Dear You:

Hubster got a nice little profit sharing check this week of $431.00 and some odd change.

Of course you know what I want to do with it? Of course you do my lil Pupcake...put it into our retirement monies, but he wants to have some money to spend.

"Well, you earned it. It's all yours honey, spend it if you want."

I understand. He does get tired of me always wanting to put back for that proverbial rainy day and we do usually keep our blow money to a strict minimum.

So, the final decision that he came up with? He's going to cash it and give me half and him take half. He wants me to spend mine, too.

Soooo, what to do w/my $215+?????

Likely I'll BUY a couple of savings bonds or some stock or put it towards one of my drips w/$200 of it. And blow the $15 and change on ING savings or whoever's running the nicest rate at the moment. How does that sound???? At those online banks I have subaccounts called CD Savings Escrow. When it gets up to the $500-1000 level and rates are good, I pop off and invest it in a certificate of deposit (old school) and start over saving in it again.

Old dog, same OLD tricks, w/a different twist to make it more palatable for those who like to gnaw their entire bone away on the same day. See me??? - I can do that too, but have a little bone left to gnaw later as well. Dig a little hole here and there, stick in my bones and cover them up for later!!



It's all good! Some things never change.

YEAH Profit Sharing!! YEAH Hubster!

Love,
Lux

~~~
P.S. Yesterday was a No Spend Day!!

Re-deposited $7.28 from CashHappySon reimbursing me for something he bought off of ebay.

Balanced checkbooks yesterday.

~~~
P.P.S. Funny - Hubster & I - our Chinese Horoscope Symbols? Both dogs.

quote from a website talking about the Chinese Dog Symbol:

"They generally have hidden savings accounts for future family endeavors such as family vacations and college tuitions."

Not to worry, I know where he keeps his socks of money buried!!

CAN YOU DO THE SCRATCH-N-DENT HIP-HOP IN YOUR FUNKY BOOTS?

Got cases of chicken noodle soup yesterday at the scratch-n-dent for $3.88. Only catch? No labels. So, I spent a bit of time yesterday writing the contents on the cans & boxes. Each year finds somebody sick and wanting chicken noodle soup! Other good buy was pretzels 4 bags/$1. And I got Hubster some funky color shoe-polishes for his cowboys boots which are funky colored for .88 a can.


HOW ABOUT THE LENDER'S WALTZ?

Yesterday my step-dad paid me $50 on the computer he bought from Hubster. These dollars have to go back in the kitty. Sorry Hubster!


CAN YOU DO THE 401-K MAMBO?

This past week I finally got through all the paperwork on CashHappySon's 401-K offerings and got him signed up. Reading them is bad enough but explaining those things to another person is complicated to me, so I fell back on the nice explanation found around page 90 in David Bach's 'Automatic Millionaire' book. We set CashHappy's deferral rate to 18% which should just about match what he's been putting into his Roth.

Still left to do is stop CashHappys' Roth contributions for now. With his car payment, paying room & board here plus trying to save for moving out he can't afford to do both right now.

His 401-K plan does not offer an employer match that I could see. But, it did have a place to set up automatic 1% yearly increases, which we did. Thing is, the kiddo is 19. How likely will he be to stay at this place of employment? Ehhh, not too sure, but we're doing what we can while we can.


DO THE HEALTH-INSURANCE MOMBO??

Also yesterday we spent some time on the phone with FrugalSon's employee benefits office getting him signed up for health insurance. He finally got some small scrap of paperwork saying the open enrollment dates, which window was mighty short for use in view of vacation plans. There were no written explanation of benefits forthcoming!! BAHHH! It's complicated enough - try doing it without the info in front of you!

Eventually we got him signed up for health & dental insurance yesterday. They offer disability but the lady did not tell us about it and we'll have to call back another day to get a rate quote! Sheesh, it's always something.

Also on FrugalSon's we'll have to adjust his Roth contributions downward by about $30 a month in order to make his small salary cover everything. He's been contributing the maximum, but we'll just have the insurance and lower the contributions for now and if no huge expenses come up during the year attempt to fully fund his Roth from his emergency or car repair savings at the end of the contribution period.


DO THE HULA??

What I want to know is how do parents with 6 to 15 children handle all the paperwork for all their jobs??? Good grievies!!! I'm tired with just two of them still at home!

My parents generation never had to help with all this stuff because it didn't exist back then! They can say life is easier now, which may be true, but it is more complicated and comes with more hoops to be jumped through - what with the limited open enrollment dates and such! PHEW!


DO THE SHAREBUILDER BOO-GA-LOO!!

For myself there's a problem in my Sharebuilder account which requires me to send a notarized letter. I went to my bank last evening (long hours) and no notary was on duty. I'll be going back this morning to get the darn thing notarized and off in the mail. Due to security reasons it could not be handled over the phone. Pain in the patumpkus!!


I WANNA SEE YOU BELLYDANCE!
This entry reminds me of one of my favorite HAPPY songs - I Wanna See You Bellydance by the Red Elvises! Stop the music from up above & listen to a clip here:


http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000QQZMZQ/ref=dm_sp_alb?...

or listen to the entire song & watch them at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iY_Ylj87e3g

Great Album!


No, I don't think I can dance - but if they keep those hoops low enough I think I can roll through them!

Anybody have any bunion pads? Ben-gay??

---
edited to add:
Found money in house clean-up:

$20 CHALLENGE
$022.74 balance
+000.28 clean-up
_______
$023.02 MTD

2008 Challenge Total $164.10
Challenge Cumulative Total $692.71

With all the rains the drainage ditches around my house have filled up again and the county is out here digging them out. I went out and spoke with the foreman and they agreed to dump two loads of the sand on our property.

There's a spot that the old owner of our property, who owned his own dump truck, put out a lot of old paving. By county order he was supposed to cover the entire bunch of it but never did as there is one probably 20 x 20 spot that he never did cover over. They've dumped one truck load so far and are still out there digging.

IF we can get it spread before more rains come along then maybe some of it will stick down in the craters that the paving has got. Mowing and weed-eating this area has been a pain for over 7 years. Time to get something done.

Not certain if it'll hold as the area sits on a slope, but any is better than none and if it washes it will wash into another area that could also use the help. The burms (mini-levees) by our creek were about an inch away from being crested yesterday morning.

So, if it washes, that's the area it'll head. So - FREE sandyloam stuff!!! We were just talking about buying a dump load of dirt ourselves. If this will work, all the better. FREE is good!

Something else that's been happening this month is that FrugalSon took most of his Economic Stimulus check and paid for driving lessons. He finishes the *fingers crossed* last one on June 30th and they've got a tiny little car that he's going to use to drive during the driving test scheduled for July 1st and hopefully he'll finally pass that dumb parallel parking requirement. He's 21. If at all possible I NEED him to be driving his'onsomeself around! He could never pass it driving his little extended cab S10 truck. Hopefully with their little car it'll be all systems go!!! PRAY HARD.

Today is a no spend day for me!!

We got all the siblings checks cleared on FIL's estate and closed both of the accounts. FIL's & Hubster's joint account and the estate account. It is done except for jewelry, coins, pics. Those will be finished after our family vacation. YEAH, YEAH, YEAHHHHHHH!!!! As my faithful dear readers know I've been gnashing at the bit because we had beauque'$_$$,$$$.$$'s loaned out to the estate w/no interest being paid. It's back in my hot little hands! YEAHHHHHH!!

We will decide after family vacation what exactly we're going to do with that money and Hubster's inheritance money. Most likely we'll finish funding our IRA's for this year with some of it and I'm not sure about the rest. Some will go to tithe - likely we'll handle that portion by starting either a Family Foundation or putting it into a charitable trust so our tithing will be increased for years to come! I've got a good little sum set aside to make this happen.

Then the rest will go towards ome kind of retirement planning, with the exception of a few minor household things that need doing. Tub & Tile in bathroom appx. $1500 & $500 to widen the return air vent. Other than that it looks like retirement for those dollars. I'd like to do a municipal bond ladder but am not sure I can convince Hubster. Guess what we'll be talking about on vacation?

At the wrapping up, Hubster got the money from the sale of our personal car to one of his brother's two years ago. He was supposed to be making payments if the estate house did not sell by a set date. Well, he never made a single payment.

I never said one word. (A miracle if ever there was one!)

I can hardly eat with the hole in my tongue, canshhhuuuusheee??

So, from brother-in-law's inheritance check we got $2900.00 back. I added a hundred & stuck it in a one year CD this morning.

Rates suck!

It's ideally for car replacement #3. We've already got car replacement CDs for Hubster's car & one for my truck. So, this is for the next vehicle after those so to speak, unless we just need it before then for something. What we do is sell our vehicles outright and then add some money (the CDs) with what we get out of our cars to purchase the next one for cash.

I'm running behind on the $20 Challenge - so I'm cleaning out the wallet($20.50) and adding in some change that was found in various parts of the 'hood (.71) and some ($1.52) that CashHappySon gave me.

$20 CHALLENGE

$000.01 balance
+022.73 assorted
_______
$022.74 June MTD

My second load of sand was just dumped. Yeah FREE!!!!

Last night we went to Hubster's sisters house and met with 3 of the 4 siblings to hand out their inheritance checks.

Finally.

Hubster is meeting with the other brother today to give him his inheritance check and take him to the bank so he can cash it and pay us the $2900 he owes us for our old car.

They had to sign receipts for their checks. Funny thing was that they did not have to be notarized receipts. What would stop someone from forging them?????? Only integrity it seems.

Hubster goes this week w/the attorney to the courthouse w/those receipts in hand to get the estate finalized and then he will close out the estate accounts and we will get our $**,***.** money back that we loaned the estate, plus his inheritance amount $*,***.**. The expense money goes back into our MM account until we decide where to invest it. As far as I can recall we haven't discussed what he's going to do with his inheritance check, but most likely will put it into his retirement account.

By rights I think that the old car money from his brother should go into another CD to help with future car replacement funds.

He also has another account that was him & his Dad's checking account while Pops was alive that many of the bills were auto-drafted out of while the house was up for sale.

That's two checking accounts that can be closed. Two less accounts to be balanced each month! YES!!

There will be a final attorney bill and the sibs were told to save back a couple of hundred dollars each towards paying their 1/5th of the bill.

We've yet to set a date for them to divide up pictures, coin collection, and jewelry. We tried last night but no one would commit. So, for now then it will have to wait until we return from our family vacation.

They were also told if they want to buy something from among the coins or jewelry then we'd do it similar to how we did the family auction on the furniture. They can bid, then pay cash to the family kitty and then after all is sold either to them or to someone else via ebay or dealers, then we'll divide that kitty into 1/5s and send out another check.

Last night we discussed having any photos that more than one person wanted scanned and duplicate disks handed out. Hubster & I are going to 'gift' that duty to one of the other sibs!!

After that we still have a 1/2 of a bedroom that is STILL (2 1/2 YEARS LATER) stacked w/FIL's packratted papers to go thru AGAIN! Most of it can be tossed. Some shredded. Little will be saved. The first time through them everyone was too raw to be able to throw them away. I already spent a couple of FULL days shredding lots of things when my FIL moved in with us. I swear my papershredder was smoking at one point!

Anybody have any idea how long to keep the estate accounting records around?

Dear sweet Pops died in 2005. I miss him. He was a loving husband, hard-working, sweet-hearted, family tending man.

Adding more keyboard change to the $20 Challenge:

$012.30 balance
+000.95 keyboard change
_______
$013.25 May MTD


2008 Challenge Total $120.91
Cumulative Challenge Total $649.52

On Wednesday FrugalSon got a raise on his last paycheck of 20 cents an hour. Yeah FrugalSon!! Then he comes home on Friday and says his boss told him he's getting another raise on the next check another 35 cents an hour! WOOO-HOOOO! Hope it shows up. I do know that he'll be getting more when the mandated minimum wages go up in July. Is that 2008 or 2009? Anybody know off the top of their head???

Earlier in the month CashHappySon paid us back 421.00 from his tax refund on his car note. Today we got another $200 from his Stimulus Check to apply to his loan. He got $600 all together. So he spent $100 for fun (PRESENT), $200 for debt reduction (PAST), and $300 goes to help replenish his emergency fund so that's for the (FUTURE). Of course, he'd of liked to have blown it all. As it was he spent $75 buying himself a used TV off of Craigslist that is set up for easy gaming and then spent the other $25 on ebay buying new games.

So our inflow this month back to the FrugalisMoneyMarketCoffers account sees another $200 addition. That makes me happy. I hate having money come out of there because it was so hard for me to round it up in the first place so to have some we loaned out come back into the coffers? Oh yeah, that makes me smile!

It reminds me of one of my favorite books, Mama's Bank Account, by Kathryn Forbes.


http://www.amazon.com/Mamas-Bank-Account-Harvest-Book/dp/0...

Read it if you get the chance!

I found $2.00 the other day. Thanks to Koppur for reminding me. I'm taking them out of the wallet and putting them to the $20 Challenge before I buy a couple of tacos with it!

I'm slow, but this morning I just now am getting around to moving my April Challenge money over to the Roth IRA. This will go later.


$20 CHALLENGE

$010.00 balance
+002.00 found
_______
$012.00 May MTD

2008 Challenge Total $119.66
Cumulative Challenge Total $648.27

Baselle got a reward check from her bank and it reminded me that we should be up for our Discover card reward soon, since we put the replacement refrigerator on it. When I pay the bill in a few days I bet they'll be able to cut me a reward check! YEA!!

Yesterday was a No Spend Day for me. I spent most of the afternoon curled up in the bed under Grandma Many Moons' quilt and w/a corn bag on my banged up ankle (my toes are still BLACK! Gaa!), reading a book about a Texas oil family that I got for a quarter at a recent garage sale. A nice quiet cozy afternoon! Lumping up in bed just reading & relaxing is something I haven't done in years - not since before the last two boys. So yeah about 20 years or so.

The boys did the cooking & cleanup last night - chili-hotdogs. Did I mention the other day that the price of el-cheapo hotdog buns has jumped to $1.19 from their normal .79 cents????? I'm going to start baking my own again.

Our stimulus dollars arrived today in the checking account. It was under the $1200 by a few dollars. Not sure why that is exactly. Anybody have a clue?

Hubster and I just had our 'state of the nation' talk. He's to get back to me exactly what we're going to do in the next couple of days. We are at an advantage in that we have his inheritance money coming to us fairly soon. Final hearing scheduled sometime mid-June. We have several projects around the house that need doing and we're not sure exactly what order we are going to do them:

1)Replace bathtub (cracked) and then tile the bathroom floor. It will leave a new footprint and the carpet in there is already shot, so these need doing. Even if we stay in the house it can only get worse. If we were to sell, still has to be done. It's a patch job for now, there is some kind of water-proof tape on it at the moment. If you read about Bubba (FrugalSon's) excessive use of TP and the resulting overflows you can see we really need tile in this area instead of just floorboards that are carpeted!

2)There is a pipe in the basement starting to look pretty iffy. It has to be replaced before we have a very wet 'boo-boo'.

The plumbing portions of #1 & #2 can be combined in one visit from a plumber who's a close friend of the family for some savings. I can tile the bathroom myself, except for the fancy cuts, which a niece & nephew will help me with.

3)The air return vent for our heat/cooling system is not large enough and keeps causing the switch to go out as it has to switch on and off too often somehow. This spot needs to be enlarged. Apprx. $500.

4)Our heat and cooling system in now 9 years old. It was the cheapest model the seller could throw in here in order to get us to buy the house. It will likely need replacing sometime in the near future.

I personally vote to put stimulus payment in the IRAs and let the inheritance money cover some of these expenses. We shall see. For today, I'm moving it out of checking into hard labor over at one of the online banks. Now, gotta go check who's paying what interest today!

I am grateful to have this stimulus money returned to us. Because, obviously we're in need of it!

Pic: Annie Taylor, (Queen of the Mist) who, in 1901, became the first person to plunge over the brink of Niagara Falls in a barrel.




Come along Lil'HippyChillen' and sing along with me...




I've been bemoaning the price of my water bill on here lately. This morning on a whim - since it's raining here today - I put out an old trashbarrel under the inside L corner of my roof, where two ridgelines meet, to fill w/rainwater. I'm planning to use it to water the banana trees and tomato plants later this week when the sun comes back out. Don't try this at home if you've got small children about. If you've got kiddos you need a closed system that one couldn't fall into!

Then serendipity led me to this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fwe_pVOYOrY&feature=dir

Holy Toledo, this place says there are beacou gallons to be had? WOW!

http://www.rainbarrelguide.com/

So, if you are feeling greenly conservation minded you might want to do something similar. As a teen I was constantly washing my hair w/rainwater, but that was back before acid rain and such. Oh, we probably had it, we just didn't know it!

I did speak to Hubster this week about perhaps installing a graywater system of some kind, and he said he thought we could hook one up pretty easily, so we'll see. Doubtful we'll go this far! I was just thinking of hooking off of the bathroom sink or something. I'm not this much of a gardener!


http://www.emmitsburg.net/gardens/articles/adams/audrey/wa...

This reminded me of my time in Honduras. Many people live w/cisterns year round as their main source of water.

And once I started thinking of this and googling around for pics I found this link that many of you may enjoy sloshing around in:


http://blog.makezine.com/archive/diy_projects/122.html


and this should have a special appeal for a certain someone who opposes composting toilets!


http://www.reuk.co.uk/Rainwater-Toilet-Flush-System.htm


Well, of course I have to categorize this post as INFLOW!

The Hubster got a $1400 a year raise the other day! WOOOO-HOOOOOOOOO!! Now that is probably not much to many of you, but it is to us. It was included in his last check and after taxes and more going into the 401-K he'll come home w/an extra $70.00 or so a month.

Inch by Inch - They are finally catching on that he's vastly underpaid for what he does for them!

I am so tickled for him!

Especially in light of today's shrinking economy!!! TA-DA~!!!!!!!!!!

THANK YOU LORD - We closed yesterday on FIL's house. Next is to wrap up a sale of some stocks and divide the remaining photographs and some coins with the siblings and do the final accounting and then disburse checks and that should just about wrap things up.

The older gentleman who bought the house would be someone my FIL would have approved of and he reminded me of him very much. They were of the same generation, both veterans, snappy dressers - he came to the closing w/a walking stick, pinky ring and a nice suit and hat on. He served in the same branch of the military as FIL and everything.

My one gripe? I had to insist about 10 minutes into the closing that they stop and introduce us (buyer/seller) to each other. The closer went on ahead as if I hadn't spoken. I pinched Hubster under the table and he finally stood up and introduced himself and me to the gentleman. Then the dumb girls doing the closing finally apologized. They all knew each other and I don't know I guess forgot??

I would certainly do things differently if I were the closer. I didn't like it one little bit and if I ever have my druthers again, we'll be using a different closing company.

I am decidely not a timid mouse type and I'm certainly not used to speaking to a group of people (I used to run corporate meetings & large seminars) and having people act as if you haven't even spoken at all. Like everyone else, I suppose I do not like being ignored. Anyway that part was WEIRD!!

Nicely done was our realtor's projected net to seller estimate. She was within $300 which isn't horrible estimating in my opinion. We weren't all that excited by the lack of some requested actions during the course of the listing contract, but she did get the house sold.

Funny thing is that I'm the one who got all emotional on the way home at having the last real physical marker of his family childhood home & parents gone. Hubster is/was his usual 'ROCK'. Accurate in his "Mom and Dad have a better home now and I'll go visit them one day, and it hasn't been home w/o them there for a long time."

But still I teared up. Sad.

But glad that the financial/physical drain of maintaining the home is gone. After getting the check to the bank yesterday I came home and collapsed like a limp-rag. I think I've been holding my breath for the last month since the initial offer!! The boys cooked supper and cleaned up. Good thing because by that time I was worthless.


TO-DO today:

Call the closer w/FIL's Social Security number so that the official tax reporting on the sale of estate property can be recorded correctly. If there is a chance I'll be asking for an exit interview w/the owner of the closing company and explaining the etiquette snafu and grim picture it left of his/her company.

Call his realtor and make sure when he's going to get utilities in his name, as I am planning to call today to have them taken out of our name. I don't want to leave him in the dark if he went ahead and moved in.

This is a strange dealywho as I am always proactive about this for us whenever we've moved and had a firm time set up with the old sellers so that I knew when I could get the utilities switched to our name. I'm not sure if this isn't the very first house this gentleman has ever owned. It seemed that way.

At any rate, I'd like to coordinate it w/his realtor as she even picked him up and drove him to the closing and promised to take him to the courthouse for some other paperwork later on, so I'm not sure if he even owns a car. If she's helping him, maybe she knows of his plans on the utilities. I got the impression that they went to church together and that's how they got acquainted.


$20 CHALLENGE

$006.29 balance
+ 1.00 quarters from CashHappySon
_______
$007.29 Mar MTD

2008 Challenge Total $61.73
Cumulative Challenge Total $590.34

Of other probably costly note my little doxie (which are notorious for their bad little backs) has had her hind legs go out on her and so I'll be taking her to the vet ASAP this morning. Maybe cortisone shots will do the trick but she may need surgery. Her little self is a sad sight. I don't want her to have to be one of those little wheelie doggies. Usually when her back gets wobble-sloshed I can do a deep tissue massage on her and get her back into alignment. Not so this a.m.

Moved money from online bank House Tax Fund to checking this afternoon to cover last 1/2 of the 2007 house taxes for our house. We have until the end of March to pay them. I don't personally like doing it this way, but I did earn a teeny-tiny bit more interest by not paying it w/the other half that was due 12/31. Will be mailing check out in today's mail.

House taxes for 2007 were $662.00. Not bad at all considering what many of you pay! I've estimated 2008 taxes to go up a bit and run at $675, so we're putting back $56.25 a month towards them.

Yesterday had to get new brake rotors or pads or something or other stuff done to Hubster's car to the tune of $190.16. Took that money from Auto Repair Fund that is also kept in the online bank.

On CashHappySon's car earlier in the week we had to have a new axle put on for $196.32. GEEE - these cars are costing out the wazoooloooo! This amount goes on his tab. He has the money in checking to cover it, however, we are trying to get him back on track w/being a month AHEAD of his bills using YNAB software, and he's almost there. I'd rather see him get a lifelong lesson money truth than a short-term gratification for me to get the money back in our account at the moment. He WILL be paying it back. He did make his first payment to us on the Toyota Tercel on the first.

***Of major importance is the fact that our realtor called and we are attempting to have closing on FIL's house on Monday! HALLELU!! HALLELU!! Looking forward to the return of a BUNCH O' DOLLARS that we've laid out to keep things moving forward.

I am praying that everything goes smoothly at the closing. We don't have a time scheduled yet though.***

There is only one tiny repair left for Hubster to get finished (putting in an elect. recept. that is one of those ones that can be by water). That's planned for early tomorrow when he's off for the Easter holiday. He's already put in three of them, fixed a small plumbing leak we didn't know we had and put in a new window that had been broken in the ice storm that we had made a stopgap fix on earlier. We also had to do a fix on the stove ignitor. Hopefully they'll be able to schedule their final walk-thru late tomorrow afternoon or early on Monday.

I freaked out a few minutes ago and had to call Hubster to ask if he'd already paid (I do balance the estate's checkbook, but I refused to take on paying the bills as well! I mean, isn't it enough that I never said NOT ONE single word to his four siblings that they weren't helping financially and we were tapping our own money to the point of making me gasp & butte-pucker monthly for two years??? ) the last half of the '07 taxes on his Dad's house as if not, then he needed to call realtor and/or title company and find out if they needed a Paid In Full receipt (meaning a run to the county courthouse for me) or if they would just include them in the final accounting. Not to worry, he'd paid them about two weeks ago. They will pro-rate the little bit of 2008 taxes.

I have to dig out the papers that give him the right as executor to sell the house to take with us to closing. I'm sure the title company has done all of it's work, but he's not going to the sale table w/o the one thing that could throw a ringer! I'm invited even though I don't need to be there. He calls me his financial expert as I make him read stuff thoroughly and am one of those annoying read thru stuff people before we sign. And durned if I don't ask a lot of questions!!

Late last year the local power company sent a guy out to mark some trees that need to be removed to keep from knocking out the power line to the houses across the road IF perchance they were to happen to fall. Okay. Not my wildest fantasy to have them cut down because they do provide a lot of shade for my house, but I don't think we really had much choice. Those guys are here right now cutting down one oak tree that was dead that we did need removed and one nice cedar.

On our top property they will be cutting down a nasty scrub thorn tree that I will be happy to see go as it has a giant amount of poision ivy, oak, and sumac that we spent a lot of money on Round-Up to keep knocked back. Seemed to come back yearly anyway! So, lumberjack types strolling around in my yard making the dogs go nutso. No charge to us personally, but I do believe we'll eventually see it in increased bills, don't we always?

On my desk for the challenge:

$20 CHALLENGE
$006.28 balance
+000.01 mystery penny on the desk
_______
$006.29 Mar MTD

2008 Challenge Total $60.73
Cumulative Challenge Total $589.34

Spent on groceries this a.m. $66.23, up a bit from my normal $35-40 a week range as we are preparing for the Easter luncheon w/TheGrrl in attendance, and I'm signed up to take dessert to SS class Sunday morning, that and I went long on a 24 count case of green beans at 4/$.88=$5.28.

Okay, so I forgot to update the mortgage balance over on the left until today! Out of the blue it hit me that I hadn't changed it after the 3/1 payment.

New Mortgage Balance sits at $19,075.65!

We're getting there.

Also of note I recently upped THE Hubster's term life insurance and so that premium will be going up by about $20 a month.

Of major note on the financial awareness level here said Hubster was talking to me last night based on the bank bailout on whether we should allocate some portion of our assets into gold. At least he is FINALLY becoming aware of the financial world at large. We discussed our current asset allocation based on risk tolerance and our short/long term perspectives and our satisfaction w/our current diversification.

I also tried to talk to him about market timing and tried to get his feel on IF he sold some stocks or mutual funds to buy gold when he'd feel comfortable returning to the marketplace and how would he know that the time was ripe? No good answers there. I told him he shouldn't feel bad. No one knows those answers for sure.

For now we'll continue this discussion likely this evening. But it wouldn't hurt my feelings right now to be invited to a gold party as we do have some jewelry in the safe-deposit box we could sell!! And I wish I was more informed about the currency markets.

After posting yesterday I went on over to Ameritrade and checked my balance there and in my Irish luck calculations I had forgotten to account for the interest I have received over this past year. In the next few days the Suze Orman/TDAmeritrade $100 bonus should post and I should easily make my last 2007 Roth IRA contribution w/$$'s left over. YEAH ME!!

Today is/was a No Spend Day! Yesterday would have been too, but the three guys here go thru bread like water, so I wrote a $2.05 check at the bread store!

TheGrrl came over yesterday afternoon and they had a stay-at-home date. They made & decorated sugar cookies and we had how-to-make-hamburger-patties that don't fall apart lessons (it's all in the thumb action). After supper we all went for a walk, worked in the yard removing some of the last of the 'hangers' limbs from the ice-storm, brushed and played fetch with the dogs and then came in and watched The Bachelor. At the end of the evening an inexpensive Frosty junior topped off their date. A little more than $2 for a nice day. FrugalSon is trying to make all of his 2008 Roth IRA contributions this year as well and that leaves him w/little other $$s to date with or spend recklessly. He's on a strict budget. She'll have to understand him or be gone.

One of the things I do with cash in my wallet is donate to my church's building fund each week. Here's where I scrape the bottom of the purse out, check the coin purse and see if there is any folding money in the folding money spot.

On Sunday this week all I found in my wallet (aside from the cash for everyone's monthly allowances which are deposited into the First National Bank of Mom in the back hideyholes) was 51 cents. That's it.

Into the little special envelope it went.

For informational purposes - yes this extra money I donate to the bldg fund is just that. EXTRA. We do tithe from the household budget and I do tithe from my personal budget as well. Extra this Sunday out of household budget was $25.00 that went towards a SS class mission project we are doing in Mexico this year.

So, now I'm PERSONALLY busted AHHHEMMMMM (I mean Cash Flow Inhibited) until this coming Friday when I'll give myself another fiver from one of those dark recessed places in the wallet. That five will do me for the next week.

Tight rations for moi this month!

Who cares and why am I telling you about this?

I was just working on posting some financial doings in the YNAB software and decided that just for kicks and giggles I'd run over to Jesse's YNAB blog and see what was happening over there since I hadn't been in a coon's age. Well -- the latest article there talks about being financially aware of where every penny goes. Why? Because it's important. That's why!

Okay. So 51 cents went out this week to the church's building fund.

Meanwhile I've updated my links over to the left to show you the way to the YNAB blog. WELL WORTH VISITING.

Of other financial note this week. I sold a dresser from when the kiddos were little for $40.00. I deposited it locally this morning and promptly came home and deposited it over into my IRA along with $211 EXTRA from this month's budget to try to get that darn 2007 limit fully funded.

So for March here's what I've been able to come up with for MY latest portion of the 2007 contributions to MY IRA. The house budget puts in $100 a month towards current contributions which is not included here.

$101.00 my normal monthly do.
+ 23.00 from Feb's $20 Challenge(round-up)
+ 40.00 from dresser sale
+211.00 scraped from the March budget
_______
$375.00

So, if I've counted my chickens correctly and IF the Ameritrade Suze Orman $100.00 bonus gets posted before April 15 and it should based on my join date then I'll have 600.00 that I've contributed this past year to earn the bonus + 100.00 bonus which will equal $700 that I can put towards my 2007 contributions and IF I can scrape another $37.00 up before April 15th I will make it to complete my 2007 contributions.

Meanwhile back at the ranch as I said, house budget is feeding $100 a month into 2008 contributions and my 101.00 (the $1.00 extra to differentiate it from household contribution and not confuse folks at the brokerage) will then go towards 2008 as well. I may well then stop the $50 to Ameritrade and put it towards the IRA.

In the old L.L.Frugalis PERSONAL checkbook I am close to the bottom scrapings. I've got about $33.00 in there to last until the end of the month for whatever weird unaccounted thing comes up. If I am extra special careful (which I rarely am) I could conceivably have that much left over that I could use towards the $37 I need - probably won't happen. BUT, I'll find it somewhere in April's budget if it harelips the Easter bunny who as a matter of fact is coming way too early this year for my tastes.

Keep your fingers crossed kiddos that the luck of the Irish holds for me! Yes, I'm a bit of an Irish lass as I had a full-blooded Irish Grampy!





Here's so you don't have to scroll way down to visit the YNAB blog.


http://www.youneedabudget.com/category/blog//

I've got a big old honking pile of papers on my desk!

More Importantly - I'm TIRED TIRED TIRED of having a big old honking pile of papers on my desk!!

To-Do
1)Spend 15 minutes morning on deskwork.
2)Spend 15 minutes afternoon on deskwork.
3)Spend 15 minutes evening on deskwork.
4)Bank February's $20 Challenge money.
5)Figure out what CashHappySon's new auto insurance premiums are going to be.
6)Move money to Emigrant.
7)Move money to Roth IRA for 2007.
8)Go to the Dollar Store & get things on list.
9)Find another copy of my truck insurance paper to go in glovebox. Took the other one out when I went to get tag renewed yesterday.
10)Either Call or Take CashHappySon to employer to get new schedule straightened out. Make sure #9 is done before driving off!!
11)Spend 15 minutes before bedtime on deskwork.
12)Get some filing done!
13)Get some files cleaned out!!

Ta-Da
Already done this a.m.

1)Bed Made
2)Dressed to shoes, hair & makeup done.
3)Brushed, Flossed, Mouthwashed
4)Load of Laundry Done
5)Ate Breakfast (Strawberry Yogurt, OJ)
6)Midmorning Snack (10 Almonds & Green Tea)
7)Walked for 10 minutes.
8)Updated 4 checkbooks (don't ask) via computer.
9)On my third bottle of water.
10)Made a shopping list for Dollar Store.


Yesterday's Ta-Da's:
FrugalSon went with me yesterday on his day off and we got some running done:

1)Truck Tag Renewed til 2009.
2)Hubster & mine allowance money from ATM.
3)Went by my bank to get new register & make a deposit.
4)Took CashHappySon's uniform pants by to exchange them for a different size.
5)Made a clothing & junk donation to the local women's shelter.
6)Went to booth #1 & picked up February's sales check and put this weeks items into the booth. February - Booth 1 Sales after overhead $283.49 - Booth 2 Sales after overhead $60.49.
7)Had a NO SPEND DAY!

$20 CHALLENGE
$000.00 March beginning balance
+001.25 from Hubster
_______
$001.25 March MTD

2008 Challenge Total $055.69
Cumulative Challenge Total $584.30

Need a good laugh about the stimulus package?? Check it out...


http://www.salon.com/comics/opus/2008/03/02/opus/


FUNNY!!

On 2/21 night we got an offer on FIL's house. As mentioned here previously Hubster is the Personal Representative for the estate (what used to be called an Executor).

The offer on the 21st was a little too low for what we needed to get out of the house, by about four thousand dollars.

Thus, we made a counter-offer on the morning of the 22nd that was in line w/the pre-approved loan amount the people got and with some concessions to them, but will let us walk away w/what we need to get our money back out of the house that we've put in for repairs and updates and hopefully let Hubster's siblings get a four or five thousand apiece inheritance (before the charge-off of the prices on the estate furniture they bid on and won) and PLUS, one brother bought a car from the estate against his future inheritance so that will come off of his portion and another brother bought OUR car w/his portion so we'll get paid back for that car.

Even with all that it will still let the house-buyer have a few wins on what they asked for.

The house sits in a horrid neighborhood, so we've only had a few lookie-loos.

Hubster's Dad passed in November 2005 and we've been carrying all the expenses for the funeral, lawyers, repairing, updating the house and keeping it insured, taxes paid, and utilities on since then out of our personal budget.

While his Dad had some insurance that we did receive, with just one of us working full time it's still been taxing us!

We called for prayer from family and friends that they'd accept our counter-offer. We were trying for a win/win here. It is a well maintained home that was a one-owner since it was built in the early 1950's.

And Hubster deserves not to have to worry about it anymore!!! Or to have to mow the lawn, etc., this summer.

This morning 2/26 we got a call from our realtor that we have a deal and then later this morning we got emailed a copy of the signed contract so I feel a little more comfortable telling you about it.

The closing is set for late March of course. Also good news is that the buyer is already pre-approved for the purchase price and so we are hopefully soon set. The Hubster has a couple of minor repairs still to make since a window & fence was damaged in the ice storm but they are relatively easy fixes.

So, thank you Jesus for a sale and thank you friends, family, blogites, for all your support through this trying time. Keep your fingers crossed and prayers up that the inspection process and closing goes smoothly!

YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! YEEEE-HAWWWW - for us this means that the approximately $22,500 +/- a few dollars that we've laid out will soon be winging it's way back into our accounts, plus the Hubster's inherited portion of the proceeds, plus the portion for our old car, and then we can get the sibs their monies and wrap the estate up.

Hubster refuses to ding the estate for the interest we've lost on that money, but as I told you before, he's one of the good guys. I personally would get our interest back, but that's me, I'm more about business transactions being conducted fairly for EVERYONE.

The kids (5 of them) have had time to grieve their parents passing and are ready to relinquish the old home place.
Hopefully it's just what the buyers want and will make them a good home.


We are thrilled about the house selling.

Thank You Jesus, Thank You Jesus!!!

I'm absolutely thrilled I tell ya!!

Life's been busy. Went to see my Mom this week about 2 hours away. Collected money from my booth that is in her town and took a couple of boxes full of holiday items out of it and restocked w/one big box full of goodies taken from my other booth nearby me. This gives me a place to rotate items. I also pulled a couple of dolls out of the southern most booth #2 to put in #1 that had never been in booth #1.

Usually I go from booth #1 to booth #2 and then if after a while things don't move I then go ahead and donate them to our local women's shelter. They have a couple of garage sales a year to raise money.

This way I feel as if I've made an honest effort to get $$s for the items, but if they don't sell after a reasonable amount of time I become more comfortable with donating them.

I also won a few items from a local auction house this week, 3 chairs that I plan to resell. Also we went to a local auction the other night. Took FrugalSon and TheGrrl and a single lady from my SS class. We had a nice evening and I won most of the things I bid on which I will resell.

I'm going to include pic in this entry of the very nicely framed Indian painting that I bought at a garage sale late last year. The glass was broken on the picture so I paid $5.00 for it. My husband got the glass replaced for me for FREE. You may not be able to tell from the picture but it is quite large - sofa wall size. We took it over to the booth #1 on Saturday - listed for $250.00. If it doesn't sell at that price w/i a year, then I'll mark it down considerably and see what happens. Wish me luck!

I had to also go back this week to the clinic for a third time this month - now I have a cold and still the virus/stomach flu bug hangs on. GRRR! I'm ready to be well!!

Was told this time that there is no co-pay on my insurance for office visits. Not sure that is true, but it appears to be true for that clinic at least! Okay, I can live with that.

Frustrating the process is that this is the first year Hubster and I have signed up for the HSA at his work, which is supposed to have some kind of card with it, but there have been repeated mixups on the mailouts of the cards. I don't have a card YET, but supposedly there is some method for getting $$'s out refunded. This round of 4 scrips was in the $70 range. OUCH!! But that was a considerable savings off what it would have been w/o the insurance!


CashHappySon gave me 60 cents in dimes to add to the $20 Challenge.

$008.35 balance
+000.60 in dimes
________
$008.95 Feb MTD

2008 Challenge Total $040.85
Cumulative Challenge Total $569.46

Still trying to backtrack and capture what all happened in the last couple of weeks w/CashHappySon's Car Saga - these are captured notes from an email to a friend...

a/k/a
Lux's Semi Fast Car Sales -

"Youngest child sold the 89 Mercury that the backend's about to go out on last night (2/12) - $900 cash in - paid us back for the 94 Toyota with remaining new balance due $74.72 on that one that he no longer has.

We car shopped the bottom price point on Monday (2/11) and ended up pushing two of them off the street. Uhhhm, no thanks!! On the 12th we loaned him an additional $2250 to buy a 1993 Toyota Tercel w/83K miles on it.

The Lord blessed him with two willing buyers quickly - totalled Toyota and the Merc gone!! YEAH LORD!!! We had found a salvage that will sell the buyer a rear-end for the Mercury car for $100 bucks, so if that guy can get someone to put it in for him cheap, & fix an oil leak, he'll have a good car w/low low miles (less than 28K original).

So we started the week with 2 other cars and are ending it with just one that is drivable - FOR NOW. Hope the kid is learning something because Mom is tired of car shopping & car selling!

I have officially made my last car loan to my children, unless they get married and need something to drive a baby to the doctor in they can just forgedaboudit!! But, I'm not telling them that! And even then? Probably not. I'll just send a taxi or go myself.

The Lord blessed me yesterday (2/12) as well. I have a relative, an older female who when she was in her early 60's married a 96 year old multi-millionaire. He has since passed away, and she's remarried, but evidently she spends a great deal of time clothes shopping.

We took my Dad a load of wood yesterday and I came home with the entire back end of my truck filled with those giant 31 gallon plastic storage containers full of clothes from her, about 20 of those big BIG boxes full of NEW high-end clothes. I am spending my time this morning trying on clothes. Thankfully I carry rope behind my seat! Yeah for a girl truck!!

Miraculously they are almost all fitting. With curves you usually get clothes that fit one spot but not the others. I can normally try on 50 pairs of pants and find only one that fits w/o being alterted. This morning I've already tried on about 20 pairs and all but two pairs have fit and they are too short.

There are probably 90-100 pairs of dress pants here, 20 or so pair of jeans, 4 or 5 dresses, 4 skirts, 4 coats, about 25 blazers, 20-30 sweaters, 30 or 40 blouses, 3 pant suits, plus a few casual outfits as well. What doesn't fit is going to _______ Women's Shelter. That and most of the sweaters as I'm too hot natured to wear them very often. But, I think the Lord is fixing to send me back to work somewhere full time in an office. Otherwise there is no need for me to have this much stuff!

I'm going to have to find a couple of clothes racks to buy to fit all this stuff on as my closet will not hold any of it. I do not particularly like to go clothes shopping - so it's very VERY nice. I personally think she dials QVC & Home Shopping Network a bit too often!! But I'm very grateful for all the FREE FREE FREE beautiful nice things. Seems she has good taste. Not everything is 'me' but I can put it to good use.

Thank you Jesus!! The cup - It truly does runneth over!"

------------
But WAIT there's still more on the car saga!!!! Just so you guys know - Mom tried to be the voice of reason and kept saying why don't we just fix the 89 Mercury but of course being a teen he wanted something sportier and Dad thought since he'd run the oil low on it a couple of times that he'd probably done some damage that would result in serious consequences later. I'm no car expert but I'd of fixed what we had and kept it. It did take a bit of a while for the Mercury to sell w/it's problems advertised.

Adding the quarter from earlier in the week that I drove around in the movie parking lot to stop and pickup. Money is money folks and it does add up.

$20 CHALLENGE

$008.10 balance
+000.25 quada from the lot
________
$008.35 Feb MTD

2008 Challenge Total $40.25
Cumulative Challenge Total $568.86


Last night was Valentine's dinner at the BBQ/steakhouse with our SS class - $23.98 which included the gratuity for Hubster and I to both have a very nice juicy GOOD steak and taters and pop.

A nice time visiting w/class members - I've had to miss SS class for the last three weeks because of being sick, so it was nice to get to go out, sit and visit. Hubster and kids have been attending w/o me.

I was seated at the end of the table across from two single guys - one who is going thru a divorce w/2 kids and another who is long divorced w/2 kids. I did my best to keep up the ol' conversational ball and ask them about their lives. I remember those days when I was single and going to events w/couples - it can be sucky! Hopefully they weren't too bored talking about themselves!!

After coming home and commenting here on the blogs I went to bed early to read and let dinner digest - it was just enough - not overstuffed like you sometimes get - but just right. On the reading bedside table is: "Your Money or Your Life" by Dominquez. I'm re-reading it again for about the fourth time trying to get into doing ALL THE STEPS to see what I've missed that could be helpful in the ol' monetary quest.

And, "Daring To Be Yourself" by Alexandra Stoddard which points you towards living a life of graciousness and niceities and joy and such. Noting the small things and taking pleasure in them. Nice to be reminded to take time to smell those roses and to enjoy your home and to pick a lifestyle and creating a refuge and peaceful home that is pleasing, warm and loving to you and your family & inviting and welcoming to your friends and guests!

While I was sick I re-read a bunch of my Paul E. Erdman books. If you like money and reading then I think you'd enjoy most any of his fiction books.

I'm up early by myself this morning, having coffee w/the pupster dogs and reading some and blogging here. Off to get ready for church. Still soggy and rainy here. Spent $5 this week having Miss Sweet Black Toffee's toenails clipped. CashHappySon paid $5 for Miss Carmelita Corn to get hers done. It was one of the smoother easy-going times we've had together this month!

Lunch will be Yummy Steak -a chicken fry steak meat w/brown gravy and onion soup mix cooked in the crocko'pot, baked potatoes (foil slipped tightly over the top of the crock & small tates forked and slipped on it, domed lid on tight), green salad, iced tea and cherry cake for dessert.

Hope everyone has a blessed and relaxed Sunday. Enjoy yourself and love on your peoples!!

How about you - do you re-read books?

When it asks you to do literal steps do you sometimes do like me and just skip them thinking they don't apply?

The "Your Money or Your Life" book is a good one to re-read as there is much I missed and/or forgot/forget!! Good to be reminded!

I am going to try to actually do ALL the steps they suggest.

Have you read this book and done the steps?

Taking the $4 I got yesterday for selling books and adding it to the challenge. Also there are 3 cents here from the laundry fairy.

No. Not the ass in the picture. Isn't that from Shakespeare or some other midnight Summer's dream? Yes, it's been tooooooo many years since English Lit.

$20 CHALLENGE

$027.87 balance
+004.03 books/laundry fairy
________
$031.90 Jan MTD

2008 Challenge Total $31.90
Cumulative Challenge Total $560.51

Nobody claimed the pennies as theirs so, yeah, Anywhooooo...

Yesterday was a No Spend Day. Today looking like it will shape up similarly. Got to love those Back To Backs!! It's cold, Cold, COLD here today and I'm trying to stay inside. Have to run FrugalSon to work in a bit, but other than that I'm going to stay inside and toasty!

Posted a collectible book on Amazon yesterday for sale - I paid 50 cents for it at a garage sale last summer, just never got around to getting it posted for sale. Going list price for this rare badboy is in the $33ish range.

Also took pictures of my $5 to AT LEAST $125 if not more project and I'm still trying to decide where to sell it.

Any Shakespearean's here want to straighten me out?

Am I dreaming or was there a Prospero somewhere in Shakespeare land???

Nothing too exciting today. Just balancing accounts and doing filing and shredding! Boring but necessary.

Got the CC bill for the unexpected chainsaw purchase. Gaaa!! One expense I could have lived without. But Hubster sure looks fine in his flannel.

Received a $4 check for some books sold.

Thar's Gold On That There Asphalt!!

Well, maybe not gold, not in this instance anyway.

Yesterday afternoon both sons were off work and we tried to get ahold of their girlfriends last minute to go to the movies with us. Alas, the poor girlies missed out on a last minute date! We went to see Will Smith's "I Am Legend".

It was really good, but I had no idea it was a scary movie or I wouldn't have gone. I CUSSED out loud four different times in the movie when something jumped at me. I thought the old ticker was going to go at any minute.

I think I actually strained my shoulder by grabbing onto each boys shoulders as I sat in the middle.

Ohhh, and yeah, I did pick my feet up off the floor. You never know what scary thing is down there!! Wooooo.

After the movie we had to hurry home - IT WAS GETTING DARK!!! I saw a bit of shiny-shiny on the ground by the truck. So, looking carefully around to be sure no boogies were going to get me I grabbed that puppy up - it was a dime.

So, as you all know I've been collecting money WHERE-EVER I can find it since my Grampa H. taught me when I was knee-high to the proverbial grasshopper - We now can ascertain that I'm willing to risk being bit by the Boogie-Men to pick up a dime!

Man, was I glad to get home safe!

**I don't DO scary movies people and this here just proved my point. Of course both word police sons' first words out of their mouths when we got home was to tell Hubster "Dad, Mom cussed during the movie - FOUR TIMES!!!"

hahahhahaaaaaaaaa!

Hilarious.

I said it loud too where everyone could hear me*!! "OHHHHHHHH Shoot!" Or something like that!

*I'm kind of public safety minded that way - I was giving warning to the other citizens of the theatre to let's get the heck out'a here!!!

Anyway, I'm taking my dime**to the challenge.

$20 CHALLENGE
$015.32 balance
+000.10 The Risk Queen Salvaged
_______
$015.42 Jan MTD

2008 Challenge Total $15.42
Cumulative Challenge Total $544.03


**Effectively bringing down the cost of going to the movie by 10 cents. Matinee costs yesterday were $5.00 - I bought for myself and CashHappySon, so only $4.90 for me this time. FrugalSon paid his own way. We also got the DREADED fast food yesterday - but with FrugalSon's employee discount it was only $3.27 for all three of us to each have a burger & fries, w/water to drink from home!


Soooo, check that asphalt people. There's gold and silver and folding money to be found out there! But, do watch for the night boogies. And light up the dark!!

You can read the book it is based on here:

http://www.amazon.com/I-Am-Legend-Richard-Matheson/dp/076531...

Or light up your dark-night here:
http://www.amazon.com/Best-Bob-Marley/dp/079359412X/ref=sr_1...

How about you - do you nightmare from scary movies? I don't, but I don't like them.

Do you pick up money when you find it on the ground?

He did it again.

$20 CHALLENGE

$014.58 balance
+000.74 CashHappy contributes
_______
$015.32 Jan MTD

2008 Challenge Total $15.32
Cumulative Challenge Total $543.93

Okay here are some actual numbers from Booth 1 sales for December 2007.

Total Sales $130.00
less 10% -13.00 (store owner)
___________________
117.00
less rent -50.00 lg. upstairs booth
___________________
67.00
less adver. -5.00
___________________
Check $62.00
inv. cost -11.71
___________________
Profit* $50.29

*Does not include taxes that must be paid, gasoline or my time to run it over there - I grocery shop at the same time, nor my time to price, or tithe - but it is nice to know that w/just $11.71 I can net sales of $130!

Sold 33 separate items which would average out at about $3.94 an item. I do have some large items in my booth, and nothing big sold this month, the most expensive one item went for $14.50.

I do try to keep a lot of 'smalls' in my booth as sometimes that is the only thing that sells. I remember my early days of 'junking' and I was happy to shop all day, but did want to bring some little something home for all my 'efforts' - HA! Thusly, I do try to have items in all kinds of price ranges available for my shoppers. I think my sales would about triple if I could get a downstairs space.

So, $31 to the Roth IRA today after I hit the bank w/the check I picked up yesterday. Booth 2 results are too sad to mention for December.

CashHappySon handed me $1.16 in change to go to the challenge. He is so cavalier about money it is scary.

$20 CHALLENGE
$007.83 balance
+001.16 parted with all too easily
_______
$008.99 Jan MTD

2008 Challenge Total $8.99
Cumulative Challenge Total $537.60

Yesterday was a spender as HouseBudget spent a boatload on gas to fill up my truck. I took a load of firewood to my Dad about an hour away and then drove on to my Mom's to restock my junque' booth #2 and pick up December sales at #1 & 2 booths. Phhppfftt...those #2 sales not worth driving for (did meet my rent, got rid of some junk with a little left over*), but it does make me MORE regular in getting down to see her - she lives approximately 2 hours away.

Since both boys were off I took them with me to unload the wood and to see the grandparents, so it was $9.90 at the Golden Arches for lunch for the three of us (just the way the schedule turned out that we were between their houses at lunchtime or we'd of normally eaten with one or the other of them) AND $1.75 in toll charges.

*My other booth did meet it's December expenses plus $62.00 in income. Good thing I'm not trying to LIVE off of this money as it is very irregular! Now to figure out the profit...

Half of the income will go directly to my Roth IRA and the rest plowed back into more inventory.

Perfect!!! Fruga