Aevans1206's Personal Finance Blog

We went to Union Station this morning for National Train Day (The little man is a serious train enthusiast. He has almost every "L" stop on the red and blue lines memorized) Everything was free! Free! Free! Free! He got a train whistle, tons of train themed coloring books, crayons, a bound travel journal, airplane balloon,t-shirt, national train day poster, chocolate samples, conductors hats. We had free train rides, a free tour of an amtrak train WITH free samples of their food, face painting. Needless to say, it was a fantastic, fun-filled morning--all free...except the bus ride. I did, however, purchase a print of a train signed in person by the artist. I guess this guy paints trains for a living and does these amazing works. The actual painting I liked was going for $450, so I bought the print instead for $27. He signed it "Happy Railroading Joseph." I'm going to frame it and add it to my son's train themed room decor. It was a tad expensive, but a nice memento for my son. It's of the California Zephyr (if anyone's a train enthusiast). You can check out his work at www.trainpaintings.com

Yay for fun, free and beautiful Saturdays!

I am so P.O.'d right now. I can barely even know where to begin. I don't think I've mentioned, but I have two stepdaughters, 16 and 13. They come over every Friday. I get off work on Fridays at 1 and usually clean the house during that time. Before I left for work, my husband informed me that his ex had called earlier in the week and informed him that the girls wouldn't be coming this Friday. He said he would text his eldest daughter, then text me. I got no text, assumed they weren't coming and proceeded to lay in bed for four hours while nursing my cold. I get a phone call at 5PM from the 16 year old asking whether she should come straight to our house or meet her dad at her mom's house. WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

First of all, why is a 16 year old calling at 5PM when she gets out of school at 2:45????? With no one knowing her whereabouts? Hell-freakin-o! We live in Chicago, in the middle of some record breaking violent period. You can't just run rampant and decide when YOU want to come home or call!

OK, not to mention the fact that this last minute BS really ticks me off. I am so tired of the inconsiderate way that those girls and their mother just drop events on us as if we have nothing better to do than cater to their every whim.

My husband just does whatever, but it really incenses me. I didn't sign up for this!

It runs a lot deeper than this. I am a very strong, "you eat what I put in front of you or you don't eat at all" mom. The 13 year old has been allowed for years to pick and choose what she wants to eat. In fact, she's had brown sugar, that's right, brown sugar, added to just about every veggie to get her to eat it. Last week, I made spaghetti squash with butter and cheese in addition to broccoli and barbecued chicken. She refused to eat the spaghetti squash, but wanted to go ahead and eat her treat. I told her (as I was arguing with my four year old about eating HIS spaghetti squash) that if she wanted to eat her treat, she had to eat the squash. I said, "I can't have this battle with your brother if I don't follow through with you too." She went to speak to her father about it. He was ticked at me, but held ground that evening. The next day, I drive her to choir, of course, and she calls to ask if she can hang out with a friend. Fine with me. She calls her sister and tells her to grab the treat I had deprived her of the previous day and put it in her bag. I told her sister to tell her it'd be here for her next week. My husband said, "Give my daughter her treat." WTF?!?!?! I'm good enough to clean this house, deal with last minute plans, drop everything for them, but I mean Jack squat, right?

So I'm already nursing my anger from last week and this happens. I am so PPPPPPPPOOOOOOOO'd. I can't handle it!!!!!!!! And I have a cold!!!! So I can't just say, "That's it! I'm going to my parents house!" With their cancer treatments and my father's already infected surgical openings, they'd be sure to get sicker than me. GRRRRRRR......



Thanks for listening. I just wish I could've thrown some expletives in there.

I got PAID today! Got our regular checks, stimulus and the extra money for the "didn't do my homework" club. I paid all the usual suspects, but also wrote out a check for $945 to HFC to start working on that nasty personal loan at 30%. I figured it out and I am going to save a LOT of money in interest by paying it off before anything else. Thanks, Suze Orman!

I also paid off the balance of our Chase credit card, which is being used to pay bills, groceries and gas. It racks up points, so I just make sure to pay it off in full every month. It's good practice for me in using credit wisely and it'll keep my honest about purchases. It's a lot easier to see how much you're spending when it's a building balance rather than depleting ones checking account. We had to buy new tires for the car last month, so that made that bill larger.

Ahhh, well. Life is good!

We think the election MIGHT be over, but then the groundhog sees his shadow and we've got six more weeks of pandering, whining and false promises....yeesh...

Here is a picture of our mother's day gift extravaganza. Wouldn't you love to get one of these bad boys?

Just checked my autoloan balance and am very excited to say that I'm almost at the $10,000 mark. We took out a loan for $21,000, so with interest, was going to pan out to be $25,000. This is very exciting. By the time we're ready to start hammering it, the balance should be under $10,000 and we should have it paid off by November!!! And that's without me teaching summer school!!! (OMG...really yummy looking tacos on channel 5 right now.)

I find myself getting really excited about payday--not because we lack money (which is how it used to be), but because I get really excited about paying off the debt and seeing those numbers go down. I had a few setbacks there with over ordering flowers, etc., but the good news is that my budgeting saved us from financial ruin and we got through that period just fine.

What I need to do is start reading up on investing. I asked for advice on the forums and sounded like a total a$$. I am very unknowledgeable about it all and the best defense is to read, read, read. Any suggestions on good literature to learn about investing? I'm all ears

Happy Sunday, all. OH! and mother's day gifts: I went to Joanne Fabrics yesterday and let the little man pick out a craft to make for his three Nanas. He decided to paint birdhouses. It comes out to about $7 per birdhouse and I'm sure will be much more appreciated than anything expensive. I will post pictures once the creations are finished, but we're kind of painting them in stages (in otherwords, the little one finishes up, but then decides he'd like to add more). It's all good; alls fun in the name of creativity!

I am so very excited. Our principal let us know during our team meeting that we will be getting an extra $1000 in our next check for doing the after school "you didn't do your homework" thing we've done all year. This puts me on track to do a LOT, especially if the government pulls through and I get my stimulus next Friday (by the way, I'll have y'all know that I was totally disappointed--what was the point of sending that money out early if we're all not going to get our money early? whatever...)

My goal of paying off the personal loans and consumer credit crap will be met at the end of June. I will then start hitting that car. My student loans are coming due in July, so I'll make the minimum payments on those. I've chosen the car because it really bugs me that I took out a five year loan. She already has almost 50,000 miles on her and I want to own her flat out NOW! Still pondering summer school, which would put us at paying off the car early.

I hope that if we can pay it off before January that we'll have a nice relaxing Christmas by taking a tiny break from the debt snowball to pay for everything in cash--without going into over withdrawn mode in the checking account like we usually do every year (I've been so bad. I see the error of my ways).

So next week, I'm paying off the remaining balance on our car insurance and renter's insurance which will put us insurance payment free until August, at which time I'll be able to buy the policy in full (yay!) instead of paying in installments for the first time EVER.

I decided to try and get a Chase credit card with rewards so I can start learning how to use it to pay bills and pay it in full every month so we can utilize the rewards. I was pleased when we got a $3,200 credit limit, which is a surprise as my credit has been quite poor for years now. We're charging and paying it off in full. It feels great. Plus, for every so many thousand you spend, you have the opportunity for cash back. My plan is to get a couple hundred back by the end of the year using it for routine bills, etc. It's also allowed me to set up automatic billing for many of our bills. I still keep track of how much we've budgeted for gas and food when we're shopping and I have to use the debit card at Costco still.

No blogging in awhile, but I've been in a total funk. It's all good. The weather is getting better and I'm getting back on track I hope you all are enjoying a beautiful Saturday.

I had a weekend full of normalcy. It was truly great. Saturday morning I took the litle man to his soccer class. He had a great time and was very competitive. The last soccer class I got him into he was a tad lackluster and disinterested. I give it to maturity. I'm thinking about what classes I'd like to get him into this summer. I want him to be active!

Kohls was having a sale and I told my husband I planned on buying new sheets for the beds as we haven't bought new sheets...EVER! I've always used sheets given as a gift. I also planned on buying new pillows, but ended up buying a new quilt and blanket too. Upon his confirmation that the quilt and blanket were excessive, I returned them. I am quite happy with what I got. 300 thread count martex sheets for $22.50. My stepdaughters were very excited. It's comfy and good.

Upon my return home, my stepdaughters and I worked on some spring cleaning. The kids at school have ACT and Prairie State testing on Wednesday and Thursday this week, so I think I'll try to come home one of those days and work on cleaning. The other day I'm hoping to get the oil changed on the car and have it checked up--routine maintenance kinds of things.

Next Saturday I have a career fair to attend (barring my school's being there). I can't wait to hand the office of specialized services my resume. I should get a lot of phone calls from that. My special ed certificate is in high demand and I'm hoping to be able to be more choosy about where I end up. Maybe I'll even get some calls about summer school. If I do, then I'll think about teaching this summer. That extra money could really hammer some of this debt.

Friday afternoon I worked on applying to consolidate the private student loans. Only two companies offer fixed interest rates, but I'm wondering if it's better to go variable? My credit is still not good enough to get the lowest rate, so with a variable rate will it eventually go down? Or am I risking too much if interest rates go crazy sky high? I'm not planning on stretching them out the entire twenty years or whatever. I want them paid off, but I'd also like to get the best interest rate possible. In terms of the federal ones, many companies are no longer doing consolidations. I'm going to need some help weighing my options. Fire away with advice! I still have to get all the information regarding the teacher loan forgiveness program. I've taught four years of special ed, but at different schools so I'm not sure how that works. It could erase the federal ones almost completely.

Eight more weeks until summer break. Can I make it?

I sent the rental deposit yesterday to the bride via FedEx. She sent a much nicer e-mail thanking me for helping to make her wedding day beautiful. I had felt the original e-mail could have been a response to not getting her deposit back and am glad for my nature of not being confrontational. Alls well that ends well. I will continue to plug along in my business venture, but a tad bit wiser this time.

I have continued to e-mail and phone my birth mother. Things are going well and I've calmed WAY down. I'm just taking it one step at a time, but am very at peace. I feel so blessed that she contacted me! It's like a great gift from God!

My father had surgery yesterday. He is doing very well. I also enjoyed the day with my mother in the waiting room. Life is good!

So I'm back on the bandwagon of organizing stuff. My emotions have stabilized and I'm much more clearheaded and motivated. Maybe I'll skip swimming today and we'll go home so Mommy can clean. Hmmmm....

I'm having trouble posting the pictures (yes, I've tried) because the files are too large, but I'm not computer savvy enough to shrink the file size? I don't have photo editing software either. When I figure the dog-gone thing out, I'll post em. I've also thought about putting up a specific page somewhere so you can see them....now that's the ticket! Maybe you can view them later today! The lightbulb is on!

Lastly, I love you guys. You keep me honest, down to earth and you sure as heck are helping TONS with my finances. Keep on with that great advice!

The wedding. Yes, the wedding. It was totally hectic and I was rather nervous. I was so exhausted I couldn't put together my thoughts about it...until now. Got a snippy e-mail from the bride. Sigh. So here goes:

Things I did well: I was on time with everything. I stayed for the wedding, set up and took down things at the church with VERY little time in between (she got married at this church that had like four weddings that day, less than an hour between each), I did a beautiful job on the bouquets, etc. etc.

Things that did not go well: I made this rose sphere (that she wanted) for the flower girl that fell apart (from the oasis foam). That was bad news. Then, she wanted these centerpieces on three foot tall vases. They became rather top-heavy when the centerpiece was put on it. One of the vases broke--I had only ordered twelve and she had twelve tables. Therefore, I had no choice but to put one of the centerpieces in a different vase (this was while I was setting up for the reception). Also, I had trouble with the lilies opening (it's interesting, because the following day, I had an abundance of open lilies--dag nabbit!) so I improvised as best I could (which is what most florists do anyway if something goes wrong--it stipulates that in the contract). I had this fear of the centerpieces toppling over during the dinner. She did not mention this in her e-mail, but she may just be trying to be nice. Who knows.

To me, it was a learning experience, you know? I won't do those three foot tall centerpieces anymore. I can say with honesty that it doesn't work well. And I can also honestly suggest fake flowers for a rose sphere OR an alternative for the flower girl.

My mother has suggested I do flowers for funerals instead. I kinda think that's a good alternative given that brides are unbelievably demanding and people don't really pay attention to the flowers at funerals.

The thing is, the florist for the wedding afterwards just simply dropped the flowers off in the vestibule and went on his or her merry way. I was there, supportive and made sure everyone had their flowers. Sigh. But that doesn't mean a hill of beans, does it. Whateva. I'll get over it after a cigarette and a glass of wine tonight.

I took very few pictures. I'm so upset over the experience that I don't even know if I want to post them. Again, I'll chalk it up to learning. Sorry this is so lengthy.

Between the break-in, the wedding and now the birth mother, I have been rather emotionally overwhelmed and have fallen off my wagon of getting myself together--financially, physically, mentally. It's going to take some time for me to get back up and running again. I think I may get that prescription for the antidepressant filled I need a little help right now.

I now have this amazing sense of peace about my entire life. It is so fulfilling. She has had a beautiful life and I'm really happy for her. I never wanted anything less. She was 15 when she had me, so I always knew it was not a good situation and that was fine with me. She has loved me all my life although separated and I immediately felt all of the unconditional love of a mother from her.

One thing I absolutely have to check up on is there is a hereditary disease she's been suffering from. Graves disease and multiple endocrine neoplasia (both dealing with the glands). I'm going to get checked as soon as I can. It's weird, but a co-worker is always telling me to have my thyroid checked and I never go and do it. Apparently she's right on the money with that one!

In financial news, I have been transfering money from checking to savings after using coupons and preferred store savings. I look at the total at the bottom of the receipt of savings and then do the transfer. So far, including the automatic $25 transfered monthly, I have $68.34. Total savings tracked thus far is $42.84. Woo hoo! I love having various savings accounts. It's like I can have separate purposes for each of them. Once the emergency fund is at $1000, I will lessen the monthly amount put into it. I still want it to grow, but I want to be able to put as much towards debt as possible. I can't wait for the stimulus package. It's going to put quite a significant dent in that debt.

Flowers, yes. I must post pictures Sorry, I'm just emerging from my catatonia. I've been totally zoned out for three weeks now. My father is having surgery Wednesday, so I'm sure the lack of normalcy in my life will continue.

I haven't really slept well. She e-mailed pictures yesterday and it is eerie--we are carbon copies of eachother. I'm going to see her today. This whole thing is just mind-boggling, phenomenal. I can't think about anything else and I surely can't focus. I can't think about the budget or paying bills. I can't get up the energy to clean the house. I feel like I'm going crazy. I can't tell my "adoptive" mother about this; it would kill her. I spoke to my sister this morning and I was so detached. It was totally weird. It was like I was faking the conversation. How do I live in two different worlds like this right now? DH is so supportive. I am really blessed. I need to breath. It turns out that she (birth mom) has a very rare, extremely hereditary disease that is passed down through female generations. Shock after shock after shock after shock....

All went well with wedding. I do have tales to tell, however, have not felt like writing while trying to get back to normalcy.

I do want to share the crazy thing that happened to me tonight: out of the blue, my birth mother contacted me. I'm in a state of complete shock. It is so exciting. I can't believe there are people out there that look like me! More to follow...too shocked to share more.

I think it's partially just nerves, but I'm really anxious about getting everything done. This is the last time you'll hear from me until Sunday I'm sure. I've got 6 centerpiece kinda done (gotta add the silver flyaway thingies and flameless tea candles, but so far so good). I've got to go to work, but the good news is that we get out at 1 on Fridays. So I'm trying to count hours. The hardest part are these centerpieces, which is why I'm doing them first. Bouts, corsages, bouquets are "la la la la" easy and fun. If I don't make it through this alive, BA, will you take over the biz? Laughing....sweet Jesus...

So I've been stressed and too anxious to write here lately. Floral job kinda sent me in a panic (after I came down from last week's craziness). Monday I had a heart attack when I learned that our local wholesaler HAD placed my order and my account was all set up. I was like "aaaahhhhh." I'll have over 1000 roses in my apartment as of tomorrow. It's ok. It gives me a bit of breathing room in case anything goes wrong AND I spoke with our senior council chair who is going to have a spring flower sale Tuesday. I may get that money back after all.

Wish me luck. I'll be up all night processing roses (stripping thorns, cutting, putting in water). Tomorrow I'll be working on corsages and boutonnieres, pieces for the church. Friday and Saturday are going to be hell. I may not get any sleep.

I thought I was coming down with something yesterday, so I decided to drink this Total Living stuff that my MIL bought for my husband. He's been raving that it's helping his eczema. It tastes AWFUL. I gagged and almost didn't finish it. However, low and behold, I feel better. Sigh. I'm going to drink more when I get home. The directions say you can add a small piece of fruit. How small is small do you think? An entire cateloupe? Laughing...yes, it really tastes bad. Sigh, what we do for health purposes.

Yesterday I bought four frozen pizzas (buy one get one free), two containers of pasta sauce (buy one get one free), box of pasta, four cans of progresso (or is it progressive?) soup, breadsticks, crackers and it all came to $30. I was thoroughly disappointed. $2.69 for a can of soup? Absolutely absurd...But, I won't have to cook anything complicated this week. I can't and I didn't want to resort to eating out lots of nastiness and spending money.

I can't wait until it's Sunday

I spent my Saturday monitoring the repairs to our door. I knew our landlord would replace the door with the same cheap door and same cheap locks and would also not consider that they shattered the door frame, and thus, a wooden door frame isn't good enough.

SO, a trip to home depot was in order. I bought two Segal cylinder deadbolts to have the work men put on the doors (away from the simpler dead bolt--duh, so they can't just kick the door open with a simple blow to the same area), two brackets and a 2 X 4, and metal sockets for the other deadbolt. I had them put the heavy guage deadbolts on both the front and back doors and also the metal sockets (because it'll be a lot harder to kick through metal than wood). Also had them put up the brackets and 2 x 4 on the rear door as a last measure. The back door is recessed, so if in the event someone actually succeeded in kicking open the door, they won't be able to fit their fingers through to remove the wood or smash through it.

The Segal locks were $59 a piece. I find that rather cheap, don't you? Considering personal security...As frugal as we all need to be, there are certain things we should never compromise on and security is one of them. I feel better now that everything's up to par. We'll be removing the Segal deadbolts whenever we move (as we paid for them). I've also got ADT coming out on Friday to set up services.

On the crazy phone call front, I called ATT on Friday and set up privacy manager (thanks for the advice on that!) No more creepy phone calls this weekend. I will be speaking with our dean of discipline and principal tomorrow regarding that.

Hubby and I had a chat about finances. It was a good talk and we both agreed on paying off the car ASAP. We also agreed about wiggle room in the budget for us, but also living just as we have (not upping money we're spending on food and such). I also brought up teaching summer school. He, of course, tride and true loving man that he is, does not want me to teach it But it's up for further discussion.

I hope you all are ready for the week ahead.

One last thing, I was sorely disappointed by Earth Hour. Mayor Daley did not even cut off street lights for the world wide event, and when we excitedly went on our front porch to look at the skyline, it was as if no one had shut any lights off. What's wrong with this city? How disappointing. Can you imagine the impact if everyone actually abided by an hour per month of no electricity? Sigh.

I e-mailed my husband yesterday pleading for us to go out to eat. I've been rather depressed since the break-in, and when I get depressed, I become catatonic. Sigh. So we checked out Menards and Home Depot for doors/security measures then went out to eat. I had a very large margarita which was delicious and delightfully strong. It also opened me up a bit in sharing my feelings with my husband (instead of the zombie me which stares longingly into space).

He got his first check on his new salary yesterday! AND it was bigger than anticipated because it had three weeks of work on there. Woo hoo! That, in itself, is reason to celebrate. We bought a drill, some drill bits and something else of which my unfamiliarity with tools doesn't know the name. We're going to work on arming ourselves today.
ADT will come out Friday and get everything set-up for our security system.

I've decided that I'm going to actually speak to my principal about the prank call. I don't think the two incidents are related, however, with recent school shootings and the like, I am very aware of the reality of threats. I want to make our school aware so perhaps they'll keep tighter security and just be on the look-out for strangeness.

The sun is shining today which is such a welcome change from the gloomy, yucky wet weather we've had all winter. Happy Saturday all!

I got a call marked private around 12:40 today. (I noticed it on the caller ID when I got home) After the break-in, can you say I'm a tad paranoid? So usually I would have just ignored it and put the phone down, but I decided to check my voicemail. They left a message. It was whispered and it sounded either like "B*tch, you gonna die in seven days" or "Betcha gonna die in seven days." Something like that. I am TOTALLY freaked out. It may have just been a student prank calling, but HELLO we were in school at the time. I don't know, but it freaks me out.

I called ADT before checking the voicemail and they're coming out today to hook up services. Woo hoo to that!

I don't know. I give out my home number to students so that they can call for extensions on assignments or ask questions when they need help. I caught a few kids e-mailing nasty things to eachother on this google group our lit teacher set up for them (I signed up for it as the SPED teacher so I could be in touch with assignments, etc.) This was during the school day, so it was not an approved use of the computers. Well, one of the kids e-mailing nasty things stole one of the laptops. He's now suspended. It could have been him? Maybe? Do I have reason to wig out? Sigh. This is TOO much for me to handle right now!!!

My son and I returned home to see our neighbor's front door bashed in. We went up the stairs to find our back door completely bashed in. I freaked out, didn't know if someone could still be in the building--first floor or basement. Police came. Neighbor came home. It was utterly frightening.

I read in the forums recently about storing one's money under a mattress. This is exactly the reason why you DON'T do that. We don't keep any cash in the house and we don't have a lot of nice things. The police said they wouldn't walk out with anything large like a TV because that's too easy to catch. They stole nothing. Didn't even do a good job of rifling through the house because they didn't bother to look in the closet where my jewelry box is. They stole a pack of pepsi and some gym shoes from our neighbor. Of course, again, we're complete nerds because we have neither nice gym shoes nor pepsi

I'm scared to come home today. I feel totally violated and am fearful that now that they know what is in our house, they'll try to come back. Is it feasible to break a lease over a break-in? The building has a complete lack of security as our back gate is a piece of junk, and obviously, our landlord has not put good locks on the doors (they basically tore right off the door--it's unbelievable).

Sigh. I don't want to go to work today.

I received this in my e-mail inbox this morning. It actually gave me a good feeling that my bank cares enough to say, "wait a second, let me write the consumer while they may be freaking out right now."


Dear A,

In these challenging times, having a savings plan is more important than ever. At HSBC Direct we are committed to helping you with your savings goals by providing the best rate we can.

As you are undoubtedly already aware, there has been a general trend of reducing interest rates in the U.S. market over recent months. These changes have been influenced by the Federal Reserve moving its target interest rate down in response to developments in the economy and financial markets. Last week the Federal Reserve again reduced this key rate, by 0.75% to 2.25%.

At HSBC Direct we review our rates regularly in the context of market conditions, the federal funds rate and the overall economic environment to ensure we are providing you a competitive rate at all times. Following a further review of all of these factors, we have reduced our Online Savings Account rate by 0.50% to 3.05% APY* effective 3/20/2008.

We will continue to evaluate and respond to market changes so we can provide you with the very best rate possible over the coming weeks and months. At HSBC Direct we are committed to a direct and open relationship with you, even if we have to pass on news about reductions in our rates. We think this is fair to our customers and simply the right thing to do.

The good news is, you’re still getting a competitive rate — 7x the national savings average.** And you can feel confident knowing your savings are with HSBC Direct. We’re part of HSBC Group, one of the largest and best capitalized financial institutions in the world, with over 10,000 offices around the world and 140 years of experience helping our customers achieve their financial goals.

We sincerely appreciate your support and your saving with HSBC Direct.


Sincerely,

Kevin Martin
Executive Vice President
Head of HSBC Direct U.S.

Last summer, I decided to start a floral business. One of my first jobs was working the the floral department at a local grocery store. I learned enough basics to do a variety of floral arrangements. Last year, friend got married and I put together her flowers for her. She said, "You could make money off of this, A" and I thought, hmmmm....I have my first wedding coming up on April 5th. This morning, I went to the floral wholesaler, which I visited last week, and they haven't processed my info, so I have NO account with them yet. I'm about ready to have a panic attack because hello! I need flowers in less than two weeks!

My fears were alleviated when I got home and saw that there are a variety of places online from where I can order flowers. They will not be as convenient, but in case this place messes everything up, at least I have a back-up plan. I thought I had an account as I signed up online MONTHS ago. Sigh. The best laid plans of mice and men.

As of April 11th, I should have our emergency fund completely funded to the $1000 mark. I was looking over our budget, and theoretically (because my husband has yet to receive a paycheck for his new duties), we actually will have over 2K to put towards debt every month! And that's if I budget each of us spending money per month, etc! I know that with the stimulus payment and my bonus in June, we'll get that credit/personal loan debt squared away and maybe have the car paid off BEFORE January! Woo hoo! I am super duper duper excited.

Keep your fingers crossed that all goes with with this wedding. I am really excited and axious about it all at the same time. Is this entry scatterbrained enough?

Last night I visited with a really good friend who I haven't seen in awhile. He is a young guy, about 30. Because of his college major, he has had a difficult time finding employment that meets his abilities; however, he is employed. He shared with me how overwhelmed he is with his finances and his anxiety over debt.

Well, anyone who reads my blog entries knows, I'm not actually GOOD with my finances. Regardless of this, I sat down with him at the computer, went over all of his expenses for the month, income, etc and helped him come up with a budget and plan for getting out of debt. When I left, he stated how he felt like maybe he could sleep again at night. I was so excited to have helped someone!

Really, I was only able to help because of all the things I've learned from you. I also acquainted him with this web site, so I hope he comes aboard and checks it out. He was rather shocked to see that he can live not only within his means, but under his means. All I have to say is FABULOUS! Now, onto getting my act in gear and together. Phew...

The Sears guy came and fixed the drier. It was a blown ignitor, however, he also found a load of lint in the vent and a dead bird. Yucky. Called landlord to ask her to replace the vent. Needless to say, with a working drier, I will be doing laundry all afternoon.

So one of my goals was to post random items on craigslist to try and sell. I sold a couple of items for $50 this morning and another lady will hopefully stop by later today which will earn us another $10. Yippee!!! I've got to sit down, crunch some numbers and decide what to put it towards. It would be nice to use it as fun money (such as take the family to the movies money or something) but more practically could be used for debt, of course.

I've been reading Suze Orman's book. The chapter that is the most applicable to me at the moment is the one on debt. I got so excited that she suggested to open a new checking account. It always seemed like such a cheesy thing to do for a money mismanager, so her suggestion gave me the go ahead to do it. I've thought for years about making a switch to WaMu because they give you free checks for life. Hey, that's $16 per year I don't have to spend, right? I was going to do that immediately, but need my husband's driver's license number first. I don't want to call him at work and bother him. What am I to say, "Suze Orman says to open a new checking account"? Laughing...I am a dork supreme.

I went to lunch with a friend I haven't seen in four years today. She was shocked when she saw how big DS has gotten. We went to Navy Pier, which if anyone knows Chicago, they know it's an expensive endeavor. Rather than pay $25+ for parking, we parked and took the bus there. It was great--only $5! Then, we ate lunch and bought a ticket for little man to go on all of the fun bouncie thinga-ma-doos for their kiddie spring celebration. I got to spend a couple of hours chatting with my friend while he played till his heart was content. Overall cost was about $25 which is highly economical for a trip to Navy Pier. Also, DS is eating his leftovers for dinner. I am pleased, to say the least. Frugal=fun.

If you read my blog yesterday you know I checked out Suze Orman's "Women & Money." I decided to go ahead and earn myself a free $100 by opening a TD Ameritrade account. It'll also force me to save an extra $50 per month. I really like how a lot of people on here have their separate savings for various things, emergency account, gift giving, car fund, etc. I haven't decided what this savings will be for exactly yet, but I'll ponder it in the near future.

I do have some questions about the TD Ameritrade account. Does it acquire interest? I am not planning on doing any trading as I am so not ready for that yet. I want to make sure that my money is working for me (however, the $100 at the end of a year will count for something, right?)

And I checked out three financial books. I looked for Dave Ramsey, but our neighborhood library is rather small so I didn't see it on the shelf. I did, however, check out Suze Orman's "Women and Money", "Managing Debt for Dummies" and "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Improving your Credit Score." The latter two I'm not totally enthused about, but I should be boning up on everything I can. Going to the library instead of Borders was a good step for me. I went through my book shelves and found about 20 or so self help books that had I checked them out from the library, I wouldn't have a) wasted money b)felt the need to read them (in other words, they're all crap). Here's to learning, one of the greatest of all God's gifts to us!

Oh, and little man tate checked out an Easter book. We're pretty excited about reading that before bed time tonight

I just had a thought about a very cool dieting freebie. My doctor last year informed me about www.sparkpeople.com which is a free web site to help you track exercise, calories and will even tailor a personal dieting and fitness plan. It's kinda like weightwatchers without the points and FREE! Just for anyone who needs a little extra something to help keep them focused. I know I do!

My husband and I are not ready for homeownership. I have been pressured over the course of the almost five years of my husband and my marriage to purchase something as my family is VERY pro homeownership. They view my having a child as a mistake to have made before owning a home.

This morning my husband and I were talking and both agreed that we are relieved to be renters, especially with a recession looming. Here's why:
1) We don't have to worry about increasing property taxes.

2) We don't have to deal with the negativity of the housing market in any way shape or form (even if it is as simple as thinking of refinancing, know what I mean?)

3) If something goes wrong, we don't have to worry about fixing it.

4) We don't have to worry about losing money on our "investment."

Not that we smell like roses with all the debt that's been racked up, but it still feels good to know that we've got something going for us. And anyway, I'd rather have my little man tate over owning a home any day

Sorry for all who will have that cheesy reference to the 80's in their head all day. Rest assure that I will too. Hubby went for his orientation yesterday for the new job. Found out he gets 12 sick days, 3 personal days, 2 floating holidays, 20 holidays off AND 20 days of vacation per year! (No more worrying about non-payment for taking a day off or not having work or whatever). Holy moly batman! That's not all people! He can take advantage of a whole bunch of tax sheltered annuities. I am not sure if we should go ahead and take advantage of them or not as we certainly need the cash flow, etc. However, this is momentous. We went out for dinner last night to celebrate his first week on the new job.

I'm going to try extra hard this week to sell a bunch of this stuff I have in the house that I no longer need. Hoping this can generate a $100 or so extra dollars that I will use to buy easter goodies for DS and my stepdaughters.

I have to say that I just love reading all of the posts. It's one of my favorite things to do first thing in the morning and at the end of the day.

Today is payday and it's only 7:24 AM and the bills are already paid. How exciting is that? I'm off today. It's my kickoff day for spring break (yay!) I'm planning on doing some grocery shopping and cleaning. If I grocery shop and clean today, then I can spend the rest of my break carefree, ya know? I also want to stop by the bank and have my bucket of change counted. In addition to that, I've got a number of items for sale on craigslist. I'm to make a sale tomorrow and am hoping to make a few others in the next couple of weeks. I will either use this money to take our family to the movies over the break to see "Horton Hears a Who" or put it into my EF. I'm trying to decide.

My hubby started his new job and is VERY pleased. I am so happy for him. He really deserves this position and I've always just wanted him to feel productive in his work. So far, so good Usually, I have had to guess what he will take home in terms of pay since he was hourly staff, but soon, I will be able to anticipate a steady income. Sigh. Yes, yes, yes! Life just gets better and better.

I just also want to note that I went shopping for a few items yesterday at Dominick's (a Chicago big chain grocery store). One of the items I wanted to get because I wanted to make a quiche using leftover salmon. $2.79 per dozen! That was the cheapest one and that's without the 10% city salestax. Sigh. Boy, do I live in an expensive area.

So with my husband starting his new job, I'm the one to take the car now. I've noticed he's rather hard in breaking and starting at red lights and I've also noticed that our gas mileage hasn't been so great (we own a Honda CRV). Soooo...after reading about this hypermiling thing I'm giving it a try. Three days with Chicago stop and go traffic and I've barely used half a tank (usually by this time I'm panicking that we won't make it till the end of the week). I've realized, though, that I forgot to put the little trip mileage thing-a-ma-doo to zero so I can't check to see what kind of gas mileage we got this week. This is on my to do list for the next time I get gas.

OK. So my brother was able to sit for little man tate today who was banned from school for 24 hours (remember, had to pick him up from school yesterday). He was feeling fine other than a little cold--I don't believe he really even had a fever yesterday. This is mommy intuition here, ya know? He was right as rain after a nap yesterday. Brother originally had plans to meet an old friend for lunch. I said, take the little man with you. Well, brother did and ended up taking little man over to our parents' house to take nap. Had to drive out to the burbs to pick up little man because brother had keys to our apartment. THEN had to immediately drive back into the city for a sports' banquet (I coached basketball). Brother had only put on only a t-shirt for the little man--neglected to put on long sleeved shirt and sweatshirt as I had left out that morning. (he had on sweatpants, socks, shoes, coat...wasn't like totally naked or anything) I had no choice but to take little man to the banquet in the t-shirt as being coach, had to be on time. Got home, husband is totally pissed off about brother taking little man out in only a t-shirt (except he had winter coat over it while he was outside--he's not that insane). My brother has no kids, has little experience with kids, so I'm just glad all is well, ya know?

Sorry, I just needed to vent here. Oh, and banquet was miserable as son somehow found it an opportune time to show NO manners at the dinner table. I know, he's four, but oh my gosh! I was sitting next to our school network's superintendent! Yikes! In any event, I'm still alive at least. And little man tate is sleeping. And hopefully, hubby will get over it.