Moneycents Personal Finance Blog

The deck is still a work in progress. I was hoping to have it finished for this weekend but it doesn't look like that is going to happen.

Work is getting better everyday. The new girls are working out just great! I was so afraid of the change but it turned out to be a really good thing for us. The girl that had quit, worked for us for a very long time and had taken advantage of that fact and of us. The whole situation is so much better for us now.

DD did fantastic in school this past semester and now has two jobs for the summer. Yipee! The other plus is that both jobs will look great on her resume when she applies to graduate school.

The weather is just gorgeous in my neck of the woods. We live about 5 minutes from the ocean and everyone that is off today is heading for the beaches.

I planted tomatoe,pepper and eggplant starters two weeks ago and they are really taking off. I hope that the bugs dont' get to them before I do. I'm really looking forward to my own tomatoes.

Have a great holiday weekend!

Well I kind of new that if I got my brothers involved in any type of project it would a) cost me big bucks
b) take forever to complete
c) be filled with aggravation
I love my brothers dearly and I would rather give them the job rather than a stranger. I know that they could really use the money.
But I don't get treated the same way by them as they would treat a stranger. For a stranger they would have the job done as promised but b/c I'm their sister they are very lax. This happens all the time and I am getting fed up. I have to run out and buy the supplies. Be ready to help and also watch their kids. Supply them with food,drinks,etc.. The deck is pretty much sanded at this point, I know I could finish the rest on my own. I just need to do a little more sanding then stain and seal it.
The good news about the deck is that it should last about 10 more years not the three that I originally estimated. Once the wood was sanded down it was found to be in great shape except for the planks that were replace due to water damage. And that was only 6 planks.
One word of advice...Never, Ever, paint a deck. Just stain it and keep repeating the sealer once a year. It is such a big job getting the paint up. I will never do it again...

I had a very good experience with the roof being repaired. I have a 3800 sq. foot house and the roof and gutters were repaired in two days. The guys were neat and professional and worked their tails off the whole time they were here. So, now no more leaks. And I tick off two items on my to do list. Today I will be working on the deck in the back of my house with my two brothers. I hope that this will only be a weekend project. Sometimes with my brothers it can go on for quite some time before it is actually finished.

On the savings front, I was able to save 80% of my pay this week. Next week there will not be any savings b/c I want to pay off my CC balance in full.

My puppy is all better. She didn't have any repeat episodes of last week.

To all the moms out here, Happy Mothers Day!

Went food shopping yesterday and today. Saved 37.00 with in store savings and coupons. DD is finally getting the hang of making her own sandwiches and bringing them to school to save herself some money.

DD and I went out to dinner last night to an Argentinian rest. and then went to the movies. Total was 65.00 but we hadn't done that in a while and it was a lot of fun.

Yesterday, brought a lot of yard work. Planted some nice baskets and sanded and spray painted the lawn furniture. Filled in some wholes with some top soil that I purchased on sale. Sometimes my doggies are a real pain in the neck with their digging.

Tonight I plan on making some steaks that I purchased on sale yesterday, potatoe and salad.

Did a bunch of laundry today and a whole lot of ironing. Vacuumed and washed the floors. Time to relax now. Have to rest up for work tomorrow.

I received my state refund yesterday. This money will be earmarked for my 2007 IRA contribution. It will sit in my WAMU account earning 5% until next year and then April 2008 it will go to the IRA. This refund will not be added to the 20.00 savings since it is already earmarked but I will put the interest earned after the year is up into the 20.00 challenge. I saved 100% of my paycheck this week. I am doing fairly well in reaching my goals. I hope to be right on target by the end of this year. The only place I did not put any money into was the savings bonds. I don't think I will until they offer a better return. I ususally by I bonds but I do have some EE bonds. Right now the savings account is at %5 and I am happy with that. There is an online bank which I read in a post by my money that is offering 6%. I don't have that much money held in my savings for one extra percentage to make any difference to me. If I have mega bucks then it would.

I have only one CC right now that is carrying a balance at 0% for 875.00. I didn't even list it on the side b/c I will being paying it off in full by the end of this month.

I bought a bike yesterday. It is my attempt at decreasing the amount of fuel I use going to the local stores to pick up things on a daily basis. I plan on putting several baskets on the bike so that I may ride up to the local food stores and CVS. I could also ride into town which is only a few miles away. The gas prices are up to 3.25 and the summer is only a few weeks away. I do beleive that gas will be 4.00 by June or towards the end of June. Not only am I attempting to save on fuel but also help the enviroment and my health.

I had to bring my dog into the vet on Tuesday. She was vomitting alot and on the last episode she vomitted blood . I really got scared and rushed her to the vet.. They didn't know what was wrong with her so they sent me over to the emergency center, where they examined her and took blood from her. They didn't have a diagnosis for her and told me to take her home and observe her and if she continued to vomit to bring her back and they would do an ultra sound on her. She didn't vomit again. Thankfully, I didn't have to bring her back. I got the bill from both vets. yesterday, 500.00. I couldn't believe how expensive it was. I am so happy nothing is wrong with her and that she is back to her old self. But WOW it costs more to take care of the dog than myself???

The new girls are here and they seem very nice. I hope that they like their new jobs and stay with us for a while. They are young and energetic. They are grasping things pretty quickly, already. Which is a very good sign.

I will be at work all day today. No spender today. I can't believe from Friday to today gas went up another .10/gallon. We are up to $3.15/gal. I really do believe that we will be seeing $4.00 by the summer. This is very sad especially given that there is a surplus of fuel. I just don't understand. It bogles my mind. I make a decent living, bring home good money and I am pretty good at saving(always room for improvement) I just don't know how some people are going to survive with prices like these. How will they maintain any standard of living????

Well, we found two new people to work for us. YIPEE! We did about 30 interviews this week. The new girls start this Monday. I just hope they like their new positions and that they stay awhile.

On the money front I received my federal return, which will all go towards the new roof. I can't wait for it to be fixed. I'm tired of garbage pails in my front hall every time it rains. Not very attractive looking. On top of which every time I would open the front door it would be like someone pouring a bucket of water over my head when I walked through the door. I worked all day so no money spent here. In fact it has been a pretty good week for not spending.

It's not looking very promising for new help at the office. I hope tomorrow will bring someone wonderful. With this new help will also come a drop in income due to training and not having as busy a schedule. Things will be tight, at least for a month.

Good thing that I was able to save all of my pay this week and hopefully next week.

Yesterday, I divided up the 5lbs of chop meat into...meatballs, taco filling, hamburgers and Gyro meat. I put everything into the frezzer when it cooled. Now I will have dinner on hand for a few nights.
I also accomplihed a few things in the back yard. Mowing, poop patrol, fertilizing and weed control. It still looks like it needs a lot of fixing up but it is a little cold today so I will focus my cleanning on the indoor stuff.

It has been a very busy two days. We are in the process of hiring two new people and working short handed. We did receive many applications but so many were not right for the job. Or they were asking too much money to start. I hope by Friday we find somebody that is easy to work with and reliable.

On the financial side of things, it seems to be going pretty well. Other than food shopping, there hasn't been any real money being spent. No new purchases other than the roof.

I bought a bunch of food yesterday to make ahead for the rest of the week. I have to get started on this afternoon. I have Salmon and about 5lbs of chopmeat that need to be divided and then cooked or put into the freezer.

I also have to get started on the backyard. The front yard looks great! The back needs alot of attention. Better sign off now so I can get to it!

Today was exhausting. Running around like a chicken without a head. I got up at 6 am to let the dogs out and then they wouldn't let me go back to sleep. I stayed up and did some ironing and wash. Cleaned up a bit did the dishes and then went to work. Work was very busy especially working short handed. On lunch I came home vaccumed the floors and put up another load of wash and paid bills online. Went back to work then had to run out to the bank. When I got back it was so busy it didn't stop until 6pm. Needless to say at that point I didn't even want to begin to think about dinner. I stopped by a pizzeria and picked up a couple of hot hero's for hubby and me. No sooner did we sit down and the roofer came over to discuss the estimate with us. We gave hime a deposit of $1170.00, so, that and the 12.00 for the hero's is what was shelled out today. The remaing balance will be paid with my tax refund. Now I get to relax or so I hope.

The weather was so great today. I didn't want to waste a second. I was very busy with yard work. I sanded and stained my outdoor bench and my light post as well as my wooden door mat. I put down weed killer in all the nooks and crannies. Then I mowed the front yard. It took quite a while to accomplish these tasks but it was so gorgeous outside I didn't mind. Next weekend or maybe one day during the week when I have some free time I would like to sand and clear coat the backyard furniture. Today's work only cost, some elbow grease and money for the stain, paint brush and weed killer. Being outside on a gorgeous day ...Priceless.

I had my brother's do some work for me this past week. One brother cut down a few trees in the yard. The other brother did some repair work at the office. I paid them 150.00 a piece. They didn't want to take any money from me but I thought to myself if I had to hire a stranger it would have cost me a lot more. So, I was happy to pay them. Besides they could certainly use the money.

Tomorrow, it's back to work. I hope to get some respomses to the help wanted ads I posted. I have two people coming in this week for interviews. I just hope by the end of this week I end up hiring two reliable people. Please wish me luck!

I just lost and incredibly long blog post and now I'm really annoyed. You can't go from page to page with out losing info.

I have been away for awhile due to work. We have had 2 people quit at around the same time, so I have been trying to fill the void myself and trying at the same time to hire someone. It seems that no one wants to work. Or once they start, they leave for greener pastures. We hired someone new On Monday and they quit yesterday. So I ask myself why did they bother applying and coming in for the week, when they were starting at our place but waiting for a better offer to come through. It was a total waste of our time!!! I will be the Jack of all Trades for a while and now that DD's semester is coming to an end she will have to fill in for a while.

I will be using my tax refund to cover the cost of replacing the roof. I think that we got a pretty good deal but time will tell. We got a few estimates and went with the lowest who also through in the gutters for same price. They are coming over Monday to discuss the roof shingles and to collect a down payment.
I had dreams of using that money for the stock account. But it was only a dream. The roof is a reality. Especailly after the rain we experience this past week.

On the money front, the mortgage made a pretty good drop. This is due to the bi weekly payments we make. The is an extra payment that gets applied. 1/2 of the payment gets applied to the principle now and then another 1/2 in July. Credit Cards are doing ok, paying off the entire balance at the end of the billing cycle.

I spent some money on myself. I decided that I didn't like the feeling or the look of letting myself go... another minute longer.
Dental appointment for cleaning and exam cost 117.00.
Manicure 7.00 with a 3.00 tip=10.00.
Hair color 60.00 at the salon.
Hair cut at the salon 65.00. Tips for haircut and color 25.00.
It may seem like a lot of money but I have to tell you that I feel and look 100% better than I did before I went to have all this maintenance done. I was going to call it pampering but at my age it really is a necessity, so therefore I will call it maintenance. I vowed to myself that I would not let myself go that long again between visits. The last time I had an overhaul like this was in October. I am going to commit to every three months from here on in. In between the three months I will color my hair myself and get my nails done every two to three weeks.

Regarding the dental visit, everything went very well. My teeth and gums are in pretty good shape. I just have to be very vigilant about the flossing. Big money saver there. No expensive procedures. Good thing. I don't have dental insurance.

At this point in my life, my goal is to keep myself healthy and looking good for as long as I can while trying to save for a comfortable retirement.

I had a great Easter as I hope all of you had. Little bit of extra money spent but well worth it. I have a bunch of leftover food that we will be polishig off this week.

I have to get back on board with losing some more weight. Still at 154 but now that the weather is nicer I know that I can and will do better.

Today will be a no spend day as I am at work all day today. Unfortunately DH's car broke down and he needs to have a new altenator put in. That is going to be a large payment. Between his car and mine we have been racking up the bills this past month. Still trying to hold out before getting another car.

DD is back at school today after her spring break. She was not looking forward to going back. She only has to go until May 4th and then her year is finished. I have encouraged her to start looking for a summer job as soon as possible. I hope she listens to me. Otherwise it will be a very rough summer for her.

The new lay out is pretty cool. Much easier to read and nicely organized. The only thing that I would add is spell check.

I got the estimate for the new roof today. It is going to run about 12,000.00 and that is not including gutters. I don't know if that is a good price or not since I do not know the prices when it comes to construction and such. The work will be guaranteed for 30 years. I have another estimate on the way from the guy who came on Thursday. I'm wondering if he will be in the same ball park with his price. I am debating on taking out a short term loan for this, the floors and the deck. I think I will check out Capital One and see what their rates are like.

My DD came home from Cozumel and she is now a certified SCUBA diver. Yeah!

I spent most of today getting ready for tomorrow, as I am hosting Easter at my house. I ordered the food and got alot of decorations , sternos and tins from the dollar store. This is actually the first time I got a chance to sit and relax today. The puppy even got a bath today so that she smells nice tomorrow for the company.

The accountant called today and said that my taxes were finished and that he would be electronically filing them. He said that I would be receiving a return and that I could have it by direct deposit. I thought that was pretty cool and decided to do it that way.

After all the repairs my car is running like a champ. I just hope she keeps it up.

I hope all of you have a Happy Easter and a Joyful Passover.

Oh, I am so glad that the layout the other day was just an April Fools Day joke. I got scared b/c the colors were making my eyes bug out and I couldn't read it.

On the financial's, everything is pretty much status quo. I have been buying little of anything... except for food shopping. This weekend may change all that. I have to buy a few things for the house to help with the spring cleanning. I just had to lay out a bundle for my car again. The mechanics tell me my car should last a life time now. I don't believe them. I just hope she lasts a few more years. I have two people coming to give me roof estimates this week. I hope that their prices are reasonable.

My accountant is finished with my taxes for this past year and will be submitting this week. I will be getting something back not sure exactly how much. Doesn't really matter since it will be going towards the improvements that I have to make to the house.

I was able to save about 30% of my pay this week, the rest went to the usual bills.

I will be hosting Easter Sunday at my house and I am looking forward to this. I hope everyone has a very Happy Easter.

Wow was I shocked by the new layout and the colors. It was not a good shock either. Is this for real? It is very hard on my eyes when I read the text.

I haven't posted in a while b/c nothing new has really been happening around here. The weather is great so I am getting out more. Started my yard work the other day. I got a few people coming for the roof estimate. I had a major break down with my car and it cost a bundle to fix. It was at the service station all week. I just got it back today. They tell me my car should last me a life time now. I hope! I filed my taxes last Friday. I don't know yet if I will have to pay or not. Again, I am keeping my fingers crossed. If I do get something back, it will be placed in savings for my 2007 IRA contribution.

My 20.00 savings for this month is as follows:
Half.com 3.25
Ebay 41.73
Rolled coin 26.50
Interest on savings 41.73
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Total=116.44

My daughter's birthday was yesterday and hubby and I went overboard as usual. Her birthday is always a major expense. She is a good kid. Never has given us any trouble. So rather than bailing her out of jail and paying for rehabs. like other people we know, I feel greatful to be using that money on really nice birthday gifts. Which are really appreciated.
This weekend she will be leaving for Mexico and will be getting certified as a SCUBA diver. Keeping my fingers and toes crossed on that one.

This week I allocated the 15,000.00 in the following way.
$4,000.00 went into my IRA for my 2006 contribution,$4,000.00 went into two seperate energy fund stocks. Now hopefully the stock market will behave itself.

I will add the amount for this month's 20.00 challenge at the end of the month once I talley up the loose ends.

Yesterday was a no spend day. This week was actually a good week with regards to not spending. All meals were prepared at home and they were very good. Many of the meals were chicken or fish dishes and for lunch it was either left overs or sandwiches. Breakfast is usually the same Cheerios, oatmeal or PBJ's. Many of the dinner recipes, I have been getting off of recipezaar. I really enjoy that site. It has been saving me big bucks by offering delicious recipes and me not going out to eat.

It has also been a good savings week. I find that using my banks bill pay has been so easy and helpful. I wish I thought of using it sooner.

There will be some major expenses coming up. I need a new roof and gutters. The carpet in the family room has to be replaced. I would like to replace that carpet with hardwood floors. I can not replace with carpet b/c the dogs like to tear up carpet and make big holes in it. And when they come in with their wet furr the carpet holds the odor. The living room and dinning room floors also need to be sanded and stained. I can't afford to get the deck replaced this year b/c of the roof, so I will have to replace some of the boards, sand it, stain it and hope that it will last a few more years b/f needing replacement. I would like to be able to get the estimates for these jobs b/f the end of this month so that work can begin asap.

Yesterday was a great super market savings day for me. I was able to save over 34.00 with my coupons,the stores 10.00 off if you spend 50.00 coupon and shopping the stores loss leaders that are advertised on the front of the circular. Corn beef was on sale for St. Patty's Day, so I stocked up. I'll use one on Sat. and then I will freeze one for later use. Cabbage was sooo cheap so I bought some of that too. I didn't want to buy too much of that b/c it gets very stinky if it isn't used righ away.

I made a small sale at Half.com today.

I am getting better at conservation and recycling. Our bulk garage amount has gone down substantially. Hubby is the one that takes the garbage to the curb and he can't get over the reduction. This makes me extremely happy but hubby thinks that I go too far at times. The other thing that I was able to do was not fill up the car for 2 weeks. I don't think that it will happen again for quite awhile. I know that it was b/c of the weather that I was able to conserve the gas.

I am still deciding on how I will allocate the 15,000.00. I'm pretty sure that I will contribute 4,000.00 to my IRA for 2006. Possibly another 4,000.00 will go into the DRIP Fund. The 4,000.00 will be divided between two energy stocks. I think with the remaining balance I will write a check once a month to the DRIPS until the end of the year. Anyway I think that is the plan for now, unless something unexpected happens.

I went food shopping on Wed. and purchased a good amount of food. I had quite a few coupons with me and had to make sure that the cashier took them off. I did this while I was bagging the groceries. I thought that I had done pretty well for myself with the coupon savings of 10.00 and change. That was until I got home and realized that I was charged twice for the same item that was priced at 7.59. I was really annoyed at this b/c I should have reviewed my receipt while I was in the store, instead of at home. It's just that the store was so crowded and people just want to get out of the store after their purchase (you can't really just hold up traffic to review the receipt in the store). I didn't think that the store would return my money once I had left the premises. I figured that I would call the store's customer service dept. anyway to see if they could shed some light on the situation. I was glad that I did. The person told me that she would write down that I had called and what the problem was and to bring my receipt back the following day and they would refund the money. Sure enough, the store did refund the 7.59. It really pays to review your receipts!

Yesterday, I had to cancel my AT&T service to the phone line in my vacation condo. It was getting expensive to have the service and there wasn't a point to keeping it b/c my cellphone can make the long distance calls. Well, let me tell you the customer service rep. tried to sell me everything but the Brookly Bridge during the phone conversation. She also told me something of interest which I did not know. She said that after I discontinued the long distance service that I would then have to call my regular phone carrier that maintains the line and tell them that the AT&T service was disconnected and that the phone service would have to send AT&T a letter letting them know that I actually did call them and made the request b/c w/o it they wouldn't disconnect service. I thought wow that is pretty nervy, why can't they do what I ask? The answer is...If anyone goes to use the phone to make a long distance phone call unknowingly and AT&T doesn't receive the letter they can actually stay attached to the phone line and charge really hefty fees for any calls made. This I didn't know. I hope this helps anyone that is disconnecting from a service.

Today, I have to sit down with hubby and allocate my 2006 contribution to my IRA. I wish I knew when I purchased my IRA that I was getting into an annuity instead of a straight forth IRA. I have to say, I have learned so much over the last four years. "I wish I knew then what I know now." I guess I shouldn't really think that way...I should be grateful that I have a savings at all. I just wished that I had been smarter. My parents were not savers and not good with money. I never had a solid foundation from them. This is why I so believe in teaching children from a young age about money. I think it should be one of the building blocks of eduation such as reading, writing, math and science.

Saved all of my pay this week and tagged it as my cash account. It has been a pretty frugal week for me. Cooked dinner every night using the menu's from the mega menu mailer. The dinners were okay, nothing was outstanding.

Work was a little bit busier this week so that was a good sign. I like when it is busy, not just monetarily but it makes the time go by so much faster.

Nothing much going on in the Ebay or Half.com category.

Can't wait for the cold weather to be gone. I hate the cold and I hate being in the house.

I hope all of you have a great weekend!

Today will be a full day at work, so essentially it will be a no spend day.

It is raining so hard here the streets are flooded and I definitely need a new roof. I have a huge puddle in my hallway right now. I will have to get some estimates this month and have it repaired in the spring or summer. It's always something!!!

On another topic, since this post is anonymous and I know people blog here from all over, I just want to extend my sorrow and well wishes to anyone that was involved with yesterdays devastation in Alabama and Missouri. My thoughts and prayers are with you and your families.

My IRA took a slight hit yesterday and is still down today. I'm not worried b/c I have had this account for quite a while and every now and then it gets hiccups like this and then recovers nicely. In fact I think if the market stays down I think I will be asking hubby if we could invest more(in our DRIP account) than what we are now.

Pay check went entirely to bills this week with nothing left over.

Tonight, Salmon with Cilantro and Lime sauce for dinner.

Money that I have waited over two years for, was paid off in full to me yesterday. I honestly can say that I thought that I would never see that money again. So, right now I am being very thankful for it. I put it into my WAMU savings account earning 5% until I decide which accounts it will be disbursed to.

Yesterday bought 5 lbs of chop meat and divided it up into a meatloaf, spanish rice, meatballs and taco mix. I also bought a piece of salmon (2 lbs). That I will cut up and share with my mom and freeze my share until I'm ready to use it.

Not much else going on right now...just working and trying to keep up the house. Keeping up the house is kind of hard right now with the two dogs and the wet muddy ground. The floors constanly look like they need to be washed.

Why am I a saver and when did I become one? I think that I have always been a saver no matter what type of situation I have been in i.e. Living pay check to paycheck with a child and no husband. To then having a husband and him and I both not having jobs with plenty of bills. To both of us having jobs and good incomes. In all of these situations I have been a saver. Now after sending all three kids through college and having a few bucks left over we have been saving for ourselves.
Many on this webite are in different places with regards to why they are frugal and why and how they choose to save their money. I am one of the people that now save not out of necessity but more out of security and philosophy.

There is a wonderful post from My Two Dollars entitled Why We Save Our Money. Please feel free to read this article. Archive date is 2/16/07. If you have trouble finding this post just go to Most popular posts and it will be the seventh one down. The link to this blog is on the right side bar under links I frequent "My Two Dollars". I think this is another perspective on frugality and savings. One that I strongly identify with.

I haven't been doing as well as I had hoped this month in the 20.00 challenge. I will have to be more creative next month. The trouble is...I haven't really sold anything on Half.com or Ebay and since DD stopped drinking soda, there aren't too many bottles to return.
Whatever was left over from my walking around money for the week I deposited into the 20.00 challenge.

In other savings, after paying a few bill this month I was able to save a good portion of my salary. Hubby and I went in on buying more stock for our DRIP account. He still wants to stay with the mortgage co. and the gas co.. That's okay by me, b/c I feel that he knows what he is doing when it comes to the market.

My mortgage balance is coming down nicely. I mark it in miles stones. Like I couldn't have been happier when it was under 300,000.00 then 250,000.00 then 200,000.00 and now the new magic number is 175,000.00. We have been living in this same home for over 18 years so very slowly we have been watching it creep down.

As far as my credit card goes I know that I have a small balance on it as I write but it will be paid in full when the bill comes in.

On the weight loss front, I haven't lost an oz. but I think when the weather gets warmer and I get outside more I will start to shed the pounds.

Not much happening on the finacial front. It has been quiet around here. Not to much spending, just on food items. Will be paying a few bills the end of this week. I'm trying to get most of them onto my banks bill pay site. So far I have been lucky. The site is extremely easy to use and it saves me on stamps. I did call the companies to verify that the funds were received and that they were on time. They were. I was skeptical about paying bills this way, otherwise I would have used this service much sooner. I just wanted to wait a little to make sure all the kinks were worked out.

This week I am fortunate to not have to pay any bills. My check goes to savings. I am not doing well this month in the 20.00 challenge. I think that I have to get more creative. More home cooked meals this week. No plans for the weekend as of yet. I am totaly enjoying the crocheting. I think I am getting the hang of it. Although, it is only a scarf.