MsSuperSaver's Personal Finance Blog

Spent nothing today I'm going to try to have at least two no spend days a week. Some of the people on the blogs can go for weeks without spending! Amazing!! I'll start small (two days a week) and build up (to maybe a week or two).

Didn't drive today either. This is another area I would like to work on. Hopefully I can have at least two "no drive" days a week as well.

Basically stayed home, caught up on work, cooked a nice from scratch chili and cornbread dinner and organized my office.

Installed DSL today and cancelled cable internet. I really can't tell the difference in speed between the two and this will save me $25 a month!

Chili recipe: In a pan put one can of diced tomatoes, one can of pinto beans (drained and rinsed), half a chopped onion and a couple of cloves of chopped garlic. Add salt, pepper and chili powder to taste then simmer for an hour. Real simple and real tasty!

Today has been a money saving day...
--played racquest ball (free at the local military base)
--went to the grocery store (and used coupons)
--switched from cable to DSL (a savings of $25 per month)
--hubby took me out to lunch (instead of $6.99/person at the buffet we opted for Subway's $2.50 lunch special)
--got a refund from Subway (noticed that after hubby paid for lunch they had charged him the regular price for the sandwiches instead of the sale price so they refunded the difference)
--bought a backpack for school (after comparrison shopping found a great bag for $15 less than I though I would have to pay)
--got a free jacket and T shirt (from a client...I was admiring their new jackets a couple of months ago so they ordered one for me)
--went to the college book store to find out about buying books for next quarter and found out that I can order them online...even the used ones!
--researched the local bus system (I always drive but gas looks like it will be astronimical soon...want to figure out some alternatives ahead of time)

Hubby has been retired for more than ten years. Usually he will work at something that interests him for a couple of years then quit and hang around the house for a couple of years then get bored and go back to work, etc. Just last week he decided to work part time and I can see the (negative) impact on our finances already.

The money he makes is good but when you off-set that by the cost of uniforms, gas to get back and forth to work, "lunch" food (sandwich makings, etc), and services (I don't have the heart to ask him to do the yard when he has been working all day so I pay the neighbor kid to do it), I'm not at all sure it's worth it. I'm also pretty sure we will be in a higher tax bracket at the end of the year.

There's been some chat around the boards about a spouse choosing not to work. It really seems that in a lot of cases, it may make sense for only one spouse to work if the family can swing it. The value of a stay at home spouse is often discounted but when you add up the costs of both spouses working versus the cost savings of only one spouse working (ie: savings on day care, meals out, extra costs for food, clothing, gas and taxes not to mention the emotional/social factors that are involved) it may pay in the long run for one spouse to stay home!

Those are my top four goals. Today I worked a bit on all of them.
--Health. Finally made an appointment with my doctor for six weeks from now. Havent had a physical in a few years so figured it was about time. Gave myself six weeks to exercise, eat better and generally get more "healthy" before I go see the doc. Also, hubby and I played racquetball today...a first in ages...we usually don't exert ourselves so much. For a moment had to wonder who would find us if we both collapsed from over exertion. Luckly we both survived Going on a 10k Volksmarch tomorrow.
--Finances. Paid some bills today. Have stopped using my credit cards all together. My goal is to pay off an $890 credit card this month. How? I have no idea...
--College. The final for chemistry class is next Wednesday. I've been studying two hours a day, set up a four hour study group for tomorrow, did some chemistry quizes online...basically everything I can think of to get a good grade in this class. Checked out a book on scholarships and will apply for more after school is out. I want my entire education to be paid for by scholarships!!! No student loans!!!
--Business. I have been keeping up with client work pretty well. It's kind of a lull before everything gets busy again in September. Everyone seems to be on vacation this month so I have been able to concentrate on other things. My clients are great...I sooo appreciate them

Well, I'm wrapping up my first quarter of college and I've learned a few things...
--apply for all of the scholarships you can. I applied for a scholarship on a whim (and one day before it was due) and I got it. That scholarship will pay my next quarter's tuition.
--take advantage of the free services you can get at the college (free tutoring, free use of the gym, discounts with your student ID, etc).
--get organized! Not only does it help in keeping you on top of your school work, being organized also saves you money if you plan ahead and bring your drinks/meals from home, can take the city bus to school instead of driving, etc.
--books are expensive! I think I'm in the wrong business. Books for three classes will cost me almost $500 for next quarter!!
--when you go back to school as an adult you have a whole different outlook on things. School can be fun! The professors are the same age as your kids! The mid term isn't a challenge...taking care of three sick kids at one, making the house payment when you didnt think you had a snowballs chance in Hell to do it, standing up to your boss and getting what you deserve...those are challenges!
...now back to studying for my final....

I was just reading Jody's blog about a week without spending. Don't think I have ever done that but what a great idea! Maybe we could make it a challenge for all of us here on the blog site. We pick a week then everyone vow not to spend for that week. Im sure we would get lots of creative ideas on how to get things without spending money over the course of a week. Anyone up for a challenge?

I haven't posted for ages, mainly because my life has been really crazy for the past couple of months. I have been trying to juggle a dozen quite seperate and quite demanding projects and I'm not doing really well with any of them.

Today I decided to sort out and prioritize what's important and drop or put aside the rest in the interest of doing my best on a few projects instead of doing so so (and bringing myself to the point of exhaustion) on everything.

Here's my list...

1) My health. This is my top priority so I will sleep eight hours a night, exercise every day and eat as healthy as possible (with an occasional splurge on coffee ice cream).

2) My finances. This is my second priority. I need to get my debts (credit cards) paid off, then my car then my house. I really need to concentrate on both increasing my income and decreasing my spending.

3) College. I've decided to go back to college in the hopes of becoming a naturopathic physician. I took one chemistry course this summer just to get my feet wet (it's been 20 years since I was in college) and I'm realizing that this learning stuff takes ALOT of effort. Since I'm paying for it, I need to do as well as I can. Good news...I got a scholarship that will pay for my next quarter of college

4) My business. This is where my income comes from so I need to give my clients the best possible work that I can. I plan on selling this business when I attend medical school so I can use the money to support myself while I'm in school so I won't have to work.

The things I will need to cut down or cut out include travel (costs a lot of money and directly conflicts with priority #2), volunteering (I volunteer about 20 hours a week with various causes; this time would be better spent on priority 1, 2, 3, and 4), writing and websites (my hobbies that, while they bring in some income, are very time/labor intensive).

Well now that I've vented I better get back to studying for my chemistry final

Long time no post. It's been a weird few weeks. Decided not to get divorced. Decided to go to medical school. Believe Im in the throes of a midlife crisis...may need to call Oprah or Dr Phil but for the moment I need to figure out how to a. pay off my debts ASAP, b. pay for medical school (I dont want loans that I will be paying off forever) and c. feel centered and grounded in my life. Someone pass the Prozac.

1) $ Spent--$42.27 Walmart (mostly office supplies); $38.77 Gas (ouch!); $53.88 Groceries

2) Expenses Cut--bought only the things that were on my shopping list

3) $ Earned--$0

4) $ in Savings--$3

5) $ for Credit Card Payoff--$0

6) Giving--nothing

7) Increase Financial Awareness--back to the library for more books on financial topics

1) $ Spent--$0

2) Expenses Cut--wanted to go shopping but didn't guess that saved me at least some money

3) $ Earned--$8 rebate check

4) $ in Savings--$0

5) $ for Credit Card Payoff--$0

6) Giving--nothing

7) Increase Financial Awareness--read Dollar Stretcher website

Over the last few days I have really been in a cleaning/organizing mood. Each day I pick a room to tackle (the size of the room depends on how much work I have scheduled for the day--slow work day=bigger or more complicated room such as the kitchen, busy work day=closet or smaller less complicated room like the guest room).

Yesterday I cleaned my bathroom. Scrubbed it from top to bottom, took everything out of the medicine cabinet and tossed the old, outdated medicines, cruddy loking ointments, etc. Cleaned out the linen closet and refolded all of the towels, tossed the raggedy towels into the workshop bin, and tossed a whole tray of old makeup (for some reason I hate to throw away old makeup when I buy new stuff so the old stuff, which I never wear again, just takes up residence under the sink).

Next I made a list of everything that needed replacing (cold medicine which was three years out of date, a flapper valve for the toilet tank because it drips incessantly) as well as things that need to be stocked to carry this room through the next six months (toilet paper, shampoo, toothpaste, etc).

I do this to each room about every six months so that I never run out of things. I will keep an eye on the list I made so when shampoo comes on sale I will stock up, and also when floss goes on sale I will know that I DONT need it. Unfortunately I'm tempted to buy stuff when it is on sale regardless of whether I need it or not. I have eight containers of dental floss which I really didn't know I had...guess there was a sale some time back and I got carried away.

1) $ Spent--$75.86 household supplies; $1689.80 bills (house payment, phone, cells, etc)

2) Expenses Cut--went through my house which I do about quarterly and made a list of all of the supplies (shampoo, toothbrushes, etc) that I need to stock up on. Went to the store and purchased the things on my list that were on sale. If I couldn't find the item on sale I didnt purchase it and will wait to get it when it comes on sale.

3) $ Earned--$2200--check from a client

4) $ in Savings--$5

5) $ for Credit Card Payoff--$300; paid off $317 credit card. Three more credit cards to go!

6) Giving--tithed $100 to religious organization

7) Increase Financial Awareness--really paid attention to the prices when I shopped today. Usually I just throuw what I need in the basket and not really compare prices; today I was comparing ounces vs. price, etc.

1) $ Spent--$36.42 gas; $27.01 Baskin Robbins for an ice cream cake

2) Expenses Cut--borrowed a friend's housr for my sister's party. Since I live a few hours away, I usually end up taking everyone to a restaurant in her town whenever we celebrate any occassion; this saved quite a bit over what it would have cost at a restaurant

3) $ Earned--$0

4) $ in Savings--$0

5) $ for Credit Card Payoff--$0

6) Giving--hosted a great party for my sister's baby shower

7) Increase Financial Awareness--nothing today

1) $ Spent--$85.93 at Walmart, mostly stuff for my sister's baby shower; $81.11 grocery store, again mostly food for my sister's baby shower

2) Expenses Cut--bought all of the food for my sister's baby shower which I will prepare instead of having the event catered so that saved a lot of money

3) $ Earned--$0

4) $ in Savings--$0

5) $ for Credit Card Payoff--$0

6) Giving--volunteered at a kids safety day today

7) Increase Financial Awareness--watched Robert Kiyosaki's "Rich Dad's Guide to Wealth" on TV this evening. Realized that my balance sheet is way out of balance--it's heavy on the expenses and liabilities and light on the income and assets sections

1) $ Spent--$18.95 car oil change; $16.00 mail Ebay items; $21.77 paid off one credit card

2) Expenses Cut--used a coupon to get a better price on the oil change; got rain checks for a couple of items that were on a very good sale at KMart but were out of stock.

3) $ Earned--$32 from an EBay sale

4) $ in Savings--$0

5) $ for Credit Card Payoff--$0

6) Giving--nothing today

7) Increase Financial Awareness--went to the library ans checked out an armload of books on saving money, earning extra money and basic personal finance principles

Financial Update 6/1/06

1) $ Spent--$14.37 dinner out for me and the hubby on the way back from work. Breakfast and lunch were covered by the client so hubby and I used the Entertainment Book 'buy one get one free' coupon and had a great Chinese dinner.

2) Expenses Cut--nothing in particular, however when doing laundry this evening I used half the recommended detergent as usual and half a dryer sheet per load as usual and washed two medium sized loads of laundry then dried them together because I dont like to waste the energy a dryer uses for a little load of laundry.

3) $ Earned--$0 but did get in some networking with a couple of possible new clients

4) $ in Savings--$5

5) $ for Credit Card Payoff--$10

6) Giving--nothing today

7) Increase Financial Awareness--read Bottom Line Secrets website and a bundle of emails from a variety of money saving/budgeting listserves

Financial Update 5/31/06

1) $ Spent--$21 gas; $25 dinner (this will be covered by per diem since I am working out of town); $2.25 latte (my weakness)

2) Expenses Cut--none really but did get cases of free stuff today. I do a lot of public safety/medical events during the summer so saved one client hundreds of dollars by ordering from the WA State Dept of Printing (everything in their general store is free!) and got cases of handouts/stickers/videos delivered today. Also remembering to use my cell phone for long distance calls instead of the office phone.

3) $ Earned--$50 monthly payment from one client who I do about an hour's worth of work for each month.

4) $ in Savings--$0 no time to go to the bank today. Will take some money from today's earnings and put in the bank tomorrow.

5) $ for Credit Card Payoff--$0 ditto as above. Did call the credit cards (4) that I owe on to get the exact payoff for each.

6) Giving--nothing specific today; talked to a friend who will be in Seattle for surgery this week and told her I would drive her home (3 hours) afterwards. Also helped her with her website. Also got her to give my sister a part time job.

7) Increase Financial Awareness--browsing the web this evening in my hotel...lots of great financial websites with good money saving info. Reading everyone's blogs here as well which is HIGHLY informative. Thanx all for the great blogs!

1) $ Spent--$0

2) Expenses Cut--didn't make any long distance calls from the office phone. Realized these calls were uping my phone bill each month so made today's long distance calls from my cell phone while out and about (long distance calls are included in my cell plan minutes).

3) $ Earned--$150 from a client (nice suprise in the mail today)

4) $ in Savings--66 cents (left over change)

5) $ to pay off credit card--$0

6) Giving--still waiting to give away landscaping rocks, hopefully that will happen today or tommorrow. While not a "giving" thing, may have saved someone's life today. Hubby and I were in massive amount of freeway traffic in Seattle. Hubby said "did you see that car on the side of the freeway...the driver was slumped over the wheel." After a couple of minutes of debate over whether he was sleeping, ill or passed out we called 911 to have a welfare check done. By the time we got to north Seattle the news broadcast said traffic was slowing due to a medical response at that location. Amazing, you'd think that with so many people driving by someone would have called before us but they didn't. Kudos to hubby for being so aware

7) Increase Financial Awareness--continued to read 'The Amazing Laws of Prosperity' also listened to an old (1997) broadcast from Amy Daczyczn found on the about.com site under her name. Still informative after all these years.

1) $ Spent--$0 stayed home all day

2) Expenses cut--I got a credit card bill on Friday that was billing me for the annual fee. I called the company, talked to a supervisor and they waived the $59 annual fee...it only took like three minutes to save $59 wow!

3) $ Earned--$0 but sent a freelance article to a publisher that occassionally buys my articles. Hope this is one he decides to buy.

4) $ Saved--$1.50 again, pitiful, but that is just change I found laying around the house.

5) $ for Credit Card Payoff--$10

6) Giving--sent a batch of cookies to the crew at a casino hubby used to work at.

7) Raise Financial Awareness--read the new issue of the Dollar Stretcher for some great ideas. Hope to read one chapter in 'The Dynamic Laws of Prosperity' tonight.

Financial Update 5/28/06

1) $ Spent--0 stayed home and didn't spend any money or use any gas.

2) Expenses Cut--$116.90/year Cancelled webhosting for two websites that I didn't have time for. They have sat with no activity for over a year so at least this way I get to save the money and not feel bad for not getting around to updating them.

3) $ Earned--0 however put two leather jackets on EBay...now Im hoping for the best.

4) $ in Savings--$2.50 pitiful I know but I want the bulk of my excess money to go towards paying of the credit cards.

5) $ for Credit Card Payoff--$5 also pitiful but at least it's something.

6) Giving--posted (literally) a ton of landscaping rocks on local Freecycle web and had a half dozen email already. They should be gone in a few days so I can re-landscape that part of my yard.

7) Increase Financial Awareness--read "Dollar Stretch" site for some good ideas, put the book "I'm Not Buying It--My Year Without Shopping" on hold at the local library (I'm number 36 in line...I guess we all want to save money by not buying the book!). Also found a new source of financial info at http://finance.yahoo.com with some interesting articles.

~~whew! whatta day~~

In an effort to get better organized financially, I will use this space to report daily on seven key financial areas. I hope this way I will be more accountable to myself with my finances because all of you are watching!

The areas I will track are:
1) How much I spent
2) Ways I cut expenses
3) Way I (attempted) to earn more money
4) How much was put towards savings
5) How much was put towards credit card payoff
6) How much/what I gave away or donated (since giving is as important as receiving)
7) What I did to increase my financial awareness and education

Wish me luck--I want to finally (and hopefully quickly) be debt free and have the ability to pay cash for the things I want instead of using credit or a payment plan.

Yesterday hubby and I went to a baby shower for our friend's daughter-in- law. Although the gift set me back over $75 it was a once in a lifetime experience because the guest of honor is a famous singer (we're talking sold out concerts, on TV, Mariah Carey soul diva type famous) in the Philipines so it was an honor just to get to attend. BTW dinner and entertainment was included so I guess it was a very good deal overall. Today I spent the entire day writing a bunch of reports for work so didn't spend at all today. Tomorrow need to get gas. I can remember when $10 would fill the tank, now it's more like $40

This has been one of the busiest weeks on record for me.

We fitted 525 elementary school kids with bicycle helmets today. Now I can look at a kid from 20 feet away and automatically know their head size

It's been a crazy busy week so far. Meetings every day (and most of them are FAR so I've been using a lot of gas). Work everywhere and lots to catch up on but I miss reading everyones blogs the most. Anyway, whenever work gets crazy I seem to spend a lot more money (more travel expenses, more eating out expenses, etc.). I'll get back on schedule next week and (hopefully) resume my miserly ways...

OK, first for the spending. Went to Walmart (bad, that store makes me spend a lot of money), but only bought the things on my list (good, I passed up the clearance racks). Cooked a gourmet meal at home (good...really good actually it was spinach and ricotta stuffed chicken breasts) but I needed to buy ricotta and went to Albertsons instead of the military commissary which is further away (bad...the commissary is REALLY cheap when it comes to most items; Albertsons isn't). Thoroughly cleaned the inside of my car (good, it needed it) then drove it through the car wash (bad...it costs $8. However, by the time I spend a couple of hours washing it myself I usually wished I would have spent the $8).

As for earning, I sold one of my Coach purses on Ebay (for about a third of what it originally cost) but got paid immediatly so mailed it off to the buyer today.

And my preparedness project. I take preparedness pretty seriously. Lots of extra water and food. Alternative heating, cooking, and sanitation options, etc. Today after cleaning out the car I updated all of my preparedness stuff that is kept in the car. This includes new maps of our area/state (the others were ancient), made sure I had cash stashed in the car for emergencies, backed up all of my computer files on a jump drive and put this in the car. Rotated the water and food that is in the car for emergencies. Went through my tool bag and made sure all of the tools were still there and the flashlight had good batteries in it. Reviewed the contents of my emergency bag (this contains a spare set of clothes, toiletries, survival supplies, etc). Everything was in order and I didnt have to spend too much on replacement stuff so overall it was a pretty good day!

And now for some random musings...

Great Books:
--'The Success Principles' (Jack Canfield)
--'Living the Simple Life' (Elaine St James)
--'The Magic of Thinking Big' (David Schwartz)
--'Ask and It Is Given' (Esther and Jerry Hicks)
--'The Dynamic Laws of Prosperity' (Catherine Ponder)

Most Versatile Food: plain yogurt
With plain yogurt you can...add it to granola for dessert or breakfast, mix it with berries for dessert, mix it with fruit in a blender and make a smoothies, drain it through coffee filters in a strainer and use the resulting "cheese" in place of sour cream on baked potatoes, on crackers, as a base for dips, mix it with garlic and dill for a simple tzatziki sauce, and use it as a sandwhich spread.

Most important business skills:
--positive attitude
--public speaking ability
--professional appearance
--good manners
--basic computer skills
--continual study in your area of specialization
--ability to see the big picture
--ability to grasp basic financial principles
--ability to get things done on time and under budget

Most useful websites:
www.download.com
www.stretcher.com
www.craigslist.com
www.boardroom.com

My Personal Financial Goals:
--always have $100 in my wallet
--have no credit card debt
--pay off my house
--have $50,000 in savings
--have $1,000,000 in liquid assests when I retire
--pay cash for a BMW
--have enough passive income each month to cover my basic living expenses

Boy...read through these last few days of blogs and it certainly appears the planets aren't aligning correctly. Hopefully after the full moon on Saturday, all will be well again.

Expenses today: $1.50 for hot chocolate on the way to a meeting this morning; $986 for the cell phone bill. Told the almost ex-friend that he better pay up for the cell bill but Im not holding my breath. Of course after I called to cancel the phone and paid off the bill, the guy on the other end of the line said "now that the bill is paid up are you sure you don't want us to reactivate the phone?" ya gotta be kidding.

Good stuff: nice catered lunch at a meeting, two hour ride to the meeting with a client (so I didnt have to use my gas), a check came from one credit card company--I will use this to consolidate two smaller bills onto this card with a lower interest rate then pay it off next month.

Hoping for a better day tomorrow...

OK...let's see...I can barely remember what all happened today but I know it wasn't good.

Started off having to unravel the mess the hackers did to my webhost's server.

A pretty huge deal for one of my clients that looked like a sure thing basically disintegrated before our eyes.

Another client needed to put together a document for me ASAP and has been promising it for four days. He swore it would be done today. Then he called at noon and said one of his employees injured himself so he spent the rest of the day in the ER with the guy.

Let a friend use my credit to get a cell phone (its in my name but he pays the bill) and last month's bill just came and it is $785 (for ONE MONTH)...friend recently lost his job, has no money and probably not a prayer to pay this bill so guess who gets to pay. BTW I cancelled the cellphone--thats a $200 cancellation fee (note to self and anyone else consideing such an idiotic thing...don't co-sign, dont "help people out" with financial things. Obviously if they have such crappy credit they cant qualify there is probably a pretty good reason why they are in that situation; no use messing up your own financial situation as well).

Wanted to deliver a bunch of stuff tomorrow to an office which is two hours away. Luckily I am riding with a client so it will save my gas, unluckily she insisits on driving her 'Vette which the stuff wont fit in and doesnt want to drive her other car which (BTW) gets better gas mileage than the Vette. Vette is a convertible, I hope it rains tomorrow.

An argument with the hubby pretty much capped off my day.

Total expenditure for today: $3.40 for a Starbucks Green Tea Frappucino...I figured I deserved it.

Some idiot hacked the server that hosts most of my websites. I didnt loose any money but I did loose hours this morning repairing the damage. ggrrrrrr
Maybe someone can come up with a virus that attacks the computer that hacks someone else's system??

It's been a good money day today. The lady came for the bunkbed set and paid me $145 (my asking price, she didnt even quibble about it). Last night she said she wanted the set and would be here ASAP then didnt show or call. Happy that she made it today.

Didn't spend any money at all today (whoohooo) and actually listed a couple of more items on EBay (thanx to the bloggers who noted the ten cent inclusion special on eBay otherwise I never would have known about it!). Even went to the mall because Macys was having a "great" sale and I have money to spend on a GC but bought nothing. I think reading all of these blogs is making me subconsciously unable to spend anymore...not a bad thing.

Now, how to save $3000... I run the DUI Impact Panels for our county. Each month we get about 150 people busted for DUI. The average cost for a DUI (court fees, insurance increase, alcohol counseling program, restitution, etc) runs about $3000+. Moral of the story, don't drink and drive and you will save a bundle of money.

p.s. By the time offenders have aquired two or three DUIs they could have bought (depending on the situation) a brand new car or even a small house with all of the expenses they have incurred.

~~~hopping off soapbox now~~~