Savings Started Today!

I figure time to start saving. So I took 5.00 out of my wallet and some change. Started my savings today. I move on Saturday and then the real savings begins. I also should get another child support payment next Sat. that will go straight into savings.

Looks like Nov. and Dec. will be tight. As there is a clause in my lease that I have to give 60 day notice. So I am obligated to pay for Nov. and Dec. even though I won't live here. I am going to check though if he rents this out and someone is living here, will I get my money back. It sucks I have to pay for something I won't live in but I refuse to live here anyways. I won't have any gas or electric bills as I am having those transferred at the end of this month.

This week will be busy with me doing the final packing for the move. So I may not be blogging again for at least a week. I will also have to set up internet at the new place. Which I have agreed to pay the bill each month as I will be the primary person using the computer.

Happy Birthday to ME! I am officially 40!

To start my 40's off right. I dyed my hair with free hair dye and painted my nails. Ed baked me a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and is making me Tacos for dinner.

I spent the day before with my mom. We had appetizers she picked up for dinner and she gave me a starbucks giftcard. My mother knows I love my coffee! I have not been to starbucks in 6 months.

There is only one thing I need for my birthday. A phone call from my son and the day will be perfect!

I know many may wonder why I am making a big deal out of today. But I need to have a Happy Birthday since last year was bittersweet it was the beginning of losing my Dad. He retired on my birhday and was in the hospital a few days later.

Oh and by the way HAPPY SWEETEST DAY! EVERYONE!

Hiding Money - Do you?

Do you ever hide money? I use to do it all the time. If I had some extra cash I would stash it somewhere, that I would not see every day. So many times when I was in need of cash it would appear. Of course I did not usually find it my son did. So many times I would hear "HEY MOM! Did you know there was money in the drawer in the table in the livingroom". Lucky for me he was little so he thought it was fun just to find it. He did not want to keep it.

I packed my change tin this morning. That is after I put $23.00 in it. So for a few weeks it will be out of my mind. All my change is being saved and cashed in for debt. When we were in Disney World I got the popcorn buckets. I will be keeping my change in one of those. I also want to add $1.00 bills to it too. I am not sure how much adding the 1.00 bills will add but every little bit helps. Hey if you save 1.00 a day that is 365 at the end of the year.

By the way old purses and coat pockets have been known to have some of my hidden money in it too.

Tomorrow is my 40th Birthday

I am looking forward to being 40! After the year I spent being 39 I am truly ready to move to the next decade. 39 was a VERY rough year for me. I lost my job, my dad died, my son moved with his Dad (1000 miles from me), I went through a bad bout of depression. Finance suck!
So I am ready. Ready for a change and ready to make the change.

My plan was to start paying off debt on Nov. 1. Well I started today. I sent 21.20 to the medical bills. It is a nice way to begin my new decade. I will be making payments on my debt every week. Since I have income coming in weekly I will pay as much as I can each week.

I should be able to get at least $500.00 paid off by the end of the year. I have the ticker at the top which is accurate as of now. But I know there are going to be a few more bills to add. The last phone bill, and gas bill. Plus I have 2 CC out there, that I have no bills to. I will be contacting them soon so I can get those totals too.

My Basic Budget (will improve once I am done moving)
1. Rent - 300
2. Allowance - 50
3. Bus - 48 (may change depends on how much I work)
4. cell (50)
5. food (50)

498.00 a month

I should have 1,000 a month left over. 1/2 will go to savings and 1/2 will go to bills. So in 6 months I should make 1/2 of my 6000.00 savings goal. Any extra money I get will also be going to savings. Change saved will go to savings. Allowance not spent at the end of the month will go to debt.

I will be tracking my spending every week. I will be living on the least amount possible.

Frugal mind - Does yours sometimes surprise you?

Now I know I have money in my checking account but don't want to touch it. I also know I have about 32.00 that I can spend on whatever I need. But also want it to last me till Tuesday. The only thing I am in NEED of is some staples in the kitchen.

There are times when my frugal mind is just to much. If you read my post before this you know I have part of my whole chicken left. Well I had been making chicken salad out of it. (which I failed to mention in that post) eating it on triscuit crackers that I have. So I am craving a chicken sandwhich but I have no bread. I am not a bread maker and do not have a bread machine anymore.

So finally I broke down and spent 1.27 for a loaf of bread. Why does it seem at times I do not even want to part with money when it is something I need? I was able to have my chicken sandwich last night and one for lunch today. I can use the bread for toast or as part of an egg sandwhich.

Now I can understand being this way when it is for something I don't need. Today at work I had to be to work at 7 AM for only 4 hours. I did end up buying a drink and some Advil. Which I will now put some in my purse. My foot was so bad that I needed to get some or would be crying on the way home. We have a vendor that stocks us with ready to eat sandwhiches and tuna salads. I love the tuna salad but not worth the $4.00 container. So even though I was hungry at break time. I waited till I got home for my sandwich. So I saved $4.00 or more since I would have bought another drink too.

I need to remind myself that when I am in the don't let a penny out of my sight, to say it is okay to buy things I need. Such as food.

Chicken Anyone?

I love to make a whole chicken on a weekend and eat it for the rest of the week. Now this works for me as I am a family of one right now. Even when I had my son here a whole chicken could last us at least 3 days. Now some people would cringe at eating chicken days in a row. Does not bother me.

Here is how I make my chicken (and I am sure I have mentioned it before)

Get out the crockpot
Rinse chicken
season the way you like.
Spray inside of crockpot
put in enough foil balls in bottom of crockpot to hold chicken up
Put chicken breast side down on foil balls
Put on the lid and just walk away.

You will have a nice juicy chicken for dinner.

The first night we have the chicken, and whatever sides I make.
Then it becomes anything I can think of:
1. chicken sandwhiches -- I LOVE THEM!
2. chicken quesadillas
3. chicken soup
4. another chicken meal like the first night.

Well the other day when I finally had a moment to hit the Frugal button on my own blog to read the other blogs. I found more chicken recipes. Just in time since I made a whole chicken on Sunday. My last piece of meat in the freezer before the move.

So tonight I am making Chicken And Noodles. There are other recipes there too but I don't have everything I need to make another one recipe. Head on over there and check them out. I will let you know what I think of the chicken and noodles too.

All look like cheap meals that will make that chicken last a few meals longer.

Mail Call!

Just wanted to say Thank You Beth! I got the Disney post card and it is on the fridge. I LOVE IT!

Thanks again!

Rebate check!

I love when I forget about money coming. I got my $5.00 rebate check for buying 5 2 liters bottles of Pepsi. Which I got on sale and paid 85 cents per bottle. So I made 34 cents on this deal. Counting the bottles of Pepsi and the stamp to mail the rebate. Off to the bank I will mail this check with the free bank envelopes.

This week I managed to put 10.99 in free money in my account. Love free money!

Added up the Debt -- Did not faint!

Today was clean out some of the paper mess I manage to have in this house. I am in the process of combining things I need in one file box. No more chaos here.

That meant starting to put my plan in place of paying off my debt. I have roughly 5,000 in debt beside my student loans. There is no need to even think of that right now. That amount would be a nice payment on a house.

As I gathered all the bills. I entered them in a spreadsheet starting with the smallest and going to the largest. I do have the loan on that sheet so that I can keep it in my mind. Like one could forget what you owe could feed at least 5 or 6 third world countries right now.

I come across a bill from 2005 (yes I realize that was 2 years ago) I said I had papers...did you think I was joking? I called about the bill and as we went through it (a nice list of medical charges). She asked me why are you calling 2 years later. I said it is time I take care of business. Well 300.00 worth of charges were PAID! It was from my workman comp case, and that was why I saved it. But had I not called, and just paid it. Who knows when I would have seen my 300.00 again.

Most of my bills are medical bills. So they are interest free. I am currently missing 2 bills but will work on finding those. I know they are out there. I have added rough amounts to come up with the 7,000 that I owe.

The plan is to start paying these on Nov. 1 and to get 2500-3000 paid off in 6 months. Yes as I pursue my savings dreams too. It is going to be a lot of hard work, but I will feel much better not having to worry about these bills anymore.

One thing I did, although not many will agree with it. Is if I had bills that were past the Statute of Limitations. I marked it as so and placed in a folder. Those will not be paid. For Wisconsin the following apply:


STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS ON ENFORCEMENT:
Open Account (credit card): 6 years
Written Contract: 6 years
Domestic Judgment: 20 years
Foreign Judgment: 20 years

It was about 3 bills that I put in that folder. They are from 7 years ago and have not been collected on. I am not saying that one should not pay bills so they can use the limitations law. But in my case I owe a lot of money and am focusing on the present. The past is over and am working on the things I can now.

Finally Got Paid

I signed up at http://www.daytipper.com/. You submit tips and if they use them, you are paid $3.00 a tip. Well I am NOT happy with that place. I submitted two tips months ago, they were accepted and published. Payment is suppose to be made once the tip is published. After sending them numerous emails I finally got $3 of the $6 they owe me. I have not submitted any more tips as I feel payment is way to slow. I do not want to chance my money. Now we will see how long I have to chase to get my other $3.00.

Money Vent

I am not big on lending people money. Why? I hate having to ask for it back. So I pretty much always say no. There is one person at work who I have borrowed money to in the past, she has always paid me back. She even went on vacation and the second I saw her back from vacation, she had my money in her hand. Granted it was $3.00 but hey it is my $3.00.

Now I borrowed $2.00 to another co-worker and she has YET to pay me back. I even asked her for it, she did not have it on her. So I will no longer be borrowing her money or anyone else for that matter. Yes if the first person came to me and asked me for a few dollars. I would give it to her as she has always paid me back.

Just my money vent!

Still Packing for the move!

Still here and still packing. I hate to admit to how much stuff 2 people own. Very sad! I have been giving away a ton of stuff through freecycle. I may even call Purple Heart tomorrow to see when they will be in the area.

Met a nice lady through freecycle who is coming to get my couch and table next week. So we will not have much furniture to move. Most of the stuff is older and I just can't take it with me. Also nice to know someone else will be able to use it.

I will say that I will NOT be buying stuff. We do not need stuff and I DO NOT want ever have to give away or move it again. So I should have a lot more money in the bank. Also I will be getting bills paid off.

Today was organization day. The living room is a mess (well not anymore) I have boxes packed in there, freecycle stuff in there and other stuff. So I spent my time while glancing at the Packer game (GO PACK) organizing.

My next project while watching my shows tonight is to organize my binder. I have a nice leather 8x12 dayplanner (got free) that I am making into my life. Keep my calendar in there, bill payments and other stuff. I will also have a file folder with me with must be able to get my fingers on papers. Once I have this up and organized I will share with you. Might even be able to get some pictures to show you.

Hang in here with me. I am still being frugal. I have been only eating food here and spent 10.00 all week on food. My freezer is now empty (well a bag of flour is in there) but I have gotten through all the meat and frozen foods. Cooking my last whole chicken tonight for the week. I will then have to buy some food but not much. I have no plans on moving food. I hate moving food. So basically living on nothing.

I will also be sharing my savings plan with you too. So we can watch how I do on saving money.

New Savings Goal Posted

Once I am done with the move, come Nov. 1 I will be working on saving 6000.00 in 6 months. Now many may thing WOW! that is a lot. One of the reasons the goal is so high is my Tax Refund should fund 1/2 the amount.

Once I have reached that goal I will be moving to another apartment. So I want to make sure I have the money in place to make it an easy transition. Nothing like finding the apartment you want and not having a security deposit.

Even though I will being paying 1/2 of what I pay in rent now. I will not have gas or electric bills. I will only have food, internet and cell phone.

I will also be sitting down and making a strict budget that I will live by. This will include a small allowance to spend on anything I want.

My blog will change a bit since some of the frugal things I do now, like hanging wash I won't be able to do where I am moving. It will change to more of a savings blog but will include frugal tips as I find them. I hope everyone continues to read.

Another set of Changes coming my way

This sure seems to be the year that my life changes in so many ways. 39 has not been a good year for me and I can only hope as I enter the 40's that things get better.

The newest change is I am moving out of my apartment and moving home. I can no longer live her after my house has now been broken into twice in 36 days. So it is time for me to leave and never return.

Not sure how living at home is going to be again but I can make it work for a short time. Plus I will have time to save up for my new place and also get some bills paid off. That will be my main goal. As I will have to pay some rent money and buy my own food but other than that no household bills. I figure it will be $400 a month tops. Not bad. Still gives me a chunk of change to save.

Most of my furniture I will be giving away or selling. Most of it is old and I can replace it with other items. A good time to live more simple too. I am glad I seem to find the positives during this moment in time.

Resources for Single Parents

Here is an article I wrote about resources for Single Parents. I thought I would share it here.


Resources for Single Parents: From Food Stamps to Energy Aid

October Spending

Tracking begins again! I did start yesterday with a big FAT ZERO! That is correct no spending. I have my notebook ready to right down everything I spend. Now is an important time with the holidays coming. Knowing where you money is going. This is going to be more practice for me as I have big plans for 2008.