Layout:
Home > Archive: May, 2011

Archive for May, 2011

Errands

June 1st, 2011 at 12:50 am

Feeling pretty productive today.

I went to work even though many were not there due to the flooding issues. I thought of staying home to move more stuff upstairs, or going to volunteer sandbagging again, but decided I should hold onto my PTO as long as possible in case things get really bad and then I don't know how much work I would have to miss.

After work I picked up 2 sweatshirts I had taken to the tailor to get repaired. Went to the discount bread store to get bread and hot dog buns for cheap.

I FINALLY took my car in to get the radio fixed, you may remember several months ago my radio got wet and died, I bought a new radio and a friend put it in. It worked for a few months, then stopped working....friend fixed it...happened again a few weeks later...etc. And apparently it is sucking the life out of my battery cause if I don't drive it for a few days then my car is dead. So I came back from our trip to a dead car. So we took it in to get the radio fixed today and to make sure it is right and not sucking the battery anymore. Hopefully it won't cost too much.

When we were in NV I bet on a Braves game (MY TEAM!) at one of the casinos. But by the time the game was over the sports book was closed, so I had to mail in my ticket. I bet $10, and they will mail me $17.35. Once I get that back I will put $20 in savings. I also got the change and cash together from the NV trip to put into the bank.

I also payed the mortgage and mailed in another Menards Rebate for lint rollers for $20.

Now watching a movie with the hubster and then more moving and organizing out of the basement.


June 2011 Mortgage Payment

June 1st, 2011 at 12:34 am

June 2011 Mortgage Payment

Balance $131,400.00
+$410.63 Interest
+$307.59 Escrow
-$1311.16 Regular Payment
-$507.06 Principle Payment
New Balance $130,300.00

$130K = 130 months = 10.83 years!

Awwww....so close to being into the 120's!

Back from Wendover

May 30th, 2011 at 11:08 pm

We are back from our trip. It was fun, we didn't do very well at the slots, but we did ok on the tables.
I entered my very first Texas Holdem Poker Tournament. I was the last woman standing and got 5th out of 48 entrants! So that was very cool and super fun!
We did bring back enough to put that extra $300 I wanted onto the mortgage, but with the current flood situation, I think it would be best to keep that cash until we have a better idea of what it going to happen. Right now they are still building dikes and levys and it "sounds" like we are safe where we are at from actual flooding, but things seem to be changing hourly, and there will probably be problems with ground seepage. So for right now I'm just going to hang on to the cash we brought back.

Flood Info - $20K Update

May 27th, 2011 at 04:00 am

My Dad helped me get some things ready today for potential flooding. I had to go get a new sump pump, a hose and several covers for our basement drains. I took $100 out of home improvement savings to help cover this. I am so STRESSED out! The not knowing what is going to happen is killing me. DH is going to move everything upstairs tomorrow while I am sandbagging for the city. My work will pay for me to volunteer, so I am going to be sandbagging for 8 hours and helping where I can. We are going to NV tomorrow night so my brother is going to watch our house. Hoping for the best.....

Current Balance $13,000.00
-$100.00 Sump Pump
New Balance $12,900.00

ING $8465.00
Home Improvements(cash) $700.00
HSBC $3735.00
Total = $12,900.00

Flooding

May 25th, 2011 at 11:25 pm

I live in the Midwest and we are preparing for flooding. I am trying not to freak out or worry too much as 2 years ago it was supposed to flood, we moved everything upstairs and were all worried and then nothing happened. Apparently this year the river is supposed to be much higher.....and our city is in major sand bag mode. Hopefully everything will be ok, we should know more by Friday.

$20K Update - Back to $13K

May 25th, 2011 at 11:18 pm

Current Balance $12,885.00
-$28.00 to ROTH IRA
+$3.00 Even Out Amount
+$85.00 to retirement account
+$50.00 from Discover Card Reward
+$5.00 to get back to $13K
New Balance $13,000.00

ING $8465.00
Home Improvements(cash) $800.00
HSBC $3735.00
Total = $13,000.00

Bonus Money

May 24th, 2011 at 12:13 am

Got a bonus today of $1300! YEAH! The same bonus last year was for $800, so I am super happy that it went up $500! After taxes I am guessing I will take home about $800. We will be taking that with us to Wendover this weekend. Whatever we bring back, some is earmarked, some is for savings and hopefully we will have enough to have a little extra to throw at the mortgage for June. Our current balance is $131,400, after our regular payment and our normal principle payment we would be at about $130,300....so I would really like to find an extra $300 from the trip money to get under $130K, that would be a great feeling! Either way I am happy we will be going on our vaca without having to take any out of savings, and whatever we bring home is gravy!

Coupons and Free Stuff

May 21st, 2011 at 09:45 pm

Victoria Secret (VS3/2011)
Coupons:
-Free Lace HipHugger $8.50
Total spent = $0
Total saved = $8.50

Target
Venus 4ct Razors - $2.00 coupon
1 Bottle Herbal Essences - $.50 coupon
2 Bottles of Pantene - $3.00 coupon
-Plus both bottles I bought came with a FREE 6.7oz bottle of conditioner, and $10 in additional coupons
2 Boxes Tampax - $3.00 mfr coupon AND $2.00 store coupon
Totals coupons = $10.50

This was the first time I had ever done the "double couponing". Most of the stores here do not let you double coupon an item. So with the Tampax I got one of the boxes free and one $1 off.

Menards
We went to Menards to get a fire pit for my Mom for her BD. While we were in the checkout DH saw that they had 3 packs of lint rollers for $5.09 and they had a rebate for $5.00 each. So we bought the limit of 4 and got the rebate. I will send the rebate in Monday and then they will have cost .09 each pack (.03 per roll). I figure I can open the 3 packs and sell each individual roller in the rummage sale for $1.00 each. So that would be a profit of $.97 each x 12 rollers = $11.64.
ETA - Sold all of these lint rollers for $1.00 each = $11.64 profit

Ooooh that hurts! $20K Downdate.....

May 20th, 2011 at 11:35 pm

Current Balance $14,235.00
-$500.00 to cover credit card (DH TX trip)
-$850.00 to payoff washer and dryer
New Balance $12,885.00

ING $8350.00
Home Improvements(cash) $800.00
HSBC $3735.00
Total = $12,885.00

Well it had to be done, but still sad to see the savings go down by $1350. But our 0% on our washer and dryer expires in June, so needed to pay if off. We saved over $1100 in deferred interest by paying it off within the 6 month time frame.
The only thing we have left on 0% is our laptop, which is still on 0% until Dec 2011 and only has a balance of $400.

Done with my MOH duties!

May 16th, 2011 at 01:55 am

The wedding was yesterday and it was so fun! I am beat though....looooong day and some aching feet from dancing all night! I brought $30 and ended up not spending any because they had drinks for us in the limo, kegs and drink tickets at the wedding. I did have to pay for hair, $45. There were a few mishaps, as I suppose there are with all weddings.....it rained ALL day and the bride spilled red Boone's Farm on her dress in the limo after the ceremony....at least it was after the ceremony. All in all a wonderful, fun day! Now back to normal life...lol.

$20K Update

May 13th, 2011 at 03:51 pm

Current Balance $14,000.00
+$85.00 to retirement hold account
+$25.00 to EF
+$25.00 to Home Improvements
+$100.00 to HSBC Anniversary Cruise
New Balance $14,235.00

ING $9700.00
Home Improvements(cash) $800.00
HSBC $3735.00
Total = $14,235.00

Bingo and Blackjack

May 7th, 2011 at 07:06 pm

I finally won at Bingo last night! Normally the bar down the street from us has Bingo every Friday night for about an hour and we will stop in every couple of weeks for the last year or so and never win at Bingo. Usually it is always packed so the pots are pretty good, but last night it was dead (probably why I finally won) and so I only won $11....lol. Oh well it payed for our Bingo at least. I also cashed out $5 ahead in blackjack. Somehow when I counted my money this morning I still had $11 more then what I started with yesterday.....which doesn't make sense....I spent my Bingo winnings on the Bingo cards, plus had drinks and only won $5 on bj, so by my math I should have been down about $7-10, depending on drinks/tips. Weird, but good! Smile

Investing in rummage sale books

May 7th, 2011 at 06:58 pm

We stopped at a rummage sale today. Didn't find anything for us, but they did have a lot of books. I bought 24 books for .25 a piece, and 1 book for .50. So $6.50 total. The .25 books I know I can sell at our rummage sale for .75 a piece, and then the .50 book I can sell for $1. That would be a profit of $12.50. This is an easy way to make a little extra money. I only buy popular series that I have sold before and know will keep selling, and also make sure they are always in nice condition. The ones I bought today were like brand new, and the were Goosesbumps, Fear Street and Babysitters Club books. They always sell whenever we get any and are easy to store.

$20K goal could happen within the year!

May 6th, 2011 at 01:32 am

I was just looking back at my entries and one year ago today our $20K Challenge was at $7,660 - today we are at $14,000......so judging by that math we may reach our $20K goal by May 2012! That would be awesome! We do have 2 major trips planned next year, a family trip to Vegas in March for my little bros 21st BD and a cruise for our 5 year wedding anniversary. Between the 2 it could be up to $7K. But we are thinking about postponing the cruise for one year since we already have the Vegas trip. The Vegas trip will definitely be cheaper. Hmmm....we shall see, but very cool to know if we really stuck to our guns we could be there in a year!

Possible Roomate again.......

May 5th, 2011 at 01:52 am

My cousin is thinking of moving here and living in one of our extra bedrooms. Her BF is moving here for school in the fall so she is planning on comeing too since she has a lot of family here. We have talked about it and would charge $200 a month for rent and then $50 to cover utilities like electric, heat/air, internet/cable, and water. I think this would be a fair amount for her to pay and a good deal for her as she would not be able to find anywhere else for that cheap, plus she would have her own bedroom, bathroom and a parking pad for her car. We will see what happens as that is not for about 4 months. But if it did work out we would put all of the extra money into the mortgage payoff savings account.

$20K Update

May 5th, 2011 at 01:35 am

Current Balance $14,065.00
-$112.00 to ROTH IRA
+$47.00 to keep at $14K
New Balance $14,000.00

ING $9565.00
Home Improvements(cash) $800.00
HSBC $3635.00
Total = $14,000.00

My Roth contribution came out today, and I really wanted to stay above $14K for a little bit longer so I transferred $47 to savings to keep it up there. About 2 more weeks till we have to pay off the washer/dryer.....then we will go down $900....

Lucky us.....

May 4th, 2011 at 12:34 am

Last night DH and I went to the casino.....I know we shouldn't have because we have that huge CC bill due next month, plus we are going to Nevada at the end of the month....but we did. Lucky for us, luck was on our side and we came home $200 ahead, plus a ton of change for the mortgage! YEE HAW! I would love to put the extra $200 into savings, but if I did that I would just have to take it out in a few weeks when this bill is due, so I am just putting it in checking now, at least that is $200 less we will have to take out of savings to pay the CC bill.

Keeping down clutter in your closet

May 4th, 2011 at 12:26 am

I have obscene amounts of clothes (girl - duh!) so everytime I get any new clothes I try to follow a rule to keep my closet from getting too out of control. Whenever I get any new items I take out the same kind of item from my closet, usually I put in the rummage sale box, sometimes throw away if it is something that died and I was just keeping cause I loved it at one time. So since I went shopping this weekend I went through and took out 2 tanktops, 1 shirt, a bikini and a belt for the rummage sale box. Those items covered the new ones I bought, and then for good measure I also added another tanktop threw away a pair of jeans that had been patched one too many times (seems to be a theme with me!) and a belt that was ready to break in half. This helps me a lot so that purging doesn't have to turn into a huge project, you can just do a little at a time.

100,000 hits!

May 3rd, 2011 at 11:12 pm

WOW!! We hit 100,000 hits today! That is amazing! Thanks so much to everyone who reads and comments!

May 2011 Mortgage

May 2nd, 2011 at 01:47 am

May 2011 Mortgage Payment

Balance $132,437.50
+$413.87 Interest
+$307.59 Escrow
-$1311.16 Regular Payment
-$447.80 Principle Payment
New Balance $131,400.00

$131K = 131 months = 10.92 years!

Mortgage Payoff Account

May 2nd, 2011 at 12:55 am

Since the MOH funds are now moved over to the EF, I had an extra account with our ING that wasn't for anything specific. I decided to label it Mortgage Payoff Account. I have been wanting to start an account for this for a long time, so am glad it is finally started, even if it only has $5 in it right now. We are still going to keep paying the extra to our mortgage on a monthly basis, so this account is not going to be going up in leaps and bounds or anything. But if we make all of savings goals for the year (we are on #4 out of #8) then I would like to put any extra for the year into that account. Then do the same thing the next year, check off each of the goals and then any extra would help fill the MPA again.....keep doing this and eventually the mortgage balance and the MPA balance will equal and then the house will be paid off, YEAH!

Clothes Shopping

May 1st, 2011 at 05:05 pm

My bride was in town for her dress fitting so we decided while the boys were at the Bachelor Party we would go shopping for our own grand finale! I had a lot of fun and got a lot of good deals on SUPER cute clothes!

Target
$30.00 Yellow Bikini on clearance for $7.48
Total Spent = $7.48
Total Saved = $22.52

JCP - $10 off coupon
$12.00 Lace Tanktop, on sale for $5.99, minus $4.28 coupon = $1.71
$14.00 Cami, on sale for $7.99, minus $5.72 coupon = $2.27
$15.00 Bow Headband, on sale for $9.99
$18.00 Lace Tee, on clearance for $7.20
$26.00 Crochet Flyaway, on clearance for $10.40
$26.00 Grey Cargidan, on sale for $14.99
Total Spent = $46.56
Total Saved = $64.44

Total Spent = $54.04
Total Saved = $86.96

May Savings Update

May 1st, 2011 at 04:51 pm

May 2011 Savings update
As of May 1, 2011:

Regular Savings:
Emergency Fund $2375
Anniversary Cruise $3640
Home Maintanence $150
Mortgage Payoff Account $5
Cushion $1470
HSA $4040
New Car $2010 - Complete
New Lawn Mower (cash) $800 - Complete
Laptop $405 - Complete
Washer and Dryer $1000 - Complete
Vacation - $2540 - Complete
Total Regular Savings = $18,345.00

Retirement Savings:
Retirement Hold Account $1140
Roth IRA $3495
Rollover IRA $1375
401K $14,975
403B $10,000 (est)
Total Retirement Savings = $30,985.00

Total Savings = $49,330
Up $1,620 from last month! Woot woot!

$20K Update - $14K!!

May 1st, 2011 at 04:40 pm

Current Balance $13,925.00
+$100.00 Detention Money - To Home Improvements
+$7.73 ING Interest
+$5.00 HSBC Interest
+$27.27 Even Out Amount
New Balance $14,065.00

ING $9630.00
Home Improvements(cash) $800.00
HSBC $3635.00
Total = $14,065.00

Whoo hoo! We made it to the next $1000 mark!