KarenSue's Journal

How often do you take the time to think about the things that are important to you? When we make decisions about how to spend our money, it reflects our wants, needs, and values. Do you spend in a way that does that? Or are you impulsive?

I try to think about this often. It's easy to decide how I want to spend my money, but sometimes I'm impulsive. I make decisions based on how I feel at the time instead of keeping to a carefully laid out plan. For example;

"I'm hungry, and didn't take the time to pack a lunch"

"I deserve this item - I work hard"

"My child/spouse/pet/ would really enjoy this - what the heck"

This past week I was shopping for DD's birthday. I had some things in my cart, and browsed the books. I added a couple for the kids' Easter baskets onto my slowly growing pile, and then noticed a book about saving money. It provided a pretty good reminder to me about what my priorities are, and spending a ton on Easter basket stuff isn't one of them. Back went the books, and a lot of candy too. They will receive a nice amount, not an over the top amount. It's very tempting to do that, but what does it matter a month from now? Will they even remember, or care? Nope.

Pete & Repeat were walking on a log. Pete fell off. Who was left?

Pete & Repeat were walking on a log. Pete fell off. Who was left?

Bwahaha...

DD turned 17 recently and her best friend got her a turtle - she named him/her/it Pete. Pete lasted less than a day before going off to turtle heaven, where there are plenty of logs and rocks for lounging on in the warm sunshine and lots of lettuce to munch on.

Pete somehow escaped from his container and the dogs... well you know.

DH went out the next morning and bought Repeat. We didn't tell DD. We just pretended to find Pete under the sofa. We'll tell her eventually. She is 17, after all.

Dad offered to loan us some money, and did so. Now we have to pay him back, instead of the credit card companies. I won't tell you how much. Maybe one day, but not right now.

Work is going pretty well. As you can see, I haven't posted in a while - I've been working...

I guess that's enough random thoughts for now. Have a good evening.

Well, it's 12:30 a.m. and I'm pooped, but the bathroom is finally painted. Everything always looks so clean and fresh after it's been newly painted. I like the color a lot and am looking forward to the day it's all put back together.

Today I've been painting the bathroom. The ceiling is done, the caulking is done, and I'm working on the walls right now. I still need to put up the border, hang the towel rack, buy a rug, paint the door... Ugh! My goal is to be done by next weekend. DD's birthday is Friday and we're having family come over Sunday for dinner.

My SIL used to sell Longaberger, and I bought quite a bit from her over the years. This bathroom used to have curtains that were from Longaberger, but have since retired. I sold them on E-Bay and they went for almost $50. This money went for all of the new paint, caulk, supplies, and a new border. Pretty good trade in the end, and I get a new look. If I can figure out how to link to pictures, I'll post them.

I'm sure you will all be THRILLED to look at my bathroom LOL.

Sometimes I hesitate to blog because it doesn't seem like there's anything interesting enough to comment about. I thought about it and decided to go ahead. If I keep in the habit of visiting often, hopefully the habit of saving money will become a way of life again - the way it used to be.

I listed a few more things on E-Bay today, and will do the same tomorrow.

Before we built this house, I was a tightwad in a big way. I had a clear goal in mind and went after it with singleminded determination. We moved in 2000 and everything is great. Nice neighborhood, nice new home, etc. After that things changed. I stopped being so vigilant about where the money went. What was the point? We had a new house, appliances, furniture, landscaping - the works. We had arrived.

I opened my own business in 2002 and enjoyed it very much. I received an offer from a buyer last June, and subsequently sold everything. I took almost 8 months off to spend time with the kids and kick back. My husband suggested I look for a job, because I was going stir-crazy at home. I started this past January and like what I do.

Well, here it is six years since we have moved, and this website has helped me to re-think my decision of dropping my frugal ways. My husband and I both work and it makes little sense to fritter our money away on things that aren't consistent with our values.

Thank you, Jeffrey and Nate.

I sold a couple more toys on E-Bay, and made $33.95 profit to add to the $20 challenge. I also sold the following books;

Siamese Cats - $10.60 profit
The Cocktail Party - $3.35 profit
Teenagers book - $1.55 profit
The Ending of Time - $6.11 profit
The Undertaking - $4.28 profit

Not bad this week so far. Total net is $59.84! My total for the $20 challenge is now $267 exactly.

2 new freebies at Walmart - Swiffer Dusters & Hallmark card

How many times have we heard this? When I was shopping yesterday I got to thinking about how much kids really do cost. We live in a family-friendly neighborhood in a good school district because of the kids. We drive 4-door cars because there are four of us. The food bill- one kid is 16 and one is 11. They are like locusts right now!

Clothing - DS doesn't care what he wears so I don't have to worry about name brands. I do indulge DD, but she is expected to find a job soon and pay for her own leisure activities and clothing. That will be nice. I don't plan to work at a job and then give her the money for movie tickets and dinner any more. She is old enough now to work. She will be 17 soon.

We do have pets. If we didn't have kids, I don't know if we would. Watching the kids with the dogs is great - especially DS. The puppy loves the kids!

Don't get me started on college expenses.

Would I do it again? You bet! I couldn't imagine not having children. Is it expensive? You bet!

With the books that I sold recently, my $20 challenge fund is up to $207.16. I have some auction items that end tomorrow and they seem to be doing pretty well. Payday is today, and I bought some extras. I get paid every other week and splurge a bit each time. We have financial goals, but it's also important to me to enjoy my life and treat myself. I bought;

Four t-shirts for DH, and some socks that were on clearance. Boring, I know. What can I say? He was happy.

I found a beautiful necklace for DD's Easter basket. It was $14.99, on clearance for $3.39. This week some of the Easter candy was on sale, so I picked that up also. A $10 gift card for DS for his Easter basket. I'll get another one two weeks from now when I get paid again, and their baskets will be done. I have a few toys and beauty supplies hidden away for the kids' baskets, so I'm set. I spend much less money when I take the time to think things through instead of shopping at the last minute.

For me? A towel bar for the bathroom I'm working on and a pair of socks. WooHoo! I'm going to get into the habit of recording the extra things I buy. That will be boring for anyone but me, but it will help when I look back over this Blog in the future. I can see what is useful, and what ends up being dumb purchases.

Today I have the day off from work, so it will be a good time to catch up on laundry, grocery shopping, and so on.

I woke up at 7:45 and got DS up and headed in the general direction of the front door - he was tired and tried to tell me that he has a fever. Out! He sighs, gives up, and is soon out the door.

I take the dog and the puppy outside. The dog pees. The puppy runs like mad and chases birds. Breakfast time! I settle on yogurt and granola while the dog/puppy both eat. I have to put their bowls at opposite ends of the hallway because the puppy wants both bowls at once and so does the dog. {sigh}

Time to go outside again. The dog performs. The puppy eats a twig.

We come in the house, and I give the girls each a bone. The dog wants both at the same time, and the puppy wants whatever the dog has. Barking, snarling, and whining ensue. The dogs are pretty loud, too.

I decide to take the puppy out again, as she has done nothing so far. She finds a bottle cap near the street and I have to fish it out of her mouth. Ew!

We get back in the house. The dog has both bones. The puppy barks - very high pitched, and I put her in the kitchen behind the gate. The formerly snarling, territorial dog misses the puppy and cries at the gate for her. I sigh, put both bones on the stairs (Ew, slimy) and bring them both back into the family room.

I wash my hands. When I come back, the puppy has pooped on the carpet.

It's 9 am. What are you doing?

“Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did.”

I've been working steadily the last few days, so that's good. Sometimes when I feel discouraged about the bills we are dealing with right now, I think about people who are sick and can't work, or those that can't find a job. We have insurance through my husbands' job. Some of the people I work with are uninsured and can't afford medication they need. We all have to be employed 1,000 hours before benefits kick in.

I see people evey day that come in and apply for work. I enjoy what I do and feel lucky. You never know what will happen tomorrow, but so far I like my co-workers and am content.

I sold a couple of books for the $20 challenge;

Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain - $8.52 profit

A Redbird Christmas - $5.32 profit

Against Deconstruction - $2.23 profit

I've been reading a couple of books about setting goals. Sometimes in my pursuit of books to sell, I find a few titles that I want to read and pick them up. Even if they're not worth selling, I enjoy reading them and just re-donate when I'm done.

Anyhow, I've been thinking about my financial goals a lot lately. I'm earning OK money right now, and since starting this blog feel more motivated to change things than I have in a long time. I picked up a book today about setting and meeting goals in general, not just financial. It's pretty basic advice, but reading it does motivate me.

One of the main questions in the chapter I read today was about what we do to sabotage ourselves. In the morning I'm often running around at the last minute, making my lunch, ironing a shirt, and so on. Today I washed all of the laundry I need for this week, ironed it, and am ready to go. That may not be a big deal to you, but I'm such a procrastinator! It feels good to have everything ready. My lunch is packed, and I'm ready to go.

I've been putting off painting the bathroom for months. Today I did the ceiling. It needs to dry completely, then I can tackle the walls and be done with it. It was really not very time-consuming at all. Sometimes I build things up in my mind bigger than they really are.

DH has been going over our bills and expenses and we're in the process of making a budget. This is MAJOR for him to take an initiative and sit down to do this with me. Hopefully I'll be able to say that we've come up with a plan within the next week or so to save more money, and also reduce debt.

I've listed a couple of items on E-Bay, and plan to do a few more tonight.

What I've been doing to figure out the $20 challenge money, is to only add the books and items I've sold since I started the challenge. I've been selling books for a few years now, on a casual basis. When I decided to do the $20 challenge I really stepped up my efforts to find good items to sell. It's fun to see the amount of money grow as I work towards my goal.

Today three books sold, but one counts towards the challenge.

Creator, Protector, Destroyer $4.48 profit

I'm going to get on E-Bay in a little while and list some more items.

$20 challenge total - $191.09

I picked up some more books to sell this past Wednesday. I spent $13 at the library and $9.36 at the Salvation Army. Some of them are for the kids and me to read, but most will be just to sell. I have a bookcase in the family room chock full of items to sell. I put them in alphabetical order for quick and easy access. Some weeks are better than others, but I usually sell several a week. Sometimes I go to the post office if I have errands in that direction, and sometimes I weigh the packages and print my own postage. If I send at least one item Priority mail, the items go on the front porch and the mail-lady picks them up for no additional charge. Earlier this week, I put 11 packages on the porch and they were picked up. Very nice when the weather's not nice, I don't have errands near the post office, or if I'm mailing a lot of items.

I use Endicia as my online postage service. It's easy to use, and the fee is $9.95 a month. Between E-Bay and the amount of books I sell, it saves that much (and more) in gasoline alone, not to mention the convenience.

$20 challenge total - $186.61

I have two banks that I use to collect change in; one is upstairs and one is downstairs. After you put a quarter in, the bank locks and you can't open it until the total reaches $10.00. It's called the Uncle Sam register bank. I love my banks because no husband or kid can raid them once they lock. They are made of metal and are very sturdy.

My husband used to take whatever change I had tried to save in the past to use at the vending machines at his work. That made me mad. We share everything but I never liked it when he kept taking my little savings! That vending machine food is bad for you.

Now that I go to TCF bank, I can deposit my change easily. They have a change machine in the lobby that is free to all customers. You dump your change in and get a receipt that the teller will deposit into your account, or they will pay you. I'm going to start a savings account and put my change into it.

I sold a book for the $20 challenge;

Flags of Our Fathers - $5.85 profit

New $20.00 total amount is $208.97.

Sometimes I like to toast a bagel and spread peanut butter on it while it's still warm. I had this snack just a little while ago with a tall glass of orange juice - now I'm feeling energetic! Anyhow, the peanut butter is pretty much gone. I know a frugal method of using up the last scrapings is to use a small spatula to get every bit out, but I do something a little different.

I have a puppy named Honey. She is full of mischief, as all puppies are, and is always ready to play. I give her the mostly used up container of peanut butter & let her at it. She's going crazy trying to get every bit of the p.b. out of that darn jar. She bats it around with her paws, chases it, and so on. It's good for at least an hour of puppy entertainment. When she licks everything out that she can reach, I carefully cut the container in half so she can "clean out" the bottom easily. After a drink of water and a trip outside, she's ready for a well-earned nap.

Best dog toy in the world. I'm in the room with her so she can't peel the label off and eat it.

Walmart is very reliable about sending these free samples to you. Here's a nice freebie for your dog, and some other great offers that you might like.

This is one of my favorite web sites. If you go to "videos" and "most viewed - all time" there are a ton of hilarious videos.

I did well on E-Bay this past weekend. Here are the totals;

Toy - $19.24 profit
Toy - $20.82 profit
Toy - $17.34 profit (set)
Starbucks card - $ 3.71 profit
Game - $65.70 profit

The Starbucks card sold for $4.98, and has a $5.00 value - go figure! By the time I pay the listing fee, final value fee, Paypal fee, and a stamp it goes down to $3.71. Those darn fees add up fast. This week's total for E-Bay came to $126.81.

I have $203.12 for the $20.00 challenge right now. Tomorrow I'll go out and see what books I can find to sell online.

Work has been busy and challenging the past few days as I learn more about how to do things. I like it a lot, and hopefully I'll continue to like it. We have bills to catch up on now and need more of an emergency fund. I keep trying to decide what to do with the $20 challenge money. Do I pay down debt? Establish a savings account?

Today I played the Coca Cola Olympics game that I posted about a few entries back, and won once today. I didn't have time to play yesterday, and won't tonight either. So far I have been lucky enough to win 7 times, for a total of 35 2-liter bottles of Coke products. Sweet! This promotion ends soon, but I'm hoping for the best. This is definitely not a necessary item but DH has to have his pop. A savings of about $35 is great!

Today I'm volunteering for a charity event before work. Free food for all who participate, and it should be fun.

One toy has sold on E-Bay for $20.00 which surprised me. There must have been a battle at the end. It only cost me about $3.50 - awesome! The rest of my auctions end tomorrow and then I'll put up some more items. Auctions that end on Sundays seem to do fairly well for me.

I've been put on 40 hours at work, finally. That should result in some pretty good paychecks and allow us to start catching up on the bills.

I'll update the $20.00 challenge amount Monday after I ship a bunch of items out. I need to figure out shipping costs. I'm not doing nearly as well as some, but pretty well for me. That's what counts in the end, right?

Yesterday I did indeed get paid. I took $39.40 from my check, and here's where it went;

$20.00 for gas. That should hopefully get me through until my next payday in two weeks. I mostly go back and forth to work, to the local grocery store, etc, and I still had a few gallons left from last time. Not bad.

$14.00 for dinner. I had a night out with "the girls" (and one guy) and got a burger and fries, plus a rare drink. It was delicious. After that four of us went to a comedy club, where I opted for water. The tickets were free, as my friend won a contest and snagged four tickets. The comedy show was great and we had a good time.

So, I have $5.40 left. Wahoo! That should be just fine, actually. I don't spend money at work and don't need anything right now. It will be kind of fun to see if I can hang on to it.

I opened a new checking account at TCF Bank, and they have two offers going on. You get $50.00 for signing up for direct deposit and $25.00 for signing up for automatic bill pay. I'll do both of those and add the funds to the challenge money when it comes in. I like this bank a lot, and it sure is convenient - next door to work. You can purchase gift cards there for all kinds of places, and they have a free coin machine. You bring your change in, drop it into the machine, and it gives you a voucher to take to a teller for the money. I like that a lot, as I do save change. It will be very easy to take that change and deposit it. I think I'll open a savings account when I have the time and put my $20.00 challenge money there.

Not much else going on. I did spend money last night on myself, but it was well worth it.

Yes, tomorrow is indeed payday. I get paid every other week, which keeps me honest, I guess. I mostly use my car to go back and forth to work, so I can get away with filling up the gas tank when I get paid. I do take out some "mad money", but that usually goes to the kids for allowances, DD's school lunches and movies, and things like that. I spend money at the Salvation Army and library, purchasing things to re-sell online.

Yup, I'm wild and crazy LOL.

No books have sold recently, but E-Bay is going OK. The auctions are at $28.00 right now but hopefully will go up more - they end Sunday. I have three toys at auction and the Starbucks gift card. I decided I want the money more that I want a Frappa-Chappa-Chino (or whatever).

Does anyone know if TCF Bank has any deals when you open an account? I'm thinking about going with them, and some extra $$$ to add to the challenge money would be nice.

I was in a hurry this morning, so the lunch that I threw together wasn't great. A sandwich and an apple. Uh-oh. I knew from the start I would probably break down and buy something at work. Then, someone kindly offered me a bagel, and it was just the thing to tide me over. No spending today! I'm trying hard not to spend money on extras. I'm a girl with goals (and credit card debt).

Today I saved $7.89 by using a coupon plus my discount for groceries. Almost everything I have listed on E-Bay is selling, and another book sold online. I'll figure that out when I ship it. So far I'm inching along. I think it's time to look in the chip bag for one that looks like Elvis or Jay Leno.

$20 Challenge total - $76.31

I sold a couple of books yesterday, and went to the post office today.

The Human Side of Cancer - $3.04 profit
Surviving Grief - $4.65 profit

Today I had errands to run and the post office is right on the way.

I'm trying to decide what to do with the $20 challenge money. We have credit card debt, and it makes the most sense to start paying down the highest interest card first. It does feels better to take care of the debt that has the lowest balance, just to get it out of the way. What do you think?

$20 challenge total - $68.42

Woot! Today I got credit in my Paypal account for taking part in some online surveys. One was for $5.00 and another was $2.00.

My E-Bay auctions ended last night, and here are the totals;

As I See It book - $2.25 profit
Nancy Drew book - $3.43 profit
toy - $11.71 profit
toy - $11.76 profit

That includes my listing fees, shipping, and so on. I went shopping and found some more things to list. The total cost was $15.60 - I hope they do well!

My new total for the $20.00 challenge is now $60.73

Wow! DD went to the mailbox, and came back with yesterday's mail. Here's what I got this time;

A $5.00 Starbucks gift card for filling out a survey. This is a nice find, as there is a Starbucks at work. I might sell it on E-Bay and get the $$ for it. What to do?

A free sample of Dove deodorant. I figure it's about .50 worth, and it smells really nice. Yay!

A free sample of "Move Free" for joint pain. I originally intended this for my dad, but my fingers have been stiff lately on my left hand. I'm going to give it a try and see how things go.

So, with the deodorant and the dishwasher samples, I can add .70 to my $20.00 challenge money. Not sure what to do with the Starbucks card yet, and I don't know how much "Move Free" costs.

I'm eating a late lunch, and added the dinner rolls from last night's dinner to my plate. Amount saved - about .20 not thrown away. Hey, every little bit helps.

New total - $29.68

EDITED TO ADD - Flash just mentioned to me that an 80 count package of Move Free was $30.00 on sale, so I'm going to add the extra amount to my total. This free sample has 28 tablets, so the extra $10.50 is a nice savings. I hope I notice a difference in my fingers.

New total, again - $40.18

Thank you Flash.

I read with great interest Flash's blog about how much food the average person wastes in a year. I'm going to try and be more vigilant about using up food items before they go to waste. I'm guilty of throwing leftovers out pretty often.

This morning I noticed that the milk is about to expire, so I'll make it my goal to use it up. DS is making french toast (with my help, he is 11) and I'll use the ends of the loaf of bread instead of letting them get stale and then throwing them away.

Sunday is a good day to go through the fridge and see what can be salvaged from the leftovers.