Well, I got paid again Friday. I decided to start building up my emergency fund to $1000 again and then start hitting the debt really hard. So, my savings is up to $838.43. Yippee. My cc is down about $20.00. I also saved an astounding $22.42 doing my shopping this weekend. I am planning on directing it to the cc. I think that may be a record for me. I have already paid the rent, internet bill, bought groceries and household stuff, put more money in savings, and set aside $165.00 for dh to take a CPR trainor course. My husband says he is supportive of getting out of debt, but does not seem to want to do the work and always wants to buy what I like to call "shinies." In other words, he would rather buy some useless crap we don't need rather than buy financial security. Hmm... I haven't really decided how to feel about that, but I have figured out a way to circumvent the buying of the shinies. Instead of waiting until payday arrives to write checks for bills, I write them on Wednesday, two days before. That makes sure that household bills and debts get paid. If I don't have any money left after that, I just don't have it. I have decided that that's exactly what I will tell him if it happens.

I had a couple of things going on last week that necessitated eating out two days, so I have leftover frugal lunches for this week.

I have:
2 bowls chicken/vegetable soup with rice
1 chicken salad with crackers packet
2 refrigerated chicken strips packages
2 bowls chinese noodles
frozen vegetables
2 applies
5 banannas
pretzels
trail mix
6 bottles water

Lunch 1:
1 bowl chinese noodles
1/2 cup frozen vegetables
1/2 pkg refrigerated chicken strips
1 apple
handful of pretzels and trail mix
bottled water

Lunch 2:
1 chicken salad with crackers packet
1 apple
1 bananna (more fruit here because chicken salad packet kind of skimpy)
handful of pretzels and trail mix
bottled water

Lunch 3:
1 bowl chicken and veg soup with rice
1 bananna
handful of pretzels and trail mix
bottled water

Lunch 4:
1 bowl chinese noodles
1/2 cup frozen vegetables
1/2 pkg refrigerated chicken strips
1 bananna
handful of pretzels and trail mix
bottled water

Lunch 5:
1 bowl chicken and veg soup with rice
1 bananna
handful of pretzels and trail mix
bottled water

My finances have yo-yoed a little bit lately. I feel like I made significant progress and then something happens that makes me feel like I am back at step one again. I had $1000 in my savings and then I had to take out $140 to get the starter on my car replaced. Something else happened, too, but I can't remember what. Anyway, I am getting savings slowly built back up and debt paid down. I am also slowly getting my car replacement account and house account built up. Hospital Bills #1 and #2 are also down some. I will be paying more on #2 on Friday. Also, I will be leaving on Thursday for a conference and will be back on Friday. About 10-15 days later, I will get a reimbursement of about $120, which will immediately be directed to the credit card. It will not be spent on shinies, dinner out, etc., as those things don't contribute to my financial freedom. I got a copy of Dave Ramsey's book at the library and copied the budget forms from the back. I adapted them for my situation and made a spreadsheet based on them. I am not sure if they envelope thing will work for me, as predicting how much groceries will cost is impossible. I am going to try it for awhile without envelopes.

Well, I got paid again on Friday. I have paid the utility bills and the credit card bill, and bought groceries and other items we needed. I am putting as much extra money on the credit card as I can. If it is halfway between paydays and I see that still have $400 in my checking, I send some more to the cc. I am also putting all found money, such as survey money, rebates, etc., towards the cc. I just got a $10 survey check on Friday and it is now on its way to the cc. It is an approach that seems to be working.

Well, I went shopping today for groceries and a few other things. I also made a deposit into my savings account. I just recently got two survey checks for $5.00 and $8.80. I also had $2.00 leftover from this week's spending money. I have also been saving my spare change in a small purse. I cashed that all in and added in $100 to make a deposit of $115.80 to my savings account. Woo-hoo! I want to get my savings up to $1000 and then start slamming the debt real hard.

Well, the topic for this article I found on this article on msn is certainly applicable in the current economy. I do some of this myself, playing money games, find money on the street, depositing what's in my pockets into my challenge, etc. I thought you all might want to know about it.

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/SavingandDebt/SaveMoney...

Well, I had to dip into my savings recently to do repairs on my car. I was so glad that I had the money there. It brought my savings balance way down, but I will replenish it eventually.

I got $1.00 for a survey recently. That went straight to my Challenge. I also got a $10.00 Starbucks card by cashing in some survey points. This brings my Challenge balance is up to $1735.03. Woo-Hoo!

Well, my Challenge is currently at $1700.14. Several weeks ago, I blogged about the Dollar General GE Lightbulb rebate. I mailed in my rebate and today I received my check for $4.00! Hooray! After I cash the check tomorrow, this goes straight to the Challenge.

Well, as of late, I feel kind of like a chicken missing its own head. At my work, carpet is being laid in my area beginning March 13th. It will take about 1 week to do the entire floor. I have to finish up some projects I am working on and also take everything off the tops of my file cabinets, my desk, and my credenza. Oh well, that's almost done, but the nasty part where they stir up a lot of dust has yet to begin.

I also have some presentations to put together for conferences I am going to. I am going to one conference in April in a nearby town and big one in June. I have to put together presentations for both of them. I have registered for the first conference, but still have to do hotel reservations. I have arranged to share a hotel room for that conference, cutting my hotel costs in half. For the second conference, I have not made any travel arrangements yet, but I will have 2 roommates for that one. My boss is happy about that one, as my hotel costs will be cut from about $1200 to around $400. My pocketbook is happy too and the pressure to get together $2000 is not so heavy, but I am still scrambling to round up spare change, survey money, and rebate money. I am not desperate, but I don't want to be without, either. I do not want to use the credit card. My head is spinning.

Well, the early Christmas present I blogged about recently was a mistake, apparently the result of an absent minded data entry. The bill we received that indicated the bill was $150.00 lower than we thought it should was incorrect. Oh well, we will live and we will pay off the rest of the debt. I haven't written the check for this month's payment, but I will later.

I have added more money to the Conference Challenge recently, bringing the balance to $1581.94.

I also got paid yesterday. More money went to my savings. We also received our federal tax refund recently. We bought a PS3 with part of it (not my idea - it was dh) and also got some work done on the cart with part of it. At this point, I took control and insisted that we put the rest into savings, bringing the balance to $597.35. Today, we got our state tax refund and I took charge. I put it in my checking. As soon as I can make it so, it will be making its way to the credit card company. Apparently, I need to take charge once in awhile to make serious headway with finances.

More money was also added to my retirement, bringing the balance to $13,301.98.

I also went grocery shopping today. I used coupons, my own bags, and bought sale items at the grocery store which gave me $3.84 off my bill. I also went to Walgreens and bought Nature Made vitamins for buy one get one free. I had a $1.00 off coupon for each bottle. I also bought a small plastic bottle to use for cleanser on my trip in June (my skin is sensitive, so I can't use hotel soap) and had a coupon for 99 cents to buy the bottle. I also bought a package of quart size zip top bags for 99 cents with a Walgreens coupon. As I was checking out, I noticed I saved $11.79 and spent $9.23. Woo-hoo!

At Dollar General, I bought a few things. I bought two CFL bulbs. They had tear off rebate forms for GE lightbulbs. After rebate, you basically get one lightbulb free. So, if you are in the need for CFL bulbs, check out Dollar General. I bought two 60 watt CFL bulbs for $8.00, but I will get $4.00 back.

Hi, everyone. I was just reading my email and got a message from Dollar General that included a coupon for Air Wick products. Here is the link if you want to print it.

http://www.dollargeneral.com/Pages/AECouponSignup.aspx

Well, I got paid yesterday. $20.00 went directly into my savings without me ever seeing it. Yeah! This brings my balance to $80.00. My employer sent more money to my retirement, bring my balance to $13,695.70.

Today, I went grocery shopping. At Dollar General, I bought crackers, peanut butter, mayo, and tuna fish in foil pouches. I used $0.85 in coupons and spent $11.70.

At Big Lots, I bought cat food, tea bags, and a loaf of bread. I spent $7.19.

At Dillons, I bought numerous things, but the most remarkable was the 18 oz container of Quaker Oatmeal that was on sale 2 for $4.00. I had a coupon for $0.60, which was doubled to $1.00, so I got my oatmeal for $1.00. At that price, I could have bought two, but I also have some other upcoming expenses that I need to budget for. I also bought two Scotch Bright scouring sponges for $1.00 each. I had a $0.75 coupon which was doubled to $1.00, giving me a free sponge. My total savings with coupons, sales, and bringing my own bags at this store came to $8.97.

I also set aside $80.00 for the Conference Challenge, bringing my balance to $1469.76. Oops. I found some change that I added to my Conference Challenge, bringing my balance to $1473.62.

I really love this game. This is fun and it gives me stuff that I need.

Well, today was a spending and saving day. I have my checking and savings accounts at different places (for good reason), so I went to an atm and got $80 out ($20 for my mad money, $40 for set aside for my conference in June, and $20 for savings). I went to the credit union and deposited the $20 to my savings, bringing the balance to $60. Yes, I have $60 in my savings!

At Dollar Tree, I bought 3 quarts of broth and 1 package of bubble mailers for $4.29. This is a really good deal on this stuff, as broth at my grocery store is about $3.00 for just 1 quart. This is the cheapest for buying bubble mailers also.

At Dollar General, I bought Electrasol, mayonaisse, crackers, tuna fish in foil packets, and an LED nightlight for $14.22. I used $0.75 in coupons here.

At Big Lots, I bought cat food, a canister of raisins, and an 8 oz measuring cup for $8.05. The only thing I don't like about this store is that you can't use coupons, but they have very good deals on stuff.

At my regular grocery store, I used 4 coupons which were all doubled, used my own bags, and bought as much as I could on sale. My savings was $12.40 and I spent $46.67.

For the most part, the coupons are courtesy of some very nice coupon trading partners at Thriftyfun.com. I have not drastically reduced my spending as a result, but I have reduced it and it has allowed me to weather the budget storms a little more easily.

At Walgreens, I bought some Duracell batteries which were on sale $2.00 off. I also had a $0.75 coupon and the capability of sending in a $3.00 rebate, bringing the cost of the batteries from $11.99 down to about $6.24. Woo-hoo!

Well, I got paid again yesterday and went shopping today. My savings deposits automatically come out of my pay and into the savings account at a credit union. My savings balance is now $40.00. That doesn't sound like much, but I haven't had that much in savings in months. (Yeah!)

I went to Walgreens and bought Qtips, Bic shavors, Band-aids, Blue Diamond Almonds, Walgreens brand liquid hand soap, Crest Glide Floss, a birthday card, and Oil of Olay fash wash. Three of the items were on sale and everything except the birthday card I had a manufacturer coupon for. For the almonds, I also had a Walgreens coupon for Buy one get one free. I saved over $10.65. Woo-hoo!

At Dillons, I bought quite a few things, too numerous to mention here, and had several coupons amounting to $3.45. Two of them were doubled, several things were on sale, and I took my own bags. Total savings amounted to $8.53.

At Dollar Tree, I only bought puffy shipping envelopes. It's silly, I know, but it is the best place in town to buy them. The post office charges highway robbery rates for them.

At Big Lots, I paid $15.02 for several things I needed.

Recently, I discovered it is possible to use coupons at Dollar General, my favorite place to buy peanut butter, Hellman's mayonnaise, and cat food. I used $2.00 in coupons here.

Some of the items I bought today were stock up items using coupons that would expire soon. But I feel really good about it.

I also put some money into the Conference Challenge, bring my total to $1343.76.

_______________________________

Oh, as an update, I will add that I made another payment on Hospital Debt #1, bringing the balance to $878.58.

I also filled a customer satisfaction survey for Walgreens. I know that some people say those things are nonsense, but one time I did actually win a $5.00 gift card. This month, the prize is $1,000. I could definitely have that.

Well, I went for a visit to my chiropractor who does acupuncture and other alternative medicine. She said I am pretty ship shape for a change. When I first started going to her about 1 year ago, I had eczema on my back so bad that it was making me scratch all the time. My asthma was majorly bad, too. I have tried all the standard treatments of inhalers, pills, and allergy shots and nothing worked until I started getting acupuncture and taking vitamins and minerals. So hoo-ray there!

I am also a member at Thrifty Fun (http://www.thriftyfun.com). There is a lot of information there like recipes, tips to save money, and a forum for swapping coupons. If any of you would like to swap coupons and save more money, go to the website. No, I am not being paid for this. I am just a satisfied user of this free website and want to spread the word. I have lots of coupons for stuff I don't use right now and would love to trade them for something I do use.

My hubby gave me excess, loose pocket change today. Who am I to turn it down? It is found money and therefore goes to the challenge, bringing my total to $1254.97.

I had great success at Walgreens today. I bought about $32.00 worth of merchandise for $16.01. For everything I bought, I had coupons (except the shampoo) and they were on sale. (I should add here that I planned out my shopping list extensively on paper and did not buy anything that I want rather than need.)

Palmolive detergent 10 oz (Qty=2) - I had a $0.50 manufacturer coupon plus a Walgrees coupon for $1.00 for each bottle, plus it was on sale for $1.79. If I tallied it up correctly ($2.58 - $2.00 - $0.50), it came to $0.08 I spent on it. I have never used this brand, but I thought why not?

Tom's of Maine toothpaste 6 oz (Qty=2) - I always buy this brand of toothpaste and have, until recently, been able to get it at Big Lots for $2.50. It was on sale for $3.99 and I had coupons for $1.00 for each tube.

White Rain Shampoo $1.00 (Qty=1) - This shampoo was on sale for $1.00 for 18 oz. I didn't need shampoo right now, but this is the brand I buy and I have been wanting to do a stock-up of certain things as a type of savings account.

Nature Made B Complex vitamins (Qty=2) - These vitamins were on sale buy one get one free. I also had coupons I downloaded from the manufacturer website for $1.00 each, bringing the total to $3.24 each.

I did pretty good with my other shopping too. I saved $0.50 at Dollar General because Cottonelle toilet paper was on sale. I also saved $5.37 at Dillons with coupons, sales, and using my own bags. This feels good. I like this game.

I was talking to the hubby tonight about our finances. I gave him an update on the amount left to pay on our medical debts. He asked if he thought we should use the tax refund to pay off mine, the lesser of the two. I said absolutely, but that it will still a little over $100 that we have to pay. After I go to my conference next June, I will get a $1500 reimbursement check towards the end of June. I can use that to pay the rest of my medical debt and a good hunk of his. He proposed this whole payoff strategy. I was very surprised to say the least. Usually, he wants to blow part of the tax refund on shineys. Things are looking good, as his attitude is changing. I think it is because he wants to buy a house and I don't feel comfortable doing so until the medical debt is paid off, which will free up our budget somewhat.

Well, today was payday, so I have updated my totals at the right.

1) Hospital Debt #2 paid $75.00 on it, bringing it down to $1927.60

2) Paid $66.00 to cc - must get total and update it later

3) deposited $20.00 to savings, bringing my total to $20.00. I had to deposit $5.00 just to open the account and that was all I had at the time.

4) was supposed to set aside $80.00 for the conference challenge, but something went kafluey with my order at Sonic today and it wound up being only $68.00. I will get more money tomorrow to bring the total to $1264.46.

My net worth is going up a little. Cool. I plan to shop at Walgreens and other stores tomorrow and use the coupons I cut from the walgreens circular, the Sunday paper, and ones that other people sent to me. I must go now and make my shopping list.

Hello, folks.

Someone else mentioned that they had used rewards points on a credit card to pay down their debt. The only things I was aware of that I could get from mine was cash (but you had to have about 10,000 points), merchandise which I have no intention of using, or useless gift cards. Well, tonight as I sit here eating my frugal tuna salad with peas, I thought "why not?". So, I logged in to see if I could use my points for anything like getting cash via paypal, check, etc. Something useful would be nice. Well, miracles, miracles. I could cash in my points and get a check or get a credit on my credit card. I could also get gift cards. I decided to go for option #2. Paying down the debt is going to give me a better return than anything else. It wasn't very much, considering the amount owed on the card, but it is something. Once it posts, I will log into networthiq and update my debt total. Cool. I feel very accomplished and blessed. Thank you to whoever mentioned that in their blog.

------------------

As an update to this, I will log in and check my rewards occasionally, and if I have enough, I will keep doing this.

Well, I have a little bit about failure today and little bit about success.

I got a survey check in the mail from Opinion Outpost, which was designated for the Conference Challenge. However, my checking account only had about $8.00 left in it after doing the grocery shopping, so I deposited it to checking for regular spending.

My success has to do with decreasing the amount spent on groceries. I have in the past usually spent around $80-90 per week on groceries for two adults and two cats. This week I got it down to $52.94. Woo-hoo! It does seem to go up and down depending on whether I need to buy toilet paper, detergent, cat litter, etc. I look for coupons, but I never seem to find any for Arm and Hammer Cat Litter and a box is around $8.00. I think that's a lot, but we have tried cheaper brands, but they don't seem to work as well. I know I don't really need to buy certain brands, like Hellman's mayo or Starkist tuna, for example, but my husband doesn't like other kinds.

Aldi $7.84
Dollar General
Dollar Tree $2.15
Big Lots $6.65
Dillons $27.39

Hellman's Mayo $4.00
Tuna Fish in Foil Pouch $1.10 (2)
Filtered water $0.45 (3 of these)
Tomato sauce $0.75 (4 of these)
Starkist Tuna $0.82 (2 of these)
Ground beef $2.49/lb (6 pounds)
Beef jerky $3.69
Chicken broth $1.00 (to make soup - already have chicken)
Pencil holder $1.00
Whole wheat bread $1.79 (2 of these)
Egg noodles $0.99
Canned beans for chili $0.55 (3 of these)
Eggs $1.29
Diced canned tomatoes $0.90 (3 of these)
Trail mix $1.00
Macaroni $1.33
Spaghetti noodles $0.70
Quart freezer bags $1.00
Snack zip bags $1.00
Tomato puree $0.60

Total $52.94

----------------------------

Oh, I just located a place to get Arm and Hammer cat litter coupons.

http://www.armandhammer.com/

I forgot to mention in my previous post the two biggest blessings of the previous two days.

Yesterday, while on my lunch hour, I went to deposit a check into my account. While I was there, I mentioned that I needed to order checks, but that I had moved since I last ordered checks. Could I still do that online and have the correct address on them? The teller said, "I can do that for you right now. Do you get the free checks, or do you get ones you have to pay for?" My jaw probably about dropped to the floor. "Free checks? As in free?" I asked. She said that they are free, but not fancy. I told her that I don't care. I just use them to pay bills, so they don't need to be fancy. Wow. I didn't think that banks did anything for free anymore.

Also, today I got my water and sewer bill from the city where I live. I don't know how it happened, but somehow I had some kind of credit or something on my account and my current bill is only $5.74. I quickly paid it without question. No need to question the blessings of the universe.

I feel so blessed when stuff like this happens to me.

I logged in to one of my survey places and found that I have enough points to cash in. I will get a paypal deposit for $5.00. When I get the money, I will set it aside for the Conference Challenge.

I got $20.00 from the atm yesterday and added it to the Conference Challenge.

I also received a $6.00 check in the mail from the Dollar General CFL Bulb Rebate. I will cash it on Monday and put it into the Conference Challenge.

My goal on my next payday (September 5th) is to put $80.00 into the Conference Challenge.

Woo-Hoo!

Last Friday while on vacation, I had to transfer $50.00 out of savings in order to pay for gas to take my dh to the vet hospital 3 hours away. Well, at least I had the $50.00. :|

Well, I got paid again on Friday. I also received a $20.00 survey check in the mail. The survey check and an extra $40.00 from my paycheck have been set aside for the Conference Challenge, bringing the total to $63.00. I set aside $30.00 into my savings.

My retirement account is bigger and is currently at $12,682.81. Wow.

My hospital bill is down to $978.58. I just keep chopping away at it and pretty soon it will disappear.

Also, I went to the grocery store today. The store was having massive sales on everything, including Butterball turkey strips. There is approximately 2 servings in a box. I usually buy two boxes and it is enough for me to make something like chicken soup. Yum. Well, today turkey strips were on sale for 5 for $10.00. Yes, I know this does not sound very frugal and that if I just buy fresh chicken or turkey, I could make my soup even more cheaply, but I absolutely hate pulling meat off the bone, so this is worth it to me. This price is very cheap considering the boxes are usually $3.99, I think, and I only buy them on sale and with a coupon. I had a coupon for $1.00 off of 2 boxes, so I bought 4 boxes, bringing the per box total to $1.50 and total amount to $6.00. With that I have enough chicken to make 2 weeks worth of lunches. Cool beans. I also realized when making my shopping list that I have turkey sausage links in my freezer that I need to eat. I set out to find something to pair them with. I love sauerkraut and almost bought some, but I settled on a cheaper and healthier alternative. Red beans and rice. That should make about 2-3 more lunches for me.

This morning I went to a co-worker's house in a nearby town. She has been doing a lot of work on renovating her house and getting rid of old stuff she no longer needs or wants. Good for me. She was getting rid of one of those particle board type cabinets with the doors on the front. She also wanted to get rid of a small bookcase. I was willing to pay $40.00 for both together, but she would not accept more than $20.00.

I work at a university and received an email yesterday that a church was doing a "giveaway sale" of all kinds of things like clothing, household items, etc. You can bet I was there almost when the doors opened. I took away a small cardboard box full of clothing. I seem to have an eternal need for those Dockers type pants, as mine seem to quickly fade from black to gray and I look unprofessional. I gave the church a little bit of money which they were confused about, but I told them I can afford to pay and did not feel right walking away with so much stuff. They were all smiles and gratitude.

Wow. I feel so lucky. I have some stuff that I need and other people are is rid of stuff they do not need. The universe works in mysterious ways.

I just got a survey check in the mail, so that means $6.00 more for the Conference Challenge.

I went to Dollar General yesterday to buy some stuff, including CFL lightbulbs. Their CFLs are way cheaper than anywhere else in town and they are the same brand! Anyway, the price of the bulbs at my store is $4.00, but you can pick up a form to get $3.00 back for each bulb you buy. There is a maximum rebate of $6.00. Cool. I get to get CFLs which generate less heat and use less electricity. Very important these days. When I get my rebate, I will put it into the Conference Challenge!

This probably sounds like a funny name for a Challenge. I have to go to a conference for my work next June. Actually, I have a choice of two different conferences, one that would cost about $1500 and the other about $1000. I would like to do a presentation at one of them. If my proposal for a presentation is accepted, I can get extra money from my employer to go, but I will not get reimbursed after I return. My boss did tell me I could put my airfire on the organization's credit card but that there is some drawback. I also emailed a colleague in Hawaii about sharing a hotel room. Great, so I'm going!

Anyway, to avoid last minute panic or putting anything on my credit card, I am setting aside any survey loot, rebates, and other "found money" aside for going to this conference.

Currently, this fund has $23.00 in it. I am expecting a paypal deposit of $20.00 from a survey site soon and also $6.00 for a CFL lightbulb rebate.

Hello, everyone. I got paid again on Friday. My retirement (403b) is automatically taken from my pay and deposited for me. Good thing, too. I am not tempted into spending it. My portfolio is now a little over $12,000. Hospital debt #2 is now down to $998.58. Woo-Hoo! I also send the cc $40.00. $10.00 of that came from one of my survey places sending my survey loot. I just cashed in points totaling $6.40 from a another survey place this morning. It will probably take a couple of weeks to get the check and I will zip it off to the cc at lightning speed.

I transferred $30.00 to savings. Now that I have moved into my new home that is only a few blocks from my work, I am hoping to see some huge dividends from that. Obviously, gas savings will be one of them since I am walking to work. (I have not had to buy gas in a week and a half.) I am planning on saving back a little more than I was normally from each paycheck and dividing it between savings and the cc. I haven't figured out how much yet, though.

I learned something important recently when doing a cc payment. It is possible for me to schedule a cc payment when I do it online. That way if I have deposited a survey check or something that I know will clear in a certain period of time, I could schedule the payment for after that. Way cool! That way I would not be tempted to spend it for something else.

I recently went on a trip out of town for work. I received my reimbursement a few days ago and sent $50.00 of it to the credit card. Yippee!

Howdy, all. I have had a good couple of days. I got paid on Friday and immediately took the $14.00 leftover from my last paycheck and zipped it off the cc quickly before it could be spent on something else.

I also transferred $20 into my savings at the atm before it could be spent elsewhere.

I also just made another $75.00 payment on Hospital Debt #2, bringing it down to $2602.60.

A couple of months ago, I went to Walgreens and filled out a survey later. They recently sent me a $5.00 gift card for participating. Wa-hoo!

I needed some aloe vera juice yesterday from Walgrees. It costs around $10.00, but I used my gift card which brought my purchase down to $5.72 with tax.

Well, I am off the grocery store this morning to search for frugal, yet health meals. I am going to try to eat beef-free for a week or so, as I am having a lot of health problems and think they may be related to eating beef.

The picture of the cat doesn't have anything to do with my post, but it is a picture of my other cat, Morgaine. Merlin is the one at the left side of my page.

Well, the tax refund thing didn't turn out exactly the way I hoped. Our tv (imagine 27" tube tv that is so heavy it requires at least two people to carry it) was about to croak. It has increasingly had lines on the screen as well as color problems for awhile now. Our tv is virtually our only source of entertainment. We rent dvds from Netflix, but we do not have cable or satellite. We had both done some research online and had a good idea of what we could afford and what we wanted. We went to Best Buy and wound up buying a floor model, which netted us about $150.00 off of the sale price. The original, before-sale price was around about $200 more. After we brought the tv home, I quickly determined we had around $41.00 leftover. I added that $41.00 to $5.00 cash I deposited to the checking account. Before I could spend it on anything, I wrote a check and sent it to my doctor's office to pay off a good hunk of my doctor's bill. Around March 7th or so, I should get a GlobalTestmarket check for $50.00, which I will use to pay off more of that debt.

1. Avoid unncessary temptation to spend money. If you know you are having a "lean" month due to exceptionally high utility bills or other reasons, avoid unnecessary temptation. Avoid shopping malls, catalog, internet or email ads, movie theatres, and the candy aisle at the grocery store, etc. Oh, and don't take other people with you to the grocery store. They will only add stuff to the cart you don't need.

2. Once a week, get some "mad money" from the atm or your bank. This money could be for the occasional snack, coffee, etc. I do this and it helps to avoid those mystery debits that I forget to write down in my check register. Best of all, when it's all gone, it's gone until I go to the atm again on Saturday.

3. Improve your health. I have decided to gradually give up drinking colas both for my health and my pocketbook. This amounts to probably around $2.00 or so a day, but added up over a whole year, it amounts to a lot of money I could use to pay off debt or save for the future. So far, I am down to drinking about 12 oz. of soda a day. I bought myself a mug today so that I can drink tea or water at work. Besides the dollar or two this costs us daily, I figure there are other hidden costs too, like being sick more.

4. If you know you want to do something that will cost money that you cannot come up with right away, first figure out what you want to do and when you want to do it. Find out how much you think it will cost and then create a plan for doing it. I did this last year when I wanted to go to a conference for work. Instead of adding to credit card debt, I set aside money for the trip for months and also cashed in survey points for check and gift cards for food. I also do this with property taxes. I have a Christmas Club account to which I add a certain amount every month. When the taxes come due, I just transfer the money and write the check. No sweat.

5. Mrrebate.com is my friend. Anytime I want to order something online, I check this website to see if the company is listed there or if there is another company there that has the product I need. Signing into mrrebate.com and then clicking on the company website frequently nets me a rebate or coupon code I did not know about. Once your rebates build up to a certain amount (I think it's $25.00), you can request a check.

6. If mrrebate.com (above) does not work, I go to Google and type in the name of the product and coupon code. If a coupon code is available, usually I will get a few websites that tell me what it is. This has saved me hundreds of dollars at least.

7. I do lots of surveys, which net me $5.00 to $10.00 here and there. When I get a survey check in the mail or by Paypal, I look around and see if there any bills that need to be paid and pay them with it. If not, it goes right to the credit card. When it gets paid off, it will go to savings.

Oh, and I really love this quote by Michael J. Fox.

I recently submitted a tip to Daytipper.com and it was published. Yippee! Whenever you submit a tip to Daytipper and it is publisher, they pay you $3.00. I should get my payment soon.

I also recently cashed in my points at Global Test Market, a survey company. Now, please understand that I do a lot of survey for different companies, which do occasionally pay with a $5.00 check here and there. I am supposed to get $50.00. Wow. I don't think I have ever gotten that much from a survey company before.

Not to worry, my savingadvice buddies. My loot will not be spent on shinies or bottles of Coca Cola. Both will go directly to the checking account and as soon as the deposit clears, they will be sent lightening fast to the credit card company.