7:30am
I'm in a rambling mood today
as my mind is working overtime.
I'm stressed out!! But-
The whole idea of this blog
is to show you how we get by
with one income for a family of 4, right?
So when you see us run into financial
situations, you'll see me write about
it and tell of our plans to get out of it
or what we are doing to get rid of debt.
It doesn't happen overnight and
with bigger amounts of debt will
take some time.
----
Got our taxes done last night.
It still came up about $1400 or so
less than last year.
Damn taxes aren't cheap to have done.
I think it was a little over $300!!
Taxes on prize winnings,
I found out, was about 10% of
the winnings.
Anyway I asked a couple questions
about doing donations and about
Tony using his vehicle for work,
tools, clothes and whatever else
we have to buy for his job.
We decided against keeping track of
the expenses we pay for Tony's
work like mileage and such because
it just didn't sound worth it.
But we are going to do more donating
and keep track of that.
In turn you can claim with those
donations up to 10% of
your taxable income or something
to that effect as I don't know
how to do taxes.
All I know is that we have to cut
back this year and watch
what we spend. I could very easily
stop making extra house payments
and have an extra $150 each month
but there's a difference between cutting
back and being desperate so
at the moment I am not going that route.
The sooner we get the house paid
off the better because at retirement
age I don't think we could afford
the house payments with what
little social security gives you.
You've got to think ahead to your
future no matter how far away it is!!
We did take out a couple extra things
from every paycheck like
401K and life insurance for everyone
on top of over $400 for health insurance each month.
Those things, if I recall, are taken
out of your paycheck and then
the remaining amount is what
gets taxed.
Yeah all this crap is stressful!!
I'm not saying it's an easy ride
with limited funds because it is not!!
I've got the gray hairs and wrinkles
to prove it. At times I don't even enjoy
watching tv. I'm tired of seeing
everyone on tv living the yuppy lifestyles
having whatever they want without
even blinking an eyelash as to how much
it costs. That's NOT the average American!
So why is tv mostly geared for the
upper class American????
Well today is bill day for me
and I am not looking forward to it!
---------------------------
9:30am
Got bills all done and started
going through doctor bills.
Depressing, I know.
I'm really hoping Tony's brother
buys this car of ours.
That would help out tremendously!!
Unless I get any more unexpected
doctor bills, selling that car would
pay off most of them.
Then to get the credit card paid off
I could just send additional money
that I can afford each month.
Originally I had it planned the other
way around but think this is
the better option at the moment.
BUT I don't have cash in hand
at the moment for the car
so have to have a backup plan
even if it means paying off the smaller
doctor bills at the moment
and then making payments on the
bigger ones.
You cannot ignore bills!!
They will come after you and
eventually garnish your paycheck
and you really don't want that
to happen!!
It happened to us once long ago
and left us with very very little
money for the month!!
And of course our other bills
got behind because of it.
We had to borrow money to buy food.
But like I said that was many years
ago and we don't let it get that far now.
People think we are nuts for having
so many cars. To me it's like having
a savings account. You can't spend the money
if it's not easily available and by having it
in the bank is too easy to get out!
So by having an extra car or two
the money is always sitting out
in the driveway invested in them.
So whenever we need a larger amount
of money, we put a car up for sale.
Most of the time we get the money
we paid for them back out of them
when we sell. Once in a blue moon
we don't. And every now and then
you get lucky and make a profit
like this car for sale at the moment.
You do have to put the money up
front for the investment though
and maybe a little more to fix it up.
But remember that money
is like a savings account.
Some people invest in houses
and such. We invest in cars.
-----------------------------
9:45am
What is it with these birds.
Just had another one collide
with our living room window,
CLUNK!
That's the second one in the past
couple of weeks.
Do they have brain freeze or what???
---------------------------------
10:50am
Got 10 pounds of chicken skinned
and deboned.
Saved the gelled broth for the soup
and skimmed off the fat on top.
Threw the broth, some chicken
and 1/2 of the pasta leftovers from
yesterday in the cleaned out crock
along with other ingredients
for my homemade chicken noodle soup.
No recipe, as I just throw together
whatever I have at hand.
Do what ya gotta do
with what ya got to do it with!!
1 pound chicken- .23 cents
(a 10 pound bag cost me only $2.32!)
homemade pasta- freebie from leftovers
celery leaves- freebie leftovers
2 cans Maryland crab soup- $1.38
(used it basically for the soup broth
and veggies)
basil- free
onion powder- free
Total cost for 2 meals: $1.61
Serves 8 @ .20 cents a serving!!
or .80 cents a meal!
I still have a gallon zip bag full
of chicken for more meals
along with a sandwich zip
bag of leftover pasta.
----------------------------
11:20am
Still doing surveys on a daily basis.
Almost up to $91, woo hoo, on one site.
Every bit helps!!
-------------------------------
Like Chinese?
Skip the expense of take out and
make your own!
Shanghai Noodles
Kung Pao Chicken
Beef & Broccoli Stir-fry
Chicken Lo Mein
Egg Drop Soup
-------------------------------------
4:00pm
Well I got a little good news.
My mom and step-dad's been
going over to the senior center
2-4 times a weeks and just today
was told the center gets produce
and breads from Kroger for free
and could take as much as they wanted.
I asked them to get me some
when they go and they said they would!
I'm not picky as to what we could
get for free, and to a point,
I don't care if something has a little
bad spot that could be easily cut off!
So that would mean some free
fruits, veggies and bread for us!!
That would help us out so much
especially with the cost of rising
food prices due to the gas increases.
I knew a lady when growing up
that went to Kroger once a week
and they gave her bunches of stuff
like that and she filled her car to the
hilt with all the food freebies.
She'd let everyone in the apartment
neighborhood know when she
had stuff and you could
pick and choose stuff that she
had in her car.
Being about 90 years old
that lady did so much let me tell ya!!
That sure helped us out back then.
I am so glad to know that Kroger
still does that and will donate
stuff to people who are willing
to come get it rather than throwing
it all away!! So much food goes to
waste everyday in this country
that could feed many homeless
or poor.
I guess it wouldn't hurt when you needed
food for your family to ask grocery
stores if they could give you
their expired produce or bread.
------------------------------
Mom read me a list of classes
they offer at the senior center
and what I don't understand is
why they don't have a frugal living class.
Not every senior citizen has a pension,
a large social security check or had
401K, especially in this neighborhood!
So why not teach them how to live
cheaply? Then again they have probably
lived through depressions and know
how but need a refresher course.
--------------------
I don't remember if I've posted this
before or not but with rising food prices
I've been noticing at stores, I figured
I'd share it anyway.
A gallon of milk at Kroger is
on average $2.79
and a dozen eggs are $1.79.
These are not sales prices
so sometimes you could find them on
sale. But with these staples we
use almost every day we can't wait
for sales.
I have seen on Walgreens advertising
on their sign that they have
milk for $1.99
and eggs .99 cents a dozen.
Those are their everyday prices!
So why not save $1.60 by making
a pit stop in there!
-----------------------------
5:45-8:45pm
We had a nice birthday party for mom.
Here's some pictures.
--------------------------------------
Once home Christopher had to
work on a project for school,
Kansas of all things.
I helped a little, lol.
I'm in a rambling mood today
as my mind is working overtime.
I'm stressed out!! But-
The whole idea of this blog
is to show you how we get by
with one income for a family of 4, right?
So when you see us run into financial
situations, you'll see me write about
it and tell of our plans to get out of it
or what we are doing to get rid of debt.
It doesn't happen overnight and
with bigger amounts of debt will
take some time.
----
Got our taxes done last night.
It still came up about $1400 or so
less than last year.
Damn taxes aren't cheap to have done.
I think it was a little over $300!!
Taxes on prize winnings,
I found out, was about 10% of
the winnings.
Anyway I asked a couple questions
about doing donations and about
Tony using his vehicle for work,
tools, clothes and whatever else
we have to buy for his job.
We decided against keeping track of
the expenses we pay for Tony's
work like mileage and such because
it just didn't sound worth it.
But we are going to do more donating
and keep track of that.
In turn you can claim with those
donations up to 10% of
your taxable income or something
to that effect as I don't know
how to do taxes.
All I know is that we have to cut
back this year and watch
what we spend. I could very easily
stop making extra house payments
and have an extra $150 each month
but there's a difference between cutting
back and being desperate so
at the moment I am not going that route.
The sooner we get the house paid
off the better because at retirement
age I don't think we could afford
the house payments with what
little social security gives you.
You've got to think ahead to your
future no matter how far away it is!!
We did take out a couple extra things
from every paycheck like
401K and life insurance for everyone
on top of over $400 for health insurance each month.
Those things, if I recall, are taken
out of your paycheck and then
the remaining amount is what
gets taxed.
Yeah all this crap is stressful!!
I'm not saying it's an easy ride
with limited funds because it is not!!
I've got the gray hairs and wrinkles
to prove it. At times I don't even enjoy
watching tv. I'm tired of seeing
everyone on tv living the yuppy lifestyles
having whatever they want without
even blinking an eyelash as to how much
it costs. That's NOT the average American!
So why is tv mostly geared for the
upper class American????
Well today is bill day for me
and I am not looking forward to it!
---------------------------
9:30am
Got bills all done and started
going through doctor bills.
Depressing, I know.
I'm really hoping Tony's brother
buys this car of ours.
That would help out tremendously!!
Unless I get any more unexpected
doctor bills, selling that car would
pay off most of them.
Then to get the credit card paid off
I could just send additional money
that I can afford each month.
Originally I had it planned the other
way around but think this is
the better option at the moment.
BUT I don't have cash in hand
at the moment for the car
so have to have a backup plan
even if it means paying off the smaller
doctor bills at the moment
and then making payments on the
bigger ones.
You cannot ignore bills!!
They will come after you and
eventually garnish your paycheck
and you really don't want that
to happen!!
It happened to us once long ago
and left us with very very little
money for the month!!
And of course our other bills
got behind because of it.
We had to borrow money to buy food.
But like I said that was many years
ago and we don't let it get that far now.
People think we are nuts for having
so many cars. To me it's like having
a savings account. You can't spend the money
if it's not easily available and by having it
in the bank is too easy to get out!
So by having an extra car or two
the money is always sitting out
in the driveway invested in them.
So whenever we need a larger amount
of money, we put a car up for sale.
Most of the time we get the money
we paid for them back out of them
when we sell. Once in a blue moon
we don't. And every now and then
you get lucky and make a profit
like this car for sale at the moment.
You do have to put the money up
front for the investment though
and maybe a little more to fix it up.
But remember that money
is like a savings account.
Some people invest in houses
and such. We invest in cars.
-----------------------------
9:45am
What is it with these birds.
Just had another one collide
with our living room window,
CLUNK!
That's the second one in the past
couple of weeks.
Do they have brain freeze or what???
---------------------------------
10:50am
Got 10 pounds of chicken skinned
and deboned.
Saved the gelled broth for the soup
and skimmed off the fat on top.
Threw the broth, some chicken
and 1/2 of the pasta leftovers from
yesterday in the cleaned out crock
along with other ingredients
for my homemade chicken noodle soup.
No recipe, as I just throw together
whatever I have at hand.
Do what ya gotta do
with what ya got to do it with!!
1 pound chicken- .23 cents
(a 10 pound bag cost me only $2.32!)
homemade pasta- freebie from leftovers
celery leaves- freebie leftovers
2 cans Maryland crab soup- $1.38
(used it basically for the soup broth
and veggies)
basil- free
onion powder- free
Total cost for 2 meals: $1.61
Serves 8 @ .20 cents a serving!!
or .80 cents a meal!
I still have a gallon zip bag full
of chicken for more meals
along with a sandwich zip
bag of leftover pasta.
----------------------------
11:20am
Still doing surveys on a daily basis.
Almost up to $91, woo hoo, on one site.
Every bit helps!!
-------------------------------
Like Chinese?
Skip the expense of take out and
make your own!
Shanghai Noodles
Kung Pao Chicken
Beef & Broccoli Stir-fry
Chicken Lo Mein
Egg Drop Soup
-------------------------------------
4:00pm
Well I got a little good news.
My mom and step-dad's been
going over to the senior center
2-4 times a weeks and just today
was told the center gets produce
and breads from Kroger for free
and could take as much as they wanted.
I asked them to get me some
when they go and they said they would!
I'm not picky as to what we could
get for free, and to a point,
I don't care if something has a little
bad spot that could be easily cut off!
So that would mean some free
fruits, veggies and bread for us!!
That would help us out so much
especially with the cost of rising
food prices due to the gas increases.
I knew a lady when growing up
that went to Kroger once a week
and they gave her bunches of stuff
like that and she filled her car to the
hilt with all the food freebies.
She'd let everyone in the apartment
neighborhood know when she
had stuff and you could
pick and choose stuff that she
had in her car.
Being about 90 years old
that lady did so much let me tell ya!!
That sure helped us out back then.
I am so glad to know that Kroger
still does that and will donate
stuff to people who are willing
to come get it rather than throwing
it all away!! So much food goes to
waste everyday in this country
that could feed many homeless
or poor.
I guess it wouldn't hurt when you needed
food for your family to ask grocery
stores if they could give you
their expired produce or bread.
------------------------------
Mom read me a list of classes
they offer at the senior center
and what I don't understand is
why they don't have a frugal living class.
Not every senior citizen has a pension,
a large social security check or had
401K, especially in this neighborhood!
So why not teach them how to live
cheaply? Then again they have probably
lived through depressions and know
how but need a refresher course.
--------------------
I don't remember if I've posted this
before or not but with rising food prices
I've been noticing at stores, I figured
I'd share it anyway.
A gallon of milk at Kroger is
on average $2.79
and a dozen eggs are $1.79.
These are not sales prices
so sometimes you could find them on
sale. But with these staples we
use almost every day we can't wait
for sales.
I have seen on Walgreens advertising
on their sign that they have
milk for $1.99
and eggs .99 cents a dozen.
Those are their everyday prices!
So why not save $1.60 by making
a pit stop in there!
-----------------------------
5:45-8:45pm
We had a nice birthday party for mom.
Here's some pictures.
--------------------------------------
Once home Christopher had to
work on a project for school,
Kansas of all things.
I helped a little, lol.
