Retire@50

walked with mom for 55 min

Besides walking and going to the library, I've been stuck in front of my computer working all day. At least 10 hours.

I have 3 tons of work to do in the next month so probably won't be doing much reading or anything else for a while.

Last night I finished reading The Mom's Guide to Earning and Saving Thousands on the Internet. Make money with mystery shopping, surveys, and point programs by Barb Webb with Maureen Heck. Financial. I thought this was a pretty good book. Especially if you are new to these subjects. Lots of good websites are included in the book too.

walked with mom for 55 min

Got the Best Buy rewards from when I bought my computer in January in the mail today. But I only got half of what the sales person and their website said I should be getting, so another phone call. BLEAGH! Got $15 in rewards.

I still have 4 rebates outstanding on my computer, but expect them to get here eventually.

Finished listening to the library book on tape River's End by Nora Roberts. Mystery. Excellent book. I just love Nora Roberts books. She always has characters that you feel are real people. She has great story lines, great dialog and really makes you see her story in your mind and hear her characters. It's a good thing she writes so much, I devour her books.

walked with mom for 55 min

Afterwards my dad was telling me how much the new tires he needs is going to cost him. I asked him if he'd looked on the Internet. No, he's not a computer person and he can't talk mom into doing too much for him, because she get's tired of it.

He had called around town and the cheapest quotes he got were $850. So I found the same tires online at Discount Tire that he could go to in town and get for $760. That included mounting, taxes everything. Saved him over $80. He thought that was pretty cool.

I keep trying to get both of them to expand their computer capabilities since they have the time to do this kind of research.

Met an old co-worker for lunch. Spent $9. Was nice to catch up.

Sent off this months pre-payment for the mortgage $1500

walked for 55 min with mom

Went to dinner with parents at Rosies. Spent $6.50

I wish, i wish, i wish, i was retired. I need more time to do all the neat things there are to do on the Internet to make and save money.

I'm reading The Mom's Guide to Earning and Saving Thousands on the Internet by Barb Webb with Maureen Heck. I've only read one chapter so far and then went to thier website at

www.momdotcom.net Then I spent two hours looking around and filling out freebie offers. Good stuff.

Under their extras tab are some really cool tracking forms for rebates, shopping lists etc. If people are into mystery shopping they have a whole section on websites for that too.

I wish I had more time to visit some of the other websites they listed in their book. Maybe this weekend.

I'm not a big shopper, either online or off, but I do like to get good deals and if I had more time I could ferret them out, track them and take better advantage. I don't take advantage of a lot of things because it's just one more thing to deal with and manage.

walked with mom for 55 min

Got a free sample of Dove Calming night soap bar. I personally think it stinks. I'm not a flower smell person, they seem to give me headaches, but it's free and I can always pass it on if I decide not to use it.

Finished reading the library book One Last Look by Linda Lael Miller. Mystery. Very Good.

walked with mom for 55 min

DirectTV still has Showtime on tonight. I didn't see anything I wanted to see that I hadn't already seen this weekend, so I didn't get to take good advantage of the freebie.

Had a Dr appt this morning to check if my blood pressure has come down with the meds. It was 124/80 very good. She also took another blood test to see if I'm low in potassium, calcium or magnesium. I've had horrible cramps in my calves when walking this last week and she thinks it's a side affect of the meds. I hope they send it to the right lab this time, they sent it to the wrong one last time and it cost me $100 because it was out of network.

Went to McDonalds for breakfast after the Dr appt and spent $4.84

Got the March Walgreens rebates already. Expecting another $10 GC from them too.

Got information from my flex account, they paid my claim. My flex account still had money in it from last year and they told us we could use it up till March of this year. They took this claim out of this years account. I don't understand that and need to call tomorrow to find out what the deal is.

I hate calling people on the phone about accounts and things.

Booked our hotels in Edmonton for the extra night we are staying in Canada. $83 each. So far I've spent $2578.83 and I haven't gone anywhere yet.

Applied for my $10 rebate from the My Points insider club. I got my first two CDs from Your Music. The Wanda Jackson CD was really good. And I absolutely love the ZZ Top Rancho Texicano CD. I've been chair dancing to it all afternoon.

Finished reading the Smart Shopper magazine and printed off a $5 off $25 purchase coupon at Party City for my mom from one of the cites listed in the mag.

Finished reading Kiplinger's magazine. This issue is about How to save money on everything and the had a lot of the same stuff that was in the Smart Shopper magazine.

Finished listening to the library book on tape Winter Prey by John Sandford. Mystery. Very good. I love this series and the main character Lucas Davenport. He has some great lines.

walked with mom for 55 min

Went to the grocery store and spent $21.50 on food and $7.49 on a new paperback. I buy a lot fewer books than I used to, but still like to purchase ones that I know I will read over and over. I can't believe the prices on some of the new paperbacks, $9.99 for a paperback if you pay full price. and $7.49 when I get 25% off. Ridiculous. I don't like the new format of a lot of the paperback either, taller and thinner. The books look wierd on my bookcases.

Got a free Sunday newspaper at the grocery store when I was leaving. Saved 17%. Got two 15 ct boxes of Pizza Rolls for .10 cents each.

Went to Barnes and Noble and spent $18.55 used my free GCs. Got a Kiplinger's magazine How to save on Everything. And a new magazine called Arthur Frommer's Smart Shopping. This is a really good magazine, costs 2.99 and has a ton of money saving ideas and a lot of good websites to go to to find bargains. Well worth the money. Also picked up a book called Mom's guide to saving and making money on the Internet. Looked interesting. I had a 15% off coupon that I printed out from the Internet.

Went to Big Lots and spent $1.25 on a box of salt and 2 large bottles of spices.

Next met my parents at Red Lobsters. Had a coupon for $3 off 2 meals. My meal was only $6 including tax and tip. Popcorn shrimp, I love that stuff.

Last stop was Long's. Got a free Lady Speed Stick 24/7 deodorant. I had a $5 off $25 purchase coupon from the Entertainment book. They had chopped walnuts on sale at 1 lb for $3. A very good deal. I had just bought some at the grocery store for $6.99 a pound, so I stocked up and bought two more pounds at $6 total. I like to put a handfull of them on my oatmeal in the morning. I spent $22.74.

Free Stuff I got this week.

A Sunday Newspaper
A sample of Purpose Moisturizer
Lady Speed Stick 24/7 deodorant
Free Showtime movies

Finished reading the library book Crazy Hot by Tara Janzen. Romance/mystery. Pretty good.

walked with mom for 55 min

My goals for April are:

1. Walk at least 20 days for 35 min

2. Pre-pay mortgage - $1500

3. Spend $450 or less on household items

4. Get my mutual fund paperwork from last year updated and organized in their binders.

5. Re-do budget.

Finished listening to the library book on tape Dark Paradise by Tami Hoag. Mystery. Very good.

walked with mom for 55 min

DirectTV has a free Showtime movie weekend. So far there hasn't been anything I want to see. It seems like they've had a lot of free movie weekends lately.

My goals for March were:

1. Pre-pay mortgage by $2000.00. I increased this because I am expecting my computer rebates and tax returns this month so should be able to come up with another $500.

Done

2. Walk 20 times for at least 35 min

Done

3. Spend $400 or less for household items. Since I've stayed under $450 for the last 2 months, I'm lowering this goal.

Almost. Spent $413.96

Groceries - 123.06
Fast Food - 44.20
Restaurants - 54.59
Nieces - 32.95
Books - 13.17
Gas - 43.7
HBAs - 46.53
Entertainment - 17.97
Other - 32.79

4. Lose 5 lbs. - This is a financial goal as well as a health goal, since it will save me money.

Only lost 3 lbs, but it's progress.

My net worth increased by 3%

Got the Travel Cancellation insurance policy today. Spent $90 for this.

Finished reading my book Partnership by Anne McCaffrey and Margaret Ball. Sci/Fi. Ok

walked with mom for 55 min

Was able to get access to the site today, so hopefully whatever the problem was is gone. I enjoy checking in and reading everyone's blogs every day. Not to mention checking out the freebie section.

Got my last half.com book sale back in the mail today. I guess the label came off. I sent the buyer an email and will resend it tomorrow.

Went to Village Inn for dinner with parents. Spent $9

Finished listening to the library book on tape Slow Burn by Julie Garwood. Romance/Mystery. Very good and very funny. How can you not enjoy a book that starts out,

"Her Wonder Bra saved her life."

I still can't get to the site today unless I try through my works VPN. If I'm outside of the VPN I get page cannot be displayed. I don't know if my ISP is blocking the site or what the problem is. If I can't figure it out, I'll probably have to stop visiting very often. I shouldn't be going through the companies VPN even though it's on my own time.

Walked with mom 55 min today.

Yesterday went into town and spent $13.95 at Staples. I had an old ink cartridge so got $3 off. I bought a new plastic floor protector for under my desk chair. Mine was breaking up into little pieces. It's 4 years old.

I went to Bed, Bath n Beyond and got a cool expandable strainer. I make pasta a lot so this strainer is very neat because it folds flat and doesn't take a lot of room in your cupboards. It was $14.99 and I had a $5 off $15 purchase so I bought a cheap piece of candy to make it over $15. Spent $11.92

I got my passport today. I think it's about 4 weeks since I sent it off. I also got a free Purpose moisturizer sample from WalMart and a $20 rebate for my computer.

I had computer problems yesterday and couldn't get to the site to read the latest blogs. Finally got it worked out today.

Walked 35 min with mom yesterday and today.

Got my last months Walgreens rebate for $10.98 in the mail, still expecting another $10 GC from them.

My bother's bday is the 27th and my BILs is the 25th so we always celebrate them together. My bother turned 40 this year and my BIL turned 45 so of course my mom had to decorate with buzzards and black balloons etc.

We had dinner at my parents, steak, mashed potatoes, green beans with bacon, deviled eggs, salad, and rolls. So good. Chocolate cake and ice cream for dessert. I didn't have any cake, I don't particulary like chocolate in any other form except candy. I don't like chocolate milk, ice cream, pudding, pie or cake.

Spent quite a bit of time talking to both nieces, which I always enjoy.

Finished reading The Lion's Daughter by Loretta Chase. Romance. Ok.

walked with mom for 55 min

We booked our airline tickets today. I joined the mypoints insider club for $1 and going through there site to United got 250 points plus the round trip ticket was $427.89 this was at least $50 cheaper than I found it anywhere else. We also got travel insurance for the tickets for $17.12 each.

I need to go back to Mypoints and get the $10 signup rebate.

I also signed up for Your Music through My Points and got another 250 points. For this you pay $5.99 a month with no S&H and get whichever CD is in your queue sent to you each month. You can cancel anytime. After looking through their selection of music I quickly came up with about 8 CDs I would like. They have a wide variety, but I especially like older music and mostly I buy greatest hits CDs. I purchased ZZ tops greatest CDs which is a two CD set for $11.98 and my first CD that will be sent to me as my monthly pick is Wanda Jackson's greatest hits. I've been looking for a CD for her for a long time in the stores. She was called the female Elvis and does some great rock-a-billy stuff. I think 5.99 is a bargain for a CD. I plan to get some gifts for my nieces from here too.

Went to the King Soopers for groceries and spent $54.08, got to use my Safeway $5 off coupon from the Entertainment book I got from Mypoints. I have enough points for a $25 gift certificate now, just need to go do the paperwork to get it sent to me.

Got a free box of Act II microwave popcorn at the grocery store.

Watched Alien vs Predator which I had taped from last weeks free HBO weekend. I thought it was good. I liked that they had a strong black woman hero for this one.

Went to the library and picked up about 8 more books on tape, plus 2 Ray Charles CDs.

Listed 11 more books on Half.com.

Finished listening to the library book on tape Face the Fire by Nora Roberts. Romance. Very good.

walked with mom for 35 min

Got a IAMS dog treat sample today. I don't have any pets so it goes to my sister for her dog.

I had a very frustrating day at work. I hate it when people hide the state of their work. Then when I take it over, it's a disaster. I have to spend hours and hours fixing it to make it work properly. It's not fair for one thing, but I always feel so outraged that they lied. I also feel outraged that when management finds out about it, it's oh well do the best you can to fix it. BLEAGHHH!!

It's wasteful and inefficient. When you find out people haven't been doing there jobs you ought to be able to ask for some of their salary back. That's what happens when you purchase something and don't get the value you expected.

Finished listening to the libary book on tape Stranger in a strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein. Sci/Fi. Very good. One of the great science fiction writers. I remember reading this book 10 years ago and it was written in 1961 yet is still fresh and interesting.

walked with mom 35 min yesterday
walked 55 min today

Went to Taco Bell for supper and bought extra for lunch tomorrow. $10.42

The free movies are gone, but I have a couple taped that I might get to next weekend.

Got an email that our Canada trip is booked, but the show we wanted to see is sold out. Oh well, I'm sure we will find something else to do.

Finished reading the library book Airtight Case by Beverly Connor. Mystery. Very good. If you like Patricia Cornwell you will probably like Beverly Connor.

Looks like HBO might be free for the whole week. However, there hasn't been any movies I want to see since Sunday, but I'll keep checking back.

The snow from yesterday melted today, but we're supposed to get some more tomorrow. Haven't been able to walk outside for two days. I miss it.

Finished reading my book The Good, The Bad and the Sexy by Emily Carmichael. Romance. Ok, but this was a new author and I won't be looking for anymore of her books. Pretty cliche.

snowy day today so didn't get to walk. Got my tax refund $424 and a CC rebate check for $55.32

Sent for my March Walgreens rebate $16.98 and resubmitted the $30 software rebate, hope it goes through this time.

walked with mom for 55 min, it was snowing pretty hard by the time we finished. It was just cold when we started.

Ran errands today.

Got my oil changed and new windshield wipers for $53.59 - had a $6 coupon

Dollar store $3, pasta 2 1lbs for $1 and cinnamon spices

Wendy's mandarin chicken salad for dinner. $4.82

Newspapers $2.25

Outback for lunch $13.80

Walgreens $8.23 saved $12.27 in coupons.

Gas 2.46/gal $20.89

Did a load of laundry and made oatmeal for the week. Didn't watch any movies today, wasn't anything on that I wanted to see while I was at home to watch it. Taped Scooby Doo 2 but don't know when I'll get around to watching it.

Free stuff this week.

Free movie weekend HBO
Degree Ultra clear deodorant - sample
25 2-liter bottles of coke.

Finished reading the library book Dressed to Die by Beverly Connor. Mystery. Good.

walked with mom for 55 min

We faxed our booking form to the Canada people for our trip.

Went to King Soopers and spent $20.35 for groceries. Didn't need much this week. Went to Village Inn for dinner and spent $7. got a free carwash at the Restaurant. It was raining pretty good and my car is cleaner than it's been in a while. Seems like everytime I'm in town around a car wash it's been snowing for a month, so the car was pretty dirty.

Got a rebate returned saying I didn't send all the proofs and I know I did, so I need to reply to that and see if I can get the $30.

It's nice to have a free movie weekend, but it means I don't get much else done. Watched Ray, which was really good. Watched Daffy Duck's Fantastic Island. Love looney toons. Watched part of Catwoman, which was ok, won't watch the whole thing. Plan to watch Resident Evil: Apocalypse later tonight.

Finished reading the library book Working Less, Live More by Bob Clyatt. Finance. Ok, nothing new.

walked with mom for 35 min

I've got free HBO this weekend and they had some pretty good movies on tonight. Watched Chronicles of Riddick and Miss Congeniality 2.

Did finally get approval from my boss to take my vacation on my original date May 17. Filled out the booking form, and need to run it by my parents in the morning and then fax it.

Finished listening to the library book on tape White Death by Clive Cussler. Adventure. Good.

walked with mom for 55 min

My Grandma is staying at my parents for a couple of days so I had dinner there tonight. Enchiladas, yum!

We played cards all evening. Nice time.

walked with mom for 55 min

Won 5 more bottles of Coke today.

I so want to retire and not have to worry about deadlines or losing my job. I asked for my days off for my Canada trip. I'm going with my parents and we probably worked at this for two weeks to find a time that fit everyone's schedule, was during the cheap time to go, missed mother's day and memorial day weekend, etc. We came up with the perfect time. It happens to co-incide with one of my work deadlines. So my boss doesn't want me to go then.

I think that stinks. There is never a good time workwise. There is always something happening. This is a big deadline, but these kinds of deadlines have never been met in 3 years, they always move. So if I move my vacation there is no guarantee that the deadline would be on that date anyways. The thing I would be doing on that date is also being done by 3 other people. It's not necessary for all 4 of us to do the same thing on the same night.

I work almost all of my vacation time throughout the year unpaid. I get 3 weeks of vacation but an extra 2 - 3 hours a week adds up to 100 - 150 hours, which nullifies my vacation time. Anyways my boss hasn't said no he's just asked me how important it is to go on that date. My parents have agreed to move the date, but I just don't think it's right to have to do that. I plan to talk to him tomorrow to see if I can talk him into saying it's ok to go on the dates we want.

Finished reading my book Blame it on Chocolate by Jennifer Greene. Romance. Very cute. If you like Janet Evanovich you will probably like Jennifer Greene.

Very happy with myself. Drove into work today but didn't stop to pick up any dinner on the way home. Progress.

Went to Walgreen's and spent $16.97 will get a $10 gift card rebate.

Deposited rebate checks in the bank.

Got a free sample of Degree Ultra Clear in the mail.

Won 10 more bottles of Coke.

walked with mom for 55 min

Won 10 more 2-liter bottles of Coke. I'm up to 25 now. I don't drink coke, but I can give them as gifts or maybe get some other product that I can drink or donate them.

Got my $10 Pepsi rebate in today's mail, plus another sample of Dove shampoo and conditioner. I don't think I've paid for shampoo in over 15 years.

Mailed the book I sold on Half.com and spent $1.59

It's been really nice around here weather wise for the last week. So of course today when I have to drive for 2 hours it snows.

Got gas and 2 newspapers for $24.81. Gas has gone back up and was $2.29/gal

Took my niece up to Denver for the miniature class I signed us up for. It was really good. We learned a lot of neat tricks.

We went to Barnes and Noble first and I spent. $41.36 on 6 books. Used the gift cards I got from opening a new CC.

We went to Red Lobster for lunch. Our favorite place. Spent $18.48

It started to snow while we were in the class but wasn't too bad yet when we got out at 4:30. I bought one item at the class for $12.82 and I had already sent them a $70 check for the fees.

I stopped at a town halfway between Denver and my town for dinner. We went to Wendy's and I spent another $14.47. I got one of their deli sandwiches to have for lunch tomorrow too. When we got out of Wendy's and back on the freeway, the snow was a little heavier but still not bad, the roads were just wet not slick. But for some reason we crawled home. 10-20 miles an hour. There were no wrecks, people were just afraid to drive. It was ridiculous. It should have taken us a half hour to get to my town and it took more than an hour. Then by the time we did get there, it was dark and the snow was starting to stick.

Free stuff I got this week:

15 2-liter bottles of Coke. I won twice more today.
1 bag black jelly beans
Gillete vibrance razor
3 Smart Ones frozen dinners
Dove shampoo and conditioner sample

I finished reading Skeleton Crew by Beverly Connor. Mystery. Good

walked with mom for 55 min

Spent the whole day doing errands and chores. First to the post office to mail my half.com book. $2.55

Next King Sooper's for groceries. Really good coupon day. Spent $33.97. Saved 45%. Got 3 Smart Ones frozen dinners for free. Got a bag of black jelly beans to give to my dad for his bday for free. Got a Gillete Vibrance razor that is free after rebate and I had a $3 coupon so they paid me to buy that, gave it to my mom. The salmon had been marked down 30%, so I got 4 portions and froze 3. Red Baron thin crust pizza was 40% off and I had 2 $1 coupons so got 2 large pizzas for $2.71. Hormel li'l smokies were on sale for $2.50 and I had 2 $1 coupons so spent $1.50 for those. Normal price is $3.69. So a good day.

Went to the library and got new holds and 4 new books on tape to listen to.

Got a free sample of Dove shampoo and moisturizer in the mail as well as a $50 rebate for my computer.

Made oatmeal for the week and chopped celery. Also made 3 miniature meatloaves. Froze one for later, ate one for dinner and will have one later in the week.

Several people are doing the $20 challenge and have asked for ideas. This one probably won't make you much, but it should work. I frequently get coupons for 20% off at Bed bath n beyond and linen's and things. Both stores have told me the coupons are good for a year regardless of the expiration date and also that they will take each others coupons. I saw several people on ebay are selling these coupons. They sell them in batches of 5 - 10. When I saw this I thought of other coupons that might sell. The Entertainment book has coupons for $25 - $75 off of airline tickets, perhaps those would sell also. Just a thought.

Finished reading a very long (almost 700 pages) book called The Ring of Five Dragons by Eric Van Lustbader. Sci/Fi first in a series. It was pretty good. The print was very tiny, so it took quite a while to read.

walked with mom for 55 min. Very cold, it was snowing while we walked.

Went to dinner afterwards. Used my Entertainment book coupon BOGO. My dad's meal was horrible so they gave him his meal for free too. He ended up paying for mom's meal and mine was free.

We sat down and worked out several of the details of our Canada trip. My mom loves to shop. The biggest mall in the world is in Edmonton. We will be about 3 hours away from that. So we are extending our trip by one more day to go shopping. This mall is like disneyland I guess. It has 7 theme parks, wave-lake, dolphins, submarines, casinos and replica of the Christopher Columus boat and 800 stores. No way we will get through even a fraction of it, but it seems a shame to get so close and not even visit.

Paid my car insurance today. $359.98.

Sold another book at half.com for $8

I finally won at the coca-cola game. I won 5 2-liter bottles.

Finished listening to the library book Birthright by Nora Roberts. Romance. Excellent.

walked with mom for 55 min

Got a CC rebate check for $65.02 and a $5 Pinecone survey check in the mail today.

I checked the nesteggzreward site for my CC reward with that card and it's totally changed. My rewards are gone as is the shopping site. I'll call tomorrow to find out what's going on. I had over $55 in rewards last time I looked.

I printed out the $50 gas cards for test driving a Ford Fusion form and gave it to my dad. He did it yesterday and they sent the form in. Hope he gets the gift cards. He was pretty tickled about it. I also told him about Arby's giving away free chicken tenders today, so him and my mom went there and got one a piece which they ate and then went home and had lunch. My mom was mortified, she thought he should have bought something. I told her she has a coupon for buy one get one free sandwich, they could have used that. I think it's funny myself. He's really getting into all the bargains I pass along to him. He especially likes the free samples that show up in the mail.

walked with mom for 35 min. Started to snow so went back to walking at lunch today instead of waiting till after work for the longer walk. Some walk is better than no walk

The new Wendy's deli sandwiches are very good, even the next day.

I've been trying the coca-cola game that was posted somewhere, not sure if I saw it in the freebies or in a blog. Still haven't won anything after 6 tries. I don't usually do these because I have very bad luck. Almost never win anything.

went into work today. Had to work late and my lunch I brought was long gone by the time I finished. So I went to Wendy's on the way home. Not good!

Bought 4 meals worth of food since it all looked so good and I couldn't decide. Got a Mandarin Chicken salad for dinner tomorrow night. Got Chili for dinner the next night. Bought a hamburger and fries for dinner tonight. Got a Turkey and swiss sandwich for lunch tomorrow. This is new for Wendy's, deli sandwiches. The sandwich looks really good. We'll see. Everything except the hamburger and fries was pretty healthy. Spent $16.69

I'm in a mood to not cook recently. I need to get back to preparing meals and eating at home. I think I'm feeling overwhelmed, too much to do, between work and the trip and life. Running as fast as I can right now and still seem to keep falling behind. Need more sleep too.

Finished listening to the library book on tape Shadow of the Giant by Orson Scott Card. Sci/Fi. 4th in series. Very good series.