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Archive for September, 2008

NSD and $88.61 to CC Debt

September 30th, 2008 at 03:33 am

Today I didn't spend any money!

I'm updating my CC Savings with some extra money:

$ 21.98 Rite Aid Rebate Check
63.04 Citicard Rewards Check
3.59 Kellogg's Frosted MiniWheats Refund
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$ 88.61

Have a great evening!

CVS

September 23rd, 2008 at 02:23 am

Today over lunch, I stopped at CVS for some weekly deals. I bought 2 tubes of Crest Pro Health for $2.99 each, 2 cans of Maxwell Coffee $2.50 each (at B1G1F reg. price of $4.99), and Nivea for Men Body Wash $4.99. I had $2 in manufacturer coupons plus $3.99 in Extra Bucks so my total was $9.97. I earned an additional $8.99 in Extra Bucks so the items cost me only $0.98!!

Online Refund Form Site

September 21st, 2008 at 10:19 pm

I have noticed in the last several years that rebate forms posted in stores seem to be a thing of the past. About 10 years ago, I would see many tear-off pads of forms for a variety of different products, but not anymore. I think some of this is due to the all-in-one rebates offered by stores such as Walgreen's and Rite Aid. I don't mail out as many single refund offers like I did in years past, mostly because of the lack of forms plus postage costs.

Anyway, I found an excellent site where you can print actual refund forms and thought that others may be interested in it as well. There is even information and addresses for No Form Needed offers and Satisfaction guaranteed info. The link is http://www.couponswap.o-f.com/online.htm.

I hope this is useful for refunding fanatics!

More $ to CC Savings

September 21st, 2008 at 08:07 pm

Since my last update 2 weeks ago, I am adding the following to my savings for CC #3:

$ 387.04 Saturday job
3.00 Pine Cone
5.00 Consumer Opinion Survey
67.39 Rite Aid Refund Check
.12 Found Money
.89 Interest on savings
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$ 463.44 Total

I still need to figure out the profits from the Ebay items I sold now that all the auctions are over.

Have a pleasant Sunday!



Citicard cash, Rite Aid Rebate, & Found Money

September 21st, 2008 at 01:53 am

Today I got a refund check from Rite Aid for $67.39 so I will add that to CC savings account. You can't beat getting FAR items and combining them with manufacturers' coupons. It is a good way to try out items new to the market...without risk! Usually I can accumulate much more than my family can use, so generally around the holidays I donate a few bags of shampoo, conditioner, body wash, etc. to Red Cross or another local charity or homeless shelter.

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Earlier this week I picked my daughter up from school for an appointment and found a penny as we were walking to the car. Of course she was embarrassed that her friends may have seen me pick it up!! Oh well!

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I requested another rewards check from my Citibank CC for about $64. The rewards have been adding up quickly as I use my CC for any bill payments that I can...including utilities and medical. Actually the real reason it has been a little overboard in the past few months is because I have recently started to use the CC for attorney costs/fees; however, now that the divorce has been settled...it shouldn't be too out of line now. Anyway, I pay it off every month so Citi doesn't make any $ off of me! Smile

Well...I'm off to work on the finances!



$3 Pinecone and Mystery Shopping

September 19th, 2008 at 06:57 pm

I did a Pinecone survey Wednesday and on Thursday the $3 was deposited into my Paypal....very swift!!

Tonight after work, I have 2 mystery shops to do. One is at Staples and the other is at Orange Julius. So a little extra income from those assignments.

Other than that not much new!

Have a great Friday!

2 NSDs

September 17th, 2008 at 11:21 pm

So far this week I haven't spent any money yesterday or today.

I completed some surveys last night and signed up to get some free samples.

Nothing else much new here...have a good evening.

In"deed" it is finally over!!

September 17th, 2008 at 12:35 am

The divorce process...that is! I started this lengthy, stressful undertaking in October 2002. This is when I hired an attorney, who initiated the proper paperwork (or so I thought). After dragging me along for several years, and not accomplishing anything (but taking lots of my money)...he passed away from a heart attack December 2006. In early 2007, I hired a "new" attorney to continue the case. He,of course, was expensive as well, but things moved along much quicker than with the former attorney. Since he requested to the judge that the case be bifurcated...meaning separating the actual divorce decree from the marital property (finances), I received the divorce from my former husband in July 2007.

Since my ex-husband did not cooperate and wanted to drag this whole mess out, it has taken over a year for everything to be finalized. For many reasons, everything was awarded to me.

I was so happy to get the "revised" deed in the mail recently as the sole owner of the property.

Since the interest rate on the mortgage is 8.5%, I plan to now finally refinance this thing. It just aggravates me that this could have been done many years ago and saved me lots of money in interest with a bit more cooperation from the ex.

But all in all, even though it was a trying process, I am pleased with the end result. I have heard such horror stories about how finances, properties, etc. get divided in many different ways based on various factors and it was really very stressful!





11 cents and CVS Bargains

September 14th, 2008 at 08:42 pm

Yesterday, I stopped at a convenience store to use the ATM and I found a penny.

Today when I was at the mall with DD, I found a dime by the gumball machines. So that is $0.11 to the CC savings.

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We stopped at CVS to use some Extra Bucks I earned last week. I got a 12 pack of CVS brand toilet paper on sale for $5.49, Excedrin 20 ct box for $3.99, and 2 candy bars for 0.99. My total was $10.47 and I had $9.99 in Extra Bucks so my grand total was $0.48 plus I earned another $3.99 EB for purchasing the Excedrin!!

Check, rebate, and groceries

September 13th, 2008 at 04:18 am

Today I received a check for $5 from American Consumer Opinion surveys, which I will add to my savings account for CC #3.

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I discovered that I can now do Walgreen's monthly rebates online finally. It is very similar to Rite Aid's (which I am very familiar with!) I entered my receipt this morning and requested the check for this month. I should get that in a couple of weeks.

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After work today, I stopped at the grocery store for some fresh veggies:

3 pints grape tomatoes 0.99/each
2-1 lb. bags of baby carrots 0.99/each
apples 0.77/lb.
2 stalks of celery 0.99/each

I thought those were some great deals, at least for my area.

Have a good evening!

2 NSDs so far this week...

September 12th, 2008 at 01:46 am

I've had 2 NSDs this week on Monday and Tuesday. Other than that I don't have too much to report. Today was payday so I am off to take care of my online accounts and budgeting.

I want to go to CVS tomorrow to take advantage of some of their sale items and extra buck rewards. I also have coupons to use on many of the items. I hope they still have the items, as it is fairly late in the week.


Time to say "goodbye" to my car??

September 10th, 2008 at 01:34 am

Since 2005, I've had two vehicles that I drive interchangeably. Since I am a single parent, I figured it made sense to keep a backup vehicle just in case the one breaks down. I don't have family to rely on, nor do I want to be so dependent on others.

So the vehicle in question is a 1998 Ford Escort station wagon, which has 205,000 miles on it. I purchased it new when I was married. I replaced the engine when it had about 185,000 miles. The air conditioner hasn't worked for years and I didn't want to put $ into it to fix it. A couple of months ago I noticed a "slipping" when the gears shift. Now I've never replaced the transmission and don't intend to. After all, IMO it is actually amazing that a Ford Escort has managed to
have over 200K miles on the original transmission. Last week, there was a rattling noise near the passenger's front tire when the car was idling at signal lights. So this morning I get in it to go to work and noticed a scraping noise when braking (maybe the brake pads/rotors?), so I went back home and got the Honda Civic to drive to work. Just so convenient to have that extra vehicle! So I think this car has many issues that could cost lots of money. I have kept up on the maintenance since I've purchased the vehicle.

Last night I checked the Kelley Blue Book value of the car and it is between $1300-1500. So my question is.. would you even spend the money to get a diagnosis, or just try to sell it privately for a few hundred dollars?

Like I said earlier, I do prefer to have a second car for emergencies and such. Car insurance is much less expensive when more than one car is on a policy due to the multi-car discount (at least with my insurance company), so that isn't an issue.

Since I am still paying on the Honda, I don't want another car payment at this time. I really would like to have an SUV or something that is good in snow like my Escort. The Honda doesn't seem to perform as well in winter weather conditions, perhaps because it is lighter than the station wagon and it sits somewhat lower to the road.

I definitely would prefer a used vehicle...maybe a certified used vehicle from a dealer.

I just don't know what to do...put more $ into the Escort or sell it. I'm looking for some feedback please...smile!

Veggies, Fruit, and Soup

September 9th, 2008 at 12:55 am

Saturday after work I stopped at the grocery store and got some food for lunches this week. I got red and green peppers, apples, strawberries, grapes, cabbage, and cantaloupe. All of which was on sale. I also bought 2 Perdue Oven Stuffers at $0.79/lb. I made some chicken corn soup yesterday.

For lunch today, I made a large fruit cup with some frozen blueberries, strawberries, grapes, and cantaloupe. I had a Lean Cuisine meal which I bought several of those last week for $2/each. The mixed fresh fruit was especially tasty.

Have a great evening!

$692.77 to CC Debt

September 8th, 2008 at 02:05 am

Yeah!! I have $692.77 to add to my CC savings to the left:

$592.72 Saturday job pay for 2 weeks
plus 1 week back pay
80.00 Reimbursement for CE course
20.00 Discover Cashback Bonus
.05 Found $ at work
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$692.77 Total

So now I have accounts #1 and 2 fully funded and just waiting to send the CC payments. I have an additional $123.25 leftover for CC #3. I'm hoping I can achieve this final goal before 1/1/09!





Quicken Online and Samples

September 7th, 2008 at 02:24 pm

I received some Fiber One samples for cereal and a cereal bar in the mail. I signed up for them a few weeks ago, as it is always nice to get something free!

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A few days ago I signed up for Quicken online to track expenses and utilize a budget upon other blog members recommending it in the past, and more recently Monkey Mama had mentioned that she uses it. It is very convenient to have bank , credit card, investment accounts, etc. all at one place to view everything together. I'm a bit confused about the section titled, "Am I Living Within My Means?". I know that I am, living within my means because I have $ leftover at the end of the month, but the figures seem to get jumbled up when I transfer money out into a savings account. In addition, for example, when I go to Walmart and buy groceries, pet supplies, and household items the total amount spent is registered...and I can't figure out how to allocate each subtotal into their respective categories. I don't know if that is possible or not. Up to this point I have been tracking my income and expenses on 3x5 index cards with a week on each card, that I carry with me in my purse. I have found that even though I've gotten accustomed to doing it that way now that I've been actively tracking my expenses for 2 months, it is very tedious. I may still try to do the pen & paper method as a backup system. I just don't know if ways exist in Quicken online to better "fine tune" the certain areas mentioned previously in this entry or not. Any suggestions/comments would be greatly appreciated. I will try this for free for 2 months and see how it goes. It's only $2.99/month after that...so we will see. Despite those few issues that I've encountered, I really do like the site with the pie charts, accounts overview, and budgeting sections, but somehow it seems likes the numbers aren't as precise as far as category expenditures as I would like them to be. Oh well!!

Free Lunch Friday

September 6th, 2008 at 01:22 am

Today at work I managed to get a free lunch from a co-worker. She overslept and was about an hour late for work. Since I had to do some of her work, she offered to buy me lunch at the restaurant of my choice. We went to a pizzeria and I got a cheese steak with mushrooms and sauce. It was a nice gesture on her part, which she wouldn't have had to do for me.

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I received my paycheck in the mail today that I had been waiting on from my one Saturday job. It was "lost" in the process of switching to direct deposit. It's been over a month, so I'm glad to have finally received that.

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Other than that, not too much new...have a great evening!!

$20 CashBack Bonus and Ebay Sales

September 5th, 2008 at 01:44 am

I've earned enough $ to request the minimum of $20 from my Discover CC. I'm going to add that "extra" money to my CC savings.

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I was doing a survey on Your2Cents tonight, thinking that I had earned enough to request payment...only to find out that they increased the minimum payout amount to $10. Previously it was $5 not all that long ago. So anyway I earned $1 doing the survey this evening, but still need to earn $5 more to get a check.

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Most of my items are selling on Ebay. I have about 10 more items listed for this round until I gather more items from my decluttering ventures!!

ChaCha Guide Registration

September 4th, 2008 at 03:20 am

A few days ago I filled out an application online to become a ChaCha guide. I just checked my email and am invited to complete registration and take a simulator test to determine if I qualify to be a text guide.
Hopefully, I will soon be able to make some additional money to continue paying down my CC debt on my 0% offers!!

$81 Check

September 3rd, 2008 at 11:15 pm

Today I received a reimbursement check from my employer for a continuing education course that I attended in July for $81. I will use that to help decrease my CC debt since I have already put it on a CC that I pay in full each month; therefore, I shouldn't miss the money from my checking account.

I also got an email notification that the $3 from Greenfield Online Surveys was deposited into my paypal account today.

So I will add $84 to my CC Savings account when I update the sidebar this week.

A Trip to Walgreens

September 2nd, 2008 at 12:42 pm

Yesterday, I went to Walgreens to get some FAR items. I got the following items:

Chemistry Leave-in Conditioner $7.99
Nivea for Men Body Wash 4.99
Crest Pro Health TP 2.99
Revlon Nail Enamel 4.49
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20.46

I had 2 $1 coupons (one for the body wash and another for the TP). My total with tax was $19.51. I will get a rebate for $20.46, so I will be making money on this trip.

That location was out of the L'oreal RevitaLift Anti-Wrinkle lotion and the LypSyl Lip Moisturizer that I was also interested in purchasing which were FAR as well. I think I will stop Saturday on my way to work to check another location to see if they have those items. It is on my route to work, so I wouldn't be wasting gas to just go and check.

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I found a nickel at work on Saturday, so I will add that to my CC Savings when I make the deposit for this week.

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Other than that, I spent yesterday packaging some Ebay items that I sold. I still have items listed with bidders and watchers...yeah!!