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Archive for June, 2006

June Goals

July 1st, 2006 at 05:07 am

walked with mom for 55 min

I knew my parents were really busy today getting ready to go camping so I took over the ingredients to make chili pasta and fixed dinner for them.

I'm really irritated tonight. All week I've been dreaming about sleeping in tomorrow. Every morning when I wake up, I think I can sleep in on Saturday. Well, because other people can't get there work done on time, I have to work tomorrow morning. Stinks!!!

My goals for June were:

June Goals are:

1. Walk at least 25 days for 35 min
Done

2. Pre-pay mortgage - $4000 this will meet my goal for the year of $12,000. Will use all of my 3rd paycheck to help meet this goal.
Done

3. Spend $450 or less on household items.
Done Spent $435.94

Groceries - 155.09
Fast Food - 42.65
Restaurants - 26.61
Nieces - 42.20
Clothes - 25
Books - 20.80
Gas 59.73
Entertainment - 15
Other - 48.83

4. Close the Virtual bank account that I opened for a bonus
Done

5. Get tires replaced - not done, no time

6. Set up new budget - not done, decided to wait after I heard about the changes to our 401K. I will be getting more money back in each paycheck so will wait till I know how much it is before I redo the budget.

My net worth went down 1.35% and that was after putting in a larger than usual amount towards the mortgage.

Finally finished reading the library book Engaging the Enemy by Elizabeth Moon. Sci/Fi. Good. I started this book on Monday and it took me all week to finish it. Probably the least amount I've read in a week since I learned how to read which was age 3 according to my mother. Not sure I believe that. Smile But since it took me so long, I now owe .60 cent late charge. If I had finished it Tuesday like I planned I would have been ok.

more free food

June 30th, 2006 at 05:21 am

walked with mom for 55 min

She invited me over for dinner again tonight, baked chicken breasts, mashed potatoes, corn, salad and rolls. YUM and the best part was I didn't have to cook or clean. Nieces and BIL were there too.

I told them I would bring over my leftover chili and make chili pasta for them tomorrow night.

My parents are so funny though. My mom always washed the dishes in a sink of soapy water before putting them in the dishwasher. Then my dad unloads the dishwasher when it's done and dries the dishes. I asked them what was the point of using the dishwasher and my mom very seriously told me "it sanitizes them". Too funny.

free coke and pepsi

June 29th, 2006 at 05:17 am

walked with mom for 55 min

Safeway has buy 4 12 pack fridge packs for $10 and get a rebate at checkout for $10 on either coke or pepsi products. I'll definitly have to check it out this week.

Slightly better work day today, only worked 9 hours. Broke a blood vessel in my eye, don't know if it's related to all the computer work or not, I know my eyes have been hurting.

Sent off for a $2.99 Hunt's ketchup rebate and my Long's June rebate today.

Read the Kiplinger's magazine.

Had dinner at mom's with nieces. Sister is out of town and mom has them for 2 days. Stayed for awhile and worked on crafts with them. They are both very talented and creative.

Kiplinger's finally came

June 28th, 2006 at 04:20 am

walked with mom for 55 min

I finally got the first issue of my 3 year contract with Kiplinger's that I paid $4 something for. Almost 10 weeks ago, but it is finally here. Unfortunately I don't have time to read it Frown I'm still working at 9:00pm started at 8. I have tests running on the other computer. So tired I can hardly think. I can't keep up this pace too much longer. When I was younger 50-60 hours a week were normal plus the occassional 80+ hour week. I just can't do it any more, nor do I want to. I think by Friday I will be caught up and can catch a breath. But then all the home stuff will be waiting for me to catch up on it. Bitch and moan, bitch and moan Smile

Went into work today. Got gas for $2.63/gal. Spent $25.31. Went to Super Salad for dinner on the way home. Spent $6.36

Got free Necafe coffee in the mail. Gave it to my dad, since I don't drink coffee. He was telling me how he used the $100 in gas cards he got for test driving Fords. These were deals that I got for him, so he was pretty happy that he got the gas for free.

Monday

June 27th, 2006 at 05:00 am

walked with mom for 55 min

Made my new 401K choices today. The new company charges higher maintenance fees, which is a bummer, but I found funds that closely duplicated the ones I had. I was invested in the Dodge and Cox stock fund though and I'm really going to miss it. It did very well for me.

Canceled the trial membership to Shopper's Advantage. They even said they would return my $1 trial fee.

Got a free sample of Move Free from Walmart. This was 28 pills a weeks supply, a good size sample. I gave it to my mom. I also got The Healing Garden skin moisturizer sample.

Worked 11 hours, so no reading Frown

Catch-up day

June 26th, 2006 at 04:23 am

walked with mom for 55 min

Went to the grocery store this morning. Spent $56.65. Saved $63.08 more than 50%.

I got the following items for free.

2 packages Ball Park Franks - because the sale price didn't ring up, I got these free.
Sara Lee hotdog buns - free with purchase of 2 Ball Park Franks
2 64 oz bottles Tree Top Apple juice
2 packages Dentyne gum
1 package Dentyne mints
3 ready to serve packages Zataran's Rice
5 4 oz cans Ortega chilis
And I have a FAR for Hunts ketchup which will make that free and give back $2.00

Went to Chili's for lunch and spent $7.83

Spent the day preping for the week. Did laundry, cooked a huge batch of Chili, chopped veggies, boiled eggs, fixed oatmeal for the week. My house is getting really behind on cleaning. I just can't keep up with it and all the hours I work, plus the down time I require to be able to concentrate on my work. I'm seriously considering getting a cleaner in for one time just to get me back to an even starting place.

Finished reading my book Dangerous Tides by Christine Feehan. Romance. Very good.

niece day

June 25th, 2006 at 05:27 am

took my youngest niece to see Xmen. It's rated PG-13 and we checked it out on line and her mom agreed she could see it. She is 11. I liked the movie and so did she, but I was a little surprised at the ending. I wasn't expecting that level of violence and I'm not sure what she thought of it. I was also upset about the previews that they showed for movies like the Omen, very disturbing images for children. We had lunch at the theater and I spent $22.00 for tickets and food.

Next we went to Claire's. This is an accessory store and both of my nieces can spend hours in there. I let her look for at least a half hour before I told her we needed to get going. She bought several small girly items.

We went to Coach House gifts after that and I got her a cool watch for her bday. Spent $10.73

Then on to Barnes and Noble where I spent $14.48 using my free GCs.

Best Buy was next were I got a CD she wanted for her Bday for $15.36 - $10.00 reward certificate I had.

On to Cold Stone for ice cream. I had a coupon to get a free kids ice cream when you buy a medium ice cream. So we did that, only I ate the kids ice cream and she had the larger size. This was perfect I'd like to do this everytime I go there. The kid's ice cream was just the right size and was only $1.50 vs the medium which is $3.96 with tax.

At Longs they had the new collapsable rubbermade containers as a BOGO and I had 2 $1 off coupons so I used those and also bought a couple other items. Total $11.58

Target was next where she bought some flip-flops for a $1 and some nail junk.

Then we went to Big Lots and I spent $8.87.

Last stop was Jason's Deli for dinner. Spent $16.20

By the time I got home it was raining so I wasn't able to walk with mom.

I was asking my niece about college or if she had any ideas what she wanted to do for a living and she really surprised me. She said she wants to go to the Air Force Academy and then be in the National Guard. Who Knew? That's a very unusual career choice for an 11 year old girl. Smile

Finished reading the library book Beach House by James Patterson. Mystery, great book with a very surprising ending.

Thursday

June 23rd, 2006 at 04:40 am

walked with mom for 55 min

Got a Shower to Shower sample from WalMart in the mail today.

Got $10 of gas, just enough to last till I can get in town and fill up at a cheaper price. Spent 2.82/gal

Still working long hours so not reading as much as I would like.

Finished reading the library bok Playing Easy to Get by various authors. Romance. Cute short stories.

meds

June 22nd, 2006 at 04:15 am

walked with mom for 55 min

Only worked 9 hours today. Had a Dr appt. Spent $20 for co-pay. Have to go back on medication for the diabetes, it is very high again. Blehh! Disappointed and slightly blue about that.

I need to dig out some books on diabetes and brush up on controlling it better again. I admit I've gotten sloppy because of laziness and lack of time and stress. Need to pay more attention.

Got a sample of Head and Shoulders in the mail.

Finished listening to the library book on tape Metro Girl by Janet Evanovich. Romance. Very good, very funny

sore shoulders

June 21st, 2006 at 05:04 am

no walking today. worked from 8am to 10pm. My shoulders are killing me from sitting in front of the computer for so long. Yesterday it was leaden legs, today's it's sore shoulders. Guess I'm getting old Smile

leaden legs

June 20th, 2006 at 04:50 am

walked with mom for 55 min. It was so hot even at 7:30 I just dragged through the walk, no energy. My legs felt like lead.

I was so glad i did all the meal prep work yesterday, it was so nice to just put the oatmeal in the microwave in the morning and grap a banana and then for lunch, spread some tuna on some bread and then grab some already cut up watermelon. No mess, no thinking, very nice on a busy day.

Got a $10 gift certificate from Best Buy in the mail today. Plus a list of the new funds in the new 401K and the fees they charge for each fund. That's really nice to know. I usually have to search for that kind of information.

Finished reading my book Breadwater by Carla Neggers. Mystery/Romance. Ok

Father's Day

June 19th, 2006 at 05:07 am

walked with mom 50 min yesterday and today. We're walking faster and have cut 5 minutes off our walks.

I worked 6 hours yesterday and then went to Parents for Father's day. Had steak, potato salad, green salad, jello salad, watermelon and rolls, all very good. Plus lemon pie for dessert.

I have to return the Printer though, that I got dad for fday. The black ink was missing as well as the power cord. What a pain!

I stayed awhile after my brother and sister left and played cards. My nieces were both in very loving moods yesterday, constantly coming up to be hugged. nice! Smile

They went to cousins camp this week. One of my cousins wives had all of the second generation cousins 18 and younger to their house for 3 days. I think there were 8 of them. She must be wonder-woman or something. I can't even imagine being around 8 teens and pre-teens for 3 days, let alone cooking for them.

I worked 2 hours today and then since I know I have to work a lot this week I tried to get a head start on the meals so I won't be tempted to eat so much fast food.

Went to the grocery store and spent $30.60. Then I hard-boiled eggs, made oatmeal, made tuna salad and potato salad and chopped celery, green onions and watermelon. I've been craving watermelon so hope it's good.

long, long, long day

June 17th, 2006 at 05:05 am

walked with mom for 55 min

Very tired today. Worked from 7:30 - 6:30 and have to work again tomorrow morning. Learning something new so brain work is always more tiring than physical work to me.

At my parents my dad finally got the $50 GC from test driving a Ford. I gave him the deal so was glad to see it pay off. He was telling me about how he lost a deal in the local free classified paper today, because he didn't get the paper until late. I asked him if they had a website, he didn't know, but went and got me the paper.

They do have one so I set it up for him and showed both of them how to use it and search for what they want. My mom has to get on craigslist every couple of days and search for him, so i expect she will have to do this too. I keep telling her to make him learn it if he wants to use it, but so far she still does it. He's still trying to buy and sell ATVs. He's made over $6000 so far and it's a nice hobby for him. Wish my hobby would pay that well. He probably spent less than 4 hours total on each deal and I think he's sold about 8 ATVs now. Good return.

I worked so late and since I need to walk while it was light plus show dad the computer I didn't get to eat till 9:00 so went to McDonalds and spent $5.86.

Got a coupon for a free 2 liter bottle of 7-up in the mail today. I have pop coming out my ears with all the free stuff I'm getting. That's not a complaint though Smile

My parents got their CC bills from our Canada trip. We put all our meals on their CC. I owe around $150 for meals. That's pretty good for 13 meals. We had steak a couple times and salmon once.

Finished listening to the library book on tape Dark Desire by Catherine Feehan. Supernatural. Very good.

Barnes and Noble GCs

June 16th, 2006 at 04:52 am

Walked with mom for 55 min

Got the $20 Barnes and Noble cards in the mail today for a trial offer. So far this year I've recieved $165 in BN Gift Cards. I'd sure like to continue this trend. Smile

My youngest niece gave me a list of 3 CDs she wants for her bday in September. Your Music had 2 of them so I will get them for $5.99 each. I still think that's such a cool deal and my nices are always wanting CDs.

Found a recipe for faux Febreeze on Recipezaar today.

Text is http://www.recipezaar.com/recipe/getrecipe.zsp?id=71485 and Link is
http://www.recipezaar.com/recipe/getrecipe.zsp?id=71485

Finished listening to the library book on tape Lie By Moonlight by Amanda Quick. Romance. Very good.

new author

June 15th, 2006 at 04:27 am

went into work today for a half day. My boss wanted me to work this evening so left the office early and came back home so I would be available later. Then he postponed it till tomorrow. Oh well, as long as I get my 40+ hours in, that's fine.

Used one of my BOGO coupons from the Entertainment book to get lunch and dinner from Captain Ds. Spent $4.07

Finished reading the library book His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik. Sci/Fi. Very good. It about the history period of the war between France and Britian with Napoleon but they have dragons fighting for them in the air. Really good characterizations of both the dragons and their flyers. If you like Anne McCaffrey you will probably like this author. It's a new one for me and she has two more books out that I put on hold at the library.

Not Buying It either

June 14th, 2006 at 04:53 am

walked with mom for 55 min

Sold a book at half.com for $1. Postage $1.59

I started to read the library book Not Buying It My Year Without Shopping by Judith Levine but quit around page 90. I couldn't stand it any more. About 30% of the book is about her experiences only buying necessities. 70% of the book is American bashing. We're gready, we're fat, we use too much of the world's resources. Big business is too big, the government is bad. Basically every liberal, environmentalist argument you've ever heard, she brings up. If I want to read a book on politics then I will.

She basically complains throughout the entire book and as far as I'm concerned, she doesn't have a lot to complain about. She decided not to spend money on anything except expenses for a year because she had maxed out a couple of credit cards and was working on the third one. She spent over $1000 on Christmas. Well, who made her do that? It must have been those evil stores advertising all those tempting things, it obviously couldn't have been her fault.

Her and her live-in boyfriend are self-employed. Between the two of them they own an apartment in New York city and a cabin and 40 acres in the Vermont woods. They own 3 vehicles and a bunch of sports equipment. She refers to her second best pair of skis. She makes average wages for New Yorkers. So what does she have to complain about?

The thing that made me stop reading in disgust though was when they went to the MOMA in New York. Apparently this museum and many others offer free entrance on certain nights. They decide to take advantage of that for free entertainment. Nothing wrong with that. But then she turns around and complains that because of the evil government budget cuts the MOMA will raise it's entrance fees from $12 to $20.

Ok, first of all, she's not even paying the $12, she's taking advantage of the fact that tax-payers have supported the museum and they offer free nights. If she thinks it's so important to support the museum she could at least pay the $12 entrance fee instead of complaining that they have to raise the fee to $20, which she won't be paying either.

Everything is the fault of big business, or government, or American selfishness.

Anyways, sorry for the rant, but I hate the blame it on forces beyond our control attitude.

mortgage - $4000

June 13th, 2006 at 05:13 am

walked with mom for 55 min

Sent a check to the mortgage company for $4000 towards the principle. Used the $1000 I would normally send each month, plus my 3rd paycheck plus a few hundred dollars that weren't being used anywhere else.

I plan to start putting my monthly savings towards other goals for awhile so this will be the last check to them for several months. I'd like to add about $2000 more if I can by the end of the year. Since I'll be getting some money back in paycheck for the 401K payments I was making, maybe I'll use that money.

Finished reading the library book Kill Me by Stephen White. Mystery. Very Good. A good story about when is life not worth living.

rain, glorious rain

June 12th, 2006 at 04:39 am

Didn't get to walk tonight because of a huge rainstorm with lightening and hell. Even though I missed the walk I love rainstorms. We really need it too. It's been trying to rain for over a week. It gets cloudy in the afternoon and then it all blows over, leaving maybe a 2 min sprinkle behind and most day's leaving nothing.

Went to Barnes and Noble this morning. Spent $9.07 on a book and the Denver Post. Used a free gift card. The Post increased it's price by 50%, went from $1 to $1.50 I'll still buy it since they have better coupons than the local paper and my mom gives me those for free.

Went to Best Buy and bought black ink for Father's day. Spent $22.51. Had a $15 rewards gc.

Went to Longs and spent $23.56. $5.99 for mascara that will be free after rebate and will be given to my niece for a belated bday gift. Also bought both nieces earrings and spent $14.50. Spent $1.44 on stuff for me.

Met my parents at Ruby Tuesdays for lunch. Spent $9.78.

On the way home stopped at King Soopers and spent $2.02 for this weeks groceries.

Last stop was the library where I picked up my holds.

Finished reading the library book Give It Up My Year of Living Better with Less by Mary Carlogmagno. Saving. Ok. The author gave up one thing each month for a month, but then after the month she bought/did it again so I don't really see the point. She gave up things like drinking, swearing, taxis, elevators, chocolate, coffee etc.

To me saving money is not about depriving myself, it's about defining myself. For example, what are the things I care about? What are the things I don't care about? I'll conserve spending in the areas I don't care about to be able to spend more in the areas I do care about. I'm not going to cut all the things that give me pleasure, just to save money.

My number one care about item is retiring, so that gets the most attention and I'm willing to give up a lot of other things that I don't care about that much to meet that goal.

Another care about item is reading. However over the years I've gradually spent less and less on reading as I've found more books at the library and as I've pared down which books I need to own and reread over and over and which books I'm content with just reading.

Utilities are another area I don't care about much. I'm willing to dress more warmly in the winter and lower the thermestat, but I'm not willing to cut short hot showers. I love taking long hot showers.

Another example, is oatmeal. I want old-fashioned oats. I don't particulary care what brand they are and the cheapest ones taste just the same to me as the expensive ones. On the other hand I want Jif Peanut butter, which is more expensive than the store brand, but tastes so much better that the extra price it worth it to me. Although I will stock up when it's on sale so I don't always pay full price.

It's a learning with adjustments occurring constantly, things that used to matter, will one day only get an 'eh' that's not important. It's a ongoing process of defining who I am and what matters to me. It's a series of tradeoffs and as I get older the things I don't care about spending money on gets bigger until more and more of my spending goes to fewer categories.

fun day with friend

June 11th, 2006 at 05:38 am

walked with mom for 30 min. It was dark by the time we got back to her house, but it was nice to sneak in at least 30 min.

went to the bank and deposited $75.49 in rebate checks and $15 in loose change. Money to add to my extra fund. My extra fund money is for something fun or special. I recently wiped it out for my Canadian vacation. I'm not sure what I'm saving for now. My short term savings fund is going for new carpet. I still want a good desk/table for my dining room to do bigger jigsaw puzzles on, so maybe I'll earmark it for that.

Went to Big Lots after the bank. Love that store. Go a metal ladle that I've wanted for a long time, but didn't want to spend much for. Paid $1. Got some food products too. Total $5.50. My mother collects strawberry stuff for her kitchen. Saw a really pretty strawberry rug for $5 and 2 strawberry hot pads to put under dishes for $2. Got her both of those and she paid me back. I told her if she didn't like them I would return them, but my experience with Big Lots is if you don't buy it when you see it, too bad, it will be gone.

Next I met my friend at the theater. I haven't seen her since February and we usually get together at least once a month so this was really great. She's adopting a 14 year old niece and it's taking a lot of her time assimilating a teen-ager into the family. She's the second person who's asked me if I've lost weight, so even though I haven't lost alot I must be getting firmer or something for it to show.

We saw the DaVinci code. Very good. Spent $5.50

We went to lunch at Rudy's Diner afterwards. I've never been there before, really cool place and the cheeseburger was great. Spent $9.50

Then we wandered around Target for awhile. I got a new printer for my dad for Father's day on sale for $25.00. I need to get something else for him too, maybe one of the ink cartriges. Ink is ridiculous it's cheaper to buy a new printer than to buy the ink cartriges. The color cartridge was $37.

I also got two Mossimo (sp) t-shirts, which I really like since they print the tag on the shirt instead of having it rub your neck. I always cut tabs off my shirts since I can't stand that neck rub thing. $12 each

I got 5 lbs of walnuts at $4.50/lb, best price I've found and I go through a 1/2 lb a week between breakfast and snacking. I'm not on that side of town that often so I stocked up.

Also bought a book. Total spent $78.83

Got a sample of Olay Complete Defense moisturizer.

Finished reading the library book The Sinmplicity Survival Handbook by Bill Jensen. Non-Fiction. Ok, basically you get everything you're going to get out of the book in the first 30 pages.

A/C day

June 10th, 2006 at 05:03 am

Had to turn the A/C on today for the first time this year. It got up to 88 and I couldn't stand it anymore. Makes me too tired to think and that's not good when you have as many things to keep track of as I do while working.

Sent the email to close out my Virtual Bank Account. Need to remember to check that they put the money in my checking account. I opened it for the $20 bonus, but tired of having to check multiple accounts every month for my net worth updates. Plus they don't pay as much as HSBC.

Got a Swiffer Duster sample in the mail.

Finished listening to the library book on tape The Hades Factor by Robert Lublum. Thriller. Very good.

new 401K rules

June 9th, 2006 at 04:45 am

walked with mom for 55 min

My company merged with another company the first of the year. Now they are trying to merge the 401Ks so the rules are changing, some are better and some aren't.

Better

The new company matches up to 6%, plus if they do well they will kick in up to another 3% first quarter next year. The old company matched 5%.

Worse

The new company matches 50% with company stock and 50% cash. I don't like money going into company stock, especially when you can't move it when you want to. Has to stay there for 3 years before you can sell it. Old company was 100% cash.

Worse

The new company only allows you to contribute up to 16% of salary, the old company allowed up to 20%. I won't be able to reach the max amount of $15,000 this year because of the difference and will have to pay taxes on over $2000 that I could have contributed costing me $600+ in taxes, that's a lot of money that could be invested and earning me money.

Worse

Moving from Merrill Lynch to Fidelity. Have to research all new funds and find out what's compatible with my investment strategy.

I don't like these kinds of changes, but not much I can do about it. Just have to pick my new funds and hope they do ok.

Finished reading my book A Secret Atlas by Michael A. Stackpole. Sci/Fi. Good.

rebate check

June 8th, 2006 at 04:55 am

walked with mom for 55 min

Got a CC rebate check for $50.29 in the mail.

Gave my parents one of my 5 free coke coupons. I'm going to give my brother and sister one too, and probably to a friend of mine, I need to find out if she drinks coke first. There's no way I can drink that much coke.

Finished listening to the library book on tape Missing Persons by Stephen White. Mystery. Good.

Free Vitamins

June 7th, 2006 at 05:12 am

walked with mom for 55 min

Went into the office today. Stopped at Walgreens and spent $2.11. I got 2 bottles of Nature Made Potassium Gluconate 100 Ct for free. They had a buy one get one free sale and I had the $5 coupon and they were $4.49 so both bottles were free. I take this to help with my blood pressure and to relieve the pain in my legs that the blood pressure medicine seems to cause.

Got gas after work. Had a .10 off deal with King Soopers so spent 2.59/gal. Total = 24.42

Had a coupon for a Sonic chicken strip dinner for $3.99 so got that and a coney dog for lunch tomorrow. Spent $8.67

I checked on the magazines I order in April. According the website I should get the Kiplingers on 7/8 and the Family Circle on 7/11. So any day now.

Had a bunch of pennies and nickles in a jar that I gave to my Dad to take to his bank since they don't charge for counting coins. Got $6.61 back. Goes to my Extra Fund. My bank charges 2% for loose coins. I wrap quarters and dimes and take them in one roll at a time and they don't charge for that.

Got a sample of Cover Girl Age-Defying makeup sample in the mail. I don't wear makeup so I gave it to my mom.

another coke coupon

June 6th, 2006 at 04:57 am

walked with mom for 55 min

I got another coca-cola coupon in the mail today. I guess I won 8 times instead of 7, I must have lost track.

Finished listening to the library book on tape Hidden Riches by Nora Roberts. Romance. Very Good.

coca-cola coupons not appreciated by everyone

June 5th, 2006 at 03:53 am

Went to King Soopers for groceries today. Used one of my Coca-Cola coupons. The cashier only took off the cost of one bottle of coke, so I told him the coupon was for all 5 bottles. He looks at it and says, "Where did you get this coupon?" Like I was manufacturing them or something. So I told him and said he'd probably be seeing a lot more of them. He goes, "I hope not". Geeze, it's not like the money comes out of his pocket, if the manufacture is paying for it, it's no skin off of his nose.

I spent $43.91 on groceries and $14.80 on books, magazines and newspapers. I got 5 free bottles of coke. a free 32 oz ottle of Wisk Dual Action detergent and a free newspaper. According to the recieopt I saved 41%

Got my haircut. Had a $2 coupon. Spent $12 with tip.

I've been using the Purity moisturizer sample that I got from the Hampton Inn in Vancouver. I really like it. I went on line to find it today and it's $32 for 16 oz bottle. That's pretty expensive. I usually spent between $4 and $6 for moisturizers, using sales and coupons. So I guess after my samples are gone that's it for that product. It's not 4 times as good as my regular moisturizers.

Finished reading the library book Second Sight by Amanda Quick. Romance. Very good

Saturday

June 4th, 2006 at 05:40 am

walked with mom for 55 min

Got the last 4 of my 7 Coca-Cola coupons in the mail today.

Went through my coupons and weeded out the expired ones today. Made a grocery list for tomorrow, it's pretty big.

Finished reading the library book Crazy Wild by Tara Janzen. Romance. Good

more gift cards

June 3rd, 2006 at 04:31 am

walked with mom for 55 min

Went to Village Inn for dinner, spent $9

Got the $5 Nature Made coupon in the mail today, that was really fast.

Signed up for a $1 trial with Shoppers Advantage through My Points. Get 200 points and $20 in Barnes and Noble gift cards. Put a note in my calendar to cancel in 25 days.

Had to work from 10:00 to 12:30 last night so got off work early today. I have to work late tomorrow night too.

Finished reading the library book Fever by Christine Feehan. Romance. Very good.

Started reading a library book called The Simplicity Survival Handbook by Bill Jensen. It has 32 Ways to Do Less and Accomplish More. It tells you how to Deal with Bosses who don't get it, delete 75% of your emails, Communicate anything to anyone, clairfy your goals more quickly, decide: stay or go? etc. Looks very interesting. I'm already 3 times as productive as anyone else in my group, but it never hurts to be even more productive. The one I need the most is how to Communicate anything to anyone, since I have to work with so many people who don't speak English very well.

June Goals

June 2nd, 2006 at 05:30 am

walked with mom for 55 min

Sold 4 books at half.com today. All from the same series. Spent $4.14 for postage. Had to mail two packages since I didn't have a mailer big enough for all 4 books.

Forgot to do the May Goals update yesterday so I'll do it today

Goals for May were:

1. Walk at least 25 days for 35 min
Done

2. Pre-pay mortgage - $1500
Done

3. Spend $450 or less on household items
I think so, but lost the form I was keeping the data on and don't feel like going back through all reciepts to redo it.

June Goals are:

1. Walk at least 25 days for 35 min

2. Pre-pay mortgage - $4000 this will meet my goal for the year of $12,000. Will use all of my 3rd paycheck to help meet this goal.

3. Spend $450 or less on household items.

4. Close the Virtual bank account that I opened for a bonus

5. Get tires replaced

6. Set up new budget