Cercis' Journal

My husband's spending is getting out of control. He just can't resist a good deal. So far his good deals have cost us $300 this month (the porch swing and the dolphin tour certificates). Now he wants to buy bamboo rugs for our house, there's a coupon right now.

Now, he hasn't bought anything we wouldn't buy anyway but we had a plan - save and buy slowly.

Now, I'm not sure if we will even have the cash to go to the estate sale. Not to mention that his truck needs work (I think there's something wrong with the 4WD and the brakes decided not to work) so we have no way to haul anything back.

We need chairs for our house. We really have no place for people to sit. We have the futon and the dining room chairs, but until he gets his truck fixed, we can't carry furniture. I'm very frustrated by this.

If I remind him that we have plans to pay off the credit cards first and save up, then he feels deprived. He so needs to grow up.

I wore the first set to work and my friend thought they were nice, but I was too chicken to ask if she would consider selling them in her shop.

I realized that they'd make great eye glass chains, so that may be another avenue to explore.

I made a necklace between last night and tonight. I think I'm getting quicker at it. I really like this one, the other one is okay, but this one is much nicer.

I'll find a market yet. If I get busy with growing greens and veggies, I could sell this at the farmers' market with my greens.

What is a good price for a wire necklace and earring set? I probably have less than 50 cents in materials (cheap beads, but they don't look so cheap), but 2-3 hours.

Oh well, I have time to think about it.

I finished my first necklace. I'm trying to plan what to wear tomorrow so I can show it off. I have the earrings and necklace set.

Now I've started on a new set that is a different pattern (more my own pattern). I'm about half way done. I'd say it takes about 3 hours to make a set. I don't know if that's as quick as I will get or not, but I figure it's 3 hours I'm sitting in front of the tv or computer anyway.

I feel bad, I didn't even think about this being a "big" holiday. I sent valentines with the kids and that was it. I got to the school and all the kids were bringing goody bags for each child (we're talking toys, flashlights, candy, etc). Then I got to work and I had 4 things of candy on my desk, plus one of the women had brought a homemade breakfast.

I so did not stick to my diet today. I was doing really well. I had some pants that were fitting so well and I was really seeing progress so it was easier to resist the goodies that are always at work. But today I wore an old skirt, etc so I ate *2* pieces of cake, a muffin and some candy. Then I got home and ate more candy. I so suck.

I gave DH one of the things of candy. It looked like something he would really like and this way we didn't spend extra money. The stinker bought me candy, a hook for my robe (which unfortunately doesn't fit) and a puzzle.

He also ordered bookshelves for our front room which were delivered today. We have 2 of them up and they look pretty good. It's amazing how little space they take up - or more how large the room really is. The scale almost overwhelms me, it doesn't look that big, it looks long and skinny, but it isn't.

I dug out an old jewelry kit that I was never brave enough to try, found some other wire and beads (I didn't want to waste the good wire and beads) and in about 20 minutes I had a brand new pair of earrings.

Unfortunately, they're black and blend right into my hair - LOL. I guess I need to find a blond to give them to. Or sell them.

I'm going to make a matching necklace and take them to work with me to show my friend who sells at the monthly market days. I've already got the wire cut, I just need to bend it and add the beads. The necklace uses no findings at all. I had findings for the earrings.

Does anyone know if patterns are copyrighted? If so, how much do you need to change before it's no longer in violation? For instance, I used smaller beads, so I used 2 instead of one, would that be enough or do I need to find a whole new twist pattern?

well, I didn't meet either of my goals this week. I'm so not good at calling people. I'm going to have to do better next week.

I went through the boxes and dug out all my beading stuff. I have findings, wire and beads. Now I just need to figure out what to make and do it.

Then I'll need to figure out a market.

DH finally got motivated and got sooo much accomplished.

We got all the boxes moved out of the family room (well, there are 3-4 boxes left, but it's sooo much better). Then he set up the kids computer.

One really cool thing he did - our kitchen had these accent tiles which we didn't like at all (I'm sure they're fine, they just aren't "us"). When he was at Dollar Tree the other day he found tile stick-ons and put them on the tiles. It's like a whole new kitchen. Of course, we chose the paint color to match the tiles and now we could have gone with the color I preferred, but ...

It started out frugal. We were going to a free event. Then, the kids wanted to do things that cost money. So, $12 to play games and watch a live ocelot show (which was really cool). That was 2.5 hours. Not bad, definitely doable. We met another friend there and had fun.

Then while the kids were in a tent with butterflies I noticed dh wasn't around. Then I realized he was off at the silent auction tables.

He bid on 2 gift certificates for dolphin watches. And he won. Now, he got a good deal, normally it would cost $120 and he paid $95, and it is something we were planning to do with his mom someday, but ...

Oh well, if you just count the $12 it wasn't a bad day, right?

I've already posted about this elsewhere, but ...

Today, dh IM'ed me and asked me questions about my cellphone. Turns out, we are eligible for a discount from his work. It should work out to $5/month.

Then we discussed minutes, etc and he's just about decided to join my plan and just have a 2nd line and drop his phone. We've kept 2 different services for various reasons - because one will have service when the other doesn't, because he wants more bells and whistles than I do, etc. But he's finally deciding that saving $10/month is probably worth it.

I won't give up my cellphone. It's the only phone I have (I think he could give up his, but he's not so convinced) and it gives me so much freedom to come and go instead of waiting around for people to show or call. Another benefit is the free long distance (yes, I know landlines have competitive long distance plans).

It was our lunch meeting today. It was a good meeting, I feel like we got a lot accomplished. The food, well, they had said Olive Garden but today decided to order from the deli. I have a thing about sandwiches - I HATE smoked meats and have found that most places don't really say "smoked turkey" when it is - so turkey is out for me. I ended up with a steak sandwich, which was pretty good, but I was very full.

But that's not all the free food I got today. One of our clients stopped by and gave me a $50 gift card to Chili's. I was shocked and so happy.

DH bought me roses for valentine's day.

2 Bengal Tiger roses, a Belinda's Dream and a Cherokee Rose.

Plants obviously.

I am so shocked. I had a bengal tiger, but we didn't get it planted (we did, but we potted it to move with us) and it dried out in the container. This is a beautiful rose. We had a belinda's dream in OKC, this is a great rose, pink and fragrant and resistant to black spot, etc. I don't know much about the Cherokee rose, but being from Oklahoma, we naturally have a soft spot for anything "cherokee".

We're now planning where we will plant these new roses. I can't wait. The Cherokee is a climber/rambler, so it needs a trellis or fence, but I don't trust the neighbors on one side not to spray and we don't have a fence line on the other side (our carport takes up the lot from the house to the alley).

This is the first time DH has ever bought me roses for valentine's day. So this is a major milestone.

My main boss is on vacation this week and the other boss was in court. I keep a running spreadsheet showing what I've done and what needs to be done, with dates (most are arbitrary) to be done by. I completed all my tasks through today and made it most of the way through my in box. It felt so good to be able to tell the attorney "yes, I've taken care of that" for once.

Tonight was family fun night. We learned dominoes (yes, I know, funny that I didn't know how to play, but I'm the baby of the family so when everyone played no one wanted to take the time to go over the rules with me). My 5yo is still a little young for the points idea, but the 7yo is catching on fast. We partnered, me and 5yo against dh and 7yo. We lost. Considering dh has been playing for years and had 2 sets of eyes to search for point opportunities, it's not a major surprise.

Tomorrow is the lunch meeting at work. I still don't know exactly what we're having for lunch, but it's free and I'm not used to eating lunch at work anyway. I'll be fine. If nothing else, I'll love the salad and breadsticks (I hate Olive Garden spaghetti, it's soooo overcooked and mushy). I'm sure none of it will be truly South beach friendly, but my pants were loose today! And I plan to cheat with a soda anyway.

I've almost got the taxes done. I'm still waiting on 1099INTs from several credit unions. So far we have to pay around $400 (we were expecting $1000, so that's not too bad).

I almost bought a soda today. I even went to the car for change and brought it in. I was saved from myself by a long call with a client.

Then I thought how stupid it was - my boss will buy us all lunch on thursday, so I'll probably want a soda then. I really want to limit my soda consumption to one/week (or less), so I'd rather have the soda with lunch.

I've been using fitday.com to track my eating. It has a feature to check your vitamin and mineral intake. I looked over it and realized that my iron intake has been very low. Which could explain my tiredness. So, I had dh buy me some iron supplements and we'll see if that helps. Maybe it will help with the headache too?

We have 2 cards that pay cash back - Discover and Citibank Dividend.

I realized that my special 5% had posted, so I had $40 to apply to my balance.

Then dh got something in the mail today. Turned out he had requested his dividend check from citibank - $83.16.

We have cut our spending way back, but we maximize our cashback and dividends by making sure to take advantage of any special deals (the 5% cashback deals on discover, etc).

In other news, I purposefully did not take cash with me today and I'm glad I didn't. I was tempted by the chocolate bars that a client brought in to sell for charity, but I didn't have any cash so I couldn't buy any.

DH is not on board with the paper making. At all.

His idea is to grow salad greens for sale at the new farmers' market. This could work, it only meets once/month (I really have to contact the market manager and discuss that). We do live in a very hot area which is bad for salad greens (they bolt and get bitter) but if I plant them the week before and harvest them small, they should be sweet and good.

I already have the seed. It's old, but it should still sprout (just not at as high a percentage as it would have).

So, my job for the week is to contact the market manager to find out her guidelines for getting in, the costs, and the rules. I've been meaning to call her anyway, I opened and managed a market a few years ago and while I don't consider myself an expert, I do have some experience that I could pass on.

Then, I get to figure out where to plant it and figure out how much time it takes to get a marketable crop.

I'm still working on the mystery shopping, but so far there hasn't been a good opportunity.

Today is our first no car day of February (dh had to work yesterday).

Our goal is 5/month. I don't know how much gas this is saving (yet), but I do know we are getting more exercise (we still go to the stores on weekends, but now we walk).

Today, we stayed home because the kids are still not 100% but they have to go to school tomorrow. We had chicken and leftover veggies for me and dh, ds2 had leftover pizza and ds1 had refried beans and chips (I make the beans in large batches and some go in the freezer while the others are left for us to eat during the week).

DH cooked the oats for the week. We are almost set for food for the week - beans and chicken for suppers (we'll stretch them with veggies and other ingredients). Oats for breakfast. DH also made a bunch of french toast for the freezer for the kids (they love french toast).

My family is back. Poor guys are still sick. DH had to take them to the doctor in Tulsa. Thank goodness we have BC/BS and had an in network doctor there. It was $50 in copay for each, then $26 for the meds for them. Poor guys. We've been really lucky though, this is only their 3-4 sick visit to the doctor in their lives.

DH's dad gave him $100 to help pay for the gas to get to the funeral. It doesn't pay for all the gas, but it was unexpected and helpful.

The family is still recovering from the death. I think we're the least touched by it. DH's grandmother wasn't that nice to us, we were never more than acquaintances to her (this goes back to the way she treated FIL, dh was just a byproduct of that). We've been asked if we would like anything of hers (and in the same breath told not to expect anything).

I don't know, I think I might feel a little hypocritical taking anything from them. But, I guess it would be nice for my boys to have something of hers. They weren't old enough to realize that she shunned them in favor of the other great grandkids (that and we limited their contact to a certain extent).

I would love to participate in the $20 challenge, but I'm having a hard time coming up with something to do.

Yesterday when I was at the library I checked out their book sale. They have a lot of books that were donated and are in great shape (no writing, etc). I wrote down ISBNs on about 7. I tried to choose a mix: textbooks, new bestsellers, "classic" authors, etc. Ebookdrop was not accepting any of them and half.com had 2 dozen listings and none of them for the amount it would cost.

So I'm thinking books are not the way to go, at least here.

I live in an area where services are cheap, cheap, cheap, so that's not an option.

We have local flea markets where they bring things from across the border, so handknit items won't sell for enough to even pay for the fiber.

I'm stymied. I'd like to participate but every thing I think of turns out to be impractical.

One idea I am considering is recycling junk mail into plantable cards (homemade paper with flower seeds added). Since the cards are made to be planted, you don't have to worry about acid-free, etc. I can get access to scrap paper, already shredded, at work. But, I'm not sure if I can buy the equipment for papermaking for $20. The seeds also aren't an issue. Seeds are really cheap and I have access to tons of free seeds.

I need to talk to a couple of people in town, I have a friend with a booth at "Market Days" and I know the owner of a gift shop. I'll speak to them to see if this is something they'd be willing to carry for me. Then I need to figure out how we can get the equipment for papermaking. I have an old blender that I can use for the slurry, it's the vats and screens I'd need to get.

Another idea I had was to start mystery shopping again. I've been looking at my sites and so far they haven't had any shops that would be worthwhile. One shop requires a minimum $75 purchase (which you can return, but I find that returns take so long that I end up making about 50 cents/hour). The others are 30 miles away and with gas being what it is, the fee would barely cover the gas.

I took my car in for its oil change today. I go with a local guy I can trust to do good work and to check all my levels. He also replaced my burnt out brake light - $36.

Then they gave me the bad news. My car will not pass inspection without some emissions work. There are several leaks along the bottom. He told me the muffler shop I should take it to (they don't do muffler work there). He says it should be under $100 and realistically more like $25-40. So, that's somewhat of a relief. I actually expected it to need some work there, they told me it barely passed inspection last year.

When I got there, I realized I could see the library across the town lake (water treatment lake, not very large at all). When they said it would take 45 minutes or so, I decided to walk to the library (I had my books in the car). Good idea, EXCEPT, I was wearing my calf high, 3" heel, boots. The library was probably a good half mile away (longer because instead of going the short way, I accidentally went the long way). I now have a blister on my big toe, but it's not some place that really gets pressure when I walk in normal shoes (I think the socks must have bunched up between the pad of my toe and the ball of my foot, because that's where the blister is).

And did I mention it was HOT today? 80s. And I was dressed for work in a cold office. So much fun. But now I have books to read and life is good.

Between moving and the holidays, I lost track of our spending, etc.

This could be disastrous, but for once we've been doing pretty well. Our spending was actually under control last month (even with purchasing plane tickets and new blinds for the new house).

So, I deposited checks today and realized that we are holding way too much in checking (no interest) and not enough in savings (low interest). So I just remedied that.

I got notice that there will be an estate auction this month, so I'm going to hold off sending extra money to debt until I see what they are selling. We need some chairs - we have a futon and an office chair and that's it. So, we'll see if there is anything suitable that doesn't get out of hand. The best part, if the auction is at the home of the estate, it is within walking distance.

I'm home alone and feeling guilty for my eating and spending today. I decided it was time to stop and move to something useful, frugal and "feel good-y".

So, I got out the hair cutting scissors and followed a tip I got here - I pulled my hair into a pony tail and cut it straight across, this gives a layered look. Last time I did it, I pulled the hair to the top and that gave dramatic layers. This time I pulled it to just below the crown and the layers are much more subtle.

I think I cut about 2.5 inches off the longest section and one section didn't get cut at all. That was fine, that section didn't have any split ends.

Then, into the kitchen to mix up some henna to color my gray roots and jazz up my color.

When I first thought about henna, I asked a few friends and they made it sound soooo difficult. So the first time I tried it, it was difficult. But, now I've figured it out.

First, the directions say not to use metal. Which means I can't heat the water on the stove (I don't have any corningware), so I heat the water in the microwave in a pyrex bowl (little bitty one). In a slightly larger pyrex bowl, I pour out about 1/4-1/3 cup of henna. I then mix the hot water into that very slowly. I pour and mix, pour and mix. This is the best way to keep from having clumps. I add enough water to get it the consistency of honey.

Then, into the bathroom to don latex gloves and start putting in my hair. This time I didn't really mix enough, so I mainly concentrated on my roots. If I think it needs more, I'll add it tomorrow. I use my hands (in gloves) and the plastic fork I used to mix the henna to apply it. I find the tines of the fork really help to comb it into my hair.

Finally, I covered it with a hair wrap that I got with another dye package and a plastic shower cap. I'm sitting here with it wrapped until I'm ready for bed. Then I'll shower and rinse it out.

I like henna because it's natural and it's good for your hair. It's a natural conditioner. In fact, many hair dressers recommend the no color version for people who have hair that needs some more conditioning. It's also good if your hair is thinning because it coats the hair shaft and makes each hair thicker. This isn't an issue for me, my hair is still pretty thick, but there is a noticeable difference - a lot more body and you can definitely look at a hair and tell where the henna stopped.

I can get about 3 applications of henna for $5. Not bad when you compare it to a dye job in the salon.

I caved. I totally caved.

First, I bought a Dr Pepper ($0.65 frivolous spending) then I ate some candy in the office.

Loverly. I guess I'll have to back up on the diet some. I'm getting discouraged with the diet, though, because it appears that I haven't lost any weight or inches around my belly. If anything, some of my clothes are actually tighter.

The good news? DH called and said they were stopping at the grocery store for lunch rather than fast food. So, we should meet our January goal of no eating out (I won't count the grocery store deli).

Other good news? DS1 woke up with no fever and didn't develop one before the time for them to leave and last time I spoke to dh still didn't have one. So he got well just in time to be able to go see his grandmothers.

This is a question that was posed on an online forum a few years ago: How much money would it take to change your life?

At the time, I said $80,000, that was enough to pay off all the bills we owed. Now it would take more like $100,000 (traded to a larger house and had a job loss/cross-country move in there).

But, I've been thinking. That would be less stress, for sure, but it wouldn't change my life. I'd keep my job, dh would keep his job, we'd just have more wiggle room for other things. But nothing would really change.

If I were to really change my life - radically alter the course, it would take at least $1million. That's the sum that would allow me to feel comfortable breaking completely away from what I do and learning something entirely new.

Don't get me wrong, I like my life. It's a pretty good life. I like my job, my co-workers, my house, the area we live, etc. But, I can't shake the feeling that there is something else I should be doing. I think I'm a radical without a cause. I just can't find a cause I can get behind.

DH, on the other hand, could change our whole life with $200,000. That is the sum that would have him comfortable enough to pack up lock, stock and barrel and move onto something entirely new.

I've been thinking about life. I know that I'm in a holding pattern. I admit I'm afraid I will stay there, but I'm afraid to try something new and fail. At heart, I'm a pessimist.

My goal this year is to work on finding what cause I want to devote energy to, to being more optimistic, to feeling like I can make a change and be happy. And to be more willing to take the risk.

I don't expect to come into money anytime soon, but it never hurts to have a plan and be ready.

How much money would it take to completely change your life?

We got the word that dh's grandmother died last night. This is his first grandparent to die. She's been in bad health for 2 years or so, so it isn't unexpected, but ...

He needs to go back to Oklahoma for the funeral. He's decided to drive, flying would cost $500 and we just can't swing that right now (not after having spent the money on the tickets for vacation). He's going to take the kids with him. I'm staying home, I can't get off work.

One kid is still sick, but we expect him to be better by tomorrow afternoon. They'll leave Tuesday morning.

So much for not eating out in January. But I'd say this doesn't count.

Well, one kid well, now the other kid is sick. I'm not sure what it is, just a fever, no other symptoms. DS2 missed Thursday and Friday of school, now it looks like DS1 will miss Monday. DH can use his sick leave to take care of sick family members, but I'm not sure if he can handle 3 days off.

So, dh spent time hanging our new porch swing (one of those things where there was a very good deal and he just had to have it). I spent some time in it with him and then had to go tackle the grass that was crowding my pretty plants.

Then, we came inside and I opened my jasmine tea. This was a gift from one of my doula clients. Her mother brought it to me from China. It's much better than what I've gotten here. Very strong jasmine scent.

Now I'm sitting here enjoying a mug of tea waiting for dh to decide on something on tv. It seems like a good day, even if we do have a sick kid (and the well kid is starting to get cabin fever).

I figured since I talked about gadgets which have made our life easier, I should talk about gadgets which were supposed to make life easier, but which are never used.

1) FoodSaver. DH insisted we get this. I knew it would be a wasted $150. We don't freeze that much that would go in those bags and who wants to drag the whole thing out for such a small amount?

2) Food Processor. This was an xmas gift. I did ask for it, though. I thought we'd use it to process veggies from the garden (grate zucchini for zucchini bread, etc), but it is rarely used. We do use it to make pesto, so it does at least get some use.

3) Dehydrator. DH insisted he would use this "lots". He brought home a big bag of jalapeno peppers and dried 2 batches and then let the rest of the peppers mold. He's never used it again.

4) Cuisanart Ice cream maker. We did make some ice cream with it early on, but found that it's actually kind of expensive to make good homemade icecream and is cheaper to buy the storebrand (which is really good).

5) Pampered chef ice shaver. Used only in product demonstrations. I'm holding onto it for now (we have the room) in hopes that my boys will get some use out of it as they get older (they're 5 & 7).

So, almost $300 spent (if not by me, by someone) on gadgets that aren't used and only take up space. Everyone of these gadgets was supposed to help save us money. And I'm sure that some people do save money using them, but so far it hasn't worked for us.

So, we've got a date set. It's right before the hurricane season. Kind of scary, there actually was a hurricane during this time frame in 2005. So, it's something we'll have to watch.

Costs so far:
Airfare (4 people) $1,770.00
Trip insurance $ 100.00
Total $1,870.00

We decided to go with the trip insurance because of the risk of hurricanes. I would hate to spend all that money and then have a major hurricane hit and not get to go. And given the 2005 hurricane season, you can't take anything for granted anymore.

The next step is to get our passports.

I can't believe we are spending this kind of money, wow! The good thing, though, is that FIL is picking up the costs once we get there. He's got us booked into a house that costs $2500/week (I think he got a pretty good discount) and he'll pay for the food and sightseeing.

I can't wait!

Since we've moved into our new house and have unpacked the kitchen, I've noticed several gadgets we own that have saved us money.

One is a thermos. This way I can heat the water for me tea, put it in there and then have hot water all day without having to keep running the stove. I don't know how much this saves because I don't know how much electricity the stove uses, but it is saving electricity.

Another one is the cheese grater we got from pampered chef. This is one of those "barrel graters" where you load the top with cheese, put the handle down over that and squeeze while turing the barrel. This way, we can buy the huge blocks of cheese instead of the bags of grated cheese (we tried grating the full blocks into a bag, but it didn't store well and when we tried to freeze it, it all stuck together). I have 2 graters, one I picked up at a thrift store for a dollar. It only came with the fine grater barrel, but that's great for dh's parmesan cheese. We put the graters preloaded with cheese into gallon size plastic bags and store in the fridge.

I'd love to hear about gadgets other people use to save money.

Tonight we instituted something new - Family Game Night.

This will be every Wednesday night (we chose Wednesday, I guiltily admit, because it's a slow TV night).

Tonight we broke out our new Monopoly (bought on sale) and played. We decided to play until bedtime for the kids and then not count winners or losers. It was a lot of fun, teaching the kids how to play (btw - we played with one of the alternative rules listed in one of the threads on the discussion group - the money in Free Parking) and watching them add the spots on the dice and count to move. I showed off by telling them where to move just by looking (well, it's 10 on a side, with a railroad in the middle, it isn't that hard).

They enjoyed it so much, I'll bet we end up playing it next week. I've decided that we will definitely recommend board games as presents for family members.

My FIL just called and said if we can get the time off and gather the airfare, he will take us to Mexico with him (the Yucatan) and pay everything else. For our family of 4 this will mean $1800 for the airfare. Which is a lot for a vacation, but what a wonderful opportunity.

I'm going to use this category to track the expenses incurred for this vacation - passport, new clothes, whatever. I don't think we will buy much extra, but I'm going to keep track of it all.