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Archive for January, 2007

Catching Up!

January 22nd, 2007 at 11:12 am

My! I didn't realize I was so far behind!

Spending for 1/18:
Tithe= $70.00
Medical co-pay= $15.00
Dollar General= $37.17
Medicine= $13.71

Total= $135.88


Spending for 1/19:
Gasoline= $23.05
Natural gas bill= $83.00

Total= $106.05


1/20 was a no-spend day!

Spending for 1/21:
Milk= $2.35

All 5 ING Invites Used

January 18th, 2007 at 10:20 am

When I got up today I had 2 emails telling me that my last 2 ING invites had been used so I now have $25 more in my Missisippi trip account than I had at the beginning of the week. Now I just need to send Jeffrey his $25 when I find out how.

When DH gets paid I'll send the matching $25 to my challenge account.

1/17/07 Spending

January 18th, 2007 at 10:15 am

School lunch account= $15.00
Car payment= $298.98
Service for car= $154.82
Groceries= $20.05

Total= $488.85

Daily Spending 1/16/07

January 18th, 2007 at 10:14 am

Groceries for at work= $15.22

Challenge Addition & More ING Bonuses

January 17th, 2007 at 11:02 pm

I added $9.52 to my challenge account today that I saved while getting groceries. That brings my total Challenge to $98.08.

I used coupons (which I normally don't use) and also signed up for a Top's Bonus Card which allowed me to save money on the tea that I like to buy.



I've also had 2 more of my ING invites used so $20 has been added to my ING account. I decided that I'll match the $25 I'll have made when all 5 are used and put that towards my challenge money also.

Finally!

January 17th, 2007 at 11:40 am


I received a notice yesterday that my IRA has officially been transferred to Vanguard so I hopped on the Vanguard site and, sure enough, there is now money in my retirement account! Yeah! Now maybe I'll start making some money on it. The process took much longer than I ever dreamed it would, but it's now done.

Daily Spending

January 17th, 2007 at 11:39 am

1/15:

Car insurance= $208.74
Angel Food= $43.00
Gasoline= $20.09

Total= $271.83



Making Easy Money

January 15th, 2007 at 11:01 pm


When I logged in to the Saving Advice forum this morning I spotted a post from Jeffrey asking for more ING links. I promptly went to my account and sent them off and within a few hours I got an email that I had earned an extra $10 from the referral. Now half will go to Jeffrey, but that $5 was the easiest money I've ever earned in my life! This is my birthday trip account so that makes it even better!

I added $9 to my challenge money today. My mother returned a sweater that she'd gotten me for Christmas and gave me the cash instead so I added it to the challenge money. Total in the challenge fund is now $88.56.

No-Spend Day!

January 15th, 2007 at 10:56 pm

Sunday, 1/14/07, was a no-spend day for me!

$1.00 added to the challenge money.

MIA?

January 15th, 2007 at 04:28 pm


I guess I've sort of been missing in action lately. All I've managed to do is post daily spending.

The reason is that since being given the go-ahead to exericse I've really been concentrating on my health instead of finances lately. Not that I've given up the good debt fight! No way! I've just been spending more time on line reading about stress reduction and natural blood pressure control than blogging about my finances.

I've been off of the blood pressure medicine for over a week now since it took a dive to 85/54 a little over a week ago. The doctor's office said to stop the medicine altogether, except the diuretics, and keep track of it daily like I've been doing. I'm to call them weekly and let them know what it's doing.

So right now I'm controlling it with diet and exercise. I started doing my yoga again today after more than a month and my BP today was 117/75 with a pulse of 68! Very good compared to lately and excellent when you consider that's without medicines.

We are beginning to think that all this (racing heart, pitting edema, high blood pressure, etc) was caused by the blood pressure medicine! The day I quit taking it I immediately began to feel much better. My pulse dropped, the edema started to go away (I lost 14 pounds!), and I just felt much healthier.

So that is my main challenge for this year: get back to my previous good health and slimmer body! Boy, just when you've lost the weight and feel good something's got to come along to mess it up, huh?

Spending for 1/13/07

January 14th, 2007 at 01:29 pm

Water/sewage bill overage= $19.50
Groceries= $24.02
Dollar General= $20.41

Total= $63.93

Spending for 1/12/07

January 13th, 2007 at 01:26 pm

Tithe= $31.00
School lunch account= $15.00

Total= $46.00

Spending for 1/11/07

January 13th, 2007 at 01:25 pm

Local wage tax for last quarter of 2006= $135.56
Home repair= $26.65
Life insuance= $50.60
School lunch account= $10.00

Total= $222.81

Shocking EOB

January 11th, 2007 at 02:48 am


Yesterday we received an EOB (explanation of benefits) from our insurance in the mail. I always file these by date with the medical bill attached.

Well, I looked at this one and saw how much the insurance had paid and about died. They paid $18,634 to Corporate Care Management, whom I've never even heard of. This was paid on behalf of our son for services rendered from 11/1-11/30 of 2006. Now I know that with DS#2's migraines that he has a lot of bills, but he hasn't run one up for over $18,000!!!

DH took the EOB into work today and asked about it. They tried to contact the insurance, but to no avail. They have stopped payment on the check until they can figure out who's bill this actually is.

She told DH that she has only ever had one other person bring anything in to question. She said that most people don't even keep them, just look to see if they're paid and toss them out.

So if DH hadn't taken it in they would have paid this money that they might not really owe. Who knows how many $$$ have been wasted?

It would be interesting to know how it got charged to our account. Probably a simple transposing of numbers.

Birthday Day Spending

January 11th, 2007 at 12:46 am

Birthday dinner= $19.65-$5.00 gift certificate= $14.65
Gasoline= $24.75
Groceries= 80.59

Total= $119.99

I saved $1.60 on an instant rebate at BJ's, so will add the $5.00 saved at dinner and send $6.60 to my challenge fund giving me a new total of $78.56.

Happy Birthday to Me!

January 10th, 2007 at 11:44 am


Today I turn 40. I've taken the day off so I can read and relax as the big milestone rolls on by.

My boss bought me a neck massage pillow and my parents got me an adding machine that I've been wanting.

Spending for 1/9/07

January 10th, 2007 at 11:03 am

DH's disability insurance= $45.00
Glasses for DS#1= $25.00

Total= $70.00

1/8/07 Spending

January 10th, 2007 at 11:01 am

Dollar General= $41.21

Spending for 1/7/07

January 8th, 2007 at 10:22 am

$5.00 for gasoline to DS#2 because he took his sister back to college for us

Spending for 1/6/07

January 7th, 2007 at 12:47 pm

Wood pellets= $146.78

Extra $7.22 to throw at CC Debt a Month!

January 6th, 2007 at 01:42 pm


We got our new payment statement for mortgage #1 in the mail yesterday. I took a deep breath and braced myself for what was inside. This is the account that our insurance and taxes are escrowed. We know that our county taxes are going up 14% and that school taxes are increasing 17% so I was sure the payment was going to jump by quite an appreciable amount. Instead the amount came down $7.22. I guess we won't see the effects until next year, maybe.

So I quickly adjusted the budget to add that $7.22 to the credit card payment each month. Not a lot, but it will sure help!

Spending for 1/5/07

January 6th, 2007 at 01:38 pm

Phone= $46.56

My Sneaky, but Sweet & Thoughtful DH

January 5th, 2007 at 10:05 am


He really got me last night. It was our 22nd anniversary and when I came home there was a bouquet of 22 carnations in mixed colors. Carnations are my favorite flowers.

He took me to one of our favorite restaurants for dinner and I learned that the idea he had for buying bicycles for our anniversary was something he mentioned to throw me off on what he really had planned.

Some background first: for his 40th birthday last year I saved for months and surprised him with a trip to the Poconos to a Nascar race.

Our anniversary and my birthday are very close, 6 days apart. I'll be turning 40 on the 10th of January. I had told him that I honestly didn't want anything big and expensive because I really want to pay the CC off. So he felt like his hands were tied as to what he could do. Well, he did some good thinking.

He told me last night that our anniversary/my birthday gift is a trip to Mississippi to see my best friend that I haven't seen in 3 years! I can choose any time this year that I want to go. So I'm thinking that we'll go in mid-September or October. That gives me plenty of time to put my ING account to use (thank you Ima!) and save up enough money and incur no credit card debt.

He arranged all this with my friend without my knowledge by emailing her. He was sneaky about getting her email address. He had me provide it when I organized all the financial information just before my visit with the neurologist about the cyst in my brain. He said he wanted her address so he could let her know just in case something should happen. Ha! Keep in mind, he has never met this friend or her husband, so this is really sweet of him.

So now I have a new challenge: to save money for this trip. I set up an automatic transfer for it and will just figure it in with the regular budget.

Now for the planning....

Spending for 1/4/07

January 5th, 2007 at 09:49 am

Anniversary dinner= $29.32

22nd Anniversary

January 4th, 2007 at 04:40 pm


Today will be an expensive day. It's our 22nd anniversary so we're going out to dinner and then DH would like us to both get a bicycle so we can ride together for some fun and exercise. We used to do that all the time when we were first married and lived in Virginia. It would be nice to do again now that the kids are old enough to care for themselves for the most part.

Spending for 1/3/07

January 4th, 2007 at 11:24 am

Credit Card= $122.42
Cable/internet= $54.58
Electric= $208.43
School lunch account= $10.00
Groceries= $93.36
Gasoline= $16.99

Total= $505.78

Walk This Way

January 4th, 2007 at 01:28 am

Started off my day today with a trip to the doctor's office (yes, again) to get my blood drawn to make sure my potassium levels are okay. Then off for grocery shopping and then the EEG.

The EEG wasn't too bad and they say the results will be back in about 2 weeks. Of course, I'm trusting Tina that they'll find nothing and that the cyst is just there for latent psychic abilities. LOL!


Since I was cleared to walk I got out early morning and got in a 15 minute power walk. Well, not quite as powerful as before all this, but I did surprise myself at how fast I could go. Then tonight DH "walked" me again for about 40 minutes. That was a bit slower of a walk, but good because it was longer. So my pedometer is showing that I got over 20,000 steps today. Yeah me!

Another Challenge Deposit

January 4th, 2007 at 01:19 am

Ima's blog reminded me that I deposited $11 of rolled change today but forgot to transfer it to my Challenge account!

So that bring my total to $71.96.

Grocery Savings

January 3rd, 2007 at 07:35 pm

I saved $2.10 at B.J.s today with coupons and an instant rebate. So $2.10 goes to the challenge fund!

Spending for 1/2/07

January 3rd, 2007 at 12:28 pm

$5.00 I chipped in for dinner with DS#3.


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