1/10 Expressions

Frugal luxuries for the week: Yesterday, I was able to get a dozen of lovely "premium" pink roses from Kroger for $2.50 (they were marked down to $5 - and I was sent a coupon for $2.50 off last month). I used a coupon for a free hot drink at Barnes and Noble and split a butter cream cupcake for around $2.00. For just over $2.50, I was able to buy a great smelling candle at Bath and Body Works and get a free hand sanitizer/moisturizer for free. All of these things were great during this cold freeze that has plagued the area for the last couple of days. Hopefully, we will get some nice sunshine and better temperatures tomorrow! Oh, and I just cashed some Mypoints out for a $25 Barnes and Noble gift card.

1/3 Expressions

Happy 2010! I have enjoyed over a week's vacation - but alas, I am going back to the day job tomorrow. Just a quick look back at 2009 - yup, like just about everyone else, our retirements and other stock-based investment accounts have made a comeback. However, although I am grateful, I am not jumping up and down - because they have not hit their all time highs from 2008 and I have been continuing my contributions over that period of time - which makes it a bit worse (plus, I don't want to jinx myself :). I am glad I did not look at our accounts for almost a year - because I am sure I would have gone into cardiac arrest! Looking back, I am glad I didn't look - because I am generally a believer in dollar cost averaging, not timing the market, yada, yada . . . I am sure my mind would have started to play a few games with me. Should I have kept investing in our non-retirement accounts - perhaps - but that $ was re-purposed and gave me some peace. Our real estate holdings - while some have taken a value hit, at least let us see a decrease in property taxes. While I am disappointed that values didn't continue to rise, I am definitely not panicked. Why, all except the beach front property, the property values didn't rise or fall much. We have renters in the property (except our primary residence ;0)) and no mortgage against them. We don't plan on selling any of the properties any time soon - so, what happened in the real estate market is a wash. Now, as far as the beach property, we did take a HELOC against our primary residence to pay for most of it (HELOC was the least % rate - and no closing costs). The rate is currently 2.6% and we have paid off about 2/3's of it. My goal for 2010 is to pay off the last 1/3 because I have a feeling that Fed will have to raise interest rates eventually and while the 2.6% doesn't bother me much, I would rather earn $ than pay it to a banking institution. Why didn't we pay off the other 1/3, uh because we decided to build up our cash accounts, did some maintenance to our home; bought a used vehicle and . . . we didn't want to cash-out of any of our non-retirement investments in a "down" market. Enough about investments, in a couple of weeks, I will be having some minor surgery - so, I am thank-ful to have been able to up our Health Saver's Account (HSA) to cover the deductible - and we also re-filled an RX on the 1st - the pharmacy was open so we could use the HSA too - don't worry, no one's health was put into jeopardy by waiting! My second goal for the year is to continue on the quest to declutter the house. Lucky for me, the Purple Heart Assn called and offered to pick stuff up, so, I have 2 boxes of stuff ready and hope to have 4 before they get here. And my final goal, is after paying off the HELOC, continue to save $ in a safe "investment" - perhaps "I-bonds" - to ensure we have the cash to pay for my daughter's education. 2009 taught me this, pre-paid tuition programs aren't what they are cracked up to be; and while my daughter is as smart as a whip (who doesn't say that about their own offspring :)), there is no guarantee of a scholarship. So, while I hope to leave her with an inheritance someday, for now, my goal is to best prepare her to make her "own" way.

12/28 Expressions

Frugal travel tips: Pictured is the Biltmore in Ashville, NC. That's where we took our vacation. We had enough points for two free hotel nights. My dad gave us check for our Christmas gift and USAA sent us a generous "Subscriber's Savings Account Dividend" check - so gas, food, and entertainment expenses were covered with no money out of pocket. Most of our breakfast costs were covered with our free points too and we ate heavy breakfasts and one other meal per travel day at restaurants. One evening we had take-out from PF Changs and used our loyalty card and got 10% off. One evening, we ate the freebies - veggies with dip and potato skins with all of the "fixins" - with a purchase of a drink. We also brought most of our snacks and drinks from home. We got more than enough goodies for the holidays, home baked, a tin of cashew nuts, packs of Gold Fish, etc. The first leg of our trip, we stopped at an outlet mall and did some shopping - all within our budgeted amount. Since we weren't in any hurry, it was a nice trip. The Biltmore house was nice, nice sights, interesting insights, and provided some exercise with a lot of walking. And my tip is: buy your ticket on-line. I believe when we arrived, there was a sign stating the wait could be up to 2 hours for the purchase of a ticket. We drove right through with our internet printed tickets.

12/20 Expressions

Frugal deeds for the week: Pictured is a 1/2 full box of 1 oz Gold Fish packages that I received in the mail from Pepperidge Farm. I am not sure why I got them - but it was a nice surprise. My daughter handed out packages on Friday to her classmates who were taking mid-term exams. We love Gold Fish - but this is way more than we can use. I may take some of the packages to work to leave in the break-room for others to enjoy. The gingerbread house cost me under $2 - bought in a 90% off sale last year and kept in the freezer. It was fairly easy to put together - but probably would have turned out nicer had I not been in such a hurry. I shopped at Aldi this week. Christmas dinner will include the second turkey we purchased from Wal-mart just before Thanksgiving. It is about a 12 pounder and cost under $5. I baked cookies yesterday and part of them became adders to a couple of baskets we put together. Some went into the freezer for a cookie tray we will have as our dessert this week.

12/14 Expressions

Frugal deeds for the week: For winter break, we are taking a short vacation. We have enough points to stay two nights at a Hilton. We also got a nice chunk of change from USAA - subcriber's saving distribution. It will cover gas, food and entertainment. I also got a gift certificate in the mail today from cashing out some "mypoints". Oh, and I ordered a house warming/Christmas gift for my brother from Amazon and was able to take $10 off with my swagbuck buck "winnings". There was a rebate form associated with the gift - so, I sent that separately in a card. Hope he takes advantage of the rebate form. We are pretty much done with any holiday shopping. Just need to put a basket together for a neighbor and the mail lady.

12/13/09 Expressions

Frugal gift to myself: Pictured are the 12 herb plants I "won" on ebay. We recently sold a few items on ebay and we split the $ amongst ourselves. With mine, I was the only bidder of 12 plants - I believe with shipping, the plants came to around $12. The planter box spent several years outside and the containers are various tubs I have "recycled". The bottom shelf holds seeds of "wildflowers" that were inbeded in a note from a retailer and 2 green onion roots. Hopefully, I will have plenty of fresh herbs to use for cooking.

12/6 Expressions

Financial expressions for the day: Although the fact that we are in a recession has been reported in the media non-stop, I really did not know anyone "personally" affected by a job loss until the last couple of weeks. It also seems that charitable donations and contributions are down. This has been a great time for me to declutter some of my previous "frugal buys" and help those in need. Just this week, my daughter's school has been asking for gifts to donate. She had a few new in the box Barbies, that she donated. Made me proud that she let go so easily. Since she is an only child, I worried whether she would "share". Yesterday, my husband's office put out a call for winter coats and blankets. Much to my surprise, they are also accepting "gently used" items. So, my daughter let go of two of her genetly used coats and a blanket. I had a new, still in the package, "great deal" from Amazon a couple of years ago, blanket to contribute. Yup, it has been a hard lesson, but for me, I need to be careful with those "great deals". Without a purpose, they can take up valuable shelf space, waiting to be used. I doubt I will need another blanket for another few more years, so, now I am glad the thing is going to someone who can use it. I guess the movie we watched yesterday, "The Blind Side" is still haunting me too. Sometimes I forget how fortunate I am. Yesterday, I took my daughter out for an opportunity to do some community volunteer work. On our way back, our neighbor flagged us down. She wanted to pass on a gently used sweater someone had passed on to her to my daughter. She asked what we had been up to and when I let her know about the volunteering opportunity, she asked if she could take my daughter with her to volunteer at a local soup kitchen. Yup, there are plenty of opportunities to help/volunteer.