FrugalSon and I made a run to drop off 'good junk' in my antique booth and we drove by the car repair shop and there was Hubster's car all de-bumperfied getting itself fixed. We stopped by Wendy's for a Frosty Treat at $2.16. Got to keep my totin' & carryin' guys happy!

Then we stopped by our rural water department and opted out of their newest services...charging us for ambulance and fire services on a monthly basis. Personally I'll take the risk myself and keep my money invested elsewhere and if we need either of these services will pay the going rate at that time. This would have put my water bill at over $50 a month and it's just too, too much already! ARGGGHHH!!! I feel like someone is always trying to get into our pockets!

Stay Out of My Pockets!!

I wrote a big long blog entry on Saturday and then it went to blooper heaven by some strange flick of the wrist! AUGGHHH!!!

The boys keep handing me their change (good guys, eh?) so I'm adding to the challenge:

$20 CHALLENGE

$06.20 balance
+02.20 change gifts
______
$08.40 June MTD

2007 Total $171.19
Cumulative Total $297.30

Scheduled our upcoming vacation a couple of weeks ago - we'll be heading to Tucson in July. Hubster wanted to go somewhere 'warm'. Warm we'll be, I suppose, at least during the daytime hours. We'll be using our timeshare exchange to a nice resort for 7 days and the fee to use it is $135 to exchange and beyond that we've a budget of $600.00. Most of that will be for gasoline, 2 nights hotels w/continental breakfasts and we take most of our own groceries with us and eat out only a couple of times on our trips. Last year we came home with money leftover! Get out of here you say, no way? Yes way, we squeak those Lincolns ba-bee!!!

Hubster got his car tires the other day and by doing even more diligent shopping he was able to carve another $200 off of his cost and we're using the extra that we'd saved for that to fix the scratch he got on the back of the car a few months back when he didn't listen to me and use the truck to haul a bicycle - estimate to repair? $340.00. OUCH! Fellows, sometimes the little lady can be right and it might be worthwhile to listen - and NO, I didn't say I told you so, tempting as it was!

From CashHappySon is $1.35 in change to go to the $20 Challenge!

$20 Challenge
$09.02 balance
+01.35 coaster cleanup
______
$10.37 April MTD

2007 Cumulative Total $123.34
Challenge Cumulative Total $249.45

Yesterday I went out to lunch w/my Mom & StepDad and spent money for lunch, but truly with the here's my half, here's my portion of the tip, etc, that went on w/o asking for separate tickets up front and I'm not really sure how much I ended up spending - somewhere in the $15.00 dollar ballpark for FrugalSon and my portions. Ugh. I'd rather know exactly!

CashHappySon got his muffler/exhaust pipes fixed the other day for a whopping $25.00 repair bill! I was totally shocked as I had steeled us all for a $200-$225 bill! Thank You Jesus!!!! The kid had just about emptied his car repair fund and was getting ready to have to dip into his emergency fund.

I made my final 2006 contribution to my IRA fully funding it.

So, that means that THE Hubster put his full $5000 in this year and I put in my $4000! That's the first time we've been able to fully fund both of them! I'm thrilled I tell ya, thrilled!!!

I would certainly like to get all of 2007's put in during the calendar year this year as carrying over what got put where when in what year can get a bit confusing! I like having ours at Fidelity as they keep a nice little running total for you.

For the kiddos: Both were able to put back $1200 into their IRAs this year with hopes/plans/budget forecasts to increase it this coming year. CashHappySon makes enough money he could seriously up his contributions this year, but FrugalSon doesn't make as much and we are already squeezing his little salary as far as we can! Perhaps another part-time job is in order.

Spinning Wheels



Okay, life has been revolving on without me and rather sucky over here with the crappy recurring blue-funk 'lost my voice' cold/virus/whatever that we kept passing back around and around at my house. To update the info over on the right...

Paid another $419 on the house - 353.96 normal payment and 65.04 in extra principal. I will update the new balances later.

In Piggy for $20 Challenge for the month is: $23.10 - that is now going into my Roth IRA instead of to the mortgage as I was doing in the past. And speaking of the ol' Roth it finally made it's way from ING over to Fidelity.

Lawseeeeeee, but those folks sho' do take their own little sweet time getting this stuff done. You may not remember but I made my first inquiry into doing this in late DECEMBER folks and it just made it to Fidelity this past week! Sheeesh!!!

We mailed all the paperwork in one envelope for the entire family's Roth IRA accounts over to Fidelity on the same day back in early January I believe. In February I had to mail it again since because true to everyone's predictions of course it must of got lost over at ING!

Hubster's got moved about 3 weeks ago. Mine went early in the past week. CashHappy & Frugal's had to have paperwork mailed a THIRD time!!! I've had to call several times as well.

CashHappySon's made it over yesterday.


And get this -- FrugalSon's is still sitting in ING!


Another call to Fidelity yesterday and hopefully things are moving again. It be enough to make a body pull the very hairs out of their head! Nothing like feeling you are spinning your wheels, heh? THIS is how 'banks/brokerages' act when you want to move your money OUT - but don't YOU dare be late making a payment! GRRRRR and ARRRRGGGHHH!!!!

So far in my Roth at Fidelity I've gone w/FFNOX and FAGIX. I'm still deciding where else to go.

For March to my ADDITIONAL retirement savings goes the bank run money which evened out to a nice $10.11 in change & my regular $42.00 contribution this month. Nothing too exciting.

Of other QUICK news I did read Suze Orman's new book in March and started my $50 account at Ameritrade. We'll see how it goes. Depending on income this may set me back in my keeping up the $42 autodraft on the BankRun monies. I'm hoping that there is enough coming in to do both.

Besides being sick for most of it and as March was a rather long month following the shorter days for earnings of February let us just say that I've had quite a few days of No Spending during March. AND, that I've gotten quite creative in stretching out the pantry goods for meals.

Only one more day till I spend money again! YEEHAH!!! My refrigerator will be grateful for something to cool off! And my crew is getting ready for some 'fresher' foods.

(Do not worry - there was plenty to eat and plenty of money here that I could have gone and spent I am just working very hard to keep w/the YNAB philosophy of only spending last month's earnings in the next month.) Sticking with a budget is more difficult some months than others!

Suit Up And Head For The Exit!!



Among other things my folks got me a gift card to JC Penney's for Christmas. FrugalSon and I took off this afternoon and made it into the big city and hit the store. I've been reading my Missus Smarty Pants stuff...

http://missussmartypants.com/

...and trying to follow along on some of her advice. I determined before I went what I NEEDED and went and got that.

And if I think I may re-enter the corporate world anytime soon what I needed was a plain solid black blazer. As luck would have it JCP's was having a nice sale and I was able to get the suit skirt to match. Ta-Da!! Done! I only had to add a few CASH dollars to the gift card to get both pieces so I'm tickled with the purchase.

Just got off the phone with the Mother Figure to let her know what I was able to get and to thank her! YEAH MOM!!

Of course I did take a small gander at a few other trendy things but was easily able to leave them behind. In, suited up and then we hit the exit - time in store 15 minutes tops!

QUICKIES ala Broken Arrow Style



*Adding to the Challenge money from CashHappySon donation.

$20 CHALLENGE
$35.43 balance
+00.83 generous manchild
_____
$36.26 Jan MTD

2007 Challenge $36.26
Cumulative Total $162.37

*FrugalSon worked yesterday, Hubster dug out ice in driveway and CashHappySon and I went to the movies to see Night At The Museum which was pretty cute. Somewhat better than I expected. Of financial note is that our matinee movies have now gone up to $2.25 from $2.00. Have to readjust my yearly entertainment budget now from $24.00 to 27.00! OWWWWWW!!
Not painful, but still I'd rather that they hadn't hiked it! Even a quarter makes my Frugalicious Gene (TM) pucker!!

*FrugalSon got a dime raise on his check yesterday.

*I got headhunted for a very nice job - went for the interview - turns out it would be commissioned based sales and I'm just not interested in sales. Was nice to be sought out though and the commissions would be quite substantial but still I'm just not into sales - I've done it before and it's not quite my cup of tea.

*Hubster and I went and spent about 3 and half hours picking out the doors and hardware for our interior/exterior doors and they are now coming up w/a quote as much of it will be custom cut to fit our odd sized doorways. Hoping to get loads of the doors done for little cash, but that might be asking a bit much!

*Quote for CashHappySon's car insurance is ridiculous. Both boys are going to go together and each pay their own amount based on their respective vehicles, but they'll get a multi-car discount. Still, too much though!! OUCH!!! Hubster and I do not want them on our insurance - as we would hate to be financially liable if they were to seriously hurt someone in a car accident.

*Estimate from the country treasurer says that our house taxes are going up by a mere $5.00 next year - which isn't too bad you know!

*Think I'll go drink a cup of serenity!

Tidying Up Loose Ends

Spent last evening tidying up the loose ends on the office front. Money to Hubster and my Roth IRAs. We had cancelled the automatic drafts at ING but still want to put our monthly amounts in and went ahead and did that because I'm not sure just how long it will take for them to rollover to Fidelity. Moved & done!

Then moving more dollars that came out of ING savings on over to Emigrant for myself, CashHappySon, FrugalSon and The Hubster. Moved & done!!

Tidying up the little loose ends makes me feel much better. The mind noise - the nagging sound of interest being lost - can now SHUT UP!!

Yeah!

Done & DONE!!

Now reading CubeChic:



I don't have a cubicle, but if I did, I like the one on the front cover - only slightly less on the nick-nackery.

Washed That Orange Right Out of My Hair!




I sent in the paperwork yesterday to change all four (mine, Hubster's, FrugalSon's and CashHappy's) of our Roth IRA's to Fidelity from that orange place! Ahhhh, now that feels better! I know it may take a bit for it to all settle out, but am glad to get that taken care of!

Peel THAT oh orange place! Of course, I'm filing this one under Kiss My Assets! (Nope that's not our lil' happy fambly! We're all WAY prettier than that!)



Kiss Off Orange

Is She Typhoid Mary? LuckyRobin's Avoidance Fever

I seem to have caught LuckyRobin's Avoidance fever! FrugalSon is off today and I used that as an excuse not to work on the budgets but to rearrange furniture!

We have completely moved my room back to it's normal bed position after the window & blind installation got completed this weekend.

Moved The Hubster's dresser out of CashHappy's room and into our bedroom and taken the ugly bookshelf of Hubster's audio & media stuff out of our bedroom and put it in the place the dresser was in CashHappy's room.

Too much stuff - too little house.

Actually I have a big house it's just that folks want everything on the main floor when some of it could concievably be better accomodated in the basement.



This moving of furniture will allow the door-hanger guys to get to The Hubster's closet to put in a closet door. There hasn't been a door on his closet since we moved here! Only a curtain over it. I'll be so glad when this gets done!! They sent a second guy out to measure the other day as the first guy just wanted to be sure he got it all straight. Nothing here is standard measurements!!

The Hubster called the window people today - they are the ones putting in the sliding door and asked when they were coming back! They took off the awnings and threw them in the yard...they were supposed to haul them off. They've left broken glass in the yard, also supposed to be gone and hadn't bothered to notify us of when they intended to come back and put in the sliding glass door.

Okay - they haven't got paid the second half of the balance as the sliding door isn't installed yet - they have to rent a concrete saw, but hey, get the trash out of my yard if you're just gonna drive off into the sunset peeps!!

Oy vey!!

He says they are planning to show up Thursday - now wouldn't it have been nice of them to check and see if Thursday works for us???? Oh well, I will make it work!

A Stay At Home Sunday

Today has been a stay at home Sunday for us - working on getting all the new plantation shutters up and adjusted, painting out one of the windowsills that had to be replaced and working on getting all four (CashHappySon, FrugalSon, mine, and Household) of our 2007 January budgets in place while upgrading to the new YNAB 3.1 version.

I'm a slow learner on new upgrades, besides it being the change from one year to the next and on top of that we each have boo-coo entries in our checkbooks for December as we closed out all our orange savings and CD accounts. Much to keep straight as to where it goes!!

I've got FrugalSon's done and caught up to the moment - only three more to go!

DEEP SIGH!!



Budgeting and book-keeping is something I usually enjoy - when I'm somewhat current. With so many transactions it does get confusing!

Staying at home makes it a no-spender for me!

Only 363 days until 2008 and we have football fever here. No, not your everyday boob tube football fever, no tail-gate parties, no crisp air, hot cheerleader's kinda' fever.

Boring football fever.

Boring that is unless you have the dna of a fruggie. Gifted with the Frugalicious Gene (tm), that is.

Yesterday FrugalSon and I were cleaning out his room when we came upon some of the leftover boxes from when my FIL lived with us.

In there was one of those little plastic football shaped coin purses from the 60's and 70's like the one pictured above. This one was even decorated like a football and in it was .94 cents.

The Hubster says I can have it for the $20 Challenge. Thanks Pops!! I miss you!

~~~~~~~~HOLLABACK~~~~~~~

!!TOUCHDOWN!! She scores!

$20 CHALLENGE
$1.71 balance
+0.94 Pops was a team player
_____
$2.65 Jan MTD

2007 Challenge YTD Total $2.65

Cummulative Total $128.76

Slacker Redeemed at the Ninth Hour



Whhheeeeeeweeeee! (barely ducking in under the wire!)

I freely admit with all the family bickering, holidays, mom-taxi-ing, home remodel projects, Hubster vacationing at home, and all the other life stuff that's been going on this month I have slacked on my $20 Challenge.

However, luck would have it that FrugalSon came up with about $50 in Christmas cash that he gave to me yesterday afternoon to prepay on his truck loan that he owes Mom & Dad.

Well, I'm appropriating $25.00 of it (yes he gets credited w/all $50.00 on his payment schedule) to add to my $20 Challenge and adding the remaining .37 cents from a wallet clean-out to get to the fatter $30+ I said early in the month that I wanted to meet on this month's challenge.

So...to wrap up the year on a good note...

$20 CHALLENGE
$04.64 balance
+25.37 last minute save
______
$30.01 Dec MTD

Cummulative Total $123.00

The Thrill of Victory!! Off to a rocky start, but I'm hot on your heels Ima!!!

Will definitely try to get my mind back in the game now that most of the house stuff is done!

Pamper Me Pamplona

Okay - Between Flylady's posting about pampering ourselves and my extended family acting all crappy about Christmas I decided that the last two days was a PAMPER MYSELF necessity!

FrugalSon and I went to see 'The Holiday' with Cameron Diaz and Jude Law! A very nice movie that I would watch again and again.

Watching that reminded me that I'd been wanting a haircut and I'd had mine styled similarly to Cameron's before so I went for it -- a cross between Diaz



and Sandra Bullock's.



While at the Supercuts (I wanted to go to a nicer place where the stylist takes more individual time with you - but the budget did not allow PLUS I had a Supercuts coupon!) ...anywazsoz' I decided while there I should do something else for myself that I've been wanting to try. I was up until yesterday an eyebrow virgin. Meaning I never pluck, shape, sugar or do that weird thing with floss.

I had my eyebrows waxed for an expenditure of about 12.50 or so. It was good. The shop was virtually empty so all three of the girls 'did me!' One cut my hair and the other two did the eyebrows. Fortunately both eyebrows match!!

THEN, I went further and went to Cato Fashions. I had been reading my MissusSmartyPants stuff and thinking I needed a fresh look. So while there I got myself a new pair of basic black pants that actually fit me perfectly. As you ladies know that is a Major FEAT unto it's own. There is usually always something a bit off. These were regularly priced at 19.99. And I got a very cute and flattering top to wear to Christmas at my Mom's and will work well with the pants and also go with a long black skirt for church later. My color, a flattering blue/green that makes me ol' hazel eyes blue for the duration. Daring decollatouge' and all. Woo-hoo it was on the clearance rack for $5.99 velvet bodice ribbon and all! A SCORE!

Next up was a trip next door to the Payless Shoe store where I was able to purchase at the BOGO sale and got myself a very nice black flat everyday type (working world) dress shoe and a pair of black tennis shoes.

I know I know I said I wasn't going to buy any more shoes this year so I've blown my Vow (See Thrifty Ray's Vow post). I needed new walking shoes in the worst way. I've had three foot surgeries and shoes that fit and are on sale are hard to run into in the same breath. I promise to only wear them once this year to Mom's (it's an outfit) and then will put them away till January 1, Thrifty Ray!!

Okay, so I went a little wild. But hey, I look hot, and my feet will thank me later!

So a day of pamper me luxury - a very rare thing - and if my internal adding machine is working I'm somewhere in the $99 dollar range. Not too bad - but I don't make a habit of this kinda thing. Matter of fact I can't even remember the last time I did such a thing (maybe four or five years ago) which tells you it was long over due!

Wow -- Broken Arrow - it really does feel good to confess our indulgences! BTW, I love the tea-light lamp!!

Tres' Chic!

Like the 'new and improved' me!

Adding $0.36 to the $20 Challenge



Here we go, watch me now!

$20 CHALLENGE
$00.50 balance
+00.36 watch her go
______
$00.86 Dec MTD

Cummulative Total $93.85

It took me an hour this morning to slide FrugalSon to work - even with my truck loaded down with snow in the backend. It took 45 minutes to get back home as some of the traffic had cleared out.

The truck even had frost on the inside of the windows which is a new one on me as I've lived here ALOT OF YEARS (I almost slipped and told you how old I am!) and have never seen it do that before!

I did pass a place this morning on the way home, not in my normal track, but they had a Wanted: shop helper sign up and I called and I'm going to take FrugalSon by there on our way home this afternoon to see if he can get that job and do away with the burgercentral position.

They've got decent pay at this place - hope he gets the job then he could go to having one full time position instead of the way we've been doing it! Send up your prayers if you're the praying kind! Thanks!

Perhaps we can go sledding this afternoon once he's through with the interview.

Downsized

While my brother was in the hospital we got a call that FrugalSon's morning job will be downsized out of existence as of the end of the year. Budget constraints due entirely to the fact that one man on staff could not control himself morally and left the place in a financial shambles as a result. ARRRGHHH.

FrugalSon still has his afternoon / evening job at burgercentral, but we are on the lookout for one full time job that will pay him enough so that he can quit job 2 as well.

Mom doesn't mind the not having to drive 20 minutes each way to drop off and pick-up, but I was hoping that he'd be able to keep that job for a long time!! Nice benefits and a 403b. Oh well. He would have been there 2 years this coming February.



Have to keep stepping up that stairway of success and try not to trip on the broken rungs, eh? This has resulted in FrugalSon learning that our moral /social behaviours often affect others whether we mean for it to or not. He has learned a life lesson here and is confused/saddened/angered all at the same time by the resulting loss of respect he felt for the man along with the financial repurcussions to his own concerns!

I'm hoping that this all leads FrugalSon along a better path and an even brighter future.

Does anybody know if FrugalSon would qualify for unemployment if he still has some compensation from the second job??

Bank Run - 02 December 2006



Bank run for today was $2.58. The Hubster had to drive me as we boondocked over the washboard ice from the blizzard! We had to get out to take FrugalSon to work anyway. He missed yesterday and the day before that because of the snow. CashHappySon didn't work yesterday or today because of it as it is too far to drive in this ice!

The Hubster dug out from 8:00 a.m. to 11:50 yesterday morning in order to get his car out of the driveway and went in to work and left at 4:00. The day before it had taken him 1 hour and 45 minutes to get home from what is a normal 20 minute commute.

Okay, back to bank runs - I didn't get to do some during my brother's stay in hospital (8 days) so November came up a bit short.

The Bank Run money IS deposited every week when I can get it there (and haven't spent it on crappy hospital cafeteria food) and then moved the same day to Emigrant in a specially marked retirement account there where it resides until I decide WHERE I want to invest next.

Right now I'm closing in on close to $750.00 in this account and will probably pop it off to some other investment at that time depending on the interest rate climate at that time. This account is also fed by a line item in my personal budget each month.

December Bank Runs $2.58

Cummulative Bank Runs $30.20

Whole Hog


Piggy goes Whole Hog and gets a supersize meal today of $12.29 in a purse cleanout to try and meet the November challenge! $6.29 was in (HEAVY) change alone -- oh my aching shoulder thanks ye Piggy!! A penny of this was found in the parking lot of FrugalSon's employment this morning.

$20 CHALLENGE

$08.02 balance
+12.29 whole hog
______
$20.31 November MTD

Cummulative Total $90.85

Lincoln Lover

FrugalSon gave me 80 cents before he left for burgercentral!

I really appreciate him feeding Piggy as it is truly hard for the kid to turn loose of money! He pinches those Lincoln's baby.



Adding it to the challenge:

$20 CHALLENGE
6.46 balance
+.80 Lincoln Lover
____
7.26 Nov MTD

Cummulative Total $77.80

Got It At The Curbe' Mall

Saw a free chair by the curb this a.m. and stopped, asked the lady about it and was able to snag it for CashHappySon who wants to move out. It might not be his first pick but HEY, it was FREE Dude!!

Looks a lot like this:



Worst comes to worst he can toss a blanket over it and viola - a place to sit. And when he's done with it he can sit it out at the curb!

Later I went to a garage sale and the guy gave me a free box of oil paints that had been marked $5.00 for the box. FREE - can't beat it!

Did buy three tables from him - two twig tables for $5 lg. & $3 small that I'll resell at my booth for likely 10 & 6.

Got CashHappy one of those round doowhicky tables the el-cheapo kind you throw a round tablecloth on for a bedside table. He doesn't have one here. Paid a $1 for it.

FrugalSon was with me and he bought himself a little knife in a sheath for $2.50.

A Laundry Tip & Margaritaville



First off let me just apologize to Jimmy Buffett as I'm not into stealing your hits man!

I'm having to adjust myself to the new schedules of folks around here. Moving the laundry to the dryer (formerly CashHappy's chore upon arising) this morning I found a quarter.

FrugalSon used to fold & put away in between job 1 and 2 at lunchtime and I'm trying to eliminate him coming all the way home in the middle of the day and we're packing him a lunch so when I pick him up at job 1 I can just drop him at job 2 w/o going back out! This taxi business is aging me! The Hubster does his own laundry (his choice) on the weekends. Now I've got the guys starting their wash at night before bed, and I'll move it to dryer in the mornings.

FYI: According to an article in SouthportToday, "Americans spend between seven and nine hours each week cleaning their clothes, according to a survey by Procter & Gamble. That’s a whopping quarter-ton of dirty laundry per person every year."

Uhhhh, I think folks are going to need to leave a bit more than a quarter in their pockets if that be the case. With four of us here currently that means we'll be doing a ton of laundry a year, literally! Egads - remember the days of seven at home!

Even so with just currently four the laundry lady may have to up the anty a bit then!

Taking it to the challenge:

$20 CHALLENGE
6.21 balance
+.25 laundry tip
____
6.46 Nov MTD

Cummulative Total $77.00

I saw a sign once - a smiling apron wearing lady of the 50's thereupon said "I finished your laundry - the ashes are in the fireplace!" heeeheeeee Cute! Guess I'll just waste away here doing the laundry!

I have that same exact washing machine in my garden with one of those neon green Margarita (ornamental sweet potato) vines growing in it! This plant really pops w/it's bright color and looks good trailing over the sides. The bottom of wash tub is painted black to match the shutter trim on the garden barn. Found it in the dump area that the renters/former owners had back behind the house by the creek. We literally had to dig it out of the creekbank.


Pretty!

Today was also a no-spend for me! YA-LA-LU-YA!!

Regained the $35.00 I loaned to CashHappySon this past weekend for his jeans and end-tables. Good thing as this was part of my allowance and part of husband's allowance money for later in the month. This will balance the ol' wallet back to where it's supposed to be!

Last night The Hubster fixed the wire hanger on the back of the great new mirror I got at the garage sale ($3.00 for this huge big ornate mirror) so it can hang a different direction and got it installed by the back door! Looks good!


FrugalSon is making spaghetti for supper. Smells really good - gotta go get me some!!

A Suppressed Head

Did some of my Christmas shopping at the grocery store today! Love it - fundies for $4.00 for 3 pair, couple of big bags of peanuts for my brother, giant hot sauce for CashHappySon, de-icer for FrugalSon, t-towels and dishcloths for sister, niece, niece-in-law, ex-sis in law, mother - all five of these gifts for 14.00 total, candy for stocking stuffers, etc. Total here was $48.87, a dollar of which was for a loaf of bread. The rest comes out of the budgeted and saved for Gift Escrow.


Whittling the Christmas list down!!

Voted today.

Took CashHappySon to the orthodontist and found out that they will be putting braces on his upper teeth as well, which is basically a surprise to me as I asked the doc about this when we started and then the answer was No.

...hmmmm...I'll be having further discussions with them about this on the phone tomorrow as the kidster is the one paying for it and the lowers will put him in hock a good little while and if the upper ones will cost him more then I'm gonna up the stink level! His upper teeth appear fine, he just had an extra lower tooth that needed help! Always somethang', isn't it?? Then after the ortho it was off to work time for him.

Picked up and dropped off FrugalSon at his two jobs. Picked up CashHappySon from his job. Tired now. Something off with the blood pressure or some other body parts as today I have had a feeling of suppression.

Just took my blood pressure and will be reporting the numbers to the nurses in the family to see if I'm dead yet! Just an off feeling kinda like the feeling when your ears are stopped up but it's not in my ears but in my head. Weird. A suppressed head. Surely some humor in that but at the moment I can't come forth with it! :/

Tired Already!

Yesterday - Sunday November 5th 2006, was a no spend day! YEAH!

I did have to go into FrugalSon's work last night - thought I was going to have to *beat up* the asst. manager (really only a pup himself) for taking $5.00 from FrugalSon for a scratch that another kid put on his truck! SHEESH!

Anyway, that was FrugalSon's money for getting his haircut today! Ohhhh I was steaming! This place he works at is a mad house I tell ya and the supposedly adult managers are the worst of the bunch!

Yes, we got the 5 spot back but only after making a special trip and no the kid-manager would not come out and talk to me...I think he was scared. He ought to be VERY VERY scared as he has pulled an offense or two w/my kids that could easily land him in jail for a very, VERY long time!! ARRRGGHH!!

We just had an hour long conference with the main store manager on Friday. Good grief what a pain in the posterior!!

FrugalSon is 20 years old but tall, skinny looking couldn't beat his way out of a paper bag kid and he has some 'issues' that left him developmentally delayed. When people go to messing with him I'm ready to go to full scale war! Do not mess w/this Momma's cubs or you'll come away without a limb. That this JERK was trying to take advantage of him did not set too kindly.


Poor Hubster, I was out of my nightgown and into my clothes and out the door so quick that he didn't know what was even going on hardly when pft-zip-shazam I was back w/kid and dollars in tow! I did manage to tell him to be prepared to come bail me out of jail if I need you in a few minutes before we left.

Wha-happun????

heeheeee!

Today I'm going over to rework my booth this afternoon - right after FrugalSon gets off from work, gets his haircut and can go over to help me rearrange the big pieces of furniture. Thankfully he's off from burgercentral this afternoon and CashHappySon is already off at his new job and will be there till 5:00.

Sheets are in the dryer, chicken is in the marinade, dishwasher is run, 2 loads of laundry already done and ready to be put away. While I'm out I'm off to our joint checking bank to make a deposit into our 'Future Foundation' fund of $174.00.

When I get back I have major reading to do on selecting FrugalSon's health insurance coverage for the new year.

I'm tired already!

The Last Red Hot



CashHappySon gave me .72 for Piggy. This may be the last of the CashHappySon donations for awhile as he was called on Thursday to come in to his new job! YEAH!!!

He got four hours on Thursday and ten on Friday and will be going in to work from 7-12 today! This job is a grown up man's job and like I said in an earlier post will give him a lifelong skill and one that he could support a family on if he'll stick with it.

Of course he had to go make expenditures of $109.00 to get himself started with steel toe boots, gloves, safety goggles, box blade, lunch supplies (no more free meals at work ) and a cell phone.

Some days he'll be able to put in 12 hours a day. This boy is 18 years old and still does not have his driver's license. Working on the permit and we'll try to get over and take the written driver's test on Tuesday when he takes off for his orthodontist appointment.

So, in case he gets the extra hours he needed some way to contact me and let me know not to come and get him at 5:00 p.m. AND, once he starts driving himself WE WILL BE in contact about his whereabouts, and his car isn't the latest and greatest, so he bought himself a pay as you go cell phone.

Yes, he has a car but no license. I've been toting him to work for over a year and since he wouldn't put in the work to get the license I saw no need to put the miles on my truck so he anteed up his dollars and bought one earlier in the year. Not the greatest but fit his budget and he was able to pay cash for it. He knew I was going to be going to burgercentral anyway because of FrugalSon who is 20 and only has a driving permit.

Now, FrugalSon does have some learning difficulties (another whopper of a tale) and that may be all he'll ever be able to do, but CashHappy just took it as his right to just ride along and coast on the getting the driver's license dealy-who. Go figure! The Hubster and I both lusted after the freedom that driving would allow us as teenagers. We haven't quite figured out why these two aren't rushing for the gates! Too easy at home I guess. The other three kids took off early in their driving flight for freedom. The difference is that the last two were homeschooled in comparison w/the other three going to public school where peer pressure had to play some part.

So therefore and forthwith, Mom was the big bad meanie who wouldn't let CashHappySon sign a cell phone contract. He's too flightish at the moment to be hooking himself into payments. He's getting better and did make the year at burger place so he's on the right track, but still I didn't want him to be locked into monthly payments on a cellphone.

This ability to pull 109.00 out of the thin air (from HIS Emergency Fund) on a moment's notice has finally shown him the wisdom of Mom's ways. He had fought me tooth and nail over putting his money back, but yesterday he was glad of it!

At any rate the last of the red hot contributions to my challenge may have come to a screeching halt. I think him gaining useful skills and bigger money is worth it! Don't you?

I mean really, at some point we have to wean these babies when they are taller than you and have a five o'clock shadow at noon!! We do, don't we????

$20 CHALLENGE
$2.16 balance
+0.72 last red hot
_____
$2.88 Nov MTD

Cummulative Total $73.42

Mind Games & Dining Out Treats



Yesterday I finished reading 'Revenge of the Middle Aged Woman' by Elizabeth Buchan which was pretty cute. This book was a gift. It's still in perfect shape so will be re-gifting for Christmas to someone else on my list. Currently reading 'A Random Walk Down Wall Street', which I picked up for a quarter at a garage sale this past week.

Yesterday FrugalSon went to work in his costume. He went as a Manager from his place of employment at burgercentral. The managers in this operation all wear a different color shirt and a tie. Funny thing is that everyone thought that he had been promoted which just blew a few of their lil' minds!

heheeheee!!

I would've loved to have been a fly on the wall in the break room. He hasn't been employed there all that long, maybe 6-8 months. Can't you hear their wheels spinning, "To think that newbie could have been promoted over me!" I loved that he came up with the idea all on his own. Too cool!

CashHappySon gave me $2.16 for Piggy. Plus he took me out to eat at a local chicken place yesterday for lunch and treated me to a $1.09 sausage biscuit from Braum's this morning as we were out running his errands.

$20 CHALLENGE
00.00 balance
+2.16 generous son
_____
$2.16 November Month To Date

Cummulative Total $72.70

Catching Up Update - Up Up I say!

Sunday was a no spend day. FREE breakfast in Sunday School class. Somebody brought Braum's sausage biscuits which were really good. I had never eaten one before. There were other things such as FREE muffins, FREE coffeecake, and FREE coffee. Hallelujah!

Monday was also a no-cash spend day for me. The Hubster did however make the downpayment on the windows which we'll be paying cash for! No payments, yeah!!

Over the weekend FrugalSon had to make a big car repair expense to his lil' truck, a whopping $2.17 for new fuses so his horn could beep once again.

Yesterday morning The Hubster was looking for his snackcakes (his one big requirement for a happy worklife) and so we trotted down to the basement to the freezer only to find that everything in there was thawing out! Glad we made the visit.

When I returned from my morning errand CashHappySon and I worked on throwing out what needed tossing ($$'s down the drain) and getting the rest into the cooler. Then upstairs to shuffle the refrigerator's freezer to fit in as much as we could.

Ended up cooking some of the meat in the crockpot for the dogs. Nice treats! ...and cooked about three packages of sausage links for the boys.

Those wouldn't fit into the upstairs freezer. They had a nice breakfast and lunch on them and still have some leftover. SIGH! Bad freezer!! We checked and no the breaker hadn't switched off or anything. Boo!

Later The Hubster calls and has me plug it into another socket. Ta-da it works! It is an older freezer that I got from my Mom when she replaced hers.

I'm thinking at this moment in time I'm just going to leave it empty and unplugged unless someone wants to gift me with a side of beef or a hog or something! Saving on electricity.

I just don't think I utilize it as much anymore w/just the four of us at home right now along w/the inconvenient trek to the basement to stock it or retrieve something. If it were upstairs maybe! It's TOO TOO TOO Ugly for upstairs though.

Along with that is the car maintenance that The Hubster had done yesterday. I sent him in to get his scheduled oil change only to discover that it is time to do the 30,000 mile maintenance in order to keep his warranty in place.

This little bit of sunshine cost us $534.00 on the CC!! Jeepers! November is looking slimmer and slimmer as we also had his $626 crown thingy earlier this month that went on the CC!

The E.F. is definitely taking a hit, as there is no way I can cover all that out of current income and still be able to eat and have utilities, much less have gasoline for work commute!!



Okay Lord, I need a lot less money going down the drain and much more money coming up out of the drains! Up Up I say! And again I say UP!!

For The House-October Challenge Met

FrugalSon came up with .61 to add to the $20 Challenge. "For the house, Mom!" Thanks kiddo!



Yesterday I found a penny while I was out taking the last lap of my bean breaks (all five done yesterday as well, and two down today!) How did I step over that penny the other 9 times yesterday? I live on a road that gets about zero foot traffic and very very little road traffic!!

$20 CHALLENGE
19.76 balance
+0.01 walk penny
_____
19.77
+0.61 For the House
_____
20.38 Oct MTD

Cummulative Total $70.47

Gratuitous Mentions In Movieland



CashHappySon was feeling rather generous yesterday and took me out to the movies where we saw 'Employee of the Month'. Slacker finds redeeming benefits of work in the quest to get the girl (Jessica Simpson).

It was 'cute' but there were WAY TOO MANY references to ahemmm....'men's testicular area'.

Well!

The movie would have been much better in my opinion without all of that. I'm no prude and I would have probably not thought too much of it if the words had been used once or even twice in the script. But come on people, after about the 10th or 12th time already - ENOUGH!!!

Oh and don't forget the 'MUST HAVE' for teen movies - the ubiquitous fart joke!

Please.

Afterwards CashHappy wanted a maltie thing w/M&M's in it. We went to Carls Jr.'s and got in their drive thru line but he only had $6.00 left and was going to buy for the group. Their malts w/additions were $2.89 each so after careful calculations on his part we bolted out of line and moved on down the street. In the end he bought The Hubster, myself and himself .99 cent Frostys from Wendy's ("After all Mom, you guys deserve some stuff sometimes." - the boy's quite the orator, eh??)and we added our own M&M's from home!

Then he gave me .11 cents of the change to add to Piggy.

FrugalSon was working during all this and missed the day's entertainment. He's the 'word police' around here and wouldn't of enjoyed it anyway. We did save him some 'Smoked Piggies In A Blanket' for a late night snack.

Shhhhh! Don't tell Piggy we're eating his relatives.

$20 CHALLENGE
12.20 balance
+0.11 entertainment droppings
_____
12.31 Oct MTD

Cummulative Total $62.40

Bowling for Dollars


Jesus was a Bowler??

CashHappySon went bowling with his grandparents and brought me home change of $1.96 to add to Piggy. S.T.R.I.K.E.!

Jesus was a Bowler?? Who knew?

FrugalSon helped me scrub the stove today and get the house ready to receive the new reading chair I bought for myself!

It's one I've been searching for - for about two years now. Bought it from my Mom! Ha! They'd only had it about a year when they decided to build a new house and it didn't fit in the new, so had been in storage. When I went to visit Sunday/Monday they were having a garage sale.

I had thought it would cost me about $600 to buy what I wanted, but got this recliner that looks like a great comfy club chair for 200.00. I've been saving up so I'm good with the purchase as it was well within my budget.

It is my new domicile. When you can't find me? I'm in the sunroom, reading! Do Not Disturb!


$20 CHALLENGE

$08.40 balance
+01.96 bowling for dollars
______
$10.36 Oct MTD

Cummulative Total $60.50