kimana517 | Entries tagged with finances

This is the handout I made for Ange's & my couponing class the other night. I've tweaked it so it's not Florida-specific, and added our process since that was just spoken the other night. If you're wondering why you should bother trying this - well, I've saved us hundreds of dollars this year by doing what I've written here. I was keeping track of my CVS savings until June and I saved us $400 on things we would've bought anyway. And that's just CVS and just what we would've purchased! I got another $400 worth of stuff to sell or donate! I should've kept track of how much I've saved at Publix and other stores too. But do you see now why all this interests me so much?

If you have any questions, ask!

( Couponing 101 )

Current Mood: accomplished
Current Location: home

( Our Christmas newsletter. )

Current Mood: satisfied
Current Music: TRUE LOVE'S KISS >> Enchanted (in my head)

+ SCORE! I just won 10 Swagbucks as Isaac (I registered him on my office computer), which means he gets them and so do I! This is the first time I've won any of the MegaBucks. This puts me up to 83, and Isaac up to 19! (Yeah, I don't use this computer nearly as much as mine at home. Hehe.) I decided to save mine for a while, and they're piling up fast! Maybe I'll use mine to save up, and use Isaac's for the instant gratification things like Amazon or Starbuck's cards.

+ I'm at church on Wednesday because I leave for Charleston tomorrow morning. There's a ton of extra work for me to do this week too, which is annoying since I won't be here Thursday or Friday. Grams and I will leave Charleston after lunch on Saturday and drive back to be home by dinner, hopefully, which I will scarf down and then come to church to do the bulletin. Oy.

+ The roofers came today to drop off the shingles and dumpster for redoing our roof. I'm glad they will be doing it while I'm gone, so I don't have to hear the constant pounding. We chose a company over a month ago but they rarely contacted us, and when they did, it was only to say, "We'll do it next week." and then they never did. So we canceled with them and got another one that gave us an estimate. These guys are doing it just 4 days after we chose them. It will be really nice to have a new roof. We were on the trampoline Monday and I noticed even more spots where shingles are coming up. I don't look forward to paying the $5,000+ though. *sad*

+ Wow, I have so much to do today, and I just remembered I have to go to Orange Park too. I better end this already.

Current Mood: busy

"'Worst Economic Crisis Since The Great Depression'

How many times are they going to tell us this? Over and over and over. It is like a mantra from the “Office of the President-Elect”. Since the economy is a beast that is easily frightened, Obama isn’t helping by repeating this over and over. He is creating a self-fulfilling economic outlook.

Beyond that, I don’t even believe it is true. I am old enough to remember the 70s. I remember double-digit inflation, interest rates at almost 20%, unemployment at 10% and gasoline sales on odd and even days based on your license plate number. It was far more ugly than anything we are seeing today.

In fact, were it not for two things - the stock market and the MSM (mainstream media) - I wouldn’t even know there was a crisis. I see no evidence of it in my daily life. Nevertheless, Obama and the media keep hammering home that this is the “worst economic crisis since the Great Depression” which leads consumers to put off spending, business owners to put off hiring and investors to put off investing. The more Obama and media tell us that we are doomed, the more likely it becomes that we are.

I don’t know what the future will bring and neither does anybody else. This thing may yet get much worse and then again it might not. I suspect that Team Obama is keeping expectations low so, that if things do get worse, they can say, “See, I told you how bad it was before I even took office.” If, on the other hand, things improve, Obama can take credit for his Messianic ability to heal the world economy.

Either way it is crap and he is just fanning the flames of fear and economic panic."

Current Mood: aggravated
Current Location: home

+ I just got back from the mechanic shop. Isaac said his car's brakes were acting up, so he took my car to work and I took his in this afternoon. I could tell there was something wrong just in the 1½-mile drive there. Turns out it's his master brake cylinder, and he also has a bad CV axle. Those are both quite dangerous, especially considering that 95% of the time his car is driven, it's at highway speeds and/or in rush hour. So we have to cough up $450 for that. Oy. Isaac was still at work when the employee there told me it would take at least 2 hours to fix the car, so I decided to walk home. The employee was appalled! LOL! She offered to give me a ride, and I kept insisting I would be fine, that it was only a mile or two, etc. Finally she caved but she had this crazy worried look on her face. Made me laugh. It was nice though, that she was so worried about me.

+ I also walked a mile and a half this morning. I decided to meet Grams at Panera for lunch, and found out that's not as far as I thought. It was a really great day for a walk. So I walked 3 miles on my own today, and 3.6 with Isaac yesterday. Go me!

+ I was amused that when walking back from the mechanic, I got 4 honks, one whistle, and one "Heyyyy". Ha! Apparently jeans, a t-shirt, and tennis shoes is the new sexy. I didn't even get one honk walking to Panera.

<< 3 hours later >>

+ The photo shoot on Saturday was SO MUCH FUN. I was kind of nervous because I didn't know what to expect, but it was a blast. Isaac went with me just in case. When we were trying to find the old library, we pulled into a parking lot (after going the wrong way down a one way street. Oops!) only to realize that it was a) kitty corner from the library, and b) the law office of one of the elders at church! When I got into the wedding dress getup later on, I was just praying that he wouldn't be driving by! Hehe.

First we did some shots of us in dresses outside. Mine was gauzy and the setting sort of urban, so I really can't wait to see those. It was cold, especially since I was in a pretty short, spaghetti-strap dress! But in the sun it wasn't too bad. Then we went inside to do some dresses shots. Then we changed into our next outfits - which, for me, was the wedding dress. Since the dress was already tattered at the bottom, I asked Tara if she wanted me to punk it up and wear my fishnets and hot pink open-toes. She thought that was a great idea, so I did that. Then I put on my black choker and a bunch of pearls that Celia had brought. It was awesome. We shot outside in an alley, then walking down the sidewalk, then against a (absolutely FREEZING) black metal gate thing. I was SO COLD. The dress was strapless. But actually while we were shooting I didn't notice the cold so much. I was having too much fun! (That or I was numb. Heh.) We came back in and I was going to wear a little black dress I brought, but I was so cold I just wanted warmth, so I put on a sweater and jeans. We then went to the basement, which was warmer, creepy and cool. We did some cool shadowy pics in a chair and then some crazy ones holding onto pipes in a glass room. LOL. What a crazy day, but a total blast. Even Isaac had fun, but I think that may be mostly because he could tell I was having a blast. I know most photo shoots aren't like this one was, but oh man, was it fun. I can't wait to get the pictures!

+ Sunday we had a church potluck Thanksgiving dinner. It was amazing! And my parents actually stayed for it too. They've been so crazy antisocial these past few years. It was fun.

+ Angela's Premier Designs party for my Christmas present was such a huge success that I got everything on my wish list, two things for Grams, and one for Angela! Holy cow! Hers did better than mine did in January. Dude. I told Ange she's never going to top this, but she reminded me that last year I gave her $200 (with an online deal I found), so now we're even. Hehe.

+ The thrift store by my house is doing another storewide 50% off on Black Friday. I can't believe they're doing another one already! They must have a ton of stuff. Well, I know where I'll be when everyone else is waiting in line for hours at Kohl's. Hehe. I actually kind of wish I had people to really do Black Friday with. I think it could be fun. Not that I need any of the stuff on sale, but if I did, it would be fun.

+ And also? HAPPY THANKSGIVING! I hope you have an amazing day thanking God for all He's given you, eat far too much turkey, and pray for the Lions to have one of the biggest upsets in NFL history. Heh.

Current Mood: calm
Current Location: home

Boredom is bad for me; it gives me time to think, and thus time to worry. Isaac worrying is really bad for me, because then I worry a lot. What are we worried about? Money; what else? We had the first of many roof replacement estimates yesterday. I'm hoping we started out at the high end, because this one was $5350. Also, Isaac found out that his school loan is due ASAP because he hasn't been a full-time student since February. That's $2700. The tree removal was $850. That's nearly $9,000 of our not-much-higher-than-that savings down the drain within a month or two. And here I was proud of us for finally having 3 months' worth of income socked away just in case.

It seems like every time we finally build up our savings, something huge comes up. Last year it was the A/C, which nearly drained us. We built it up again, and now this. The roofing guy did say that the roof has a year left on it at the most, so we will probably put it off for a few months. Maybe their prices will go down after hurricane season. That's our hope, anyway.

I'm telling y'all this because we could really use your prayers. No, we're not going to be eating rice for every meal or anything, but it is hard to keep seeing our savings drained each year. Isaac has decided to postpone continuing his seminary classes till next summer, possibly, or next fall, because we can't really afford it now. He's probably going to switch to a less expensive seminary anyway, 'cause the schedule works out better for him.

As for how this affects our potential trip to Europe next summer, we don't know yet. That's a high priority, but not a necessity. But I would stop eating out completely and stop buying anything at all if it will mean we can still go. Also, this may continue to postpone starting to adopt our kids. I know there are grants out there, but probably not enough to cover the whole thing. So maybe it will be a few more years instead of starting next year.

And yes, I am fully aware that we could be in a worse position. We could have more debt than a few thousand dollars of school loans and a mortgage. I am grateful that we don't have any more liabilities than that.

But we'll see. God has always taken care of us, and I know he's not likely to stop anytime soon. I'm just really wishing for a rich uncle right now, ya know?

Current Mood: blank
Current Music: A BREATH OR TWO >> Jimmy Needham

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
				1	2	3
4	5	6	7	8	9	10
11	12	13	14	15	16	17
18	19	20	21	22	23	24
25	26	27	28	29	30

Living Blossoms

The uncomplicated life of an unusual girl.

Entries tagged with finances

Couponing 101, Bethany-style

Un-mailed, last minute Christmas newsletter.

(no subject)

POLITICS WARNING Except for the part about remembering the '70s, I could've written all of this.

(no subject)

Financial worries again... sorry.

Profile

Navigation

September 2011

Syndicate

Most Popular Tags

Page Summary

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags