MariRDH's Personal Finance Blog

Back from vacation with money to spare!

iluvsaving@yahoo.com (Just Me ) — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 14:41:13 PST

Hooray! We had a fabulous vacation and actually came back with money unspent! So $250 of that money is going into the Emergency Fund.

July was also a 3 paycheck month so I sent a bunch into the EF from that also. Our EF is doing really well and I am hopeful we will achieve our...

Enter to win the happiest quilt!

iluvsaving@yahoo.com (Just Me ) — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 10:24:03 PST

Over at Marie-Madeline Studio, they are having a contest to win one of their quilts and it is just about the prettiest, put-a-smile-on-your-face quilt I have ever seen! Yup, it is the one shown here. Wouldn't you agree?

Stop by http://mariemadelinestudio.typepad.com/mariemadeline_studio/... to enter the giveaway now thru August 8th.

I hope I win...but good luck to you all as well!!!

Haven't been posting

iluvsaving@yahoo.com (Just Me ) — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 14:54:27 PST

I have been slacking on my posts lately, but I have been trying to update my sidebar regularly, so my EF has been growing which is good. I've been doing horribly with my tracking.

Summer is always the hardest for us since my DH does not work in the summer so only one paycheck....

Wow! Amazing shopping week!

iluvsaving@yahoo.com (Just Me ) — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 17:51:20 PST

Well, I had 30 coupons for the Bayer meters this past week (which made them free and my state does not charge tax on these items so absolutely FREE!) and used every last one of them plus gave a few away to the cashiers who rang me up so they could also have $10 Walgreen money to spend....

Exciting Walgreens Week coming up

iluvsaving@yahoo.com (Just Me ) — Fri, 29 May 2009 08:14:37 PST

The week of 5/31 has a few nice deals especially if you've been collecting coupons.

$10RR wyb $10 Bayer Diabetes monitor - these boxes should have a full Mail in Rebate inside the box, so you can actually MAKE $10 on this deal. Sweet!

$2RR wyb $2 Ecotrin aspirin - there was...

May EF Boost

iluvsaving@yahoo.com (Just Me ) — Fri, 29 May 2009 07:52:45 PST

PT Job: $435.51
FT Job: $7.17
Refund Ck: $3.25
Total Added to EF: $445.93

EF Balance @ 5/29/09: $4,832

EF Addition

iluvsaving@yahoo.com (Just Me ) — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 12:46:12 PST

$501.65 from PT job
+ $5.56 from FT job...so...
$4,386 Total EF Balance

I need to buy our DD a bunch of stuff for summer camp. This will be her first year going away to camp for 3 weeks, so she needs quite a few things. Hopefully next summer will be cheaper because she will...

$28.78 for 3 pairs of shoes

iluvsaving@yahoo.com (Just Me ) — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 12:37:33 PST

We took a trip to the Payless Shoes in the mall today. I had acquired 3 coupons for 20% off one purchase and they all expired tomorrow so I did not want them to go to waste. All 3 came from those "catalina" machines that print coupons after you make a purchase at a store....

New car = depleted EF

iluvsaving@yahoo.com (Just Me ) — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 14:36:25 PST

Well, those problems my DH was telling me about proved to be costly. We put over $3,000 into the car back in August and this time around it was going to be over $1,000 with no telling how long these repairs would make her last. The poor car has been a trooper and given many years...

Small EF addition

iluvsaving@yahoo.com (Just Me ) — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 07:47:23 PST

I mistakenly added an extra $10 to the EF last week, but have decided it can stay there. Plus, I added the interest from ING and my local CU accounts.

New EF balance: $6,870

Payday

iluvsaving@yahoo.com (Just Me ) — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 18:27:49 PST

My EF is edging closer to my goal of $10,000. I am fairly sure that once it reaches $8,000 I will start to split my PT job money (that now goes 100% to EF) 50/50 between EF and my $11,000 loan. However, my DH now tells me that he thinks his car is "dying" and will need lots of work....

Coupons in the mail

iluvsaving@yahoo.com (Just Me ) — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 19:03:22 PST

Today I received a big, fat booklet full of coupons from Proctor & Gamble. This is a booklet that was offered a little while ago through their website and their monthly newspaper insert - you had to buy $50 worth of P&G items *before coupons*, mail in the receipts with the items circled...

Another boost to the EF

iluvsaving@yahoo.com (Just Me ) — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 21:12:26 PST

I put my paycheck from my PT job into the EF, so it is now just over $6,300. Once it reaches $8,000 I think I will split the PT job income 50/50 between EF and the new $11,000 personal loan. I'd like to have that loan paid off in 12 months if all goes well.

Got my loan so bye-bye CCs

iluvsaving@yahoo.com (Just Me ) — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 11:20:32 PST

I went down to sign for my loan at the credit union today. I asked to see my credit score since I haven't pulled ours in a couple years, and my Experian score is 813 which is excellent. I expected it to be high 700s or low 800s so no surprises which is a good thing.

I just got...

One debt PAID OFF & CC change of terms

iluvsaving@yahoo.com (Just Me ) — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 06:55:51 PST

I am heading to the credit union right now to pay my loan in full. This payment will now be rolled into my next debt, but I am still not sure which debt it will be.

I am going to request another personal loan at the CU so that I can consolidate 2 CC's - CC#1 is $6800 at 12.99%...

ING Interest added

iluvsaving@yahoo.com (Just Me ) — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 08:41:21 PST

Thanks to compounding interest (even if it is only 1.85% now) my EF is at $5,830 today.

Unexpected paycheck

iluvsaving@yahoo.com (Just Me ) — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 16:50:21 PST

I received a paycheck in the mail yesterday afternoon from the 1 day/week job that I no longer work at. Apparently my very last day was not accounted for on my previous paycheck from them and I never noticed. I was happy to have this extra money to deposit in the bank. I split it...

Do you have a Favorite CC?

iluvsaving@yahoo.com (Just Me ) — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 09:40:26 PST

Okay, I am in the market for a great CC. I am really not interested in a new account, but my 0% offer on the FIA card ended last month and is now at 12.99% which is way too high. I asked at my credit union and their lowest rate on personal loans is 7% which I think is exorbitant...

Received tax refunds from fed & state

iluvsaving@yahoo.com (Just Me ) — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 13:28:59 PST

Okay, I decided to use the Federal refund to pad my "freedom account" (a Mary Hunt, Debt-proof Living idea where all money for intermittant but expected expenses is kept). We've got loads of different categories to save for in there such as my DD's summer camp, car repairs/oil changes,...

Money to EF

iluvsaving@yahoo.com (Just Me ) — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 07:54:10 PST

I just got my last paycheck from the old 1 day/week job, and I put the dollar place and change from FT job so new EF Balance: $5,467.