Tammy's Journal

Pretend *YOU* are the bill collector and you must pay yourself at least $50 a month. Start paying yourself something. Find ways to make that $50 or more and put it in your emergency fund. If you had a bill that *had* to be paid monthly or else you would find a way. Do without dinners out, coffees, soda whatever to get that $$ together as soon as possible.

Even if you are paying debt off you still need an EF so you don't go back to charging in an emergency.

I will be adding $$ to our's today, not sure how much yet - but I would much rather have some securtity blanket than nothing. KWIM?
This is the main reason I am frual - I want us to have an EF - without being frugal we can't save anything.

I only used 37 kwh yesterday for a total of $2.96 of power for the day.

I am aiming to get the average under 40 per day before turning the a/c on for summer time. Some of my neighbors turned their a/c on permanant this past weekend. I am gonna try and go until March 1 before turning it on. In the past it has *always* been on in the last 2 weeks of Feb through Nov. NOT this year!!! The a/c adds at least $3 a day to the bill. On March 1 we will set another goal. We want to keep it off as long as possible this year.

We have a big above ground pool that we will be resetting up in the next week or so - that should let us keep our goal a little further off.

Today is day 16 of no spending in February. Goal was 18 - almost there.

In 2005 there will be 59 days through the end of Feb. If I make it to goal - 42 of those days will be no spend days so far this year.

Well today I need to take my flylady book back to the library. While I am out taking the boys to school, I will run dson's check by the bank and deposit it into his account. He wasn't sure when he'd get around to it.

Laundry - hoping to hang it on the line - but the fog is sooooo bad I will probably wait a little while - if not on the line I will put it on the racks to dry. Probably won't be able to get it all done that way though.

I have a chest freezer in the garage I am thinking about plugging in again. It's huge and cost me about $25 a month in electricity - but I think I can save that by stocking it. hhhmmmmm something to think about.

Will finish inventory on the pantry and the freezer(this one above frig- it's full that's why I am considering plugging the other one in).

I bought a gallon of shampoo and conditioner at Sally's about 3 weeks ago - I need to refill our shampoo bottles today. I got the gallons for $4 each on sale and they work great.

Also need to call the paper about running the ad for the suburban this weekend. Want to get a price and find out how many words it can be. Dh will work on that tonight so I can get it listed in the next couple of days.

Today will be another no spend day here - total so far 15 days!!!!!
Getting closer to goal! Yeah!

Today I will do laundry, hang it out on the line and fix something for dinner from the pantry/freezer.

Have a great day!!!

We had a leaky faucet outside last month and dh fixed it after it leaked for a month. Our water bill only went up by 30 cents! Either we have made some water cuts or it wasn't that big of a leak as we thought. You could see a steady stream of water squirting out so I don't know...............

But I am happy - like to keep that water bill under $25 monthly and it is!! I was afraid it was really gonna be high.

February Frugal Goals:

February I want to -
~continue to track all expenses ~done~
~continue to keep the grocery bill down ~working on~
~18 no spend days ~working on~
~hang laundry out ~all but 3 days this month so far~
~reduce kwh as much as possible ~working on~
~learn to cook a few new recipes ~haven't done yet ~

My suburban was costing us $70 a week in gas and I don't go that far. I filled the minivan up for $25 and can't wait to see how far that takes me. I am hoping over a week. Even if I spent $70 every 2 weeks - can't really see that happening then I am still saving 140 a month on gas!!

We will be listing the suburban for sale in the next week and that $$$ will go into the emergency fund!! WOOHOO!!

Also started our new car fund - as we know the minivan I am driving won't last forever. We paid cash a couple days ago for dh's new car and will do the same when it's time to replace the van - hoping it makes it at least another year!

WOW the neighbor cleaned out her pantry today and brought over a ton of canned soups and veggies that she bought when her daughter was living there. They don't eat it and asked if the kids would eat the soup and stuff. WOOHOO Free food is always the best price! I ended up with 2 huge brown paper bags filled with cans.

Will inventory the pantry tomorrow and start making the grocery list for the end of the month - it's almost over and I am way under budget!! WOOHOO!!

I budgeted 18 for this month and am at 14!!!!! Yeah! With 8 more days I should have no trouble getting the next 4 days to meet goal!!!!!!

January's goal was 20 and I hit 24!!!

Today will be a no spend day here.

Decided last night that instead of paying the escrow down ($800) or paying on the medical bill that's left we are gonna put that $800 in our Emergency fund - which right now is at 0. As much as I want to be debt free - it will happen this year - we need that EF. We will add another $200 to it and then start agressively paying down the medical bill. The escrow on the mortgage, we decided to just do it monthly. We already started it this way and rearranged the budget for it...............
Will start working on the menu for the next 2 weeks. So far my budgeted amount for groceries was 450 or 500 I can't remember but I've only spent 199.xx - thanks to the pantry challenge. I will definitely come in under budget as there are only 8 more days of this month!!!!!!!!
Decided that since we are budgeted the extra gas $ for the suburban and the extra insurance - I will keep it budgeted that way - but send the extra $$ to the EF, then the medical bill.
Terrible headache yesterday so I ended up using the dryer and I sure could see that with the kwh reading this morning. Oh well, back to hanging it out today.

Have a terrrific day!!!!

We got a car yesterday - it's an older one 89 lebaron - but it only had 64000 mile on it and was in mint condition. It has everything and is a convertible.

We have needed to take the suburban off the road for awhile can't wait to start seeing the savings in the gas - already lowered insurance by 96.00 every 6 months!!!!!! WOOHOO

I just checked my kwh for today only used 38 yesterday - just last week we were averaging 62!! So a savings of 29!!

Here's a few tips I have done recently:

~I have unplugged everything except major appliances
~flipped the breaker for the dryer and bought a bigger drying rack - now I have 2 and can do most laundry with those and the outside line
~wash only in cold, 1 time a week I wash whites in warm
~I still use the dishwasher - it would save another 6 to 8 kwh but I HATE to see dishes on the counter and I don't always have time to dry them - thanks to flylady and that shiney sink. LOL
~reset my hot water heater timer - which I had unset for awhile
~when baking do several items at one time
~Will be putting black out lining on the french doors soon, gonna do it yesterday and forgot..............
~I even unplug the computer and modem at night before going to bed

It will be a no spend day here. Day 11 so far
I just found out we will be aunt/uncles to a new little boy in about 6 weeks time. We actually have never met dh's sister (longgggggg story) but talk to her on the phone and through letters. I guess that trip to Ct. that we have been wanting to plan will definitely happen sometime this year. Gotta see the new bundle!!

I made this little chart to keep track of my kwh- but I love it. Yesterday dh was sanding something for his restoration project - with an electric sander - and I was like can't you hand sand it. Ok maybe I am taking it just a little tooooooo far!! LOL He was like yeah - but it would take me a year - this way will take me a few hours - ok for the peace of my marriage - he can have those kwh.

Dinner will be from the freezer, laundry washed in cold with 1/8 cup of laundry soap and hung on the racks as it's gonna rain.

Need to call the insurance company today and get a quote on 2 different cars we are interested in. Dh is so funny - he was like - I want the one with the lower car insurance. He's coming around!

No spending today - so we now have 10 no spend days for the month of Feb. Sure not doing as well in Feb as I did in Jan. Oh well.

Today I will drag the sewing machine out and sew up 2 small holes in my favorite blanket. It's a comforter I got in 1987 for $1 - but I LOVE it!!! I don't want to get rid of it, even though most of the insides have come out throughout the years. It's been sewn soooooo many times! LOL I am just not ready to give my blankie up.

I washed and hung up a load on the racks before I went to bed - they are dry so I folded those and have washed 2 loads and one load to go. Those will all go on the line in a few minutes.

Dinner will be from the pantry/freezer.

I made this spreadsheet last night for the last medical bill - actually it's an updated version to keep me motivated!

I flipped the breaker for the dryer, since I won't be using it. Having reset the water heater timer has lowered the kwh daily. I unplug everything that is not in use - I have even started unplugging the computer at night. All lights are off, when not needed. I will be hanging the blackout lining over the french doors today - as it got 83 degrees in the house yesterday!! If it got over 80 before I would flip the a/c on - but I didn't. I want to this to be the first year the a/c doesn't get flipped on in Feb - in 10 years!! Actually I want to stretch it out as long as possible this year.

Will be making up homemade furniture polish and dusting later.

Need to make up some homemade snacks also.

Well I wished there was a magic pill, but honestly most people would find themselves right back in debt, if it were that easy.

It take good old fashion planning and hard work.

We have cut everything that we could from our budget, any extra $ get's sent to our medical bill. We started out with $14000 in medical bills (very bad insurance at the time). That was 2 1/2 years ago. We are down to 1659.xx . WOOHOO!! Yes it's hard work, but it will be great to be debt free except the mortgage. We have saved cash on top of paying this off and will use it and part of our tax refund to get a new to us car, hopefully soon!

It's not easy, and sure there are plenty of days that we felt like, well everyone else is in debt, we'll just be that way too. Now that we know this can be done on our income and family size. We will continue to make those *payments* just not to the medical bills - it will go toward the home mortgage. I can't wait to shout we're totally debt free.

Trust me - you will become debt free. I guess it depends on how fast you want to and what sacrafices are you willing to make to have that dream become a reality.

Today I have to take dson to the dentist for a cleaning. No copay on that.

I have a terrible cold and need to get some daytime meds - as I have an over abundance of the night time stuff - but really need to stay awake today. So that will be a little $$.

Spent 5.05 at Walgreens.

I need to run by the bank and deposit $75 that came in the mail yesterday.

Frugal today:
NOTHING LOL - just going to rest!! Seriously I will track the kwh as our billing cycle ends in a few days. Arrange for a couple of bills to be paid through bill pay with our bank - saving stamps.
Keeping everything uplugged or off when not in use. Washing in cold water. Dinner from the pantry/freezer.
Need to do a little more internet window shopping - we are looking for a new car to us. I think we found one, and will go look at it on Friday, I think.

Made a list of what to do with our tax refund when it get's here. Dh is finally coming around totally about being debt free. We have a car fund we have been sticking $$ in and figure we will use part of our tax refund as we don't finance cars - if we can't pay cash we don't want them. Well the rest of tax refund he was telling me a couple weeks ago what he wanted to buy for his 66 mustang restoration project - I was like NO!! But didn't say anything. WELL.............. yesterday he asked if we could pay the escrow off on the mortgage or if we should pay the last medical bill off first with the leftover $$. I about fainted!! We will be running some numbers tonight to see which would be best (right now thinking the escrow- because we could add that to the medical bill and it would be more $$ monthly to pay that off. ) Anyways I asked about the mustang (stupid girl! LOL:howl He said he wanted to be debt free (except the mortgage) before he worked on it anymore. WOW!! Not sure WHO has jumped in my dh's body - but lets get this done - before the real dh comes back.

It's a beautiful day here in florida today! Today will be a spending day. The older 2 boys and I went out to breakfast as we had to travel an hour and half one way this morning for a dr appt. That was 8.46 - not bad considering I fed myself and a 16, 17 year old boys.

Dh and the boys took a load of stuff to the dump. Then dh is coming home and he and I are going out to lunch. That will probably be under $10 as we are going to an all you can eat pizza place for 3.99 each (includes drink too!)

~Dinner is from the freezer/pantry.
~Laundry is washing in cold water, with 1/8 cup of laundry soap.
~Sent homemade brownies in to school with 2 younger boys, instead of getting something premade and sending it in.
~lunch packed from home for 3 out of 4 kids.

That's all the frugal stuff I am doing today as I am realllllllly tired today.

KWH's are down this month!!I have 3 more days in my billing cycle - and today my reading was 1588 - with the average of what we are using it will 1762 probably or lower by the end of our billing cycle. Our reading last month was 2251!! Saving almost 500 kwh!!!! A savings of $40!!!!!!
Little things really add up!

I am half way to my goal of no spend days today! 9/18 WOOHOO!!!

No $$ being spent today as I don't count our tithe. We won't be spending any other money today.

I love days where no spending dollars leave our pocket. The more I can save- the more that I can save or put on the medical bill!!

I got the receipt for the next to last medical bill I just paid a couple days ago - it's great to have another one paid!!!!!!
Now working on the last one, and want it gone NOW!! Then I can start working full time on the mortgage.

WOW my 2nd oldest is 16 today!

I already had his gift so today will be a no spend day for me. Day 8 for this month. Not bad!!!!

WOOHOO! I went to this garage sale a couple blocks from my home this morning. It was for a pregnancy crisis center all the kids clothes 25 cents each. Also got a brand new toddler car seat still in the box for 2.00!! And a brand new pair of shoes for Easter (for youngest dd) I spent 5.50 total!!

I get there and they tell me our insurance has been terminated - NOT! Well they finally got through to blue cross and they told them we were covered - 45 minutes later we go into the room - 45 minutes after that we see the dr. It's hives and no reason for it except maybe the school lunch??? That's the only thing that was different - I let ds eat at school on Wed. But he didn't have school lunch today- so I don't know why it would be worse today. I have been giving dson benadryl but it was liquid - dr. gave me a HUGE bag of benadryl chewable tablets. WOOHOO!! As I was almost out of the liquid. No $$ spent at the dr or for meds.
I will be packing dson's lunch from now on............

But dson stayed home from school today - he broke out into hives on his cheek at school yesterday. He seemed fine this morning but I kept him home as a precaution - well he has hives covering his back now. I called the dr. and they will see us this afternoon - there isn't a copay as long as we use our dr. But if he prescribes anything other than benadryl then I will have to pay for it. Glad it's on a spending day. LOL

Also paid off a small medical bill!! YES!! but it's paid in full now!! I have been paying $25 a month forever LOL I only owed 45.51 so I paid if off today!!! WOOHOO- Now more money for the last medical bill.

I spent 169.59 at the grocery store today. Not too bad, considering I really needed to stock up a few things.

Total is 199.xx for the month - goal was 450.00

Ok I finally got around to resetting this thing. I have already seen a drop in my kwh since yesterday. WOOHOO!!

Been hanging laundry out too, I think I am only saving about 10 kwh a day on that - but the big picture is saving $24 a month!! I will need to redirect that so it's not eaten up by something else.

Today will be another no spend day here.
Also need to make out a grocery list/menu so I can shop tomorrow.
I need to work on the budget for tomorrow also.
Will work on cleaning out the linen closet if I get in a decluttering mood.

_______________
~Tammy~
No spend days: 30/6 first # is total for the year/total for this month
Groceries:~$29.82~goal:$450
Saving Pennies for Christmas '05

There is a freecycle group in the next county that I joined. I love it. I have given away a ton of stuff the last couple of days. It's been great!
I also signed up to organize one in our area - so I am in the process of doing that right now.

Orgnization is DEFINITELY the key to frugality and saving $$ for me!

Our kwh's are still down. I am using the solar dryer (clothesline or drying racks), unplugged the big freezer right now, washed only in cold water. Went back to using the dishwasher - I know I could save more - but I hate looking at dishes on the counter and I don't always have time to dry and put them away right then.

Also no heat or a/c going. I will continue with these and try to find a few more electricty leaks.