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Archive for October, 2006

Happy Halloween!

November 1st, 2006 at 01:03 am

Happy Halloween! We had some of the cutest trick or treaters! Their costumes were really great. They were also very polite even the older ones. They all made sure they said thank you!( I love polite kids)Still have some candy left over but for the most part it went. My nephews came over to do their trick or treating in my neck of the woods and I have to say that they made out pretty well.

Made dinner and lunch today. Did a little food shopping saved about 25.00 instore coupons and manufacturers. My dollar trial is over for the grocery game and I only kept one of the stores on my list. This will cost me about 5.00 /mnth. I will try it for a little longer and see if I still like it. If not it is pretty easy to cancel.

Took Teddy(my dog) for his PT today he is really walking better. I am so happy. When I originally started taking him I was kind of skeptical about it. With only two sessions left he is doing great. His therapist is such a nice person. I will miss her. We gave her a thank you gift today for all her help. She was very appreciative.

Started looking around online for Christmas gifts and found some nice gifts for my daughter. Yesterday, Apple store had the ipod shuffle(refurbished for 29.00) I bought 2. One for my daughter and one for my nephew. I couldn't believe the price. I'm glad that I at least started. I hate when I wait until the last minute.

The Weekend

October 31st, 2006 at 12:32 am

Kind of a do nothing weekend. I was kind of glad to get back to work today. The weather was pretty bad here on Friday and Saturday(alot of rain and heavy winds). Couldn't really leave the house and then Sunday it was really windy. Kind of ran out to do a few errands. I was able to catch up on the laundry and bake a little. I read the book A Rocky Road to Romance by Janet Evanovich. It was a quick read and it was a cute story. I took out a few audio books from the library on Saturday. I find them a little difficult to get used to. I think I need to pay attention more while I'm listening to them. I rented a couple of movies,Nacho Libre(What a stupid movie and a waste of time and money)Click(this was pretty good)total $2.18.
Because of this do nothing weekend I spent very little money. My brother did come over to borrow some. So, I am keeping a tally of his balance. He told me he will pay me back this Friday. I've heard this story before. I'm a softy when it comes to my brothers.

I'm thinking ahead to November...and I did not accomplish a few of the goals that I had set for October. So, I am going to cross my fingers and hope that all works out for this coming month. I'm talking about my investment strategy. I'll post, if all works out.

Rant About My Health Insurance

October 27th, 2006 at 06:21 pm

I have MDNY health insurance and I have had this particuliar insurance for the past 12 years. I have never had a problem with it, until today. I had a mamography last month and about a week later I got a phone call stating that I would need to have a sonogram and possible fine needle aspiration as they saw something on the mamography. Not to worry that it didn't appear to be a lump or a mass just something that they felt needed further evaluatiuon. They told me at that time to get a physicians order for the procedure and to set up an appointment. I set up my appointment for the soonest one they had, which happened to be a month away. I called the doctor and received my order in the mail on October 11th. Today I went to the Breast Center and I had to go to the cashier first. I presented him with my physicians order form and my insurance card. He preceeded to tell me that the order was still pending for the sonogram that my insurance company had still not approved it and for the biopsy he had nothing in the system with regards to that. So, I asked him well what should I do. I took the day off of work to have this done. I waited a month for this appointment. His response was for me to get another appointment at a later date and to get in contact with my insurance company,period... the end. I tell you, I walked out of there fuming. So, when I got to work I called the insurance company and they said it wasn't their fault, they out source their work to another company called Core Care National and it was up to them to approve my test. Okay, so I call Core Care and they tell me that they didn't receive the requisition for the procedure until this past Wednesday and that it was pending approval. They tell me that the blame lies with my physicians office for not calling in the request. So then I asked them "so what about the fine needle biopsy, who is supposed to approve that?" They say "oh your insurance company, MDNY" At this point I'm ABOUT TO SPIT FIRE through the phone. I call MDNY back and tell them the story again and they say "they won't approved a possible procedure, so the doctor will have to call the insurance company when they know that they are going to do the procedure." So I asked her "So I'll be lying on the table for days waiting for your company to approve the procedure????" "I told her that this was ridiculous and that I have been through these procedures twice before and have never had this problem in the past. I asked her for her supervisors name, number and address. She said that she would give her supervisor the message that I wanted a phone call back regarding this matter. Finally I did call my doctors office and spoke to the office manager and voiced my complaint and she told me that she would look into what had happened and that because she was going to lunch she wouldn't be able to get back to me until Monday. I GIVE UP! No words can express the frustration that I feel right now. I am so worried that if something critical were to happen to me or one of my family members that we would be up The Brown Creek. We are up to date on all the insurance premiums in fact they raised our rate in October and we paid the increase. I am going to start looking into other insurances. In the mean time, I hope that this was just an isolated incident(I have a feeling that it isn't the case). Is anyone else having problems like this with their insurance companies?

Money In, Money Out

October 27th, 2006 at 01:00 am

Mailed off my last payment to the last credit card I had a balance on. Yipee! Sure feels good knowing that it is paid off. I had 0% until January but I didn't want to take any chances.
I wasn't able to save anything from my paycheck this week. The entire check went to bills. I was able to roll 25.00 in coin, so I took that over to the bank to put into savings. Even though it is a small amount, I still feel like I'm doing something.
I couldn't control the spending this week. I ate out and took in food. Went to Target and bought stuff for my daughter that wasn't really a need but a want. Oh and went to Manhattan to watch my brother being taped for The Peoples Court. That was pretty exciting. I haven't had a no spend day in quite some time. I wonder what is going on with me? Oh well! I'll try harder next week.

Anniversary

October 23rd, 2006 at 06:38 pm

Yesterday was my anniversary and to celebrate my husband took me to a very nice and expensive restaurant. He wanted to buy me a gift, card and flowers as well. But I said no. Why waste the money? I prefer that we save it and put it towards our goals. He was more than okay with that. So we settled on dinner out, something the both of us could enjoy.

Big mistake! Both the food and the service were lousey. The food was sparse to say the least. It didn't come with a salad, potatoe or vegetable . That was all extra. The bread that did come with the meal was cold and my creme brule was one of the worst I have ever had. The dinner tab came to $141.00+tip total came to $175.00. Can you believe we had to pay $6.00 for a small side of mashed potatoes? The food that we ordered wasn't exotic by any means. Rib eye steaks. Mine was a little burnt around the edges. Since we didn't order drinks with our meal our waiter didn't feel the need to give us his full attention, like the other patrons that were ordering bottles of wine. We don't drink and having water with our meals is our norm. This isn't the first place that ever gave us attitude because of this.
I have to say that I will not be visiting that establishment again. What a waste of money!

Payday

October 19th, 2006 at 08:03 pm

Today is payday. I am fortunate to be able to say that I am able to save the entire check this week. My bills are not due until next week, so that check I will not be able to save anything from. I will however try to roll some coins so that I can put something into the savings department for next week. I am also counting on some money that is owed to me from my 2 brothers. One owes $40.00 and the other owes 50.00. My daughter also owes my 50.00. So hopefully next week I will see some of it.

Yesterday I did my food shopping for the week and did pretty well with coupons. I was able to save over 35.00 at Stop and Shop and another 16.00 at Shoprite. My cost for food and other incidentals came to 120.00 for the week. That is pretty good for me. Not too long ago I can remember spending about 400.00/wk just on food shopping. And I can also remember alot of it going to waste. I do quite a bit more cooking these days and fast food is pretty much non existent. My family and I usually eat out once a week on Sunday, at a very nice restaurant. That is our treat!
The gas prices in my neck of the woods has been steadily declining(2.21/gallon)I filled up yesterday and have been pretty good with stretching it out to about a week and a half. I have been combining errands more and this really helps.
I washed both cars yesterday inside and out. Saving myself about 20.00. I used to go to the car wash once a week 10.00 /car on Ladies Day which was a discounted rate x 2.
Still haven't had to turn on the heat. I'm sure that it's just around the corner though. It really is a beautiful time of the year.

A Very Busy Spending Day

October 14th, 2006 at 10:57 pm

I took my daughter bra and underwear shopping today. She really needed them. For some reason the washer and dryer really chew up the underwear in my house. We went to Century 21 and I purchased 5 bra's, 6 underwear and 2 sweaters. Total$129.00

My daughter bought us lunch, 3 slices of pizza $5.70 we brought our own water. Very delicious pizza.

Next we made a stop at Kohl's. They were having a sale today. I purchased a bath mat, 2 vinyl table clothes and a ceramic pumkin candy dish(a thank you gift for my dogs physical therapist). Total=33.00

We had to stop at CVS for a birthday card and an engagement card. Total free. Used my extra care bucks.

I had to run out to the supermarket to get a can of chicken broth 0.75. Our supermarket now has the Red Box which rents new release movies through a big red machine. The price is 1.09 tax included/night to rent a new release movie. Pretty sweet deal as compared to Blockbuster which charges almost 5 bucks a night for a new rental.

All in all, I think I did pretty good. I got items that I needed at pretty decent prices and had a great time with my darling daughter.

Payday

October 13th, 2006 at 12:55 am

The weather here on Long Island is still very nice. That's supposed to change tomorrow. We haven't had to turn on the heat yet.

Today was payday and I was able to save again this week. Hurray!

I had to schedule another 6 sessions of PT for my dog. He is not progressing as well as he should be. I think that is because of his size. He is a large breed and he weighs 112 lbs., he is down 9 since his surgery.

The grass seed that I put down last week is starting to sprout up. It's so cute and it makes me very happy. We took the heads off the Marigolds and the Petunias this week. We will save them for seed and start the seeds in February so they will be ready to plant next May. We have been doing this for the past 3 years and we get the biggest and bushiest flowers. They are really beautiful. This will be the fourth generation for the Marigolds. I don't need to tell you how much this saves us. The thing I like about the Marigolds is that when they are planted near the front door our ant problem goes away. In the summer we used to have a terrible ant problem. Not any more. Another plus is that the Marigolds have been attracting so many beautiful butterflies.

Smart Savings

October 11th, 2006 at 07:30 pm

Went to the local supermarket yesterday, Super Stop and Shop. My total came to $175.69. My total after in store savings using my store card and my coupons came to $98.59. That's a savings of $77.10.

Today I will be going to CVS with a few coupons and I will be using my $15.00 in extra care bucks so I'm hoping that my purchases will be free.

My daughter was looking up the price for one way tickets from Burlington Vermont to New York. As of yesterday the price was 159.00. I told her to wait until Wednesday and she would most likely see the price drop. Sure enough, it did, the same ticket today is only 92.00 plus tax. I think what happens is the airlines see what is left over on Tuesday and the prices go on sale on Wednesday. This was the first time trying this trick and it worked. She will be purchasing her ticket later today. Thanks to good old Mom's smart savings.

Able to Save this Pay day

October 6th, 2006 at 11:37 pm

Pay day today! Finally, able to save this week. It sure feels good. Was able to roll some coins too(25.00).

Checked my credit score today went up 9 points. I am in the very good range. I have a WAMU credit card and they give you your credit score for free for being a card holder. Pretty cool, it is usually updated every month. I hope things keep up this way for a while. I keep on having thoughts of Christmas in the back of my head and wishing it were a little furhter away.

The Cost of Healthcare

October 5th, 2006 at 09:22 pm

Yesterday, I went to the dentist and had the usual check up with 4 x-rays and a cleanning. Lucky for me there weren't any problems noted. Doctor said I had beautiful teeth and to keep up with whatever I was doing because it was working. For not having any problems my bill came to $150.00 and that is with a professional discount. Needless to say I was shocked. I don't remember it being so expensive the last time I was in. Now here's the kicker, although I have nice teeth, my gums aren't as good. I have to see a periodentist 3 times a year for cleannings and exams. Her fee isn't too bad, she usually charges about 85.00 per visit and that is with x-rays. Now your probably wondering why don't I have dental insurance...I had dental insurance several years ago and found it to be worthless. I had to go to someone on the plan and then I still had to pay out of pocket. It really wasn't saving me anything because money was taken out of my pay check for the insurance and then I had to pay almost the full price at the office. Some procedures weren't even covered by the insurance. So, for dental I just pay out of pocket and it sure is getting expensive. Thank goodness I don't require major work at this point.

On another note. I have a gripe with my medical insurance carrier. The year isn't even up and they sent me a letter increasing my payment every month by $75.00. I didn't think that it was legal since we signed our contract in the beginning of the year. That means this January the price of our medical insurance is going to sky rocket (this years increased rate and the new rate for next year). I'm am going to have to investigate other alternatives. We already had to change doctors once this year because our regular physician no longer accepted our insurance. I would hate to switch again. Why does this have to be so complicated? Or maybe it's just me?

Multiple areas of saving

October 5th, 2006 at 01:29 am

Cut the grass and seeded it today.

Went to the drug store and two food stores. Used my grocery game list and coupons and had very good success. Took me a while to get the hang of it but I have it now. So using it in the future should be much easier.

Tomorrow is pay day and I should be able to save some of it. Which will make me happy b/c for the last two weeks I wasn't able to save a thing.

I wasn't able to sign on to saving dinner to get my Mega Menu Mailer but the people who answered the e-mails were very nice and helpful. They sent me the download. Which was very easy. Now I just have to plan on a day to do all that cooking.

Trying a Few New Things

October 2nd, 2006 at 01:42 pm

Happy October!
I wasn't able to save anything this week...Underestimated my bills by a long shot. Had to borrow from savings which I hate doing.Frown
Maybe I will be able to make up for it this week.Smile
I'm trying to use the gas in my car a little more efficiently. I'm trying to make it last a week or more. This week has been a good week.
In this vein I signed up for Joe's goals this week(very cute and easy to use site).One of my goals listed is a no spend day. Hey, if it helps, why not?
I also signed up for a trial of The Grocery Game. In additon I signed up for Saving dinner mega menu mailer. I'll let you know how both go. Right now I am having trouble signing in to the menu site and I am waiting for customer service to get back to me.
Went to Walmarts free sample site and ordered a few things. Sometimes the samples aren't worth the effort and other times they're great! It's free so what the heck!