... And the new month starts out on a low note

Hubs' car died. Kaput right there on the interstate. He had a hard time willing it to make it to a safe location. Called AAA for a tow (I don't know about you, but we get every penny and then some out of that membership) and me for a ride. The shop called the next day and the news wasn't good. It needs a new transmission. If you know anything about such things, that's about the priciest thing to replace. We're talking about $3,500. Ouch.

You might remember that I mentioned some time back that I've been doing some freelance work the past few months and have been throwing that and other miscellaneous money into a separate account with no particular use in mind. Some readers thought that was a mistake and I should be using it to pay down debt. Guess what it's going to be used for? I'm sorry that I'm having to spend it on car repairs, but glad I didn't let it get absorbed by the household budget.

Mostly, I'm ticked off that we're having to replace a major part on a Toyota Corolla with 110,000 miles. Those cars are supposed to last longer, aren't they?

Life happens. Sometimes not the way we planned ...

Sarah

Ending the month on a high note

We got our annual escrow review today, always enough to make me sit down before I open it. Last summer, our lender decided to start paying our property taxes three months before they were due, thus sending our escrow into the negative and our payments soaring. I was told it would even out within a year once everything was adjusted to the new schedule. Call me a pessimist, but I didn't believe it.

But ... today's mail brought the news that our mortgage payment will be going DOWN $85 a month! All I can say is ...

WOO HOO!!!!

Soda update: Two weeks. No soda. Not a drop. Hold on, because I think the earth just shifted.

Sarah

Want a good laugh?

Submitted a FAFSA for DS. The government says my family can contribute $16,182 toward his college expenses this year.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Good thing he has a full scholarship. Seriously good thing.

Day 4 with NO diet soda and no replacement caffeine. And I haven't killed anyone. I never would have believed it.

Temperature is 64 today. I feel like I should be in shorts ... except that I would scare small children and grown men :)

Sarah

That's a big number!

As of this morning, we have paid off ... drum roll please ... $50,002.28 in nasty debt! The 50k mark is big for me. It is a mental thing if nothing else. While we still have a long, long way to go, seeing that number is motivating. It means what we've been doing for three years, one month and 15 days is working.

This week, we got hit with the big storm that's making it's way up the East Coast. It created an unusual situation for these parts and brought everything to a standstill. DH works 30 miles from home and by the time his workplace shut down there was no way he would make it. He ended up finding a hotel room and hunkering down for the night. In the past, he would have handed over his credit card. But he doesn't carry a credit card anymore, so he paid with the debit card. I realized that not so long ago that would have been disastrous, if not impossible. But there was enough money in the account to cover the bill and he was safe. I will skip the weekly grocery trip and we will scrounge from what we already have on hand to make up the difference. What a great feeling not to go into panic mode over every unexpected expense.

Soda update: I'm only drinking one a day ... trying to work up the courage to give up the caffeine boost altogether. I think it might be possible... maybe....

Next goal: getting below $100k. Might have to have a party when we reach that one!

Sarah

Aiming for a healthier me

I'm overweight, don't exercise much at all. No real health issues. BP is good. Except for the scale, all the numbers are acceptable. But I am 50 and post-menopausal and I can feel the changes. I know I need to stay ahead of this. But there's no need to go gung-ho. It would never last. So I've decided to focus on one thing.

I am a diet soda drinker. I drink a lot of it. A lot. When I'm home, I almost always have a glass beside me - year-round allergies and daily Claritin leaves me with a dry mouth. I don't drink coffee, so soda gives me my caffeine boost. But I drink too much. Way too much. For the past week, I've been drinking much less soda and replacing it with tap water. I've gotten down to two glasses a day. Today I've only had one. I can't even begin to describe how huge this is. Just trust me on that. It's big.

I am going to try limiting to one a day for awhile and see how it goes. Who knows? I might even give it up altogether. I know I would be healthier. And it certainly would help the grocery budget.

Wish me luck.

Sarah

It happened again

I was buying weekly groceries and had a bag of chips for tomorrow's game. I happened to look up from loading bags into the cart when the cashier was ringing them up. I thought I saw a 2 beside the chips on the register, but I wasn't sure. The cashier didn't miss a beat. So I asked her if she would please check and see if the Lay's rang up twice. She never acknowledged my request, but at the end of the transaction I saw her scrolling the items. She subtracted the amount of the chips and went straight into entering my coupons. Never said a word.

And now I'm off to finish gathering tax stuff. I do live a fun-filled life.

Sarah

My $20 pepper

I usually watch the cashier at the grocery store - well, as much as I can while I'm unloading my cart. And I almost always glance at the receipt before I leave the store. But last week, I was tired and in a hurry to get home. I stuck the receipt in a notebook and didn't think about it until I pulled it out to see if I could use it for a rebate I was sending in.

As I was scanning the numbers, I saw $20.72. I couldn't imagine what I had bought that cost that much, so I looked left. And there it was. Fourteen red peppers. Right between the one green pepper and the one onion I had bought.

Of course, I had only bought one red pepper, but somehow it had been rung up as 14. (I have not been able to come up with a plausible reason for how that happened.) I took the receipt back to the store and, to their credit, they didn't ask a single question. Just gave me back my $19 and change.

The moral of my story: ALWAYS check your receipt!

Sarah