So we thought that DH's first paycheck for the school year would be today. I went and checked our checking account today and they only deposited $77! Awww! I called DH and he checked and said he doesn't get paid until 9/15/11! OHHHHH NOOOOO! So that means there would be a whole month with no pay between his summer job and the school paycheck. Stressed out now......I still don't know why they put that random $77 in there, but will check with DH when he gets home. We were so close to $15K in regular savings and now we may be back down to close to $10K. >CRYING<

ETA - Ok after talking to DH and looking at my blog from last year and our checking account....the exact same thing happened to me last year! D U M M Y! So apparently I didn't learn my lesson last year when we came up short in September.
So I will number crunch and NOT SPEND for the next few weeks to see what we can do, but there is no way we can go a whole month with no pay for DH and get by without taking out of savings. All I can do is try to control how much we have to take out.....oh yeah and remember this for next year!

I went back to CVS to purchase the last $12.01 to get my $10 giftcard.



Herbal Essences 12oz Shampoo and Conditioner
-I bought 2 bottles
-Regular price $3.99, on sale for $3.00
-Minus $1.00 mfr coupon
-Final price $2.48 per bottle, Saved $5.49

Duracell AAA batteries 16 count pack
-Regular price $14.49, on sale for $9.99
-Final price $9.99, Saved $4.50

Orbit Gum 14 piece pack
-Regular price $1.37
-Minus $1.00 CVS coupon
-Final price .37! Saved $1.00

The coupon for the gum I got at CVS just for swiping my card at their coupon kiosk.
I also used the $1 EB that I got with my last purchase, so I saved another $1 with that too!

So I saved another $11.99 on products we need, PLUS got the $10 CVS giftcard for next time we go in to get some great deals! YEAH!

Lots of awesome deals at CVS this week!
Here are the ones I took advantage of:



Gatorades 32oz bottles
-I bought the limit of 8
-Regular price $1.99 per bottle, on sale BOGO Free
-Final price .99 per bottle, Saved $7.96

Lay's Potatoe Chips 10oz bags
-I bought the limit of 4
-Regular price $4.29 per bag, on sale BOGO Free
-Final price $2.15 per bag, Saved $8.56

Puffs 100ct boxes (same price as the 56 count boxes)
-I bought 3 boxes
-Regular price $1.99, on sale for .99
-Minus .25 mfr coupon
-Final price .91 per box, Saved $3.25

Crest Complete 4oz tube
-Regular price $3.99, on sale for $2.99
-Minus $1.00 mfr coupon
*Got $1 Extra Bucks Reward for this purchase
-Final price 1.99, Saved $2.00

Herbal Essences 12oz Shampoo and Conditioner
-I bought 2 bottles
-Regular price $3.99, on sale for $3.00
-Minus $1.00 mfr coupon
-Final price $2.48 per bottle, Saved $5.49

Tampax 20ct box
-Regular price $3.99, on sale for $2.99
-Minus $1.00 mfr coupon
-Final price $1.99, saved $2.00

Febreeze 27oz bottle
-Regular price $6.29, on sale for $4.99
-Minus $1.00 mfr coupon
-Final price $3.99, Saved $2.30

Duracell AAA batteries 16 count pack
-Regular price $14.49, on sale for $9.99
-Minus .75 mfr coupon
-Final price $9.24, Saved $5.25

Dawn Dishwashing Soap 10.3oz
-I bought 2 bottles
-Regular price $1.99, on sale for .99
-Minus .75 mfr coupon and .50 mfr coupon
-Final price .37 per bottle!! Saved $3.24

CVS Daytime/Nighttime Cold/Flu Relief Double Pack
(2)10oz bottles per pack
-I bought 2 packs
-Regular price $9.79 (compared to $15 for the brand name Nyquil pack), on sale for BOGO 50% off
-Final price $14.68, Saved $4.90

Total saved $44.95!!!

The only thing I bought that we did not "need" was the Lays Chips. Everything else was a household necessity, so very happy with the trip.

They also had a promotion where if you spend $30 in select products you get a $10 gas card. I asked the cashier about this and since we do not have the gas stations the cards were for they just give you a $10 CVS giftcard. I wasn't planning on doing that promotion, but after I checked out I saw on my receipt that if I buy $12.01 more in select products in the next week I get a the giftcard, so since I only have to spend $12.01 to get a $10 giftcard I will do that since it would only equate to me spending $2.01 more OOP. I just need to figure out the best products to purchase to get the most savings and use out of this deal.

There were 2 other deals that I was not able to get because they were sold out, but I did get rainchecks for them.
-24 case of bottled water, on sale for $2.22
-Pace Picante sauce, on sale for 2/$4, plus I have a .75 coupon

September 2011 Mortgage Payment

Balance $128,000.00
+$400.00 Interest
+$307.59 Escrow
-$1311.16 Regular Payment
-$546.43 Principle Payment ($30.00 in change)
New Balance $126,850.00


$126K = 126 months left = 10.5 years left

YEAH this is the last month that we will ever have to pay over $400 in interest on our mortgage!

We ended up making $115 at the rummage sale, $40 of which was from the FREE stuff my friend gave us. Also made money on the lint rollers we got for .09 cents a piece (with rebate from Menards) and sold for $1 a piece, as well as some Goosebumps books I bought at another rummage sale for .25 cents a piece and sold for .75 a piece. I did snacks again too, brownies, cupcakes, pop, juice and snowcones, but didn't sell as much as we normally do in snacks since it wasn't super busy.
As soon as we get our money we will be able to add $115 to the $20K Challenge!

We had a rummage sale this weekend. So far we made about $30 selling our stuff and about $40 in the FREE stuff we got from my friend. We will be open for a few more hours today, so hopefully will make a little more. But it just hasn't been very busy, and we didn't have any big stuff....mostly just clothes, books, and misc junk.

Also DH and I are on 2 coed softball teams, and had already paid the fee for both of them, $20 a piece. One of the teams couldn't get enough girls, so we got our money back from that, $20 for each of us, plus $20 that we paid for one of our friends cause he didn't have any money with at the time. So $60 total and I will just be adding that into our checking cushion, we are getting very close to meeting that goal!

DH only gets his retirement statement once a year and has no way to check in online so for most of the year I have to estimate what he has in his 403B. Finally got the statement.

2010 Balance $9,983.38
2011 Balance $13,322.37

Not a big jump, but with the way the market is going recently I am just happy it went up.

Current Balance $12,660.00
+$15.00 Recycling
New Balance $12,675.00

ING $8115.00
Home Improvements(cash) $160.00
Cash $300.00
HSBC $4100.00
Total = $12,675.00

Another productive day, went to work and then......

Took in our pop cans again
20lbs at .55/lb = $11.00
Piece of siding = .41

Total is $11.41. So I transferred $15 to savings.

-Went to the bank
-Got the battery changed in my car starter remote ($8)
-Picked up a ring that I had taken to the jewelry store to get saudered together ($40)
-Bought a case of beer for our friend that did all of those home repairs ($20)

My Mom came and helped me clean out our garage today since we will be having a rummage sale next weekend. Normally we have then all summer long, but since we didn't this year due to the flooding we had a VERY dirty garage. We got it all cleaned up though and my parents are starting to bring the tables and stuff to sale down tonight.
I also got the aluminum cans ready to take in to recycling as well. We had another bad storm this week and it blew a piece of our aluminum trim off of our house and bent it all up, so I will take that with to the recycling too and we will have to go buy a new one.
We had a friend who is good with electrical come over and he fixed our doorbell, fireplace, 4 electrical outlets and the electric locks on DH's car! So happy to have all of those minor repairs done in one day. I tried to pay him, but all he wanted was a case of beer. We also gave him our old lawnmower cause he fixes up old lawnmowers and sells them, so we just gave it to him and he can have it for parts or to fix up and everybody wins.

Here's how we are doing on home improvements/repairs:

2007
New Roof
New Living Room couch and 2 recliners
King Mattress
Flat sceen TV and Stand
Patio Furniture

2008
Grill
New Patio Door Blinds

2009
New Hot Tub Cover

2010
New blinds for living room and bedroom
Remodeled downstairs bathroom
New Washer and Dryer
New Laptop

2011
Fixed Fireplace
Fixed Doorbell
New Lawn Mower
New Vacuum


Here are some of our proposed projects and purchases:
Underground sprinkler system
New dishwasher
New bedroom set
New family room furniture (downstairs)
Fix and paint lattice under deck
Put plastic under rock beds
Fix holes and dents in walls
Paint deck
Fix piece of siding that blew of house
Plant new tree in the front yard

I seperated my order in to 2 seperate purchases at the cash register.

First I had a coupon to get a $5 giftcard for purchasing 2 products off of a list (tp, papertowels, or diapers), so I got 2 packs of Charmin TP and received a $5 giftcard. Plus I also had a .25 off TP that I used on the same purchase.

Then for my second order, I used my other coupons:
$1 off Herbal Essences product
$1.50 off Target Brand Laundry Detergent
.75 off Target Brand Tampons
Buy one get one Free Tampax ($3.99 FREE)
Plus $1.00 off 2 boxes of Tampax (So for 2 boxes it should have been $7.98 total, but after BOGO and $1 off coupon = $2.99 total)
Then on top of that I used my $5 giftcard that I just got for purchasing the TP in the first transation.

Total saved from coupons and free giftcard = $13.49!!

My stockpile closet is starting to get really full as I always like to use coupons for items that we will always need, and that won't exprire. Such as TP, papertowels, razors, tampons, shaving foam, shampoo, conditioner, laundry detergent, dishwasher detergent etc. That way I don't get stuck in a situation where we are out of one of those items and have to pay full price for it. But I need to organize my stockpile to see what I have in there now and what we can wait on purchasing for awhile.

Current Balance $12,575.00
+$85.00 to ING retirement hold account
New Balance $12,660.00

ING $8100.00
Home Improvements(cash) $160.00
Cash $300.00
HSBC $4100.00
Total = $12,660.00

DH had a death in his family this weekend. So may have to take more out of savings to travel for the funeral and also missing work. Not sure of the details yet....

Current Balance $12,425.00
+$100.00 to Anniversary Cruise
+$25.00 to ING EF
+$25.00 to ING Home Improvements
New Balance $12,575.00

ING $8015.00
Home Improvements(cash) $160.00
Cash $300.00
HSBC $4100.00
Total = $12,575.00

I hate to do this....but need to keep the numbers correct. I tried to stay ahead of the car repair bill, but just couldn't dodge that big of an extra bill.
Then the checking account was very low before we paid August mortgage and I should have not put as much extra towards principle as normal, and instead I put even more cause the call of $128K had me in a trance. So we were already short and then I paid the extra $600 to the mortgage...oh well at least it went to a good place.
And lastly.....we went on a little congrats to DH trip this weekend. It was very spur of the moment, but we wanted to do something fun for DH getting the head coaching job since his nights and weekends will be pretty much full until the end of October. So we spent $500 there too.
UGH - Down $1800 total, but I am hoping we will have that paid back to savings very quickly.

Current Balance $14,225.00
-$500.00 June car repair
-$800.00 To checking/mortgage principle
-$500.00 DH congrats trip
New Balance $12,425.00

ING $7965.00
Home Improvements(cash) $160.00
Cash $300.00
HSBC $4000.00
Total = $12,425.00

We have been having horrible thunderstorms here for weeks with nasty winds, hail and tornadoes. Here is what the wind did to the tree in our front yard last week. My brother came down with a chain saw to cut up the half that had fallen, but when he got here the City came and said they would take it for free since it was on the boulevard. So that was good.

We were hoping the tree would be ok since half of it was still up and seemed fine, but when we got home today all that was left was a stump. Apparently the city came while we were at work and cut the whole thing down. Now we have an ugly stump. I need to call the City and see if they are coming to remove the stump and hopefully plant a new tree.

We received a $10 giftcheck in the mail today from Taco Johns for filling out a secret shopper survey.

I redeemed our Discover Card cashback rewards. We had $55.50 banked. I redeemed $45 for a $50 Applebees giftcard. We eat out at Applebees a lot during softball season because it is close to the diamonds and is usually happy hour (half price apps and taps!) by the time we get done playing.

I entered all of my coke points on the coke rewards website....I have 39 pts, not enough to get anything of interest yet...but at least I have them all entered now instead of all over in the bottom of my purse.

DH got a $10 giftcard from a parent (he is a teacher) for Barnes and Noble, and also a $5 giftcard to Dairy Queen. The Barnes and Noble card I think we will use to get a book for his niece. DH doesn't read too much, and I read a lot, but prefer to just get books from the library as I rarely read the same book twice, so it would just be taking up space. Have not used the DQ giftcard yet....but that's really only a matter of time.

My People Magazine subscription is coming due again in October and I have decided to not renew it. This will save a little over $100 a year ($2 an issue for 52 weeks). I really like People Magazine, but I am super behind on reading it, like weeks and weeks behind. I used to have some down time at work when I could read for a few minutes, or I would read them when we go on trips. But work has been super busy for the last several months and on my breaks I usually go walk outside or read a book. When we go on trips I usually read a book in the car or take a nap. So I decided to cut it, and if I want to get 1 for a roadtrip or something it would be way cheaper just to get one once in awhile rather then getting then every week.

Current Balance $14,220.00
-$112.00 to ROTH IRA
+$85.00 to retirement hold account
+$7.52 ING Interest
+$24.48 Even Out Amount
New Balance $14,225.00

ING $9765.00
Home Improvements(cash) $160.00
Cash $300.00
HSBC $4000.00
Total = $14,225.00

After all of that we only went up $5, lol.

I'm getting kind of tired of trying to stay ahead in the checking account....may have to take some out of savings soon to cover the $500 car repair from June...I have been trying to juggle to not take out of savings since then, but it is getting harder and harder and also confusing. I think I will give it another week or 2 to see if we can tough if out cause I HATE to take out of savings, but that is what it is there for, so if I need to use it I will.

Still deciding what to do with the coaching $$$.

August 2011 Savings update
As of August 1, 2011:

Regular Savings:
Home Maintanence $365
Mortgage Payoff Account $45
Cushion $1610
HSA $4700
New Patio Door(cash) $160
Cash $300.00
Laptop $515 - Complete
New Car $2025 - Complete
Vacation - $2560 - Complete
Emergency Fund $3035 - Complete
Anniversary Cruise $4000 - Complete
Total Regular Savings = $19,315.00

Retirement Savings:
Retirement Hold Account $1245
Roth IRA $3900
Rollover IRA $1380
401K $15,900
403B $10,000 (est)
Total Retirement Savings = $32,425.00

Total Savings = $51,740.00

Up $835 from last month.

We met our goal for the Anniversary Cruise this month and are very close to meeting the goal for the checking cushion and the HSA.
We also bought a new lawn mower and a new vacuum.
Just a few more weeks and school will be starting and the cash flow will be increasing again (sigh of relief!).

My husband just found out he got a job as the head cross country coach at one of our high schools! YEAH! I am so proud and excited for him! He has been wanting to get into track or cross country coaching since he finished college and started teaching 5 years ago.
We have not decided yet what we will do with that extra money, but I am going to leave it all up to DH since he is the one putting in the extra effort.