DH and I have been talking about what repairs need to be made to the house this year and decided that the priorities are the new roof on the garage. He'll do that to save money and probably have DS#3 help with it. The other things that we feel need to be done are any sort of improvements that will increase the energy efficiency of this 120 year-old house.

So we're going to replace the final 4 windows that we haven't done yet, replace the faucet in the upstairs bathroom that leaks hot water continuously and finish trim around doors and windows that hasn't been done yet. We are also looking into a wood stove for the basement. We are hoping that by having a wood stove in the basement, the rest of the house will stay warmer meaning we'd go through less coal and wood pellets for the upstairs stoves. We can get a wood stove from a friend fairly cheap, and probably would be able to get free or fairly cheap wood. We'll have to check into all that.

Also, I got some grant money for school for next semester. So that means that I will be going to school half-time. Between the grant money and the CE money from my job, most of the cost of enrollment will be covered. I've started saving my weekly pocket money and survey money to help with book costs.

Today our stimulus payment was deposited into our checking account. I have it ready to be transferred to our home repair account on ING Monday. I'm transferring it there with the hope that we won't need it for repairs and that I'll be able to apply it to the mortgage instead. That's probably a pipe dream, but I'm going to hold onto it.

Still haven't heard a word about my term life insurance application. I've forgotten now when I even started this long, drawn-out process.

Still waiting to get the bill for DS#2's helicopter ride. I've heard to expect to owe about $3,000 after the insurance has paid.

DH filled up his truck today and that came to $75. Yikes! I heard Dave Ramsey say this week that these rising gas prices should not hurt your budget. Well, when you're still digging out of debt it puts a pretty good squeeze on it.

On a brighter note, my speech class is finished. I gave my last 2 speeches this week and now am just waiting for my final grade. I'm enrolled in Business Law for the fall semester and will take one more class if I am able to get financial aid. Still haven't heard if I will or not.

I went to work today never dreaming that I'd spend the day planning a trip to a financial seminar! We got an email on our library listserv that the Office of Financial Education is holding their 2nd annual Common Wealth Symposium. The topics all look very interesting and I have CE money, so off I go!

I signed up for a pre-conference workshop that will cover "Right on the Money" a program that uses children's books to introduce financial concepts to children aged 5-7. It also gives parents tools to reinforce what their children have learned. I would love to get something like this started in our System's library in each community.

Another session will cover fundamentals of insurance, investments, and retirement planning.

There will be a workshop that introduces you to many of the resources available to teach personal finance. I can't wait for this one.

The last session I'll go to is to learn how to design a local financial resource kit for your community. I would love to do this for our libraries.

I think that with the uncertain financial situation the U.S. is in, that many people will suddenly become interested in personal finance as their wallets start to feel the pinch. The library is the perfect place for them to turn to get information and find resources. I want to have that information ready for them.

Tomorrow is the day I have to give my persuasive speech. I chose to speak on why everyone should have a budget. I'll be presenting it to our librarians' group in the morning.

I came up with some visuals to make the speech a bit more interesting. I have a graph that illustrates how much the cost of one cup of coffee a day would grow if it were invested in a mutual fund earning 12% interest for 30 years. I also did a pie chart of the 'perfect' budget categories and what percentage of income should be allotted to each.

The meeting is taking place at our town library, which is where I was the director for 2 years, so at least it will be a familiar setting for me and make me a bit more comfortable.

I have to deliver my persuasive speech this week and I'm looking for a clip of the Chase commercial that has the Queen song "I Want it All" playing. The scenario is a guy shopping for a big screen TV. At the end of the ad it tells you to text Chase to find out your balance with the presumption that you will know how much TV you can afford to buy.

Does anyone know if there is a clip of this commercial on the internet? I looked on youtube and searched on Google, but did not find it. I can find the song, but not the commercial. It would be excellent to have that to play during the part of my speech about credit card spending.

I have to give a persuasive speech for my Speech Communications class in the next couple of weeks and this week I have to declare my topic. Pretty sure it's going to be "Why You Need a Budget", or something very close to that. It has to be 5-7 minutes long. I don't think I'll have any trouble filling that amount of time.

Budgeting is something near and dear to my heart, since it has turned our financial lives around and given me peace of mind. I don't think that this one is going to be nearly as hard as the last speech I had to give.

I gave my first speech yesterday. I had to present a print advertisement analysis. Since this is a distance learning class, I presented it in front of my fellow librarians at our System meeting. Glad it's over with! Only 3 more to go.

One of our assignments is to interview 3 people in different aspects of the field we're going into. I am interviewing a public accountant, an accountant for Adelphia Communications Corp., and our very own Jeffrey Strain of Saving Advice!

I still have to present a persuasive speech. I think I'm going to talk about "Why You Need a Budget" or something along that line.

We also have to present a special occasion speech. I don't have the details yet as to what the requirements are for that one.

I have enjoyed this class as far as learning about different types of communication, but could do without presenting the speeches. LOL

I feel like once I get this class behind me, I can handle whatever else I have to do. I am not the type that likes to be the center of attention in a group. I'm more comfortable fading into the background.

I have to interview 3 people in the accounting/finance field for my Speech Communications class. I have contacted a public accountant and she has agreed for me to interview her. I would like the other 2 interviews to be in different areas of finance, but can't decide who. I had thought of contacting the Smith/Barney office near here and seeing if I could interview someone from there. I also wanted to interview the owner of a small bookkeeping business, but it looks like they've closed their doors. No one is ever there when I go by.

I can do one phone interview but the other 2 have to be in person. I am going to have to quickly get to work on this. I'd appreciate any suggestions anyone might have.

My new class started yesterday. I am taking Speech Communications this semester. The instructor seems to be really good and I think I'm going to enjoy it much more than I thought I would.

I'm hoping that this class won't be quite so intense as the accounting classes. I'm ready for a bit of a break from all the studying I've done the past several semesters.

I got a call early this morning from my boss telling me that she was not going into work today and neither was I. Hey, who am I to argue with that??? LOL! The weather today is terrible and since I had an accident last year getting to work on a day like this, I think she worries about me traveling over the hill. So I have an unexpected day off. I plan on spending it working on my homework for the week and reading.

We have started Turbo Tax in my class now. I'm not quite as familiar with it as QuickBooks, but I have used it before so I don't expect any problem with it. Only about 3 more weeks and this class will be done.

I probably won't be going to Weight Watchers tonight. With the roads so bad, it's not worth the drive and I can't stay for the meeting anyway. Tonight is DS#3's first basketball game of the season so I would need to drive 12 miles one way just to weigh in and then leave.

It feels so good to have the furniture debt paid off! Every time I think of it being paid, I smile.

I haven't been around much for months. I am still here and still paying down our debt. We will have the furniture paid off next month as long as the overtime continues like it has. Then it will be time to start on the car.

I decided to pay off the car since I checked the Blue Book price on it and it was nowhere near what I had thought it was. So since it is a depreciating item and the house isn't (well, depends on your take on the news lately!), I decided the car was the next debt to focus on.

I am in the middle of my accounting applications class and really enjoying it. Right now we're learning QuickBooks, which I use every day at work, so it's been a breeze. Next up is Turbo Tax. I'm really looking forward to that one.

Today we went car shopping with DS#2. He will be getting his license back soon since it's been 6 months since his last seizure. He has a job, but no car so he's looking for some wheels. It's very hard to find a car in his price range, but he's searching. He's found quite a few on a local site so we checked them out today. One of them is a strong possibility.

I found out a few weeks ago that I'm getting a nice merit raise next year, along with a cost of living raise. That will really help with the budget. I reworked my spreadsheet so that the items that are desperately under budgeted will have more funding.

We got quite a bit of home improvement work done this summer. That's why the net worth chart took a dip. We put on siding and a new porch roof. Now we're working on the kitchen addition.

Guess that's about it for now. Just wanted to drop in and say I'm still here. I hope to have more time to blog from here on out.

Today I registered for a fall class through Distance Learning. I will be taking Accounting Applications which focuses on Quickbooks and Turbo Tax. I was registered for this class last semester but had to drop out because of my health problems. My health is back to normal finally so it's time to continue on towards a degree, slow as the process is.

The class begins August 27th. No more extra reading time!