Princesswindsor's Personal Finance Blog

Well, things aren't going as planned, in that I haven't been able to make the payments I had estimated/ save as much as I wanted...(car maintenance, medical bills)..but I still think it's doable -it's only been 2 months!...and at least I got both the house fund account and the "tax" account set up...so that is progress...Also, what I did was more of an average, so that, in the end, things might still work out...(I can use a larger portion of the Xmas bonus for this, for example)...if...
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I grew up with ice cream. Two things my dad would get at least twice a week was more milk and ice cream. I mean with eight kids and my parents, he had no choice. Back then ice cream was really affordable. Also, Dairy Queen was my most favorite place to get ice cream.

Okay, so let's fast forward to 2008. I still love ice cream, even though I don't eat it as much (health reasons). However, a few weeks ago at a community event, my daughter wanted an ice cream cone and they were...
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Not only is The Midge home sick, but so is my husband. I've ordered them to stay away from me so I can get some work done -- and so I don't catch the cold again....

So today should be a complete no-drive/no-spend day for the whole family. I'm getting ready to make BLT sandwiches for lunch and for dinner we're having homemade pizza.

I also might defrost some pastry puffs from the freezer and make them a treat if I'm able to get at least one booming business project done today.

My...
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Yesterday we finally got to the Aquarium!! I've been wanting to get there for almost 2 years now. It was pricey, though.

It's $19.95 per person to get in, but we had a pass from our local library so it only cost us $8 each to get in.

It was smaller than I thought it would be, but they had some FAB exhibits. I got to hold some starfish, and we saw a 250 lb turtle (75 years old!) some sharks, and a stingray that was almost 4 feet across!

We did good and avoided the...
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I bought my desktop four years ago. It's running low on space -- I've been storing media files on it, and I have some new software that optimally performs on a newer operating system, on a machine with more RAM and more storage.

I've considered a laptop for the following reasons: portability for when I take 1099 contracts, ability to use wi-fi on the bus (my bus is pretty much only for geeks in my neighborhood commuting to Geek Headquarters across the lake) space considerations,...
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Have to say, I was more than a little surprised by the not so subtle desperation in her voice. I know the industry is in bad shape but I didn't expect a bank based mortgage counselor to sound so desperate. After all, local banks tend to be stricter about qualifying for mortgages so they shouldn't be as bad as the mortgage brokers.

I was more than a little surprised when she offered to come to our home if we wanted rather than having to come to her office (we told her the office...
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So I took Fern's advice and talked to BF. He knows his working habits are ridiculous but he is trying to build his career. He feels like it will not always be like this but I disagree. Moving up the corporate ladder demands more time at work. But we'll see...

Went out and spent money like no tomorrow. Bought drinks for friends and went to dinner for her birthday.

breakfast at work 3.75
dinner 31.25
drinks 20.00
cab 20.00

Food $62.34/60.00 (and it's only 5 days into...
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It feels good to have a plan now, even if it only means having a babysitter 4 hours a week so I can do some freelance work. Already the ideas are flowing, and I am attempting to manage my time and accomplish little tasks so that I can make the most of my 4 hours.

My goal is to get 4 articles published by the end of the year. The money will be split 50-50, with half going to savings and half going to pay extra on my student loan. That should help me meet my goal of paying an...
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I'M HAPPY TO SAY I'VE WENT THIS WHOLE WEEK WITH OUT SPENDING A DIME. MY GAS TANK IS ON A HALF OF TANK PAYDAY IS NEXT WEDS AND I HAVEN'T SPENT ANY MONEY. I'M DOING WELL AND EATING HEALTHIER AS WELL. AFTER REVIEWING LAST MONTHS BANK STATEMENT I SPENT A TOTAL OF $100 BUCKS ON FAST FOOD RESTURANTS ALONE WHICH WAS VERY UNHEALTHY AND EXPENSIVE ITS AMAZING HOW THOSE ITEMS ON THE DOLLAR MENU CAN REALLY ADD UP OVER TIME. I CAN'T IMAGINE YEAR END AND SEEING THAT I'VE SPENT $1,200 ON FAST...
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I just paid my life insurance premiums. I paid $85 for $200k coverage. I usually get back lots of money at the end of the year. (Dividends on the policy). I can't say how much since I get some back on my disability as well - they are both through my professional association.

Anyway, dh and I both have $500k coverage we locked in our 20s which is in the same price range, (since we were so young - so we got quite a discount) but I just bought the extra $200k recently for peace...
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We don't really get much chance to take advantage of mass coupons because we shop so much generic. I read Maismom's blog with interest (all her amazing coupon deals) since she is local. But most the time I don't find it terribly helpful to me since we don't buy that kind of stuff.

BUT dh made a killing at target yesterday and he was very proud. Nothing on the level of the coupon masters. But good for us.

He scored 4 packages of poptarts for $3. That wasn't half bad....
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We are going to Gatlinburg today. There is a car show in Pigeon Forge that my dh has not missed in 25 years.
Gatlinburg is the reason we moved to the mountains. I had lived in Fla. since a child and so had dh. When we married we went on cruises on vacation.
One year, friends asked us to go with them to Gatlinburg. I fell in love with the mountains and shortly after, we found an acre in the mountains on the toccoa river and bought it. The cost of the acre was $13,000. (Now...
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My emergency fund is not growing as rapidly as I would like it, but I am trying to keep my eye on the big picture. I am steadily losing momentum.

We hope to have our EF funded ($15,000.00) and or Roths funded by April. EF only has $7750.00 and nothing in the Roths yet.

Anyway adding $69.00 to the challenge for rounding up the cks, counting change, and coupon savings bringind the total to $267.00
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My boyfriend and I are in the midst of renovating his 1960's, 1800 sq ft apartment, and it's been an eye opener for me. For instance, the cost of tiling can be more than the cost of the tile itself - and the quality of the work depends on the installer.

Our scope of work is pretty extensive, but since it's an apartment, we don't need to consider outdoor stuff, such as garden landscaping, gates, external painting, roofs. The major part of the cost lies in the windows (all...
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Got my quarterly bonus with my paycheck today. An extra 364 dollars.
I most likely wont get another bonus till
about this time next year because our store is being turned into a supercenter and the construction is hurting sales. I can hope though. The nice thing is that when the bonus will be quite a bit bigger when the supercenter is all finished.

I usually use bonus money towards my vacation fund but I have it pretty well funded for right now and I have more important things...
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Saving log - $2 tip box
Spending log - $9 lunch

Sister called from the farmette. In the process of either fixing or replacing the garage door on the metal shed at the farmette, and apologized that she didn't update the spreadsheet ... or send me the bills she paid so I can update the spreadsheet. But she loved her birthday presents. Wonder when she will attempt the kitchen floor and the bathroom? Hopefully next year or the year after.

On my third gym session sans trainer....
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Thanks for everybody's encouragement and sympathy. I took today off and I wrote in sick for tomorrow, too--there's no pain so the medicine is working that way, but for some reason my stomach isn't tolerating either Vicodin or Ibuprofen too well--I threw up last night and again tonight. I think it's a matter of not taking anything on an empty stomach, but I don't want to be at work nauseous!

The doctor said he felt it all went well. It was very very unpleasant and I panicked...
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two steps back.

I sold a book on half.com for $10! That's a record for me. Unfortunately, the car battery and electronics died the same day (one month after paying it off, of course!) so that was a huge hit. And so it goes...

Other than that, we're hanging in there. Trying to keep tabs on our expenses and not buy unnecessary things. I'm hoping that "back-to-school" will mean fewer spontaneous opportunities to spend money. To that end, no plans this weekend, except for...
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All I can say about my last post is 'thank goodness' I'm not the only one who feels that way about last minute invites to certain events!

To clear the air somewhat, I know two of the three people planning the event and ... well, let's just say the three day notice comes as no surprise. It doesn't reek of desperation to me ... just poor planning and irresponsibility. I got the invite by E-mail.

So the ending goes like this: I politely declined.

Thanks for all of the advice!...
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Insanity, they say, is the act of doing the same thing repeatedly, expecting a different result each time. I've held off on contributing to my savings goals for one month, and paid off the bathroom.

I'm freaked out about how much the kitchen will cost. It's about as much money as I have now. I'm also alarmed that I may HAVE to do something with the kitchen: ventilation is not up to code, no dishwasher. I'd love to preen that I paid for everything in cash, but that's not doable:...
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