MsSuperSaver's Personal Finance Blog

This has been a great Monday. Hit the ground running at 6:30am and got tons of computer work done before running to a clients office.

Today I didnt spend any money at all. Lunch consisted of leftovers instead of a run through the drive through so that saved us money. Also spent an hour pulling weeds in the rose bed (yucky but good for exercie, good for fresh air and Im not having to pay anyone to do it for me--although I almost relented when this huge centipede came charging at me :P)

As far as earning money, I have an ad in a local newspaper ($3 for 3 days of listing) for a bunkbed set. A lady just called and has to have this set so she will be over to pick it up later Next up I will put an ad in the paper for a sleeper sofa and dining table that has been residing in the garage for a few years.

Later today I will put ads for some of my old Coach purses on EBay. EBay is quite the eye opener for the bottom line on consumer spending. Im sure if there was a sign next to the Coach and Kate Spade purses in the department store saying what the purse would be worth after it has been used people wouldn't be so quick to shell out the big bucks for these basically useless ego-propper-uppers.

Anyway, I'm trying to talk the hubby into letting me sell the huge chest freezer that also resides in the garage but he won't hear of it. All of this stuff was useful when the kids were small but now that they have moved out, a lot of it is unnecessary for just the two of us. If I had my way I would live in an RV (hubby nixed that idea as well, though).

Happy savings

Today went pretty well. Cooked a great brunch then worked in the yard all day. I went to Walmart for bark dust and those sunny looking little flowers (Pansys I think) for the yard. Of course now that I've found this site Im analyzing everything I do for ways to save more money. Lesson learned--plan ahead. If I would have borrowed a truck I could have went to the landscapers supply place and bought lots more bark for what I paid at Walmart for six bags of the stuff. Also, the flowers are cute and add instant color to the flowerbeds but if I would have planned ahead a few months ago I could have grown them from seed and saved $$.

As for my goals, paid cash for everything today (Goal 1--Pay cash for everything except bills that need to be mailed), added $5 to my savings jar (Goal 2--Pay off the $2100 credit card this month), and didnt go grocery shopping today (Goal 3--make do with what I have and don't shop so much. Since I didnt go grocery shoping I will be forced to use up the older food in the fridge before I buy more).

Thanx to all who make this such a great blogsite!

OK...after reading everyone's blogs last night until the wee hours of the morning, I woke up truly inspired. Everyone here is so positive (and wise!). It's great to find a like-minded community of people who are doing their best to save money and not trying to out-do everyone else by spending as much as possible. Yeaaaa for all of you!

Money saving tasks so far this morning: did laundry (full loads, half the recommended amount of soap and using only half a dryer sheet per load); went through the Sunday paper with a fine-toothed comb and wrote down all of the sale items I may buy this week as well as cut coupons for things I usually buy (I haven't done this since college. Does anyone else get a rush when they find an item they use on sale and then find a $2 off coupon for said item in the next section? I may not need caffeine this morning !).

I'm going to start recording all of the great free/bargain things that come to me. I read somewhere that when you are open to it, the Universe will shower you with lots of great stuff that you don't even ask for. Last month I wrote down these items for a week and they included: a new client, a free lunch at a restaurant grand opening, a friend treated me to lunch and a client gave me a brand new laptop as a bonus--even the hubby was speechless over that. I can't wait to see what this week brings!

My financial goal for this month is to pay off a credit card which has a balance of $2136.71. Amount of money I have for this goal so far--$10. Ouch!

Have a great Sunday morning everyone

Since my goal for May is to pay cash for all of my purchases in addition to saving money in general, here's a quick update on what has happened so far this month...
May 1. Went to Walmart with my list but only had $30 in my wallet. Usually I would buy everything on my list plus some extras and just charge everything. Today I prioritized my list and only bought the stuff of highest priority, stopping when I ran out of cash. I left the other items to be purchased when I had more cash with me. Lesson learned--using a cash only system saves a lot of money.
May 2. Ate all of our meals at home today. Actually we have been doing this for a few months. For years we literally ate out at a restaurant every day, often more than one meal. Then one day a few months ago hubby and I just stopped eating out. It's expensive (dinner for two is easily $20 to $40 a pop!), the portions are HUGE, and the healthfulness of the food is questionable. Lesson learned--cooking at home saves lots of money, portions are more reasonable, and the quality of the food is better, not to mention the benefit of left-overs which can be used for another meal.
May 3. Went to the mall. Macy's is my favorite store...everyone knows this which is why I had in my posession a $350 gift card (a birthday gift from friends). I may have money to burn since it isn't coming out of my pocket but that's not good enough. The stuff I buy needs to be 50% off regluar price plus an additional 30%-50% off of that. Wasn't a very good sale day so I bought a couple of deeply discounted items and saved the rest for later. Lesson learned--everything goes on sale eventually...with a little patience I can save lots!
May 4. Friends came over and I showed them how to purchase their airline tickets online. The most amazing part is that this family of eleven, only three of whom work and make minimum wage, and who have lived in the US for less than a decade, was able to pay cash for five of them to return to their home country for vacation...that's $8,500 just for airline tickets plus they will take more savings to pay for their other travel expenses. Lesson learned--saving an incredible amount of money is possible, even on the smallest of wages.
May 5. Stayed home all day. Didn't have to work so stayed home, cleaned the house, mowed the yard, cooked a great lunch and dinner and checked up on my eBay auction. Lesson learned--staying home whenever possible saves gas, gives me time to do tasks I would otherwise hire out (house cleaning, yard work) and even lets me dabble in alternative income strategies such as eBay. Cool
May 6. Went to the Children's Festival in a town an hour away. I staffed a booth there for one of my clients, got lots of freebies from the other booths and even the gas to get there was paid for by the client. Lesson learned--take advantage of free events in the community, group your errands so that you can get things done while on the way to your final destination, and take advantage of free/compensated stuff from your clients/employer.

Wow...Ive never actually "blogged" before so this is a first for me. I came upon this site through links from a half dozen other sites, but when I read through other's blogs, I figured this is where I belong Super savers just like me do exist! My challenge for the month of May is to pay cash only (except for bills which I will pay with a check) for everthing I buy. So far so good. In just a few days I have realized that paying cash for my wants and needs and only using the cash I have with me saves me a WHOLE LOTTA MONEY! Estimated saving so far this month--$150 approximately.