This has been a beautiful weekend. I didn't go anywhere just stayed around the house and visited my Mom and brothers. It was a pretty frugal weekend too. Thank goodness b/c as I have mentioned I really do have to get ahead again on the savings. I am hoping that this week I am able to save 100% of my salary. I am a few thousand dollars behind in my cash savings.
In this effort I took the Sunday paper and clipped coupons and then made a list of the items that were on sale at the supermarkets using the stores flyers. There were a few restaurant coupons that I clipped as well.

This week I have to bring in one of my dogs to the vet for their rabbies vaccine. While I am there I have to remember to get their scripts so that I can order their medication from Petmeds. I am going to try the mail order for their heartworm and tick and flea medication. It seems like a pretty good deal as opposed to buying from the vet.
I have a few things on my to do list this week. I have to call the contractors to schedule a date to perc the land. I need to get a hold of the roofers to send us the certification of our new roof. I need to find a contractor to fix the water damage on the ceiling in the hallway from when my roof leaked. I still need to get estimates on putting down a hard wood floor in the family room this fall. I also need my brother to come over and replace the pole light that fell yesterday in my walkway. It never ends!

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???

I sold a book(Not my own. I don't write) on Half.com today. Only 17 more to go. I didn't make much but I did make something and I have reduced the clutter in my house by a smigeon. Every little bit helps. I got to thinking about where I should put this money as well as my bottle return money and my rolled coin money. I decided to open a Washington Mutual, free checking and savings combo. The checking is free and the savings account is currently earning 5% interest( doesn't require a minum balance at this time).
The minimum amount needed to open the account was $1.00. Since I am already a Wahington Mutual customer I was able to open both accounts in under 5 minutes. This was done over the internet. This offer is not available in the brick and mortar banks. Tomorrow is payday so I will go to the bank and make an additional small deposit to these accounts and see how it works out. I don't think I will have any bills to pay with this weeks check. Yipee!

Today I had to bring in my puppy to get her weighed for her heart worm medication she is a whopping 75lbs. and she is only 8 months old. Tomorrow I bring in my big boy Teddy to get his 2 shots. I also got his heat worm medication today. The medication alone came to over 100.00 for a six month supply.

Last night I rented The Pirates of the Carribean,Deadmans Chest. I am a Johnny Depp fan but I have to say that I didn't really care for the movie. I thought that it was pretty boring and I thought that the characters were a little scarey for a Disney movie. It's so hard to find something decent to watch.

It hasn't been a very exciting week. Kind of on the dull side. Haven't spent much money either,except on food shopping. Used a lot of coupons and was able to save a fair amount. Gotta love the coupons!

Today was payday and after bills I was able to save about 25%. Not too bad. Hubby is jumping on board and he is joining me in the savings department.

Today we cashed in some bottles and received a dollar in change. That will go into hubby's coin savings.

I have been doing quite a bit more cooking as of late. I really like using my new crock pot. Tonight I made a nice pot roast with potaotes and carrots. Yummy!

Today was my dog Teddy's last day of physical therapy. I have to say he is so much improved from the beginning. Thank goodness!

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.

My 2 year old Rotti finally had his 3 week post op visit. Good news, he is healing like a champ and will be able to start his physical therapy next week. The cost for this 138.00. His physical therapy will cost 330.00 for 6 treatments. Pretty Expensive! I'm just hoping that when all is said and done he will be able to walk and enjoy an active quality of life and go on walks.

I was able to place most of my pay into savings this week! I haven't been able to do that in about 3 weeks. Makes me very happy.

Ordered dinner in tonight(Italian)it was delicious. Wasn't too expensive and I have left overs for tomorrows lunch.