to pick the things up.

It was comforting (yet sad) that I got so many comments about my crummy builder experience. I'm sorry that all of you experienced these problems as well. I love the idea about the wireless phone jack...I'm definitely going to look into it. If not, running the line ourselves may work (although neither hubby nor I are too handy).

Today was payday, and looking over the rest of the month, I think I'll be pretty well on target. Most importantly, I should definitely be able to pay the $1000 toward the HELOC ($1100 if I'm really lucky!). I also want to start taking another looksee at the different categories in the budget to see what else I can do to knock them down. I'm starting with OnStar first. We got this for one year free when we bought our older car, and I was all set to get rid of it when the year was up. But hubby saw the renewal notice and really wanted to get it. (He cited the safety thing, I said that's why we have AAA and cell phones, he said if we fell in a ditch on a remote area of the Garden State Parkway (where AAA isn't allowed and cell phones don't work) I'd appreciate having it. I was willing to take my chances!)

Anyway, it costs $17/ month for this peace of mind. I was on their website and saw that they partnered with Verizon wireless, so you could share your minutes between your cell phone and your onstar phone. It looked like it would be a bit cheaper than the monthly Onstar fee, but I currently get a 17% discount through my employer for Verizon wireless, so I need to do the math to see if it's worth it. If not, I may just call up and ask for a discount, as a customer in good standing no longer under contract (it worked for Direct TV!). Anyway, it's worth a shot.

That's it. I'm swamped at work and busy at home, but I can't complain...

After years of wanting to take the plunge, hubby and I had the space above our garage finished off into a playroom and bathroom. (This was before I started blogging, otherwise you would be intimately familiar with the ups and downs of this project). It was nearly impossible to find a builder to take the "small job". (It seems as if tens of thousands of dollars is only big to hubby and me!). Anyway, we went with a guy who happens to live down the road, and who got good reviews from another neighbor for whom he did some substantial work. Her only ding was that he wasn't great about coming back at the very end for those piddling little problems that always seem to crop up.

When they were setting up the room, we asked for a phone line to be installed. When we recently tried out the jack (a year later) it didn't work. We had the Verizon guy come, and he said that the line doesn't go anywhere. He tried looking in our garage and basement and couldn't find the line anywhere. So it cost me $91 to have him come out and tell me this, and now I'm left with two options. One call the builder and have him fix it, or two, call Verizon back and have them reinstall the jack, at what he estimated would cost about $175. I'm doubtful that the builder will take care of it. First of all, it's been over a year since it's been installed, second, he hasn't taken care of one other (more minor) issue that's needed to be fixed since December. I'm also not thrilled about spending another $175 to have Verizon fix it. And in either case, they'll be ripping up my brand new carpet and drilling holes in my new walls to fix it.

We can get by without having a phone up there, but we need the phone line for the DVR (TIVO), which we just got for that room. I'm not sure if it needs to be constantly hooked up to the phone line, or only hooked up when it's downloading whatever information it needs. If it's an intermittent thing, we can look into getting a 50-foot phone line and just connecting it to a jack in a different room. Obviously, this isn't a good solution if it needs to be hooked up all the time. How frustrating, especially when we're still paying off the HELOC associated with this "improvement".

Other than this major headache, things have been quiet. I broke down yesterday and turned on the AC. The house was 80 and humid. It went on around 8:00 last night and off this morning when I left for work. I'm not sure what the forecast is, but I'll try to keep it off. I also need to go to ShopRite at some point this week. I read that they're doing triple coupons this week in order to match a competitor, and I have a bunch of coupons to use that will get me things free, nearly free, or at a really good price. Hopefully I'll get there tonight.

Back on August 4th I mentioned a deal from Verizon Wireless, where if you allow them to debit your bank account when paying your bill, they'll credit your account $20. I made the change (they were previously charging my credit card). Sure enough, the 8/14 bill came and was debited on September 1. I called the customer service rep and she said I would see the credit on my 9/14 bill. Wahoo. I'll wait until that bill is paid then switch back to using my cc, which I prefer. As an aside, I also read today that verizon wireless will credit you $25 if you refer a new customer to them. Doesn't help me, as everyone I know already has verizon wireless, but if someone out there knows someone that needs to be referred, call up first and find out what you need to do to get the $$.

I spent $3 today for breakfast/lunch at work. Other than that, I'm hoping for a no-spend day. I need to pick up the kids from school at 3, have a little play time, then an early dinner at about 4:30. DD has soccer practice tonight from 5:30-7, then showers/baths and bed. She didn't have homework the first week of school. Hopefully that will continue today, otherwise we have to cut into the play time! So I should be able to get by without spending anything.

Tomorrow will be another story. DS has a swimming lesson (already paid for), he desperately needs a haircut ($12), and I have to return a video to the library, including a $.50 fine (first one in months!). Then the big hit - the Verizon guy is coming to fix one of my phone jacks. Ouch. I'm estimating about $150. That's about it for today...

I love this weather! We have had almost two weeks of absolutely perfect days! I've been able to keep the AC off, and will be able to do so for the next three days, as hubby is on a business trip. I could take 365 days of weather like this...

Not much going on this weekend, money or otherwise. I went grocery shopping yesterday, to the fruit store, BJs and Shoprite and spent about $140 total. Pretty high, considering I spent about the same earlier in the month, and so am quickly eating up (no pun intended) my $350 budget. I should be pretty set for the rest of the milk, except for milk and fruit. Today I made a beef stew. I had one serving for dinner tonight and froze enough for me and hubby to have 3 dinners. I also made pesto with the basil in the garden. This freezes great! I made 12 4-oz jars, as well as 3 more servings. Finally, the kids and I made brownies for their lunch boxes this week.

So that's that. Other than waiting for my sharebuilder bonus, I'm all caught up with my deals, bonuses, etc.

Not much going on, moneywise. Hubby filled up the gas-guzzling SUV yesterday, to the tune of about $60. (I'll update my totals when I get the exact number). We have soccer practice tonight from 5-6, then the kids usually watch a movie from the library. Tomorrow, I have a haircut, and the cleaning lady is coming (both desperately needed!), so that will be some cash out of hand, then a soccer game at 1:30. Finally Sunday is a quiet, stay at home day (except for church). Hubby is leaving for a business trip Sunday at 2, through Wednesday, so it should be a pretty quiet time for me. I need to fit in grocery shopping at some point this weekend, but I don't need much.

I checked out that cell phone website, but mine is not listed. I usually get the "free after rebate" phones that Verizon always seems to be giving away, so I guess there's not much demand. Oh, well, I'll look into donating it, instead. AC is off again today (Day 8) and the forecast is for another cool, low humidity weekend!

Man, I love the fall. I feel so refreshed! I have been in a GREAT mood lately, though for no particular reason. I won't question it...

I got the second deposit from ebookdrop.com yesterday, so I'm all caught up with them. I need to transfer the money from my Paypal account to my fun money account. It will be great to build this back up, because I really depleted it with our trip to the Jersey Shore in August.

Second, I read somewhere about two websites for old cell phones. The first, www.cellforcash.com will pay you $$ for your used cell phones. (Amount varies based on model, some aren't listed). If you can't sell it there, they link to another site, www.wirelessfoundation.org, where I presume you can donate it. (haven't visited that site yet). Regardless, I have at least two, maybe 3 or 4, old cell phones at home, so I'm going to check it out. Either way, I'm hoping they're out of my house by the weekend!

Ran the AC Tuesday evening while we slept. (My fault...I didn't open the windows in the house to get the temp down, and it was a bit hot, so hubby turned it on). It went off first thing yesterday and hasn't been back on since, so I'm counting 2 more NACNH days. (7 total).

So far, I'm doing ok with my gas and food totals for September:
Gas: $51.00 (goal

DD started 1st grade today. Can't believe it. DS starts his pre-K next Monday. Yesterday was pretty much a no-spend day...just Dairy Queen, but hubby treated from his allowance. Today, DS and I went to Kohls to return some clothes that didn't fit. Most of it was an even exchange, but I did pick up a few more clothes and a badly needed toaster oven. I didn't have any discounted gift cards, but I did have a 15% off coupon, so the net spent was about $50.

I also went to the bank and made 3 deposits - money from my dad to reimburse me for his groceries, $50 from dad for my birthday later this month, and $672.21 from Citibank Drivers Edge rewards, which will be transferred to the HELOC today. (yay). The rest of this day will be no-spend...DD has a half-day, then we're meeting some friends at the partk.

I received my 1st Paypal deposit from ebookdrop.com, to the tune of about $43. Glad that's on the up and up, although it took a few weeks. Media mail is soooo slow. Another deposit for about $52 should be coming in another week or so.

The weekend has been so beautiful, we didn't use the AC at all. We were away on Fri & Sat, and we haven't turned it on since, making this the 5th "NACNH" (no air cond no heat) day. I'm shooting for at least 20 this month and 20 next month. That will really help the gas and electric bills, and will get our budget billing back on track. We're having leftovers from the BBQ tonight, so I feel pretty good about that, too. THat's it for now...

I normally don't stop at Eckerd (or Walmart or CVS) because I find I always end up buying more than I really need, and if I wait for a sale at the supermarket, I can usually pick up things for the same price. But that may change. On Friday, our friend asked us to stop by a drug store and pick up some Zantac for him. The Eckerd was the most convenient, so I ran in. As I was checking out, I noticed a sign on the credit card scanner that stated that JCPenney gift cards are accepted for payment. This surprised me, so I asked the clerk and he confirmed it. (They don't sell JCP cards there, but they will accept them for payment). I have the ability to purchase JCP gift cards at 20% off through Main Street Savings, so this seems like it may present a good opportunity for me, especially if I combine items that are on rebate, have coupons, etc. I'll be looking into that going forward.

Other savings news from the weekend: I got my gas bill, after an actual meter reading last Tuesday. I'm on budget billing, and had been in a deficit position of about $500 through July. My balance month is in November, so I'm really hoping the deficit goes away by then, given that I'm not using a lot of heat now, and am going to try my darndest to leave it off as long as possible. Anyway, the deficit on the August bill is now down to $300 and change. There's still hope!

But the weekend wasn't all frugal. We all decided to go out to dinner on Friday night. My preference is to eat in...we're pretty decent cooks and I like the ability to sit around without feeling rushed, having to drive, etc. But I'm also not usually the spoil sport in the crowd, so I went along. It ended up being about $120 for the 4 of us, which seemed worse because it was unexpected. I think I'll be able to make up for this in my allowance, as I've only been taking $20 or so instead of the $60 I budget. At least we had a good time.

Then today, I had a BBQ at my house. My brother/sil were dropping their daughter off at college 15 minutes from my house. They came over after that, along with two of my sisters. I bought a bunch of food thinking that I was going to be feeding all of these people, but one of my sisters brought over a HUGE antipasto and we were so full we barely touched my food. Much of it I could freeze, so no waste. But I'm going to my other sister's tomorrow for a BBQ (so won't be eating home) and I still have 2 dozen clams, 2 pounds of shrimp, 1 pound of potato salad, and 14 ears of corn leftover. I read somewhere on this site that you can freeze corn. I've never done it, but it's so fresh and good this time of year it's worth a try, and I'm thinking of making a chowder out of the clams. But I can't freeze the shrimp (already been frozen) or the potato salad. I guess they'll be lunch tomorrow/Tuesday.

So that's the scoop. Tomorrow will be sleeping late (hooray), getting ready for school, and hitting the BBQ. I need to stop at the grocery store tomorrow to pick up a few things I forgot today (made a list in a hurry), so I'll post totals for both tomorrow...

Today was a good day...I'm not sure if that's because I'm off tomorrow for a 4-day weekend.

I topped off the cars with gas tonight, paying $2.99 (regular) and $3.19 (premium), and spent a total of $51.00. But at least I have completely full tanks, and hope not to fill up again for at least a week, if we can stretch it. Hubby will be doing a lot of travelling this month, going away for the equivalent of 2 weeks. Considering he drives about 200 miles/week for work, that should save me at least $50 in gas right there. One of my September goals is to keep gas for the car under $300. This is tough for me to do in a normal month, given all of the driving we do; it will be even tougher with the higher prices. But between his travelling, and some "trip management", I think I can, I think I can.

Other spending today was planned. $60 hubby allowance, $20 my allowance, $50 child care, $.74 stamps (every bit counts!) and my usual $1.40 tolls. One unplanned item that I obviously didn't learn from in August: Breakfast/Lunch at work totalling about $8.00. Way higher than normal.

Tomorrow we're off to a friend's house for the weekend. They live only about 15 minutes from my dad, so in an effort to consolidate trips (and keep gas cost down ), we're going to hit the library and the dry cleaner, then my dad's to do grocery shopping for him, then our friends' house. We'll be there through Sunday afternoon, when my brother and sister and their families are coming over in the afternoon. Another BBQ to go to on Monday. Nothing major money-wise.

September Goals:
Gas

Fall is my favorite time of the year. Great weather, great holidays, including my birthday, DS and DD's birthday, Halloween, Tgiving, all the preparation for Christmas, which gets me in the spirit. What's not to like? Other than the days getting shorter, not much for me!

I'm also happy to put July and August behind me. Between my car troubles and hot water heater breaking, my budget (which was already stretched) was turned upside down. Luckily we were able to pay everything without dipping into savings (due primarily to the fact that I didn't have to pay DS's huge preschool bill and, unfortunately, I didn't put anything toward the home equity line). But now I'm ready to get back on track.

My big goal for September is to be able to pay at least $1000 to the home equity line. I've gone 2 months without paying down the principle, and it's really weighing on me. I have $500 budgeted from our regular checking account, and I'm hoping for the $600+ rebates from our Citibank Drivers Edge card to be sent to us. I already filled out the paperwork, but I'm not sure how fast they'll process it. I'm not sure of the timing, but we're also supposed to get a property tax relief check (~$350, I think) in September or October. That's a drop in the bucket relative to what we pay, but I'll take it. So $1000 definitely seems doable.

I'm also one of those really early preparers for Christmas. My goal is to be 90% done by the Sunday after Thanksgiving, so I can totally enjoy the month of December, including getting together with friends, listening to the music, looking at the lights, etc. without the stress of Christmas cards, shopping, etc. I usually start the prep in October, so one of my goals for September is to look at my holiday spending and figure out painless ways to cut corners. Two areas I definitely plan to target are pictures/cards and gifts. We love to get the kids' pictures taken for the holiday (and since both of their birthdays are close, I only have to do it once per year). But even when I go to Sears or JC Penney and use their portrait studio coupons, I still end up spending ~$125, which is crazy. We always get sheets of wallet sizes to send out with the cards, which I've decided is an area I can cut, because when I get other kids' pictures, I usually keep them through the holiday, then throw them out with the cards. (Not close relatives or friends of course, but kids of cousins and second cousins, etc.). So one plan may be to get the larger pictures done for us, mil, etc. (and use my discounted JCPenney gift cards), and take a picture of the kids with the digital camera to copy and send out with the other cards. (Also, I can substantially cut down the card list. I personally prefer the cards to the Christmas letter that has become popular over the last few years, but I can cut the number of people on the list). As for gifts, I think the use of the gift cards, either as gifts themselves, or to purchase gifts for others, is a good way to go. I can't do much about the list itself, but I can be a bit more creative about the gifts themselves. Glad I have a month to think about it...

I'm off to bed...I get to bed way to late at night because I'm too busy surfing this site...

Thoughts from the last few days:

I am consumed by the coverage of Hurricane Katrina. I just can't fathom the complete and total loss being experienced by these people. It's absolutely tragic. I try to envision if all of a sudden I was told that I had to be out of my house in 12 or 24 hours, possibly never to return again. What would I bring? Not surprisingly, my list includes very few of the material possessions I've acquired over my 11 years of marriage and 10 years of homeownership. Instead, I'd go for important papers (passports and the like), pictures from my wedding, of the kids and my parents, etc., cash and maybe a few special pieces of jewelry.

Even though insurance will undoubtedly pay out to many people (eventually), I understand that the city is relatively poor. How many of these people paid insurance premiums for their few precious assets? Even for those people who had insurance, how long will it take before these people see financial relief? They're talking about it taking a month to get electricity back on; I can't imagine they'll be filing claims anytime soon. Can these people make it for that month, two months, three months or more until they're reimbursed? Note to self: maybe I should boost up my emergency savings after all...

But the thing that makes me so mad is the looting. I understand looting of the grocery stores. People are working on basic survival at this point, so I would probably do the same if I needed food, water, batteries, etc. But the people looting Foot Locker? Come on! I saw video of it on the news tonight and I think that's just inexcusable! I hope when things settle down, the police go back and review the tapes and go after every one!

Phew, that was a lot to get off my chest, but I really needed to do it. Back to my comparably hum-drum life, I actually had a real no-spend day. Not a dime! Regular readers of my posts know how absolutely impossible this is for me. I went to the post office (shipping paid by receiver), the kids' bank to count the coins in their piggy and deposit, and my bank for a deposit. Then I came home, hung out with the kids, and made dinner. That's it. A great way for me to finish up a really expensive month.

Tomorrow evening I'll be able to do my month-end numbers. I get the values of all of our accounts, mutual funds, debts, etc. and calculate our net worth. It had been going up quite a bit thorugh the first six months of the year, but the new car loan put a hit on that! I always feel good about my finances on the first of the month, because I tend not to count 401(k)s, pensions, etc. when I'm thinking of our financial situation because it's sooo far away. Instead I think of monthly inflows and outflows, which is a bit more depressing. Tomorrow should be an equally quiet day, then September 1st!!!

I think the best part of this site is all the advice tidbits I pick up from other people. A few weeks ago, Retire@50 posted about how she called DirectTv and they knocked $5 off of her bill. Consistent with a thread in the forums about how often you act on tips, I thought "wow, I should try that", then of course I never did. Well today I was surfing at fatwallet.com (a great site for deals), and they had a link about people who called directtv and got $5 off Total Choice packages and an additional $10 off for premium packages (we have HBO and Cinemax). So I finally picked up the phone and got both discounts for 6 months (that's $90!!!!). Now, it's Direct Tv, so I'll believe it when I actually see the credit on my bill. (For any of you who don't deal regularly with them, it's very hit or miss, to say the least). But I got the guy's name and time of the call, so I can refer back to it if the credit doesn't show up. One of the fatwallet posters says he calls back every 6 months for a new deal, and if someone tells him no, he calls back a few hours later, because you get a different answer with everyone you speak to! So thanks Retire@50, for helping me to save $90...

Of course that made my night. But I also got a few housekeeping things done. Since I've pretty much exhausted the ebookdrop.com option, I listed all of the books on both half.com and amazon.com. I've never done the amazon thing, but people here seem to have success with it. We'll see how it goes. I also finally opened the Sharebuilder accounts for the two kids, and confirmed that they're both eligible for the $50 bonus.

Spending today consisted of $1.40 for tolls and $20 for lunch with my sister. Also filled up the gas tank, but I don't remember how much it was (I must have blocked it out because it's so painful). People on the news say that gas prices could go up considerably more as a result of the storm. While that's small potatoes relative to the mass destruction that occurred, it still hurts to hear. I hope we don't have any Saving Advicers close to the damage...

Tomorrow I need to run a few errands, including my bank to deposit a check and rolled coins, the kids bank to deposit change in their piggy banks, and the post office to get my ebookdrop box out (didn't do it today). My other sister said she would come over to hang out by the pool, but I don't know what the weather is supposed to be like. We shall see...

We had a great time this weekend. Friday, as expected, was spent going to the library to pick up a few videos (10 minutes before closing!) then to the ShopRite to pick up some groceries. The kids were extraordinarily well behaved, probably because they were so excited about the videos!

Saturday, we stopped at grandma's, had lunch, and dropped the kids off for a sleepover. Then hubby and I went to an Octoberfest. What a great time! The weather was perfect, food was great, and beer top notch (real German beer from a tap - yum). We spent much more than I thought we would (about $60 - mostly for food and souvenirs) but we had a great time.

We also got a great deal at Circuit City on Saturday! Hubby has wanted a TIVO for our DirectTv system for a while, so I bought some discounted CC gift cards. When we got there, they were offering a Samsung Tivo recorder for $99.99 with a $100 mail-in rebate, including existing customers! We also got the necessary cables and a new phone, which we also needed, with a $15 coupon and the discounted cards. Good day all around.

On Sunday we slept late (much needed) and headed back to Grandma's. We went to Kohl's to do some back to school shopping for the kids, with a 15% off coupon and my 20% off giftcards. (She also paid for 3 outfits per kid, which really helped). So I walked out spending about $70 total.

I also had the opportunity to go through all but one of her bookshelves, and found some more books for ebookdrop.com. So I went to the website and sold a bunch of books for $59.05. Totally psyched - it will be going out tomorrow.

After we got home, I took care of all of the PTO stuff, and checked the water heater info. Much to my dismay, the energy factor on the heater was only .58, and it needed to be .62 in order to qualify for the rebate. SO we're out $50, but at least I did the legwork and tried.

My other chore this weekend was to take care of the Sharebuilder accounts for the kids. I'll be doing that tomorrow. Also, I was going to look into the bank bonuses but, duh, the banks aren't open after 12:00 Saturday to call with questions, so that, too shall wait....

All in all a good weekend. I'm looking forward to getting to September 1. August was a tough month, and we're going to end it way over budget, but I think we can regroup in September.

I need to spend some time this weekend tying up some loose ends...I finally received the form for the water heater rebate. I need to fill it out, which I was all set to do today, except that I need the serial # and model # which of course I don't have. Also, I have a bunch of paperwork from our PTA that needs to be filled out before school begins, so I want to take care of that ASAP so it's not hanging over my head. Third, as part of my $5000 challenge, I want to open up sharebuilder accounts for my 2 kids ($50 bonus each), but I don't have their social security #s committed to memory, so I need to do that when I get home. Also related to the challenge, I printed out a bunch of different "free money from banks" offers. I've already prioritized them. Now I just need to follow up with some calls to get answers to a few questions I have. I have the set of chemistry textbooks to box up for ebookdrop.com, and some more books at mil's house to check out. This is all in addition to the usual laundry, cleaning, filing, etc. that I always need to do.

We're going to stop at the library on the way home so the kids can borrow some DVDs/tapes. Then I need to get to ShopRite for this week's grocery shopping. Normally, I'd be so psyched that I made it to Friday without needing to go that I would bag it until the following week (and save the money). However, 3 of the kids' absolutely favorite cereals are on sale (and I have coupons). Cereal is so unbelievably expensive and I hate to pay full price for it, so I need to get over there to pick some up. I have a few other things on the list as well, but am hoping to keep it around $50 or so. Given that I'm going so late in the week, I'm hoping that maybe I can avoid going next week! The rest of the night will be dinner at home and just hanging out.

Tomorrow, we're going to MIL's house in the morning. She needs to go grocery shopping, and wants to go pick up some outfits for the kids back-to-school! (Gotta love that! - she spoils them). Then, the kids will stay with her for a sleepover while hubby and I go to an Octoberfest with some friends. Sunday is supposed to be a good-weather day, so we'll try to go bike riding at the park.

I just checked my account with the electric company. I'm on budget billing, and pay $131/month. I currently have a credit of $67 (meaning my actual use has been $67 less than what they've billed me for). This has come down significantly in the last two months due to our overuse of air conditioning. I need to buckle down now so I can build the credit back up before they rebalance the account in November. I would love to get it under $120/month, but that would require a credit balance of $121, and I'm not sure I can get there from here in that short a period of time. You never know, though...

So I'm still on my www.ebookdrop.com kick. I have literally looked at every book in my house and plugged in the ISBNs to see how much (if anything) I could get. Aside from the $40+ package I sent out last week, I only have a few more books, each for $1+ that I could get rid of. So then I moved on to MIL's house. My husband has kept every single chemistry textbook from his college days (15 years ago) and literally has not touched them since. (My inlaws and husband are both pack-rats supreme - I think they were squirrels in another life!). So when I dropped off the kids this morning on my way to work, I wrote down all of the ISBNs for 1 shelf of textbooks and plugged them in when I got to work. Of the 14 I entered, I can sell 5 for a total of $40.38, including one for $17 and one for $7.04. Given that these things have been sitting around collecting dust for more than a decade, this seems like a pretty good idea to me. I ran it by hubby a few minutes ago and he's all for it. I'm encouraged...he has another 5 bookshelves of stuff there that I can go through!

Other than the usual tolls, parking, lunch, I had a no-spend day. I picked up the kids after work and we hung out in the pool. It's been great weather here - really autumn-like. I'd take 365 of them if I could. So no need for AC! Today will also be a no-spend day aside from commuting and lunch. I need to make a deposit in the bank, and I need to convert currency back to $$ (hubby was supposed to take a trip earlier this month, and it was cancelled so I need to get my $ back). Grocery shopping will wait until tomorrow!

Ouch. I had to send in the first car payment for the new car I bought last month. It was due on the 26th, so I sent it in on the 18th or so. At the same time, I also filled out the form to get the amount automatically withdrawn from my checking account. Usually it takes some time for them to get everything set up, but not this time! I went on my bank's website today and saw that the automatic debit took place yesterday. Meanwhile, my check is still out there, about to be cashed, meaning I will have paid twice this month. I don't want to put a stop payment on the check because that costs $20-25. I'm not in danger of bouncing it, so I figure I might as well leave it and look at the bright side - at least my loan will be paid off one month sooner! Still a shock when a few hundred dollars comes out unexpectedly.

Edited to add: Called the company to see if there was anything I could do about the double payment. They explained that the ACH debit was them processing my check, so there was only one payment coming out after all. Phew. She also confirmed that auto-withdrawal is set up to start on 9/26. That's a relief!

I've had a few quiet spend days. We went out for ice cream Monday after soccer, and again yesterday with some friends after a few hours at the park. Monday was about $10, Tuesday was about $5. I needed to stop into work last night to pick up something, and treated hubby to Starbucks on the way home. That's been about it. I need to go to the grocery store, but want to wait until later in the week. I also need to drop off some clothes at the dry cleaners...

Decided to (re)start my diet again today. Three things are pushing me: First, none of my clothes fit right, and I don't want to buy anything new right now. Second, I read an article in our local paper about how much money being overweight costs, specifically in terms of copays, rx, medical bills, etc. Finally, I need to go to my doctor for a yearly checkup, but don't want to go until I drop 10 pounds or so. (He's been telling me for 4 years straight to exercise more and drop some weight, and for four years I've been the exact same weight everytime I see him. Can't make it 5 in a row)! When I first talked to him about "dieting" (a term he hates) he recommended I shoot for 1600 calories / day while trying to lose, then 1800 when I'm ready to maintain. So today it starts. Had oatmeal and one cup of coffee (200 calories total for breakfast). Usually, if I get through breakfast, lunch, and snack using 800 calories, then I'm good to go with a normal dinner.

I have about as much luck with dieting as I do with saving money, so it will definitely be a challenge...

I'm technically challenged...I've been on this site for months, and only today figured out how to get an Avatar next to my name. Thanks to Max'sMommy, I had to find Sonic the Hedgehog. My kids are huge fans (I spent many a $$ at the Boardwalk games on vacation, trying to get them a stuffed Sonic and a stuffed Tails). As I was scrolling through, I also found a picture of Alfred E Newman from Mad Magazine. What, me worry? Tough choice, but he ended up in second place. Maybe when I'm tired of Sonic I'll swap him in...

We went to the most expensive kids' birthday party I have ever been to on Saturday. A classmate of DS's from last year just turned 4. She had a really fun magic party at a brand new place. They saw a magic show for about an hour, then had pizza and ice cream cake. At that point, the party was officially over, but the kids were allowed to stay and play on the indoor gym equipment. My son had such a good time, I picked up a brochure thinking we would have his party there. Not thinking that anymore! The price: $395 for up to 15 kids, each additional kid $16.95, birthday child free. She only had 13 kids at the party (not including the BDay girl) so that works out to over $30/kid, not including tip and goody bags! FOR A 4 YEAR OLD!!! Given that this is the new place in town, I'm sure there will be a bunch more there this year...I'm guessing at least 3 or 4. Can't justify that at all...

Anyway, after this really fun party, we went to the museum. Parking was $21, and tolls to get over the George Washington Bridge were a whopping $6, but everything else was free. The Magic School Bus was cool...they took all the seats out of the bus and filled it with little interactive science experiments, etc. We also looked at the regular dinosaur exhibit and the planet stuff. They had a special dinosaur exhibit that's in town for a few months. It was really interesting, highly recommended for anyone in the NYC area, but the kids were a bit tired by that time, so they didn't get as much out of it. I decided I will definitely renew my membership. It expires in September, and costs $100 (tax deductible) for a family, but tickets to all these special exhibits are free. In the case of the dinosaur exhibits, it would have cost about $50 if we had to purchase them, and we definitely visit a few times a year, so it pays for itself. (Not to mention being educational and a good cause). It's always a fun day.

Sunday we had the barbeque. That was fun, though steamy, and as expected we have a ton of food leftover. I froze enough meat to last for 7 meals for DH and me, not including what I left in the fridge for tonight. Good deal...

So now I'm back at work for the beginning of another quiet week. DD has soccer tonight, and that's about it for the week. I also decided to stop the daily tracking. After religiously doing it for over two weeks, it's obvious to me that I spend a lot of money on tolls and gas, and unnecessary money on food when I'm at work or on the go. So now it's time to figure out how I'm going to get motivated to change that...

Always trying to make lemonade out of lemons...

I was surfing around my gas / electric company websites and I found a rebate offer of $50 if you install an energy efficient hot water heater. Wahoo. I'll double check when I get home, but I'm sure the one we just installed a few weeks ago meets the criteria. The gas company is sending out the forms as we speak. Sometimes it pays to surf...

So happy it's Friday...my favorite day of the week!

Yesterday was my long day at work. I was out of the house by 8:30, and didn't get back until about 8:00 at night. The good thing is that I can't go anywhere and spend money, so other than gas, it was a pretty inexpensive day:

Thursday spending:
Tolls $1.40
Parking $20
Lunch $5
Gas $34

I'm going to BJs after work today, where I need to pick up a few things for Sunday's BBQ. Then, I'm taking MIL to ShopRite. She offered to pick up all of the meat for Sunday, which will save me beaucoup bucks. Then I need to go home tonight and clean, clean, clean. I also have to run out to Toys R Us to pick up a present for a birthday party DS is going to tomorrow. Fortunately I have a stash of discounted gift cards, so there will be no cash out of pocket.

Tomorrow should be great. In addition to the party, we're heading to the Museum of Natural History in the afternoon. In addition to a new dinosaur exhibit, they're having Ms. Frizzle and the Magic School Bus out front. (For anyone whose heard of this, we think the Magic School Bus is great!). We're museum members, so the museum itself will be free, though we'll have to pay parking, tolls, and gas, which adds up. Still easily justified. Then MIL is taking the kids for a sleepover, and we're going to a friend's house for cocktails/appetizers. Knowing my friend she'll have enough food for an army, as she's making a lot, and everyone's bringing something, so we won't need to have a big dinner at home.

Then Sunday's the BBQ. Hope the weather holds up...

Ooh, this has been a pretty tough week, especially where future finances are concerned. I forgot to mention on Tuesday that the friendly neighborhood Real Estate Appraiser dropped by. Our town (as well as our whole county) is in the middle of a real estate revaluation. Hasn't happened in over 10 years, so now it's time. He measured the outside of the house and looked around the inside at the # of rooms, baths, etc. and said I'll get a letter announcing the damage in a few months. A friend of mine in town who was one of the first ones to be reassessed will be paying - are you ready for this - $15,000/year in taxes! Obscene! She lives in a bigger, newer house than mine (4000 sf vs. 3000 sf, approx), but she is on a small plot of land (1/4 acre? McMansion), while I'm on an acre. I currently pay $8300 in taxes and am really sweating this out! Countywide, rates have increased about 40% during this revaluation. My only hope is that they're taking so long to get through the town that the rates won't be ready for 2006. The upside, of course, is that property values have also shot through the roof, but that's of little comfort when it's just a paper gain...we have no intention of selling anytime in the near future.

On a lesser, but more immediate scale, I read in the paper today that the gas company received approval for a 10% rate hike. Not unexpected, I guess...their costs are going up too. I'm on budget billing, and my monthly gas bill is $175. I'm also way over so far, so when they rebalance in November, I'm expecting that it will go up ~$40, not including this hike. At least I don't have oil heat anymore. We converted in 1998. At the time, I think we were paying $.89/gallon, not it's up to $2.41!!! I wish I could stop time for a while...

On a positive note, I finally mailed out the books to ebookdrop.com, for $43.85. I have a few more books lying around that I know they'll take, and about two dozen more that I need to enter and see.

Spending for Wednesday:

Gas $48.02 (SUV - close to empty)
Tolls $1.40
Breakfast $1.22
Lunch $2.95

No great shakes here...just the usual.

I just sat down to the computer after getting the kids to sleep, and my tea bag broke. I have a bazillion bits of tea floating around the cup. No big deal, relaxation postponed for another two minutes...

I'm back. The last two days have been relatively uneventful. Yesterday was payday for hubby and me, so I paid the bills and updated the budget. August marks the end of my biggest financial break: Two months of no preschool/afterschool/childcare costs for the kids ($942/month total). Bills will be sent in later this month Normally I look forward to the extra cushion in the budget during the summer, but unfortunately this year they were sucked up by car trouble. Only 10 more preschool payments to go!!!

I've mentioned ebookdrop.com in a couple of places over the last few days. I finally sold the 10 books yesterday for $43.85! Now my only problem is finding a box to put them in and getting them to the Post Office. One of the books was a 15-year old chemistry textbook from DH's college days. We got $17 for it. Unbelievable. So I started going through the house today to dig up all similar items. (We've been in our house for 10 years, and they're in the same box in the same place today that they were when we moved in!). I found a calculus book that they would buy for $1.80. Not much (considering it probably cost me $60 back in school!) but what the heck! I'll shoot to sell some more books there next week.

We're having hubby's family over for a barbeque this Sunday. Should be 12 adults and 3 kids total. I've been doing a GREAT job with my grocery bill so far this month (only $142+ so far and the month is half over). I refuse to blow it for this get together. Fortunately, my mil will make a few things, others will bring dessert, which just leaves the main food and beer, and the food shouldn't break the bank (it's not filet mignon, afterall), and we should have leftovers for the early part of the week. You have no idea how excited I will be if our grocery bill is under $300 for the month! And while I'm at it, gas is currently on target to come in under $300. A few months ago, this would have really bothered me, but with the price of gas now, I'll be downright giddy if I can keep it under $300. (Though how pathetic that those 2 items alone are $600/month! What's wrong with this picture?)

Spending totals for the last two days:

Monday/Tuesday
Tolls: $2.80
Parking/Ferry: $22.00
Breakfast at work: $1.00
Lunch at work: $2.99
Child Care: $50
Housecleaner: $90
Lunch (T): $11.63 (Fast food with the kids)
Gas: $36.00

Total: $216.42 for 2 days

Thoughts on the above: Hubby and I both agree that the cleaning lady is the last luxury standing as we cut back on discretionary spending. She was coming every week (total luxury!) now we're down to every other. I know if I ever quit working I'll have to let her go, but it will be tough...Gas is still through the roof! And I can't leave my house without paying at least $1.40 in tolls on the Garden State Parkway!