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PT update

March 22nd, 2005 at 05:01 pm

One other thing - it looks like my insurance company will cover approximately half of my PT bills. I've got four checks due to me now, three months of PT plus an extra check due from my initial visit to the headache clinic. I need to stay on top of this - it adds up to a tidy sum.

Food, and other stuff

March 22nd, 2005 at 04:58 pm

Three days left on the credit card cycle, counting today. And today most certainly counts, as I need to go to the grocery store something fierce. A chance to stock up and save on the going out to eat bill.

I'm feeling better compared to that last entry. I talked about it some with DH. It helps just to get it off my chest and out there, instead of trying to pretend I never feel that way. Not that anyone expects me to not feel that way - I just hate to admit it to myself.

Our electric bill was down $5 from last month - $38 versus $43. Our spa's heater stopped working at some point, so while I'd love to feel good about all that line-drying I did, I don't think that was all of it. It's still a good habit to get into, regardless.

I have one head of lettuce that is starting to look pretty good, and I found some berries set on my strawberry plants. The raspberries have some buds now too, and I have two tomato plants form my mom to get into the ground. Things are coming along.

Confessions of envy

March 18th, 2005 at 07:06 pm

I've realied that I am envious, to a certain extent, of people with more money than me. I'd like to be able to go to Starbucks without thinking about it *and* go on a ski trip, too. I'd like to be able to hire someone to clean the house and not think twice about it. I'd like to be able to go out to the movies or a concert without having it feel like a big deal.

It's all about choices. I feel good about the choices DH and I have made as far as foregoing a second full-time income is concerned, but I'd be lying if I said I don't wish I had some of the trappings of the good life too.

What gets me the most is when someone has plenty of money *and* plenty of time to enjoy it too. I can console myself with trade-offs (I have time but not tons of extra money, they have money but not a lot of free time), but when someone seemingly has both? Sigh. I wouldn't, if I were still teaching or otherwise earning a paycheck outside of the home. Well, maybe with some jobs when you leave you really are done, no nights, no weekends. I don't know - I started teaching right out of college.

Eating dinners out

March 18th, 2005 at 05:11 am

I'll admit it - when DH and I are angry, feeling really emotional (not at each other) we go out to eat. It's what we turn to so that we can just talk, and not worry about the cooking, the cleaning. We can just *be* with each other. But when things are stressful work-wise (and they have been for DH lately) or whatever, that gets expensive. We went out again last night, and had leftovers tonight.

There. I've been embarrassed to even post about it. But it's the honest truth.

Dinner at home, other random musings

March 16th, 2005 at 04:17 am

Dinner tonight was a frozen gorgonzola and pear pizza from Trader Joe's, a salad, broccoli and apple slices. Dessert was chocolate cake. All of this was food we already had at home, so one day down and a bunch more to go.

DH is taking receipts in to work tomorrow to submit for the medical reimbursement plan. We have roughly $380 in out of pocket expenses to turn in thus far. Once I get reimbursed for my physical therapy visits from January an Februay, I will turn in the receipts for the remaining out of pocket costs for those, too. It will be nice to get the $380 - straight into savings it goes.

DD's Spanish class is going up in price by $2 per class. I'm not surprised. It used to be in the teacher's home, but a neighbor complained to the city (oh, the horror - small groups of children being educated - some people need to get a life) and now she has to rent out some space. I'll still pay for DD to go - it's an awesome class and she is getting so much out of it. Not to mention she adores her teacher. Smile

One of my former students is coming back for tutoring again beginning tomorrow, so I'll have a little bit more income this week, which helps make up for spring break, when I don't do any tutoring.

Food spending is high 3/1-3/14

March 15th, 2005 at 06:11 am

Groceries: $249.20

Dining Out: $154.19

Starbucks: $0

No, it has not been a frugal month where food is concerned. Sigh. Maybe a good challenge will be to eat out of the pantry, frig and freezer for the next couple of weeks (aside from milk and fresh produce).

Rx sunglasses

March 14th, 2005 at 11:03 pm

I got (well, I ordered) new prescription sunglasses today. It'll be the first pair I've ever had, and I'm looking forward to getting them. It was still expensive, even with benefits, but it qualifies for our medical reimbursement plan, so it'll work out alright.

Today or tomorrow I'll take a look at spending through the first two weeks of March and see how things are going. I paid for my mom's night out with cash, so I'll have to remember to add that in when calculating the restaurant total. I rarely have cash, but one of my stuents pays me in cash, so there you go.

Mix of emotions today

March 13th, 2005 at 08:13 pm

I went out with a few other women last night for a mom's night out. We haven't done that in about three months. We went to an Indian food restaurant this time that happened to be within walking distance of my house, which was nice. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed my meal. The companionship was pleasant enough too.

My aunt passed away last night. It was not unexepected, but it is sad nonetheless. I expect we'll be heading up north in the very near future for a memorial service.

I was reading from the newest evangelical Christian in the forums who seems to believe that if you aren't her brand of religion then you need to "think" and see the light. Gives Christians a bad name, spouting off like that. Shoot, gives religion in general a bad name.

Spending, not saving

March 12th, 2005 at 05:15 pm

We went out to dinner last night. The car's battery died this morning. Money is slipping through our fingers right now like water.

I got sad news last night, and the last thing I wanted to do was sit around the house, so we all went out. It didn't change anything, but it got my mind off of other things for a bit. At least we'll have leftovers for dinner tonight.

Bike ride

March 11th, 2005 at 10:23 pm

DD and I biked over to Joanns today (I biked, she rode in the trailer) and I spent about two-thirds of my gift card. I bought handles for a purse I'd crocheted over a year ago Embarrassment as well as a book on knitting. I also have a gift certificate from my birthday for a terrific yarn store in town, so I'll pick out a project to try and go over there for the yarn. I was going to get fabric with my Joanns card, but now I'm waiting until I have the pattern and know exactly how much I need to buy.

I wish I lived in a bike-friendly town. Riding with traffic is nerve-wracking when I have DD with me.

Friday plans

March 11th, 2005 at 05:05 pm

We got a couple of $10 Starbucks cards as a thank you gift not too long ago, so DH and I went there yesterday and treated ourselves. Smile

Shouldn't have any major spending today. DD has tap this morning, but I've already had my fill of coffee here at home. We might go to a park playdate later this afternoon, and if we do I'll bring along some snacks and water. I'm thinking about riding my bike over to my local Joann's, with DD in the trailer. I have a gift card from my birthday that I haven't spent yet, so that would be fun. My mom got a pattern for a tote bag that I want to try out, so I may use my gift card for fabric and interfacing for that.

I'm way past due for a haircut and touch up on my highlights. I haven't been in since November. I think I'll call today and see if she can see me tomorrow. If not, maybe next Friday (she only works a couple of days a week).

DH and I stopped by a shoe outlet near us yesterday. They sell Uggs, Tevas, and Simple shoes. We got four pair of shoes and paid about $42. Awesome deal.

Edited to add that we made a stop at a dance store that's closing, to stock up on the next size ballet shoes, leotard and wrap sweater for DD. Everything was 30% off.

yet another wrong medical bill

March 10th, 2005 at 10:24 pm

Gee, guess what? Another f&*%ed up medical bill.

I got a bill today for $30 from when I took DD to the walk-in center in January. Seems the copay I paid that day hasn't been applied to her account. I'm waiting for a call back from the billing department. Stuff like this ticks me off more and more each time it happens. If I didn't pay attention to these things and just paid all bills as they came to me, who knows how much money I'd be paying that I didn't need to? It feels almost fraudulent, to be honest. Why can't billing people do their jobs so that I don't have to do it for them? It's not that hard. And just where did the $30 that I paid go? Whose account got credited for it, if not DD's? And what if I'd paid in cash and had no receipt for some reason? I'd be up a creek, so to speak.

Edited to add I just got off the phone with the billinng department and all is well now. Seems "the system was down that day" - whatever. DD's account has been credited now. We'll see when the next statement comes in.

Getting DivaTribe out there

March 9th, 2005 at 07:28 pm

On a different subject, I've been doing some thinking the past few days about how to get DivaTribe more exposure. I found some sites that link to book reviews, so I contacted a few site owners/editors to suggest that they take a look at DivaTribe's library section and see if they think it will fit in with their other links. I've also contacted a couple of money saving sites to talk about link exchanges. I submitted a few of my own articles to an article directory, but I have no idea if that will prove to be helpful at all.

DivaTribe brings in a fair amount of money for something that started out as a hobby and something fun to do. Current sources of income include amazon purchase, commissions through the consignment shop, google ads and various advertising (newsletter, banenrs, etc). Ideally, DivaTribe would bring in enough money to pay for itself, pay for advertising if/when I choose to advertise it in print or online, and leave enough leftover to give me a bit of a draw as well. I've done print advertising in Bust and Venus, and that's a pricey way to go (even though it reaches a great target market for the site). Bitch magazine emailed me the other day to talk about advertising with them. I'd love to advertise in Brain, Child one of these days, just because I think it's a cool magazine for moms.

Groceries and fresh produce

March 9th, 2005 at 07:03 pm

I spent $12 at the farmer's market today, and another $70 at our local health food store. I know that I can get some of the things I bought today at Trader Joe's for less. Oh well - I was at least supporting a locally-owned business that values the things I value, environmentally speaking. But for $70 I would have brought home more food from Trader Joe's, so part of me does feel a bit bummed.

I bought some dipping chocolate yesterday, and DD and I made chocolate dipped dried apricots. Today we're going to dip a few of the gigantic strawberries we bought today. I can't wait for plum, pluots and other summer fruits to make their way back to the farmer's market.

March spending 3/1-3/7

March 8th, 2005 at 07:32 pm

Groceries: $86.86

Dining Out: $98.12

Starbucks: $0

This includes the ski trip, so things are already much higher than I would like a typical month to be. Ideally, the restaurant total bill stay right there while we work on keeping our food bill down for the rest of the month. Ideally.

Monday, no spending so far

March 8th, 2005 at 12:16 am

Didn't spend any money today (so far). I packed snacks and water to bring to the park today, and DH made coffee for us this morning. Dinner will be whatever he puts together, as he does dinner on Mondays while I'm at yoga. We do need cat litter and a grocery run, so maybe that will happen tomorrow.

I'm trying to figure out how often I should update Quicken. Once a month I'll import credit card purchases, and I'm thinking maybe I should pick one other day during the month to catch up on checks that I've written. I don't want to be thinking about money 24/7 if I can help it.

Back from skiing

March 7th, 2005 at 03:39 am

Checking in after the ski trip. It was expensive, but it was so much fun that we're going to take a look at how much we spent, figure out what worked and what we would have done differently, and then budget for the trip next year. We really did have a good time. Smile

We had dinner out twice and ate at the condo once - three guesses which meal tasted the best. Yep - the one we prepared ourselves. One to record for our "what to do differently next year."

Shopping for DD

March 2nd, 2005 at 10:04 pm

I had to go get DD a turtleneck to take on the trip. It isn't easy finding a turtleneck when all the stores are showing spring clothes. I managed to find one on clearance at Gymboree, of all places, for a very fair price. Heh - but we also walked out with a pair of jeans, a top and a pair of leggings. Embarrassment DD went from being a dress/skirt girl to a pants girl seemingly over night! I think these are the first pants I've bought for her new in quite a while. The leggings were in the clearance basket and were really cheap. The jeans and top had been marked down once but were still kind of expensive. Oh well. She's set now for pants, until she grows again. Wink And then we can hit the consignment stores, and eBay.

Frugal choices, and tutoring

March 2nd, 2005 at 04:23 am

Some of the frugal/money-wise things I did today -

*Skipped Starbucks while DD was at Spanish

*Returned a new carton of milk that was bad, instead of just pouring it down the drain and feeling like going to the store to return it was 'too much trouble'

*Used two coupons today that were for things I would have bought anyway

I might have yet another new student coming to see me. I spoke with her father this evening and they are going to give me a call back after he's had a chance to talk it over with his wife. Since I've added a student on Monday afternoon, I may as well see two students on that day. I was trying to limit my business to two days per week, but it seems I'm going to be at three days per week for at least the next month or so.

February Food Spending

March 1st, 2005 at 07:04 am

Groceries: $351.33

Restaurants: $100.28

Starbucks: $43.90

Total = $495.51

That is higher than it needs to be. DD and I both had birthdays in there, which accounts for slightly higher totals. While the restaurant total is high, it represents only three meals out all month, which is an improvement. One of those meals was my birthday dinner, and I don't feel bad about it. And part of that grocery shopping included food for DD's birthday dinner and birthday party. I don't normally buy sodas and such, and that can add up quickly.

The Starbucks total is for DH and me, and it could stand to come down. At $22 each per month, that's 7 or 8 coffee drinks each, or fewer drinks but more baked goods. There is room for a little bit of saving there. I don't want to get rid of my lattes entirely and at this point don't intend to, but setting a goal of no more than 6 for March would be a step in the direction of saving.

$500 for food and drinks. Yes, there is room for improvment there this month. The ski trip is going to cost us, food-wise, but I'll bring what I can and shop there for refrigerated items once we're there and see how well-equipped the condo is. I'm bringing my ground Starbucks coffee, so hopefully there'll be a coffee maker. Wink

Ins. follow-up

February 28th, 2005 at 07:01 pm

It pays to ask. Smile

I got a very nice email back first thing this morning, explaining the error that was made on the part of the hospital and letting me know I will be refunded the money I should have received. That comes to a little over $300, so it was well worth the trouble to ask!

Skiing :)

February 28th, 2005 at 12:09 am

DH's freelance work has been busy this past month. One client alone will take care of our property taxes for the year, once that payment rolls in. That is a good feeling. Dh has been writing checks to me to put into savings, in our effort to build it back up to where we want it to be. It's getting there. I'll be getting an extra bit of money tomorrow too, with my new tutoring student coming.

This coming week is going to be expensive. We are actually taking a 4-day vacation!! Two of the days will be spent driving, but the other two days are ski days. Smile I can hardly wait. This is through DH's work, and he has already paid for some of our expenses (condo that we're sharing with four other people, two days of lift tickets at a discounted price), but we still need to pay for DD's lift tickets/ski school, all of our rentals and food. I'll be packing up food to bring with us, but I know we'll be buying food there as well, both to cook at the condo and while we're out. I'm excited. I haven't been skiing in about ten years, and DH and I have never been together. It will be DD's first time. I can't say enough good things about DH's company. It does good work for the environment, and it treats its employees extremely well. Ideal, really.

The last vacation we took was in October of 1993, and we stayed for free in a house some friends of ours own in the mountains. The cost of that trip was basically gas to drive there and food for the week, and we would have had to buy groceries regardless, so really it was nearly a free vacation.

Our last gas bill was about half of the previous month's (about $64 versus $132). Shows how much it costs for us to run our gas fireplace and furnace. It's been much warmer lately compared to January. I'd like to think that dropping the thermostat from 68* to 66* during the day during the week has helped, too.

Dealing with ins. and med. costs...again

February 27th, 2005 at 12:19 am

Is it this hard for everyone??

Here's my latest situation: the headache clinic that I go to does not take insurance, so I pay for my appointments myself and then submit claims to my insurance company. My insurance does cover these visits, which is great. Here's the glitch: the headache clinic is part of a hospital that is in my network. When I get statements from the insurance company letting me know how much they are covering, they always include a "negotiated discount" in their calculations...but the hospital does NOT pass that discount back to me, even though I paid it up front. So insurance cuts a check to the hospital, and then the hospital writes a check to me (which in and of itself seems weird, given that I'm the one being reimbursed, not the hospital).

I have emailed the business office director at the hospital under the advice of the nurse at the clinic, and will be following up with a phone call this week. So far, this amount adds up to around $300, and I would really like to have that money in my pocket! Somehow, it seems unfair that just because the headache clinic doesn't take insurance up front I end up paying more for covered services by an in-network provider.

Frugal Friday

February 25th, 2005 at 04:54 pm

My frugal plans for the day -

Eat all three meals at home. done

Get another load of laundry washed and hung to dry. didn't do

Get ebay items mailed (not frugal, but part of my decluttering/income from earlier in the week). done

Fill out Rx claim form - hopefully I'll get all but $20 back for a $163.90 Rx!! done

3 out of 4 isn't bad.

I got DD a cute speedo swimsuit for $11 today at Costco. It will be great for swim class.

Could have spent, and didn't

February 25th, 2005 at 01:12 am

A funny thing happened to me today. I gave myself permission to go out and treat myself...and found I didn't feel like spending money. It wasn't a guilt thing - it was more of a feeling that I'd rather do something besides spend money to treat myself. I wasn't even thinking of a big ticket spend-a-thon...maybe just a pedicure or something.

So what did I do instead? Spent a couple of hours outside in the glorious SUNSHINE, enjoying being warm for a change, after all of the rain we've had lately. DD and I just went out back and goofed off. It was fun, and I felt really good today.

We're going out to dinenr tonight for my birthday, and I'm looking forward to it. I need to decide where I want to go - haven't really given it much thought yet.

Tutoring

February 24th, 2005 at 05:14 am

I have a new student coming this Monday, for help in geometry. Whether she'll come on a regular basis or not I don't know. DH is tutoring right now. He helps a husband and wife (mostly the husband) learn to do various things with their Mac. I think right now they're working with Flash. It's a bummer to have him at work all day and then have him gone again in the evening, but in the short-run it's good because it helps us build our savings back up to where we want it to be. We have a number in mind that we're shooting for. Once we get back to that point, we feel like we'll have a little more freedom to plan for a vacation, or do some small scale remodeling around the house.

We had leftovers for dinner this evening, and my in-laws brought dessert over to celebrate my birthday. That was nice. Smile Now DD is asleep on the couch, and our dog is asleep on the floor below her. I told her she could fall asleep out here and I would carry her to bed later. She was having a hard time settling down, after having grandma and grandpa and an aunt here.

Sounds like DH is home, so I'm going to go. Smile

good auctions

February 23rd, 2005 at 08:48 pm

My auctions ended at just under $30! One bidder has already paid, and the other two auctions went to one person, who has already asked what her total with shipping comes to. Excellent! I love buyers that are prompt to pay.

I took DD to the bookstore today, to spend some money she received in the form of gift cards for Christmas and her birthday. She still has about $12 left, for another trip. I didn't buy anything for myself. I was able to use our homeschooling discount - love it!

eBay auctions doing great!

February 23rd, 2005 at 03:51 am

I accomplished all three goals. While at the library I picked up a few books that loked interesting with regards to homeschooling. They aren't actually hs'ing books - one is about raising a musical child, one is teaching American history through children's literature, and one is geography crafts. A fourth is about creative intellectuals - just grabbed it not knowing anything about it or its author (or even when it was published, lol).

We had Dutch babies (eggs, flour, milk, baked in the oven) for dinner, along with sliced apples. I was thinking of maybe chili or spaghetti but ended up choosing breakfast food. Sometimes that is extremely satisfying.

It was a no-spend day for me, but not for DH. He needed a new halogen desk lamp, and he picked up milk, mouthwash and cat litter while he was out this evening.

My eBay auctions (end tomorrow morning) are just shy of $24 this evening. Woo hoo - so glad I listed these three things, clothes that were still in good to like new condition that DD had outgrown.

Dinners this week, and eBay

February 22nd, 2005 at 05:25 pm

Plans for the day -

Return books to the library

Go through the cupboards and freezer and see what meals I can pull together

Tutor one student (other one cancelled)

Right now we are planning on going out to eat on Thursday night, and Saturday night we are going to a dinner party. I have leftovers from last night that will work for dinner either tonight or tomorrow night. So I need to come up with three dinners to take us through Sunday evening. One night is going to be chili, as I know I have that here.

My auctions end tomorrow. They're up over $10 so far. Hopefully they'll all go up a bit more before they end tomorrow morning. I found a black leotard for DD in a tank style that was only about $8 including shipping. My PayPal account has always felt like found money - I basically use it for eBay purchases when DD needs something "new" (that really doesn't need to be new).

Tomorrow I will import the latest credit card statement into Quicken and see how our finances look year-to-date.

Edited to add that I just checked my auctions and they're now over $15. :-)

3/4 through Feb.

February 22nd, 2005 at 03:37 am

Spent more money today than I thought I might, but it was also a good day in that we ate homemade scones for breakfast, sandwiches for lunch, and mole enchiladas for dinner. Topped it off with Dreyers Tagalong cookie ice cream. YUM! I took DD out earlier in the day to look for new rain boots for her (got some, yea, and a pair of black flats for myself for about $7). As we were heading home, I was more than a little hungry and thought about where I could stop to get lunch to bring home, as DH had the day off. In the end, though, I went to the grocery store and got lunch fixings and some other splurges. $36 well spent, as it means we ate at home today for all three meals, and will have some treats at home instead of being tempted to go out.

Three-quarters of the way through February:

Groceries: $340.80

Restaurants: $46.37

Starbucks: $29.35

That grocery total is a bit higher due to a birthday dinner for 9 and party for roughly 20 for DD earlier in the month.


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