January 28

It's been a few days between posts, but things are still going well. Today was a no spend day. A breakfast we were helping with had oodles of leftovers that we got to take home. A gallon+ of raw diced potatoes, five onions, several bags of scrambled eggs, grapes, strawberries, 2 bags of sliced & peeled bananas and several bags of sliced ham. The plan is to buy some tortillas tomorrow and make up a bunch of breakfast burritos for dh. There is probably enough for 20-30 burritos. There will be a ton of potatoes left even after the burritos, so a pot of potato soup will use up the rest. With such a big, late breakfast, we didn't even eat lunch and still are not really hungry for dinner.

I found a source of free firewood on craigslist and have been going daily to get a load or two. Nine loads so far. There is still one load left there and then I have to wait till the homeowner cuts up more of the big stuff. We exchanged phone #s and he will call when the bigger stuff is cut up. I've already brought home enough to burn for all of next winter. We need to get the splitter running, now that Ds has moved away I have to figure that out myself.

Yesterday we went out to dinner. With a coupon for a free appetizer, a gift card received for Christmas and splitting a meal, the whole thing cost about $14, tip included, with leftovers that were enjoyed today. A stop for a free coffee refill after dinner, relaxing and sharing time together, then to the grocery for a few items. Dh's deodorant was on sale for .88 combined the sale with a b1g1 coupon as well as $1 off coupon, both were free. They also had soft-soap on sale for .88. with a .40 coupon which doubled. My final cost for all three was .14. Not bad at all! There is still money on the visa gift card we got for Christmas, so there was no actual oop cost.

I found a dollar on the ground at the coffee shop, so I actually came out ahead today....hot dog!

January 23

I took a volunteer to work on the company today, we had burritos. And once again I brought half home for dh. Dd ate the chips and guacamole on the way home from school. We had soup for dinner tonight, the burrito will be dinner tomorrow.

Also stopped by the culled produce bin at the local organic foods store. I got a bin full of mostly lettuce. The chickens will get most of it, but there were some veggies we could use. Free is good!

After there, I stopped at the local grocery to check out their scratch and dent area. I got four bags of cookies & cream chex mix. Originally 2.99, marked down to .99. With coupons two were free and two were 49 cents. They also had a 9.49 Aveeno sun screen marked down to $3 and I had a $2 coupon. Dd wanted apples and they were 1.09/lb for large or 3/$1 fro the smaller ones. Smaller is better and I weighed them to see which was a better deal. Smaller was a better deal with 3 weighing about 1.25 lbs. We picked up six apples. My total for the shop was $4.09. I put it on the gift card, so my OOP was $0.00.

I spoke with a mortgage broker on Friday regarding the possibility of refinancing our loan. I thought I'd go to our current mortgage holder today to see if maybe I could work a better deal. I really prefer staying with them because 1. I would owe a $500 fee for closing out my HELOC account, not cool. It is paid off, but has to be kept open for three years to avoid the fee, its been open 14 months. 2. I get all account fees waived for savings & checking and 100 free trade/yr by keeping the mortgage with them. I have stopped by the mortgage guy's office on occasion to chat, and in doing so have become somewhat friends with him. He said he would beat the other guy's deal if I would stay with his bank. He said he would cover all costs, fees, etc and still give me the same rate. I told him to proceed. So, we locked in the rate today and will be getting paperwork tomorrow. The payment will go up, but we moved it to a 3.5% 15 yr loan rather than a 4.625% 30 yr. I still intend to pay it off in five.

I forgot to mention, I had a dental check-up Friday. I have worked out a barter with the Dentist. He was the one who initially offered. We trade hunting for dental work, its a good trade. He hunts our 40 acres and in trade gives us 4K in dental work annually after insurance. We come nowhere near using that much in dental work, but it is still a great trade.

January 21, A no-spend day

Using some of my new-found bread, raisin cinnamon bread, and my last two eggs, I made french toast for breakfast. Sausage patties and fresh squeezed OJ rounded out the meal. The hens have pretty much quit laying and I have used up my surplus. I pretty much refuse to buy eggs when I have 30 hens running around outside my back door. I added extra milk to stretch it and have enough for Sunday's breakfast as well.

Dd used up the remainder of the quart of homemade applesauce with her breakfast. I added some water and will use that to make some pancakes for breakfast tomorrow, maybe holding the french toast off for another day.

Dh and I worked on the hen boxes this afternoon. The steer somehow managed to get into the coop and messed them up. I had 15 boxes, but only two were left after Mr Steer was done. Some are beyond repair, but I have 8 that are now in good working order. Hay is too expensive right now, I cut grass clumps and used that instead. Hopefully they will start laying again. We will switch to yogurt and milk for breakfast, maybe some oatmeal and cereal for a while.

Lunch was instant potatoes topped with the remaining rib eye roast meat. Oh man, it was so delicious! I roasted some sweet peppers over the fire and we enjoyed them immensely. We ate lunch pretty late so no one was really hungry for dinner.

It was warm enough outside to open the doors today. It was good to get some fresh air in the house since dh has some cold symptoms. It got to about 56 today, not super warm, but in the sun it was nice. It actually felt warmer outside today than inside, another reason to open the doors.

The electric bill came today. I tried to hard to keep all extra lights off, etc. and it was only about $10 less than last month when ds had his friend in town and they pretty much had every light and Tv in the house on, along with the furnace and oven running often. Not sure why it didn't drop much. Also got our bill from the HOA, they increased dues again, they are now double what they were just 5 yrs ago when we moved here. :(

Dh found a Netflix movie about the 1930's. We are sitting watching it now. AMAZING the similarities to today's socio-economic situations. Global upheaval, protests in the streets, joblessness, dustbowls, etc. Ever since I can remember, I have always found that era so fascinating.

Friday, January 20, cooking ahead

Friday was another no-spend day for me, but not for dh. He went to lunch with some work friends and tossed $15 into the lunch pool. It was a cash only spot, so he had to use the ATM and was charged $1 to do so. He then stopped and got gas, $22.34 and picked up some pop and ice cream for "date night" spending $5.46.

We stayed home for date night since dh didn't feel so great. We saved more than 5.46 in gas by not going out, so I guess it worked out okay.

I also talked with a mortgage broker about refinancing our loan...again. We were at 6.25 in 2007, re-fi'd 16 months ago at 4.625 and now can get 3.5, so I told the broker to hold on till I could discuss with dh and make sure he was okay with it. I plan to go to my current mortgage holder on Monday and see if he can beat the deal the broker is offering, maybe he will want to keep my business enough to do so. But in all honesty, he will probably end up with the loan again even if he doesn't want to keep me bad enough to offer me better.

If we re-fi I believe we can pay enough extra to have it paid off in five years. Thats my goal anyhow. It means keeping a tight hold on the purse strings, but it is definitely do-able.

For dinner I made stroganoff with some of the leftover rib eye roast, I made enough for two meals. since I was cooking pasta and had hot water, I also tossed in some cheese tortellini and mixed it with some left over pasta sauce I had in the fridge, voila, dinner for another night this week. The left over pasta water went into the soup pot. So I have an extra stroganoff, a tortillini, and a few days worth of soup.

I dumpster-dived at the local health food store and brought home 15 loaves of hand crafted artisan bread. I'll give some to the cows, chickens, & dog, and some will be for us.

January 19, a no spend day, and a vet bill

Today was a no spend day. But I did receive the vet bill in the mail. And yes, there is a reason he prefers to send via mail rather than in person. The almost 50% discount if I pay within 30 days was still 343!!!! Holy cow!! ...almost literally.

So, I have to adjust numbers for next month to see where I can make some potential cuts. Oy, that was an expensive "yes", I need to learn to say no more often.

I took a friend to lunch on the company, I have budget to do that. We got burritos and I brought half of mine home for dh. So, no cooking for me tonight.

Dh got his two free Starbucks refills and we each got a free red box rental, so we rented two and watched them tonight. I'll return them tomorrow.

January 18

Dropped dd off at her preschool internship and headed back into town to do a little shopping. Stopped and filled up at the grocery gas station. had a 10 cent a gallon discount, but still paid 85.77 to fill up. I ran into the grocery to grab an ad and look around at any discounted/clearance merchandise. They didn't have anything good.

The bread store is next door to the grocery, so I stopped in for a free slice. Yay, breakfast for me! Cranberry Orange, delicious! Headed to Target to get a few coupon items and browse some other items that I had potential coupon savings for. They had some Nestle Chocolate chips on clearance for 1.28. I resisted the urge to buy 50 ;-) and just picked up 2. They had Purina One dog food on sale, reg 7.49, on sale for 5.99 and a $5 coupon, so it ended up costing .99 plus tax. Total for the shop was $4.11. I put it on the gift card, remaining balance is $21.37.

I headed to the farm store to purchase a syringe for the calf. $1.08 spent.

Then hit the other grocery, again for clearance items. They had our yogurt on clearance for $3.79. Once again, I resisted the urge and just purchased two. My total there with tax was $7.83. I used my Visa gift card, remaining balance $25.29.

I then hit the thrift and picked up a few items....nothing too exciting, a small vintage hand-held sieve for .25, several canning jars for .49 each, two vintage butter dishes for .39 each, a really nice bed spread and pillow shams for 8.99 (I don't have one for the upstairs guest bedroom), a couple of free baskets, two large food service storage containers with lids (1.89 each) and a set of heavy duty sewing needles (.89). My total for the thrift was $18.56....more than I intended to spend, but less than I would have months ago as well as for full price. Oh well, I passed up a lot of things that I wanted but didn't really need.

I found .26 today on the sidewalk outside the thrift, yay! Dh got his two refills at Starbucks.

Dinner was leftover soup and free salad greens from the culled produce bin. I threw the bones from the rib eye roast we shared with friends into the crock pot, they smell so good. They will be a nice pot of soup for next week :)

January 17, a trip to the airport

I took a couple from church to the airport this morning. Had to be at their house at 6:45 am, and it was a cold miserable morning. Eight below and 5" of snow, I would rather have stayed home. Since it was work related, I will get reimbursed for the mileage, tolls and parking. The couple gave me a $15 handshake for my help, it was nice of them, but not necessary. And I told them so. I was supposed to drop them at the curb, but they were so unfamiliar with the airport, having only flown once...in 1973, I took them to their gate and stayed till they boarded per their request.

After I left the airport, I hit Costco for a bag of Craisins. They go on sale every January and I usually buy a half dozen bags to keep us all year. They had a limit of one, so I may go back again once or twice to pick up more. Regular pice 7.79, they had a $3 instant coupon so with tax it was 5.08. Not bad for the big bag. I also got gas. $2.83/gal. I spent $33.80.

I then stopped by our friends and shoveled & swept their driveway. The grocery by their house usually has good clearance, so I dropped in to see what they had. Nothing good this time, but I did get a clamshell of strawberries and used some coupons for butter...which was on a half price sale, and a bag of chocolate milk mix.

My trip looked like this:

2 lb strawberries Reg. 4.99, Sale $3.79

2 1lb Butter Reg $9.98, Sale $4.70 $2 coupons, Final cost 2.70

1 pkg Nesquick Reg 1.19, $1 coupon, final cost $.19

Total: 16.16, my cost $6.66 for a 59% saving.

I then stopped at Walmart and used a few more coupons I had for some free items.

My Walmart trip, coupons and sale included:

18.5 oz Honey Bunches of Oats cereal $1.49

2 Family sized pillsbury brownie mixes .49 each

Shick Hydro Razer 0.00

3 Packages cookies $1.00

White out 0.00

2 rolls packing tape 0.00

1 tube toothpaste 0.00

Thermometer (for my calf) 2.96

Total With tax: $7.67

A couple from church called and said they have a gift for me. I stopped by and had a nice visit with them. They gave me a wonderful card and lavender candle. I love lavender!

The Grocery by their house has a bin they put out with culled vegetables. They had a lot of nice lettuce, celery and broccoli. I have lettuce for several days and made 2 quarts of vegetable broth.

For dinner we had more leftovers....soup, the salad greens I picked up today, and sandwiches from the deli Groupon deal.

All in all, a good day.

January 16, insurance review

We went into town to do an insurance review today. We hadn't done a review since moving here almost 5 years ago. There were a few things recently that we had to follow up with them on over the last few months that ended up giving us a refund, so we figured it was time to go in and meet with them and review all our policies and make sure they had everything right.

I had a Groupon for the local yogurt place, so we stopped there before leaving town. We had dd with us so spent a little more than if it was just the two of us. But still $4.32 for the three of us wasn't too bad. Dh got a free refill on his coffee and we all got a bottled water and free Kleenix tissue pack from the insurance company.

We had leftovers for lunch and dinner. I think the leftovers are multiplying, we've been eating them for two weeks now.

January 15, another no-spend day

Went in to town for church today. I cut coupons on the way in while dd filed them in my coupon box. We stopped at Starbucks on the way home and dh got his free refill. They also gave him a ground sample of their blonde roast, she said a pot's worth. Dh makes it a little weaker than they do, so it was enough for two pots.

Dh wanted to stop at the grocery for some pop. I talked him out of it, but then really wanted some later on. I was glad to not have it in the house, we don't need it.

it was pretty nice today. We brought in a face cord of wood, it is supposed to snow tomorrow.

Tomorrow is a vacation day...for all of us, yay. Hopefully we will stay home and clean house or something equally productive.

A no spend day, but not a no cost day

I awoke to find a couple of stray calves in my yard. They were drawn down my my mamma calling out for her calf all night. I locked him up in the chicken house so I could milk her. They are not a fan of the arrangement.

I thought I might know whose they were and after googling some property records and making a call, sure enough, I located their owner. He was happy to have them back, they had been on the lam for over two months. I asked him if perhaps he had a bander big enough to band my calf and he said he thought he did and he'd bring it with when he came back with some hay for his calves. Turned out the bander was too small so he said he'd just cut him...mistake. He did a terrible job and my little guy nearly held out. I had to call the vet out for an emergency visit and 5 injections, a bag of electrolytes, sutures and 6 blood-soaked towels later he left.

I sent dh in to grab the checkbook and the vet said he prefers to send a bill, it works better for him that way. I'm guessing that's because he will be out of reach when I open the envelope and see the charges. Live and learn. That was a costly lesson, for me and the calf.

Otherwise we didn't leave home today.

Lunch was leftovers and dinner was chili from the freezer.

Hope my baby is feeling better tomorrow.

January 13, no spend day for me

No spend day for me, but dh bought gas, $42.19. On the way to get dd from school I deposited the insurance refund and picked up a couple warm cookies at the bank. Dd was happy to find out I had a warm cookie for her when I pulled up.

We went back into town to visit with friends and have dinner out, Friday is our usual date night. We used a gift card we received for Christmas. We brought some home, it will go great with the game tomorrow.

I made a cake with coffee, white chocolate and a ganache over the top to take to our friends house. We had a great time just sitting around the table visiting.

In the pantry I found 3 loaves of bread with just one or two pieces left, so will make french toast for breakfast tomorrow morning. Leftovers for lunch and I have a bag of frozen chili that I'll thaw out and serve for dinner while the game is on.

Dh got his refills of coffee from Starbucks.

Hopefully tomorrow will be another no spend day.

Wish it was a no spend day...

I got to work today only to get out and hear a hissing coming from my rear driver's side tire. :(

Upon inspection I saw I picked up a screw right into the center of the tread...thank goodness it was in a fixable spot and it held air till I got to work. At four degrees it could have been worse. The tire store said it was right on the edge of being able to be fixed because my tire is close to being too bald. He said they could attempt to fix it but there was a really good chance the rubber would separate and I would need a new tire. I felt uneasy about him, so I thanked him and headed to the dealership. $23.24 and an hour later I was good to go. Other than that, nothing spent. The newer cars have stupid sensors that have to be reset when a tire is repaired so they are more expensive.

I stopped by Starbucks for their taste testing and got a sizable free sample. Good for at least one full pot :)

Leftovers for dinner. Tomorrow is my day off, but I still have to come to town twice, once to drop dd off for school and a second time to pick her up.

plugging along...

Zero degrees, 5" of snow. 50.2 degrees inside tonight, belch. Can't wait for spring! I ran a few errands today on the way to work/school, got some good deals.

The thrift had a box of caning jars for $4. They were unused, in original wrapping and came with lids and bands, also still in unopened packaging. Got a hand shovel for .50 and a book on money saving ideas for ten cents. Including tax I spent 4.98

Got two more boxes free mac & cheese at Target :)

Stopped at the bread store for a free slice of Cinnamon swirl bread. They were generous and cut us slices almost 2" thick! Dh & I laughed, it was more like eating a cinnamon roll.

Then hit the grocery, had a $1 coupon for silk and they had a quart on clearance for 49 cents. They paid me .51 to take that home! Yay.

My grocery trip:

2 lb roll Pork sausage Reg 3.59, on sale 1.79

2 lb mixed sweet peppers reg 5.99 sale 4.99

Sargento Mozz cheese Reg 3.69 Sale 1.85, $1 coupon

3 1lb pkg butter Reg 4.69, sale 2.35, 3 $1 coupons

Cherry tomatoes Reg 3.99, sale 2.50, $1 coupon

1 Qt Silk (soy milk) reg 2.89, clearance .49 $1 coupon

Total cost 34.22 My cost 12.89, a 62.33% discount. Not bad!

We also had quite a few samples at the store. Cheeses, clementines, cut fruit, etc.

My purchases today used up my first $50 Gift card and cut into my other $50 GC by 2.25. I still have $14 something on my target GC.

Dh stopped at the grocery to purchase a sympathy card for a co-worker. $4.31

He also got his two free coffee refills. I got a gallon of unopened OJ from work, leftover from a meeting and now two weeks past date, I knew it would be tossed soon, but it was still perfectly fine to drink.

Dinner was leftovers. I made dh a lunch for tomorrow...a salad, half deli sandwich, trail mix and a clementine.

January 10, a no spend day for me

It was almost a no-spend day today, but dh needed gas...again. Even at 18 mpg, a tank only lasts him 4 days :( But he has a job. He was out of work for 14 months two years ago now. I would much rather have him spending the gas and bringing in a nice paycheck.

After staff meeting today the boss took us all to lunch. I got the fajita plate because one, I love fajitas and two, I knew there would be enough left over to take home for dinner! It was sort of embarrassing when they brought the food. I had 3 plates. A plate with 4 tortillas, a plate with a skillet full of chicken, red/green peppers and onions, and a plate loaded with cheese, lettuce, diced tomatoes, sour cream, guacamole, and salsa. I made and ate one fajita, the rest went into a take home box. I brought it home and weighed it, wow...almost 2 lbs of food!! That will feed us for tonight..yay, free dinner!

I deposited the insurance refund today. Hoped the reimbursement check might be in my work mailbox. Apparently the administrator is dragging his feet in paying it since it is such a large amount. Maybe tomorrow...

Dh had lunch out on the company today too. two free lunches, free dinner, two free coffees. Not a bad day!

January 9, good deals and almost free food

Stopped at Target again on the way to school, since we go right past it. Picked up two more boxes of free mac & cheese, 4 flosses and dd had to have a spray bottle from the dollar spot for her hair product. I guess home made hair product (vs store bought) is worth the $1 bottle. I hoped the floss coupons would give me an overage, and well, they sort of did, but they charged tax on the whole amount, so it ended up costing me more than I expected. The floss were .97 and the coupon was $1, so I thought I'd get .03 overage. They ended up costing me .08 each with tax. The mac & cheese went off sale, but still was free with the coupon.

My total was 1.34 for 2 mac & cheese, 4 pkg floss, 1 spray bottle.

Stopped at the grocery after dropping dd off and bought a tub of organic lettuce on sale and a clearance quart of yogurt. spent 9.02 for those two. They also had dd's favorite cookies as a sample, I grabbed a couple and wrapped them up to give her after school. She was quite happy to see those!

Had coffee and a scone on the company with a guest. Used my card so I could get my points toward a free drink. Reimbursement will come in February for that.

For Christmas, dh received a mug for free refills in January at Starbucks. He has gotten 2 fills every day, so far except one! :) He gets a fill on the way to work and another on the way home. That's over $35 in coffee so far! :)

Last December I received $30 in food at a local deli via two $15 Groupons that I used today. I had good math on the first one, spend $1.16 in taxes. Messed up my math on the second and ended up buying one too many entrees. Spent $6.23. Oh well, there was enough for dinner tonight, and still have 2 additional full meals left.

Got an unexpected refund from the insurance company for one of our auto policies, I'll deposit that tomorrow. Another $88.23 will go into the budget, yay!

January 8, more good deals

It got cold last night, down to 15.4 degrees, 53 inside. Dh wanted the heat on when he got out of bed, but after 30 minutes it had only warmed 2 degrees. Since he was hopping in the shower I asked if he minded that I turned it off again. He was fine with that. I thought maybe I should have fed the fire all night, but I was so wiped out from this cold I didn't wake up during the night. In any event, the coals were still hot when we got back from church so I got the fire going right away and it warmed up nicely.

While in town, we stopped at Target with the mac & cheese coupons and I picked up 9 more boxes...for free, yay me! 14 boxes in all so far. I need to hit up a couple more computers for the coupons. The checker laughed and sat down on her stool when the total came up to zero. She remarked she had never had that happen to her before. I told her it wasn't a $1K order or anything, but she was still impressed.

We then went to the grocery and I got 2 soft-soaps. Reg price 1.59, on sale for .88. Had two .40 coupons which doubled, bringing my total to .18 for both with tax. Dh had to have a Pepsi, so it ended up costing me 1.29 total. Dh & dd aren't into my saving game, wish they were. But I still got off pretty good considering they were both with me. Dd asked for a few items and I declined, told her we had to eat what we had at home first. She was reluctant to agree, but didn't ask anymore.

We came home and had leftovers for lunch...and pepsi... Leftovers for dinner again. I need to make sure dh has a decent lunch for tomorrow.

So, for 1.29 spent today, I got 9 boxes mac & cheese, 2 soft soaps, and a 1.5 liter of Pepsi. Still not bad.

January 7, a day spent at home

we resisted the urge to run to town and get a free coffee refill and run some errands. I calculated a while back that it costs roughly $10 to run to town and back. Not worth the refill or the errands. We will head in tomorrow for church so will run any errands then.

I milked the cow this am since we are starting to run a little low on milk and snow is coming in...5-10", blech. Made pancakes, bacon and eggs for breakfast. We still haven't run the heat, it's been 2-3 weeks now, yay! We brought in a bunch of wood and put it in the fireplace wood hole and then stacked most of the scrap wood on the back porch. We'll have plenty to burn during the snow storm. I was able to print off a handful more of the target coupons for free mac & cheese. That uses up all the computers at home, I'll hit those at work tomorrow and see if I can get a half dozen more printed out. I hope to run to target tomorrow and shop for more before they run out. Target is notorious for not restocking when there is a good/free coupon. As soon as the coupon is expired the shelves magically are full.

We had leftovers for lunch and popcorn for dinner. I still have probably 6-10 meals worth of various leftovers in the fridge. Glad, but at the same time, wondering when the family will be tired of eating leftovers.

When I checked the accounts today I noticed a charge from Best Buy for 42-something. Asked dh about it, turns out it was for a gift he bought on line for his folks almost 2 weeks ago. Weird that it just now came through. So even though I thought it was a no spend day, we ended up spending. Go figure! That also put my gift category in the red, guess I'll adjust next months category to make up for it.

January 6

Since I work Sundays, today was my day off. I had to run to town to get dd from school, bring her home and then go back in for dinner with friends, a good 110 miles altogether. We knew when we bought where we did it would mean lots of driving, but at times I wish it was possible to live far away and still have a short drive to everything.

I stopped for gas at the grocery and was pleasantly surprised to find out I had a 20 cent/gallon discount not a 10. Even at $2.75/gallon I spent $94.39. Decided while I was there to check the dented section inside the store, my only mistake was checking while I had dd with me. She saw a bag of kisses on clearance for 1.99. Holy cow, where are the days of 1.79 candy kisses? It amazes me that the bags are significantly smaller and go for 3.99 now. I gave in even though we have plenty of candy at home. I was reminded by dd that we don't have peppermint candy kisses at home...oye!

I did find a can of store brand sweetened condensed milk for .69 and a box of toothpicks for .39, bringing my grand total to $3.25.

Dinner out with friends was their treat to us for my plant/fish sitting last summer while they were on a cruise. We had a great time of fellowship and the food was great too! No leftovers this time.

January 5th, Target bargains

Went to Target today with my coupons in hand and a $40 gift card we received several months back. I had 5 $1 coupons for their boxed mac and cheese. It was on sale for $.52. I was hoping the coupon wouldn't adjust down and I could use the overage on something else, but they changed their system since I used to shop there and they adjusted down to $.52. Oh well, free is still good. Here is what I got:

5 - 7.25 oz boxes mac & cheese (reg $1 on sale for .52) minus 5 .52 coupons =Free :)

2 - 15 oz boxes club crackers (reg 2.49) minus 2 $1 coupons = 2.98

2 - 12 oz packages trail mix (reg 4.99) clearance 2.49 minus 1.50 coupon = 3.85

Total w tax $6.93

Used gift card, so OOP = $0.00

late last summer I formed a team at work to participate in a state-wide weight loss challenge, inviting my fellow employees and their spouses to participate. I was just notified yesterday that we took 1st place for the 4th quarter of 2011! Woo hoo!! There were 97 teams participating! Each member of our team get a $50 gift card to the local sporting good store. Since dh and I both participated, we will have $100 to spend!! What to get, what to get?? I'm thinking I should stay practical and spend it on socks and t-shirts, etc. We'll see what dh wants to spend it on. Fun any way it is spent! Now to spur everyone on to lose more this quarter. I also got $45 to spend for what I lost so far in the individual challenge, dh got $15, he hasn't lost as much as I have yet. I'm getting close to the $75 incentive. :) They paid it out in a visa gift card to be spent anywhere. I'll hang onto it for next month's grocery budget. Maybe by then I'll have hit the $75 level. I also participated in a local December challenge and won $20. I'm thinking now I should have stacked a few more challenges on to what I did.

I'll get gas tomorrow when I go to get dd from school. Maybe it will be a penny or two cheaper by then. One can hope :) Also, I need to stop back at target and get a few more boxes of mac & cheese, along with a few other coupons I ran out of time to shop for.

The weather today was awesome! I saw a lot of folks out in t-shirts and shorts; crazy for January. But tomorrow, snow. Dd and I brought in a face cord of wood this afternoon, that will heat the house through the weekend.

I've got cream in the butter churn from my cow Chance. She gives a good amount of milk when I lock up her calf for the night. We'll have pancakes Saturday with the buttermilk, eggs from the hens, honey from our hive and some flour I ground. Syrup made from scratch will top them, and with the few other ingredients, salt, baking powder, etc they come out to just pennies a batch.

Tonight will be leftovers...again. Good thing dh doesn't mind leftovers. :)

January 4, a no spend day...almost

I was hoping for a no spend day and would have made it except for the 2.62 that dh spent on lunch at his work cafeteria. I meant to get up early and make him a lunch, and breakfast for that matter, but he seems to be coming down with some cold symptoms and his snoring has kept me awake for hours on end the last few nights. I slept right through his alarm, shower, etc. and by the time I got up he was long gone. This evening I made a salad for him to take tomorrow, just in case tonight is a repeat.

Otherwise nothing was spent besides the auto drafts for mortgage and the Kohl's card.

I worked from home today. Its a slower season for me after so many months of 60-70 hour weeks. I don't think anyone will complain if I have a work from home day today...at least not those who carry any weight at work.

We had friends up tonight for dinner. I milked the cow for their granddaughter, but she only wanted to watch, not try it for herself. For dinner, I made a standing ribeye roast from our own steer, it turned out really well. I have never fixed one before since it is too expensive of a cut to just purchase outright. There is one more in the freezer and I hope to fix it if Mom & Dad ever make it out this way. Mashed potatoes, gravy that was out of this world!!, corn, homemade rolls, salad, apple pie and ice cream rounded out the meal. We sat around and visited and watched a little tv together, but mostly visited. It was the perfect evening.

I'll probably need gas tomorrow since I have to run dd to school and then go on to work, back to school to get her back to work and then home, School is over 30 miles one way. I also plan to stop at target. I heard via some forums that I can get an item or two for free with coupon. I printed off some and I'll see if there is any validity to the posts. If so, I hope there is some stock left on the shelf. A special trip would cost more than I would have saved, but Target is on the way for me tomorrow. I have a 10 cent/gallon discount from the local grocery.

I returned a few items and my reimbursements were more than I anticipated when I made out my budget, so the budget is in the black now. Good thing!

January 3rd, some good deals

Ok, well, I confess, I love to grocery shop.

I hit a couple groceries today and picked up some sale and clearance items. Dh wanted another can of his protein shake mix, so I picked that up at 5.99. I really thought it should be on sale with the emphasis on diets this month, but alas, I had to pay full price. I checked the dented rack and found a can of pasta sauce for .49. Did I really need it? Probably not, but for .49 it will make a fast food stop a lot less tempting down the road. Dd's favorite, a can of chef Boyardee ravioli, stared me in the face, yelling, "Take me home, take me home...make your daughter happy." So I did. Another 49 cents, she ate the whole can for dinner. My total for grocery 1, $7.20. I used a boatload of change from my change jar and put 3.40 on my visa gift card...thanks mom & dad-in law.

Grocery 2 had our Fage yogurt on clearance. I bought all three containers at half off of 7.49. They also had International delight coffee creamer on clearance for .82 and I had a coupon that was doubled to $1. Too bad I gave my other coupon to a stranger last week who had one in her cart, because they paid me .18 to take it today. Oh well. I also stacked a store and mfg coupon on sausage that was on sale. regular price 3.99. Sale for 2.99, -.50 store coupon, - mfg coupon doubled to $1 so oop for that was 1.49. Not too bad. I bought the patties (8 count) and will cut them in half to make dd 16 homemade Egg McMuffins at a little over .09/muffin. My eggs are free and the muffins were on clearance last week for .39/can w coupon. They end up costing about .14 each for muffin, egg and sausage. I have leftover cheese shreds that were given to us to sprinkle in between the egg and sausage.

My total for grocery 2 was $12.99. I used the rest of the change from my jar and put 9.61 on my visa gift card.

Dh's HSA reimbursement was credited today, $508 deposited into our checking. Also, I filed my receipts and reimbursements for December. I'll be getting a nice check in a week or two to cover my phone, gasoline, tolls, parking, etc. None of which is really income, but rather payback for what I already spent. Still, it feels like income :)

I splurged and bought a couple of antique cookbooks on-line tonight, .99 plus shipping for a total of 4.31.

Dh got another 2 free Starbucks refills in his Christmas mug.

Dinner was soup and grilled leftover sandwiches.

January 2nd a no spend day

Well, the 2nd came and went. We both stayed home since the holiday fell on Sunday it was a vacation day for both of us. We ate leftovers and I did a load of laundry while cleaning and organizing. We spent no money.

The heat is set on hold at 50, we ran the woodburner. When dh sets the thermostat at the beginning of the season its always ridiculously high, I ratchet it down a few degrees at a time till he doesn't even notice that is has been virtually turned off. We burned though a bit of propane till I got there this year, because he had it set at 68 for most of the day, starting an hour before we even get out of bed. The tank was filled in October and is down to about 35% already. I typically fill it at 20%. So I'm endeavoring to make that last 15% last till spring when the prices will hopefully (and usually do) drop. One goal is to purchase a tank so we don't have to rent from the company and be at the mercy of their prices; we would be free to shop around for a better price. The last few times I suggested it I've been veto'd, but after 5 years here dh has finally seen that the yearly rental fee would have nearly paid for a tank by now. I am on the lookout for a good price on a used tank. Seems they run about $1/gallon so I figure I can pick up a 500 gallon tank for around $500.

January 1st, a blessed day

January 1st 2012, a new year with endless possibilities. A year to write my story, a year to choose my path, a year to set my priorities.

A new car on the goal list this year, a re-fi on the list next year, my budget is perplexed. It's tight, it's gasping for breath. It is squeezed and has little room for error. So once again I blog my journey though the financial land mines, this time of 2012.

My father, a blue collar worker, father of nine, retired at 55. I treasured his and mom's (A stay at home mom) financial wisdom. Dad always said its not how much you make its what you do with it that matters. He lived what he preached.

So I dispense with my income figures and concentrate on my spending.

My January spending budget at a glance (after: taxes, 401K, Insurance, Auto fund):

Into Short-term savings:

Auto registration 63.33

Auto service 121.88

Propane tank fill & rental 104.88

HOA 25.00

Education 10.00

Medical/Dental 30.00

Real Estate Taxes 250.00

Homeowners ins 75.00

Pay Directly:

Tithe XXXX

Mortgage XXXX

Auto - Gas 900.00 (we live 50 & 70 miles RT from jobs)

Cable 169.79

Electric 113.87

Cell 227.65

CC XXXX

Life Ins 206.03

Variable Spending (envelopes):

Food 100.00

Clothing 45.00

Entertainment/Dining out 20.00

Gifts (Incl Christmas fund) 44.00

Household 25.00

Misc 41.60

A litte tight, but definitely doable.

OUTGO:

12/31:

Deli - 4 sandwich/chip/drink party pack (Coupon) 2.46

Frozen Yogurt ($10 coupon) 2.74

Netflix subscription 7.99

1/1:

Safeway: Toilet paper 17.99/pkg (30 roll bonus pack), on sale 13.99. When buying 2+ price drops to 10.99, had $2 coupons. Original cost 77.72. OOP 39.19 (.326/roll)

Walgreens: Tide 8.99 (50 oz), on sale 5.99, $2 coupon. Orig cost 9.71. OOP 4.47 (.089/oz) I haven't checked my new machine, I'm curious to see how many loads and how long it will last.

BLESSINGS:

Family invited out to lunch by another family at church who wanted to treat us

Free Starbucks (coupon) -Venti frappuccino

Free Starbucks coffee - Starbucks refillable travel mug for Christmas w 31 free fills