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Archive for March, 2009

Trailer, Cleats, and Woody

March 30th, 2009 at 08:50 pm

We had a great weekend! We bought our little boy a bicycle trailer... it attaches to DH's bike. So, we went on our first official bike ride. The older kids had a blast, and so did Nic.

DH and I are super sore though. Maybe we went to far on our first time out?! Big Grin

The trailer cost us $86 but I think it will get its use... and then we can always sell it on Craigslist (or something).

I did go shopping with a girlfriend on Saturday. We went to Old Navy and I picked up 4 tank tops and 2 summer dresses. I haven't bought clothes in forever. It was fun to shop and fun to stay on budget.

My daughter starts Softball tomorrow night. We had to purchase some cleats ($17.99) and some socks and shorts. We are going this afternoon to purchase a used glove for her. I hope she enjoys this! It will be so good for her to get out and meet other girls (and get some exercise in).

My DH found a scorpion in our garage on Friday. The kids are calling him "Woody." They have him in a glass jar. He gives me the creeps. I think he will be disposed of tonight (if I have anything to say about it). I will have to have maintenance come spray in there (if that even does any good).

Anyway - I feel like it's going to be a terrific week!

Hope all is well with all of you! Smile

2 More & Pleased as Punch

March 27th, 2009 at 05:28 pm

We paid off two more credit cards this morning. One for $538 and the other for $697 - What? It was only $571 when I pulled it up last week!! Yep - they charged me an annual fee. I called to close one of the cards today (same company, but I am keeping one open due to the length of time I have had it). Besides trying to sell me Term Life ins, they were pretty great. They noted my payment, I asked for the annual fee to be reversed - and they did it!

I am shocked! But pleased of course.

dumb dumb dumb

March 17th, 2009 at 11:46 pm

I made a stupid mistake. I paid a bill online using bill pay... we have two accounts, but only one is set up for bill pay. The money was in the other account - I forgot to transfer it over.

My bank paid the item. The same night, 5 Redbox (DVD rentals) cleared for $1.08 each. There was money in that account for those... but of course, they pay the largest item first... You know... they are doing me a favor! :/ I was just charged $35 for each of those $1.08s. I feel sick to my stomach. Sick Sick Sick.

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I am waiting for my tax refund... The IRS page isn't even locating it. It was filed on the 6th... I know it can take up to three weeks - but I would really like it NOW! lol...

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Darn, I still feel dumb. This just goes to show we need to make payday A LOT more simple around here. I need LESS bills!

Sickies, Pre-School, and $$$

March 16th, 2009 at 07:53 pm

So, we all have been really sick for the past week. My poor two-year old is suffering from an Upper Respiratory Infection, and a newly discovered Ear Infection (his first one - ever!).
So, that's money out the window (it pays to be healthy, I tell you!). I think between cleaning out the Vicks aisle at Wal-Mart and all of our prescriptions, these sickies cost us $157. Yikes!

Much to my surprise, my DH went and picked up the paperwork for the new Day Care I mentioned in my last post. I think Nic is ready for a more formal school-like setting; I think it will help his speech tremendously. Yes, it will be more than I am currently paying, but still a decent price in the grand scheme of things. I called the director just now to see how much it will cost me come Monday. I have a $100 registration fee and then I get a $400 coupon ($40 off for ten weeks). So, that's $88 a week (just $8 more than I am paying now). Effective April 1, I will receive $256 a month in credit from my employer. So, after my coupon runs out, and once I get my credit from BofA, I will only be paying about $64 a week in care - That's a savings!! Smile And the best thing, Nic will be in a great pre-school/day care.

Well, one other thing... I did spend $9 on a mini-backpack for him. I want him to realize the move is a Big Deal! Smile

Payday, Shopping, and a good price on Breasts!

March 15th, 2009 at 12:32 am

I started this month with a new Excel spreasheet that is too cool for words. Each tab represents my 4 different financial institutions... and within each tab, there are all of my specific envelopes. It took a while to set up, but this way I can use my debit card, instead of cash I hate carrying around that much cash. The envelope still "exists", just electronically. We got paid yesterday, so I split all of the money into the different banks, and then into the envelopes.


I just did my grocery shopping (on budget!) and Costco. I cannot believe I am going to type this... I was $50 UNDER budget at Costco. WOW! And I got a ton of great snacks for the kids (string cheese, gogurts,and stuff - all healthy-ish).

I think it helped not to by the boneless - skinless chicken breast at Costoc; rather I bought it at Fry's (Kroger). It was only $1.67 a pound for fresh, not frozen!. I bought three packages with 6 huge breasts (giggle!) in each - for the same price I would have paid for a total of 12 frozen. Score!

I've got our meals planned for the week, a STOCKED freezer and pantry... the weekend is shaping up! We have a lot going on next week... so I wanted to be as organized as possible.

My littlest DS is going to be starting a new DayCare next Monday - more expensive, but well worth-it. So we are going to go by him a back-pack and get ready for his "school" adventure!

Obama Money?

March 13th, 2009 at 04:21 pm

OK... you know the extra $13 or so a week that is supposed to be in our paychecks? Well, it showed up in my husbands... He is salary and always gets the same amount. This time it was almost $30 more.

Well, I also got paid today, and my paycheck is EXACTLY the same.

Is my company stealing my $26? =) hehe..

Your thoughts?

$0.04

March 3rd, 2009 at 11:21 pm

That's how much my auto ins. went up per month! Thankfully, I budget $76 (it's really only $75.25).

YAY!!

I was so afraid the rates would go up after the first renewal. We have such a great rate... I didn't want to pay more!

Oh, and in April - I get to pay the whole 6 months! No more month to month for us! Now, that's exciting!

A Savings of over $1500

March 3rd, 2009 at 02:03 pm

So... I am pretty excited. I found out yesterday that because I am an alumni of the school I will be attending for my Masters degree (to become a teacher), and because I am starting class in April - they are waiving my book/resource fees for two years!! The program is only 20 months long... that is a huge savings!!

I cannot wait to begin classes!!

Changes

March 1st, 2009 at 08:45 pm

So... in true Spring Cleaning fashion we moved rooms around last night. We now have a dedicated office again. I was sick of having our office in our bedroom. It was packed to the gills with computers, paper, and stuff. Not anymore. =) Thanks hubby for moving everything!

Today, we had to get Isabel some clothes. All her jeans that I bought her at the beginning of the year were no longer working... they got holes in bad places, and just plain didn't fit anymore. So, the kids and I walked (DH had the Van today) to Savers, a discount, used clothes store - kind of like a Goodwill of sorts) (I've never shopped there before - but I am trying). I budgeted $70, and I spent $70.10. Wahoo! On all three kids! Not bad. And they were fine with it. I promised the kids lunch @ Wendy's which was right next door to Savers, but I only took $80 with me - so we had to get lunch for 4 for only $10. We did it!

The whole walk, shopping, and lunch took 2 hours. The walk to Savers is 20 minutes. When we started it was 88 degrees outside (thanks to my nifty stroller temp gauge) and when we were walking back it was 93 degrees. The weather is perfect and warm. The smells of the trees and plants and flowers was delicious. Not sure how many of you have ever smelled the desert in the Spring, early Summer. It's very fragrant.

I am not going to lie, when we first started out - we were a bunch of complainers. Well, all except for Nic - he was in the abovementioned nifty stroller. My shins were killing me. We all need to get healthy so badly. Well, at least that was our third walk since Monday. We just need to keep it up.

This evening, I will be planning our menu and going grocery shopping. I should have done it yesterday, but the Spring Cleaning bug bit me.