I just had to share a story my coworker just told me!

About a month ago, my coworker's 2 year old car was severely damaged in a freak accident. Around 4 in the morning, an unlicensed driver, who had borrowed a friend's car, lost control and plowed into 4 vehicles parked on the street. My coworker has been driving a rental for the past 30 days and her time is maxed out through her insurance. She spent the morning arguing with the other party's insurance to try and get the rental extended. They reluctantly extended it 4 more days and she asked what would happen after that. They told her it would have to be considered reimbursement. She told them she would NOT be paying out of pocket for a rental car for this. The lady actually told my coworker it wouldn't be out of her pocket since she'd have to put it on a credit card!!

I bet this lady has a nice pile of debt built up if she has that mentality.

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.

Well, the vellux blanket didn't survive the wash today. We picked up this blanket at a yardsale for $2 a couple years ago. It was on the guest bed, not our bed.



I can't stand seeing anything go to waste, even if half of it is destroyed! So out comes my new sewing machine - yeah, had it for 6 months and haven't used it. I'm a little rusty and the stitches aren't great, but they didn't have to be for this project. A little time, the destroyed blanket, and 3/4 of a bag of polyfill I got for 25c... voila! A new snuggly pet bed! Now who wouldn't want to curl up in this? Well, maybe not today - it's 90 degrees! I used a third of the blanket that wasn't destroyed and cut up the rest of it to use as stuffing. No waste!

Grrrr.....
The stupid dealership overcharged me on my car! Unfortunately, today was the first chance I've had to go over the paperwork they gave me. The original purchase agreement I signed had the agreed upon price, where the loan paperwork and everything else I signed the next day had a price that was $495 HIGHER than I agreed. I just went over this paperwork with a fine tooth comb and I am certain they made a mistake here. I was overcharged $495 on the price of the car, $24.75 in sales tax, and ??? on interest until this matter is cleared up.

I'm sure this was just an oversight and I have no choice but to give them the benefit of the doubt. With everything else that's going on right now, I really just didn't need this. Yes, I know it's my fault for not scrutinizing the paperwork on the spot, but I was not in the right frame of mind since the whole car buying experience was so stressful for me. To make matters "worse", I see that the paperwork I signed on the 15th is all dated the 12th and the P&S agreement that I claim is correct is dated the 14th. Obviously the paperwork dated the 12th is incorrect as I never even saw this car until the 14th. DH saw it the 12th though. His name isn't anywhere on the official paperwork though, as the car was being purchased in my name only.

Glad I'm still sitting on the customer satisfaction survey they gave me. This could get interesting.

Got a letter in the mail with a $15 GC to Circuit City that I could have activated if I signed up for Chase Fraud Detector. Just called to activate that and I'll call again in a few weeks to cancel. Nothing but a little time spent on my part. Just sent DH out the door to Circuit City to FINALLY pick up the 2nd nunchuk we need for the Wii. I've been a bit disappointed at how expensive this thing has been just to make it 2 player friendly! We got a good deal on the 2nd Wiimote and we've just been waiting for a good deal for the nunchuk. $15 free to use towards it is perfect! I'll pick up the balance out of my allowance.

We went to Shaws this morning to take advantage of the great deal they have on General Mills products this week. 10 items for $20 minus $10 coupon on $20 worth of products. Got 8 boxes of cereal and 2 boxes of granola bars. Stacked this deal with 5 $1 off 2 coupons and got these items all for a total of $5. Hmmm... I just realized the $1 off coupons might have only been meant for the cereal, but the machine accepted it anyways. We originally were going to buy 10 boxes of cereal, but changed our mind last minute for the granola bars. Absolutely everything on our list was on sale! We're not having a problem at all with rising food prices. Just being a bit more creative!

Got $15 this week cashing in points from one survey site. Also got a $5 pinecone check. I was going to use this towards the nunchuk until we got the Circuit City GC.

It's been a miserable dreary weather weekend, but we still managed to hit some indoor charity yard sales yesterday. DH bought a "new" office chair for $5. It's leather (pleather?) and actually adjusts up and down. His old one didn't. I was excited to find two Wilton candy molds in the shape of little bugs! I get excited over silly stuff like this even though I have no use for chocolate bugs. Might be fun to leave in the kitchen at work!! Well, a coworker and I will have a good laugh over chocolate bugs at the very least. Not sure what I paid for these as we bought a box full of stuff for $8. Included a Philips Senseo coffee maker for my MIL, 2 porcelain angels for my MIL, a cute planter for me and a cute planter for my mom. We felt we got great deals and it all benefited the boy scouts.

Went to a church yard sale a little later and bought a vintage tupperware storage container - I love these! Spent 50 cents but we came out ahead as they handed us religious literature on the way in that had $1 in it. Also had a 1 million dollar bill that will be a fun gift to give someone. Might also be fun to frame our "first million"!

Unfortunately money goes out as easily as it comes in. My next task is to pay a parking ticket DH got in Boston when he went out last friday. Sure hope he enjoyed the evening!! He was hiding it from me but I found it in his car when I was looking for something. I just shrugged my shoulders cuz it's not my problem anymore. $40 gone so fast from his allowance! This is great - I'm not angry at all!

In response to

DebtKid's dumbest purchase, I really had to think about this one since I generally am happy with my purchases.

My dumbest purchase would have to be the 72 gallon pond kit I purchased at an insane price a little over a year ago. This pond kit looks so cute and was only less than $40 SHIPPED! WOW!! These things normally retail for closer to $150.00!!! What a STEAL!! I wanted a pond more than anything - I just love aquariums inside and little ponds outside. How great!

BUT... I live in a condo... I don't have a place to put this thing, so it just sits in the box collecting dust.

I wanted it so badly, can't use it, and could have used that money for something else.

Can anyone here advise me on a furnace maintenance plan for my mother's furnace? She has a gas furnace that was just installed in the last year or two. Her fuel company added the charge for the plan on her bill (she's mad about that) and I'm not sure if this is something we should get for her. I know nothing about this stuff and I'm hoping someone here might!! Is this a good deal and is it recommended to have something like this in place? Any insight welcome!

It includes:
- periodic burner tuneup, system inspection, and cleaning of the heating system as needed.
- adjustments are made as needed, to ensure your maxium econonomy and environmental protection.
- tuneups are performed during normal business hrs M - F.
- all parts will be replaced as necessary at the previling rates.
- 24 hr emergency burner service is provided at no labor charge.
- $18 monthly $180 yrly

I just sent her $150 to help towards the property taxes and this is very much an unexpected expense. At least going forward I should have a better understanding of what's going on at her house.

Thank you!

Went over my mom's budget again since she got paid friday. She's in "OK" shape I would say. I did have to send her $150.00 towards the $325.00 property taxes. No choice here as there was a $40 late fee plus high interest rate if it was late. She would like to start putting money into a separate account for the property taxes, but she's just not at that point yet. She doesn't know that I already started an account and there is 50.09 (yay interest!) accumlated so far. No harm done for me at this point since I can always dump that money back into my main account if she manages to find the money before the next payment is due this summer. Well, after all is said and done, she has just over 20.00 to get by until 12/14. Gonna be tough with Christmas coming and her known spending habits. She did buy some groceries and gas up her car. She was conscious of staying below the $80.00 I had budgeted between the two expenses. Keeping my fingers crossed here! If she can make it, and also not run out of fuel to heat the house, then she can make a payment to the heating company for another delivery next check. We're just not sure when she will run out.

We went to Mystic Aquarium yesterday using some free passes I received this summer. I don't think I would pay full price to get in there, but well worth it for free! It just cost us the gas to get there plus $4.12 we spent at BK for lunch. My husband was like a little kid around the penguins!! I could have stared at the fish, especially the cichlid display, for hours. I'm a cichlid junkie and he has quite the soft spot for penguins. They are quite cute!



The aquarium gave me a good chance to try out my new camera. It takes GREAT videos! Pics are ok, but it's really tough to take pictures of fish in tanks. I've mastered it at home, but I think people would have looked at me funny if I had been laying on the floor to take pics. That's really the only way I've found it to work.

In other finacial news, we're really looking forward to the new year so we can "renegotiate" our allowances. Neither of us feels it's enough to do what we want to do. There will be more wiggle room next year since we'll be saving so much on our health insurance premiums.

Hmmmm.... I also got my boss to agree to pay me for my days I was unable to use this year! I also have to work on Dec. 22 and 29 (office closed the 24th and 31st) since I can't afford to lose Monday and Tuesday of my weeks. To make up for this, boss will pay me for hours worked (I'm salaried so this is extra) plus one day pay plus one extra day off next year. Not a bad deal since I'll only have to work maybe half a day. Sure beats coming in those Mondays. Too bad DH has to work on the 24th - until 6 pm.
And we have a party to be at 2 hours away! He'll never make it. I'll already be up in NH and he'll be commuting from there.

Enough from me for now!!

Wow, I've been so busy all week and I can hardly figure out where the time went! I wont be around much next week either, due to the holidays.

Last night we had a VERY nice (and inexpensive!) evening out. We just signed a new deal with a vendor at work. As a thank you, our sales rep gave my boss and I 5 corporate suite tickets to the Celtics game. My boss brought his wife and I brought DH plus one of DH's friends. It was a private suite with tons of good food and drinks. It was slightly work related, but not too bad. Mostly a social thing. We all had a really great time and it only cost $25 for parking and tolls: $13 from us and $12 from DH's friend. Not bad! It was a good game too. The Celtics won by only one point.

I was supposed to be cleaning today, but all I managed to do was wash 3 loads of laundry and go over the finances. Not much to report on there. The $1900 car repair bill was a downer, but we'll bounce back in the long run.

Still need to:
- clean two turtle tanks
- catch up with neighbor who will be pet sitting
- bake cookies, cupcakes, and make candies
- vac and other general cleaning
- pack for Thanksgiving

Just a day and a half of work next week, then a few much deserved days off!

Gave away a pair of DH's rollerblades on Freecycle today. He HAD to have them, wore them once, then decided he liked his old ones better. A woman was looking for a pair for her son for Christmas and these happened to be the right size. I LOVE the giving aspect of Freecycle!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend!

Well after being windy beyond belief and quite cold yesterday, today is gorgeous! DH is out doing oil changes on both cars, replacing the dead bulbs on mine, etc. I figured it was a great day to cut down the garden. Now, I love morning glories, but they were mutants this year! This picture shows what they looked like before they grew completely up through the shutters and into the air conditioner (THAT was fun to clean up). I hacked down this monstrosity, and boy did my husband laugh when I walked around the corner carrying this and said "remind me next year that I don't like morning glories anymore!" They sure were beautiful in their prime though.



I did have a brief online chat with my mother this morning about finances. She informed me that she could come up with the money for the property taxes, and still pay her other bills! She would just need a little gas money. Ok, so what about food and heat. She replied that she can't afford food and heat. *SIGH* She's at church now and I'm sending her a list of the info I need: What bills and how much and when they're due, what outstanding debts she has, and when and how much her next paycheck is. She is paid every two weeks. We need to have a discussion on priorities! Food and heat are last on her list??

Thank you Noel! Boy is it breezy right now. My desk sits next to the window in the bedroom and I was freezing! I actually had to take a break from the finance stuff (my usual Saturday task) to put plastic over that window. New windows would be great, but we plan on selling this place in a couple of years. I found a 3 window kit in the closet downstairs and I couldn't remember paying 5.99 for it at the store on the price tag. Ha! I didn't! We bought it at a yard sale early in the summer for 25 cents. YAY! This doesn't seem as nice as the plastic I had last year, but I think it will do. Hey, I'm not freezing anymore.

Well the appointment at the dealership this morning didn't go as I expected. Their "thorough bumper to bumper inspection" barely amounted to a basic safety inspection. I'm glad they noticed I have two side marker bulbs and both license plate bulbs out. We'll take care of that tomorrow. They didn't inspect anything I expected them to though. They did say I need new front strut mounts. Good to know since we were going to do the struts and shocks soon anyways. The biggest concern was that he said I'd need the rear brakes done in 3-4000 miles. I was a little aggravated by that, but then when I got out to the car and read the paperwork - it said the rear cylinders were both leaking and the fluid needs to be flushed. Uh... go back and read my entries from Apr 2006 to see why this concerns me. WHY should I be replacing these AGAIN a year and a half later? People wonder why I'm so paranoid that my brakes will fail. Turns out, I apparently have a reason to be paranoid.

I did find it funny that they "noticed" I am late on an oil change by looking at the sticker on the windshield. Did they check the oil? Also, they didn't seem concerned that my check engine light is on? Oh, and they didn't notice that my windshield wipers are secured on by twist ties? I laughed about that one.

I tried to talk to my husband about mom's property taxes. It's hard to have a conversation with him though. He has ADD and is so easily distracted when it comes to stuff like this. I wish it was as easy as having my mom put aside $10 a week for this expense. At the moment, she doesn't "have" $10 a week. I'm not sure she'd even have it if she'd stop spending on useless things. So, as of this week I now have a new ING account title "Mom's Property Taxes" funded with $10. Guess I'll start preparing so I'm not caught off guard with this again in 6 months. I'll also plan on having to come up with most, if not all, the bill for Dec. I really would like to talk to DH about this, but he just doesn't understand what it's like to watch a parent struggle.

Well I need to get back to the finances. Got some work to do still!

I knew going into today that it was going to be a LONG day at work - I just had no idea how long! We were working very hard today to get 438 open enrollment packets assembled, stuffed, and mailed out. We're changing insurance plans, so we had a lot of paperwork to send. At some point during the day, we found out the town was locked down!! Now keep in mind, I work in a small affluent town where "nothing bad ever happens". After several conflicting reports, by the end of the day we found out there were TWO separate incidents. An elderly man was murdered and his daughter-in-law severly beaten by a man working on the house. Just a couple miles down the road, an armed robber held up the new pizza place and the whole center of town was roped off. They did catch both guys, but the whole town was on edge all afternoon. Two completely random insane incidents.

I did not leave the office until after 5:30, which is very unusual for me! A few hours later and I still feel brain dead. This is the kind of evening where I would have given anything to go out to eat, just for a break. I was good though and ate food around the house!! I'm usually quite good about tightening the purse strings when I know my car may need some unknown work. We're taking it to the dealership tomorrow for a "free" winter car care clinic. It's a professional multi-point inspection where they perform a thorough bumper to bumper examination of your car. I ignored the email at first, but then it hit me how stupid it would be to pass this up! My car rolled over 154,000 miles this week and I'm getting to the point where I need to decide if it's worth fixing or dumping. I'd like to keep it if possible, but that depends on what might be wrong with it. What better way to find out than have the dealership go over it with a fine tooth comb - for free! They also are offering a 10% discount if you perform any of the suggested work between 11/05 and 12/31. I'm not going into this blindly since my check engine light has been on for over 3 years and my suspension is shot. It's what else MIGHT be wrong that concerns me. We'll see what tomorrow holds! I'm looking at this as an opportunity to find out about a major potential problem BEFORE it requires another call to AAA.

My mom informed me last night that her property tax bill is due Dec. 03 and it's $325. This is up $45 from the June bill! I sort of blame myself for not paying attention to the due dates of past bills and preparing my mom ahead of time for this. She does not have the money to pay the bill - yet again! Granted she doesn't make much money, but I still can't figure out what's she's doing with the money she makes. Spending it on crap she doesn't need to be buying! I "helped" her a year and a half ago and took care of her past taxes and her car loan by doing a balance transfer onto one of my credit cards. Yes, I learned my lesson. It seemed like a foolproof plan at the time and she did make $800.00 in payments to me between May and October 2006. It has been over a year since I've seen a payment on this debt. Her debt is still sitting at 0%, but this is a large chunk of the credit card debt that's hurting me right now.

I recently restructured my finances and I don't know what to tell my mother. Yes, I CAN help her out with the property tax bill, but that will mean less to pay towards debt for me. I don't want to help, but the guilt eats at me. That's an issue I know I have to deal with on my own. I'm doing ok with dealing with finances when it comes to my husband, but I'm still having issues with my mother. I just don't understand how she says she has no money, but is constantly buying things for other people. I re-read an OLD post of mine about my mother's finances and I still agree with something I wrote. My mother's way of dealing with bills is just to ignore them and hope they'll disappear. I need to find a way to teach her how to deal with them like adults are supposed to!

Did anyone see this story yesterday?

http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/internet/04/17/paper.clip.to.ho...

I never thought to put some of the stuff around the house on craigslist to barter!! What a NEAT idea! So we started yesterday by offering a brand new in box Weber charcoal grill that DH won in a raffle. We don't need it, but it retails for $80 - $100. It's interesting to see what people might offer for it.

Now I'm looking around to see if there's anything else I can trade. This could be fun!

I'm home sick today - no fun! The swelling in my mouth seems to have gone down a little bit, but it's still quite swollen and uncomfortable. And I get to do this again in two weeks if this heals ok. Glad the next one is on a Friday so I'll have the weekend to recover. I'm not sure why this wiped me out so much. Just walking the dog took all my energy.

Well my car is fixed. A rear wheel bearing (

Anyone here Freecycle? I'm finding that to be a rather interesting experience. In a lot of ways, it depresses me. I hate it when several people respond and I have to choose who gets something! Most of the things I have offered so far have been things of need, mostly clothes. A few days ago I responded to an ad from a girl asking if anyone had some full size sheets - they didn't have ANY. We were fortunate enough to get a new bed last summer, and didn't need most of our full size sheets anymore. She just stopped by to get them a few minutes ago. Wow, I don't think I've ever met anyone so quiet and softspoken!! She seemed really grateful to have the sheets. That made me sad!! Guess I have always taken my sheets for granted. I have the ones I need! I feel good I was able to help someone out, but boy is it depressing to know someone needed something so basic.

Yesterday I offered up my husband's "old" jacket. It's a fake leather jacket and he bought it after Christmas 2004 for $11. It was a steal! He's so sensitive and any little thing out of place irritates him. The collar started bothering him, so he bought an almost identical (this time real leather) jacket for $25 on clearance. Two people responded, so how do I choose? I finally just went with my gut and picked the one that seemed right to me. If the guy doesn't show up to get it, I'll just offer it to the other person who wanted it. That reminds me I have an extra winter jacket I don't need anymore. I'm sure someone out there needs it!

On a happier Freecycle note: I posted a wanted ad for a 2 drawer filing cabinet for my mother. Wow, someone offered me one today! I go pick it up tomorrow night. Can't wait to see what a light blue filing cabinet looks like. I think my mom will be thrilled! I can't wait to tell her. Now I just need to plan a trip to drop it off. She's 150 miles north - in NH. This is great since we don't have to buy one. One person's trash certainly is another person's treasure.