Today DH drove me to work and on the way back got stopped by the police. got $240!!!! ticket for windows being too tinted. What the.... we did not tint it - we bought this car used and never imagined....



few days ago we got another stupid ticket - DH did not put new registration sticker on and it expired in the middle of August (it had 08 08 in big letters so we did not notice). He had already renewed the registration, and the new sticker was in the glove compartment....
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BF's Cigarettes: $5.30
Can Food For Pup: $3.20

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For the THIRD day in a row... I didn't buy food at work. YES!

I've made a total of $8.30 in ChaCha earnings since I started... that's approximately $8.30 than I would've made sitting on my laptop before!

Me & the pup are going to his x-ray appointment tomorrow. I should already be in bed, as I have to get up about 6am to get ready and get there in time. And probably move...
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A good result of that terrible co-worker incident I blogged about a while ago was that my supervisor's boss got pissed off and told me to find a training class anywhere in the country and get my butt to it. That was 2 weeks ago tomorrow and I started the class in Chicago on Monday! It is a good class. I am learning Java (YEAH) which is awesome. I've never done any object oriented programming before, and I've tried to teach myself from books a few times and I just didn't get...
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I am now proud to say that I hold three jobs. My first job (the one that pays the bills) is of course the one at the oil and gas company.

My second job is the 3 1/2 hours on Friday afternoons at the gym.

My third job, which I just started today, is with ChaCha as an expeditor. In slightly over 90 minutes I made $3.30. I know, not a whole lot of money - but it's money I wouldn't have otherwise made in that time period.

I wish we had Firefox on our computers at work...
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I saw this job and thought of you. I know it is not what you usually do (editing) but it might be close enough since the benefits sound incredible???

Full time employees are eligible for the following benefits:

* Health/Dental/Vision/Life insurance
* Disability (short and long term) options
* 401(k) Plan with Company match
* Flexible Spending Plan
* Transit/Parking Plan
* Gym membership reimbursement
* Paid vacation time
* Holidays,...
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Managed another day without spending money. Aside from taking The Midge to karate, I didn't go anywhere today.

The French dip sandwiches I made yesterday in the Crock Pot were delicious, so I ate one again for lunch this afternoon.

Tonight I'm making lemon linguine with prosciutto and I also made a peach cobbler for dessert -- both of which should provide another yummy lunch tomorrow.

I do need to make my monthly run to Costco tomorrow, though. It's also my volunteer...
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After an earlier blog entry about my son and receiving some of the advice I got from fellow savers, I've made some steps over the summer to help train the kid in financial matters. He was destroying the budget this summer and it had to stop. I feel like I tried so hard to teach him financial foundations as he was growing up, but he wasn't interested before and now, at 19 years old, he still doesn't seem interested. And because I try to 'help' him financially by giving him money,...
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I've heard a few stories about waitresses receiving large tips ($1,000+) from customers. I have a story similar to that myself:

Sunday I was serving in the restaurant between the two banquets I had to work that day. I had two customers come in together and one of them had a two-for-one coupon. Their bill (after one entree was discounted) came to $8.54. They tipped me $10!!

Obviously quite a bit less than $1,000, but I thought the customers were being more than generous...
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Woohoo!

Thanks everyone for you advices and encouragement. The paperwork process will take about 1 month though. But what the heck
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Make several pints of crabapple jelly and syrup last night. Also picked some beans to freeze.

Got the kids all registered for homeschool coop. It starts next Friday. Tution and supplies total $76--thats for all of them, not each. Not bad for a semester-that incldues everthing. I dare say that is a lot less than a lot of public school families spent on clothing, shoes and supplies.

They meet once a week on Fridays through late November, then they will have their winter...
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So far, the grocery challenge is going well. Of course, it's only been a week! but hey, baby steps, right?

Today I went to the grocery store. I bought ONLY what was on my list. And the list was basics. My total was $28.16.

Much better than the $60-70 I usually drop at the grocery.

Today I am making vegetarian chili so we have something quick, healthy, and easy to eat.

Removing that shelf from the fridge is also working. Now that we can see the food, it's actually...
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The other day I blogged on restaurants’ prices going up. Well, I'm not one to complain and not do something about it. So I emailed the owners of the restaurant to tell them what I thought about their prices going up. It wasn't a mean email, just factual. I really didn't expect to get an answer, but I did.

They thanked me for my comments, explained why their prices are increasing, and the direction the restaurant is going. Then the amazing part, they thanked me for being a loyal...
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I added all the school related fees, and it's $504!! No wonder we are so broke....

Marching band fee $180
PE clothe $25
Theater tech fee $22
School picture $58
Year book $60
ASB fee $75
AP test $84
Total $504

At least, I didn't spend much on school supplies. We still have a bunch of index cards that were dirt cheap at Office Depot. and I bought some notebooks from Staples that were 5 cents each.

Talking about school, I'm going back to school next week, too....
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Last night was the first Daisy meeting of the year and we had a short parent meeting to go through.

I was NOT please with the amount of time it took, nor with some of the complaints.

Now I know I am not perfect, and I don't do everything right, and certainl not able to make all folk happy at all times, but I am volunteering my time to not only help my daughter as a Daisy, but to also help others.

So with all that in mind could you please stop pestering me when I do it...
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I made our first extra principal payment yesterday on our car loan. Felt good to do it and I’ll be glad to pay it off one year early.

Hit a snafu of sorts today. My daughter has been invited to play on a competitive soccer team. She currently plays house but subbed on 2 different competitive teams recently due to a shortage of players. One of the teams has asked her to join them. Problem is we would have to come up with $370 in order to register her. We are saving for...
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OK, that is a pretty vulgar title.

But I am very proud and excited to be part of a formal, independently curated art exhibit for the very first time.

WHAT: FRAGILE SANDS reveres Hobo Jungle (also known as Seaside Park, the County Fairgrounds location)
http://www.fragilesands.com/events.html
WHERE: Bell Arts Factory
WHEN: Sept 5 - Oct 20

More details http://www.bellartsfactory.com/specialevents_fragilesands.ht...

Oh yes, and my book? It is a story of the Santa Clara River, inhabitant animals, native (and not so native) plants and what the future holds. Large ~ Tactile ~ and meant to be touched and read. Also available on-line http://www.fragilesands.com/shellie.php

Wish you could come to the reception and sip wine with me.

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I've felt great about spending the past few days. Yesterday, I spent about $40 for pool chemicals, but other than that, it was a no-spender. Despite the fact that I took the kids to the dentist for their 6 month checkup (no cavities, covered by insurance). Then, after the pool store, I took the kids to Wendys for dinner and used some of the paper gift certificates I had. (Store took them, no problem). Today, I'm home all day.

Made dinner in the crockpot yesterday and...
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Housing: 30%
Food: 10%
Auto/Trans: 7%
Insurance: 3%
Cons. Debt: 7% (kitchen remodel payments)
Recreation: 9% (includes travel -- remember, I'm flying to Osaka)
Investments: 20%
Clothing: 3%
Med/Dental: 2%
Miscellaneous: 6%
School: 3%

Food is easily the hardest one for us to cut back on, psychologically; Entertainment/recreation would be second; miscellaneous is third. It's hard to schedule for the sudden:
oh this event came up, we won't have time to have dinner at...
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I added a new page to my blog, showing my household's net worth broken down by individual. Since we have a lot of younger members on SavingAdvice now, this should be instructive: We all three have lots of debt and haven't handled our money the best, but one of us bought a house young and started retirement contributions as soon as he entered the workforce. Now we're in our late twenties/mid-thirties, and guess who has positive net worth?

I received word of my 3% raise, effective...
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Well not really the house payment itself. Thats pretty reasonable and at a fixed rate. But taxes and insurance and all those good things that are added to my mortgage are going through the roof.
The amount I pay just got raised for October by about 60 bucks.

Thats going to hurt the budget just a little. But not so bad. I was planning on adding more to my payment anyways so I can pay my house off a lot sooner. So that extra 60 just cuts into my plans a little. Taxes in general...
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