Unfortunately, it cost me $150. At least the parts were covered ($60). I also went to the post office to mail the third book I sold on half.com (yippee), and the dry cleaner. It's been so hot here that they actually let the grammar school out after a half-day. Only the Kindergarten wing has Air Conditioning and it was just unbearable for the rest of the kids. The last day of school is Monday, with half-days on Friday and Monday, so I guess there's not a lot being done these days anyway.

I listed the rest of the books lying around my house on half.com. I think I'm up to about 65 books. None of them is really expensive, but I figure every little bit helps, especially because they wouldn't be missed. I have a bunch of miscellaneous finance stuff to take care of tomorrow. I think I mentioned that I got an offer from Chase to open up a savings account to link to my checking, and they'll give me either a $25, $50, or $75 bonus depending upon which type of account I open, so I want to take care of that tomorrow. I also got a $6 rebate from Coca-Cola. Listen to what a great deal this was: I bought 8 bottles of Coke products at the A&P for $.75 each, with a mail-in rebate for $6. So the soda was free! We don't even drink that much soda here, but I couldn't pass it up, so I'll bring it on vacation with us.

I'm still discouraged about the whole grocery shopping thing. I forget whose journal I just read tonight, but they're reading a book that basically says to do something because if you try 10 things, maybe 7 will fail, but that means 3 will succeed. I definitely think most attempts I've made to bring down the grocery bill have failed. If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. The first thing I'm going to try is to not go to the store before I leave on vactaion (June 25), except for a gallon of milk. I still have a ton of fruit, vegetables, and meat from this weekend's excursion, and that should be enough. We'll see how it goes.

Tomorrow should be another steamy day...

I had a pretty good weekend. Friday was quiet. Hubby came back from his business trip on Wednesday, so we all just hung around together Friday night. I let the kids stay up until 10:00 (way too late), but they hadn't seen him a lot because of his trip and they were being well behaved. Paid for it a bit the next morning when they were overtired, but that's to be expected.

Saturday, I mailed the other half.com book and brought back overdue videos to the library ($3.40 ). Hubby's friends from college slept over Saturday, and other friends joined us on Sunday. Even thought I kept the menu to chicken on Saturday and burgers/dogs on Sunday, the bill was pretty high. I guess by the time I added in rolls, condiments, beer/wine, salads, etc., it really added up. But at least I have leftovers.

I ended up freezing 4 quarts of strawberries, but I'm getting into this canning idea. I scoped it out and Target sells some stuff to get started. I just don't know if I'm into it enough to spend the $30-$50.

The A/C has been on all weekend, with no end in sight until later this week. Between the company sleeping over, and highs in the 90s, it's been on a lot. I'm just trying to keep it to 76 or so when hubby's home.

I'm hoping this week will be pretty cheap. I have enough food in the house that I don't need to go shopping, and we have no plans to go anywhere but in the pool! Scratch that. I forgot that the TV repair man is coming tomorrow between 11-1. Even though the parts are still covered under warranty, the labor is a minimum flat fee of $150. Could be more depending on what he needs to do. Big bummer.

We're leaving for vacation on June 25 to go to the Outerbanks (NC). Should be a great time. We rented a house with 2 of my brothers, my sister and our families. 8 adults, 8 kids. The house, which wasn't that expensive considering we're splitting it 4 ways, is already paid for. We're all bringing groceries and the like, and will split the bill at the end of the week. We generally hang at the house and barbeque, as opposed to going out to eat, so that will certainly keep costs down. Can't wait to take a break for a week! After that we're meeting up with friends at the Jersey shore for 2 nights over July 4th. Then it's back to the daily grind...

I'm digging this half.com stuff! Sold the Purpose Driven Life for $5.25 plus shipping. Not bad, considering it was in the pile of books my sister gave me (for free) last weekend. The only thing is that I'll now have to rent it from the library to read it... I'll get it out in the mail tomorrow, and am definitely going to spend my time between now and Sunday listing everything else in my house...

Yesterday was a great day, but also a big money spend day. My son's end of year show was cute. (Nothing like a bunch of 3/4 year olds singing out of tune!). I went to Bath and Body Works (with one of my discounted gift cards) and took advantage of their annual clearance sale. I found a scent that I really like that they discontinued a while ago, so I picked up the lotion and the shower gel. Then I had to get end of year gifts for my son's teachers (that I forgot to budget for ), go to the Post Office to mail the first book I sold, and hit Toys R Us for a few birthday presents. So I was already in the hole before I even went grocery shopping....

I started off pretty well in the ShopRite, where I get most of my groceries. I spent $53 (I targeted $50, so that's not bad). But then I also picked up a 12-pack of Mike's Hard Lemonade (have to have it in the Summer) for $13. Then I went to the fruit/veggie store. That's where I messed up big time. I love going there, because they have fresh, home grown stuff, a ton of variety, etc. But I always buy a ton of stuff (most of which we use before it goes bad). Right now, they have locally grown strawberries for $3.50/qt and they are OUT OF THIS WORLD! So I bought 3 of them, along with the rest of my stuff. As I was on line, the woman in front of me told me I should just by a flat of them, because it doesn't cost that much more, but you get 8 quarts instead of 3. So while the cashier is ringing up the rest of my stuff, I go get a flat and after she was done ringing it up I find out that it was $24!!!! By that time the order was done, so I didn't want to make her re-ring it, so I took them. Now I have 8 quarts of strawberries!

I have a canning book that I got from my mom, even though I've never canned a thing in my life. I figure now is the time to learn! I froze one quart of strawberries last night, and am keeping 3 for our own use over the next few days. The other 4 I'm going to try to can if I can figure it out over the next day or two, otherwise I'll freeze them too. I hate when stuff like this happens...

Other than that, our relatively new TV broke yesterday. Fortunately we bought it last July and it has a 1-year warranty on parts, so we only have to pay for labor (which is probably the most expensive part anyway). The guy is coming next Tuesday. I don't know...June is not starting off with a bang!

Hooray!! After listing all of those books last night, I sold a hardcover John Sanford for $6.50 plus shipping. It will be out the door tomorrow morning. If it weren't so late I'd go ahead and list every other book in my house. Oh well, I'll save that for a different day... For those of you that list, Tree0164 suggested selling the children's books as a lot on Ebay. I've never sold anything on EBAY, so I'm not really sure how it would work. Would I put the whole kit-and-kaboodle in one lot, or would I separate lots by type (e.g., Dr. Seuss, Clifford, etc.). I know people say the Ebay fees are pretty high, but the flip side is that the price could get bid up. What do you all think? I'm comfortable with the whole half.com thing, so my inclination is to stay put.

On to other things, it was a great mail day. I got a $15 rebate check (I don't remember for what!). Also, I got an offer from Chase to get "up to" $75 to open a Chase savings account (to go along with the checking account I opened last month and got $100 for). I need to go to their website to find out what the details of the accounts are, but I will definitely be taking advantage of that!

Both of those things make up for the gas bill I received yesterday. I'm on the budget billing plan, and pay $233/month. The meter is in my house, and I'm usually not home when they come, so they estimate it. I got a notice on this bill that it's been awhile, so they need an actual reading over the next month or two. Out of curiosity, I went downstairs and read it myself, then calculated it using my number, and it would raise my bill by about $500! On the one hand, I went really overboard with the heat because the weather didn't start cooperating until this week. I had my heat on the last week of May. On the other hand, our usage goes way down during the summer, so I'm hoping that by the time they rebalance in November, it will all balance out and they won't raise my monthly charge.

Today was a no-spend day. It was 90 degrees, so we hung out by the pool pretty much all day. I did break down and put the air conditioning on tonight. The kids were hot and having trouble falling asleep, and it was even getting to me. It's also been 85-90 for the last 3 days, which is extreme here for early June.

I have off tomorrow for my son's end of year preschool show. It's not until 1, so I'll run errands (and spend money) tomorrow morning. I need to go to the post office, bank, Toys R Us, and grocery shopping. My goal is to keep grocery shopping to about $50. We'll see how it goes...

It took a little while, but I sorted through the books that sis gave me and listed what I could on half.com. Apparently, the books you buy through Scholastic promotions in the school have a different ISBN that doesn't allow them to be resold. (I have a ton of them at home, too. I guess they'll be garage sale or donation material when the kids outgrow them). So anyway, I was able to list 32 books, and couldn't list about a dozen. My plan is to leave the dozen down where the kids can reach them, then put the others one shelf higher. That way, if they want to read them (or have me read it to them) I can keep track of it and put it back on the shelf where I can find it if it sells. I'm so inspired that I'm going to go through the rest of the books in the house and add them to the list. I'll keep out the absolute favorites that we read all of the time. For the rest, it's worth it to put them out there and if they sell, they sell. I'm not sure why I'm so excited, because the average listing price is about $1.25 each, but at least I feel like I'm doing something, and even $1.25 would be better than nothing!

That made up for a little disappointment I had today. My credit card cycle closed on June 3rd, so I was able to tally up my June totals for stuff like groceries, gas, etc. that I charge each month. Over the first 6 months of the year, I averaged about $550/month for groceries and $305/month for gas. I feel like I should be able to knock 20% off both of those categories, but obviously haven't, despite paying a bit more attention to my finances since February. The gas total, though incredible, doesn't bother me so much, because I do the whole EBAY gas gift card thing when I can, and it's not like we drive for fun. It's pretty much work, school, and home. The grocery bill really bums me out. Some months it's great, some months it's terrible. My goal (which seems laughable now) is $75/week, or $300/month. After stewing over this all day, I think I need a two-pronged approach: limit my groceries to $75/week, period, despite "great sales", or all the stuff the kids want, etc., second, rework my menus when we have company come over. I've got to search some of the frugal sites to check out good, company-acceptable recipes that won't kill our budget.

So that's the deal. I'm home tomorrow. Grocery shopping (ironically) but I'm shooting for $50 because 1) I'm mad now and 2) with hubby travelling all week, we're kind of cleaning out the pantry/fridge. We'll see how it goes...

The high today was in the mid- to upper- 80s. I slept at my sister's last night, then went straight to the birthday party/friend's house. By the time I got back to the house at about 5:00 tonight, it was 79 inside. Hubby is on a business trip and I'm really trying to avoid the A/C, so I opened all of the windows and turned on the fans. Now it's about 77. It's all psychological, though...I figured out a good trick. We live in a ranch-style house (one floor), but there is a finished playroom above our garage. It must not be as well insulated as the rest of the house, because it's colder than the rest of the house in winter and hotter in the summer. Anyway, it was 88 when we got home tonight. After playing up there for a while, the 77 in the rest of the house felt pretty good! The kids went right to sleep, and instead of sitting here with a glass of wine, I'm here with a glass of water .

I also used the cell phone instead of the regular phone all weekend. I really think this is going to make a difference, and hope I can remember to keep doing this.

We had a super weekend. My sister's was a lot of fun (as always), and the party today was great. One good score: My sister's son is 9, so she sent me home with a boatload of books that he's outgrown, as well as some videos, computer games, board games, etc. We already have a ton of kids' books in the house, so I think I'm going to list them all on half.com. My experience so far with the other stuff that I listed is that it's kind of hit-or-miss if you sell. I listed some pretty obscure titles, and even at that there were at least half a dozen other copies. So I figure I can list them, read them in the meantime, then ship them out if any of them sell. The only problem I have is figuring out a way to keep them organized so I can find them in a hurry. (I'm disorganized enough, my kids have absolutely no sense of order!). So I'll think about a way to work it tomorrow, and list them tomorrow night. I love getting all of these hand-me-downs. The kids don't care that they're used. To them, it's like Christmas in June! What a great way to start the summer...

But my arm is still sore from where I got the tetnus shot. Can't wait to get the bandage off of my thumb; I never realized how valuable thumbs were, especially on my right hand! I'm having a tough time writing, tying shoes, etc. Oh well, only a few more days.

This has been a pretty good week so far. Received the first of my 2 replacement credit cards. I feel so much better knowing one is in my wallet. A crutch maybe? I don't know. On May 2, I sent off the form to Washington Mutual to begin paying my property taxes/insurance directly instead of using their escrow account. They said it could take up to 60 days for them to process the request, but I'm hoping they come through faster, along with the check for my current escrow balance. In the meantime, State Farm sent me a check for $464.78 after they processed my cancellation. I'm going to deposit both checks into my (relatively) new ING account, where I'll continue to put my monthly property tax and insurance contributions. As soon as I get going with that, I'll see how much I really need to keep in there and use the rest to pay down my HELOC.

I fought a charge from the hospital from last November, when my son broke his finger. They wanted me to pay $30 for the visit with the doctor. I already paid my $15 copay, so I called up my insurance company (Oxford, they're great), and they told me that they submitted a check for $8.10 (the contracted rate) and I don't have to pay a dime. So I called the place back and straightened that out. I also got a rebate check for $4 back. It's not a lot, but it goes into the fun-money account I set up to show hubby that these little $5 and $10 savings are worth it, and it's already up to $566.17!

Then, one of the links on the side of this page (under "Partners") is for a "Personal Finance Blog". It then refers you to another site called fatwalletforum.com. I started surfing through it one day, and found a deal where Chase will give you $75 to open a checking account (minimum $100 deposit, need to leave it open for 6 months, expires 6/1). I was pretty excited about this because I received an offer in the mail from them to open a checking account and get a $50 bonus, but it expired on 4/15 and I never got around to it. (It's that whole disorganization thing). I was a little disappointed that I missed it, but now I'm psyched becuase it's for $25 more! I'm going to use the money from my fun-money account to start it and get the bonus. Yay!

So far it's been a pretty spend-free week. Went to Dad's yesterday to do his shopping, and added some of my stuff to his cart (he's pretty good about that). I forgot bread and yogurt, but that's all I need to pick up this week. Also, I didn't have time to stop at the flower place, so I didn't spend any money there (yet). We took the kids out for ice cream after T-ball, but that's been pretty much it. Today and tomorrow should be more of the same. I don't have any bills to pay until payday on the 15th.

Have a great day!!!

Sunny and mid-50s...walked to school to pick up my daughter, and hung out at the park for an hour. Also hung up two loads of laundry to dry. I love spring!!!

Went grocery shopping today and spent about $52. Not bad for a weekly total (we usually spend between 400-600/month, and my goal is 350. Actually, my goal is 300, but I figured 350 would be a good interim step). So I'm on track as far as that goes, but this didn't include any meat, and not that much else, for that matter

I started a price book toward the end of the year, and it's been great. I've been pretty faithful about writing down all of our expenditures, and it definitely helps when I see stuff on sale in the circular and can't remember what a good price is. It's a work in progress.

Other than the store and another trip to the doctor for my son ($15 copay) I've been at the house all day. Have a great day...

Today was an ok day. I was off to a great start this morning, having breakfast and coffee at home, but I need to get better about bringing lunch to work. I spent $4.50 and it wasn't even good! The only other spending was taking the kids for haircuts, and I was able to move $145 toward paying down a bill, thanks to overtime at work. Slow and steady wins the race...