Jen's Blog

Looking at Quicken, on average each month so far this year we're spending...

Groceries: $337
Dining Out: $162
Gasoline: $162
Utilities: $120
Education: $407
Gifts: $53

I'd like to see groceries come down under $300 and dining come in around $120. Gasoline is about as low as it can be; DH bikes to work and I carpool, so there isn't a lot of room there to whittle it down. Utilities are OK - that's gas, electric and water. Education is basically ballet and school tuitions and niether is negotiable, but if I can get to a 75% position at DD's school then we'll start getting a reduction in tuition. I have gifts given budgeted at about $50/month, so we're doing pretty well there.

Interesting to look at.

DH got us a reduction in our DSL for a year, I think, so that's down to about $14/month.

Our mortgage is currently about 35% of DH's take-home pay, but at least it's a 20-year loan and not a 30-year. I think we have less than 17 years left on it. Might be nice to actually make a note of when our last payment is due, assuming we don't send along any extra payments along the way. The percent of income goes down by about 5% if I actually factor in all the extra income from DH's freelance work, his tutoring, my tutoring, etc. Counting my salary next year and no extra income at all, the percent will be about 30% of our take-home. That's the whole idea behind my working - make enough so that DH doesn't have to do any extra work if he doesn't want to, or he can work the hours extra he wants to and we'll be able to get ahead of where we're at now.

And I'm trying to keep it that way. I'll be spending tomorrow - brunch with a friend, groceries, possibly gas for the car - so today is a good day to not spend anything. And, I'm trying to simplify my record-keeping, so the fewer receipts to deal with the better.

I made smoothies for me and DD after school, and they were really good - lemonade, frozen strawberries and vanilla yogurt. Hopefully that will eliminate the Thursday afternoon cravings for something to eat and drink while waiting for her at ballet.

Dinner tonight...probably something easy like bean and cheese burritos. Nothing elaborate, but it will taste good enough.

We're having friends over for dinner tomorrow night, and I have a few things to get tomorrow. One family is bringing a salad, and I need to call the other family to see what they want to bring (they offered to bring something as well). I'm planning on pasta - good for adults and kids alike, and easy to make a lot of (there will be 6 adults, 3 kids, 1 toddler and 1 baby).

I'm having brunch with a friend tomorrow who's going to be in town unexpectedly. I'm looking forward to that very much - seeing her, that is, although the brunch will be nice too.

For May:
$5 gift card (received)
$20 gas rebate (received)
$8.48 Rite Aid rebate (received)
Lowe's $20 gc (received - net $19)
Gas $20 gc (received - net $19)
Lowe's $25 gc
Joann $10 gc
$1 Longs rebate
DVD: $9.88
eBay fees: -$1.35
Interest: $.95
AdSense: $13.32
Current total for May: $130.28

Total for 2006: 413.17

Pending:
Rite Aid rebate ($4.99) (waiting)
Rite Aid rebate ($20+) (waiting)
Survey $5 (waiting)
Survey $2 (waiting)

OK. I need to learn how to get more organized about using coupons.

How do you folks out there organize yours? What's your system for making lists, cross-referencing with store deals and so forth?

Edited to add I just read flash's recent post and will also go look at the grocery coupon site for help.

As it is, I had a decent trip to the store today. The original total was $107.31; I got out of the store for $68.40. Some of that was club card savings and some was from coupons. I managed to use some coupons on things that were also on special, and it felt good to combine the savings in that manner.

I spent $4.05 today mailing on the coupon train and saved $21.88 using coupons, for a net savings of $17.83 this time around. Might be interesting to track that sort of thing.

I filed a complaint today with the BBB, as I have never been paid, and I have tried twice to contact them, with no reply.

BBB contact info:
BBB of Metropolitan New York
257 Park Avenue South
New York,NY - 10010 7384
www.newyork.bbb.org

You'd think they'd send a lousy $6.84 and be done with me. I even mentioned in my last note that I was considering contacting the BBB.

A small check came today, so that's another dollar to add to this month's challenge total. There are some good rebates this month at Rite Aid that I want to take advantage of, including one or two free after rebates for things I would actually use.

Using gift cards I spent a grand 63 cents at Lowe's today, and when I came home there was a $25 gc in the mail. Oh well. It'll get put to good use sooner or later. I also got a $10 Joann's card this week, for spending a certain amount with that credit card. They're discontinuing the rewards program in July, so I'll be cancelling that card. But I did get $20 or $30 in gc's from it, so it was good while it lasted.

For May:
$5 gift card (received)
$20 gas rebate (received)
$8.48 Rite Aid rebate (received)
Lowe's $20 gc (received - net $19)
Gas $20 gc (received - net $19)
Lowe's $25 gc
Joann $10 gc
$1 Longs rebate
DVD: $9.88
Current total for May: $117.36

Pending:
Rite Aid rebate ($4.99) (waiting)
Survey $5 (waiting)
Survey $2 (waiting)
AdSense ($10+ ...figure out 6/1/06)
Interest (find out 6/1/06)

I sold a DVD today for $10.75. Once I've mailed it I'll add in my net profits to my running May total for my challenge.

For May:
$5 gift card (received)
$20 gas rebate (received)
$8.48 Rite Aid rebate (received)
Lowe's $20 gc (received - net $19)
Gas $20 gc (received - net $19)
total - $71.48

DVD sale ($10.75)
Longs rebate ($2?) (waiting)
Rite Aid rebate ($4.99) (waiting)
Survey $5 (waiting)
Survey $2 (waiting)
AdSense ($10+ ...figure out 6/1/06)
Interest (find out 6/1/06)

My $20 in Exxon Mobil gas cards arrived today, so I'll add that to my challenge total. I also received some coupons from Cascadian Farms after emailing them - I think I got five 50 cent off coupons.

I spent most of the day outside today, doing yardwork and gardening. I have a dwarf patio lemon tree that I thought was completely dead, but it shows signs of life! I dumped in a whole bunch of compost and some more potting soil, watered it and am hoping for the best. DD and I got our green bean and sugar snap pea seedlings transplanted and dressed them with some compost as well for good measure. I don't do much to my compost pile at all, so it is somewhat slow to breakdown, but there is incredibly awesome compost at the bottom of the pile. Absolutely great.

For May:
$5 gift card (received)
$20 gas rebate (received)
$8.48 Rite Aid rebate (received)
Lowe's $20 gc (received - net $19)
Gas $20 gc (received - net $19)
total - $71.48

Longs rebate ($2?) (waiting)
Rite Aid rebate ($4.99) (waiting)
Survey $5 (waiting)
Survey $2 (waiting)
AdSense ($10+ ...figure out 6/1/06)
Interest (find out 6/1/06)

I took some old gift cards with me when I went to Lowe's tonight, figuring they must have had something left on them if we were saving them. I wasn't expecting more than a few cents or dollars, but it turns out the one of them had over $22 on it! So I was able to pay for everything and still have money left over, plus three more cards worth $20+.

I qualified for another survey today: $2. I don't know what the minimum is for a payout however - I'll need to look into that.

Not much else to report - no book sales, no online tutoring, no rebates, no gift cards...

I'm waiting for the net market and auto vantage credits to show up on my credit card, and I'm still waiting for customer service to get back to me from esticker. I have a phone number now, so if I don't hear back tonight via email I'll call tomorrow. That's $14.99. I cancelled on 4/26 and received a shipment today. Grrr...... I'll get it worked out. I was willingto pay $3 to get the trial shipment and check it all out, but $15 for a bunch of stickers? it isn't close to being worth it.

For May:
$5 gift card (received)
$20 gas rebate (received)
$8.48 Rite Aid rebate (received)
Lowe's $20 gc (received - net $19)
total - $52.48

Longs rebate ($2?) (waiting)
Rite Aid rebate ($4.99) (waiting)
Gas $20 gc (waiting)
Survey $5 (waiting)
Survey $2 (waiting)
AdSense (figure out 6/1/06)
Interest (find out 6/1/06)

A long time ago I started making a price book, but it's been a while since I've looked at it, let alone used it. I started a new one in an Excel file this morning. I'm not going to try and list every single thing I might possibly buy, but rather am starting with some of the most common things I buy and going from there. The theme of my life's growth - it doesn't have to be all or nothing. Shades of gray are acceptable. Comparing some prices is a good start, even if I don't list every single thing I buy in a given shopping trip.

I had to follow up on a third charge for a membership that should have been cancelled. Very, very irritating. I'm still trying to get esticker to reverse a charge, to little avail. I may have to initiate a chargeback with my credit card instead.

Our seedlings continue to grow, and I continue to battle the snails. Much as I hate to do it, I may need to put out some Sluggo. I don't want to compete with snails for food. The strawberries look great when snails aren't getting to them first.

I took a huge pile of coupons to the natural food store today. I think that may have been a first for the cashier there. She asked me how I managed to get so many - I told her I still had a huge pile I wasn't using today. The store had a coupon too for basically 10% off your total purchase, so it was a good trip. I spent a decent amount of money for really healthy food that I can feel good about.

I signed up for a couple of newsletters today from Organic Valley and Seventh Generation - hoping for some good offers from both of those companies.

I had enough points accrued at the old credit card to cash out for a gift card, so I took care of that today. I have to keep the credit card open if we're going to use the hotel or car vouchers that I have, but other than that I'm not using that card anymore.

I took advantage of a free shipping offer at drugstore.com and got points for my shopping there through mypoints at the same time. I needed more of one of my supplements, and then they had Luna bars on sale so I bought a box of them. At less than a dollar a bar it was cheaper than the grocery store.

I have to drive to DD's school twice today - I drove this morning for the carpool, an then I have to go back again this evening for a parents meeting. Thank goodness for carpooling - it has really helped with time and money this year.

We took our neighbors out to dinner last night, to thank them for the times they've done pet-sitting for us. It's nice to have good neighbors to rely on.

Wow - what a great set of coupons! These guys get a thumbs up from me.

Out of curiosity, I called our locally owned health food/grocery to see if they accept coupons (thinking they didn't) and THEY DO! Woo hoo! One simple phone call and now I know.

Thank you flash for the tip about this coupon offer.

I am having to follow up on two memberships that I cancelled but still got billed to my credit card to the tune of $34.97. I've taken care of one account and should see two of the three charges reversed on my credit card. Waiting to get the third charge resolved. Be vigilant and don't let the charges slip through! Cancelling means it's cancelled and they have no right to try and charge you anyway.

I finally qualified for a $5 survey today. It will take 4-6 weeks to post to my account, according to the site, but I'll add it in as a possible source of money for the challenge.

For May:
$5 gift card (received)
$20 gas rebate (received)
$8.48 Rite Aid rebate (received)
Lowe's $20 gc (received - net $19)
total - $52.48

Longs rebate (waiting)
Rite Aid rebate ($4.99) (waiting)
Gas $20 gc (waiting)
Survey $5 (waiting)
AdSense (figure out 6/1/06)
Interest (find out 6/1/06)

My $20 in Lowe's gift cards arrived today, so I have that to add to my challenge. I had been adding the full amount, but since I'm technically netting $19, that's what I'll actually add this time around.

I also signed up for a $20 gas card today.

For May:
$5 gift card (received)
$20 gas rebate (received)
$8.48 Rite Aid rebate (received)
Lowe's $20 gc (received - net $19)
total - $52.48

Longs rebate (waiting)
Rite Aid rebate ($4.99) (waiting)
Gas $20 gc (waiting)
AdSense (figure out 6/1/06)
Interest (find out 6/1/06)

Inspired by flash and her seemingly infinite supply of coupons and know-how, I have been emailing companies I like and inquiring about coupons. The latest set of coupons to arrive in the mail came from Nature Made. I signed up for their 'club' and saw that they have printable coupons. I emailed them and let them know that the store I typically buy from does not accept printed coupons. In turn, they mailed me three $1 off coupons. Nice.

As my mom often says, it doesn't hurt to ask. The worst they can say is no.

My $8.48 Rite Aid rebate arrived today, so that will get added to my challenge total at month's end.

For May:
$5 gift card (received)
$20 gas rebate (received)
$8.48 Rite Aid rebate (received)
Longs rebate (waiting)
Rite Aid rebate ($4.99) (waiting)
Lowe's $20 gc (waiting)
AdSense (figure out 6/1/06)
Interest (find out 6/1/06)

I sent off another complimentary email to a company whose cereal I love, asking to see if they publish coupons. We'll see what the response is. I have gotten favorable and pleasant replies from everyone except Newman's Own Organics.

No big plans for the day. I'm taking DD shopping after school for gifts for her grandmothers and for DH for his birthday. I have $20 in Bed Bath and Beyond gc's to use, so we'll go there and see if anything strikes our fancy for the grandmas. I think they sometimes publish percent off coupons as well - I'll look through the paper and see if I see one. Anyone know about that?

No word back from the tutoring student. Think he thought I was a free service?? Oh well.

I haven't bought a paper yet - how were the inserts today?

Never mind - I went out and got one.

I may have a new distance tutoring student. we've exchanged a few emails and it looks I can help, so now I'm waiting for payment. I suggested 30 minutes to start, just to make sure it would work out for both of us. Hopefully the PayPal payment will come through today. Any online tutoring I do gets added to my challenge money.

DD and I got our seeds planted - basil, chives, sugar snap peas, green beans, chamomile and spearmint. Hopefully we'll start seeing some seedlings in the next 7-10 days for most of them.

I need to do something about our snails. They're eating the peppers, bell peppers and basil. They also eat my strawberries, I've learned.

5 of my 6 tomatoes are looking pretty good, and the raspberries continue to look healthy too. No berries yet, but hopefully sooner than later...

Now I need to make sure I water regularly and get these transplanted when the time comes so that we can have some nearly free food later this spring/summer.

Oh and the watermelon? My dog decided to play with the plastic pot it came in....with the seedling still in it. Oh well.

I submitted two ten dollar rebates for AutoVantage (after I'd cancelled my membership). Got a $20 check in the mail today! So, I'll go ahead and try it again during the next two quarters and see what happens.

A pleasant surprise.

For May:
$5 gift card (received)
$20 gas rebate (received)
Longs rebate (waiting)
Rite Aid rebates ($8.48 and $4.99) (waiting)
AdSense (figure out 6/1/06)
Interest (find out 6/1/06)

I took advantage of a couple of rebates at Rite Aid today and will have $3.99 coming back to me. I also took advantage of a few BOGos but am not counting that towards my challenge - I'll just accept a little extra room in the budget instead.

I'm heading to the grocery store (with coupons!) today, along with a list of what I need for three new recipes I want to try. Since I hate Vons, I've decided to try and get as much as I can for as little money as possible there, reserving the rest of my shopping for Trader Joe's and a local health food store.

New recipes:
Vegetable Stew with Herb Dumplings
Slow Cooker Cuban Black Beans and Rice
Lentil Vegetable Soup

I also need to get more food from the vet for our kitty who's on a special diet now. Speaking of kitties - I have one purring on my lap and one stretched out next to my laptop. Life is good.

Aside from paying a bunch of bills yesterday, I didn't spend any money. I'm not planning on spending any unnecessarily today, either - just groceries and cat food.

1 book: $5.06
1 DVD: $6.69
$30 in gift cards
$2 Rite-Aid rebate
AdSense: 16.26
Interest: 0.67
Total to add: $60.68

This brings my challenge total to $282.89.

I still have a couple of rebates outstanding, as well as possible gas vouchers and some gift cards.

For May:
$5 gift card

I got two things of laundry detergent today at RiteAid for the price of one. Also got two tubes of Arm and Hammer toothpaste - two for $4.

Wrote a letter to cancel a trial membership, and signed up for a new one ($20 in Lowe's gift cards). Now that I know I can repeat offers using a different credit card, I'm going to keep an eye out for more offers that appeal to me, and particularly offers that come from My Points so that I can get points in the process as well. I wasn't a member of My Points when I did the first round of gc's, unfortunately.

Hung two loads of laundry yesterday and today.

DH took a huge load of things to the thrift store over the weekend - it was nice to get it all out of the house. Our guest bed was basically covered with things to donate. DD also agreed to let her small hippity hop go. She'd outgrown it, and it was good to get it out of the house.

I won an hour long massage for $20 in DD's school's auction in the fall, and I'm finally getting around to using it today. I'm looking forward to that.

I'm going to spend some time going through the list of organic food sites that flash put together on her grocery coupon site and see if I can get some coupons through any of them.

--later--

I am getting my second samplet to test via one of the survey sites. The first sample has been nice to use, and I am actually looking forward to trying out the next one, too! Kind of fun.

I went to Joann's today with my 40% off coupon and bought some fabric to ake new slip covers for our window seat. What would have cost about $80 ended up costing around $48. And who knows what it would cost to have them made as opposed to doing it myself. Now I have to actually sit down and make them.

I have some pink terry cloth that I bought while back for a robe for DD. I still need to sew that up.

Joann's had yarn on sale that I've been keeping an eye on for an afghan for my SIL, for Christmas. I bought what I think will be enough for basically a lap blanket. It will be cozy, and I'm pretty sure she'll like it. I have spent about $15 on that project. For my boutique, I like to use special yarns that can't be bought just anywhere, but for this afghan the lionbrand yarn will be fine.

--later--

Here I thought I was doing a great job - turns out I didn't buy enough fabric. grrr....I'm going to see if I can get by and use something else I already have on hand for, say, the bottoms of each cushion, rather than buying more of this fabric at full price.

I hate mistakes like this. They make me feel stupid.

--later still--

I ought to be able to make this work. I have enought to do all but the bottoms, so I'll recycle the muslin that's currently covering the cushions and use it for the bottoms. I'll have more than enough muslin, and it won't show. I've made the first two covers already (minus the bottoms), and they're going to look pretty nice. At least it will be a nice change from the muslin look we've had for 9 years now.

I've been looking at our spending first quarter last year versus first quarter this year in Quicken, trying to see concrete results from our efforts to save here and there in a few categories.

Here's the data (2005 vs. 2006):

Groceries 1152.09 vs. 986.61 (14.4% decrease)
Dining 594.97 vs. 494.83 (16.8% decrease)
Electric 150.82 vs. 156.38
Water/Sewer 50.92 vs. 98.22

Totals: 1948.80 vs. 1736.04

So we're ahead by $212.76 compared to first quarter last year. I'm wondering about the water/sewer difference - perhaps two bills came in first quarter of this year but only one got paid during first quarter last year? I may look, just out of curiosity... Yep, that's what happened. The next payment was in the first week of April, for $54.98, for a total of $104.90 for two payments compared to $98.22 for two payments this year. That's a 6.45% decrease.

I don't know if our electric rates went up or not, but that's an area to keep working on. We've been switching to compact fl. light bulbs and are hoping to see a reduction from that.

Sometimes it feels like we aren't making progress, but exercises like this prove that we are. This is one of the reasons I am so much in favor of tracking our expenses, whether it's in Quicken or a spreadsheet or whatever. I track our savings balances on the first of each month, hoping to see them going up. If they don't, I notate why (tuition due, surgery for a pet, etc.).

When I joined one of flash's coupon trains, she sent a whole pile of coupons in my welcome pack. I was surprised to see quite a few that I could definitely use. My view on coupons is that they aren't any good if I wouldn't have bought the product anyway, or if I can buy the same thing in a generic form for less.

I did some shopping this evening, and with coupons I saved about $13. It was great having coupons for Vons' organics brand, as well as some other organic/natural things I buy anyway.

For the month, we have about $123 left in our grocery budget and $9 left in our dining budget. We'll see how the rest of the month plays out. We're over in many of our other categories.

Oh - I forgot that I used the new dividend card for tonight's purchase, so that's 5% back.