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Archive for December, 2009

Merry Christmas everyone!

December 24th, 2009 at 01:30 pm

And all the other holidays too!

CreditCardFree's post reminded me of a stupid purchase I made at Mervyn's (closed so of course I can't return them) when things were on clearance, clearance.... I bought two cute sweaters that were a little small, but I'm going to lose weight right??? Okay so I am finally losing weight, but being petite (okay short), the shoulders just do not fit right. Ugh, now I have 2 sweaters to get rid of. I am hoping my daughters or sisters or someone can wear them. If not, off they go to donate.

Of course I could not return them, but I vow to not make any stupid purchases in 2010, time to begin!

My birthday was the 22nd, and DH bought be my first Ipod. I hate to say I was a bit underwhelmed by it until I realized I can probably download books on tape!! Then I started thinking about all the ways I can use it (apparently it has a record video feature), and the possibilities. Now I just have to figure out how to use it.

On the saving money side, DH spotted Foster Farms boneless, skinless chicken breasts at Costco yesterday for half price! They are dated 12/26 and they needed to get rid of them. Luckily the Costco butcher is a neighbor of ours and gave them to us for a little less for buying an entire case. We now have 108 chicken breasts for a little over $100.00. I think we are set for the entire year in chicken breasts!

DH picked me up from work and we went back and bought ourselves a Christmas present, a new reclining love seat for our TV room. We got rid of the old one (that was really ripped up and looking bad, but oh so comfortable) when we were planning on daughter and granddaughter living with us for a year while SIL was deployed. Now that deployment is put off indefinitely and they will only be here six weeks.

We sat and reclined in Costco at least 30 minutes deciding if it was comfortable since we will probably have it 15 or more years, making sure there was room between us for the dogs. Many people smiled and commented and one woman was downright excited, having I guess never seeing a reclining love seat. She said she wanted to get her husband a recliner, but did not want to sit away from him.

SIL and DH got it situated in the TV room and my dogs were so happy to have a love seat again, my little Landon jumped right up and spread out, I put a blanket on it first. I promised DH I would keep a blanket on the leather for the dogs at all times. At the same time, it is for our enjoyment and comfort and not to "look good".

I reminded DH that our new live on his salary alone was starting January 1st.

I am still mulling over the mechanics of how to organize things. I met my Orange Account purchase requirement at Starbucks.

My older daughters and SIL will all be gone on Tuesday, so I hope to really sit down and hammer the budget out. I did purchase the upgraded YNAB and hope to phase out Quicken. I may need to use it for our rental property though, still need to figure out that one too.

Winco gives local business the option of buying gift certificates at a 10% off face value for bonuses and we purchased $2000.00 worth. Between our chicken purchase at Costco and those gift certificates, I am hoping to keep household/food spending to $300.00 a month. We still have a fair amount of other protein in the freezer too.

We have our family altogether Christmas morning/early afternoon only due to SIL's entire family living here too. We are going to Children's mass today with SIL's family.

I guess I should quit yacking and get up and get ready for work. Have to be there in an hour. Hopefully off early, depending on the workload today.

Again, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone!

I found a quarter

December 19th, 2009 at 02:16 pm

right by the sink in one of the lady's restrooms at San Francisco Airport yesterday.

We drove down to pick up YD, SIL the Marine, and our darling sweet granddaughter.

Down and back in one day is not easy, but well worth it. We paid for their flight home from South Carolina (since SIL is not deploying, YD and granddaughter are not living with us for a year), but that is their Christmas present.

With all the postings about found money, I just had to post mine. That's all.

My Orange debit card arrived

December 16th, 2009 at 03:30 am

and so far I only have one signature purchase, even though I used it everywhere including Target where I spent $166.00 on Toys for Tots.

Anyone know what the trick is? I am afraid I am not going to get enough signatures for my bonus because the one signature was for a huge amount of money (new Riccar vaccum).

The girls will all be home for Christmas (hopefully my YD, SIL and granddaughter will arrive in time) and I am looking foward to that.

I received a surprise bonus for over $500.00 from my work last week along with my regular paycheck stub (direct deposit).

My SIL is not deploying after all. Unfortunately the kids just finished selling or giving way almost every possession since YD and granddaughter were moving in with us for the year. So they are starting over. They are still coming for Christmas and SIL will be flying back to SC, but daughter and granddaughter will stay here for a few months in order to build up their savings.

Carpets were cleaned today, house is shaping up pretty good with all the stuff we have gotten rid of, which is nice.