Girltherapy's Personal Finance Blog

Big, big, big news! The dentist bill is a paid in full! That was one fat, furry mole, and he is roadkill! I have been nibbling away at that bill for more than 2 years, I am thrilled to be done with it! (hear the dancing and singing in the background?) Every time we hit a glitch in the budget, that was the one that got skipped, because they were just SO DARNED NICE about it. Too nice, they should have complained once or twice, and gotten paid a lot sooner. Now, on to the family Dr.'s bill! (don't ask) And, even better news, Hubby is finally back to work!!! He got his first full paycheck this week! Huge sigh of relief. Just as heating season is starting. So, things are looking up for the moment.

Or - The Great Race, Freecycling. I couldn't decide which title I liked better. I like to use our local freecycle to get rid of things I don't want/need anymore. But this has reached a new high, or low, for me anyway. About a year ago, there was a flurry of posts complaining about "takers" selling items thay were getting off the freecycyle. On ebay, in garage sales, whatever. Surprise, surprise. But not the principle behind freecycling, of course. Then, in the Spring, the new big controversy was takers who apparently sit on their computer all day long, to be the first to reply to every offer. The advice was to wait for a day or two, go thru all of the replies, and choose who you want to respond to. OK, just not real speedy, which is sometimes desired. Now I have discovered a new glitch, the takers want instructions! A short time ago, I offered some old jeans for sewing or crafting. I didn't get many replies, but the next day I started down the list. The first asker didn't want to drive this far, no problem. The next one emails me back, and says (I swear)..."what should I do with them?" I thought that I must have misread, and got DD#3 in to look, just to be sure. I DON'T KNOW! If you didn't have anything in mind, why did you ask for them? Now I have to include an instruction sheet with every item? I emailed the moderator of the site, and this was her take, paraphrased. For some people, the freecycle is like a giant game show! Be the first to ask for every item, and you are the winner! Doesn't matter if it's something you want or not. I can see a whole new reality show coming, Freecycle Hoarders. People whose houses are filled with stuff they got off the freecycle, and don't know what to do with! "But it was such a good bargain!" I didn't reply, I hit the big "D" (delete). It just goes to prove, that some old chestnuts translate well into the electronic age. "There's a sucker born every minute!" I don't know if it was me or them?!

As a kind of follow-up to the theft blog, I just read an article on the 10 most shoplifted items in 2009. Their list included electronics, high end clothes, baby formula(?),shaving razor refills, makeup, and some others. I worked in retail for a few years, in a dollar/dime store, and our top 2 (way above anything else) were home pregnancy tests and candy! The candy I always presumed were kids, we would find empty candy wrappers stuffed in corners all over the store. And the candy aisle was directly in front of the checkout! But the home pregnancy tests, I hope weren't kids. We would stock 5 each of three different kinds (15) and at the end of weeks totals, maybe 6 had been paid for, and they were ALL GONE! So we finally put them behind the counter, and I don't think that we sold 3 a week. Maybe people were too embarassed to ask for them? On the other hand, condoms were already behind the counter, and we had plenty of people ask for THEM. Another big target was haircolor! This was a little different. They would take out the contents, or part of the contents, and leave the empty box, neatly reclosed, on the shelf. We finally started sealing the ends of the boxes with clear packing tape before we put them on the shelf. This did slow it down quite a bit, but it still happened. First aid supplies was another, open a box of band-aids and take out some, but not all. How many people count the band-aids in the box before they buy them? I guess if you are determined enough, you can figure out a way to steal most anything (sadly). If only they used their power for good instead of evil!

A topic that I haven't seen addressed much, how about financial strain due to theft. I am speaking from firsthand experience, unfortunately. My DD#3's musical instrument was stolen at school. Now, you might think, no problem, it happened at the school, they must have to relpace the instrument (french horn, hideously expensive), OH NO NO NO. We had to make a police report, and our homeowners insurance is expected to cover it. Minus the $500 deductable! Standard financial advice has been to raise your deductable, it will lower your rates. And it did, but that means you have to pony up the 5 big ones! I was NOT HAPPY with the attitude at the school. It was in a locked band room, and the school was closed for three days last week because of flu. How did someone get into the room, and walk out with the pretty large case, and no one noticed? Well, they are "looking into it". Anyway, now I am going to have to figure out how to shuffle money around to get the darn thing replaced! Luckily, the insurance adjustor didn't give me 2 seconds of trouble about replacement value, she said depreciation on musical instruments is very little, and it's only 2 years old. So we should be able to get the exact same instrument. But now what? Is she going to have to bring it home every night because the band room is not secure? And what would they DO with a french horn? I can just imagine a van in the alley... Psst, lady, you wanna buy a nice french horn?

I have been studiously avoiding thinking about that "Holiday" coming up, but since most of my blogreads today mentioned it, I guess it's time to get my head out of the sand. Haven't got a single present bought, don't know what most anyone is going to get, just give me an F, and I'll get over it. I am NOT ready for Christmas, not ready to think about it, not ready for lists, cards, prep work, nothing. I know this sounds strange, but I really enjoy the Christmas season, I'm just not ready this year! I'm still trying to process the end of Summer, I have no idea where Fall went, (oh yeah, this is it) could'nt believe that Halloween has come and gone. I want a do-over! Flag on the play, stop the presses! I remember when I was younger, my Mother told me one time that the older you get, the faster time goes. Well, she was right! She didn't tell me though, that it would go so fast that I would routinely miss large chunks of it! Like I've been sucked into a black hole for days at a time. But, Christmas will come, whether I like it or not, better get used to it. I just want to wait until after Thanksgiving!

Let me say first that I am NOT recommending any of these, only reporting what I've heard! I just saw an article on 12 surprising things that you can do with Vicks Vapo-Rub. Well, I wasn't surprised by most of them, but there were a couple of new ones. It was the comments that got me! For years my MIL told all of us that her Mother used to make them swallow a ball of Vicks when they had a sore throat, I was quietly sceptical. But, oh no, someone else in the comments had a Granny that did the same thing! I am amazed, and nauseated. I don't know how they kept it down. Just the thought of it..... you get the idea. It got me thinking about some of the other "home remedies" that have come down thru the family. We never had Tums in the house when I was a kid, and it wasn't THAT long ago. If you had a stomach ache/upset stomach, you could drink baking soda and water (tastes terrible), or make a tea with some caraway seeds and hot water. (also tastes terrible) I don't remember that either worked very well. Especially avoid the soda if your problem is alcohol, my MIL also had a very funny story about her Hubby coming home, under the weather, shall we say, and the two did NOT mix well. He always broke in at this point to say that she was trying to kill him, or it felt like it anyway. WE did use a lot of Vicks, but only on chests and throats, Hubby says that his Mom rubbed it under their noses, and that it would take your skin off after a while. Maybe it used to be stronger. FIL told of the Army soaking your feet in kerosene to kill athletes foot, and "bugs" on any part of the body , kerosene also. Wow, and they smoked a lot?!?! Mint leaves could cure a headache, you wet your forehead and stuck them to it, fresh or dried were OK. (this never worked for my Mother) We did always have aspirin in the house, and cough syrup. Hubby remembers the whiskey and honey cough remedy, I don't know if you quit coughing, or were just so fuzzy that you didn't care anymore. I remember putting table salt on cuts and scrapes, stung like the devil, but I don't ever remember one getting infected. And lots of cold water on burns, but nothing else, you just put up with it until it healed, but I also don't remember having many burns. My inlaws were big tonic and salve people, they were older, hubby was at the end of a bunch of kids. My Mother took you to the Dr. (mostly because her parents never took her) but ours was an old osteopath, and more often than not you got directions for aspirin and vitamins, minerals, soaks, etc. I remember breathing treatments before nebulizers, a bowl of hot water with ?? steeping, and a towel over your head. And this was in the late 50's and 60's! We were still quite rural then. I do remember my SIL telling of getting head lice in country school, and the remedy that came from the drugstore reeked so badly that you ended up cutting the hair, nobody could stand it. Well, her grandmother wouldn't let them do it, SIL had long, beautiful black ringlets, so she rubbed vaseline all over the scalp, and wrapped a towel over it all, and you kept it on for 2 days. Then after 7 days, you did it again, and 7 days again. It supposidly did work, smothered them I guess, but imagine trying to wash vaseline out of your hair! It was a remedy from the "old country" and you used goose grease, who has goose grease here! Wouldn't you smell like a rancid pate?

The villian in every cartoon said that at the end of the episode. And me , just today. I was looking forward to getting the dentist bill paid off this week, finally! But, DD#2 needed some cash to fill a prescription. What can you do. You pony up the cash, of course. I was really, REALLY hoping to be done with this bill! I have a dental appt. next week, some day he's going to start repossesing my teeth. The dentist himself never says anything, but I always get the "little talk" from the receptionist, when can you make a payment? the interest is adding up....etc. etc. They have been very fair, I know they have. It just happens that every time I get close to the big -0- balance, somebody needs something thats not covered. I have been paying on this for more than a year, (uh oh), maybe more like two years, come to think about it. What do you do when your debt snowball is still rolling ahead of you, instead of melting? You make a cup of cocoa, tomorrow is another day!

Spent the day doing something fun (for Me) cooking and freezing squash.. We have had a run of unexpectedly nice weather, and the box of winter squash that I packed so carefully on the porch is still good! I love squash! Hubby was hoping for a pie (just like pumpkin), but I was too busy/lazy to roll a crust, so he'll have to wait for next time. Oh, and I baked 10# of red potatoes too. We got a 50# bag 2 weeks ago, and I need to get them used up. I think that I'll save some out for frying, and cube the rest, and freeze them. I whittled another item off my to-do list last night, finally got a clothesline put up in the sewing room. Now I don't have hangers on every door drip drying. The list is getting smaller! TTFN

I was talking with one of my Best GF's last night, we've been buds since we were 10, she deserves a capital letter. The conversation came to reality shows. I don't have any that I follow faithfully, but I've managed to catch an episode or two of most of them. I find them very comforting. Strange choice of words? Not really. When my life feels bad, the house is a mess, the kids are teenage monsters, I'm thinking seriously about trading in the Hubby, just an episode or two of these train wrecks on TV, and I feel much better! No matter how bad my house looks, there are some out there whooeee... Kids are sassy and snotty, well we haven't had to call the nanny yet, and as for trading the Hubby, good grief, mostly they go from bad to worse, much worse! I can only say that I hope those people are just camping it up for TV, I'd really hate to think that they act like that in real life! And I can't watch the court TV shows anymore, mostly I just want to slap some of them silly, Oh, I forgot, they're already silly, and stupid! And willing to let the rest of America see them on TV being idiots! I want some better reality! No Bridezillas (I'm sure Webster didn't come up with that one) NO goofy islands, (lack of funds is the least of your worries) no dating rock stars, (wardrobe budget is obviously tiny) no has been/wanna bees daily grinds (don't even get me started) No wonder our lives are so terrible, look at the examples we think we're aspiring to! Even a nice, relaxing soap opera sounds good! Of course, I haven't watched one in years, the summer Marlena was possesed by the demon was the end for me. I think that I just want too much, I have plenty of reality in everyday life, I don't really want it on TV too. Where's the escapism in that?

Sometimes trying to be frugal is confusing, or maybe it's just me,(being confused), read on and you tell me.
My Hubby loves the Farmers Almanac! When to plant, where to fish, it's kind of like the local entertainment guide for rural folk. I picked it up tonight, because I was going to be sitting for just a moment, and I hate idle hands. Anyway, inside the cover, on the title page is all of the usual info, and a lovely woodcut style print of sheep and...raccoons? I wasn't aware that coons (as we call them) had become a farm commodity! See what happens when you don't keep up with the local news? I am in the know on fish farming, and we do have several more exotic farms in my homestate, (elk, buffalo, deer), but somehow I missed the scoop on coon farming? Most farmers I know have dealt with their share of coons, mostly trying to get them to vacate the barn, and quit sponging a free meal. (boy can a coon make a huge mess in the feed room!) What frugal endeavor could a coon be involved in? Could they be trained to do something? although they are mostly nocturnal. (night shift workers?) They are good climbers. (linemen, tree trimmers?) Security? They can be sassy! (try chasing one out of the cat food dish!) I didn't read far enough to get the whole story, If I find out something interesting, I will let you all know. Although, I think that Daniel Boone did have some success in this field............ Coonskin cap anyone?

I may have mentioned that I do sewing and alterations as a little home business. It was a big home business at one time, I did complete wedding parties, but it was usually an "also". I did it along with working other jobs, sometimes a couple of them. Well, business has been pretty great lately. People are fixing things, rather than replacing them. Good for me, and good for their pocketbooks, I'm sure. I am sometimes puzzled tho, every once in a while, I end up with an item that no one ever picks up. A few times, the owner has passed away before they got back to me, or the phone number they gave me was changed, or they just ignore my messages for, forever. I'm never sure how aggressive I should get about trying to find people to return items to. Sometimes, I see them other places, and slip it into the conversation, some of them I had never heard of before, they got my number from a friend, I have actually left items on the doorstep, and figured if I got paid it would be a bonus. Most times I do get paid, and only once in 20+ years has anyone ever given me a bad check. I was just thinking about this today, when DD#2 brought home a pair of jeans from her friends brother, that needs a zipper. The brother was going to throw them away, and what do you know, DD#2 has been paying more attention than I thought. "OH NO," she says "my Mom can fix them!" I had to laugh at that, she has complained long and loudly, in the past, about my thrifty habits. She called it cheap, I called it thrifty. So, if the item has been around here for more than 2 years, of if I can't even recall who gave it to me, it will eventually find it's way to the thrift store. So far, I haven't ever had anyone call about something that I re-donated (is that a word?)

Hubby was channel surfing this AM, and came across that perenniel favorite "YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN", just in time for me to hear Madeline Kahn warbeling her "I'm So Tired" song, as the "teutonic titwillow". I can't remember her characters name, but I remember the cheesey moniker! So, I'm writing this in the spirit of: sometimes being frugal, and working hard to get out, or stay out, of debt is exausting and life-changing. In fact, I'm going to amend that and say that ALL of the time it's exuasting and life changing. At least it is for me! I have an opportunity to go shopping for the day with a good friend, next week, it's been our big "get-together" for the past few years, and I'm not even sure that I want to go. A nap sounds so much more appealing right now, that's just SAD! Then I got to thinking about all of the other things that I used to do, ladies activities at church, school things for the band, sports teams that my kids were on, 4-H, community projects, and I only still do a couple, and not very faithfully, anymore. I am just so tired, that nothing sounds like fun! I am lucky to be pretty healthy, and I don't feel "sick", I would just like to try life on more than 6 hours of sleep a night, or day in my case. For about 6 months, or maybe forever. A fact that doesn't always come up in the frugal-saving money sites is that being frugal is a lot of work! It takes time, and effort! I am always willing, but man, I could use a few more hours in each day! (and if anyone out there figures out how to get them, I will be your first customer!) I always laugh when some new "need" comes along, I tell them that I will schedule that in my "spare 5 minutes a day" Some days are just that bad! I think that I actually had more time with 4 kids at home, I could just delegate! And I did! It was a fact that my kids did not come to me and complain they were "bored", if you were bored, you got a job to do. Now 2 are gone, and the other 2 have a long day already, with school/work/sports, well some combo of that between them. They do their own laundry, and clean their rooms, but other than that, they aren't here enough to clean a bathroom, or do dishes, or mow lawn, not on a regular basis anyway. (But I digress, I do that a lot.) Anyway, the point was that being too tired to have any fun is the pits, I'll have to try to do something about that. Maybe I'll think about it, you know, in that 5 spare minutes a day! And don't ask why I'm on the computer at 2:14AM on my night off, you don't want to know!

OMG! It's 5:16AM here, and you will not believe why I am up (well, maybe you would). I have tonight off, so I am lying in bed, trying to sleep, and the dog is downstairs pacing back and forth thru the house. I thought she had to go out, although she usually whines just to get her point across. So, being the nice person that I am, and not wanting to mop up a puddle, I got up and let her out the door. It's raining here, so I wasn't surprised when she was back pretty quick, until I opened the door.... SKUNK! She had gotten it good! (0r BAD, definitely BAD!) Now what do I do? It's 3AM! So, I shut her in the back entry, which she DID NOY like (whining and yipping), and hit the computer, thank God for Google. And thanks for the shure-fire formula that I found on at least 6 different sites, that only used stuff most of us have in the cupboard! Peroxide, baking soda and dish soap! Then there was a variety of other after-products, I went with antiseptic mouthwash, which luckily I had just bought a big, new bottle of. And thank you to DD#1, who just moved out, but left three big bottles of anti-stinky dog stuff, because she doesn't have the dog anymore! So we doped, and soaked, and sudsed, and rinsed, and repeated a couple of those, and rinsed with the mouthwash, not minty fresh, she'll just have to suffer, and rinsed, and toweled, and so far, so good! Now, I just have to freshen up the back entry, which has about 20 coats hanging there, of course. Also luckily, new bottle of Febreeze in the cupboard! So, now I am boiling some vinegar in the kitchen, maybe we will just smell like a pickle factory, instead of a skunky pickle factory. All this, and I haven't even had a cup of coffee yet! And I don't even drink coffee, thats how bad it is!

Wow, I often get ideas for this blog from other blogs that I peruse daily, and this one was a humdinger! How frugal is it acceptable to be when having guests? This one made me think, because we just had a housefull of people over the weekend. The inspiration blog dealt specifically with serving leftovers to the company, good or bad? I have to say I think it could be both. We have leftovers on a regular basis, both as heat-ups and reincarnated in something new. Would I feel bad about serving them to my guests? Ehhhhh.... We have 2 kinds of guests, the family/friends who are around all the time, and eat my leftovers as much as we do, and the invited over, lets plan something special folks. Although, now as I think about it, we don't have "fancy" people here, and probably don't know any. Is there anyone I know that I wouldn't serve a letover to, not really that I can think of, but I would certainly tell them. Would I feel slighted if we ate at a friends house and they served leftovers? No, I but I might ask for the recipe. But I also think that in planning a get-together, the meal is half the fun! Trying a new recipe! What a great bargain I got on this! Remember last time, the really bad dessert, well this is what I did different this time! (true story, but for another time)

All of which describe my house! We are hosting a brunch after church on Sunday, in honor of my Grandbabys baptism! I am perfectly happy that my DD#1 asked me to host, we are kind of centrally located for the folks who would be likely to come. However.....it made me take a good look around the house, and OH BOY. I always comment that I do Fall cleaning as opposed to Spring cleaning, I have been out in the yard all Summer, not cleaning house. So this was a big wake up call, get things straightened up! So far today, I have opened three cans of paint, and if I have enough time, I might get to four. A little touch up here, a little spackle there...... And I have to figure out what to do about the cieling fan/light in the bathroom. I took part of it down a couple of weeks ago, because we had wasps coming out of it. Well, I think we got rid of the wasps, but just in case, I was trying to figure out a way to keep them from coming thru again, You get the idea. I have already warned DD#2 and #3 that they will be home on Saturday for an extra good, dust/sweep/mop/vac session, lots of groans, but too bad! There isn't time to do something with my sewing room (downstairs bedroom) so we will just close the door, and ignore the whole thing. I just washed the curtains from the living room, if I have time to do the dining room and kitchen good, but they look OK if I don't. Oh, and the wallpaper seams in the dining room peeled a little in the humidity this Summer. I need a wife! Someone to do all of the regular stuff, while I tackle the never ending honey-do list. Well, the dryer is calling, TTFN.

Remember those old 60's mags True Confessions, where readers would write in about things that they would never tell the neighbors? Well, I have skimmed thru several blogs lately where intelligent advisors have told people NOT to go thru a credit counseling service, they are not a good bargain. We dealt with a credit counseling service for several years, and they SAVED MY LIFE. Our youngest child spent almost 6 months in the hospital after she was born, and we were almost $100,000 in debt. We actually ended up at the credit counselors thru the hospital mediation service. There was NO WAY that we could make even the most minimum payment on a bill that large, so we went to mediation with the hospital. The final deal that we ended up with was that we would meet with the credit counseling service, they would set up a budget with us, and recommend to the mediator how much we could reasonably afford to pay. The bonus was that they also took charge of all of our other bills at the time, and that helped hugely by stopping any shutoffs or penalties for the first years that I had to stay home with an ill child. We stayed with them for 14 years, but after the first 2 or 3, I took back paying most things, all of our utilities, and the credit counseling service dealt with the hospital and the one credit card we had. I could have handled the credit card, but as long as they did it, the interest rate stayed at 0%. The fee was based on your income, for a long time it was $25 month, then the last few years it was $50 monthly, but I am sure that we saved that many times over. Our income flucuated monthly because of the work that my Hubby was doing, they renegotiated every month if necessary, and I didn't have to do a thing. I never felt that the payments we made were unreasonable. We actually ended up paying less than 1/4 of the total balance, and in the end the hospital was sold to another corporation, and forgave a lot of old outstanding debts,"as a service to the community" Any action that they took that would have showed on our credit report (they closed the cc acct)was done right at first, so by the time the 7 years were up, our credit report was clean and shiny, and those payments just showed up as billing payed on time. So, I can tell you from firsthand knowledge that I would recommend a reputable credit counseling service to anyone, THEY WORK.

This entry can safely be subtitled - Mother Knows Best. My DD#1 bought a pool 2 Summers ago. It was middle of the Summer time, and the pool was on clearance in the bigbox store. The style that has the inflatable ring at the top, and you just fill it up. I had refused to have a big pool for years when my kids were small, too much work! And money, and time. I knew who would end up out in the yard every day skimming, testing, clorinating, cover on, cover off, etc. But she was 23, and definately old enough for the fussing, so..... Any way, the pool had been up for this past Summer, its third, until about mid July, and it sprang a leak around one of the fittings for the pump. She epoxied and fixed, and finally got it going, and we got a BIG wind storm, and it ended up empty, lying flat in the yard. Its been there ever since. This was about the time that she bought a house and moved, and I didn't fuss too much, I thought this way they could move it to the new place, it was already drained. Well, last week she discovered that someone who shall remain nameless (one of her sisters?) nicked the pool with the lawnmower. Now the pool is essentially junk, and who is the only person worried about getting it off my lawn? Me of course! DD#1 doesn't want it anymore, so I put it on the local Freecycle. Surprise, surprise, no one wants a pool with a hole in it! I even offered the ladder and pump with the proviso that you had to take the pool also, but no bites. So, I called her today, and told her that she must come and take this thing out of my yard. Its HEAVY, it will probably take three of us to roll it up, and tie it into a bundle, I know because I tried. Then she and SIL can do whatever they want to with it. I did end up doing my share of the testing and skimming, but I have to admit, it was very nice to go out in the evenings, and float around watching the stars come out. Will I get one for us? No, most likely not, it was a lot of work! (time, money, yada, yada) Told ya so!

This post is financial only in the sense that sometimes being frugal is learning to be happy with what you have, and it was so cute I couldn't resist. Today is Sweetest Day and DD#3, who is 17, is, of course, expecting some well thought out, sweet little gift from boyfriend. He didn't forget, but his sense of a cute little something for the sweetheart obviously differs from hers. He brought her a ....Venus Flytrap. For the horiculturally challenged, this is a small, carnivorous plant that eats insects, certainly the hearts delight of any 18 year old boy, but the girls? not so much. She rolled her eyes, and did try to be politely thankfull, but this was obviously going nowhere fast. So I smiled behind my hand (more or less) and told her very excitedly that my sis had one when we were growing up (very true) and it was cool to catch flies and watch it catch and digest them. Then boyfriend chimes in with how great that would be, and is looking around for flies. (I wasn't sure if I should be flattered that he thought flies would be in my dining room) Any way, she put on the good face, and they wandered outside to find a fly or two, and hubby and I went out to supper(or so I thought, but that's another story) We came home about 90 minutes later, boyfriend was getting ready to leave, and they are standing , looking at the flytrap, and I asked, did you find any flies, but they couldn't catch any. So I told them that we used to feed my sisters a tiny bit of raw hamburg, when insects weren't around, and boyfriend says, no, the label says no meat. So I asked what are you supposed to do then, and DD#3 replies it doesn't matter her, sister gave it a piece of SUMMER SAUSAGE! Cooked meat with a load of spices and smoked!? The poor little thing will either have a plant heart attack, or ask for cheese next week. Anybody seen The Little Shop of Horrors?

Remember the old chestnut " horses sweat, men perspire, ladies glow" Well I'm here to tell you, me and the horse, we both sweat! I didn't realize how much until I tried a deodorent without the anti-perspirent. I got a sample from one of my survey companies of a new scent of some brand of deodorent (they don't tell you which one, plain white label). I am supposed to use it for two weeks, and then answer some questions, SOP. By the second day, I was not liking that sticky feeling in the pits, yuck! By the end of the first week, I had wet patches under the arms of my uniforms by the end of a shift, good thing it's night and nobodys looking! I tried putting a little body powder under there, too little and its still sticky, enough to kill the stickiness, and I'm wearing cake batter. I know that the aluminum that they put in anti-perspirent isn't supposed to be good for you, but i'm going to have to invest in some dress shields otherwise. Maybe I'm just a sweater (someone who sweats a lot, not the furry thing)and I never realized it. Although I do get that little trickle down the center of my back when I'm working hard, or in the sun, who doesn't? Someone is going to have to do a lot of convincing before I'm giving up my Degree, or my scrubs may go on strike.

I read an article in The Mother Earth News (I think), several years ago about small town living in New England. The gist of it was that folks in that small town all wore several "hats" job wise, in an effort to make a living. I don't remember the specifics but the author delivered newspapers, fixed chainsaws and something else, in addition to his regular job, to make end meet, so he could stay in this lovely rural town. I was reminded of this when I was clicking thru some financial blogs, and noticed that many of them advocate taking on a part time job to pay off debt. I know that Dave Ramsey is big on this. I can comment on this first hand, I once had 4 (count'em 4) part time jobs simultaneously, for about 2 years. I kept hoping that one of them would turn into a full time job, I would have liked any of them, but no luck. I finally thought that I was meeting myself coming and going, and my blood pressure was killing me, and dropped 2 of them. This was a good solution for the short term, but it gets to be very exausting! And, to be truthful, they all were only minimum wage jobs, so even if one of them had been full time, I likely would have been looking for something else anyway. I do still dabble with one, I have a small home based business, I do sewing and alterations. I would love to do this full time, and have several times over the years, but it's just not steady enough income in this area. I like to know that we can pay the bills every week, not just the week when everybody needs a zipper in their jacket. Maybe I should learn to fix chainsaws?

Stop me if you've heard this one before... I did write about this, or maybe It's just that I told so many people. I was just reading about a gal who turned the house over to the bank, rather than wait for a foreclosure. The economy here in Michigan is in the toilet (excuse the language), with lots of foreclosed houses, houses for sale, empty houses, etc. In fact, a plumbing and heating guy we know put on a whole crew that does nothing but rehab forclosed homes that were abandoned, for the banks and realty companies. If you leave a house in the North country here with no heat, the pipes burst, ruins the fixtures, and sometimes the whole heating system, depending on what you have. Anyway, I digress (a lot). The story that came to mind was, my DD#2 had a girlfriend whose Mother passed away. Mom and her boyfriend had been living in a house that Mom owned, well, she and the bank owned. Anyway after she was gone, the children came and took the things that they wanted out of the house, told the boyfriend that he could do whatever he wanted with the rest, and left it. They didn't try to sell, find a renter, or anything,(I do not understand that), just left it for the bank to take back. Well, the boyfriend stayed on, said he wasn't going anywhere until the sheriff came and booted him out (do they actually do that?). He ended up staying 2 1/2 years! The foreclosure notice came out in the paper, the mortgage was owned by a bank in CA by that time. They tried to sell the property on the courthouse steps, no sale. If it was ever listed for sale, it wasn't with any of the local realty companies. So he just stayed there, paid the utilities, which were still in her name (that's a whole other story), and claimed that no one had ever contacted him, or come by the property as far as he knew. They would easily have known that someone was living there, the lawn was mowed, there was a dog in the yard, etc. etc. Finally, he just moved, got a job that was further away and moved to be closer to work. I am still astonished every time I think about it. I wonder if the bank ever knew what condition the house was in, apparently they didn't care. So anyway, when a girlfriend of mine lost their house, she was all in a tizzy wondering where they would go, and I told her not to worry so much, it might take years! They did move because she wanted to be settled before school started this Fall, she has 5 kids in school, and they didn't want to end up switching schools in the middle of the year. I wonder if the house is still empty, maybe one of the neighbors needed a place???

I used to be a rabid couponer. I carried my little file of coupons, clipped to the calculator like a warrior looking to defeat the enemy. The enemy being my grocery bill, I guess. But I kind of got away from that, for a lot of reasons. I still use some coupons, maybe 5 or 6 on average, in a weeks shopping. But things have changed. My Mother and I get 3 Sunday papers between us, and swap the coupon flyers, then I take them to work for the girls there. But there are some weeks that I only clip one or two coupons. It seems like all of the coupons are for things that I just don't buy! So, just for fun, I did a little informal inventory of what exactly was in those 3 circulars this last weekend. Almost 1/3 of the coupons were "personal care items" shampoo, body wash, lotion, razors, shave creme(gel/mousse)and hair color (lots of hair color!) etc. I hardly ever clip those, because they are all for the more expensive brands, and I don't buy them anyway. Even with the coupon, the bargain/store brand tends to be cheaper. Remember, I'm shopping the dollar stores here in rural America, I'm about 20 miles from the nearest big box, or drug chain. Next came what I call household stuff,about 1/4 of the total, laundry soap, fabric softener, dish soap, floor cleaner, furniture polish, and smelly stuff (or anti-smell stuff)! Good grief, we must be the smelliest nation on the planet! Scented oils, scented candles, air freshner, carpet freshner, pet freshner, furniture , shoes, etc. etc. All that anti-smell stuff was more than 1/2 of the household category. I clipped exactly 2, Tide laundry soap, and Ajax dish liquid. What a waste of a tree. The rest was food. Lots of lunchmeat, boxed dinners, seafood (must be fishing season somewhere), try something new, (everything is new!), but I have noticed that lots of those coupons require you to buy 2 or 3 products to get the discount, especially cold cereal. They have been doing that for a while. I don't have room in my cupboard for 3 or 4 boxes more! Besides, I buy most of my cold cereal at the dollar store, and mostly their store brand. I must say that I am deeply in awe of those shoppers who combine the coupons with sale items (you know, you see them on TV) and come out of the store with $232 worth of stuff, and they only paid $63.42! To me, thats like knowing how to beat the stock market, we all know it can be done, but it's just so darn much work you won't catch me doing it!

So was that Shakespeare or Hollywood? Well, either way I'd be OK as long as the horse only cost $1. That's how much I have left in my wallet until Friday. Actually, it hasn't worked out badly, so far. Every time someone wants money, or me to buy something, I have the pat reply, "sorry, I only have a buck left until payday". I don't have to argue, rationalize, or ignore, the one buck stops the conversation cold! I may just try this again, not the spending all the money thing, but the leaving only $1 in my wallet. Sometimes you just fall into the best stuff, whoda thunk?

Remember the old Ma and Pa Kettle movies? I used to love watching them on a Saturday afternoon. Somedays, I am Ma Kettle. Total chaos every day, but somehow it works out in the end. At least, I hope so. Canned salsa yesterday, pickled beets today, and did a mountain of dishes. One thing about cooking from scratch, it's cheaper, good for you, and makes a pile of dishes every Day! This is night 4 of 7 in a row, and going OK, quiet nights so far. I's supposed to rain tomorrow later, and be cold and windy, so I am going to try to pick the winter squash in the garden when I get home in the morning. That is the last thing out there. Gotta Go, can't be late for work.

Well, its true, Summers officially over. Know how I can tell? I took the window air conditioner out last night. I don't think that we used it more than 5 or 6 nights thru the whole Summer anyway, its been an unusually cool and rainy Summer in Michigan. I started putting some of the laundry in the dryer again. The last few loads don't have enough time to dry anymore, so the electric bill will be going up a little. I am siiting in the sewing/computer room looking around for something that I can throw/give away to clear out some of the clutter, and not having much luck. I pronised myself that I would try to find 2 things every day to relocate, hopefully out of the house. I have dabbled with the flylady on occasion. But, unless I empty the wastebasket, and relocate a couple of things upstairs, I'm pretty much at the saturation point. I need less stuff or more house, and I don't want more house. Hubby laughs at me. When we pass beautifull, brand new, big as a barn houses, all I can think of is "who is going to clean them?" Not me thanks!

A little alliteration anyone? I'ts the end of the financial quarter, and budget revue time. I kind of like going over the numbers from the past quarter, but Hubby hates to go over the "waste". The totals of what it costs to live, always blow his mind. It actually wasn't all that bad, we didn't get much extra saving done, managed to keep ahead of the payments on everything, even tho he has been on sick pay for almost 6 months now. Now, I need to get the dentist paid off, $450, and the primary Dr., almost $900, and we will be debt free! Oh, almost forgot the car, $150/mo. for about the next year. Shh, say that quietly, Murphy is probably listening. I would really like to be able to revisit retirement issues before the first of 2010, but we probably won't. Right now, all we have is Hubbys 401K from work, and we are only contributing enough to get the matching funds. I want to open a Roth IRA for both of us, and take another look at the 401K plan that my employer offers. I really have been thinking about our retirement (both in late 40's), but with one child still at home, and two others who seem to come and go with the economy, (it's BAD in Michigan)there are just no more pennies to go around. I keep telling the kids to keep a broomcloset open for Mom, I may need it someday. (only half kidding!) I work at an assisted care facility, like a step up froma nursing home, for people who don't need real nursing care, only some help with basic things, or just don't want to shovel a driveway anymore. Anyway, there are a certain number of residents who end up moving on, because they can't afford to stay anymore. They usually go to one of two places, in with a family member/friend, or on to the county nursing home. The county home here must take you if you have no where else to go, whatever you can pay, I think its the same everywhere. But, oh the long faces when they must leave, then their choices are over. Some days that broomcloset doesn't look half bad!

Oh man, what a week! Remember that old game where you went around the circle and everyone added a good and bad thing to the story? That's been my week. Worked a couple of extra shifts, extra money? always a good thing...forgot to get the oil changed in the car, 1500 miles ago!, bad thing...Baby GD stopped to visit 2x this week, good thing...paycheck was short, didn't get paid for my vacation days for some reason, bad thing...picked up meat from the packing house, cheap meat? GOOD thing...Hubby had Dr. checkup for shoulder surgery, another 4 weeks off work, OMG I can hear my checkbook screaming already, definately bad thing...almost done with veg garden, only a few tomatoes and winter squash left to pick, good (garden this year) thing...decided to make some scrubs, gotta be cheaper than buying, right? priced fabric at Joanns, serious sticker shock is a BAD thing...got rid of some stuff from the messy basement thru the freecycle, good thing...just got the dryer running good again, and now the washer is making a funny (not in a good way, funny) noise, (heavy sigh) Bad thing...had a big (basketball sized) paper wasp nest on the side of the barn, waaay up, hadn't figured out how to get it down yet, but we had a hard rain this week, and washed it down! (I took care of the rest) Good! Good! Good! thing...auto insurance on all three trucks went up, an Oh Come On! kind of bad thing...it's Saturday, I have nowhere that i have to go, its raining, can't work outside, and I'm taking a nap! Oh what a Good Thing.

I am trying to make some homemade hot sauce. The hot peppers went just plumb crazy this year. So I washed and stemmed them, put them thru the food processor, and cooked them down in the crockpot, with a little salt, vinegar and water. OMG! It's a good thing that the weather is nice, cause I opened all of the windows in the kitchen, and turned on a fan! I am standing as far away as I can reach every time I lift the lid! My Hubby will love it! If I live long enough to can it. I did let it cool overnight, and then food process it again, so it would be nice and smooth. Now its just reheating, and then into 1/2 pint jars. If I survive, I will make another batch, (sucker)! I hate to throw anything away, even hot peppers. So, I won't have to make more for a decade, that's planning ahead, right? As long as it doesn't eat thru the lids, I can't imagine a bug or bacteria brave enough to break into THOSE jars.

I have been getting mysterious packages in the mail the last few days, and they were all completely free. I got a $50 gift cert. to Paypal from one of my survey companies. So I ordered myself some corelle dishes to match my pattern from Ebay. I have 3 companies that I do surveys, and product testing for, one of them for more than 20 years. It's been fun over the years to see some of the things that I tried out finally come out on the market, or not. I know that this has become a big scam lately, my best advice to you is that I have never paid a single dime to any of these companies ever. If they ask you for money, delete them. (or throw away, I started these all thru mail before the web) But I just love a bargain!

Hubby and I went out to eat tonight, it cost $17.70 for the two of us, plus $2 for the tip. We went to the Chinese buffet. We don't go out very often, because I am a hard to please eater outer. I always moan and groan about how much it costs, and how I could make something just as good, and cheaper, at home. But I do admit that I couldn't cook all of the things on the buffet, and don't really want to. So I just have to make up my mind to enjoy, which I did, and I certainly ate enough to get my moneys worth. I freely admit that I am sometimes a whiner, especially about money. And the more nervous I get about money, the tighter I hang onto it. A knee-jerk reaction to too many years being flat broke, I'm sure. Well, time to toddle off to work. TTFN.