I got a free half gallon of milk today, using the coupon that Vons sent me to try

I love free plants. Today I planted 18 free plants - 3 chiles, 6 tomatoes and 9 grasses (the clumping, landscaping kind, not the kind you grow a lawn out of). I still have three more tomatoes and two false heathers. The tomatoes and chiles were from neighbors who bought more than their garden could hold. The grasses are from friends of my parents who divided up clumps of grass they had growing in their own garden.

My mom also sent me off with a couple of quarts of homemade spaghetti sauce and a jar of marmalade made with blood oranges (among other kind of oranges). The blood oranges give it a beautiful color. She bought me two bags of the pasta she likes to use when making rice pilaf, so I have that now, too.

A friend asked me if I'd ever heard of Blue Rectangle (www.bluerectangle.com) for selling used books. It works like ebookdrop.com. I checked it out, entered the ISBNs for my books currently listed at half.com, and saw that they would buy three of my books for a whopping 62 cents. Oh well. I thought I'd pass along the URL in case anyone else wanted to try it.

I swung by Rite Aid after going to Joanns today, to check out this month's rebate items. I picked up two new ones to try, each with a dollar rebate. One is supposed to help make your hair look smoother and tame flyaways; the other is to help reduce and repair split-ends. We'll see. (My long hair could use some help. Regular hair-cuts would help, but I don't seem to get around to those.) The difference in my mind this time around, with trying new products? If I don't like them or feel they do what they claim, I'll contact the manufacturers and let them know.

So, $11.78 out of pocket, but $2 coming back in rebates (which I already submitted, thanks to Rite Aid's online system).

At Joanns I got a pair of knitting needles with my 40% off coupon (normally $6.99) and a skein of yarn on sale for $3.38, for a gift for one of DD's friends. She is really wanting to learn to knit, so I think she'll like this gift.

I use Quicken for setting up and adjusting our budget, tracking our spending and saving, and analysis. This month, I've also been using Jesse's You Need a Budget, in an effort to have a tighter grip on our day to day expenses. I'm trying to see just how much I can control some of the spending that goes on. It has definitely made me more aware of my spending, of my budget and of my wants versus needs. I don't like entering data twice, however, so I won't keep doing things this way. My hope is that after a few months, new habits will be ingrained, or at least new ways of thinking, and then I can go back to just using Quicken.

I haven't spent any money today. I spent the bulk of the morning and early afternoon working on the boutique. I had a photo shoot this weekend and now have all kinds of new photos to work with. Picked up DD and friend at school, and then DD and I spent about an hour+ cleaning up her room. Now that's a lot of fun.

Dinner will probably be Saturday's leftovers. DH's parents gave us five sets of tickets to a local community theater, and we saw our first play Saturday night. The leftovers are from dinner out that night. One of my former students was in the play, which was fun. I didn't know he'd be in it, and it took me a while to place him, but once I confirmed that he had indeed been in one of my classes, memories came rushing back. He was a cool kid, and I suspect he's a pretty cool young adult now too.

Still waiting on $40 in gas vouchers for my challenge. I need to cancel that trial membership in the next couple of days. Still waiting for ebookdrop payment as well, but that's not much.

DH and I have been having a lot of talks about time and money and how to find the balance we need and fund the things we want to do/have. it's an on-going discussion, and I'm glad we can talk openly about it.

As a result of calling about our home and auto insurance policies and getting our rates reduced, we got a partial refund in the mail today for the 6 months we'd already paid for our cars. The refund is $49.76,and I'll add it to my challenge total at the end of the month. A very nice surprise!

I finished one of the leg warmers for DD today. I now know how to knit with double pointed needles, which was the whole point of the project. I'll work on the other leg warmer whle I'm waiting for DD at ballet. That time alone will give me about two hours a week to work on it.

Having dinners planned while on vacation made evenings nice and smooth. I don't do this nearly enough at home, but I've got some planned now. Reading about flash having taco salad made me want some too, so that's on the schedule for tonight. I've got a soy ground beef substitute that works well in these types of meals.

I had breakfast and lunch at home but spent 50 cents at Starbucks (used up what was left on a gift card and owed an additional 50 cents). I've been using my new travel mug (birthday gift) and saving 10 cents on every drink. That's good for the environment too - no more cups to throw away.

I really need to get past this Thin Mint craving. I think I might have been better off not buying any in the first place.

My plans for spending/saving today:

*trip to Trader Joe's done
*deposit two checks done
*go through bills that need to be scheduled for payment online done
*go by yarn store - need to see if she carries three colors I'm interested in
*write check for this session's ballet tuition done
*carpooling today done

I've got a bunch I want to get done today, so that I can work as much as possible tomorrow should they have work for me. I would do the work regardless, but this way I won't have oodles of other things weighing on my mind.

Let's see if this shows up - me and my daughter, skiing:



Well, there you go. In all our skiing glory!

Still no word back regarding the rewards card.

Still no payment for my auction.

Grrr....

We're taking a walk tonight and going out to a cheap but tasty hole-in-the-wall Mexican food place near home. It sounds really good to me - both the walk and the food.

My auction ended today - $17.51. Not bad for $20 face value. I haven't gotten paid yet, so I can't come up with my net proceeds, but here's what I have so far:

+17.51 final total
-1.27 eBay fees
-.81 PayPal fees
= $15.43 to add to challenge

I will fill in the rest once I get paid.
Edited to add I got paid, so totals have been updated.

Money spent today - $4.25 at coffeehouse
Money saved - carpooled

Dinner will be on the run this evening - we go from ballet to picking up DH at work to school for a parents meeting.

So. I used up a vast number of points accumulated on our reward card to offset some future car and hotel charges (DH's brother is getting married and we'll be traveling). I read the fine print carefully, try to make sure everything is clear, and go ahead and submit my request. Ha. I try to reserve two hotel rooms, using two room certificates, and am told I can only use one certificate per night per hotel. Now, does it state this in the terms and conditions? Of course it doesn't. If it did, I wouldn't have gotten two certificates. (I'm trying to book a room for my in-laws, too.) I've sent a note to the customer service department for the rewards site and will see what they have to say. I quoted the terms and conditions as they relate to hotel rewards. I do not want to feel ripped off here. I'm already planning on cancelling this account and opening one up that does strictly cash back rewards. If they can't help me, I'll be sure to bring that up and see if that doesn't change their tune, given how much we use this card month in and month out.

Stay tuned.

My gift card auction is going well. The cards are valued at 50% of face value with about a day left and eight watchers. Net proceeds will go to my challenge account. Still waiting for my fourth offer to arrive in the mail.

Sometimes I feel overwhelmed by all there is to do. Committments I've made, things to do around the house, things I want to do for myself... I think I need to make myself a list of current to-do's and then start prioritizing those items. I think it will help me feel less overwhelmed and get back into the swing of things.

Spent some time working on the boutique this morning. That is one of those things that feels like there is still so much to do.

1. You drive the 6-7 hours it takes to get there.

2. You plan on making all of your meals and shop ahead of time.

3. You plan on eating sandwiches on the road instead of stopping somewhere for lunch.

4. You go when your company subsidizes part of the trip, rather than when it's most convenient for you.

5. You check out books from the library for entertainment during the drive for your 6-year-old.

Yep, that's pretty much our frugal vacation. And it's going to be fun!

I got gas today at the cheapest place by far that I know of. It was at least 8 cents cheaper per gallon than the place I used to go, and good 12 cents cheaper than some other places I passed on my way home today. The only problem is that this other place isn't convenient on the weekends (it's about 15 miles from our house), so I have to make sure that I get gas on my way to or from DD's school. If I buy about 30-40 gallons of gas per month, I'll be saving about $2.40 - $3.20 per month. Not bad.

I took the car in to get its oil changed this morning and then found a coupon for $7 off this afternoon! Frustrating, but the other car needs to go in too, so I'll be sure to take it in before the coupon expires.

Other finanical happenings -
*two tutoring appointments today
*all three meals have been/will be at home
*DH tutored last night
*found Balance gold bars at the 99 cent store last night. They were 2 for 99 cents, whereas normally they're a dollar each when I can find them on sale.

I cancelled three of my four trial memberships today. It was fairly easy and quick, but I wanted to mention something for others trying this out. When you call, the customer service person will try at least once, sometimes up to three or four times, to leave your account open. And they will say things like, "I'll send you some more information about the benfits that you may not have realized you have with us and leave your account open while you have a chance to look through it." Just keep saying, "No thank you, I'd like to cancel," and eventually they do give you a cancellation number.

The Lowe's cards we will definitely be able to use. The Bed Bath & Beyond cards can be used too. The Circuit City cards? I decided to list them on eBay. Even if I only get 50% of their face value and PayPal fees, I still come out ahead over $8 for the deal, and shipping for this auction is a piece of cake.

If the cards sell, the net proceeds will go into my challenge account.

Other financial plans for the day:
*Buy cat litter and dog food (if needed) done
*Cancel three trial memberships done
*Set up savings at Affinity Bank for DD done

The applesauce cake turned out great! My muffins stuck to their paper wrappers, so I'm going to need to spray the muffin cups and skip the paper cups next time. I can't believe how easy it is to make tasty baked tofu. Slice, blot out excess water, marinate it in some soy sauce, sprinkle on some ground ginger and garlic, bake for about 20-30 minutes on each side. Easy!

I got my $20 in Lowe's cards and $20 in Circuit City cards today. The Circuit City cards don't have any sticker or anything on them stating their value, but there is a toll-free number on the back that you can all to find out the balance. I called, just to make sure that both cards did indeed have ten dollars on them, and they do.

That makes three arrivals of the four offers I applied for.

I spent about $29 today on various OTC items, as well as dental floss. It's nice to be able to submit that for reimbursement. Even though the money that comes back to us is technically ours anyway, it feels like extra income because it's taken out of the paycheck and lowers the take-home pay. I'll add these receipts to the envelope I have going. I was going to give the receipts to DH at the end of last month, but it seemed like a lot of paper pushing for not a lot of reimbursement. I'll hold off until the end of this month, especially if I can get myself into the dentist this month.

Edited to add that I made a dental appointment for the end of the month. What fun.

We spent about $48 today on groceries to take with us when we go skiing. We still have a few things left to buy, but that is most of what we'll need, given we already had some things at home we can bring. I'm going to make a few things before we go - applesauce cake (recipe was given to me in the forums - thank you!), baked tofu (it's been marinating in soy sauce), and possibly some chocolate chip cookies.

Blew $4 today on a box of Thin Mint cookies. I wish those things weren't so good!!

I set up some online bill payments earlier today, just to make sure that nothing gets overlooked while we're gone. We are only going to be gone for a few days, but I'd hate for something to be late.

I'll take the car in for an oil change this week, and I need to make vet appointments for all of our pets sometime in the next few weeks. I'm also long overdue for a dental check-up, and DD is due next month. Lots of spending coming up. Oh, I need to go get more cat litter tomorrow, too. And we owe the deposit on next year's tuition. I think that's due by the third week of this month. I need to loook over those forms and fill things out.

Bills, bills, bills. I'm glad we are able to swing two days of skiing - we can all use some R&R around here.

One more thing - I did 5 more reviews at InsiderPages, so hoepfully that will be another $5 for Target.

My $20 in gift cards for Bed Bath & Beyond arrived today, so I can go cancel that trial membership this week. The cards came quickly - I signed up on 2/22. I've got three more offers still pending.

I just submitted five qualifying reviews at insiderpages.com and sent in my email for the $5 Target gift card. You can submit up to ten reviews from one household, so I'll do five more for another $5.

We walked out of Borders today with a book and three drinks, and we were 13 cents richer! I had a $35 gift card, and DD found a quarter on the floor. When all was said and done, we spent the gift card and 12 of those 25 cents. What a deal.

After adding in AsSense and cc round-ups, plus earning a little bit of interest, my balance is now at $134.43. AdSense was almost $16, which is decent considering how little traffic those two sites really get.

I have 14 books listed at half.com for a total of $37.50 and 2 DVDs for a total of $18.70. I may go in and adjust some prices.