Lux Living Frugalis

I Also Agree With Tina



Right Tina, you should blog about Starbucks more often!

hahahaahhhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaa!!! Let us see where this takes us!

Starting hits 14,262

I am decidely not a coffee snob. I paid $1.00 a brick for the last coffee I bought and I bought all the scratch n' dent store had on hand that day! Hot and brown and I'm okay as long as there's loads of sugar & creamer on hand to dull it.

The January Effect: Volatility & VooDoo



Okay, I was clicking around...click, click, click when I ran in to this website which has a great article on The January Effect. Thought you guys might be interested since this in / out timing of the market was just recently being discussed on the forum. Neat historical chart.

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

The Bean Strategy

Yes, I met my goal yesterday and have been out already once this morning!

The Bean Strategy is working. Five beans migrated from one pocket to the other yesterday as the laps were taken.

Last night my leg did ache while watching TV, but when I went to bed I never noticed it. Of course, I fell fast asleep soon after head hitting pillow, which we might attribute to the extra exercise yesterday. Anyway, I did not toss and turn trying to get the leg comfortable so at least for the one day we shall deem the experiment a success.

I slept all thru the night which is quite unusual. Sleeping beauty!

Of course, I was dreaming about you!!

3 Beans Down, 2 to Go!

Toot! Toot!!

I've been having a bit of trouble in the last few months with circulation in my right leg. Not sure what the problem is - seems minor at the moment. But it is enough to be noticeable. Enough to make me think I need to get more mobile.

Last night I was reading two separate books written years apart about 2 different subjects and they both have this method listed as a way to get things done.

Putting beans in your pocket.



The strategy was listed in one book as a method for salesmen to make a bunch of sales calls every day.

With the two mentions I kind of felt like it was a sign. Now you have to know first that I read A LOT. Always have. I have never read this strategy before anywhere! So to have two mentions come up at the time I'm stressing over my leg aching seemed important.

At any rate this morning I put five beans in my right hand pants pocket. I've walked 3 separate times for about 7 minutes apiece. The 7 minutes is just an easy trek around the neighborhood to a point and back to the house. Nothing magical in the number. I just have had a goal to walk everyday for a long time. I never seem to get it done, maybe because it seems an all or nothing kind of deal like a 30 minute walk.

So anyway, I've been out and down three laps and even though it is rainy & drizzly here I've found it easy to do.

Take a mini walk - move a bean!

We'll see if it lasts. Unless we have a major downpour I'll get the other two laps done before bedtime tonight. I need to keep moving on that leg before things go from not so bad to worse!

Anyway, you guys might want to think of someway to use the magical fruit bean strategy to help you accomplish some goals.

What is the color of the music in your life?? What beat will you march to? Toot free!

Sticking Back Right Now



I'm taking $7.00 out of my wallet right NOW and feeding it to Piggy for the $20 Challenge. No way do I want to miss the mark on meeting the challenge. Surely the rest will come in by the 31st.

$20 CHALLENGE
12.76 balance
+7.00 NOW
_____
19.76 Oct MTD

Cummulative Total $69.85

Hey Big Spender - How Consoling!!



The Hubster gave me a quarter out of his console this morning when I told him the month was near to closing out and it looked like I might not meet my challenge this month.

What a trooper!

$20 CHALLENGE
12.51 balance
+0.25 console
_____
12.76 Oct MTD

Cummulative Total $62.85

Offer Accepted



CashHappy son brought me an offering of .08 cents.

$20 CHALLENGE
12.43 balance
+0.08 accepted
_____
12.51 Oct MTD

Cummulative Total $62.60

Tidying Up


Photo Credit: DegnoDiAnima

Just clearing out the change section in my wallet.

$20 CHALLENGE
12.31 balance
+0.12 tidy up
_____
12.43 Oct MTD

Cummulative Total $62.52

No Drips

The money in the bank stayed in the bank. The money in my wallet stayed there. The blips on the banking account screen stayed there. The debit card remained incased in my wallet. In other words, there were no leaks, no drips today. As in NO SPENDING!

Show Me Cash

I told you guys in an entry last night that we had an overnight visitor. He is a registered doxie and his birth name was Ashes Coal as he is a dapple. Just barely a dapple. They called him Ashes. I'm not overly fond of his little name as it didn't seem to quite fit the male'ness of himself.

Therefore for the interim we've renamed him to a close proximity of his birthname. Took the C from Coal and put it on the front and we've made him 'CASH'. At least for the next night as we will deliver him to my Mom tomorrow. The name is not so different and he responds to it.

The folks that had him had another older, bigger, more aggressive dog that wouldn't let him get close to a food or water bowl and that's why they got rid of him. So sad. I can't imagine getting rid of one of my pupsters.

Here's a couple of scenic pics - you can see he's made himself right at home. Little turkey slept in my bed last night.

That's Carmel's hiney he's made himself a pillow out of. Toffee has chosen mostly to ignore him, but has taken over the bed that he brought with him!

Blood Red Sunsets



"And autumn! ah, how sadly fair, with its golden glow and the dying grandeur of its tinted woods--its blood-red sunsets and its ghostly evening mists, with its busy murmur of reapers, and its laden orchards, and the calling of the gleaners, and the festivals of praise!

The very rain, and sleet, and hail seem only Nature's useful servants when found doing their simple duties in the country; and the East Wind himself is nothing worse than a boisterous friend when we meet him between the hedge-rows." ~~Jerome K. Jerome, Idle Thoughts Of An Idle Fellow

The weather here has turned cold today. My house sits below street level on some points and as I walked outside today I was looking face on at eye-level as the leaves all blew down the street.

Red, orange, yellow and green!

Imagine yourself laying down on the asphalt and looking at the leaves tumbling past your eyes. It was very exciting in the high winds as I walked on down to the mailbox the leaves were racing me down the street. With the penetrating wind it was so invigorating. A beautiful but icy cold fall day!

Today's mail was nothing but a Certificate of Deposit purchase confirmation and one of the bank statements on f-i-l's estate. Aside from my water bill I rarely get a bill in the mail any more. Which makes me almost as happy as racing the fall leaves.

Understanding Your Financial Life



I've just updated my links to show you guys a neat place with some great calculators and good explanations on controlling your finances.

Overnight Visitor



We got a registered two year old male doxie this afternoon from a guy at The Hubster's work. Supposedly he is going on to my Mom's house next week. He's a cutie! Hope no one here gets overly attached or we may have a problem. The queens have welcomed him somewhat but there is a whole lot of behind sniffing going on!! Will try to get a picture up.

Sad Lil' Bitty Bank Run



Made today's bank run this morning for a grand total of $1.40.

Pitiful!!!

But, it's in there and not spent. I got spendy with my allowance yesterday at the garage sale or I'd of had that other $2.00 to add. Oh well, the stuff I bought except for froggie was for Christmas gifts. Moved the $1.40 on over to Emigrant as well today.

FrugalSon went along and deposited his last weeks paychecks from his two jobs.

As well as dollars building up however fast or slow I am continuing to build the bank savings habit in myself and my kids. I've done this for several years now.

So even if the amount is low the exercise of doing it is very rewarding longterm methinks!

OCTOBER BANK RUN CHALLENGE
$5.02 balance
+1.40 pittance
_____
$6.42 Oct MTD

Holy Taco Mole!!!

Found a steal yesterday afternoon. Before the movie CashHappySon and I were out and about letting him put his application in some places. He's ready to move on from burgercentral - he's stayed the year his Dad & I required from him. He's a bit of a flutter-bye and we're trying to discourage that in the job market.

We went out to the big salvage barn near here - they sell gas, groceries and hardware...it's about 20 minutes from nowhere. It's a kind of scratch and dent store. I shop there frequently and CashHappy knows the owner/manager from the drive-thru lane and our visits to shop. The guy wasn't there but we brought home the application to fill out. Anyway, while there I spent big money yesterday. A whole .26 cents!! Wee-ha!

They have those neat little taco bowls in a large sleeve with 15 of the corn taco shell bowls in it for 25 cents each sleeve. With tax that is .0173333 cents each folks! Bet you can't guess what we're having for dinner tonight????



If they aren't stale I will go back and get some more and put them in the freezer!! This is how I feed my family cheaply. I look for deeeeeeeeep discounts and then when the item tastes good I heaviliy stock up.

Holy Taco Mole - Think I may have a SCORE!!!!

Also yesterday I spent even more money - GASP! Got two new stained glass candle stands for 50 cents each and a box of 4 blown glass ornaments for 12.5 cents each. These are all for Christmas giving. I'll add some candles from the dollar store to the holders.

For myself I bought a green blown glass money frog. I'm fung shuei-ing my money sector! (Wooo-ooooooo did you feel a newage breeze just then???) Really just a cute little frog that is going to sit on my entryway table. I paid 25 cents for him.

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

Tossing Some Extra

I tossed an extra $50.00 today into my IRA. I got my Jethro pencil stub out and did some 'rithmetic...and came to the conclusion that the Real Estate Mutual Fund that I've got was what had made me the most money. It actually has triple the paper profit than any of the other funds I'm in.



I know, I know...past performance is no guarantee of future performance and I am a bit worried about the real estate sector overall for the short-term (next 5-10 years).

However, that being said, the price for it was down today AND by putting my $50 on the real estate play that brings my asset allocation closer back to alignment. So, all in all, for now it appears to be a good minor decision.

I Have Been Influenced and Gone To Pot!

I've gone to pot! I've been listening to all this soup talk and when the temperature dropped this morning about 15 degrees in 5 minutes I knew it was time.

Time to drag out the soup pot.

Because some of the girls were looking for soup recipes, I decided I'd post this one that I made up as I went as it turned out really tasty. A well-stocked freezer and pantry is a wonderful thing!



Gone To Pot Soup
by LuxLiving Frugalis

1 lb. Owens Regular Sausage .99
1 small onion chopped .25
2 T. chopped garlic .10
1 can whole peeled tomatoes chopped .28
1 can chicken broth .50
1 can spinach .28
2 cans yellow squash .28 x 2 = .56
1 tsp. garlic salt .05
1 tsp. Season All .05
----
$3.06 plus tax

Brown the onions, garlic and the sausage. Once the onions are translucent add the remaining ingredients. Simmer on low heat for at least 10 minutes.

Yummy!

Finished!



The painters just finished up and left. My house is officially fully painted! Ta-da!

That's the good news. The bad news is that there are a couple of window trim boards that need to be replaced. Once that happens the painter guys promised to come back and do the finish work.

The better news is that the estimate I got was the price I had to pay. In other words, he didn't try to jack me up in the end! Woo-hoo!

I hope to add some before and after pics later.

Treasure Chest

In cleaning out the sunroom in order to make the new recliner fit in (tiny room - BIG OL' HONKING CHAIR) I found a little treasure cask w/ $1.84 of mostly dimes.



$20 CHALLENGE
10.36 balance
+1.84 treasure cask
_____
12.20 Oct MTD

Cummulative Total $62.29

Frugal Woman Dies At 100, Leaves Millions

WHOOP - Temple of the Slithering One



Da-da-da-da-da. da-da-da-daa-da.

Charmer anyone? You know -- of the snake kind??



The painters started work yesterday morning bright and early when all of a sudden I heard a whoop sound. I thought they were laughing or something and paid it never mind, but then comes a knock on my door and one of them tells me I have a "Big A** snake in my attic vent" at the ridge line. You've seen them, those big triangle shapes that are screened on the inside but let air in and out of the attic.

Well, I said, "thanks for letting me know." What was I supposed to say or do?? There were two big brawny guys out there...did they want me to come out and do something???

Anyway, that was a funny moment, I'm sure I did not make the appropriate response. I closed the door and went back to work and thought I'll tell The Hubster about it when he gets home.

I think there must be birds nesting in that area and that's why a snake was up there. Must of been pretty scary when that snake popped out at the guy up on the extension ladder at full extension. No wonder he 'whooped'.

How 'un-charming'.

MonkeyShines

Catching up to date - I did spend on Sunday as we bought lunch on the way to my Mom's house and I bought my new reading chair that day.

But Monday was a No Spend day.

...and Tuesday was a No Spend day!

Just peel me a nanner because it sure makes me' lil ol eyes sparkle!

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

Digging out the Winter Jackets



Well I dug out one of my winter jackets this weekend that I haven't worn in about two years. In the pocket was .60 cents.

$20 CHALLENGE
$7.80 balance
+0.60 pocketchange
_____
$8.40 Oct MTD

Cummulative Total $58.54

Mr. vs. Mrs. Spending Battle



Saturday, October 14, 2006 was another no-spend day for me. Now The Hubster on the other hand (whose spending we are not officially tracking here) spent money.

At the big box home repair place he bought stuff to make mr. fixit stuff go. He did buy something not on the list $2.50 for a new elcheapo measuring tape. So he's not altogether too dangerous to let out in the hardware store alone. He spent $25.07 to fix the faucet, fix the sprayer, and got galvanized nails to put up some trim boards that needed replacing outside. Also he spent $11.93 for vacumn cleaner bags. Goodness me, but can our next vacumn be one of those bagless ones? I hate paying money for something to 'throw away'. The door repairs he did cost zip but the elbow grease and his time!

0.00 spent Mrs. vs. $37.00 spent Mr.

I WIN!! ...and got my stuff repaired! Woo-hoo gotta love being a gurrrlll!

OINK - Piggy Eats Roughage

To add to the $20 Challenge, CashHappySon brought me two dollar bills to feed Piggy. Piggy's happiest when he gets some folding money each month to eat! OINK!



$20 CHALLENGE
$5.80
+2.00 roughage
_____
$7.80 Oct MTD

Cummulative Total $57.94

What Has Got Into That Man??



The Hubster has gotten himself into gear today. Helping with the moving of stuff into the basement, PLUS he did some repair work on my couch...it was trying to run away with itself a bit of stuffing at a time was leaking out...The Hubster installed some new foam strategically to keep the old stuffing in and no more from coming out!

Then as if that wasn't enough he has decided that today is the day to fix my kitchen faucet that has been dripping and possibly he'll get to the front door that isn't closing properly! FrugalSon is at work and The Hubster and CashHappySon are off now to the bigbox home repair place to get parts. Before nightfall I may have a sink that doesn't drip and a sprayer on my kitchen sink again! Woo-hoo! Big doings!

The Hubster is a wonderful guy but he normally puts off the household repairs until, well, NEVER! He hates doing them, but doesn't want me to hire it done either.

If I could get into my kitchen I'd bake him some hot rolls, but he's got all the cleaning supplies out from under the sink, the faucets off in the kitchen and in the living room the couch is upside down until he gets home w/some more vacumn cleaner bags. Maybe he'll get hot rolls tomorrow!

At any rate I'm thrilled. Don't know what got into him, but I'm hoping this new handy fellow shows up again sometime during this quarter!!

He has been so busy getting his Dad's house cleaned out that he couldn't of done anything here if he had wanted to. But delayed repairs are starting to snowball, so I guess he figures he has to get on it or things will start to tumble around our ears!

Whatever got into him, I'm grateful!!

OMGosh, I just realized I turned the guy loose w/o me in the 'toy' store w/a debit card! This could get ugly!

Caulk Me Baby One More Time!!



YEAH - the guy came early this morning and started doing the caulking pre-paint style. So far it isn't too bad, only one window trim board is rotted out and needs to be replaced that we didn't know about. There is one other one we already knew about. Not too bad for a 1942 house, heh?

We may experience rain at the beginning of next week so I'm tickled to at least have this portion started. I had to pay the paint contractor $940.00 last week - 1/2 of the estimated price.

It makes me nervous to pay someone money when they don't exactly start work that day...so to see the power-washing and caulking done I'm feeling some better after handing over the dollars!

We made the decision to have them do all of the work. We are just exhausted with what painting I've done on the house and what The Hubster has had to do at his Dad's house this year!

Also of note is that the Federalist style corner cabinet that came from F-I-L's house back in July and has been laying in my living room floor has finally found a place in the basement this morning. It's too tall to fit in the upstairs! BooHiss! That's how it is when you live in a house that isn't built to current standard building codes! Well, it isn't too tall - my ceilings are just too low!!

It required a corner of the basement to be cleaned out which required the hideyhole (storm) room to be cleared out first...we did that last weekend. Then it required enough strongmen (The Hubster, FrugalSon and CashHappySon) here to lift, tote and carry. DONE! I can walk thru my living room again! YEAH TEAM FRUGALIS!!

I see progress! While digging out the corner I was able to pull enough boxes of stuff out to start pricing for a basement/estate sale!