Craig's trying to figure it all out!

Well this was an expensive last few days. Thanksgiving was great, got together with family and had fun. Ate too much for lunch and didn't eat dinner. Started cleaning the carpet Thursday night.

Friday I worked for 20 min and got paid for 8 hours of time. woohoo. Came home and finished cleaning the carpets. Actually did them all twice and they are cleaner then when the professionals came in. We went and bought a bunch of board games as Target had them all on sale, will have to add some cash to the coupon savings for the $25 I saved on the board games.

Saturday was pretty un eventfull. We bought a new mat for inside the door of our apartment as the carpet is extremely light in color and stains easily. I cut it to fit perfect and not a moment too soon as we got snow yesterday. Got my monthly massage also.

Yesterday was pretty boring as we went window shopping for a new bedroom sheets, comforter set.

I'm selling my fish room and sold a tank and some accessories for $100 and just got a $150 payment in the mail for some fish to be shipped, actually about $50 will be for the shipping. Friday I drive up to Milwaukee to deliver some fish at a tune of about $350, decided to take a day off of work as I will make more on delivering fish.

Contemplating buying a high end tank setup for my planted tanks as it will be my one and only tank but not 100% if I will or not. Lots of thinking to do on this one.

Rent is due this week by the 5th and it will be tight, got my check and will get another check tomorrow the wife did some clients today as well and she gets paid on Friday, so by this weekend I should have all of Decembers bills paid. Setting up the new insurance is setting us back a bit as we have to pay 2 months up front as I don't want to draing the saving to pay all at once.

Craig

Well today was a small spend day. Spent $4.22 on my trip to see family for the holidays. Ate way too much today but oh well guess I don't do it often, the 2 pieces of pumpkin pie was great. 15 people were there all together and the sink drain decided to clog and flood the kitchen. Easy fix since half of us work construction.

On another note my wine guy gave me a bottle of wine $33 at his cost as after the tasting class I helped sell a few bottles with one of them being $90 bottle of wine. I also helped setup and tear down for the event. Great to be friends with the shop owner.

Working tomorrow only about an hours worth of work but the boss said he was going to pay me for 8 hours as I'm the only one showing up, horray for me.

Had to order hay for my wifes rabbits today 50 lbs for $69.98 shipped which will alst 3 months for 3 rabbits but is much better than $12 a bag locally for 1.5 lbs.

Just finished cleaning the carpets in half the apartment, thanks to my mom it was free as she has a Kirby vacuum and has the carpet cleaner attachment, plus she gave me a gallon bottle of cleaner. Carpet looks better then the professionals did when we moved in. I will probably do it once more tomorrow as it won't take long and to make sure it is really clean.

Hope is having a great day. Need to update savings totals this weekend.

Craig

Well got my check today and will be putting $300 of my $369.28 into savings. I will be updating my totals later in the week.

We spent around $150 on groceries this weekend but should have enough meals for 3 weeks almost. It is our challenge to not go to the store for 3 weeks except for some fresh produce if needed.

Meet with the Insurance guy tonight and will be switching as soon as my policies expire in December. Renters will go from $296 year to $105 year and our car insurance will go from $93.48 to $74.24 month. I may add the Umbrella policy as it will bring my liability total to 1 million dollars and will only add $3 a month to my insurance.

Going to travel a bit on Thanksgiving so I will probably use one extra tank of gas. Also talked to the parents tonite and they aren't doing any gift exchange for christmas, thank you finally. Sorry no a grinch but I think christmas is too commercialized now a days.

This will bring my November savings to just of $1000 for all my accounts. Feels great to be saving again.

Craig

Well I went and bought a new ink cartridge for the printer today. Been out for a few weeks now as I don't use it alot but wanted to start printing out coupons again. Anyone have any good links for coupons? I've been using coupons.com but they didn't have alot to choose from this time around.

On another topic I would like to get involved with doing some surveys in my free internet surfing time. Where should I start looking for good ones to do?

Total spent today was $24.86 for my Ink and a adapter for a set of lights that I have. Also the wife and I will be filling both vehicles today at $1.79 gallon.

Looks like I will have another $300-350 to put in savings come Monday which would be nice.

Also I noticed since that I started blogging more that I find it easier to save money. We (wife and I) find that instead of going out to spend money we just transfer some to the savings as its the same as spending to us.

Have a great weekend.

Craig

Got done early today as it was cold wind chill at 1. Wife and I went down and got her check and deposited it and went walking in the mall. Had a treat of Whitey's Ice cream 2 cones were 4.13. As we were walking around we each got a chair massage. I got 20min and she got 10 min as that is what they recommended for each of us cost was $42 but I will save $60 as I canceled my appointment for tomorrow which would have cost me $95 with tip for an hour and a half. Came back in to town and rented some movies for the weekend at a cost of $9.52 for 4 movies as I had a get one free from Blockbuster. I prefer Blockbuster as I don't have to pay any late fees with them as soemtiems it will take more then the rented time to watch them all or if I want to see one of them again. Transfer $145 to savings accounts and added $60 in cash. Also wrote out the check for my Osteopath appointment next week for $80 and we still have a little over $350 in the bank for groceries and gas for the week. Will probably use one extra tank of gas this week for travel for thanks giving. I will get a check on Monday from work and we should be able to save all of it to savings as well.

Craig

Well as planned the wife went and got Frontline for the 2 cats this morning. $27.92 with tax. Now to vacuum atleast 3 times a day for the next 3-4 days.

Ate out lunch today cost was $8.99 for chinese, salted nut roll and a soda.

Hope to get by with out more gas i nthe truck this week, will be close. Gas is down to $1.89 here today.

Still have $91.88 in the checking account. Anything left after I get the wifes check Saturday is going into savings.

Also I'm scheduled for a massage on Saturday. 1.5 hours worth woohoo. Wife is getting one also but is doing a trade with another therapist at her house.

Well Yesterday morning I transfered $540 into various savings accounts, need to setup my sidebar one of these days. Yesterday was a small spend day as the wife needed gas and I paid for an upcoming wine class I plan to take on the 26th. I'm good friends with my wine guy so I like to stop and visit him as much as possible. Opened up a nice botle of wine for both of us to sample when I stopped. Also spent $13 on a bottle of Reisling to take home as I wasn't in my usual Shiraz mood. Also we loaned out the pet taxi to the neighbors when they moved as they were getting new cats from the shelter. Well our cats now have fleas. So once I get home I'm washing all the bedding, wife is going to grab some fela treatment for the cats and rabbits today (so there will be some unexpected spending.), I will also grab some carpet spray and vaccuum the whole house a few times.

Craig

Well it was a decent weekend. I presold some of my fish room so as soon as fish are gone guy will ceom get the tanks and equipment $320 up front. woohoo. I will come out ahead once all is sold.

For the spending this weekend we went to the mall in the next town and planned on eating at the chinese place there but it was closed fro remodeling. errr. SO we at at the Old Country Buffet. Food was great cost more than I had planned $16 for the wife and I, chinese is usually only $9 as we split a meal. The only other options were taco bell or arbys which I really don't like either. Our old neighbor called to get together kinda last minute as we were both free and we haven't seen her son in a few months and he wanted us to come over. $28 for pizza, soda, local paper but she paid me $13 for her and her 2 year olds son share. Took the cash and got quaters to do laundry and just got back from that.

Stopped at Walmart for groceries this morning as we were needing some of the paper goods and found my lunch meat $0.32 cheaper a package only $0.56 instead of $0.88 as compared to Hy-Vee, looks like I will be shopping there more. On;y got 1 thing that wasn't on my list. Total spent $154 and saved a few bucks with coupons. This will be breakfast, lunch and dinner for the next week and also stocked up on paper goods.

Got around to setting some goals now to figure out my sidebar so I can list them.

Saving Accounts ING and Emigrant Direct. How do I add sub folders for savings in ING I forgot how?

Here is what I am settign for sub accounts once I figure out how:

Coupons
Kayak- something I would love to have
Vacation 2009
Vacation 2010
Car Insurance
Renters Insurance
Wifes Massage Workshops

Emigrant will be for my Emergency Fund goal is $10000 hopefully by the begining of 2010.

Local Savings goal $1000 ($950 to go)
Checking acount $500 minimum ($400 to go)
Cash on Hand for emergencies $1000 ($1000 to go) cause ifhte powers out all the cash electronically won't do me any good.

Atleast it is a start.

Wow this is kind of long winded if you made it this far thanks for reading.

Craig

Well I checked the online bank statement updated daily yesterday and find the Hilton double charged my wife for her stay at the conference last week. errrr. Now we don't have credit cards but use our debit card for everything so it shows up instaniously. The Hilton is a pain to deal with. Here is the history of the last week with my wifes stay at the Hilton in Indianapolis for a conference.

11/5 Arrive in Indy at Hilton. Sharing the room with 3 women to reduce cost of trip. Hilton charges $800 to my debit card upon arrival even though I was told it was only going to be $50. Room was only $500 total for 4 nights anyways.

11/6 Call wife in AM to tell her to go talk to the manager about the situation. Wife calls back they admitted their mistake and refunded it all

11/7 hold for $16.97 on the account from Hilton, what ever not enough to piss me off.

11/8 Another hold for $103 on the card, no big deal room was to be $171 anyways.

11/9 Wife calls got her bill they billed all 3 of them $103 each. Figured they got another discount as all received the same bill.

11/10 All charges gone from account no more holds. Figured they would bill it on Tuesday.

Yesterday 11/13 check online statement as I do every morning upon waking up. 2 finalized charges for $103 for a total of $206 charged to my account. Wife call them up and they say the person in charge will call her back tomorrow.

Today she gets a call back saying that it was because she wasn't billed properly and that they were just fixing it and taking the extra money. Ah, no not even a phone call just taking the money with out notification. Wife tells them that this is there mistake and that they screwed up twice on this trip and she wasn't paying the difference as the final printed bill and receipt were for $103. Wife tells them about their bad service, guy says he needs to talk to the manager. Guy calls back and says she will only be charged the $103 as it was their mistake.

Now I was fine with paying the extra $68 for a total of $171 as that is what was originally expected. Now after them taking more than that with out any notification they can say good by to the extra $68 for their bad service. Manager O.K.'d it and they are taking full responsibility for their mistakes.

Now on the budget front:

Got my qoutes from State Farm. I will be saving $2 a month for switching car insurance over but will save $196 a year on my renters insurance by switching all together I will save $220 a year by switching.

Ate out Lunch yesterday, felt bad about it as I was trying to not eat out but I was sick and needed something other than a sandwich for lunch at the job site.

Also splurged $40 on my fishing stuff today as I needed new line for my reels and picked up some lures that I had lost earlier this year.

Tomorrow I have a guy driving 4 hours to look at my fish room as he is interested in half of my equipment, equipment can't go till all the fish do but he is willing to wait and put down a deposit for the tank, filters, etc...

Well I need to get back on track and should get a blog going to help remind myself.

Well the last blog was 2 years ago, I still read everyone elses' blogs.

Here is my current situation. I'm 28 years old been married for 2.5 years and have no debt, other than my wifes sallie mae loan. I also have no saving shame on me. I need to change that. I've been splurging way too much the last few months since the move. We moved in the begining of May to a wonderful apartment complex that has many features we both fell in love with 1050 sq ft., balcony with court yard view, club house, pool, quiet neighbors and superb sound proofing as you can't hear the neighbors above/ below/ or next to us unless your in the hallway. We also have Heat and Water paid for aswell as central air, storage unit provided next to the laundry room, 2 garages, and a laundry room in the lower level. Now compare this to my old cottage house built in 1910. It had been added on to 5 times very shoddishly, only 625 sq ft., basement leaked, roof leaked, no central air, drafty, etc...

I currently am working as a brick layer averaging about 28 hours a week at this time in the year as I do most years in the winter time. My wife is a massage therapist that works 4 days a week averaging from 12-20 massages, the most she can do with out killing herself. We have very few bills right now: (Monthly Totals)

Rent w/ 2 Garages -$720
Cell Phone -$130.51
Internet/ Wifes Buisness number -$78.34
Electric Bill -$106.18 thats with all electric appliances and central air, fish tanks
Renters Insurance -$23.91
Car Insurance Full coverage both vehicles $500 deductible -$93.48
Food -$500
Eating Out -$280
Cats -$20
Rabbits -$25
Miscllaneous- ???

Now food and eating out are our biggest expenses as I work construction I've been lazy and eating out with the guys so cost is between $5-10 daily. We also buy alot of high quality food suchs as organic milk, fish, etc...

I've found a few ways to save some cash here is what I accomlished today and if I can keep it up will be a millionaire in 60 years .

Car Insurance and Renters called another place and got qoutes taht will save me a little more than $25 month for the 2.

Eating out- I'm now brown bagging and using my soup thermos again for a hot meal.

Food- Only spent $80 for the 2 of last week to make breakfast, lunches and dinner for the 2 of us.

Well my head hurts now.

Craig

The wife and I needed to get a new table for the living room/ everything else room and got a great deal. After looking at 4-5 consignment shops and not finding anything we really fell in love with we stopped at Sofa Mart and got the following:

2 Metal and Glass End Tables Retail $318 set
2 Metal Lamps w/ square Shades Retail $166 set
1 Metal Vase with wrapped wire Retail $72
2 Urn w/ Silk Flowers Retail $127

We walked out paying $157.50 with tax for all of the above. The end tables have 2 glass shelves the bottom one on one was missing and everything else is perfect. They had everything clearanced out at $240 and we asked if we bought all of it what kind of deal we could have if we bought it all and he grabbed his calculator and told us $150 plus tax. Everything is so wonderful and was just what we were looking for. Now to talk to a local glass place about making me a replacement shelf. Well was a spend day but got out with $533 in savings from Sofa Mart. Hope others did well today.

Craig

I'll be back to read the blogs later time for salsa dance class.

Well the day started out down pouring rain, why I'm home, then switched to sleet now it great big snow flakes. Got the paperwork to get mine and my wifes retirements going and to start a mutual fund. We're going with T. Rowe Price Retirement Funds 2030 for her and 2045 for me. Not sure on what mutual fund I will pick but looking at Prime Reserve. We will be starting with putting $50 ea a month into our funds, just a start till I get good hours again next year, winter makes it hard to do construction and she is just starting her own buisness. Hope to get the paperwork in the mail before Monday. Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Craig

Well after toying with quicken again I plugged some numbers into their debt reduction planner and came up with this:

Amount $1250 month

3 Loans: 1 22.99% owe 7440 - Personal
2 7.5% owe 52000 - House
3 7.14% owe 6891 - Student Loan

If we follow Quickens debt strategy we can be out of debt by Mid 2012. I think I might try it out. We will have to tighten our belts some more but it would be great to own the house in less time than expected. Now to convince the wife it would be possible.

Craig

Well I'm somewhat back on track for the month. I did go and purchase Quicken 2007 Home and Buisness as I've needed some good accounting software and since the wife is starting her own massage buisness I figured I would go with what I wanted to use. It is great for what I have figured out all ready, now to figure out all the little stuff. Tracking our 5 personal accounts and her 1 buisness account from 1 page is great. Now to find a place to invest some money. Anyone have an ideas? I will start investing after the first of the year as to make sure I don't get laid off (I work construction). I need to find the best method of starting out with a couple of small investments of around $1k. By the end of next year I plan on setting up a Roth IRA for both the wife and I. I'm leaning toward the Vangaurd Retirement 2030 for my wife and
the Vangaurd Retirement 2045 for me. They look like easy to run investments and I would like to invest a little more else where as well but not sure where to go with it. If anyone has any good ideas on investment I would love to hear them as I'm reading all I can to find the best places to invest. Thanks for the wonderful site and the great blogs.

Craig

Well I have already shot down my November budget as I've missed 22 hrs of work out of 24 since the start of Nov. due to me coming down with bronchitis. Top that off with the visit to the chiroprator for and adjustment, accupuncture, laser therapy, and natural supplements for a total of $155 should have been $250 but since my wife is a Massage Therapist there I received a disount. Part of the bill can be claimed to insurance so I should get back about $80-90 from them. I do have insurance but don't care for western medical practices so I end up spending more when I get sick. If it wasn't for my wife and I wanting to have a child in the near future I would just cancel it and put the money into savings as I could have more in savings as the only thing it gets used for is 2-3 Chiropractor visits per month, but the dental has been great though. Well that's my rant for now. I did do fairly well last month as far as the budget goes since it was the first I figured kinda low and wasn't over too much, except for the vet bill. Now to figure out how to make some more money this month. How long does money have to sit in ING before I can transfer it to my emigrant and not lose my $25 sign on bonus? Well sorry for the long post but I feel better now.