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Home > Archive: January, 2008

Archive for January, 2008

Took the plunge...

January 26th, 2008 at 07:27 pm

Ok, now I have been paying attention and know that the stock market has been falling lately. However, I decided to take the plunge anyway and max out our 2008 Roth IRAs today (well, technically Monday). I'm sort of figuring that sometime in the next 40 years before we retire the stock market will rise. Smile If it doesn't, I think we'll ALL be in a world of hurt.

Now, if you notice on my side bar, as of December I only had about $2,400 saved, so how did I end up with the 10K needed to max it out? Well my in-laws graciously agreed to cover tuition for this term. Independently DH and I decided that we would take the subsidized loans out and pay for the rest of tuition OOP. So I decided to stash that "extra" money in our Roth, knowing that if things went terribly wrong, we could take it out (I don't anticipate this at all).

Also DH and I went grocery shopping last night and saved 13.34 which I will be adding to my challenge.

New addition: $13.34
Previous total: $418.92
Total: $432.26

challenge addition

January 24th, 2008 at 07:38 pm

Recieved $47 from Survey Spot and $40 for tutoring last month which will be added to the challenge.

And in other news the simulators up in Maine are closed so DH is coming to Florida to work...and see me!! He has to work part of Friday and most of the day Saturday, but we have tonight and Sunday to play. Also, since he isn't at home he'll get paid per diem, so we'll also get about $200 for the weekend. Wink

New addition: $87.00
Previous total: $331.92
Total: $418.92

grocery savings

January 15th, 2008 at 01:38 am

Went grocery shopping today and the store was having some good buy 1 get 1 free sales on some of the items I wanted. I ended up saving $12.41 with my store card, which I'll add to the challenge.

New addition: $12.41
Previous total: $319.51
Total: $331.92

shopping spree=savings spree?

January 12th, 2008 at 08:10 pm

I got some clothes for Christmas that didn't fit so I needed to return them. I went to return them and found that the mall was having some really great sales! I have been needing some nicer clothes, particularly collared shirts. Well JCPenney was having a 40% off the clearance price sale. I went a little crazy and bought 11 shirts for $120 dollars. However, I saved $244.51 since all but one of the shirts were on clearance...and that shirt was on sale.

Then I went to Old Navy they were also having a good clearance sale with half off. Since I had about $20 in store credit after the return I scoured the clearance racks, but didn't find anything I really liked. So I bought a pair of shorts that ended up costing me only $1.25 oop.

So I'm going to add that $244.51 to the savings part of the my challenge. Oh, and I got a check from pinecone, so I'll add that too.

New addition: $249.51
Previous total: $70
Total: $319.51

kick off to $20 challenge

January 8th, 2008 at 03:35 pm

Well today I finally got mail from when I was gone visiting DH. I am completely floored with how generous my grandparents were this holiday season! I am so thankful and it will definately be put to good use because our expenses are so much higher now.

In addition to leftover holiday wishes, I also got a check for tutoring and 2 pinecone checks. That will start my 2008 challenge off with $70.

New Additions: $70
Total: $70

I do not live the "Hills" lifestyle

January 4th, 2008 at 08:53 pm

So I was really bored today and MTV was having a "The Hills" marathon. For those of you who have never heard of the show, it's a reality show who follows Lauren, a girl who works for Teen Vogue in LA and her friends.

For the first couple of episodes I saw today they were having a pop-up-video of sorts where they selected certain items the the girls were wearing to show how much they cost. Several of the shirts and shorts were $300, headbands and bracelets were up in the $100s. The least expensive thing I saw was a pair of sunglasses for $11. Then at the end of the show they would total up the price of everything shown. One of the shows the total was $69K (they did show a $60K car), and for the other two they were about $8,000 and $9,000.

Many teenagers watch this show, what sort of ideas are they getting that to be cool and trendy like the people on the show they need to spend $300 on a shirt?!?! To the shows credit there was about once or twice per episode they had an advertisement saying "get this same look for cheaper at ______(insert Target, Kohls, etc)" But still, way too much money!!

Needless to say, I am NOT living the Hills lifestyle, nor will I probably ever be!

Auto insurance saving

January 3rd, 2008 at 01:08 am

DH and I finally got around to calling the insurance company and telling them our new addresses. We got our new automobile rate quotes and with DH living in Maine, we saved $3!

I also learned that our renters insurance is a global plan so that it covers us wherever we happen to be living. I was sort of hoping there'd be an additional savings there, but hey, at least they didn't decide to raise it since it now will cover 2 households!

Other than that I'm trying to enjoy the last few days up here in Maine with DH and snow. Although I hear Florida is going through its own cold snap!