My little construction worker is about to build me some shelves in our shed. I will be able to put things up off of the floor. I will not have to step over or lean over crap to get to the crap that I want.
I am also about to do the switch of Summer Clothes for Winter Clothes. I got some space bags from my Momma for my birthday. I will empty them and fill them up again. Then, by that time, there will be shelves to put them on in the shed.
Thank goodness for my man. He got the wood from a guy at work yesterday. It was a little inconvenient, but it was worth it. I may have to buy a board or two for hanging it, but other than that, we are all set. My least fav part is going to be the emptying of the shed to build the things.
I am going to need pantry shelves too. Do you think I should buy those white wire ones?

I bought a washer and dryer set.
I went to a scratch and dent store, which was cool, and found a set for $325. Since I paid cash and was delivering it myself, I saved 10%. That took the bill down.

Overall, I am happy about my purchase. I did trash the old set, which made DS2BH mad a little. He wanted to fix them. I didn't want them sitting in my yard for months, covered in snow, wasting my space and making it look even more hillbilly than it does already.

I will be saving money on my water bill. I will definitely save on my electric bill, since the old dryer took a minimum of three runs through and this dryer only takes one turn. Sorta like it's supposed to.
They are energy savers, money savers, and my time savers.
I won out, even though I have to buy a work truck for my DS2BH. He really needs one too.
So, count $313 paid for my sanity and pleasure. Whatever pleasure I get from doing laundry is my own, and you can't take it from me now.

I went next door to my cousins last night. We had popcorn from my popcorn machine. We drank soda pop out of real glasses. That saved how much money?

At least $10 per person.
No one had to bring their own drink.
No one had to pitch in for paper cups.
No one had to buy a snack, since I had those things at home already.
Everyone had a great time, enjoying every loving cheap ass minute of it.

We went with the old standby game, Charades. It was my first time go round, but it was fun.
I also brought the paper strips for that game too, and the hat.

Good thing I showed up, huh?

I love my new Girl's Night that is so cheap and easy to enjoy.
Plus, when it is next door, it takes no gas at all.

I have figured my savings on SmartyPig.com. It is pretty sweet.
I have, as of today, $4520.7554 saved. That is adding the interest that has not posted, and all three goals together. There is more interest to be earned, and I will find it.
I still think that saving my money is a better idea than paying off my debts completely.
I did pay them down. I just didn't pay them completely off.
Way To Save, Me!

I never figured that I would have to figure what I was worth. I was always in the red, so what I was worth was nada.
I have been looking at my interest earned on Smarty Pig, and loving the results.
(for details, see my balance page)
I am trying to figure out how much money I will have at the end of this month.
I am figuring that I will have saved $4,530.79, including interest.
I will not get the interest posted to my account for another three months, but that will be two months at the end of October.
I have been a little lax on my spending curb I set for myself.
I did freeze any unnecessary spending, buying only what we need to survive.
I believe that with every cent I save, that is one more that I will have when an emergancy comes our way. That is a when, not an if.

I don't need a new dryer, I just want one. My washer was broken down. I couldn't stand not having my own washer. I was bumming my cousin's next door, since she did mine. I still didn't want to wait until she wasn't washing. I wanted to be able to do it when ever I wanted to.
I asked for my washer to be fixed. I threatened to buy a new one. He knows of my thing about having a matching washer/dryer. I was going to buy one when I bought my freezer in the scratch and dent, but he didn't want to spend the money then either.
I am glad he fixed the one I have.
It did save me about $400. I know I would have gone all out and bought $500 matching ones and it would have killed him.
I keep telling myself to leave my money in savings, but the other voice says,spend, spend, spend!
I hate it, but I have very little self control. I often act before thinking. I know this. I need him to tell me not to spend and fix the old one I've got.
Thanks so much, honey!

Last night was awesome, very fun. I can't do anything like that for a long while. Today, I had my very first hangover.
What an experience. The kids were good, that that was nice, but everything else sucked.

I still would have done it. I am glad we had a great time.

We got to the bar and I put money into the dart board machine. It told me that I had 16 credits. I only paid for four. That means someone had left $3 in there before we started. Thanks for the free games! There was no one around any of the dart boards when we got there or after. The pool tables were packed though. The price for that went up to a buck each game.

All in all, we had a great time and made it home before 12 am. I still went to my cousin's house after the boys were asleep. DS2BH had to work this morning, so they all went to bed and I went next door. That is where I got super slammed and had such a wonderful feeling this morning.

I will post how much money I am saving on liquor for the month. I may even wait longer, maybe only drinking at a holiday party or two.

I added some financial goals to my pages and weight goals to my weight page.
I found out some cool stuff on a web site and wanted to share. When I can do these things, I can see myself as financialy fit.

* As you take your next vacation, you know that it is completely paid for before you
leave.
* The next time a major appliance needs to be replaced, you have the money already
set aside.
* You never need to worry about checking the account balance at the bank before
you pay a bill.
* You look forward to making decisions regarding the education of your children,
because you are actively saving money for this purpose.
* You spend time planning and anticipating retirement, because you are debt free and prudently investing money to fund the lifestyle you want to have.

Thank you to the person who fixed the control panel button.
I was stressing, but found out that the new entry button worked the way it should.
The people who put this site together and run it for people like me are saints in my book, if that stands for anything.
I do appreciate all you do for us.
I look forward to thanking you again when you help me to get my financial life in order.
To all of those who were lost and are now found, make sure you thank people along the way. They do help and like to hear that they did!

Today, I had cable hook up internet and I am at my home computer!YES!
As soon as the guy left, I helped my cousin pay her gas bill online.
She said she tried to do it at home, since she had cable 3 days before me, and didn't know her account number.

"Do you have any old checks with the account number on it?"

"Yes."

"Go get them and we will try it out."

"Ok."

She then left to go get it and get this, it was from 2004. Whatever, it worked.
She then went downtown to have them turn it on. She will be showering in her own house by tomorrow(hopefully).

Tuesday, I forgot to leave my door unlocked for her to shower. She said that she couldn't go anywhere since she didn't shower. I laughed at her and said, I saw that when I pulled up and your trash can was still sitting there. Couldn't even get the trash can without showering.
LOL
(I have never ever used that before. I thought is was kinda stupid, but it makes for shorter typing.)

I just paid another $130.00 on a credit card. Woo Hoo!
With this extra money that I was needing for so long, my life is easier.
I just don't want to depend on it too much, as it won't last too much longer.
I am glad I saved some of it, but I am spending a little less discretionarily.
I do hope that with my cards and utilities paid up in full, I can breath a little easier at night, even if my balance in my account is low like before.
The interest that I earn on my savings will be worth it!

Well, this is good news and bad news.
The good news is that with some of my money, I paid two months rent, paid back my grandma a lot of money I owed her, and am on the way to getting my drivers license back.
The bad news is that when I called my credit cards to pay them, most likely a settlement offer, they said, too late! Charged off 8 days ago. Should have called then.

To me that is good news. No, I don't want my credit in the toilet, but it already is now. So, since the bank that is helping me with a payment plan, is willing to let me reopen my card and use it, I can still build my credit up again, not starting completely from scratch.
Also, my plan is for $30 a month for 6 months. I have paid 2 months worth, plus an extra $160.25 on top of that. I am already back under my credit limit, so I am just going further and further towards that magic number of $0.00!!!

Talk about debt snowball. Those payments I was going to make on those cards are just automatically going to the ones I am not so bad on.
I have paid my utilities, which I have not paid all of in several months, maybe even a year. I was only paying the necessary ones to survive. I can't live without electricity. I can without cable. I can't live without gas, but I can without a phone. Suprisingly, my water was never shut off and my bill was over $400.00!
It's paid now, and I am saving money and directing money to the proper places now.

This is my new total for my savings account at my bank!

Add $.05 for my Challenge money in the Laundry Fairy category.

Add over $10,000 in my checking account for property sold on Friday!

And I think I am good. I was excited when I found that nickel too!

I have left the money alone for as long as I could. I couldn't take it any more. I had my Smarty Pig money sent back to my bank account, as Rent is coming up in 12 days. I earned $1.25 in interest. That is amazing. To make up for me taking money out of the system, I added an extra $25 on top of my monthly contribution of $26
I will be feeling better when I can put $1000.00 in that account and see that interest build up.

I am so excited that Friday is almost here. Wednesday has gotten it's own page. I am trying to track all of my spending on the Money in the bank page. This will make it easier for me to own up to my spending.
I am so excited that my cousin is moving in next door to me today. She signs the lease at 2:00pm
I have recently received my schedule for next quarter here at school. I am not looking forward to my fall classes. Accounting and Records Management&Security.
My computer class will be a breeze, but I don't know who the instructor will be.
I should be typing my Psychology research paper right now, but I am just so hyped about Friday and my lump sum of money.
Yahoo!

I am watching my spending. I sorta cheated a little. I added up everything I had used my debit card for in the last 6 months. I talked to S2BH about it. We will check his numbers out tonight. I didn't expect him to go back that far. I only want to know the week.
I am mainly focused on gasoline, lunch at work, and that's it.
I also just took care of my children's fundraiser stuff; writting checks, double checking math, and making sure the teacher got the money.
My boys are getting way better at turning in their paperwork, bringing it all home, and talking with us about their day.
I just can't seem to get homework time to be more fun.
That may sound silly, but I would rather it be fun than screaming about how he "Doesn't want to do it!", and me telling him "Tough, you have to."
I let them eat snacks while working, and no tv, but you can read a short story between papers.
I mainly think that they are tired. When you get home from school, you have been up all day, you're hungary, and you want to relax, not do more work.
I don't like to delay the homework though, since I tend to forget it and they try to stay up past bedtime to finish. I tell them, you can do what you want, when it is done.
I think I will try a monatary reward for finishing within the hour, or 30 minutes.
They just got new piggy banks they painted themselves. That might make things smoother.

Tuesday is a special day where I get to spend money.
I will go to the store and buy groceries, buy some more gas for my car, get plenty of paper products that we are out of, and much more.
If I play my cards right, I should spend about $100 and have enough food for the rest of the month.
I have hamburger, porkchops, and steak in the freezer. I only need side items and staples.
Sugar
Milk
Mt. Dew
Paper plates
Fruit
Veggies
and the like.

I will use as many coupons as I can, buy sale items only if I need them, not only because they're on sale.
I also have to buy some extra party supplies as we are planning a suprise birthday party for my best friend's little bro. He will be 21.
Guess what I'm buying?

I have counted change and added up what I spent this week and weekend, going over it with S2BH.
Let's go with what is fresh in my mind and go back from there.
Yesterday, since we worked all day long, we got to eat for free and our boss paid for the food. Save $5.00
I did buy a Mt. Dew for $1.00
After work I used a B1G1 cap and got two more Mt. Dews for $1.48
Saturday I did buy my dinner at Kid Rock/Lynard Skynard and spent $5.00
Friday night, on my way to work, there was an accident on the interstate and the police made us turn around. I got gas at the next exit spending $25.54
Thursday, I didn't spend much money on anything, but I did buy a pop at school out of the machine for $1.25
Also, to save a thousand dollars or so, I spent $30.00 to test out of a class so I won't take it next quarter.
I hope I did alright.
Finding money on the ground is helping me fund my children's piggy banks. I am also about to spend money on fundraiser items from their school. I hope I can find two cheap things that we can use and I am not just throwing my money away for the school.
I will prepare for tomorrow by preparing today!

Too Much Debt Thursday has come. I have faced up to the fact that I made some stupid purchases on my credit cards and was dumb to max them out so soon.
I have learned from my mistake and am now crawling out of the hole that I dug myself.
I no longer go to the salon and get my nails done.
I haven't dyed my hair in a few months, so that saved me $10.
I don't buy junk at the store, but real food that has to be cooked.
I don't go to the dollar store and browse.
I have tried real hard to control my spending habits and listen to advice given to me.
Dave Ramsey said it best when he said:You can read all the books and learn all about how to do it, but until you do, you're gonna get no where.
That isn't an exact quote but you get the jist of it.
I was reading every book the library had on credit repair, debt management, and how to save money when you have none, but nothing was happening. I was learning how but not following through.
Saving with Smarty Pig has made me feel that I can do it. I have gotten 55% of my goal on there now and it feels great. Watching my interest go up and up is a good feeling instead of focusing on bad interest that I wasn't paying back.
People say, it costs you more to save and not pay on your credit cards, but it makes me feel good to have something to fall back on, even if it is $250.
I will focus on paying $5 to every credit card I have today. Seven total bills of $5 is only $35 total. I can handle that. I will also pay off my water bill that is OUTRAGEOUS!!!!!!!
Majorly overdue is taking back the equipment that the cable company wants back. I need to take it to the other side of town.
We are thinking about having just regular cable coming out of the wall.
Right now, we don't need anything, but come February, we will need digital.
Off to make my payments!
P.S. Add three cents to my $20 challenge for money found on the ground. One at work, one outside my Mom's house, and one at the gas station as I was walking in to pay. Woo Hoo!

Today is Thrifty Tuesday. It rhymes better with Thursday, but that is debt snowball day where I focus on getting debt down and record and update all of my payments and extra payments.
I will grocery shop at a store with great deals. I will buy bread and snacks at the local bread store. Wonderbread is a wonderful place. They have Twinkies!
I have few coupons but have the ads with me and will compare before I buy. Drinks are expensive and that is my main reason to go this store. A gallon of milk is expensive too. They are almost one buck cheaper than the local grocery.
I must get to that. Happy Tuesday.

TODAY IS MONEY MONDAY!
I have already paid $15 to one credit card, $30 to another card, and tried to set up paying off my cable bill, but the lady was uncoopertive so I will call back later today and see who I get on the other line.
Also, I will be focusing on my budget on Mondays. I have called the bank and checked out what checks have cleared and what has not.
I wrote a check for my son's tuition that is due every week. Lunch $ has been sent in. Drinks have been bought for the week.
I hadn't planned for a lot of money this month, so when I get my check in three or four weeks that has all these hours on it, I will be really happy.
I am working 7 days this week, going to school for four of those and getting the little ones off to school and being there for them when they get home for five. I guess money is needed and I can survive.
If I don't post for more than two weeks, then it did kill me.

Monday I will pay all bills due that week.
Tuesday I will do the grocery shopping with coupons.
Wednesday I will get together with DH and compare our spending for the last week and where we can slow down or stop.
Thursday will be Debt Snowball day where I pay an extra $5.00 on all my credit card bills. That extra $5 will get me out faster than I think!
Friday will be a free day to either cook the next week's dinner meals or clean freak the house. I'm guessing the food will overcome.
Saturday I will scope out sales at the stores for items I actually need and will buy them on Tuesday on shopping day.
Sunday will be smooth sailing as all I have to do is go through coupons for the next week's shopping trip.

Listing all items needed from each store before the actual shopping day will help me to add things that I may forget.
I will look at the list that morning that I wrote two days before and add or subtract what we REALLY need. That will be the trickiest part. What do we REALLY need?

I love saving money!

I have recently earned .65 cents in interest from my two accounts and have earned another .65 cents that is to be paid at the end of the quarter.
Since I am working more, I am saving more.
I didn't have the money in the last six months, so why should I get used to having it now?
I will keep pretending that I am so broke and I will trick myself into thinking I have no money.
I can't spend what I don't have!

Start filling up a little piggy yourself.

I have found an awesome website that can help you budget and get your credit card payments, car payments, morgage payments, and the like laid out in front of you.
You have to find all the paperwork first, but only once.
After you have the information entered, it tells you everything you want to know except where to get the money from.

POWERPAY.ORG

It's free and ran by a school, Utah State I think.

I am currently using it and it has taken place of the pearbudget that I was thinking about paying $3.00 a month for.
Unnecessary!

I have received mail from several credit card companies saying that I am about to go under.
I have set up payment plans for them, with one, I can even get my card active again once paying down my balance.
One plan is $30 a month for 6 months.
The other plan is pay $20 now so that they don't charge the account off and when I get my money from selling my land, pay off a settlement of $450.
That works for me. Why would the credit card company tell me that if I pay $20 every three months that they could never do anything against me.
What about all that interest and late fees that you tack on??!!
Also, I would like to add $.92 to my challenge money before the month is up. I found more change on the ground at work.

I found at least $5.00 worth of change at work this weekend. Thursday was Rush, Friday and Saturday was Dave Matthews, and they were droping money left and right.
My supervisor stayed overnight and combed the lawn where people sit. In one night, or just an hour or two really, she found $8.00 in change and two one dollar bills.
I am envy her. But, I didn't have to stay up all night and she did it so she wouldn't fall asleep.
High five for working three days in a row! I haven't worked more than one day a week in quite a while.
This week is looking good too. Jimmy Buffett is tomorrow and I should be busy all weekend too!
I added the $5.00 to my balance page and will be adding the money to my savings account today.

I can't rave about my interest I am earning in my little piggy!
I will earn 35 cents for this month and by the end of September, they will post over 90 cents into my account.
My piggy at home is getting fat too!
I have put all the change I find at work in there, along with the washer findings and sweeping the floor came up with some things.

Thanks for the support, with over 25,000 people checking out this page, I feel that someone can learn from my mistakes and some can offer great advice on how to get unstuck!

These were the words that my mom said to me last night when I said that we were going to the fair.
I have let some of my bills go that I shouldn't have. Number one being my cell phone and credit cards. Number two being that we can survive without cable, but not without rent and the extra $55.00 that the elementary school charges for full day kindergarden.
I would like to tell all of those frugal-er than I that, NO, I did not go to the fair. The only money spent yesterday was $12.00 for a birthday present for my DH's little brother. He loved it and spending time with him was good enough for us.
I also never mentioned the fair to my two young boys, knowing that they would cry when told that we wern't going, so they don't even know what they missed.
I do.
I won't cry. I've been plenty of times. You can tell that I am a grown up now. I only wanted to go for the food!!!!

After three months of slow work, things are finally starting to pick up. I will be working Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Last week I was to work Friday and Sunday, but after half an hour on Sunday, they asked me if I wanted to go home. I said no, then they told me to clock out and go see the show.
I understand that they were trying to be nice, knowing I wanted to see the show, but I would have rather been paid to see it, than to sit down and see it. I got bored and left early, but only after I stayed for an extra two hours off the clock. I should have watched Brooks and Dunn for free, but I figured that my children need me more and I am not making anything sitting in the grass.

The county fair is going on and tonight is the only night I can go. Should I?
The food is the real reason I want to go, but I am willing to buy tickets for the boys to enjoy some rides. I just have to keep DH away from the carny games that are rip offs. The food will be super expensive too. But, since we will not be going to the State fair, unless my Mom takes them, this will be their only chance this year.

I hope DH is in a good mood when he gets home. I have to get a couch out of the living room for my Momma's yard sale this weekend. I can't forget that on Friday she wants me to stop by in case she has to use the bathroom. I hope she doesn't drink a lot of water.

As you can see, there is a little pig on the side of my blog's page.
This pig is a lot fuller than my little pig at home.
I broke down yesterday and took $2.50 out of him so that I could get more than $10.00 worth of gas.
I thought I got good gas mileage since I drive a stick shift. I was wrong. Maybe it's because everytime I get $15.00 worth, I only get 3.34 gallons. Add it up, that's $4.499 a gallon!
At least the pig on here is getting fat, and I do plan to eat him later, for those of you that thought I was getting Thanksgiving dinner early and fattening it up. I will eat this one at a store where they sell chest freezers for a good price. I was pricing them, and all of the sudden, as soon as the summer heat hit, the prices went through the roof.

Hey, there are over 24,000 hits to my site! Thanks for the support!

I bought a pig.
It looks so cute.
I tell myself that he needs to be fed everyday or he will die.
I put all the change I can find in him, and he still smiles at me.
I was feeding him some green stuff, but that got expensive.
I am also trying to quit smoking, and by putting the money I would have used to buy cigarettes into my pig, I have saved a little dough.
I still smoke, and don't get to feed the pig a lot everyday. I still feed him and try to smoke less and less.
Every little bit helps.
My smarty pig account is helping too.
You can check it out on the side bar.
Start your own, ITS FREE!!!!!