Journey Towards Financial Freedom

Well, folks, Murphy struck last week. Something went wrong with my car. My husband said it was gaskets on the manifold. He might as speak Chinese to me, because I don't understand it. But what I do understand is that took $520.00 from my savings and $100.00 from my checking to pay for it. I am not happy, but at least it is not $620.00 in credit card debt. We must look on the bright side. Anyway, I am on a quest this week to replenish my savings as quickly as possible. However, I do have more car repairs coming up, about $100.00 to clean the fuel injectors.

Debt is Down. Savings is Up. Retirement is up, so networth is up. Yahoo! Well, I got paid again on Friday. I paid the gas bill, electric bill, cell phone bill, hospital debt #2, credit card bill, and bought gas and groceries. I averted a minor financial disaster last week when someone stole my debit card number and made a large charge to my account, resulting in me being overdrawn. As a result, my card was cancelled. Don't worry. After about 5 phone calls, I think everything has been taken care of and when I do get a new card, I will be using it much more selectively. When I went out to do shopping last Saturday and today, I cashed a check for my budgeted amount. Last Saturday when all shopping was done, I still had 1/3 of my cash left. Yahoo! This Saturday, after finishing, I had only about $3.00 left because I was out of a lot of stuff, but that's still in the black. I did have to write a check at Walgreens, though. Heads up, if you are coupon shopper and get Dollar General's emails, watch for a special coupon to use. It gives you 20% extra off some things and 10% off of others. I combined that with some other coupons and saved over $5.00 just at that store. Cool.

And today, I decided to give back to our men and women serving in Afghanistan and Iraq. A group at my work is collecting stuff to send there and so I bought a few things to send. They only wanted baby wipes, granola bars, razors, toilet paper, and socks. I really wanted to send toothpaste, shampoo, soap, and toothbrushes, but they told me they only wanted certain things. What gives? I don't know, but that sounded kind of weird, like who would refuse a donation like that?

Last minute update: I just opened the mail and received a reimbursement check from work for $5.40. This goes right to savings. I also received a statement for hospital bill #1, so a check for it is off in the mail now.

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

Howdy, neighbors. I am putting the finishing touches on my frugal lunch for next week. I don't normally cook my lunches until Sunday, but we are leaving to go to a nearby town to visit friends tomorrow. Here is my frugal lunch recipe.

1 9 oz can of chicken (I like Swanson's)
$1.91

leftover carrots (need to use them up before they go bad) $0

2 qts. broth $2.58

1/2 pkg frozen spinach $.50

1 16 oz pkg frozen soup veggies

leftover mashed potatoes, for thickening $0

1 15 oz can cannelini beans $1.00

package of long grain rice $1.85

I am estimating that I can make about 5 servings of soup with this at about $1.66 per serving. Wow.

I was reading a magazine article in the break room at work and saw a really cool article called "Meals for a Month" or something like that. Well, I made one of them tonight and modified it for our tastes. The one I made is called Chicken Posole. I added a can of blackeye peas which I put through the blender and some ground up carrots. This accomplished several goals: 1) thickened the soup - I hate thin, watery soup, 2) concealed the blackeyed peas from hubby - he hates them, and 3) added protein. I also added cumin, garlic, and italian seasoning. Here is the URL for the article.

http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/recipe-collections-fa...

I just asked hubby what he thinks and he said "good but different." I myself thought it was excellent and was surprised at how well it turned out.

Just to make the point of how frugal it is, here is my tally:

hominy, 15 oz, $.89
broth, 32 oz., had on hand from a stock-up shopping trip, $0
1/2 onion, $.50
14 oz canned tomatoes, $1.14
15 oz canned blackeyed peas, hand on hand $0
spices, hand on hand $0
15 oz canned cannelini beans $1.00
carrots, leftover $0
Tyson refrigerated chicken strips (on $1.99 closeout - I had $0.55 coupon which was doubled to $1.00) $0.99

Total cost $5.07

I think we will be able to stretch it out for another meal each for him and I!

Well, I got paid again Friday. I have already paid the bills for gas, electric, cell phone, trash, water/sewer, and hospital bills #1 and #2. I have bought groceries, some of which was on sale. The meat and frozen veggies I bought should last well into next week. My retirement account is way up and my debts are down. I am pleased about that.

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, the dear hubby bought new reader glasses the other day and absentmindedly paid with the credit card instead of the debit card. Well, he did own up to his mistake and is paying for the bill of $95.00. Also, I just got a survey check in the mail today for $7.60. So, tomorrow after I verify the $102.60 deposit has cleared, I will zip it off to the credit card straight away. No, this money will not stay long in my wallet or it may risk getting spent on shinies. I will post an update of the credit card balance then.

Howdy, everyone. Wow, I really feel like I have hit a milestone. My emergency savings is FINALLY over $1000 and I just made a $100 payment to the credit card without even blinking. The payment did not feeling have a tooth pulled. It was more like paying a phone bill, which is not on my Top 10 List of Things I Love to Do, but it is not all that bad. I don't know exactly what is occurring, except that I am slowly crawling out from the debt hole I was in. In addition to that $100 regular credit card payment, I also took the $16.00 that was left in checking before I got paid and sent it to the credit card, too. I sent $75.00 to hospital debt #2, bring down the balance to less than $1500. My retirement account actually went down a tiny amount, but that's okay. I feel like I am on a roll!

Well, today I had to pay my rent and I also logged into my bank account to reconcile my account and made the discovery that I had $361.94. And that was after paying the rent. This is kind of unusual, as halfway between my paydays I usually get down to about $100.00. Things seem to looking up. I'm not sure what I am doing different, except that I acknowledge that if I have a surplus in my account, I am sending some to the credit card company, even if it is only $5.00. So I logged into the cc website and sent an extra $20 payment, bringing my cc balance to $1652. Wow. I think I have paid off about $300 just in the last month. Some of that was leftover travel money I set aside for going to my conference. So my checking balance is now $341.94 and my savings balance is close to $1000.00. By next payday, it will be $1000.00. Woo-hoo!

Well, I feel much more relaxed and at ease with my financial situation. I don't know why, but it seems like things have eased up a little bit lately. I did not get the amount of reimbursement for my work trip that I was hoping for, but I did not let that stop me from making huge progress. I had to replace my portable dishwasher (we have to have a portable because we don't own our house), which took $461.38. I took $400.00 and put it into savings, bringing my balance to $975.89. Almost $1000. Wow. I am using the rest to get some work done on my car. With all the "extra" money I had been pumping into the Conference Challenge, I am going to use to pay off the credit card and medical debt. I don't know exactly how long it will take me, but if apply the same intensity I did with the Conference Challenge, I would say 1.5 years.

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.

As you can see on the left side of the screen, I have a new profile photo. It was taken at a resort called Crest Mountain outside Asheville, N.C. I had a great time and it wasn't as expensive as what I thought it would be. I am still trying to figure out the specifics, but when I get figured out exactly how much I have left, I will immediately pay it to the credit card.

So, that's the end of the Conference Challenge and the beginning of the Debt Payoff Challenge. I am going to use survey money, coupon savings, as well as half of my work reimbursement, etc. to increase the amount I have in savings. I already have a survey check coming from Opinion Outpost and another from Lightspeed Panel. Then, I will start hitting my debt really hard.

I think Liz Pulliam Weston on MSN is terrific. In her finance articles, she hits the nail right on the head and tells it like it is. My husband and I have been thinking about buying a home, because "this is the time to buy." The real estate agent has been showing us one house after another. They all seem to have good, and bad, qualities. But one overriding issue seems to always get in the way that I can't seem to get across to my dh. We have been pre-qualified for a no-down payment loan and the closing costs and inspection fees can be included in the loan. However, we need a few hundred dollars in earnest money. I keep asking him why we are even going to look at a certain house when we don't yet have it. It may take me months to save up for it, and even after that, I want to save up for moving costs and at least one month's house payment. I can almost feel the real estate agent getting a little annoyed that she has shown us at least 20 houses, any one of which could come close to meeting our needs, and 2 of which are exactly what we specified. My dh doesn't seem to think ahead about these things. Here is a link to an article on MSN about wrong reasons to buy a home.

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Banking/HomebuyingGuide...

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...

Howdy, friends and neighbors. I was browsing the web tonight, looking for free recipes to do something with canned chicken, noodles or rice, and any fresh vegetables I can find. I found this great free cookbook online at the Campbell's kitchen website. You can download it your computer. Just click on the left margin where it says "Campbell's Value Cookbook." By modifying a recipe I found on the website, I figured out I can make lunch for myself all next week for about $2.00 a day. Woo-eee!

http://www.campbellskitchen.com/RecipeSearch.aspx?searchText...

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, recently I came up with another way to scrape some more money together initially for my Challenge. I realized when I went into a spare room that I have a lot of fine china packed away in boxes just gathering dust. If I sold it, I could use the money towards my Challenge. One of my coworkers has a booth in a flea market in a nearby town, so I asked her if she would be willing to sell the stuff for me in exchange for 10% of whatever it sells for. She said her booth is basically open shelving, so she could not do that without risking breakage. She suggested I come to that town in a couple of weeks for the town's city wide garage sale and bring my stuff over to sell it. Even if I did not want to come for the sale, she could sell it for me and said she would be willing to do so without payment. She said that the more stuff available at the sale, the more stuff sells. So, Saturday, I picked up price labels. Today, I went through my boxes of stuff and marked everything with price labels. I even went through my closets and drawers looking for clothes that are too small, etc. and found a pair of jeans and some other stuff I can't use any more. It's been really bugging me that this stuff has been sitting in boxes for 10 years because I don't have anywhere to display it. So this seems like a good idea. After I get back from the conference and receive the reimbursement, I will enough of it into savings to bring the balance to $1000. The rest I will wipe out at least 1 debt with.

Well, I got paid again yesterday. Here's the good news:

1) Hospital Debt #1 is down to $838.58.

2) Savings is up to $697.35.

3) Retirement is up to $13,816.57.

4) The conference challenge is up to $1699.49.

5) The doctor has encouraged hubby and I to eat less red meat and eat tuna and turkey instead. The good news is that turkey is a little cheaper than ground beef and we should not notice any difference in taste.

The bad news is that I had to go to the chiropractor yesterday (scheduled visit) in a nearby town. I was out of several of my health supplements that I take and had replenish. I had only anticipated spending $50-$60, but it was $113.08. Anyway, I have to pay my rent at the end of the month. Other than that, I have $104.38 to get me through until April 3rd, my next payday. I don't do a lot of driving and don't drive to work, so gas for the next 2 weeks is not a problem. I have already bought groceries next week. My only expenses are rent ($465) and food (~$70.00). I am determined to remain within this budget and not use the credit card.



Hubby was doing the laundry and found $0.65 in the pocket of my pants. I have added it to the Conference Challenge and broken the $1700 mark, bringing my balance to $1700.14.

Well, hubby and I have decided to try not eating so much red meat. So, tonight I am experimenting by making one of our standby dinners with tuna instead of red meat. I think it tastes fine. It does taste a little different, but fine. Here's my "recipe." I hesitate to call it a recipe because I didn't spend hours perfecting it or anything.

Use a 6 quart soup or stock pot. Put about 2 inches of water in the bottom. Turn the burner on medium high heat.

3 tablespoons of dried onion. Fresh is better if you have it.
2 teaspoons of crushed red pepper, if you like it
2 tablespoons of garlic
2 tablespoons of celtic sea salt
2 tablespoons of black pepper

Cook these ingredients on medium high heat for about 15 minutes. Then, add the following:

2 15 oz cans of diced tomates
1 8 oz can of tomato sauce
3 15 oz cans of beans

I use a variety of types of beans: navy beans, great northern beans, black beans, red kidney beans, red beans, and dark red kidney beans. There may be a few others out there I haven't tried. I change it up every time I make chili, but this is the first time I have added tuna instead of hamburger.

After adding in the above ingredients, I also added 3 foil envelopes of tuna. I hate the kind in the can, as it tastes like the can.

Well, I will let you know later what dh thought of my creation. ;P


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Well, hubby reports that he noticed that it tasted different, like something besides ground beef was in it. He didn't say that he really liked it, but he said it was okay and would not be averse to trying it again. Hooray for my non-beef cooking experiment!

Hello, everyone. I just added some leftover pocket change that I didn't know existed to my Conference Challenge. This brings my balance to $1618.16. My next payday, which is Friday, will enable me to add $80 more, bringing it to $1698.16. Maybe I can find $2.00 somewhere and break the $1700 mark. I am expecting a Starbucks coffee card in the mail this week. I plan to take it with me when I leave for my conference so I can get some good tea for free.

Like Sherlock Holmes, here, I am off in search of clues, specifically clues leading me to additional funds for my Challenge.

This coming week is going to be a "super-frugal" week, as I have only $12.00 in my checking account. I am determined not to use the credit card and to stay within my budget. I have food that I can take with me to work, so that's not a problem. It's just that I sometimes like to buy something and this week I can't.

There's a cool article in Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine about how to save $50 a day in spending cuts.


Save $50 a Day (And Feel No Pain)." Kiplinger's Personal Finance. Mar2009, 63 (3) : 49-57.


Some of their tips were the old tried and true taking your lunch to work, paying off credit card debt, etc. Some were more innovating, like energy saving appliances, light bulbs, and fuel efficient cars. But the one about drinking Dunkin Donuts coffee instead of Starbucks kind of got me. How can they suggest that paying a little less for coffee by going to Dunkin Donuts is frugal? They don't even mention the possibility of taking your own hot java to work in a thermos or filling up at the office coffee pot. Weird.

Howdy, partners. I have just made an addition to my Conference Challenge of $35.20. I had pocket change in my purse, my coat, and just all over the place. Plus I had some lunch money left over from this week. This brings my total to $1617.74.

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

Today there was a big sale at the Big Lots, but you had to take a special 20% off coupon.

I took the opportunity to stock up. I bought dishwasher powder, 14 cans of cat food, a box of tea, dishwashing liquid, 2 foil pouches of tuna, travel size toiletry bottles, and packages of chicken and tuna salad with crackers. I wish I had know about it before I did my regular shopping there on Saturday. I could have delayed that for one day. Oh well. I will watch my email ads closer next time.

Well, I have had a very interesting week. We received a new billing statement for Hospital Debt #2 which stated that the amount due was $1777.60, not $1927.60. This was certainly news to us, as we were prepared to continued paying until all $1927.60 was paid off, but I am not one to look a gift horse in the mouth. I do remember that when I had to take DH to the hospital, we made a claim to the VA for that visit. Maybe they are finally paying something on that. I don't know, but I am not going to call and ask. To me, it's just a blessing.

In addition, I sent another $75.00 payment on Hospital Debt #2, bringing the balance to $1702.60.

I also sent a $20.00 payment to Hospital Debt #1, bringing the balance to $858.58.

I paid the water and phone bills and will have to pay rent later this month.

I went shopping for groceries. At Big Lots, I bought chicken broth, tomato paste, pasta, trail mix, crushed red peppers, and bread for $12.66.

At Dollar General, I bought shampoo, ketchup, crackers, a Chinese food dinner, peanut butter, an LED nightlight, toilet paper, and dishwasher powder. I used $0.85 in coupons and spent $18.20.

At my regular grocery store, I used $7.26 in coupons and sales, and used my own bags. I spent $50.06.

I was also paid yesterday. More money went into my retirement, bring the balance to $13,492.37. I also automatically deposited money to my savings, bringing the balance to $100.00.

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As an addendum, I wanted to say that I forgot to update my Conference Challenge. Due to dumping some spare change into it recently, it has jumped to $1504.82. As soon as I get something straightened out with my debit card, I will dump $80.00 more into it.

Well, I had some extra cash laying around, so I put it into my Conference Challenge, bringing my balance to $1492.69. Yea!

This cat is not one of my furbabies, but the look on his face is just priceless.