Yeah, well I had to get my rings inspected! I DESPISE the mall!!!! Figured I would treat DH to a pretzel since I had a BOGO coupon. Sheesh, can't believe those things cost $2.49 plus tax. YIKES!
Well, my diamond was loose so they have to send it out for repair. I'm just wearing my mom's gold band (that is part of my "set") and it feels strange. The repair will cost $0 as we bought the service plan many years ago. Not the first time I've had to use it either.

Found a dime and a nickel on our way in - a good find!

Got home to find an envelope stating "We thank you for your time and effort in participating in this important research." There was a check for $25 ! I have NO clue what this was for!

Also got a $20 rebate for DH's contact lenses and $17.52 refunded for overpayment on my car loan I just refinanced. Nice haul today!

I see that I have two pinecone surveys in my inbox - one is a product eval follow up. Gotta go make that easy money now.

Have a great evening everyone!

So, a goal has been in the works for me for a while now and I finally just sat down and worked out the details. Far from finalized, but I have a basic plan - subject to change of course.

A few weeks ago, I took some money from savings and paid off my 401k loan. This gave me an $18.31 per week "raise". Next up: DH's car!! Payoff as of 07/13/08 is $3905.37 YUCK! Payments are $283.56 per month with an expected payoff date of 10/30/2009. I plan on moving payments up when I have the money to pay them, rather than when they are due. As of right now, I think I can get the car paid off mid-April 2009 - 6 months early! If DH works some overtime between now and then (quite likely), I could knock another month or two off my estimate. I would like it paid off sooner than later, but I think I can live with this plan and it feels good to have a plan!

I have the plan details in my sidebar.

SHHHH!!! Don't tell DH!!!! The less he knows of my plan, the better.

Well, I'm sick of how a lot of things in my life are, so I'm looking to make some small changes - and save money! I'm trying really hard to break my habit of using paper plates. Tough to do as I've been using them my whole life! I am making some progress though and eating some chips off a real plate right now. My decision mostly stems from not wanting to spend money on things these days. Yes, I've gotten to the point I am too cheap to buy paper plates!! They don't seem necessary anymore. Besides, I have some CUTE vintage tupperware plates that I just LOVE - and never use. So I'm trying to use these to eat from when I normally would have used a paper plate. The fact that I love the plates is kind of an incentive to use them. I really need to hide the paper plates though!!

It's a small change, but I feel good about it.

Ok, so technically I don't have it yet, but it should arrive in 2-3 weeks. Got something in the mail today to call and get my free, no strings attached, no catch $10 JC Penney gift card. Figured what the heck - how bad could the sales pitch be? Not bad at all and I only had to decline two products. I figure I'll give it to my mom since she shops there and I don't. She said that was the best news she had all day.

She's feeling really down lately. She keeps calling me crying and I just DON'T know what to do! She was looking forward to going away for Laity weekend, but found out today that it was cancelled. She cried all afternoon! I know she's going through a rough time, but I just CAN'T do anything about it!!

Well, she at least seemed slightly upbeat about getting a free $10 to combine with her $5 coupon. *SIGH*

Well my mom called me late morning and her surgery went "well" this morning. As well as it could I suppose. Now we just wait for the lab results. Not sure what will be next, although she meets with the drs. tomorrow who will be doing the radiation. This part is scary - I know NOTHING about it!

I am excited as it appears one item I listed on craigs list will be sold tomorrow evening. The guy is meeting my husband after work since they both drive through the same area around the same time of day. This is the Bentley manual for my car I just got rid of. It's in perfect condition and you can't find one for less than $65 + $3.99 shipping on Amazon. I was only asking $40 and that's a steal! I'll be glad to get it out of here and get some money in return.

Hope everyone has a good evening!

Well all I could stomach this weekend was some very minor decluttering. This place needs a LOT of decluttering, but it just nauseates me.

Today I filled a kitchen trash bag full of clothes I'll never wear again. This came from my dresser. I still need to attack the closet but that is just too intimidating.

Yesterday I tackled the pile of paperwork that hasn't been filed in over a year. Yes, over a YEAR!! It's a wonder I could ever find anything with it all in one big pile. Being so disorganized almost cost me and I couldn't have picked a better day to clean this up!! I found paperwork welcoming me to Citi credit protector for just 89c per $100 balance. I signed up for this to get a free digital picture frame. Never bothered to cancel it because I had a zero balance and no plans to use this card. Well just yesterday I was checking out my balance transfer options and this card had 3.99% for life of the transfer, no transfer fee. I had just requested the balance transfer before I started on the paperwork project. SO GLAD I found that paperwork and called to cancel!!

I did find some interesting loan paperwork that put things in perspective - even for DH! He had taken out a loan to take some classes back in 2001. The loan was for just over $5000, but I didn't realize until now it had a 20% variable interest rate! The loan paperwork said total paid would be almost $20000. HUH???
Well in July 2005 the rate was jumping from 14% to 16% and I had enough. I transferred $6812.35 with a $65.00 fee to a 4.99% for life card. It is now three years later and the balance is $2159.61 with less than $9 per month interest accruing. According to the original loan paperwork, we were set to pay $104 per month until June 2017. That would be over $11000 left to pay as of right now!! Nauseating... That same payment now gets this paid off in less than 2 years. I plan to pay it off sooner though.

I have a couple of items listed for sale on craigslist with no bites so far. Very frustrating as I don't have them overpriced at all. People just aren't spending money on ANYTHING right now - us included, so I understand. Just would like some stuff OUT and $$ IN.

I had started a blog entry listing all my monthly bills and amounts owed on debts, but that became too much for me. Maybe I will start a new one with my current goals. Baby steps, right?

Focusing on the finances so much is keeping my mind off the fact that my mom has to have surgery again tomorrow. I guess they didn't get enough tissue out last time to say she's in the clear. Just what she doesn't need right now - another surgery. At least we got the financial assistance paperwork filled out. On paper it looks like she's in the hole $80 per month!! They just HAVE to give her some assistance.