imafirecracker's Journal

If we are going to stay in our house over the winter, we need to buy wood pellets. The sooner the better since the energy market will go through the roof this season.
The problem is, we aren't sure we're going to stay. We can't make up our minds. It will probably be best to stay and finish all the renovations on the house. On the other hand, I've been pulling 5 hour commutes a day for the last few weeks since school started. Its ridiculous how much time I waste on the commuter bus. I feel like my life is slipping away when I'm stuck in traffic just reading a novel or the paper.

I think I'll just buy 2 tons to be on the safe side. If we decide to sell, we can market that they'll get the pellets with the house, I guess.

Hubby stayed home from work yesterday and made a nice roast for dinner. He makes the best gravy. Delicious! Then we watched Lost and I cleaned the kitchen since he spent 3 hours cooking.

I have tomorrow off. I think I'll go to the library and work on the stair banister. I need to do a final sanding, cleaning and then stain and polyurethane. I've been meaning to do this for a few months and I'll finally have a day off for it!

I haven't sold anymore books online. September has been pretty slow so far. I listed one more yesterday, but only for around two dollars.

I'm hoping the saving books I'll get at the library tomorrow will inspire me to post (and conserve) more!

I'm off to the post office after this. I sold it for $6, and had originally bought it for college. It was just collecting dust! It always perks me up when I make a sale.

We've been looking at houses and very slowly making progress on the house. I did a very thorough job painting our stairs and original trim. There was a lot of prep work with filling nail holes, scraping paint and sanding, but its finally done! This weekend I want to finish sanding the banister and then I'll stain and polyurethane the hell out of it to make it shine.

I was out of padded envelopes for my half.com sales, so I made myself walk to Staples (not close by) during my lunch break at work yesterday. Otherwise, I would have had to use the car to drive to the one near my house. I took a long way back too, and got a lot of exercise. I was proud of myself!

Made sloppy Joe's with buy 1 get 1 free ground turkey (and kidney beans as filler) while my DH worked an hour of overtime. Also cleaned every single dirty dish in the kitchen. I was happy to get it done.

Tonight will be laundry night. DH keeps complaining that we don't have a dryer and that he wants to buy one so that he has clothes to wear. I line dry in the summer (which hasn't been a lot lately since I can only hang out on the weekends and its been raining a lot lately) or on racks in the winter. In our northern climate, it can take a few days for clothes to dry in the winter so it seems like the racks are permanently set up in the guest room. Since we put a new furnace in this year. I'm hoping that will help the clothes dry faster.
Anyway, I'll do a bit of laundry and some ironing tonight to appease him.

His company is having a team building event today: apple picking. Hopefully he'll come home with enough for me to make a pie with.

This weekend we're going to an ice cream party - everyone brings a pint. We'll gorge ourselves and get to try new kinds for $4.

It's restaurant week and I was able to go with some co-workers to an excellent restaurant. I know I wouldn't have ever gone except for the discounted rate (and reservation) today. So I went and thoroughly enjoyed myself.
Since I may not work in the city anymore, I figured I better enjoy it while I can and then not feel guilty later on, and want to spend money going into the city.

Spent $32 on groceries this week which will last us awhile.
We'll work on the house again this weekend. We replaced a rotting fence last weekend. Hopefully we'll get the house finished by this year so we can sell it and reap the profits. I'd really like to use the extra money to pay all debt off - car loan and student loans. We don't have any credit card debt: I hate credit cards. We'll see. We'll just keep plugging along and see how far we get.

I've sold 2 books and a CD on half.com in the last 2 weeks. Sold another today which means I have to go to the post office on dreaded Saturday - it's always crowded! Oh well, money is money...

I have written 2 extremely long posts on here in the past few weeks and they weren't posted for whatever reason. When I hit the Add Entry button - they vanish!
Here's to hoping this works...


Anyway, things have been very good but stressful for us. We are working on selling our house to buy a bigger house with a lot of land up north. In order to do this, we'll need to finish the renovations on our current house and save every cent we can in the next few months. We bought a slightly used stainless steel stove from a co-worker this weekend for $150. It's very new, even has a warming drawer which I'll be a little loathe to give up when we move. But I figure if I'm drooling over it then prospective buyers will too.
We also got the use of his trailer over the weekend, which saved us from having to rent one at Home Depot. I've vowed to work on the house every single day until we list it on the market. While I can't do too much after work - every bit helps! Tonight I'll fill the nailholes that we made from installing new trim in the kitchen over the weekend. I t should go fast, and the next night I'll sand them down and prime.

Going grocery shopping after work tonight. I made a careful list and anticipate spending $35 which includes 4 packages of granola bars, cat food and light bulbs.

We went paddling yesterday with our boat. The only cost was gas for driving to the pond, which wasn't too bad. We power our boat ourselves and didn't have to pay to get to the pond. It was the first time we went swimming this summer so we really enjoyed it.

It's been awhile since I posted. I actually wrote an extremely long post last week but it was lost somehow when I hit the Add Entry button.

The bad news is: we have less money right now than we have in about 3 years. I didn't think we'd make it this low but it was a combination of things that brought us down.
Husband is working every OT hour he can get. He's had 3 this week and is working another tonight.

I got my first freelance job today which should cover the cost of the class I had to take for it. I'm so happy !! I didn't think I would get that particular job, I was first told I couldn't due to payment reasons and it came through in the end. Ask and wait and ye shall receive.

We've spent under $35 on groceries for the last 2 weeks which is excellent. I'd like to use the extra as principal payments on many loans we have, but DH convinced me to use it for building our savings back up.

We're going to a company-related BBQ on Saturday. We'll bring the potato salad. I think we end up eating more than we bring price-wise, so these are frugal and fun.

I sold a few more books and listed 4 more on half.com. One book of poetry that I bought for fifty cents years ago turns out to be out of print and is worth $35!! I keep checking every few hours hoping that someone will buy it. That would be awesome.

Ok, off to work some more on my freelance gig.

The normal total for groceries today was $78, but we only spent 37 due to store sales and coupons. I bought the Sunday newspaper last week and used 8 coupons from it! It ended up paying for itself.
I left a message with the newspaper to see how much Sunday delivery would be. It's got to be better than the $2.50 I spent last week.

Also went to BJs yesterday. Bought a second air conditioner since ours is in the room we have our sick kitty in. His second surgery didn't work - we're experimenting with other antibiotics now. It's not looking good.
So we bought an AC for our bedroom which we're only running at night because it doesn't shut itself off after it hits a certain temperature.

Went to Victoria's Secret since they were having a 75% sale, but it was pretty well picked over. Oh well, I didn't absolutely need anything anyway.

The lead I had on a freelance job didn't pan out. I'm very very bummed. I was planning on that making a big difference in our lives. Back to the grindstone I guess.

I'll log off now. Its pretty hot out and the computer just adds to the heat.

After even more aggravation than I vented about on this site, we received $200 off our furnace installation. It's ridiculous what they've put us through and its not even done yet!

Oh well, even though it was stressful it was worth $200 in cash.

Tonight my sister comes over and we'll try to make the baseball game. It's a college team, so I don't think it should be too expensive. Frozen pizzas if not, and then maybe a trip to the mall. She loves the mall by my house.

I made homemade pizza last night. I made the dough from scratch with my bread machine. It took way too long though - I need to find a new recipe.

Also, the master mixes article on The Dollar Stretcher's website is awesome! I just printed it out. I'm definitely going to make a batch.

I bought the father's day present yesterday and my sister's birthday present during my lunch break yesterday. $20 earrings, from her favorite store which isn't near her house. She actually hangs their bags on her wall because they're so beautiful.

Tonight will be a cleaning extravaganza to get ready for her and her friend's visit. It's mostly cleaning up papers in the office and changing sheets.

Since DH was home yesterday, I was treated to a tortellini dinner with wine and cheesecake for dessert. It was wonderful to walk in the door and have everything prepared (which is what I've been doing for him, but I digress).

We're both having salad for lunch today. Tonight will be homemade pizza, using up the leftover pasta sauce as pizza sauce. I also bought the new Sargento blended cheese for this, for which I have rebate. Now I just have to find the rebate form!

The furnace is finally going in today. They were only two hours late - thank you very much. And then they tell us it will take them 2 days to do the job! No one said anything about 2 days until it was too late. They just assume we can stay home to watch our house. GGrr....I'm going to ask for some kind of financial retribution. We have lost so much work time because of this.

Made a frittata with frozen veggies and some discounted cheese. Beans on the side that I bought on sale for one dollar.
Lunch is grapes, pretzels, and a nectarine.

Need to go shopping for my sister's birthday present today. I'll see what I come up with. She's coming to visit with a friend later this week.

We had coupons for 20% off an entire purchase at Filenes AND they were having great clearance sales. We bought a lot of much needed as well as luxury items (such as a glass pitcher for serving guests).

Our lawn mower also died today so we bought a new one at Sears.

Gave away the pavers to someone on Freecycle today. The sellers of our house left them, and we'd already givenhalf to a neighbor. Now we can walk behind our house and have a clean slate for our new patio!

Today was supposed to be a good day - boy did that change quickly! We both took the day off from work because we had to bring our cat to the vet for his next-to-last check up and needed to be home because our new furnace was to be installed.

I went to the vet - surprise, his wound opened up again and he needs another surgery. That will happen tomorrow. My poor kitty has gone through enough!

Then, a half hour AFTER the installers were to arrive, they called to cancel. We were fuming - my husband had to take the day off unpaid for this. We're still trying to sort it out but it just irks me immensely when people don't show up when they say they will. They could have called last night to warn us. GGRrr.....

So, I just listed 9 more books on half.com . I know it's not nearly enough to cover the vet bills but I have to do something right now to make extra money. Wonders never cease.

I hope you guys are having a better day! Sorry to vent...

I primed the door last night and made the soup. Things are really rolling along...

Tomorrow is our anniversary and we are splurging on ourselves. We're helping teach a class in the morning, and then it's out for dinner at a fancy restaurant.

On Sunday, we're getting a couples massage followed by a manicure for me and a haircut for him. I've never had a massage before so I'm VERY much looking forward to it.

It will be 80 degress today, which means I'll finally take lunch break and go outside. I'm so sick of working through my lunch for this company.

We received the molds in the mail yesterday for concrete pavers. We're going to make them from scratch and create a patio. The previous owners of our house bought ugly pavers that we've given (mostly) away. The gravel base is already there - it's just waiting for some attention. Hopefully we'll tackle this project next weekend if the weather is nice. If we buy the concrete in shifts during week, then we can get started Saturday morning making the pavers. So excited!!!

I've decided to make a list each week of one chore that I'll accomplish each workday/weekday. I work M-F, and it seems like my weekend is never long enough because I'm doing chores all weekend long. I commute 4 hours a day - so that's where most of my time goes.

This week:

paint guest bedroom door
sort through 1 box of books, to throw away and post on half.com
make my italian soup from scratch.
grocery shopping
revise my resume
put clothes away

We're having the soup tonight. I spent 1/2 hour chopping up vegetables for it last night. I went through half of the books last night and put most of the clothes away. Grocery shopping is done - I feel so accomplished! Now I don't have to (partially) dread the weekend.

I figured out this morning that if we pay $130 a month for the Home Depot card, we'll have it paid off by the time the no payments no interest time is up. That should be a piece of cake. Tonight I'm going to set up automatic transfers on my bank's website so I won't have to think about it.

Got a surprise free pizza lunch at work yesterday - so that saved me a little cash.
Yet another house is for sale in my neighborhood. So far 6 houses have sold since we moved in three years ago! I don't know what's going on, but we're going to jump on that bandwagon.

The vet should call today with my kitty's test results. I called last night to followu up and was told the results had just come in but my doctor wasn't there. Fingers crossed - it could mean another surgery for my lovey dovey

So, we bought a new furnace. It had to be done what with the New England winters and our highly ineffecient boiler. It was oil and someone converted it to gas somewhat illegally. Another $6000 in debt!

We got a great deal with Sears and we don't have to pay for it for one year. We're still going to be making payments on it, but when we sell the house next year our profits will allow us to just pay it off. Plus we bought a maintenance program with it that's transferable to new owners which will be a major selling point for buyers.

Went to Staples last night for padded envelopes, and have the package all set. Just need to run to the post office during my lunch break.
Made a frozen pizza for dinner because it was quick. We didn't have much time between getting home and Staples before Lost was on.

For 80 cents - nothing to talk about. Oh well, it's a teeny step forward to getting rid of clutter.

That means I have to go to Staples tonight to buy padded envelopes, I had to buy one from the post office last time which was not worth it.

DH is working lots of OT this week - thank god.

I've been making all the meals, with enough leftover for lunches all week. We haven't eaten out at all for a weeks. I'm very proud of us!

I rolled change last night. We have $37.50 to deposit in the local bank.

Since it has been raining for almost a week straight, I haven't been able to plant my seeds outside. I'll start the lettuce tonight and leave it in the sunroom. I'm missing too much growing time!

An a much larger life-changing note, we've pretty much decided to sell out house and move north. The only question is when. We need to finish many many details on the house before we sell to get the maximum return on our investment. I need to get my business running too before we leave so we don't know when this may happen. Maybe in a year or so. For now, we're trying to make and save as much money as possible to clear out all debt in order to start fresh in a new house and a new state. I'm excited!

Aside from the rain, this weekend was excellent.

I went alone grocery shopping - with my new car - and only spent $35! My goal is $50. I used several coupons and combined one with a sale. One coupon I used was from this site, for a free pack of Celestial Seasonings tea.

I got my car inspected and several other errands done. It's so nice to have a mental and house spring cleaning!
Tonight's agenda is to finish reorganizing the office. I'm about 1/3 of the way through.

My sister called, she asked me to list her textbooks on half.com for her. She just finished her first year in college, and was offered pitiful rates for used books. For example, she paid $76 for one pysch book and the bookstore offered her $6 for it! For $6, we'll risk waiting for half.com. I still have some of my textbooks too, I'll list them tonight. I currently have 14 books listed, and want to add more. I don't feel right about offering books that have detriments, which is why I only have 14. Perhaps I'll put them out at the yard sale next week.

Also, I convinced my husband to put two garden chairs out at the yard sale. I hate them, they're ugly - he made me buy them. We need something foldable to put away in the winter - hehe, that's how I convinced him to sell them. We'll use the money to buy cheap wooden fold-able chairs. So sneaky!!

I finished the banking today, and am sending out all bills and mail on my way home after work. What a relief! Not only to get it done, but to get the clutter off my desk!

I'm planning a major reorganization of our office this weekend. We have so much paper on our desk, and empty file space that we could be using. I'll create file after file after file.

I registered the car this morning. Just have to get it inspected and then I can drive that baby around. I'm so happy I didn't have to borrow any money for this car. All cash baby!!

Hubby's out on business tonight so I plan to finish my final project for my class. Then I'll have the weekend to myself, and reorganizing.

I ended up buying a used car last weekend. I got a very good deal on it because I bought it from a rental car company.There are some cosmetic problems in the interior, but I don't care - especially when it saves me over $1,000 smackeroos!

I just need to register it now. Ahh..always fees and insurance to pay.

I made pasta last night. It's always my back-up dinner because I have the ingredients on hand, it's cheap and it's quick to make. Leftovers for lunch and a banana.

I'm in the process of consolidating my two checking accounts, which is taking a lot of time since I have direct deposit for all my bills, and I have to re-apply for them. Eventually, it will makes things easier to have only 1 checking account. Right now, I'm getting 2 statements every month.

The radishes I started by seed are doing very nicely. None of the tomatoes have come up, though. If I have time tonight, I'll transplant them outside.

Off to work again, I'm so sick of working!!

My next door neighbor said she'll be having a yard sale with a few other neighbors and offered me to join in.
I don't think I have anything, since we try to keep the clutter down and having been giving things away on Freecycle a lot, but I will look.

We did this last year, and I put an old TV out, which no one took. I think this year I'll put it out with a free sign on it, I just want it out of our basement! It's color, but the old crank-knob style.

I listed 8 books on half.com last night and made chili from pantry items. I didn't get around to packing for this weekend though - I'm LAZY!

We were doing so well - had several months of expenses saved up, plus cushion/emergency money.
It will all be wiped away this weekend when I buy a used car. I'm buying it out of state, so it will be a hassle getting it down here with insurance and registration, but it will be worth it because I'll save probably one thousand dollars by buying it up north.
My father is going with me, since he knows so much about cars and the dealers around the area.

It was such a blow to us though, when I deducted the amount we'll need to spend on this car from our bank. OUCH!!!!!!!!

I'll need to double up my efforts and really play hardball with our finances. I'm going to list some more books on half.com tonight, before Lost - can't miss the 2 hour season finale!
Also tonight, I'm going to mend a bunch of clothes in my pile of clothes that are temporarily out of commission. I have socks, a pair of pants and my jacket pocket to do. That will keep me busy during the commercials and increase the number of items we can keep using.

Has anyone else noticed that the Valupage is not running anymore? That bummed me out, I've used it a few times.

We took our kitty to the vet again, who removed his staples yesterday. One more visit and hopefully he'll be done. He's healing nicely.

I've been very frugal this week. Since I've been alone every night, I haven't really made dinner. A few nights in a row, I ate peanut butter cookies only. Ahh, the joy of being an adult.
Also didn't eat lunch out at all (as I sometimes do with co-workers)

Brought my library books back as they were overdue. Didn't pay my fine because it was 6:45 in the morning when I dropped them off.
My goals this weekend are to cash a check for a focus group we did, and take my husband out for breakfast with it. Since we'll be going to the bank, I'll roll our change and deposit it. Should be at least $40.
I want to finish painting the trim, and begin on the siding.

Chicken cacciatore tonight! I decided to make myself a real meal.

Well, the paving guy never showed up and never called to say he couldn't come - I HATE it when people do that.

I finally got over my sickness, and am now taking care of my sick cat. He had his surgery two weeks ago, and still needs lots of care and follow up visits. I'm taking him to get his staples out on Thursday.

It's the end of the quarter this week, so hubby will be working insane overtime. Since he'll be working so hard, I'm going to make myself work just as hard. Tonight, I'll do the grocery shopping (which we usually do together) and go to the library. I have clothes to put away, and lots of ironing to do.

For the rest of the week, my goals are to 1) clean the house 2) prime and paint the new trim we bought for the kitchen, and 3) prime and paint the siding we have for the front porch. We need to get that installed before the plants (including thorny roses) grow tall enough to hinder putting the siding up.
I'll have to work every night on this, but it will be worth it! I can set up sawhorses in the basement so he won't know about it. I'll surprise him at the end of the week!

We stained the fence last weekend to maintain it. The people we bought our house from put it up, but never sealed it so it was weathering pretty badly.
We made a vegetable bed from landscaping timber ourselves. Also bought some wall planters to hang on the fence for more greenery at the eye level, and transplanted my strawberries in them. They are doing quite well. I started seeds last weekend to for vegetables and flowers. Better late than never! The radishes are already sprouting.

We both knew it was going to happen, but that doesn't make things any easier! I don't have it as bad as he does now, though. He went back to work today, so at least he'll make some $ within a week's time (he doesn't get sick time right now)

Under $50 for groceries again this week. Very proud of myself. I even found a coupon online and doubled it with a sale - I love it when that happens!
We had leftovers last night - very frugal of us.

I have to plant my lettuce seeds this week inside if they are going to grow well outside this year!

We have another paving guy coming tonight to give us an estimate. Also - the new furniture is coming on Friday!

The first beautiful weekend we've had in 6 months, and we have a sicky in the house! He's missed 2 days of work, which will be unpaid.
Plus I bought medicine, plus kleenex and ice cream for his sore throat. It's true what they say - you can't put a price on your health - and this isn't even serious.

I walked to the bank today and deposited the 2 rebate checks. I felt very frugal as I walked home with a smile on my face.

We did have 2 free tickets to a museum for today, but because he's sick, I gave them to a friend of mine.

This afternoon, I raked up the yard and spread fertilizer around. Hopefully the grass will be better this season.

I currently don't have much of a parking space. I park halfway on our walkway and halfway on our street. We had a paving guy come today - $1800 for a tiny bit of space! Granted, he'd have to dig out some of the soil, but the curb can't be more than 3-4 inches high. I was not impressed. So...I'll keep calling around.

My cat's surgery was delayed again. The surgeon had a car accident, so she can't perform the surgery until this coming Friday. I can't wait for him to get better!

I also got a raise this week. I wasn't sure if I should expect one or not, but was happy to find out I did! I'm still debating on whether I should use it towards the new car, or partially to the mortgage, or if I should invest it in the house. We'll probably put our house up for sale within 1 year, and expect to make a great return on it.

Wahoo! I now have 2 rebate checks waiting to be deposited, plus the change I rolled. I couldn't go last Saturday, because I had a business conference to attend. And it was raining cats and dogs.

I decided to max out my 401(k) savings to 6% - the amount that my company matches up to. Even though I can't really afford the extra payments, I can't afford to miss out on free money. When I'm old and gray, I'll thank myself for allowing us to retire early. Ahh....a nice thought.
I'm also going to deposit enough for 2 more shares into a stock we own = $70.

We went car shopping this weekend. I abhor car shopping - I feel like I can't trust anyone. I was very interested in one car and even took it on a test drive. After refusing the salesman for a deposit, I went home to check the blue book price. He was asking $600 more than the book and it needed work!

I'll wait to look up north. There will be better deals up there. A few more weeks and then I'll drive up there for the weekend armed with a blue book and my checkbook. I refuse to take out a loan for this car.

$45 on groceries this weekend. (Patting myself on the back)

I rolled $15.50 worth of change the other night. Also received a $15 check for a rebate (for our new digital camera). That means I'll be making a trip to the bank! Our main bank is a bit of a drive away, so we opened an account in town that I could deposit and cash checks into easily, without having to drive very far.
I can actually walk to it, making it a very frugal trip all around.

There isn't much in there, only about $400, but it's nice to know it's stewing there making some interest. Even though I'm not pregant, I think I want to use it as a college fund for a baby. We had been planning on using it for a vacation home, but that's just too selfish.

We tore all the meat off the turkey last night and froze it, and threw the carcass away. Didn't have dinner because my husband didn't get home from work until 8, and we weren't in the mood for dinner. Well, he had a drumstick but not a real dinner.

Tomorrow is my cat's surgery. It will be over $1,000 but I don't care. He must be in so much pain, that I can't leave him like that just because I want to pay off my student loans.

We made a turkey for Easter. I bought it for $5 after Christmas when they were on super sale, and we're still eating it! We got 2 dinners each, and 2 lunches out of it so far. I think we'll get one more lunch and some soup broth too.
And, the cats don't mind a treat.

Tonight will be buffalo chicken that I bought on sale and with an in-store coupon - a name brand. I'll make some biscuits and mashed potatoes as well.

I did 3 loads of laundry this weekend, but managed to neglect the rest of the house. I'll clean the kitchen tonight. Even if I clean it in the morning, it seems to get dirty by the evening.

Also on tonight's agenda is rolling coins. You have to pay a counting fee everywhere near me, so I always roll them myself. And, I need to walk down the car excise bill to city hall to avoid paying for a stamp. Exercise really is free!

Happy Spring everyone! The snow is finally melting here!

Things have been crazy busy - at work and at home so I haven't had a chance to post.
I had family come for the weekend, so I entertained them. Plus I'm taking a class online, which requires some readings and homework.

We went shopping at an outlet center in Maine, on Sunday. I was soooo good. I only bought candy at a candy warehouse-type shop.
My family kept trying to get me to buy something, but I didn't want to spend the money plus I didn't see anything that I truly liked.

Our grocery bills have been down lately. I don't get home until 6:30, and my husband's been getting home at 7:30 lately due to overtime, so we're finding that we're not hungry enough for dinner. We'll occasionally snack, which is cheaper than paying for dinner (utilities and ingredients).

Went to the doctor yesterday, and told her we want to start trying for a baby. I have to take prenatal vitamins and start taking in more calcium - the expenses already begin for the baby is conceived!! I usually don't drink milk or orange juice because it's so expensive.

I did a major cleaning of the house before they came. It makes me love the house more, and not want to move. Plus, the neighbors beside us put their house up for sale. We won't have to listen to their 3 kids anymore! The noise really bothers me - it made me not want to be in my own house. All the neighborhood kids would come to their house to play and make noise. I won't miss that a bit.

I made my first sale on half.com. It went very smoothly, although I haven't received payment yet. I mailed in on Saturday morning. Maybe the buyer doesn't make the payment until they receive and it goes through ebay's system. I dunno.

Ok, back to work.

Have a happy frugal day!!

Yesterday was my husband's birthday. Yahoo!

We went out for dinner = $52 including tip. But, we both brought doggie bags home so we'll have the leftovers for dinner. In my food allowance, I figure $2 per person for dinner, so I can figure $4 out of that $52 bill.

Paid the water bill today, but I used a stamp for the envelope. I live really close to city hall, so I usually walk my bill down and put it in their mailbox. It saves me a stamp. It's so cold out now and the sidewalks aren't plowed, that I don't want to go down there. I already missed the March 2nd deadline (I get a 72 cent discount if I pay my water bill within 1 one of receiving the bill). So, I missed out on a 72 cent savings plus 37 to mail it. = $1.09.
I'm determined to pay the next water bill correctly!!! I know it's not much but it all adds up.

We're going to a party tonight. I shoud bring a bottle of wine - more money.........

Tomorrow we're cashing our state income tax refund and opening a CD with that and some of our savings. A new bank opened in our town and they are offering 3% interest on a 9 month CD!! That's such a great rate.

In the afternoon - we're going to a hockey game. We won tickets through hubby's work - for the club seats! We'll have free parking and our own personal lounge. It will be nice to pretend that we're rich.