Challenge Update

Still following Precious' Challenge, I have not spent any money hounding since returning home late Sunday night/early Monday morning. I did go and get stamps and mail two packages on Wednesday, but that is not really hounding. I wanted to get the stamps before the price increase and figured I had better do that before I forgot. I do still mail out some of my bills. My water cannot be paid online it must be paid at the local office in town or mail it. I drop it off on my way to or from work. The power company charges for an online or pay by phone and if I pay the power at a local business, I pay again. I mail it, it is cheaper. Everything else I can pay online. Even with trading q's with my fellow hounds, 100 stamps should last a while.
I will have to get groceries tonight. I am running out of meat, and need some fresh fruits and veggies. I have plenty of frozen, but no onions, peppers and the like. I also have some q's expiring today that I would like to use. I will have to go to the dreaded walmart though. They are cheaper around here even if they are rude and unhelpful, and don't carry a lot of brands that I like. Or they carry the brand but not the variety that I like. They got rid of a lot of food items not too long ago to add like two or three isles of alcohol.
On a side note, and to get your opinion, I would really like to have internet at home. I can only access the internet at work or if I want to drive to my mom's house about 10-15 minutes away. I thought about getting a net book and an air card so that I could take it with me to my visits. My son would love that. Unfortunately, an air card is like $60 a month and I don't have that much to spend, even if I could find a net book cheap enough. So I am checking out getting internet service on my phone. I looked it up and went into the store to see what they had. I can get a new phone, case, car charger, and something else for $100 with a $5o mail in rebate. It is a phone with a large screen and a keyboard, but not an iphone or blackberry. It actually is a pantech which is what I have now. I can then add internet service with unlimited access for $15 a month. It does not include text or pic messaging. I am not sure that I would need that. If I wanted to add unlimited text and pic messaging (like to take a photo and load it to my blog here), it would add another $15 a month. I think with no more than I have used those features now, I would not need it. I believe that the most I have ever paid with pay per use texting and messaging was around $3. That is a whole lot less than $15! I would probably use it a lot if I had it but I really don't think I need it. I can access online email since it is internet with no extra charge. I will just have to start using my gmail account more often. So with all this information, what do you think? Should I go for it? It would be useful in my hounding as I could look up deals when I am already at a store and confused on a deal. I could also contact/chat with my hounding buddies in the evening and on the weekends if I chose to. It would also be neat for my son to use it, and for me to use it when I am traveling, especially when I am traveling through bad weather like my mom and I did a couple of weeks ago. But it will increase my bill about $20 total with the tax the gal told me at the store. Should I? Shouldn't I? I am waffling here. I want it but do I need it? Will the benefit outweigh the cost? I just hate parting with this much money without thinking it to death. I do tend to over-analyze everything! I have mostly made up my mind that I should go for it, but just thought I would see what you all think!

Challenge Update and My Weekend

I did not spend money on a hotel this weekend so that saved me about $65 dollars. Then we went to walmart and bought a gazeebo. Total spent was $76. About the cost of one night at a hotel. Fortunately I do not have to spend this money again. I had one last year as well, but I only paid about $25 for it and I totally got what I paid for. This new one is pretty nice and should hold up much better. We did also get some McDonalds after the ball game on Saturday because my son was starving. The game was almost 40 minutes late starting and although they did not play the whole game (the ump called the game cuz my son's team was slautering the other team), it was later than expected and so we grabbed some food on the way back to the campgrounds. I also got a burger and a milkshake on my way home. It was super hot (over 90-it's only April!), and since I try to not run the air conditioner in my van while I am driving in the mountains, I needed something to cool me off. I was just going to get the shake but figured I should eat some food as well. So all in all not terrible, but not really any savings this weekend. Next time there will be a whole lot more savings because I will be more prepared by having a gazeebo for some shade and shelter and having some sandwiches in the cooler premade.
I also got sunburned pretty bad on my forehead. My arms got burned a bit, but they did not really hurt and are already turning brown. My forehead already has that bumpy feel to it that tells me it is going to peel. EEEEEWWWWW! Peeling, and on my face! Groooosssss! Since it does not hurt I may try to help it along when it actually starts peeling. I am also going to get a hat from my dad! I used to have a straw hat, but between the girls and the cats, sadly it is no more. I also planned on being out in the sun before my next visit to help prevent sunburn. Except it is supposed to rain every day this week, and be cloudy this weekend. I want sun!!!
I have also discovered that while the games on Saturday are okay, I will not do any more practices on Sundays. It really felt like it cut into our day. All in all it was a good trip. We had a nice time playing together, just being together. It felt like it had been a long time since I had visited with my son since last time was only for one day. I am hoping this gets resolved soon, I have three visits this summer that get shortened to one day due to the holiday schedule. One in June, one in July and one that already happened in April. I don't like only one day. I want my whole weekend. I feel like I am pouting here, but I also feel like I have been cheated out of enough of my son's life, I should get all days for my visits. Not to metion how long I have to drive just to see him for a few hours. Of course, other than my son, no one down there really cares about that. My son cares and last time we had a short visit, he had lots of things to say about it. It obviously doesn't change anything, but does allow him to vent. I told him this weekend that we had a couple more short visits just to prepare him.
As far as the camping goes, I let my son pick whichever spot that he wanted and then reserved it through July to make sure that we would have a spot, especially Memorial Day weekend. They are usually filled to the brim with campers even in the parking lot, and tents just everywhere in the field next to the parking lot. It was crazy last year how many people were out there. I also get my son for Labor Day but I will wait a little longer for that reservation with the hope that he is already home.
I also restarted my diet today. I realized that the pool will be opening soon and my son will want to swim. They also have a water slide that he enjoys but does not like to go down it by himself. I am going to have to lose a few pounds before I put on a bathing suit! I plan to weigh myself tonight at my mom's. I am not even sure my suit would fit if I don't lose some weight. I will follow my diet that I used a couple of years ago that I did well on. It is supposed to be a change in eating habits when you are done with the actual diet. However, I like food, especially sugar-y chocolate-y tasty goodness. Really, just all treats. I am a junk food junkie. I really hope to fix that and be able to follow the changes the diet plan recommends long term. We will see.

My furbabies

Here are some photos of my indoor furbabies.

This one is Sassy. We have had her the longest. She is the only female kitty. She is the Boss. She sure looks pleased, don't you think!








This is Kitten. He got this oh-so-original name because when we got him we called him kitten. My son took forever to decide on a name for him, but by then it was too late. He would only respond to Kitten. This is the nosy, gotta be in everything, be in the way cat.









This is the baby. He is also the biggest. You can't really tell from the pic but he out-weighs Sassy by about 5 pounds and out-weighs Kitten by only a pound or two. He is also the shyest. When we got him he had been abandoned and brought in by my ex who told my son he could have him for christmas. Then my ex told me that he gave my son a cat, but he could not keep it down there. Either I took the cat home with my son and me or my son would not get to keep him. Isn't that nice. I do love the kitty though. My son named him Tiger Crisp.

CVS Deal

I was not going to go to CVS this week in an effort to spend as little money as possible. However, I called my sister and she started telling me how she really needed to get to walmart, and remember while she was there to get some bw for her and the girls. My sister has really dry skin and both of her girls have eczema (sp?). They really like to use some of the bw I gave them at christmas but it breaks their skin out to use it every day. I asked if they use Aveeno, and she said that they love it, but it is really expensive. Weeellllll, do you want some then? obviously she would love some. So off to cvs. I did pretty good last night with all the tips from Rebecca and Frugalsuz. So here it is:





3*6 aveeno bw


1*7 aveeno lotion


1*5 cvs tp


1*.59 cvs pocket tissue


2*.99 cvs almonds


1*2.50 addidas deo (I had more q's but promised them to nasagreen so I just used one)


1*1.32 cvs baby wipes

1*1.29 cvs tissues

-5 5/30

-4 4/20 beauty

-2 2/10 cvs brand

-10 10/3 aveeno

-2 any aveeno

-1 addidas

-1.98 off any nuts

-4.99 eb

-5 eb
My total was $2.60 which included tax! I got back a $10 and a $2 eb!
I will probably do this deal again this weekend to get more bw that my sister and the girls can use all the time.

Challenge - Update April 23,2009

I did not go to Kfart yesterday. They are not doing doubles. I looked at the online ad and it said they were according to the front page of the ad. Something told me to call before I drove clear to the other side of town. I called and they are not participating. Dang and double dang. I guess it means I did not spend any money again though.
I did go and see my dad, which is free of course. Then I went on home. I was going to go to wags and get something really cheap so I could get my free bag, but I lost my q I had printed off. I was really not having to organized of a day yesterday. I did get my van ready for this weekend. I have a couple of things to add tonight and that's it.
I also played with Sharktooth, my outside kitty. My son named her. Yes, I said her. She is preggers right now. I do not know when we will have kittens, but I am sure she will bring them to me. My house is where she eats. She is not really my cat, I found her outside but she is cute so she can stay. I have been careful about just putting food out all the time and am trying to just feed the kitties when they show up. I do not want to keep feeding the dogs. These dogs have homes, they are just piggies. I feed and pet all the feral cats in the neighborhood. They are friendly for the most part. There is only one cat that won't let me pet him. I figure all kitties need someone to care for them. I am going to try to TNR some of the kitties if I can get my son home soon. I do not need even more kitties to feed. I am sure they will not be too happy about that, but the neighborhood will. Less cats to get into crawlspaces, pee on the flowers, and have more babies.
Other than that I did not spend any money but I did not save any either.
How are you doing on your challenge?

Challenge-Update 3 April 18-19

I did go to my cousin's baby shower in Wisconsin this weekend with my mom. My sister decided to go and bring her older daughter (Drama Girl). Mom wanted to leave originally no later than 7 from her house. When my sister said she wanted to go, we knew we would never be able to leave that early. The latest my mom would leave? 7:30 Fine with me, it's a long drive. My sister picked me up at my house and we went to my mom's. I packed snacks with me so I would not have to buy anything on the way. We had a blast at the shower. Lots of good food and good times. We then drove back to my aunt's house which was about 45 minutes south of my cousin's house. We all gathered there to have a few drinks (although my knee had been killing me all day and I had taken several doses of pain killers so I drank nothing) and play on the WII. One of my cousins (M)brought over American Idol. She and my other cousin (S)that was there apparently have played before. They talked my, mom and my sister into playing. I usually don't sing in front of anyone cuz I don't think that I can sing, but in the spirit of fun I went ahead and joined in. M challenged my sister first then me and won both times. Then we did a group thing where someone gets eliminated each round. You sing the first two short songs, then full songs for the rest. I actually won both times. Then we paired up and sang duets. I sang with S and we won both times. My sister and I sang together one time and got the highest score possible. I think we did pretty good!


We played this until like one a.m. Then I could not sleep and basically napped a couple of times that night. I am not used to all the noise that goes on in my aunt's house, everything stays plugged in and runs all the time!



I got up as early as I dared figuring I would wake people up when I got into the bathroom to take a shower. Then as everyone started waking up we were discussing what we planned on doing for the day. I met a wonderful hound-friend, Chi-Annie, and we went shopping at Target. I had a blast. Even with the coupon hater cashier! I wish we lived closer so that we could go shopping more often!

Alas I did have to return to the regular world and go back to my aunt's house for lunch. Turns out they did not have any lunch plans as previously indicated. So my cousin S said she wanted to go to Red Lobster. We got pizza the night before and she missed out on the Red Lobster and really wanted some. So off we went. Well, we loaded the car first. Then we went to eat. Not too bad considering that we had three babies with us. And they were all really tired. Not to mention some of the adults were really tired. The food was alright. I personally am not a huge fan of Red Lobster, but of course I do not eat seafood, so my options are limited. Then it was finally time to go home. I always have a good time, but my cousins and their children are much more boisterous than my son or nieces. It is always good to go home anyway, no matter where you are coming from. The ride home was not too bad. My sister and Drama Girl fell asleep, so mom and I chatted. I called my son and waited on him to call back. We unloaded my mom's car into my sister's and started back to home. My son called about 2-3 minutes away from my house and it was raining, so I had to unload my stuff in the rain while trying to talk on a cell phone. Figures. But it was good to talk to him.

Overall, I spent almost $40 this weekend. I spent $14.78 at Target and gave my mom $20 since she was driving and she and my aunt are the ones who paid for the Red Lobster total that remained after all of our giftcards. I think she also paid a big portion of the pizza with my aunt, but I did not really eat pizza. I had half of one piece. I will probably also buy my mom some lunch in the next week or two. Or take her to CVS or something....

Challenge - Update 4 April 20-22, 2009

On my challenge to save money, I spent no money on Monday. I planned to go straight home after work, wash some clothes and clip some q's. In reality, I got home, I called my son and talked a bit to him, then decided to nap for an hour or so. I figured I would get up around 8:00 and finish all my tasks I had set for myself for the evening. At almost 1 am, I woke up. Since I had no intention of being up for the rest of the day from one am, I went potty, played with the kitties for a few minutes and went back to bed. I guess that also means that I did not really use any electricity either!


On Tuesday, I spent $5 for a pizza. I wanted donuts, but figured there was probably less calories in the smaller pizza they deliver for lunch at the downtown offices than in a dozen donuts. Because without a doubt I would eat every single donut. Then eat my regular food on top of that. Donuts are heaven and sin all at the same time. I love donuts. *siiiiiiigh* Tuesday evening, I drove straight home, I watched no television, I washed the laundry on cold and hung it to dry, and I packed for my trip this weekend to see my boy. I would call him sonny boy, but that has already been taken by Dhunny. I am hoping to start staying at the campgrounds this weekend. They are open now. I asked my son during our phone call and he says he does want to start camping now. Yippee! That will save me at least $60-$70 a trip.


I also plan to cook a little something to last the rest of the week for lunches. I will probably eat cereal for dinner to use up the last of the milk. There is not enough for a whole weekend with my son, and I do not want it to go bad.



On Wednesday, I went to kmart. I plan on only buying things that were free, or cat food since it is double q's this week. Although I also plan on a bit of cereal perhaps and check the coffeemate prices. I will post the actual totals and pics in a separate post. Then I will drive home, watch no tv, put my clothes away that was hung to dry, and enjoy a quiet remainder of the evening with the kitties.

Challenge - Update 2 for April 17

I went to cvs on Friday with my mom. She told me we were going to meet my sister there and I would help both of them work out some deals. Then we get to cvs and she tells me that my sister is not meeting us. I wish I had known that, I would have preferred to go to "my cvs". The one we went to is notoriously coupon UNfriendly. I figured we would give it a try anyway. I got 2 purex laundry detergents(BOGO), 2 travel packs of ladies shick razors($.99 each), two colgate sensitives ($3.99 w$3.99 EB), and one pack of huggies wipes (clearanced $3.25). I used two colgate $1 off sensitive, one BOGO free shick any razor, one $1 off any shick razor, one $.50 off huggies wipes, and one BOGO free purex laundry det. I also used two EB with a value of $5 and one with a value of $2. My total was $2.58 and I got back $7.98 EB from the toothpaste. I had another $2 and $5 EB but did not want to spend either of them because I would have had to purchase something else to make my total higher. Before tax was only $1.72.
My mom spent like $.51 after her EB and she earned back I think she said around $15 in EB.
I will post a picture tomorrow as I did not bring my cord for my camera to work today.

Challenge Update April 16, 2009

I spent no money yesterday.
-I stopped at three different stores to see if I could score some free chocolate (I loooooove chocolate). Alas, none to be found. Hardly even any Easter clearance. So, no money spent. I drove to the stores in a circle so that when I stopped at the second one, I was on the road home, which is the road the third store is on.
-I cooked some taco meat last night with homemade taco seasoning (cheaper than the packages-although I did not write down the numbers when I put them together so I do not remember what kind of savings, but it was fun to make them-and sneezy but that's another story). The total for that was about $1.40 with the ground turkey and seasoning, so for two helpings it was about $.70. I also made some hounded noodles that I got for $.17 for the bag and used half of it. Then added some butter, basil and parsley and the butter melts and mixes with the herbs for a wonderful herbed butter on the noodles. Yum. I figure that the whole pot of the noodles, butter and herbs cost about $.35. Not too shabby. I have enough of both for at least two meals, and at $1.50 for each meal that is a pretty good deal.
-I also washed dishes last night. Instead of washing just a handful of dishes at a time, I waited a couple of days to save on dishsoap and water.
-I cut the top off of an empty diet pepsi box (case size although I also do this with the 12-pack size) to use for trash. I use these for dumping the bathroom trash into, and also use them when scooping the cats litter boxes. I have used them in place of a garbage can in the kitchen when the ants are swarming to keep them out of the house. This saves me from pitching a half empty garbage bag into the dumpster.
-I washed out the can the corn came in that I had for dinner last night. This, and my aluminum pop cans went into the recycling cans. These will earn me money when I take them and cash them in.

So how are all of you doing with your challenge today?

Knee troubles

Well, I had to go to CVS last night to get a knee brace. Fortunately for me, they earn EB. I had to spend $15, but that was not a problem. The brace was $15.99. $5 EB for me! I decided while I was there to take advantage of a few sales going on. I bought five 12-packs of diet pepsi (this is a daily must for me!), four bottle of Sobe water, one knee brace, two sure deodorants, one softsoap, one Nivea BW, and four Nivea lip treatments. My end total was less than I would have paid for the knee brace alone. I paid $7.44 including tax and got back $16.99 in EB. I used 5*-$1 nivea, 1*-$1 for softsoap, 2*BOGO free for sobe, 1*-$1 for sure, 1*-$.75 for sure, free diet pepsi flavor q, and the diet pepsi was on sale buy 3 get one. I also used the $4 off $20 of beauty cvs q, and the rest was EB. I used about $32 in EB and only got back $16.99, but that would have happened even if I only got the brace and used my EB to pay. So, I got all of this for less than I would have paid for the brace and diet pepsi!

I then stopped to get gas on the way home. I did not pick up any extras while I was at the gas station, only gas. The cheapest I could find was $1.99 a gallon. So that is where I stopped. I stopped at $50. I do not think it would have taken too much more, but I decided when I pulled in the station, I was only putting in $50. Then I drove home at a slow steady pace to help with gas mileage.

I changed my headlight that was out when I got home to save the cost of someone putting it in for me. Of course it was not hard to do. I do the things on my car that I know how, which sadly is not much. I am learning though. I will purchase another headlight to keep in my van to save the expense of replacing it on the road somewhere, which could end up costing me more. I always keep a few tools and extras of a few parts and fluids just to be safe with my constant traveling.

I did eat dinner at home, although I did not end up with enough time to cook extra food. I plan on doing that tonight now. We'll see I guess....

Begining the Challenge

I am begining my challenge today. I did not spend any money yesterday. Today to save money I will call the guy that worked on my van. I have a warning light on and the folks that looked at it yesterday said to take it back to him as he routed a sensor wire wrong. The line was then cut in half by the rim of my tire when I turned. Thus the warning light. It's for the ABS. And I was in Kentucky when it happened on my way to see my son. So I just kept driving of course. I could not get it looked at on the way down or back as it was Easter weekend so no place was open.



Today I will go to CVS. I need to buy a brace for me knee; it was getting better but after a day of playing on Saturday, I am back where I started. Hopefully I can get some extrabucks out of this deal. They are on a deal of spend $15 get $5 EB. I have no idea how much they are, so I am hoping if possible, they get me EB. I have to get one anyway, might as well earn EB while I am at it! I also am going to take advantage of the toothpaste deal as I need sensitive toothpaste. I also have two $1 off q's for colgate. That will make this a MM. I also have a $1 off softsoap q and will take advantage of that deal. Free is always nice! I will also get gas on the way home. I will not get gas in town as the town where I work has a $.04 cent tax above and beyond the regular price. It will be at least $.04 cheaper a gallon to wait until I am closer to home. I will post my actual totals tomorrow.



I will eat at home tonight. Thank goodness I don't live in an apartment like Frugalsuz, or I might keep my neighbors up eating and cooking so late! I also am planning on making meals for the rest of the week tonight. I will do all the cooking at once to save on electricity.



I have a baby shower to go to this weekend. I will dig out some items from my stockpile to give as a gift, and use a bag and tissue paper that I already have. I have a box of cards that I got quite some time ago and will use a card out of there. We are going out to eat on Saturday with a whole bunch of my family. My mom has two gift cards that she will use so we do not have any OOP for dinner (except the tip!). She is also driving so I will not have any gas expenses. We are staying the night because we are going to MN (and Chicagoland!), and that means I will not have to provide any food for myself for most of the weekend. Good food and good fun!

Challenge

Precious has given us a challenge. Well, actually she has given herself a challenge and has invited us along. Of course I have said yes to this challenge. I have upcoming legal expenses for my hearing. (We are getting closer) Ialso have a car that needs a lot of work. I am up for the challenge! Precious created her set of rules of what constitutes a "need" versus a "want". Unlike Precious, I do not have a stockpile as wonderful as hers. I do have several items that I use frequently stockpiled though. I have frozen and canned veggies, pasta, evaporated milk and other cooking supplies, and other items like condiments. I do not have much meat stockpiled. I will have to watch the sales and buy my protien items on the sale of the week.
Thanks Precious for starting this for us! I am so glad to join!