Today I gathered up all the items from Christmas that did not fit or were unwanted and took them back to Wal-mart. The store was able to put $107.00 on a store gift card which was fine with me as Wal-mart is where we buy our groceries and gasoline so the card will get used. It was funny though to see people in line getting angry about items they wanted to return that either were not purchased from Wal-mart, had been used and I mean used quite a bit or just not returnable in general. I guess people think that after the holiday Wal-mart will take back anything and is not always the case. Anyway glad I had receipts or at least the price sticker still on the item so it was not a hassle for me.

I know the title may be a bit misleading but the list I am making and checking twice is not a Christmas but my list of things to change for the New Year. In the past I have talked about changes I was going to make but I never really made a plan for the changes I wanted to make. Now, I know you can make changes at any time so why wait for the new year? I guess it just seems easier to plan a certain date and work from there. Doing better with my finances is certainly up near the top but in listing my plans I am finding that I must concentrate on some other things in my life before my finances can really fall into place. 1) My doc just told me if I don't lose 20 lbs in the next six months I am going to have to take meds for high cholesterol. Now the way I can tie this into my financial goal is that I must quit going out to eat at lunch time. Fast food is going to be out of the question. Another benefit is that I will be saving gas by not doing extra driving since I will be staying inside at my office during lunch. My finances would be effected if I have to start paying for a prescription for meds. 2) Make more meals at home - hum - ties into the number one goal. We do spend alot of money on going out to eat. No more bad food at high costs. 3) Exercise another financial positive - I will not be spending money on new clothes as our office recently went to a more casual dress and I now can wear jeans to work - just get the weight off and I have plenty to wear. As I look at all of the goals I wrote down - did not put them all here I can see how each one will relate in some way to becoming more secure with my finances. I wish everyone the best for the remainging 2007 and an even better 2008.

A call from sil two days ago and brother is dead. He shot himself in the garage of his home. He left behind a loving wife, 10 year old step daughter that was crazy about him, two 20 something daughters and three precious granddaughters. You may wonder how this belongs on a financial website.

He had recently lost his job and like many of us on this board was in debt for things and could not see a way out. Even with the support of his wife it was going to take selling many of the things that were important to a certain lifestyle. We are only talking about the middle class keeping up with the Joneses' but nevertheless it was due to feeling that he had to maintain a certain lifestyle or his brothers and mom might consider him a failure. While this is not how we would have felt at all that was his feeling. He will be missed by everyone who life he touched. He was not a old man by any means but going to be 50 on his next birthday.

How this as opened my eyes. After we return from the memorial we will be selling everything that we can - items of extravance, diamond rings, big screen tv's, home three times the size of what we need for two people. I cannot let his death be without any meaning and neither can my dh. Perhaps not the best reason to downsize but finally the slap in the face we need to make some serious changes.

Any one who reads this that may be having the same feelings of hopelessness that he did, please talk it over with some one. Your loved ones will not be
better off without you.

Make some serious changes now. Don't live to impress anyone.

Please say a prayer for our family as we try to heal.

It seems like I have no problem making clothing purchases or things for the home but recently and good friend and neighbor convinced me that I needed to do something just for me. My choice has been to have my hair done every six weeks this cost around $80.00 each time but does make me feel good. I also have started getting my nails done every two weeks with a pedicure every three weeks. I know there will be some imput as to what a foolish expense this is and I really can't agree with you more. I have found that this makes me feel better about myself so as long as I can work it into the budget I am going to continue. What do you do for yourself?

Yesterday was spent with the little darlings (grandsons). So DH did not play any golf and it was such a lovely day. He planned on playing today but guess what - it's has been raining all day. Our friend invited us to him home this afternoon so the ladies could visit and the guys could all play pool upstairs. We went to the grocery store and of course DH wanted to get a little somthing to take to the neighbor's home to snack on. He was going to buy two bags of chips (2 for $5.00) but when I pointed out that everyone would be bringing something to share and we did not need an extra bag of chips at home he agreed and got only the one bag. I am so proud of him that he is trying. H

I had a less than par meal at a fast food restaurant a few weeks ago and so I e-mailed the corporate office. I then heard back from the local restaurant manager who said he was going to mail me a $10.00 certificate for a free meal. He sounded so sincere that when I did not get it in the mail, I worked up the courage to stop by the restaurant and asked to speak with him. I get upset when anyone makes a promise and does not keep it. He was very nice and told it has been mailed out the same day that we spoke on the phone. When I told him that I had not gotten it, he actually right then and there gave me a gift card for the meal. Lesson learned: you never know until you ask.

I am loving this system. I was spending so much money on going out to eat and snacking. We were trying to save but could have done better. I set up the envelope saving system on excel and have been tracking everything and also set up out budget on it. Husband has gotton on board by staying within the spending limit. Instead of gassing up our vehicles to full we are both only spending $30.00 each time we are on empty. Better way o keep expenses in line. We have also alloted money for each catagory which I had tried to do before but had really not kept track. My DH just goes along with whatever I want to do so that is great help. I started eating breakfast at holme a homemade muffin and glass of milk instead of buying my usual breakfast at Hardee's and a large coke. It feels good to know I am no longer wasting money. We also have a category for for gifts and entertainment, liquor, you name it, any money that we are spending now goes in a category. Now I can really track our non-food items which were a killer. Wish us luck.

Ok, I know we need to be saving money but I bought this product for my grandson who just had his 4th birthday. I got it at Target on sale for $59.00 and it is the best gift ever. It is very sturdy, easy for him to use and he has been taking pictures of everything. I have never seen a child so excited. It is a digital camera that will hold 60+ photos and they can be uploaded to your computer also. If this is the only gift you can afford to give your child or grandchild for birthdays or Christmas it is well worth it. All my coworkers and friends who have seen this camera are in the process of buying it. Guaranteed to be one of the "hot" gift items.

I am actually excited to be working on budget this month. My son and daughter-in-law have been working on their debt by using the envelope system. While I have a lot of automatic payments I am using a envelope based system with my Excel program. I did not fill up the car with gas but only put in $30.00 which is what I had alloted for gas using this system. Normally, I would just fill the tank and not even think about the cost. It nice to see where our paychecks will be going instead of the ramdom spending we normally do.

I am a pretty good saver until it comes to my little darlings. The older grandson just turned four years old and we are having him a party in three days. Target has been seeing me alot. I just have the hardest time not buying him things. He is always so appreciative just full of thank you's It sure makes it easy to buy for him. State taxes are due in October along with car tags and yearly golf cart fees. I just thoughtAugust was a hectic month. Of course, I felt like I had to to buy a small gift for the one year old. Is love going to keep me in debt?

Ok, so here goes. I did a second mortgage to pay off some bills. One of those being Capital One. It was paid off on 7/28 and when I got my statement it showed that I had a credit of $79.00 due to the early payoff. Well, since it is so hard to get any money owed you from credit companies, I was ordering my grandbaby some new bedding so I just put it on the Capital One card to use up the balance owed to me - to clear it out. Well now when I check my statement the $79.00 credit had disappeard and in it's place was interest fee of $63.00. Go figure. It will now take no telling how many phone calls to get it all straightened out. I truly hate credit cards and will not use them any more after this has been taken care of.

Yesterday was a real spend day. Mom's 78th birthday was yesterday and so we hosted a party for her at our home. It was a cookout and just for family but still it costs for burgers, cake, gifts, etc. While she has most everything this year we bought her a blood pressure monitor that will be very easy for her to use. She just found out about six months that she had high blood pressure. One thing that came from the party last night is that while "playing" with the blood pressure monitor found that mother-in-law had extremely high blood pressure. She does not go to the doctor unless she gets sick and has not been sick in a couple of years so it was a surprise. She is 80 and very stubborn so next challenge is to get her to go to the doctor for a complete check up. August is such a busy month with someones birthday every weekend, mom, grandmother, son and grandbaby so we now just have to get thru this month and then can start saving more.

Spent the day searching for a dress to wear to a friend's evening wedding next weekend. Found three all on sale and shoes to match. Made sure that the ones that I did not want could be returned to the store. Brought all three home and tried them on for my DH - I really value his opinion on what flatters me. In addition to trying on the three new ones I also tried on a dress that had been hanging in my closet for two years. My DH choose the one that had been in the closet. He said he had always liked the way it looked on me. So final saving will be $200.00 the total cost of all the items I purchased that I will return. No new shoes needed as I slready had some to match the "closet" dress. Lesson learned: shop from my closet first.

Well we finally took out a second mortgage. Hated to do it but the stress was making me physically ill. I know some of what we did was stupid - such as taking a couple of bills with a low interest rate and rolling them with all the other into a higher interest rate but if things work out the way I plan we can be debt free in 5 or less years with some savings to boot. Will see our monthly payments drop by $300+ dollars that will be put into saving/investments and what I call keeping our head about water money. My husband was amazed when I showed him the total money that we owed. We had things to show for all of it but still when you owe it you can wish you had never gotton some things. A 10 thousand diamond ring that I did not have to have at all. My DH wears his plan original wedding band. A car that I'm upside in that I can wait to get paid off and then get rid of it for something more practical. Wish us luck, we are going to do it.

Today was a great day at the mail box. My free pair of Hanes underwear arrived but the best was the doggie breath treat for our great dog Bogey. When I got out of the car with the mail, Bogey was there to meet me. She was excited when I told her that she had mail addressed to her. Yes, I know she is a dog but she still gets excited when she gets mail. It's nice to get a little end of the day treat expecially on a Monday.

This morning Mom and I got started on her clothes closet's. There were three and they were all full. She was astounded when we were done. She was very good about getting rid of things. Found a few surprises such as a nice London Fog coat and a very nice leather coat that she had forgotten about. At this time my car is full, trunk and seat with clothes that I brought home from her house. These clothes will be shared with out local homeless shelter, some will go through a yard sale and some on e-bay. Mom still kept some things that I think she will part with in the next few months. 22 pair of jeans and she wants to get those pared down even more.
We also cleaned up her ceilng fans and other light fixtures. I have been very negligent in helping my mom with her house cleaning chores choosing to just let things stay the way they were since it was comfortable for her. I find that now she is happy that we are doing some real cleaning. It makes me feel better also. Tomorrow is a stay at home day for me to get my own house in order. We will work more on mom's house after that.

Ok, I finally bit the bullet and paid the POA dues. We were holding off on paying them because they simply increased them to pay for the people that were not paying. DH said this was not a fair way to treat those that were paying so we filed a protest. The dues are $150.00 per year which really is not that bad. The POA is now trying to do a better job. I have been really looking at the things we can use what money we have to go ahead a pay off. Will report on that later.

A couple of days ago, I took a day off from work to take care of the grandbabies. I was really looking forward to spending the day with them but woke up with a horrible headache and being sick to my stomach. I did not want to cancel so I kept them anyway. Thank goodness they are both such sweeties so we made it ok. After DH and I took them to meet their parents, DH and I went out to eat. We went to the Red Robin and split and meal and had just one soft drink o was able to spend less than $12.00 for dinner. Yesterday, I did have a co-worker pick me up a boneless stuffed chicken that was $18.00 but it is going to make us several meals so it was not too bad. Today, DH was able to find two paid of shoes on a great sale. One paid was Rockports that only cost him $20.00 and they are new just being replaced by a even newer version. Also got DH to agree to drop the lawn service that we have been paying $50.00 per month for. Every little bit helps.

Ok,so now I am desperate. I have decided to try out this experiment. I know it will sound crazy but I am very interested to see how it works.

Here's my plan: I am going to ask everyone I meet to give (not loan) me one dollar. For those that do, I am going to take their name and enter their name along with why they gave me a dollar into my blog.

This should open some interesting dialogue. Would you give someone a dollar just because they asked for it? Would you want to know what they needed it for? Would you be willing to part with a dollar when you are trying to get yourself out of debt.

If asked why I need the dollar my response will be - that I am conducting a social experiment and seeing how willing people are to give a handout for no particular reason.

How important is that one dollar to you.

Ok, maybe being broke has made me lose me mind.

This Is going to be a very long blog since I have been busy the last couple of days. Friday night was our regular date date. We went out for pizza and actually did pretty well. We normally order a large pizza with multiple toppings for the two of us so we can have “leftovers” we also both order either a beer or a soft drink. Well this time we ordered a medium pizza with only two toppings and both had water to drink. We did get one order of garlic bread to share. We got out of there spending only $16.93 that included the tip and we usually spend about $28.00 when we go there. Felt pretty good about that. Even Saturday was not too bad. The pool at our development has been opened and so spent most of the day at the pool while hubby played golf. Nice thing about the pool is that you can get a soft drink from the grille area with free refills and that was nice can also get free ice water. However, I did get hungry and so paid $3.00 for a hot dog. Not real happy with that. Will take my own food/snacks in the future or just run back to my house which is only a couple of blocks down the street. Sunday was a different story, the cupboards were also bare so grocery shopping cost me a whopping $163.00 for two people. I had several coupons for free and two for one items but still overspent. They were purchases for the grandbabies, needed little swimmers for the 8 month old and a couple of toys and new clothes to stay at nana’s house for their visits. Did get some pool toys but that was at the Dollar Store so smart purchase there. I really did not make a grocery list – no time, but I did not using coupons and purchased as many store brands as I could so should have enough groceries for a few weeks. DH did some yard work for his mom and she paid him $100.00 he worked so hard I told him to keep this money – this is his for whatever he needs or wants. He is the saver in our home and I am the spender. He will probably have most of the $100 several weeks from now. Today is a new day and a new start on keeping on financial shape. Going to cancel the lawn service and have the house appraised to get rid of our PMI.

Finally Friday has arrived. My DH has been on vacation all this week so he has been getting some well needed home time. We often forget that way of the ways to take care of ourselves is to have some time carved out just for us to do nothing but want we enjoy doing. It's also nice that he looks forward to me coming home from work. Today since it has been slow at work, I have been putting all our known expenses for the month on the calendar. Good news is together we have a great income. Bad news is we still spend way over what we make. We are trying to do much better. I am cutting everywhere that I possibly can. One positive thing is I have eaten lunch at work every day this week. I used to eat out every day. I have a really good feeling about that. I also called and cut our cable down to just the basic channels. Now if we can just do more about our gas consumption.

It never fails to happen. I had lost my clip on sunglasses that came with my prescription glasses. They were made to go with the glasses so were a bit expensive. After tearing the house and the car(I thought) apart. I finally bit the bullet and got another pair from my eye doc. $50.00 I would have rather not spent. On the way home from work today creeping out from the passenger seat there they were, the original pair. I had convinced myself they were a part of the Disappearing Object Theory. Guess it was instead a part of the not putting them when they belonged when I used them the last time. Oh well, now I have two pair. Hopefully I can take better care of my things and won't have to replace anything else like that. Feel like that $50.00 just flew bye bye.

Ouch – cancelled those extended channels

I am not as brave as some on the boards. I did not think I could go without cable cold turkey so instead; I just called and requested that the extended channels be removed from our bill. This will be a $30.00 per month savings. I hope we can survive not having the extended cable. I don’t mean to whine but we are a family of channels surfers. I guess with a lot of reruns now it the time to be without them.

I left the high speed internet alone but may drop it down to a lesser speed internet and save another $10.00 but right now I really like the fast speed because I am online quite a bit.


I just sold another item on E-bay so more to add to my savings. I am trying a new way of thinking and as I get the money I hope to pay it on a bill. I feel that will keep me more motivated if I used the money to pay something immediately instead of just saving it. I think that will keep me wanting to sell more on e-bay and not practice daily spending.

Yesterday I was talking to a neighbor who is a stay at home mom. She recycles everything and was taking about taking her cans in once a month and getting $5.00 for them. Some of the ladies in our group were laughing but I was very proud of her. She just has a bag she keeps in the garage and that is where she puts all her cans so it makes it pretty easy. I think I am going to try this. 5 bucks is 5 bucks.

I am really working on more no spend days also.

It seems like the more we try to get our debt under control the more it controls us. Just going thur our bills today since payday was this week. We both get paid every two weeks. It seems like each utility bill has had an increase - not so much for usage but taxes, service fees, etc. Although each one is just a few dollars it sure is frustrating. I am trying hard to keep my savings jar going and sales on e-bay are helping. DH and I discussed today the cable bill. It is now $92 per month and that does not include any movie type channels. We do have our cable internet and it is $39.00 which is a portion of the bill. The remainder is basic, few extended like HGTV, Liftime, etc. We may have to go back to very basic cable. I feel like I am just throwing money away.

Normally each Friday night my DH and I have out "date night". We had decided last night to forgo date night because we are taking our g-baby who is 3 1/2 to the zoo tomorrow and know we will probabably eat at least one meal out. I got a call from a neighbor that they are hosting a cook out tonight. So we will go there to join in the fun. I was e-mailing my DH about what to buy from the meat market to put on the grill and then thought, hey I don't have to to that. We have two small steaks in our freezer that were given to us by a friend the food business so I will simply put those in the micro to defrost and that will be our meal at the cookout. Each person is bringing a side and so bread was needed. I could not get to the discount bread store so I purchased some Challah from the local bakey for $4.99. Not too bad for a meal tonight. The money I am saving from not having to buy something for the grille will be added to the money jar.

I did it again. Went to TJ Maxx last night just because I had not been in close to three weeks. I just wanted to get out of the house for awhile to take my mind off of my mom being ill. I don’t know what it is about that store but I always make a purchase there. Last night was no different. I found a really cute skirt and top that together cost $40.00. I justified the purchase because my DH told his mom we would go to an anniversary party with her this weekend and I didn’t have a thing to wear.

When I got home, my husband was still out playing golf so I casually threw the bag under my desk. He hates it when I got to the Maxx. I kept feeling guilty about this purchase and this morning found the perfect dress in my closet to ware to the party. Today I spent my lunch time today returning the purchase to the store. Whew, I sure feel better now.

Note to self: If I have to hide it from my DH not a good purchase.

Sure you have! I find it funny that when a department store such as JC Penney’s has a sale (which in my area is constantly), they will always tell you at the end of the purchase how much you have saved by buying on sale. You have just saved $200.00. Never mind that you have just spent $75.00 on items that you really did not need. Don’t buy on sale unless you have a need for the product and can be sure that you are getting the best price. As with a lot of things that we buy on sale, if you can do without it, it’s not a smart purchase.

Friday night is our normal "date night" I had expressed to my DH that we could just cook at home and save some money. We actually ended up with leftovers and then hit the golf course - we pay a monthly fee for unlimited golf - to hit a few balls. I was glad that we did not spend the normal money on going out to eat but he says he really looks forward to date night since he never eats out during the week. From some other posts I have read I understand that some things are just too important to stop so I guess date night will be back in. Both of our mom's are still living and so since we had bought a digital camera several months ago it seemed like a good time to put it to good use. I had loaded photos my grandbabies to the computer photo program and made photo DVD's for our mom's. Ran into to one problem and had not bought the right kind of disc for their DVD players so back to the store for another pack. Could not return the first ones I had purchased but thankfully they are re-writeable and we can use them on ours. I did not buy my mom a card as I have a box of all occasion cards at home that I chose one from. My husband spent $5.00 on a card for his mom as he did not know I had some at home. Oh well, next time.

On Saturday we did eat breakfast at home but lunch at McDonalds. What was I thinking. Never again. Too much money of semi ok food. Saturday night I did fix dinner at home using a recipie on the back of a bisquick baking box. It was for their impossible cheesburger pie. I had looked at the recipie several times but had never taken the time to try it. Well pantry and fridge were both in need of supplies so using what we had we were able to prepare this. It was delicious and we will make it again. Afterwards went to the grocery store and only spend $63.00 dollars. This is good for us. My DH normally gets a $20.00 allowance for two weeks but agreed to take only $10.00 to see if he could get by on that. If he finds he needs more can always get more from the bank. My theory is you spend what you have. We still have not been able to add to our savings as all the money we have saved in the last few days was money necessary for other items.

Oops! Forgot to tell my husband we were starting a new savings program. I had done really well yesterday by eating all meals at home and was feeling really good about not spending any money. Last night when my husband got home he had stopped by a card shop and bought a Mother's Day card for his mother and one for me and also a small gift for our grandbaby. The total cost was $14.00. I suggested he not sign my card and just return it to the store but he had purchased it from a store that was going out of business and so could not return it. I can't be mad a him as his is such a sweetheart and is very thoughtful. We did not go our for our Friday night date so I guess it all worked out ok. Today was a little different, I had to pick up a prescription for some medication and while we were out we stopped by a McDonalds - overpriced food and certainly not worth the $8.00 spent but working on doing better. I did think about what I had spent and McDonalds and that is something I normally do not do. Oh well, we will eat home tonight. I did call our daughter today and ask that she come and cut our hair. She is a social worker now but has a cosmtology license so if she makes it out to cut our hail that is a savings of almost $30.00. I don't have the money to put in my savings jar now but at least I am not going any further in debt. I will give her some clothing that no longer fits me for her time.

It was wonderful to see the comments posted to my first blog. It will certainly make it easier to get with and stay with a savings program. Today I am having a weight watchers lunch that has been in my work freezer for a couple of weeks. So in addition to not spending money eating out I am also eating healthier. I had breakfast at home which was great. I normally stop at McDonalds for Chick-Fil-A for a breakfast sandwich and a coke. Had cereal at home and brought a diet coke from home. I don't know yet what the exact savings will be. This is going to be a tough two weeks as I have some major bills coming due so really can't add much to my saving but at least won't spend any extra that I really don't have. My husband and I normally have a date night every Friday night when we go out a have a dinner and drinks usually at $30.00 a pop. Tonight we are dining at home and taking a nice walk or hitting some golf balls to relax. As my title says, I feel great. Thanks for the support.

Lola