So glad to be back at work today: I can rest!

My holiday schedule included 5 events in 3 days, 3 meals out b/c my kitchen was a distaster area, untold changes of clothes, and DH having to go in to work Christmas Eve morning and night, and 30 min Christmas day.

Oh, and a huge seive-like leak in the drain pipe from the kitchen sink that we discovered Thursday night.

Falalalala
lala
la
la

Good news is A) the leak is a drain pipe and therefore not wasting any water B) the water is leaking right into to the drainway for the sump-pump C) I wasn't hosting this weekend so I didn't have to really worry about it. But, I'm only doing dishes one huge load at a time so as to not have sink after sink of water draining into my basement... Ergo, the kitchen is a mess and the resulting meals out.

Perhaps I should just plant potatoes in a tub and put that under the pipe. When life gives you lemons, you know.

At any rate, the Christmas weekend was most enjoyable and tiring: the two hallmarks of a successful venture. I love being a gift giver, so I had a blast. And I was pretty much within budget tolerance: total was $1,191.00 according to my register, budget was for a grand. I don't feel bad as 1191 is for all expected Christmas expenses, cooking, and gifts, plus 3 unexpected birthday gifts, a baby shower, 2 unplanned co-worker gifts, and a night in a hotel in Chattanooga.

Falalalala
lala
la
la

Anywho, I hope everyone had a Very Merry. Time to stare at my computer screen while I come off a sugar high.

Wooohooo!

First thing I didn't do was pay the $75 for next month's rent of our storage building. I asked DH if we could go ahead & clean it out, so we did Thursday night. Rent for next month was due on Saturday, but no rent for us!

Next thing I did: I didn't take out the $55 I had budgeted for household money for the upcoming week. There's so much holiday time and time off from work I'm hoping we won't need it.

Last thing I didn't do was take advantage of the 3 easy payments offered by my insurance company. Since I bought my car 9/27 and my policy was until 11/11 or so, there was a price difference for some months I had already paid. They offered to break it up into my next 3 bills and I paid it last month. Thing is, I forgot to update this month's register which showed the higher amount, so when the bill came in I had an 'extra' $46.

Apparently all of my fiscal plotting and strategizing has angered the Money Gods. I'm sorry Money Gods!!!

Was late coming into work this morning b/c I stopped to get donut holes for the office. Krispy Kreme was a mad house and I waited 40 minutes! At any rate, the day I'm this late is the day there's a 9am meeting. Figures.

Turns out my boss and his partner will no longer be with the company starting January. Part of the deal was that there would be no other 'personnel changes' for the first 60 days of the year.

Crap!

See, the company I work for got bought in June. I hired on in August knowing full well it might be a temporary sort of thing, but was also told temporary meant till the end of 07. Enough time for me to make myself invaluable when changes began to happen.

Now, changes are happening way ahead of schedule. I'm the new kid on the block, and don't feel NEARLY valuable enough!

CRAP!

Now, this whole 60 day thing may or may not be meaningless. I might be all in a tizzy over nothing and my job might be totally secure. Or not. Who knows, it is as they say a CRAP SHOOT! Emphasis is of course on CRAP!

Geez... Last place I worked got bought and we all got downsize. It might possibly happen here, too. See what I mean by Typhoid Mary? Maybe I should just work in the cigar store. Then again, my dad could wind up selling the place, and I'd be back at square one!

I know, it's not exactly a burning question, but I am still curious.

The way I see it, it's easier to budget monthly when one is paid a certain number of times per month; for instance, I'm paid the 15th and the last day of the month. I can tell you exactly which bills come out of which check, which makes it much easier for me to determine when to siphon money off to savings. In my case, it's the 3rd and 18th.

DH, however, is paid bi-weekly. The dates jump around (not fun) and twice a year he gets 3 paychecks in a month (FUN!). Since the dates aren't consistent, it makes it that much hard to say X bill for next month comes out of the 2nd check this month, etc.

So I'm looking at my budget wondering if it makes more sense to work it monthly or weekly. What did you choose, and why?

As a side note, let me just pause to laugh at the fact that I have watched an old movie where the girl was named Dorcus. HAAAAAAAAAAAHAHHAHAHAHAAAA! And it wasn't supposed to be a joke, that was just her name!!!

OK, sorry...

Anywho, in the dwindling hours of 2006 I'm still waging the war on what to pay off when, and how much to throw at it in 2007. I think I have an established order of what bills in what order, but I wondered if the $550 I had allotted every month was the 'sweet spot' as they say.

And here's where Dorkus strikes again...

I calculated the amount I might throw at debt every month, how much interest it would 'save' me, and the how much interest it would cost me since I wouldn't be earning my 5.25% compound interest in my GYD account. And then I figured out what my 'total cost' would be for each monthly amount.

Dorkus...

Of course the highest amount I calculated had the lowest over all cost involved, but after that, it got interesting. Compound interest does work both ways, after all!

BTW: that total cost column is actually calculated as interest paid PLUS interest lost, as opposed to what it shows in the picture. DOH! Sorry!

Seems like both the blogs and I have been quiet lately. Tis the season, I know...

I've only got 2 more gifts to get (gift certificates, both of 'em!), and am pretty much on budget for the holidays. Technically I'm over budget by about $50, but I don't feel bad since I had to add in 3 birthdays, 3 Christmas presents, and a baby shower gift. And that's for a total of 4 people!

My confession is regarding a purchase. In a way I'm really OK with it, but there's still that voice telling me I shoulda put the money towards debt.

At any rate, lemme give you the reasons why I'm OK with it. One: property taxes for the car & house were $162.62 lower than anticipated. WOO and HOO!!! The as-of-yet unrevealed purchase was $179.99 before tax, so only $17.37 was money I hadn't already planned on spending. Two: even with December being one giant cash drain (2900 in regular expenses, and 2000 for budgeted taxes and the holidays!ack!), there is still money leftover this month. Three: aforementioned purchase was a REALLY GOOD DEAL.

Denial ain't just a river in Egypt, baby

OK, here's what we bought: a 1000 watt home theater system (aka DVD/CD player tuner combo, 5 speaks and a subwoofer). Completely unnecessary, but a great deal nontheless. And, considering our existing stereo, CD player, and DVD player were all crapping out (and our 52" big screen was a freebie), $179.99 for a brand new setup isn't bad... Hey, it could have been worse, the one we *really* wanted was $249.99... Even I looked at that one and said "Boy, THAT'S sexy!"

The coolest part by far, though, is that there's a USB slot on the front of the receiver, so we can plug in our flash drives and play hours of our favorite songs. No more burning CDs and the associated costs therein! See, it was really a frugal decision! HA!!!

On a more serious note (kinda), I'm debating about how I want to tackle debt in the new year. Thanks to my snowballing spreadsheet I know what would make the most sense by the numbers. Thing is, I don't know if that would be the most gratifying way to do it. And more importantly, I don't think it would impress DH as much to do it the 'right' way.

I'll ask him, but I'm pretty sure he'll hop on the wagon more completely when we actually have some bills we don't have to pay anymore, rather than just seeing the existing balances go down. Ah, psychology, strange beast...

And good news: I may have found a buyer for our canoe! Yes, the same canoe we bought in September because DH had wanted one for 20 years, but has since only been used once... A co-worker is interested in it. Keep your fingers crossed, cause that would be an unexpected 400-500 to put towards the cause!

I've tweaked/revamped the Snowballing Spreadhsheet, and can email it to those that are interested. If so, leave a comment including your email address, and I'll mail you a copy of the Excel sheet. I have macros turn on in this sheet so it will update the information based on the order in which you anticipate paying your debt (so you can find out which snowball is bigger!).

Today was the day. Property taxes.

I don't know if I've mentioned it here or not, but I've been dreading paying my property taxes. Not the money, that was stashed away and waiting (a small victory in and of itself, might I add).

See, my car tax was billed for the wrong car (registration for my new to me car crossed the tax bill in the mail), and my house tax was billed at the rental rate, not the permanent residence rate. So I knew I was going to have to spend quality time at 2 different accessors offices getting the bills fixed, and then wait at the auditor's office to actually pay the bill. And then wait in line at the DMV to show them my receipt and get the new sticker for my car.

Crap.

My choices were few. Go today, the 15th and a common payday. Go next Friday, the last one before Christmas. Or the one after that, the last Friday of the month and the calendar year.

Crap!

I decided to take my chances with today. I have vacation days the next two Fridays too, so if today didn't work out I could always try again later.

Because I wasted time poking around savingadvice, er, I mean spent valuable time researching financial responsibility this morning, I didn't leave the house until noon.

CRAP!

I came prepared, though. I had a book, my financial figuring sheets, a chocolate bar, and a drink. I was ready for the long haul. And here is where the twilight zone comes in.

I left the house at noon. By 1:30 I had gotten both bills adjusted, paid both bills, been to the DMV and gotten my sticker, and made it to the bank to deposit my paycheck. An my taxes were $162.62 less than I had budgeted!

HOLY CRAP!

Don't ask me what happened. I don't know where all the people are today, although my cynical side thinks they're putting off taxes until they paid for Christmas. I'm REALLY surprised that the bills were lower, and it's a great time of year for it to happen. Woohoo!!

I've decided the house will get a treat for this: curtain rods so I can put up curtains I've had for 2 months. What a splurge, hm?

As many of my frequent readers know, I am a computer geek. Not exactly 'leet haxor' level, mind you, but a geek nontheless.

Combine these techno-tendencies with my frugal nature, and POOF: you get a spreadsheet that let's you analyze snowball scenarios!

What the foo, you say?

Snowball: we all know this one, when you pay off one debt with extra income, then when that debt is gone roll the extra income and the previous debt payment onto the next debt. Payments snowball from one debt to the next.

Scenario: which debt do you pay first? How do you know which order of payment will meet your particular debt goals?

As I don't have any purchased financial software, I decided to create my own. It has space for 7 debts, which is what I'm dealing with when I count my house. You enter the debt name, regular monthly payment, current balance, and your APY divided by 12. Also enter the 'extra' money you anticipate having in an average month to 'throw' at debt. Then decide which order you want to try paying the debts in. It calculates monthly payments for all 7 debts (amortization style), adds up what all the payments are for all the debts, and compares that to what the raw balance is on the debt. By looking at the payment schedule, you can see when you would be debt free in total, and when each debt would be paid off.

See, I am a dork!

At first I included my house when running my snowballs, and am pleased to know I could actually have everything paid off in 6.5 years. WOOHOO!! But, since we are planning on refinancing the house next fall and we don't know how long we're going to stay here, I decided to take it out of my calculations. Anyways, a house is good debt, right?

So what did I find?

Well, there's only a 1 month and $600 difference between my best and worst snowball scenarios. This makes me feel better, because if I chose to not snowball 'by the numbers', I won't actually be loosing too much. For all debt other than the house, we're looking at 2.75 years assuming I keep the same monthly extra amount of $550.

Interstingly, if I only pay $500 extra per month (stashing $1650 over 33 months)it'll only cost $200 more in interst on my best scenario and add 1 month to my timeline. But I digress...

Which scenario was the most expensive? The traditional snowball: paying the lowest balances off first. I didn't expect it to be the best of the bunch, but I didn't figure dead last.

Paying off highest balances, highest interest rates, and highest monthly payments first also weren't number one. This was a surprise!

The best snowball is a bit random, but math is math I supposed.

All this talk about the New Year has me mulling and mulling (and re-mulling!) my fiscal strategy for the beginning of the new year. I'm in a slight pickle, because they've just changed our benefits provider at work and therefore I don't know what will be deducted for coverage. Ah, well, such is life.

So, here is the proposed strategy for 07.

Notes
1. I have a lot marked as savings but no real EF established. In my view, the $400 per month short term savings can all be earmarked in the event of an emergency, plus I will have about a grand in savings at the close of 2006.

2. DH plans on having 6% of his gross deducted for his 401k starting in January. Where I work offers no 401k, but I elected to stash 6% of my gross as well. Since his 401k comes out of his check before it even hits the house account, I don't count it as income and that's why it's not on the sheet. Classic 'hidden money'. I know we should be saving more for retirement, but I think 6% is a number I can get DH to buy into for the time being.

3. I have included medical and car line items fully intending to not use them.

4. I have included household and vacation line items hoping it will help DH adhere to the budget.

5. Not really a note, but I wonder what DH would say if he realized his allowance is our biggest monthly expense? The mortgage is actually only $493, I've rounded on the spreadsheet for ease of use.

6. The 'Long Term / Debt Reduction' amount at the bottom is what is left of our net after you subtract the 7 itemized sections at the top. I'm still determining the best strategy for this amount: I want the most effective personal debt snowball I can manage

7. I know the text is a little small. Click on the image and you should get a slightly larger more legible version.

My DH is a sweet man. Funny, snuggly, and has done the dishes more times in the past 2.5 weeks than I can remember. I love him, but he's a bit out of touch sometimes...

He desparately wanted a space heater to keep in our bedroom (we'd given our old one to my mom and we're wood only heat). I agree it gets chilly up there, but it's perfectly acceptable when I'm wearing pj pants, a longsleeve tshirt, and socks. DH gets cold, but could it be because he's sleeping in just boxers?!? Hmmmm...

Well, I relented Sunday night, secretly because the thought of toasting my buns in front of the heater when getting dressed in the morning was almost too sinful for words! Lowes was closed, as it was 7:12 pm, and we no longer shop at Wal-Mart. Target it is!

We picked out a heater very close to the one we used to have (which was an absolute workhorse). Specifically, we want one that will turn off if it over heats OR if it tips over; that's a must have with 3 cats. We found one, I wrote a check, and off we went.

Next night when I get home from work DH says he's not happy with the heater at all. I agreed: the air in front of that heater was tepid at best, nothing that even came remotely close to warm. I pulled out the receipt and said "We can take it back, but since we wrote a check yesterday we'll get a gift card back not cash."

You could see DH's thought process coming to a screeching halt!

"What do you mean a gift card? We don't need a gift card, we don't really shop at Target! It doens't say on the receipt that we won't get cash!!"

Word to the wise to whatever partner in the relationship doesn't do the routine shopping: believe the parter who DOES do the routine shopping, chances are they'll know what they're talking about!

I explained to DH that we paid with a check, which hasn't cleared the bank, which means if Target gave us cash back they'd be risking our check bouncing and loosing the cash given as the refund. They don't know us from Adam's Off Ox, so they have no way to know that I've got cash burtsing out the seems of my checking account (hehehe, I wish!).

He said it was crazy and stupid and there was no way we were accepting a gift card.

Right.

So, off to Home Depot where we bought a fantastic heater, does just what we want it to do. Then to the Target across the street, armed with our returnable and our receipt. Sure enough, the nice lady behind the counter explained that since we paid by check our refund would have to be as a gift card.

I waited for DH to speak up. I looked over at him: he was staring at the bright red Target border at the top of the walls... Imagine the cartoons where someone is rocking back & forth on their heels, hands behind their back, whistling and looking frantically around: that was my husband.

"That'll be fine" I told the associate.

Well, some of these are revelations. Some are just things that stick out in my mind after our trip to TN this weekend.

1. My car gets better gas mileage on BP/Amoco gas. I'm talking about a very noticeable 4-5 mpg better on the highway, or an extra 48-60 miles out of a tank. That's like having an extra 1.5-2 gallons of gas, worth $3-4!!! I'm very willing to pay an extra 3 cents per gallon to save $3-4 per tank. It's so noticeable I might have to write them and let them know. Same for their competitors: I just can't rationalize buying gas at another station when I look at these numbers.

2. DH and I are like a different couple when we're on a road trip. OK, not necessarily different, but almost an idealized version of our relationship. We laugh and talk and wander around in unfamiliar places together. You'd think we would get snippy with each other after spending endless hours in the car together, but we don't. In fact, it seems we're more prone to get snippy with each other in the first 2 hours we're off work than we are at any point on a roadtrip. It's really quite odd. I told him Sunday that I think it would be pretty neat to take endless roadtrips when we retire.

3. Along those lines, we're discussing taking an actual vacation next year. Our first pick? 2 weeks in Argentina. I know, it's not gonna happen, but it is our first pick! What we are talking about doing, though, is packing our camping gear, driving up to Maine, and then eating our way down the Eastern Seaboard. We could camp out of the back of the car at state parks, treat ourselves to a motel a couple of times, and spend most of our vacation money on food and gas. Better make sure it's BP/Amoco gas!

23 is cold, I don't care where you live! Add 10 mile an hour winds, bringing it down to 10 with the wind chill, and it's downright COLD outside. And yes, my rose is still outside blooming its little head off!

Slept with my mattress pad at almost halfway up last night and woke up warm and toasty. Since it doesn't get much colder than this here, I don't think I'll ever crank the thing onto full.

Ran downstairs and filled a cup full of coffee. As long as I have hot coffee, I barely feel cold no matter what the temp is. Then threw some kindling and an Enviro Log in the woodstove. I know it's cheating, but it lights fast, lasts 3 hours, and puts out some serious heat. FYI, Enviro logs are those 5 lb cheater logs you buy 6 to a pack, but they're made from recycled paper/wax takeout containers. The natural foods store had them on clearance for half off, so a 30 lb box was $9.50. I can't buy a no-name brand of log for that price, so I've been stocking up for just this type of occasion!

I don't have to go to work today: vacation day. Actually, I have every Friday off for the rest of the year, because I had to burn my vacation and floating holidays. I just don't take them that often, plus I like taking as much of December off as possible.

Today's schedule includes making holiday no-bak treats. Last night I made peppermit bark and chocolate dipped cookies. Today will be cream cheese mints, peanut brittle, chocolate dipped candy canes, and possibly tiger butter and peanut butter no-bake cookies.

All the cooking is to get ready for our weekend trip. FIL's side of the family is having their holiday get-together tomorrow in Chattanooga. DH and I are leaving at 7a, driving to TN, and will be staying the night in a hotel tomorrow night. Sunday will be a leisurely drive back home through Atlanta, with a possible stop at some of my favorite restaurants from college. Need a cheap place to eat in Atlanta? Ask a kid who went to college there!

We'll be driving pretty close to Blairsville tomorrow, so Julie I'll wave as I go by! BTW: did any of the snow stick where you are? We didn't get any precipitation, just some serious cold weather.

At any rate, it's time to check the fire again. Hope everyone is having a good day!

I'll freely admit it to everyone here: I'm a lazy saver. It's not my fault, you know, it's because I work with computers.

How's that, you ask? The concept of elegant design. Ask anyone in computers what 'elegant design' means, and they'll give you this wonderful schpiel about something that is beautful and effective and concise. What they're really saying is the best way to do something is the way that gets it done right and fast, taking up the least amount of time and energy. This is the backbone of the techology industry, and being a tech-head it is my backbone too.

When I was a trainer, I actually taught this concept to people. When you're working in customer service, being goaled on how many seconds you're on the phone with a customer (!), you need to get your job right and get it done fast. And pleasantly, otherwise you'll lose points on your Quality Assurance Monitoring form.

Perosnally, though, I don't like the word 'lazy'. Too negative. I prefer the phrase 'time effecient'. So, instead of calling myself a lazy saver, I should say I am a 'time effecient' saver.

I'm not going to try to fool you into thinking my tactics save me the absolute most money. They won't. Saving the most money takes a lot of time and effort, and I send great kudos out to the uber deal finders on this site. I'm just not one of them. You will, however, be able to save a significant amount of money. For example: I shopped tonight and saved over 44% without a single mail-in rebate or newspaper-clipped coupon. Could I have saved more? Oh heck yeah! Would it have taken a considerable amount longer? You betcha!

First things first: save your change! Easiest thing in the world to do: pay cash for stuff and save your change. If you're adventurous, save your dollar bills, too. Over the course of a month I have found I save right around 25% of what's in my pocket by not spending change or ones. It also makes me consider my purchases a little more thoroughly, too. How often would you buy a $1.50 cuppa coffee if it resulted in another $3.50 becoming untouchable?

This next tip only makes since when you realize that I pay cash for everything but bills, and in my wallet I have two sections: my money and house money. My money is my allowance, my pocket money for the week. House money is grocery money for the week and a small weekly slush fund for things like a box of nails, a refill on the grill tank, etc. I will loan the house money during the week from my allowance if a great deal pops up out of the blue, under the condition that the house pays me back the next week. I will not, however, do the reverse; once the allowance is gone, it's gone. This saves me money because if I find a great deal on something in the grocery store (like fryers 49c/lb and sirloins $2.99/lb like they are this week), I can stock up without worrying about running out of 'house money'.

My other 'trick' is to pick my stores and stick with them! In any given week I shop at two grocery stores (Bloom and Publix), two drug stores (CVS and Walgreens), and one natural food store. I'm also particularly lucky because all of these are within 4 miles of my house. I have customer cards for the 3 stores that offer them, and all 3 of them offer me extra coupons based on my spending amount. The more I spend at a particular store, the more I get in coupons. For me, this combined with the price of gas makes it ineffecient to go out of my way for most deals.

The sales papers for 4 of my 5 stores are available online. 2 come out on Sunday, 2 on Wednesday. On Wednesday, I will compare all 4 paperless copies and determine which deals are worthwhile. I will do my shopping whenever it's convenient Wednesday-Saturday.

I keep the same basic grocery list of staples from week to week and add to it based on the sales papers. If there's something on the generic weekly list I don't need, I cross it off with a BIG black marker so I won't glance at the item and pick it up by mistake! I find it helpful to print this generic list en masse so I can grab one and have it with me when I go through the sales. This way, you can include the 'normal' price you're willing to pay for your weekly staples on the list. Also, all of my standard weekly list items come from the same store, so that if there aren't any super specials I just go to one place, I'm in I'm out I'm done! Unless, of course, one of my pet stores has a staple at a great bargain, which I'll know, since my list will tell me what I'm willing to pay as a normal price!

If you're not a coupon clipper (and I'm not), one must also pay attention to other sources of coupons. My favorites, in no particular order, are the Walgreens salespaper, my CVS receipt, aisles of the grocery store, and smack on the package I'm going to buy.

Walgreens coupons requiree no clipping: just note which items require coupons and grab one of their sales papers as you walk in the door. Often, since the coupon isn't clipped, they'll also let you take the paper with you resulting in the possibility of another visit a little later in the week! CVS gives Extra Care bucks for certain purchases and CVS coupons as you spend. In the past week I've been to CVS 3 times (only 2 were planned), spent less than $35, and have gotten $17 worth of coupons on my receipts. When I'm cruising through Publix, I'll grab the coupons they have in their aisles for items I know I buy (cereal, creamer, pudding, organic soup, shampoo), and stash them. They're manufacturers coupons, so I can use them at any of my 5 stores.

And don't forget the coupons on the stuff you're already buying! For instance, Hefty zip bags almost always have a coupon on them where I shop. Not ZipLock, Hefty. I went into the store today intending to buy the ZipLock bags that were advertised on sale. I walked out with the Hefty bags that were on unadvertised special with a coupon on each box. Knowing which brands frequently come pre-couponed makes it easier to save money.

And speaking of unadvertised sales: take a look around the store when you're walking, folks! I'm sure we're all aware that not everything that's on sale is in the sale paper. But, when you're so focused on making budget and sticking to the list, it's really easy to miss some awesome deals out there! This strategy takes some will-power, otherwise you might be tempted to buy every BOGO you see just because it's a good price. We all know better, but it bears repeating that a deal is only a deal if it's something you will actually use. Or be able to give as a gift. Or possibly resell for profit...

I have also been a time efficient saver by shopping with my mom. She's a frugal frugie, too, so we compare who can find the best deal. And sometimes there are offers for a better deal when you spend X amount of money. Your choice: spend more than you need to by yourself, or buddy up with someone and pay for everything on one ticket. Mom and I did this the Saturday before TG and that's how we got our 20 lb turkey for free. Plus, with the buddy system, your customer card will get the credit for the bigger purchase which means you might wind up getting more coupons in the future! Rock On!

What about you: what are your tips for being a 'time effecient' saver?

Well, folks seemed to like the last article link to Violent Acres, which was in fact Part 2 in a series as Fern pointed out. I thought Part 1 was ok but didn't grab me, but the last one and this one did.

Again with the blunt, again with the language. I think for a lot of SavingAdvice.com folks, #2 about investing in what you enjoy might be the most meaningful section in this one.

Five Steps I Took That Helped Me Become Financially Independ...

Warning on the use of vulgar language, so those who are offended don't follow the link.

For those who aren't, this is FUNNY and BLUNT and TRUE!!!

Four Rookie Mistakes People Make that Keep Them Poor

My husband has been taken over by an alien intelligence, I just know it. How else can one explain the weirdo turnaround in his behavior since just before Thanksgiving?

DH did dishes last night while I cooked dinner. This is the 3rd? 4th? time he's done dishes since 11/21. This is abnormal behaviour for my spouse as 11/21 is the first time I remember doing dishes in this house since we moved in 7/21. I'm starting to get creeped out by it. Thankful, but creeped out.

He has cleaned up the area around his chair (nicknamed the 'throne' by baselle!) at least every other day, sometimes more.

We talked about finances after dinner last night (second night in a row!) and DH asked what the interest rate is on my car. I told him, he pondered for a minute, then said we should probably pay off the car after we pay off his Honda Card...

WHOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAA! Hold on a second!

When I mentioned a month ago we should pay off the car after paying off his Honda Card because it would save us over 7k in interest, he literally said "But you can't think of it that way, it's not going to help to think about the amount you're paying in interest." VERBATIM.

Either DH has been taken over by an alien intelligence, he has been possessed by a financially responsible being, or someone on SavingAdvice.com has started sending him threatening emails

Or perhaps I'm starting to wear him down. All the subliminal tapes I'm playing at night while he's asleep might be kicking in!

Granted, his progress in certain areas is a little slower than I'd like. For instance, we're making more than minimum payments on the Honda Card, hospital bill, and money owed his parents. His idea for paying off the Honda Card is to cut the payment to his parents down to the minimum required and throw the extra $50 per month to the Honda Card. All well and good in theory, but it'll take us over a year to pay off just that one card that way...

Another thing he's not catching on to: house money vs my allowance money. I pull out my allowance, grocery money, and a small amount of 'house money' every week. As the budgeter, I control the house cash, and when we go do something, he assumes the house is always paying. For instance we went on our weekly monday-night chinese food pilgrammage, and he wanted to eat my leftovers I was saving for lunch. He was trying to be funny and said "This is house money, which means we're both paying for it so I can eat some of yours too!" And I had to look at him and say "No, actually, this is coming out of my allowance, because the house is out of cash until Friday." The initial response? Blink blink. Then he pulled out his wallet and chipped in from his allowance, which was nice.

The moral of this story is he hates hearing that the house is out of cash. More specifically, he hates when I say the house is out of cash and anyone is around to hear it. I guess he gets embarrased because he assumes anyone who hears it will think we're broke. Apparently I need a euphamism for 'the house is out of cash' that I can use with DH so he'll know what I mean but won't get embarrassed.

"We're driving on empty"
"All our cash is tied up in the market till Friday"
"We're outta checks with no ATM card"
"I wrote the grocery list on the benjamin in my pocket, and don't want to spend it"

Any suggestions?

Dulce de Leche is literally translated as 'sweet from milk'. For those who aren't familiar, dulce de leche is a a smooth, creamy, caramelly gooey instance of pure heaven! I could eat the stuff with a spoon. Oh, who am I kidding: I HAVE eaten the stuff with a spoon!

When I was in Argentina last year, the stuff was EVERYWHERE. Not that I minded, but it was exceptionally noticeable. Take my trip to the WalMart just outside of Cordoba.

PAUSE: This was before I started boycotting Walmart, but even if it wasn't I would have to have gone. It's like a car wreck: I couldn't help but look!

So, in the Cordoban WalMart the signage looks pretty much the same but is in Spanish. It was a bit surreal, as a lot of the signs here have Spanish on them too, so it was like WalMart from home got dropped off on the other side of the world!

First thing you come across is a small appliance and electronics section. After currency conversion a coffee pot was about $50, a microwave close to $300. To put it in perspective, the call center reps I was training were making about $300 per month...

The back of the store is one giant wall of wine, beer, and liquor. Cannisters were sold in sets of three: 'cafe', 'te', 'yerba'. Coffee, tea, and herb. No, not that kind of herb! Yerba is slang for mate, a tea-like drink that is popular in Argentina & Uraguay. 'Bitter is Better' they say... And while I was tempted to have a cannister set with a specific place for 'herb', I had visions of customs not quite seeing the humor.

Anyways, mayonnaise and peanut butter were in the tiny 5 shelf 'import' section of the store, because nobody buys them. Dulce de leche, however, has an entire aisle to itself. Think of the bread/PB/jelly/condiment aisle at your WalMart, and that is how much space was alloted to dulce de leche.

Creamy, caramelly goodness as far as the eyes could see. Talk about some folks who like their dulce de leche!

Anywho, this rambling preface is simply my way of introducing the easiest way I know to make dulce de leche at home. I believe this to be a fairly authentic method since several Argentine friends confirmed this is how their grandma did it. The result is something that tastes like a cross between caramel and a Sugar Daddy lollipop.

1. Get a can of sweetened condensed milk. DO NOT OPEN, but take the label off.

2. Place a pot on the stove, put the unopened can in the pot (probably don't want to use non-stick otherwise it'll get scratched). Add enough water into the pot to cover the can.

3. Bring the water to a boil.

4. Boil the can for 90 minutes on one end. Turn over with tongs, boil for another 90 minutes on the other end. NOTE: you might want to add water periodically during all 3 hours of the boiling process.

FYI, when and if you attempt this you'll probably want to make a couple of cans up at once, as it'll use the same amount of energy as making 1 can. I just opened a can I made last Christmas and it was good, so it'll keep a while.

So, after you've boiled your can/s for 3 hours (1.5 on each end), you have 2 choices. Open a can now when it's molten, or let the can cool on the counter for a few hours. If you open the can when it's hot the dulce de leche is easier to work with but hot enough to burn. If you wait till the can is cooled, the opposite is true. Your choice here.

If you open the can when it's hot, use a mechanical can opener you can submerge in water for cleanup! When opening a hot can, the 'carmel' will spurt up about 6 inches or so out of the can when the pressure is released, so be ready!

If you open the can when it's cool, you'll need to spoon the 'carmel' out, or use a knife to loosen the sides like you would tomato paste.

So, what does one do with homemade dulce de leche?

My sister and I make carmel pie, for one. Take 1 graham cracker crust, fill with 1 can of 'carmel', allow to set in the freezer, top with whipped topping. YUUUUUMMMMMMMMMM!!! She mixes apple pie fillig in her carmel, I mix toffee bits into mine. Get creative and use chocolate, PG, different kinds of crusts, or poor man's mouse (pudding mixed with whipped topping).

I drizzle warm carmel on cookies and sprinkle toasted coconut on top. I make homemade turtles by mixing nuts with the carmel, dropping spoonfuls onto a cookie sheet to set in the freezer, and then toping with chocolate.

Heat it up and drizzle it on ice cream and/or pie.

And my favorite: eat it straight with a spoon!

I don't know, I'm starting to think it really could exist. Maybe it's just my mind picking up on otherwise random coincidences, but it really does seem that the flow of money is smoother now that I'm paying closer attention to the little details. Even the things I have no control over.

I happily let my family host TG at my house (knowing full well the possible hitches), and was rewarded with more leftovers than any human could ever hope for. I also got a free pound of coffee out of the deal!

Friday, I decided to roll up the bulk of the money from my 'Change and Buck Bucket', as it's getting close to time to deposit it all. Everything I save for the first 7 weeks is going towards Christmas (so 1 more week to go!), and everything I save in the month of December is going in some lucky Salvation Army Santa's bucket.

Anyways, I rolled up $52 in change from only 6 weeks of saving, plus I've saved over $100 in ones, not to metion the reimbursement check I tossed in the mix. DH's eyes bugged out and he asked how long I'd been 'stashing cash', and when I told him it was only a month and a half, he got out his own change to roll it! His sister and her boyfriend came over Friday night to play poker, and he started bragging to them how I'd saved all this money in just a month and a half... I lost my $10 buy-in (came from my allowance, so no biggie), but DH came out $15 ahead.

We invited the same folks over for turkey soup last night and afterwards we all were going to go to a local auction (merchandise and bulk food). My cost in the turkey soup, cornbread fritters, butternut squash, and roasted potatoes and onions (TG leftovers) was maybe $5. In return I received 3 kinds of desserts from the SIL and boyfriend, plus a free pineapple!

The auction was great. Not the best I've been to, but still enjoyable. Some of the deals I couldn't participate in due to lack of freezer space were 3lb bags of peas for $2 and 50 lbs of pork loin for $45. Wow! Here's what I did get

$4 for 1 qt of marachino cherry halves(holiday budget)
$3 for 3 Christmas tree candle holders and 30 cinnamon scented candles (holiday budget)
$6 for 2 new long sleeve Ts for DH
$3 for 6 various Avon lotions, salts, and sunscreens (holiday budget)
$1 for 7 snack size bags of SunChips
$5 for a 5lb food service tray of Stouffers salsbury steak (grocery budget and dinner tonight!)
$5 in grab bags (cause you get raffle tickets)
$6 for munchies and beverages for me and DH the 4 hours we were there.

Total spent: $33

At the end of the night, the very last item given away in the raffle was a $20 bill. GUESS WHO WON? Therefore, I actually only spent $13...

Money Karma: what do you think?

I have already written this post once, and my mouse decided to kill it with an inadvertant back-click. ARGH!!!

Long story short, I was all set to not go shopping today. It was a tough choice, because my state has made this a tax-free weekend for all retail shopping, and of course every little bit counts! But I was resisting temptation and was going to order the flash drives I'd found at Office Max online.

But the store no longer had them online. DOH! That's OK, I could go tomorrow, right?

But, then I told DH I couldn't order what I wanted online. He had been watching hunting shows all morning, you see, and was apparently itchin' for a life or death thrill. His eyes lit up and he said "Wanna risk going to the store? Think we could make it?"

I looked at him, and agreed as long as we didn't take my car. No way I'm going to risk totalling my vehicle for a stupid sale. He looked a little depressed at that statement, since my 2 door 5 speed is a blast to drive, but I held firm.

We left the house at 1p, hoping the hardcore shoppers were breaking for lunch. We got back home just before 3, and managed to hit 4 stores! They actually weren't crowded: the traffic in the parking lot around the shopping centers is what took the longest.

$79.99 - $55.00 instant rebate = $24.99 2 gig flash drive from Office Max, present from holiday fund
$79.99 - $55.00 instant rebate = $24.99 2 gig flash drive from Office Max, DH bought himself one w/ his allowance
$49.99 - $30.00 instant rebate = $19.99 1 gig camera card from Office Max, I bought myself one w/ my allowance
$2.49 coin wrappers, also w/ my allowance
$10.99 cat litter (finally) from PetSmart, grocery fund
$29.99 - $6.00 20% off coupon = $23.99 present for inlaws Bed Bath & Beyond, holiday fund
$43.22 - $12.44 sales and clearance items = $30.78 health food store, grocery fund

Total spent: $138.22
Total saved with sales/coupons: $158.44
Total saved on sales tax: $6.92

Everything except the allowance purchases were planned spending, and hey, that's what the allowances are there for!

Technically I should include 5 $9.99 MagLights we asked someone to pick up for DH from Lowes this morning, but I don't know what the regular retail is on these nor have I written the check for them yet. This will complete the gifts for his all-boy set of co-workers, though.

All in all, not an overly traumatizing experience.

Too many things to list here, without doubt, but off the top of my head these are the things I am thankful for:

* Health and happiness.
* Loved ones (blood related or otherwise).
* Finding a wonderful little house to buy and being able to do so within a month of first seeing it.
* Finding a job that I enjoy and am good at right when my severance was ending from my previous position.
* The encouraging words and continuous inspiration from this site.

OK, now that I've gotten the sappiness out of the way, time to share a laugh!

I called my mom last night regarding the rest of our Thanksgiving plans, location, etc. She and my sister have decided that TG should be where the turkey is, and the turkey is in my fridge. So, ready for the laugh?

I will be cooking the turkey when I have no oven, serving dinner for 6 when I have no dining room table, and playing hostess in a home that has no actual heat or functioning public restroom (the working toilet is in the master bath upstairs).

Laughing yet? Glad someone is!!!

Hey, at least he tried, right?

Several days of the week DH has to go to work by 6:30 and gets off around 3 or so. Today was one of those days. Bear in mind he works 5 minutes from the house, so on days like today he could easily be home by 3:15 (or before 3 if no one is watching him!)

I got home from work today at 5:45 and found my DH in the kitchen doing the dishes. WOOHOOOOOOO!!!! Gents, in case you didn't know, few things will make most wives happier than the site of their husband elbow deep in suds at the kitchen sink!

I became bewildered, though, when I realized that though DH had been home for 2.5 hours and was cold enough to sit in his chair under a blanket, he at no point made a fire. It was 53 in the house when I walked in.... As my family says CTRL-A Brrrrrr shit!.

And that is why DH gets an 'E' for effort (because he made the effort to do the dishes) but doesn't get an 'A': because he didn't think to actually take care of the important stuff first (like preventing hypothermia). For those that are curious, this is the first time I've seen DH do dishes in this house, and we moved in exactly 3 months ago today. Hey, maybe that's why he did 'em!

Sorry, Blueknitter, I couldn't come up with anything better. Not trying to steal your title, I promise!

Just a few highlights from this weekend.

The house was a wreck when my mother came over. DH made a valient effort to appear industrious by starting his laundry when she arrived. Apparently this effect snowballed, as he finished all of his laundry by Sunday night. Sweet!

Mom and I headed out about 11 or so, and got caught at a light where traffic was blocked by cops. We were worried there was an accident, but it turns out we got there right as the Toys for Tots motorcycle ride was getting underway. We got to spend 15 minutes watching every imaginable kind of bike flow out of the designated parking lot and onto the main thoroughfare. Folks were dressed up, bikes were decorated with tinsel, there was even a Santa bringing up the rear! It was absolutely awe inspiring, there had to be several hundred bikes participating. The sound was indescribable. All these people in cars around us were acting all irritated, like the thought the bikers were just out galavanting around up to no good. I hope they saw the news coverage and felt bad, but I doubt it.

First stop was the ATM. When I pulled up to the drive-up ATM, there was a Captain Morgan's mini-bottle perched on the ledge. How stupid do you have to BE?!?!?? Even better: the ATM gave me $155 in FIVES!!!!!!!!!!!! OMG, my mom and I about died laughing, my wallet was absolutely bursting!

Stopped at PetSmart to get catfood. They still didn't have the litter I liked. We stayed there 2 hours because they were adopting out Death Row dogs (to be put down today if not adopted). Neither one of us has a fenced yard to be able to properly care for a dog right now, but we stayed that long to make sure the one dog least likely to get adopted found a home. Tears my heart up to see animals facing the end like that, and I hated that I couldn't help more. Yes, I cried in PetSmart. Almost crying now, and I'm sitting at my desk at work...

Finally left PS and got to the grocery store WAY behind schedule. Total spent between my mom and me $87.56. Total Savings (not counting reduced for quick sale meat) $51.50!!! Included in that savings is our FREE 20 POUND TURKEY! It's friggin' huge...

Was late to my meeting with the gentleman writing the book. The dear man tried to do some of the formatting himself, and has virtually undone everything I had previously fixed. 368 pages worth.... Oh dear....

Tried to avoid a headache after that meeting, so DH and I ate Mexican for dinner. 2 people plus tip less than $18.

Passed the new StarCrooks on the way to dinner. They opened on Saturday, so DH and I both flipped the store off from the comfort of the truck! After dinner it was off to the cigar store. Talked to my dad about StarCrooks and the Local-Hero-Coffee-Shop. A friend of our family owns the bakery that provides Local-Hero their muffins, and my former BIL is their delivery guy (jeez, I just realized how mob-like my family sounds!!!). Anyways, we're going to see if Local-Hero would be interested in partnering up w/ our cigar store. Basically, folks get a receipt from Local-Hero and bring it in to the cigar store, dad'll pay them their sales tax back. Encourage people to shop local, maybe bring in some more foot traffic to our store...

Yesterday was a no spend day. Mostly because I felt like a slug and did my best live to my full slug potential. Breakfast was coffee, lunch was breakfast (bacon and flapjacks), dinner was imprompteau spaghetti.

I did rake leaves for about an hour, but that only resulted in 3 piles of leaves and a desparate need for a tarp and a bigger compost heap. Seriously, there's no way I can compost the 5 years worth of leaves on my property, so some will have to be put on the curb. Guess that's why this coming weekend is a long weekend

I have a love/hate relationship with weekends. I love them because they abound with time and possibility. I hate them because I usually wind up doing mundane meaningless crap I don't feel like getting to during to week.

And thus the segue into today's strategy

My mother is coming over at about 10 this morning, so that's in 40 minutes. I've given up getting the house straightened, the dishes done, or the floors swept before she gets here. Luckily, my mother keeps a plaque on her wall that says "My house was clean yesterday, Wish you could have seen it!", so I don't think she'll mind too much! That, and I'm secretly hoping this will shame DH into getting his butt in gear and helping around the house. Unfortunately, the liklihood of this happening is slim to none, and slim just walked out the door...

*sigh* Not gonna start the housework rant again. All it does is get me frustrated and depressed and feeling like a single mom. Which is weird, as I'm 28 with no kids.

Anywho, my mom is coming over because we have a plan of attack for Thanksgiving shopping. Woohoo, attack attack! My favoritist grocery store has a special till Tuesday: buy $50 in groceries, get a free 10 lb turkey. While I could easily find $50 in stuff to buy, I don't need $50 in stuff. So mom and I are heading to the store together to shop to TG and put all our bits onto one ticket, to make sure we each only get what we need and can still hit the $50 mark. Pretty frugal, no?

I also will hit 5 other stores at some point, though perhaps not today. Walgreens has my deoderant BOGO (one week after CVS, I wonder if it's about to be discontinued?). Publix has Coke products on sale, CVS has Kashi cereal on sale, and I need cat food from PetSmart. Oh, and coffee from Garner's. Sounds like a lot of driving around, but all are within a 4 mile radius. I love living near downtown! I would also love living in the country, but that will have to wait for a time in my life when I'm able to run errands during the week, not just on the weekend.

This afternoon will be spent in a meeting. Yes, a meeting, on the weekend. Grrrrrrrrrr.... I'm helping a cigar customer/friend format a book that he is going to publish, which is pretty cool. Even get to do the cover design myself, also cool.

Not cool is the fact that said friend, brilliant as he is at financial forecasting, is about 80 yrs old working on a 6 year old PC and has no real clue what he's doing when it comes to computers. Let's put it this way: there are 75 tables in the book, and he made them all look like tables by lining text up using spaces, rather than actually creating tables. FORMATTING NIGHTMARE!!! Plus he's using a older version of Word, which winds up messing most if not all of the formatting corrections I make during any given revision.

Absolute frustration in 10... 9... 8... 7... You get the picture. Not a particularly fun way to plan on spending a Saturday afternoon.

And thus is the outline of today's strategy. Tommorow? Who knows about tomorrow: it too abounds with time and possibilities. Most likely, though, it will involve a trip to Home Depot for an axe/maul combo and some serious leaf raking. yay =/

Frequent readers may recall my husband is, um, fiscally challenged. Perhaps a more apt description is to say, given the opportunity, money slips through his hands like water through a sieve. It's a classic love story: saver meets spender, saver marries spender, saver goes through boughts of wanting to throttle spender within an inch of his life. Nothing too abnormal.

Well, we all know that earlier this week DH found a great deal on golf clubs and actually put them on layaway with his own allowance. Deep down inside I did a mighty fist-pump and hissed Yeeeeeeeeessssssssssssss!!! I tasted victory, and it was sweet.

Since then, there have been a few interesting developments, and I'm now starting to think that a little tiny grey alien has taken residence inside my husband's brain and is controlling his every action.

Exhibit A:
DH mentioned in the last week or two he'd be interested in going to one of the NASCAR racing schools. We researched it, found the program he'd like, and I told him that it might have to be his birannimas present for the whole year (birthday + anniversary + Christmas) and I'd need till June to save for it. No problem. A day or two ago, though, he oh-so-casually mentioned that the more he thought about it, the more he might want LASIK as his birannimas present for 2007. Um, excuse me? He's choosing Lasik (something practical and likely to save us money in the long run) over 35 laps at Lowe's Motor Speedway riding 600 horsepower? Something's wrong.

Exhibit B:
Last night when he came home from pool, he mentioned that a friend of ours might be interested in buying our canoe. This is the canoe that is sitting in my den right now, the one we bought in September after he told me he'd wanted one for 20 years (he's 27, so I suppose it is possible he did actually yearn for one for 2 decades). The kicker? His next statement was that we could take the $500 from the boat and put it towards the Lasik fund. He actually used the word 'fund', without any prompting or pointed looks. This is supremely odd behavior for my spouse. When we moved out of our rental house in July, DH took our $500 deposit refund and bought his 6th (7th?) gun with it before I knew what happened. Now he's volunteering to sell something he's wanted for 2 decades and put the proceeds into a 'fund' for a practical birannimas present?!?? I almost checked him for a fever...

Exhibit C:
I sent DH a wish-list of camera stuff I would like for Christmas. Items, pictures, prices, model numbers, the website, and the shipping costs. Pretty up-front, but that's the way it's got to be sometimes. There were actually 2 lists: one was all Sony bits since I have a Sony camera (aka the actual WISH list). The other was a lesser known brand with decent reviews where all the bits come with a 10 year guarantee (aka the THIS'LL DO list). After shipping, the Sony list came to $90 over the alloted 'spend on Tina' Christmas money and the other list was $9 over. After reviewing the list, DH found a third option: an off-brand that had a lifetime guarantee but was waaaaaaaaaaay cheap and had no good reviews that I could find. DH's argument was that he could get me more bits for the buck, so to speak. I asked him if he would buy a cheap pool cue just because it had a lifetime guarantee as opposed to a well-made cue that cost more, and he promptly said 'No!'. After a few seconds he asked if I would be happy with the Sony bits; I of course said "Yes, but it's more than what the house has allotted for my Christmas gift". "I'll take care of it" he said...

Is it possible, just maybe, that my husband is starting to see the 'method to the madness', so to speak? That one must consider value over price, that owning something does not mean it brings you joy, that there can be greater satisfaction found in a practical life-changing choice than in most frivolous splurges?

Part of me wants to believe that there is actually a shift taking place, but the other part of me thinks this might just be a phase and things will revert back to pre-alien normalcy at any moment.

Dammit man!

Yes, the Weather Channel is STOOPID! I say this because last night, and again this morning, they listed the weather in my area "High 54, Low 55". WHAT THE FOO?

For those that are wondering, 'foo' has been used in programming text books since the beginning of time to represent whatever the variable de jour is. I find FOO makes an excellant non-offensive expletive when around children, the highly religious, and in my blog where I'm still trying to maintain a sense of decorum. In real life, my language is unfortunately not so sanitized...

I keep going back to everyone's list to catch up on all the comments. See, folks keep adding stuff in the comments that ought to be on the list. Like getting stabbed with a pencil, Price's scented candles, or the fact that I now feel like the only non-Asian violin player here. On a side note, I find it interesting that I apparently had no ethnicity assigned to my fellow blog-mates. At any rate, I'm having a BLAST reading about everyone. Someone mentioned it being vouyeristic, and I kinda agree. But at the same time, I think it makes every seem so much more human. I'm debating about starting a category in my blog for 'My List' so that when I think of things to add, I can put them there and folks can peruse at will. Maybe we could lobby Jeff'n'Nate to have a 'My List' area like there is for the $20 challenge.

For those that like the trick of hiding the personal information in the blog (so others don't have to read it if they don't want to), change the color of your text to match the white background.
[color= white]Type Your Stuff Here[/color] Just take out the space in "= white". The text becomes visible when you type CTRL-A on your keyboard, or when you highlight it with your mouse.

Try it here!
Gotcha!

And, to tie this back into finances somehow (desparate attempt to remain on topic, yes?): I'm tweaking yet another way to view my budget. It's still in the early phases, but I'll post more when I get it finished. Right, like it'll ever actually be "finished"

Everyone, sing along to the tune of "I Feel Pretty..."

I feel SNOTTY
Oh so SNOTTY
I feel SNOTTY
And ROTTY
and BLUUUUUUUUUUUUUUH!

Yes, instead of snotty I did almost go with something that would in fact rhyme with 'pretty', but I thought the better of it

I'm actually not that wonky this morning, but the song 'I Feel Pretty' started snaking its way through my head yesterday morning. The more I thought about it, the more it annoyed me, and I decided that stupid song is way too freakin' chipper!!!

So, I wanted an antedote, and the above jingle is what I came up with.

Lot's of stuff rolling around in my head today, so rather than a post here and a post there, I figured I'd dump it all into one rambling meaningless entry. Much easier for folks to skip that way if need be

The Discovery channel has a show called 'Modern Marvels' where they pick an item, event, or person and talk about how history has changed as a result of *insert noun here*. Last night was the telephone. I used to train CS for a national phone company, and actually met DH when he worked at that same place.

Anyways, having both worked for a phone company DH and I were interested in the show, although a lot of it was not-new information. What struck us was the first transatlantic phone call wasn't possible until 1956 (about 70? 80? years after the invention of the phone), but less than 20 years later transatlantic calls were being bounced off of a satellite. 80 years to string a cable across the pond, then 20 years to figure out how to bypass the cable altogether...

The next thing that got me thinking was the introduction of touch tones. What do you think: would the internet have been invented if there hadn't been touch-tone capability? The more I thought about it, the more I started to really believe that home computers, internet, cordless phones, cell phones, PDAs, GPS, and so much more really owe their existence to the simple little invention of touch-tone calling.

It was an interesting train of thought, and one I jumped off of until the SA site was temporarily unavailable earlier today. This happened shortly after the internet went down in my office; when the internet goes down, so does our phone system.

These two things pointed out very clearly to me that I am without doubt a computerized person. I work at a software company on a computer all day, my job requires internet access to solve problems and access systems all around the world. The phones require internet service. My preferred personal methods of entertainment are computer and internet based. I worked my way through college at both an internet start-up and as part of the IT department.

I can honestly say, without doubt, that I wouldn't be where I am or even who I am without computers. The only thing that has affected my life as much as computers are my parents.

Weird...

Any rate, moving on in my rambling post to money. I think DH is maybe, perhaps starting to get it a little!!!

His first wakeup call was when he found out I'm saving $ from my allowance to buy part of his Christmas present (that's part of what I've decided to do with the

change and buck bucket). He felt bad and said I should just use more house money. I calmly explained that I was using as much house money as was budgeted, and since I'd decided to get him something more expensive it was my responsibility to cover the difference.

Now, imagine the Wimbledon announcer saying "FIFTEEN LOVE, TINA"

Next came his realization that, even though I get less allowance than him and am even saving some of my allowance, I always have more allowance left than he does. "THIRTY LOVE, TINA"

Last night was the culmination of those and other small revelations on his part. After dinner (which the house allowance paid for), we went to a sporting goods store. He wants golf clubs... I held my tongue, not a peep from me! He didn't say much as we were looking around but I got the feeling he was waiting for the 'house' to volunteer to pay. It was hard, but all he got was silence on my part. "FORTY LOVE, TINA"

He found a great deal on some clubs: buy 1 get 2 free. For the quality, it was a steal and a half! I still managed to keep quiet. "MATCH POINT, TINA"

After he pondered for a while, he looked at me and said "I wonder if they do layaway? I'm pretty sure I can get enough out of my allowance ever 2 weeks to cover these..."

GAME, SET, MATCH BABY!!!

The Duh-Huh is just something funny that happened at work. Today is November 14th. We have a client with some pretty intricate software/database/website stuff we created and support when it messes up. I get a ticket from this company saying Such-and-Such report is supposed to run 2 times a week on Wednesday's and Friday's, and the last time it ran was 11/10. Therefore, the report hasn't run properly on 11/15 and 11/17....

OK, who can spot the 'error' that was causing this? ....

AND NOW FOR A SURPRISE FOR MY READERS!!!

As a 'thank-you' for making it through my rambling post, I am going to tempt the blog police by posting something ugly and shameful: pictures of DH's pumpkin colored chair and the area around it...

VIEW AT YOUR OWN RISK. Sorry in advance, blog police!

Yup, I had a Homer Simpson moment. You know the ones: where you slap your hand on your head (or feel like you should) and wonder "Where was my head?!?".

I was updating my check register with the last round of automated payments, and couldn't figure out why my register and the bank's website were different. Granted, I round all my checks up to the next dollar which means my register is always going to show a little less than the bank, but not almost $200 worth! Kept looking and looking and looking...

Turns out I had decreased the $$$ amount on 2 of my automated payments on the bank website, but hadn't decreased them in my budgeting software. DOH! For those that are wondering, I had been paying double/triple/quadruple the minimum payment on a lot of my debt until last month, when I changed the strategy to saving as much as possible until the end of the year to create an EF and pay for Christmas/property taxes on the house.

Hey, I only bought the house in July, so it's not like this was a budgetary line item I had been ignoring... Christmas, however, is a different story. I choose to stick my fingers in my ears and and sing LALALALALALALA while everyone asks why I've not been saving for Christmas all year long. I've got two letters for you: DH!!!

At any rate, the mystery was solved, I felt much less stupid, and all was well with the world.

On the brighter side: my lunch out and coffee this afternoon cost a lot less than expected. The burrito lady rang up my order, punched my card, says "Now you have enough punches for a free entree!" credited part of my bill, then got out another card and punched it too!! WooHOO! PLUS I had filled up my punch card for the Local-Hero Coffee Shop, and got my coffee for free. Monster Heavy D Taco, chips, cheese dip, drink, and coffee for $2.55 instead of $7.64.

Frugality, thy name is Loyalty Cards!

Here it is, about a month from official winter, and below are pictures of my rose and camillia in my front yard. I love livin' in the south!