Vacation All Paid For

S and I were in South Padre last Thursday-Sunday and the whole thing was paid for in cash. It was a nice feeling to come back home and not have to think about the credit card bills piling up in a month or so!

One lesson learned though, when bidding on Priceline, bid the lowest, most insulting offer you can think of. My boss here at Job #2 just told me when he went there last year they paid $39 for a $200 hotel room. I paid way too much for our room at the Travelodge!

Next time we go down there, I fully expect for our financial situation to be so excellent that we can afford to rent a jet ski and even parasail!

Money Saving Tips of the Week

Sign up for all birthday clubs at your favorite restaurants. They send great b-day coupons!

Split cotton balls in 2. (Buy the big ones.)

Water down liquid soap, shampoo, conditioner. It all still works great.

Get as many free meals as you can at work. For example, I've gotten 2 free lunches already this week and I'll get fed all day Sat. at the HHC Board retreat.

Buy coupon books from charitable organizations. Then you get coupons for all kinds of good stuff (I mostly use the restaurant/food ones) and you get a tax write-off.

Work an extra job in the evening instead of watching TV.

When I Have $, I'm Giving It Away

Seriously, one of the things I fantasize about when we are out of debt and have $ is who I'm going to give my money to. My high school-HSPVA, my college-UNT, reputable charities, artists, and poor musicians!!! I was so sad that this past weekend I did not have any $ to buy a CD from the Carolina Chocolate Drops at I-fest. I was so tempted, but I had only budgeted $20 for the day for me and the baby to spend there, and we needed drinks in order to stay hydrated. I also let her ride 2 rides b/c that was my thanking her for sticking it out with me at a long I-fest day. And that took care of all the $ for the day.

But someday we will have lots of money b/c we're sticking to my plan and my budget and like Dave Ramsey says, right now we are living like no one else (i.e., not spending money for every little want) so someday we can live like no one else (i.e., b/c of our discipline now we will someday have the money to spend on every little want!).

Sometimes, If You Charge More, They Will Pay

This summer I upped my price for my Teen Skin Care Classes at the public libraries from last year's $75 per class to this year's $80 per class. I figured I'd get booked for slightly less classes but still earn around the same amount of $. Less work, same pay, right? WRONG. This summer I am booked for more classes than ever: a whopping 13. Damn! So although I'm going to be busier than ever this summer I am going to earn more than ever. An extra $1,040 definitely will help, especially this summer since we aren't sure when S will get a job. I can continue to support the household until he does, but I'd like it to be sooner than later b/c I want to get my retirement contributions back on track.

PO'd at Comcast and Vince McMahon

Damn! Wrestlemania cost $63 fuckin' dollars last night! S's buddies who said they'd be over to watch and incidentally, chip in for the cost didn't show. So it was just him and me watching it. S swears he will not order anymore PPV's unless people are guaranteed to show up and help out with the cost. I said that was all up to him. None of my friends are into wrestling at all.

$1400 made from Craigslist

I have made close to $1400 from selling items on Craigslist and will make another $10 tonight or tomorrow selling a huge bag of lincoln logs the baby does not want to play with anymore. Well, $750 of that total was my faithful gun Woodrow, but still. That's a good amount of $ made in the past 2 years selling shit around the house.

Thank God I'm a LEO

A local tax preparer is doing all returns for cops for only $39. S said we needed a pro to look at our return since my TurboTax draft said we owe the KGB I mean IRS over $2600!!! We went this past Saturday and he managed to knock it down to $2200 and change. His fee is $175 but again we paid him only $39. Lots of $ saved there, all b/c I'm a cop. Wow.

Now, time to change my W-4. Stat!