Lux Living Frugalis

A Traffic Ticket Can Screw You Up!


Jayne Mansfield in Miss Traffic Stopper

"Is anything that you own worth living paycheck to paycheck for?

Is the extra square footage and the swimming pool and the new car worth it knowing that something as little as a traffic ticket can screw you up for the month?" ~~ViolentAcres.com, blog entry "You Can Learn A Lot From A Rich Girl"

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

Loving from the Oven

In the oven are some Jiffy banana nut muffins = 29 cents. Thawing is some Owens roll sausage = 99 cents. For supper tonight we'll dig into this along with a couple of cups of milk = 50 cents and some scrambled eggs = 36 cents.

Supper for two $2.14!!

I've been outside and am afraid for my house as it appears it will disappear in an avalanche of leaves. I keep sweeping the patio and keep sweeping but those dog-gone leaves and acorns just keep coming!! Piling up maybe a foot or more deep in the corners! Jeepers!


If you don't hear from me for a few days break out the leaf blowers and come in after me, okay???

Frugal lunch today was leftover spaghetti and earlier FrugalSon and I had a cup of hot cocoa w/marshmellows (20 cent bag on clearance) before he headed out to work.

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!

Need Purchasing Advice



Okay folks I need some advice. My shredder appears to have died - it will reverse the papers but not go forward. So, it looks like I may be in the market for a new shredder. I know I want a cross-cut one, but does anyone have recommendations on a brand that you've had good luck with? Hopefully one that won't break the bank.

Anyone???

Thanks in advance!

~~L.L.Frugalis
Shout out to miclason!

Adding To The $20 Challenge

Let the dancing begin!



$20 CHALLENGE
$4.96 balance
+1.25 addition
_____
6.21 Nov MTD

Cummulative Total $76.75

Emptying The Old Mail Bag

Time to update you on the generosity of Team Frugalis' Corporate Sponsors!



This past week we received thanks to our hard-working mailman:

1)Swiffer Duster by Proctor & Gamble.

2)Two samples of Cover Girl Advanced Radiance foundation.

3)Coupon for FREE 6.5 lb. bag of Purina One Dog Food.

4)Sample of Tide Vanilla & Lavender Laundry Detergent.

5)Sample of Downy's Rose & Violet Fabric Softener.

6)Coupon for FREE 5 lb. bag of Lassie Natural Way Dog Food.

7)Sample of Folgers Gourmet Selections Vanilla Biscotti Flavor.

8)Sample of Folgers Gourmet Selections Lively Columbian Flavor.

9)Eight Chews of Viactiv Calcium Chews - 5 Caramel and 3 Milk Chocolate.

10)Two Poise Pads - Extra With Wings.

11)Three Samples of Dove Advanced Color Care Shampoo, Conditioner and Reviving Mask.

12)Two Samples of Dove Sheer Moisture Shampoo and Conditioner.

12)Two Samples of Dove Therapy Shampoo and Conditioner.

13)Sniff Sample of Candie's new Heartbreaker fragrance. YUMMY!

14)Large Sample of Cheer's True Fit laundry additive.

15)Sample tube of Olay's Definity Highly Defined Anti-Aging Intense Hydrating Cream.

Many of these were courtesy of Walmart's Sample Program, so thank you Walmart and THANK YOU THANK YOU Corporate Sponsors!! YEAH!!

Dress Up and Parade Around



I like this quote in relation to automatic savings and 401-K pay deferrals. The commitment frees us up!

"The irony of commitment is that it's deeply liberating ­ in work, in play, in love. The act frees you from the tyranny of your internal critic, from the fear that likes to dress itself up and parade around like rational hesitation. To commit is to remove your head as the barrier to your life." ~~Anne Morris, a New York Starbucks customer, seen on a Starbucks coffee cup

(Oh no, I said the S word!!)

Clearing Change

Clearing change of 1.39 in the purse to add to the $20 Challenge!



$20 CHALLENGE
$3.57 balance
+1.39 purse change
_____
$4.96 Nov MTD

Cummulative Total $75.50

Skimming, Rebalancing, and Good Pension News



Purchased into a new Fidelity account this morning in The Hubster's Traditional IRA - which was a rollover account - in the amount of $2500 to FSUTX - Fidelity Select Utilities Growth Portfolio.

This was done by skimming off some of the profits from some of the other funds in his portfolio that have been performing extremely well.

I call it skimming the gravy - the pro's call it taking or booking a profit. This is how we have been able to diversify and grow this IRA without putting in additional funds.

FSUTX is up 23.62% this year-to-date. Hope it continues!! Cross your eyeballs and hold your tummies in as we all know that past performance is no guarantee of future performance. So far this year we are up about 5,000.00 in this account. YEAH TEAM FRUGALIS!! Wish it were more of course but very grateful for the positive results.

FSUTX is into telecommunications and electrical utilities as their main investment focus.

Also done this morning was an account rebalancing in his 401-K. Made a big play in one particular small-cap that has been doing well the last couple of years - 45% of future contributions into Allianz NFJ Small Cap (Growth) and 22% into American Funds Growth Fund R2 (Growth), 8% in Vanguard 500 Index (Growth & Income), 15% in American Fund Cap Inc Bldr R2 (Equity Income), 5% Pimco (Bond), and 5% Templeton Foreign (Growth). I will be keeping a close eye on performance. The trouble with the 401-K is that we are very limited in the funds available to invest in.

The Hubster has absolutely no interest in finances, just brings home the paycheck. He's signed over administration of his accounts to me - thankful I am that we are seeing positive results then, heh???

I do discuss everything that I do on the account and get his go-ahead first and I have even insisted that he get on the phone w/the CSR and do a few trades that I've suggested just so if something happened to me he wouldn't be a total newbie. So far he seems satisfied with my results. I do appreciate the vote of confidence but it does tend to make one nervous as I'm taking a somewhat more aggressive tack than what's recommended for someone his age it's just that we have limited time to make up for the disappearing pension!

There is some good news on that front but still iffy and even if the rumors I've heard are true then it's good news/bad news stuff. IF we can get some things straightened around with his employer (they claim they have no interest in seeing this thru as it happened before the buyout). We did find out recently what company is holding the funds purported to be in the 4 1/2 million dollar range for the group of about 390 employees but they are missing a contributor's list WITH UPDATED ADDRESSES and have refused to pay out to any more new retirees until said list is updated. SHEESH!!

Anyway - the way they explain it makes sense in some ways but not others...too complex to get into here. I dunno about you but I'd hang on to the 4 1/2 million too and claim that we can't make any more payouts but I think the government and lawyers might have something to say about that. Can you say CLASS ACTION???

But it may be forthcoming!! We have approximately 6 years to get it straight! This investment company that's holding the pension funds is a big one probably one of the top four or five of it's type so it's not likely to disappear, but how to unclench their tight little fists may be the challenge.

Even though present company is not playing along nicely I do believe by law that they are required to do some certain amount of performance like making old records available.

At any rate the monthly $$ amount being touted about is on the smallish side (no worry, we'll happily take what we can get) and will be cut in half upon his demise!

Ladies - SAVE YOUR MONEY you may need it one day!!!

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! :/

Budget To Match Reality - Zero Out



I've posted a new link over at the right that I want all of you to be aware of:

Getting Finances Done has some great ideas on zero based budgeting. Worth your time to read if you are struggling getting your budget to match reality!

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!

Coin Slot



I cleaned out the coin slot on my purse this morning to feed poor starving Piggy!

$20 CHALLENGE
$2.88 balance
+0.69 coin slot
_____
$3.57 Nov MTD

Cummulative Total $$74.11

Yesterday's Bank Run



In between running kids here and there yesterday and helping Aurielle and Rduell make their 100 posts I made my weekly Saturday bank run. Depositing $2.52.

This is from my weekly allowance that I didn't spend and it is extra beyond what I put into my IRA on my own and beyond what The Hubster and I budget for my IRA. It is really never all that much because I don't take a big allowance, but every little bit towards retirement helps!

BANK RUNS
Nov MTD $2.52

beginning 8/23/06 and forward Cummulative Total $25.06

Here Comes Pride in the Backstretch

And the race is on...

Nahhhh....really the race is over! The Hubster had a treadmill test back in April I think it was, that cost $500.00 more than our insurance would pay! He passed the test so that was good news.

The bad news is that our 'MedicalPrescriptionCoPay Fund' did not have 500.00 in it at the time the bill came starting in June. The hospital agreed to take payments so at $50 a month I've been whacking away at it. I could've put them on the CC, but they weren't charging any interest so I just let them carry it! That way my $500 stayed in the bank earning interest in our Emergency Fund!

Yesterday I paid the last payment on it! Sheeeeewee! I'm glad that's over.

That's the same thing The Hubster said when the treadmill test was over. He also said it's hard to run on that thing and suck your gut in at the same time when they put cute little nurses at the helm!


I told him that they put them there for exactly that reason...a man's pride will keep him running longer if NymphoNancyNurse is there monitoring him than if Nurse Rachet was on duty!

heheeeeeee...

Nothing like a pretty young filly to spur a guy on!!

...whatever, it worked!

Pride! While it may be frowned upon in the Bible it does ocassionally have it's uses!

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

Steaming!



The Hubster has now announced that two of his siblings (5 kids in all) want to drop the price on FIL's house a whopping $7000.00! We just listed it about a month and a half ago!!

These are the same people who took almost a year to get it cleaned out...all the while I'm encouraging them to please hurry as there is a prophesized real estate bubble about to burst.

Slow shuffle, slow shuffle, slow shuffle...and now they want to run to the finish line????

I mean, I mean, I mean, good gravy people where was all the rush when it would have been useful??

Now, they may eventually HAVE TO drop it 7000.00 but all in one fell swoop? Get real people!

I'm steamed!

...and having a hard time keeping my tongue. Wondering about their logic.

So glad that these folks are no blood relation to me!

Mortgage Update



After yesterday's payment posted I have an update on our priority goal of paying off the mortgage:

Drumroll please!! Gotta get these beasties off my back!

11/01/06 Current Mortgage Balance = $23,893.92

November Expenditures:



11/1 Grocery Expense 83.34
11/1 Paper Goods 34.23

Notations: $4.00 of the grocery was for part of a Christmas gift for my brother. I usually buy him food that doesn't need refrigeration. Got him a couple of those beef sticks.

And $2.00 of the Paper Goods was for candles for some Christmas candleholders to be sold in my antique booth.

Is 0% APR On Purchases Better Than Cashback?



Neat article:

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

How Do I Miss These Things???



Okay, I'm rocking along thinking I'm doing great on the budgeting front when WHAM a realization that I've only been budgeting for six months worth of auto insurance premiums but stretching them over 12 months! Duh!

So, in other words I only have half (312.00) of what I need (624.00) and it's due on 11/30. If I squeak the payment to my agent late in the day on the 30th I might get by with taking some of December's auto-insurance allocation to pay it. Then I've got to save like the dickens to get it together before the end of May when it'll be due again.

I hate screwing up. I especially hate messing up financially.

RAAAAAAAARRRRRR!!

Today I paid off my October CC charges - of 223.48 which was the October groceries and some Christmas, due on the 9th of November. These were all budgeted and saved for items.

So far scheduled for November payments as they were put on the CC in October after the cutoff date are:

534.00 car warranty mainten. unexpected
380.00 paint planned
25.00 paint planned
626.00 tooth crown - emergency
______
1565.00 CC - must be paid off as I refuse to carry a balance!

and now try to come up with
312.00 auto insurance - dumb mistake
_______
1877.00 As I said, the E.F. is definitely going to take a hit!! And I think I see mounds of beans and rice in the near future.

OUCH, OUCH and Double OUCH!!!

It's Soooo Rewarding!



Just noting that today I requested online a $20.00 rewards check payout on my Discovercard. They said it will take 5 to 7 days to appear in my checking. Just wanting to note here when it was requested so I can count down the days to see how quick they are.

I bet they don't slow down on drawing my payment out of the checking though! This is the first time I've done an online request for this.

Anticipating money = good feeling as long as it doesn't take too long! I'll log it as inflow when the money clears my account.

Also of note today I made a payment on the mortage of 404.03. Will update on the right when it posts.

Deposited 20.45 today from the October Challenge - a mysterious .07 cents made it into Piggy this month as I only logged 20.38 as income. You gotta love a good mystery!

I spent about 4.00 today out of my allowance as I had already wiped out the October grocery budget and after yesterday's freezer fiasco I needed some hamburger for tonight's dinner and an onion, plus I got myself some Vitamin A&D (1.67) which really helps me along with Vitamin B6 & E to fight off the cold/runny nose/mucus/sore throat thing when it starts to creep up during the winter months. I had run out of A&D and I don't like to head into cold weather without it!

So, at first twinge I dose myself up w/2 B6's, 2A&D, and 2E's. By morning my head is 99% of the time cleared up. If not totally clear then a dose of one of each for the next few days usually zaps any crud that is trying to jump on me!

There you have it - L.L.Frugalis' cold remedy. Anything that gets past those vite-viti-vege-mums requires a dose of the Hot Toddy (hot whiskey, honey and lemon) and some Vicks Vapor Rub to the chest just for the Mom effect.

Go, and cough no more!

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!!

Santa I've Been A Very Good Girl



The window man is here measuring as we are getting new insulated windows in the top story of my house. It will be about 6 weeks before they can install but I'm excited as I think Santa is going to be extra good to me this year and will be doing my whole top floor (11 windows) instead of just the five windows we thought we were going to do!

YEAH SANTA!! I think we'll have a snuggly Christmas this year! On the outflow side today is a deposit of half for $2490. Not bad.

Free Supper and Good News



Saturday night we went to our Sunday School Class's fall fellowship cookout where we had a lovely time and FREE food! Gotta love free food. We went at the last minute and because of that didn't have time to bake or even stop to add anything to contribute to the meal.

Not our norm.

However, I don't feel in the slightest guilty over it as for years we were the ones to host the entire dealy-who, footing the bill for the meat, buns, drinks and decorations.

The party made Saturday a no-spend day.

Great burgers and a good time. It was hosted by a couple who are nearing retirement like ourselves. They have been in their current home 29 years.

They recently went out house-hunting to see about downsizing, etc. However, prices in our area have risen so much so that they decided to stay put and do a remodel instead. She had a fabulous new kitchen!

I enjoyed showing The Hubster that new kitchen countertops wouldn't have to be all that more expensive than just replacing like for like our old laminate counters.

She said the expense was only about 500.00 more for what they got which looks much like granite. Very nice. We just aren't THERE yet in our decisions on our house.

Good news was the husband in this situation owns his own business and is giving CashHappySon a job that should start in two weeks.

This is a grown-up job that will give the kiddo a skill that he can always use in life and while maybe not lavishly - with it, he could support a family. We are thrilled!

Bank Run - October 28, 2006



Today's bank run was all in change.

BANK RUN - EXTRA RETIREMENT SAVINGS
6.42 balance
2.44 10/28
____
8.86 Oct MTD

When depositing FrugalSon's check the teller again made an error in the bank's favor of $100.00. This is about the gazillioneth time. Okay maybe 7 or 8. Will have to talk to the manager some time. It seems it's at the one branch, but not the other!