My Favorite Things Part 1 (Just Call Me Oprah)
Author: Cheryl
•3:22 PM
Well, Oprah without all the money and all.  As you read in my last post I lack in the shopping gene (well outside of groceries), and I can be pretty cheap with myself.  However, I do have a a few items that I come to just fall in love with madly, and some I have spent a little money on (or got as a gift, that counts, right).

So without further ado, here is My Favorite Things, in case you haven't completed your shopping yet, and you are so pathetic that you would look to me for holiday present advice.




1.)  Butler Bag by Jen Groover 

I originally talked about my fascination about this bag a year or two ago on this blog before I even owned one.  I saw it, knew it was perfect for me.  Since I never want anything my husband was thrilled to have something easy to buy me for my birthday.  It was as simple black bag with the organizer of all organizers inside.  It was love at first site.  That was over a year ago and we are still in love.  I do have to admit I did switch to another bag for a little.  One of those typical bags where everything just gets throw in the bottom of it.  But that lasted about two weeks before it drove me crazy and I went back to my Butler Bag.

The inside of my hybrid Butler Bag contain 6 small compartments and one large compartments.  You can fit several things in each of the small comparts.  I have one that has my Iphone, Ipod and headphones in it.  Another that holds 4 tubes of lipstick/gloss, a compact and a container of hand sanitizer.  The large compartment is great for all sorts of things.  I have a compact umbrella and hairbrush in it, but I have room for more, like a water bottle, scarf, lint roller etc.  There is even room on both sides of the organizer for flat items, like paperwork, full sized notebook, that great novel you are reading or the latest grocery store circular.  There is a zippered change purse and the bag is sturdy and fashionable.




The greatest compliments I have gotten on this bag, for real, have been from security people.  When I have had to open my purse at the airport, concert, tv show, etc., I get the toughest men and women ready to scrutize the contents until I open it up and they all go soft and say "Oh wow, that is the coolest thing I have ever seen".  I'm not kidding.  It has happened just twice last week.

I love my Butler Bag and hope Santa (hint hint) gets me another one in a different color this year.  Please check out Jen's site.  They are worth the price and are cheaper than those fancy foo foo bags all the girls carry in the mall.

Butler Bag by Jen Groover




2.)  Iphone

My husband is an Apple junkie.  If its made by Apple he wants it.  He stood outside the Apple store in line when the Iphone first came out.  He was on it 24/7, he raved, raved, raved about it.  I held my ground and kept my cheap old phone saying I didn't need all that fancy stuff, I just need to make a phone call now and then.  I even called him Paris Hilton when he would text and basically sit glued to the phone where we went.

About a year later my phone really started to die on me and I knew I had to get a new one.  My husband insisted I get an Iphone and promised me I would love it.  I gave in and he drove me right down to the Apple store.  I walked a little bit later with a brand new Iphone 3G (didn't need the 3GS).  I must say the Apple employees are quick and wonderful with your purchases.

At first I just played with what came on the phone and it took me a while to get the hang of it, but I still was convinced I would get overly into it like my husband.  Once I found the App store that all came to an end.  I was addicted.  I loved sorting through the applications I could get for free and purchase that would make my life easier.  Some I didn't like and erased shortly after getting them, but some have become things I can't live without.

Its an amazing phone and I'm sure you heard people whoop and holler all about it, but it really is worth it.  Its my daily organizer, financial planner, internet, e-mail, Ipod, camera, tape recorder, radio, file cabinet, game center, cookbook, map finder, and card store all into one, plus more.  The only thing I am hoping is that Santa brings me a car charger for it, as I tend to burn the little monster into the ground over the course of the day.

So yes, I love my Iphone.  I'm not ashamed to say so.  I highly recommend.

Apple Iphone




3.)  Hamilton Beach BrewStation

I got my love of drinking coffee from my grandmom.  When I was a teenager I would sleep over her house in the summers and she would make me breakfast.  She would always have instant coffee with her meal.  I loved the smell of it from the beginning.  At first she let me have a sip now and then and as I got older she would let me have a cup now and then.  It wasn't again until I was in my mid twenties that my love of coffee came back.  But the only place I liked to drink it was at a diner.  They have great coffee, don't know why.

My mother in law was the first person I knew who had the Hamilton Beach BrewStation.  I loved the look of it, the lack of glass carafe, and the coffee pouring out of dispenser, all hot when you need it.  I told her how awesome I thought this was.  A few months later guess what I got for Christmas from her?  You got it.  I still have that same BrewStation a few years later.  And I love it.  I am the only one in my house who drinks coffee but it still gets a good use just from me and when I have company over.  It works as good as the day I got it.  Its easy to use, easy to clean and looks good on the counter.

The picture above is the the version I have but Hamilton Beach makes all sorts of versions of BrewStations now.  I highly recommend for the coffee lover in your life.

Hamilton Beach BrewStation


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You Ever Feel Inadequate As A Real Woman?
Author: Cheryl
•10:04 AM


Over the course of my 37 years of life, I've noticed that I lack in a few areas where women are either supposed to excel in or just go batty for.

And lately I have had the pleasure in meeting some great new friends who really bring these inperfections to my persona up to the light.

1.)  I don't like shoes.  I mean I see ones that look cute.  I see them on other people and think they are cute. But I really only think of one thing when I see shoes, BLISTERS.  New shoes hurt and in my opinion they hurt enough to make me not like them, and not want to buy them.  I am probably one of the only women I know who rarely gives a glance when passing by the window of a shoe store.   I love Sex And The City, but I ain't wearin' the shoes.  I buy a pair of shoes, and wear them until my toes are peaking out the holes.  What you see above is the type of shoe I wear all the time.  I do have a collection of shoes in my closet that look great but I have banned them from my feet cause they just freakin' hurt.  But I hate to be barefoot so I really can't win here.

2.)  I can't accessorize. 

I own 3 belts.  A black belt that is basically falling apart, came free with a pair of pants and has holes I made in it to fit my various sizes my waist has been.  A green belt that again came with an outfit and another black one with rhinestones on it that my husband actually picked out for me at a fancy store in AC.  That is my fancy belt and only comes out on special occasions.   That is it.

Scarves.  My husband had to get me into wearing scarves.  Most women just gravitate towards what the hot trend is and then seek out what they need to make it work.  Not me, I have my husband.  He says  "You should buy some scarves and wear them like all the girls are wearing them now."  He then proceeded to pick some out of me and made me buy them.  He also looked at me with such disgust and disappointment as a woman when I went to wear one one night and had no clue how to wear it. I actually looked on the internet to see how you were supposed to wear one of these.  I still only know one way to wear a scarf.  The others were just too complicated.

3.)  Hair.  I hate going to get my hair cut.  I do love a good cut the next morning when you get to try it yourself for the first time.  But I completely despise sitting in the chair and engaging in that fake conversation with the stylist who really could give a crap about what you doing this weekend but feels the need to ask.  I had an amazing stylist about 10 years ago who not only did great hair but would be pretty engrossed in conversations with the stylist next to her while she did my hair.  So we barely had to talk, she did great hair and then she went and quit the salon to stay home with her kids.  If I could I would seek her out and hire her privately, but I'm poor.    Because of this I wait long periods before I give in to get my hair cut.  The last time I went was in July, yes, JULY.

What spawned this was the conversations I was privy to with these great, fabulous new friends on a day trip to NYC this week. They were discussing great moisturizers and face creams.  Brands that I never heard of.  I realized that I use whatever is cheap or whatever I get for free at CVS.    They make me aspire to be more of a woman or at least try to get my hair cut once a season.

I'm working on it.  To be continued...
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Call Off The Search Party
Author: Cheryl
•4:06 PM



I'm back, I'm alive and ready to post. 

I took an unexpected leave of absence from the blog when alot of stuff was going on in our lives.  Been through alot, learned alot.  But everything is good, and ready to get Nice Pumpkins back rolling again.

I did learn through my hiatus that my stockpile was a godsend.  There were many times I could get to or didn't feel like shopping and I had my storage to use.  Unfortunately it took a little hit from that, and now I definitely need to replenish some things.

As for the finances well.......and I have to be honest.......they took a hit too.  I wasn't so good with the credit cards and the emergency fund when my stress increased.   But all you can do is get back on the horse and continue the journey (how cheesy).

So I now continue with the shopping, the couponing, CVS, the deals and back to the debit paying and savings plan.  Stay tuned...  
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RATS!!
Author: Cheryl
•10:36 AM

I ran into my mom in ShopRite last week. She had just come from The Dollar Tree next door and gave me the bad news. The sign on the store said that The Dollar Tree would no longer be selling the Philadelphia Inquirer, our major newspaper. I was shocked and was hoping it was just that one Dollar Tree. I stopped in another one near my house the next day, and saw that there newspaper bin was nowhere to be found. I also checked on the internet and found others in this whole area were told the same thing. The Inquirer recently filed for bankruptcy. So I guess they couldn't afford to give them away for a buck.

So that is the end to that money saving tip. Having to only pay $4.00 for four Sunday or early Saturday papers with all the good coupons is gone. I have been told that some Walmart's sell the Saturday edition at a discount, so I will check it out. If not, its back to my old way of paying $7.00 for four of them at Wawa. Still not terrible considering all the money you save with the coupons, but still stings.
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I Gotta Stand Up For One Of My Shows
Author: Cheryl
•8:49 AM

Sorry I haven't been posting lately. More on that later.

But I just found out last night that one of my favorite shows My Name Is Earl has been cancelled by NBC. Its ridiculous, as its a fantastic show with one of the best characters ever on television, Joy Turner. There is talks that maybe ABC or Fox could pick it up like they did with Scrubs, but who knows if that will happen.

What can you do? Write NBC and if you belong to Twitter please follow @EarlTwitition save the show!
SAVE EARL!
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I Can't Live Without You
Author: Cheryl
•10:57 AM

My dryer is getting fixed as we speak. Belt was shot and needed new ball bearings, which was exactly what went wrong with my mom's dryer, and we have the same model. We have both had our dryers for years, so they are well beyond warranty. Total cost for repairs and labor $160.00 which is still cheaper than a new dryer. And I had set that money aside in our budget with our last paycheck, so we didn't have to touch the emergency fund.

I have to admit. I cannot live without the dryer. Yes, we have dramatically cut down our use of it in the past 6 months, but to go at least two to three weeks without it at all was not fun. For towels, it is a must. My towels came out like rocks hanging on the line down the basement, even with fabric softener added to the rinse water. I cannot hang a clothesline outside for many reasons. My mom actually washed and dried our towels twice for us. Thanks mom.

This past weekend our toilet overflowed sending water all over the bathroom floor and then seeping some into the basement. We had to use every sweet smelling towel my poor mom just cleaned for us to sop up the water. I didn't want to make her wash all these wet towels again, so I did washed them myself and hung them all on the line. It took days for them to dry and when done we had fabric bricks.

As for the regular clothes, we only throw them in the dryer for 5 minutes when they first come out of the washer to get the wrinkles out, and then I throw them in another 5 minutes when they are all line dry the next day just to soften them up. And believe me I noticed a difference these last few weeks in not getting to do it. They felt much harder, had more wrinkles.

We are still living without a dishwasher. And that hasn't been too bad at all. The dishes still come out clean by hand. But my dryer, I need it. Case closed. Welcome back friend.

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Being An Animal Lover
Author: Cheryl
•11:00 AM

Being the owner of 7 pets and a former animal rescuer and shelter volunteer, it is well known amongst most of my friends and colleagues that I like my furry creatures.However that doesn't stop some of them from doing things about animals or saying things about animals that makes me lose my mind, pull out my hair, or bite my tongue until it bleeds.Let me give you some examples. This might give you a clue on what not to say to an animal lover.

What you shouldn't do

1.) A picture of a dead deer that someone hunted hanging over their desk is not awesome to me. A picture of a dead deer that your sister sent you with a funny sign over it is still not funny.

2.) Telling me how you are getting your cat declawed even though I gave you 800 other options to do instead is not a wise move. If you are going to do it anyway, just don’t tell me you did it. And don’t tell me not to judge you if you do it anyway. You tell me, I will judge.

3.) #2 also applies to buying from a pet store or add in the paper instead of a shelter, getting your dogs ears or tail cropped, giving it up to a shelter cause it peed on your rug, or putting it to sleep because you don’t want to spend the money to get it medical attention. If you don’t want to hear a peep out of me, never tell me it happened.

4.) Start off a sentence with “I know you love animals, but…” is never a good again. Again “Silence is Golden”.

5.) Don’t come to me or send me info on an animal you found that you need to find a home for and threaten me with “if I don’t find a home for it in 5 days, I am taking it to the shelter”. Emotional blackmail does not make you my friend.

6.) Don’t tell me animal horror stories, or a bad report you saw on the news. I see plenty of them myself. In that case, misery doesn’t want any more company.

What you should do

1.) Treat my love of pets with respect. You don’t have to feel the same way or understand why I do. But respect my opinion.

2.) Feel free to come to me for suggestions on helping you with finding a pet in a shelter or rescue.

3.) Ask me advice on dealing with pets behavior. I’m not an expert, but with 7 cats I got a pretty good handle on what they do. If I don’t know the answer, I will find it out from someone for you.

4.) Know that getting a pet is a responsibility you should honor for the rest of its life. It is not a “starter child”

5.) Adopting one from a shelter or rescue does require some paperwork, some money and some checking into your background. Don’t expect the shelter or rescue to bend over backwards for you and just give you a pet if you say Boo and hand them money. They want to find the best home for the animal they have been taking care of for weeks or months. You have to prove you are a good owner and have a good home. If you are not approve, don't bad mouth shelters and rescues in general. You may have just not been the right fit for that dog, that shelter or that rescue. There are others.

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My Head - An Update
Author: Cheryl
•12:19 PM

Since we last talked there has been some progress with my headaches. Once I got my new glasses they have started going down, but are not gone. They don't come with as much intensity anymore, and the sides of my head and eyes don't burn anymore. But I still get tightness in my scalp and the back of my head and my ears hurt alot when I get them. I also have had almost 3/4's of a day or two without any pain. So having the decrease has really helped in me dealing with them every day and has really helped with being at work. So maybe its getting better on its on, but its still awfully slow. Its been over a month.

I go today for an MRI. Its just a precautionary thing my neurologist wants to start off with. Oh yes I went to a neurologist. So we will see what he thinks.

The medications my general practice doctor gave me two weeks ago for the headaches so messed up my system. I will never take that stuff again.

My husband swears I am going to fall asleep in the MRI machine. I can sleep pretty easily. But I don't think that will be happening with all of the banging noises and technician talking to me.

Keep you updated.
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What To Do Today?
Author: Cheryl
•8:20 AM


I explain the picture in # 4. Well its supposed to be in the 80's today and absolutely gorgeous. My husband has to work at 11am and then he has to cover the Flyer's playoff game at 3pm. So its just me and my day. I really don't have to clean the house, as we did that Thursday night because of the TV crew coming over.

1.) I dropped the dog off at the groomer's at 7:30am. She should be done and smelling good by 9:30am.

2.) There is a craft show/car show in the town over starting at 9am. I could buzz my dad and see if he wants to go. He loves to walk around those things.

3.) I do have to exercise at some point and should probably do that before it gets hot. Yes, in the 80's is hot for me.

4.) I need to change some light bulbs outside. Seems they all decided to blow at exactly the same time and going in my yard at night has become a "Who can see in the dark" sport. The light near my back door, as you can see in the picture above, has become a home for a bird to have her babies. I have noticed this happening over the past week and she has built quite a nest. I haven't actually seen the bird or any babies yet. She seems to do her best work while I am at work. I really need this light to see down my back stairs but I don't have the heart to tear down her work just for that. So I will just change the other bulbs for now.

5.) I should probably clean off my patio and give the patio furniture and grill a good scrubbing. I do have a love for hosing things off. I could play outside all day with a power washer if I had one. I love them. I once borrowed my dad's old washer and I must have been out there for hours. Its a great way to clean things without using any elbow grease.

6.) I put aside some money to get my dryer fixed. I really need to have it back. My towels come out like rocks without it and I feel bad dragging them over my mom's house to dry for me. I will call the repair man today and see when he can come out.

I wish I had audio on here, so you could hear the snoring contest between my husband and my one persian cat. She is giving him a good run for his money.

So we shall see where the day takes us. I love days like this.
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My House Is A Star
Author: Cheryl
•7:59 AM

A local TV news crew is coming to my house today to interview my parents and brother for a health story. My brother asked to borrow my house as I have a nice big room for the interview and my house is, shall I say, less crowded and little neater than my parents house.

I have spent the evening cleaning, and made sure everything is in its place. Please don't let my husband or pets muck it up before they come. I told my mom to give it a once over when she gets there. The picture above is how it looked about 5 years ago, we have painted over my beloved checkered wall since (long story) but its not too far off in the same design.

I told my dad before I left. "Don't embarrass the family." Oh boy.


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No Grocery Shopping This Week
Author: Cheryl
•8:19 PM
We spent a lovely day and a half in Philly for our anniversary. So I decided to skip our grocery shopping this week and use that money for our little trip. We had plenty in our stockpile that we will be just fine until next week.

A few quick pictures of our great time in a city we both love and are lucky to live 5 minutes from.






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10 Years
Author: Cheryl
•8:51 AM


Years ago, I fell in love with one of my closest friends. He was cute, loyal, intelligent, and the most insanely funny person I had ever met. We hung out all the time and got along famously. We tried to go on one date and it was just so unbelievably awkward, mostly due to my shyness. So I had resigned that we were better off being friends. I watched him date other women and kept supporting him through anything he wanted to do or pursue. All the more falling more in love with him every day.

I knew one day being his friend would result in the hardest day of my life. Having to watch him marry the woman of his dreams. I had no clue how I would ever be able to handle it but I knew I would have to because I was his friend.

10 years ago today on April 17th, he did go to a church and marry who I hope is the woman of his dreams. But it wasn’t a hard day at all for me. Little would I have known when we were first friends, that the woman he would marry one day would be me.

You see I got over my shyness, and eventually went after that cute, and insanely funny guy. And I don’t regret that decision for one moment.

Today we have been married for 10 years and together for 14. He is still my absolute best friend, partner, husband and the greatest guy in my life since my father. I still get excited when he walks in the door after a game. I still brush my hair and check my makeup before I come in the house after work to see him.

Through him I have a beautiful and amazing mother in law, and memories of the sweetest father in law, that I adored more than life. He has given me confidence, a much wittier sense of humor, and knocked an extremely huge amount of shyness out of me. He makes me feel beautiful, loved, listened to, and understood.

So enough sappiness, we have a day to celebrate here, and that is what we plan to do.


Happy 10th Anniversary to the love of my life and best friend.
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What's Going On With My Head
Author: Cheryl
•9:20 AM

As you may have read on here previously, I have been having headaches. I have been getting kinda bummed about them lately and writing about them is therapeutic. Maybe some of you might even have some suggestions for me.

They started on March 29th, a Sunday evening. Just thought I had a regular headache. Went to bed. About an hour after waking up on Monday it came back. Took some generic medicine but it was still on an off all day. The next day woke up feeling awful, stuffy, sore throat, and eventually the headache. Stayed home from work. Also stayed home on Wednesday but the stuffy and throat part were getting better. Went to my primary doctor on Thursday where he said I had a slight fever and figured I had allergies. Gave me Clarinex and told me to take Excedrin for the headache. I took both for 3 days and the headache stayed. The cold part eventually went away on its own.

I am now on day 18 of this.

Here is what it is like:

I feel great when I sleep and when I first get up. They start about an hour and a half to two hours after I get up.

It is a tightening on my scalp and around my head. And sometimes it moves around to my forehead, or down the back of my neck. Sometimes my eyes burn and it wears me out and my head feels hot.

Its not an agonizing pain, like a migraine, more like an annoying grating thing on and off all day.

It feels better when I chew gum, eat food, take a nap or use cold compresses.

I have tried every kind of Excedrin (extra strength, Migraine, Tension). I have taken two Fiorcet a day for 3 days, nothing.

I went to my eye doctors last week as I had problems with headaches while wearing contact lenses about a year ago. Those headaches also didn't go away with medicine, only when I took the contacts out. Since then I have worn glasses and for months had no problems with them. My eye doctor isn't sure its my eyes but he is giving me a lesser strength prescription and added glare protection to the glasses. I am currently waiting for the new glasses to come in and am stuck until then wearing the old ones. I can barely see a thing without glasses so I can't go a whole day without wearing them to see if that is the cause.

I am waiting to hear back from my thyroid doctor to see how my levels are. I do have hypothyroidism (I sound like an old lady, don't I). But have not taken any meds for it, as I have never had symptoms. But both my primary and eye doctor suggested I get checked with him again.

I also have an appt with a neurologist on the 22nd, just in case we don't find out what it is before then. Which is good cause I called 7 other neurologists and the soonest they could get me in was May.

So on we go. I'm trying to be a tough girl about it, but it just gets annoying. My husband is a doll in dealing with me with these headaches. But I would just like to be normal again for both me and him.
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Thanks For The Memories
Author: Cheryl
•4:26 PM


I'm so glad you got to see it. We will miss you Harry.


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So That Is What An Emergency Fund Is For
Author: Cheryl
•9:52 AM

As I mentioned in my grocery shopping post, I have been having headaches. I've had a tension headache now for 14 days. We are pretty much convinced it is eye strain, as me and my eyes have never been too friendly. And the headache gets better when I sleep and when my glasses are off my head. So after seeing my regular doctor and medicine not working, I made an appointment with my eye doctor.

He is an awesome doctor and checks every inch of my eyes and runs every test. And he recommended lowering my prescription and putting some glare protection on my lens. And that meant new glasses. I already used my eye insurance allowance for the year, so all I had left was our vision discount plan under our medical. And under that plan it was cheaper for me to get a whole new set of frames and lenses than replace the lens I have. Plus I would be without glasses if I had to get the ones I had replaced.

So we ordered new ones and of course it cost a little bit of money. So we had to use a little of our emergency fund. Right before I paid I must have stared at my wallet for 10 minutes trying to figure out some way not to use the emergency fund. That is when my husband said "Hey, this is what we have the fund for. Your eyes and head are killing you. It is okay for you to use the fund for this.".

So the fund dipped down a little bit. It is just a hair under $1000 and we still are putting money in it every check. So we will get it back up there soon.

The next day my dryer started making a horrible noise. They say when it rains it pours. My mom has the same dryer model and when her's made the same noise a year ago, she needed new ball bearings in it. We have an awesome little repair guy that will come and do it. But with the dryer I can last a little while without it. I do have to get it fixed sooner than the dishwasher, cause our towels are coming out like rocks when we line dry them. So we are going to wait until our next paycheck and budget in the money for that repair and not touch the EF for this. Once is enough for me for now.

So I can't say enough about having an emergency fund. If you don't have one, please start it now. You won't regret it.


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Financial Update: April 2009
Author: Cheryl
•11:04 AM

I have been home from work for two days sick. I have an awful headache and other things on my head hurt. I hope I don't have a sinus infection. If its not gone by tomorrow off to the doctors I go. Fun, fun, fun. It does bother me just to stare at a computer, so I will make our financial update for April short.

1.) Pay off credit cards # 4 and 5. #4 has been gone for a little bit. Already sent our first snowball payment to #5. We have paid over a 1/3 of our total credit card debt off in 6 months, which is not too bad.

2.) Have emergency fund at $1500 by end of year. We are now up to $1212.75. Right on track to meet the $1500 goal by the end of the year, probably sooner.

3.) Buy chest freezer and stock with deals for dinners at home. Been done and keeping it full.

4.) Stop buying certain pre-made products and make them from scratch at home.

Laundry Detergent - Just a few bottles left and then we will start making it from scratch.

Fabric Softener - Still got quite a few of them left. I cut them in half, so they last me pretty long.

Household cleaners - Still have alot of those. I wouldn't be surprised if they last me until the end of the year.

Syrup - Still making it from scratch. Would like to get some flavorings to try different syrups flavors.

5.) Clean out the garage and sell unnecessary things. Still trying to sell a tv we have. We put it on CraigsList but have gotten no bites yet. Lots of people selling things on there right now, so its hard to stand out. We may need to have a yard sale when spring kicks in.
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Grocery Shopping In Budget
Author: Cheryl
•10:27 AM

You know you have those days where you feel you are just off in everything you are doing. Today was one of them. I post in another day or two my trip to CVS and Walgreens. One went well, one didn't and I think you will be surprised by which one is which.

I hit ShopRite for what I call again their Breakfast Sale. Lots of cheap bacon, eggs, OJ, etc. And though there are no coupons for these items, we still needed to stock up. Not alot of coupon deals that I needed, so we got some things we just needed for our pantry.

ShopRite
1 Gallon of skim milk FREE with coupon I earned 2 trips ago on the Kellogg's cereal
2 Turkey Hill ice creams $2.49 - $1.00 q = $1.49 each
3 BirdsEye steamfresh veggies .99 each - $1.00 off 3 = .66 each
2 Maggio mozzarella cheese $1.98 (I was told there were q's but none in my database)
10 Axelrod yogurts $4.00
3 Tree Ripe OJ's $1.88 each
2 pks of chicken breasts (sale) $5.79 and $5.67 each
2 Oscar Meyer bacon $1.88 each
1 bottom roast (sale) $5.74
4 Hefty boxes of kitchen trash bags $2.49 - $1.00 q's = $1.49 each
1 18 ct of eggs $1.48
1 Glade scented oil candle $2.49 - $3.00 q = FREE

Total $47.32

Vercchio's Produce
2 bags of oranges
1 bag of apples
1 bag of bananas
1 bag of potatoes

Total $7.00

Total spent $54.32. Went a little bit over because I originally was only going to get one pack of chicken breasts, but they a great size, so I couldn't resist.

Gayle, who has a great website call The Grocery Cart Challenge, was the original inspiration to me to try a budget with my grocery shopping. Please check out her site, to see how she does it and how some others who also have decided to try her challenge.
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Happy Couponing Anniversary
Author: Cheryl
•12:41 PM

This month it will have been a year since I started couponing. Unfortunately I didn't start our budget, debt paying and savings until September of 2008. But the couponing started the whole process off and I have a friend of mine to thank.

I went to the grocery store right up the street from me to pick something up when I ran into a friend of mine. She had a huge black binder in her cart and was riffling through it. When I asked she started telling me all about her couponing and all the money that she saved. She also said "Do you shop at Target?". I said of course I did. She said well if you want to pay like nothing for everything you get at Target you have to start doing the CVS deals, and you will barely ever need to go to Target again. Not go to Target again? It sounded awful. CVS was only a place where I picked up my prescriptions.

We walked around the store together doing our shopping and she explained me to briefly how she does all this couponing. She is one of my dear friends, and a very smart woman. So despite my doubts and concerns, I figured it couldn't hurt to try it out.

So the next day I went to Walmart and bought a binder, baseball card holders, a calculator, new pair of scissors. I went online for hours and looked up any information I could find on couponing and CVS. That is when I found Hot Coupon World, which is still my savior to this date. That weekend I went to buy my newspapers. I bought four of them came home and found no coupons in the paper. This was before I knew that coupons don't come out in the newspapers on holiday weekends and it was Easter. So first lesson learned. My first deal at CVS was a Garnier hair products deal and I was nervous as can be to hand them my coupons. I felt like I was doing something illegal. I paid much more out of pocket the first time, as I needed to accumulate ECB's first. But it wasn't long before I was addicted.

Shortly after that I took my couponing to the next level, the grocery store. Then I was hooked. I can't imagine now ever going back to the old way I used to shop. Even when all the debt is gone and savings is built up, I will always keep doing this. Its worth a little extra time a week to save a bundle. And I actually consider it fun, since I am an organizing and list making junkie, those are skills that really come in handy when looking for deals and planning meals.

So happy couponing anniversary to me.

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Our Budget Process
Author: Cheryl
•11:53 AM

This is where the magic happens, my desk at home. I thought I would take you through my budget process. Not complicated at all. But a much better one for our family than the one we had before September 2008.

My husband and I get paid every two weeks, but he gets paid the opposite Friday of my payday.
So I choose to pay our bills and figure out our budget on a 2 week schedule.

1.) Money, money, money - The Thursday night before I get paid, I check to see how much money is left over in our checking accounts. We have two checking accounts. One for all of our bills and one for our budget money. I make sure that any outstanding checks or bills came out of the bill account and that what is left in both is free money. I then add those totals to my check total, which will direct deposited into my account the next morning. My husband's check is already in one of those accounts by then. All those amounts together is what we have to work with.

2.) Savings - The funds for our emergency fund are directly taken out of my paycheck every two weeks and deposited into an ING savings account. That way there is no arguing whether we have the money to save. As they say always pay yourself first.

3.) Bills, Bills, Bills - I gather all my bills. If you look on the picture above there is a small 4 drawer plastic filing thingy sitting to the left of my desk. That holds in the top drawer all pending bills. The others drawers I will explain at another time. In a notebook I list all the bills due, the amount due and the due date. I then total all the bills.

4.) No one said there would be math - I have had the same calculator since high school and it still works. I love it. I then subtract the bills from the total money we have to use. If that number is painfully low, then I know some bills will have to be pushed off. But since we have been better with our money this hasn't happened anymore. We are actually quite ahead in paying our bills, thank you very much.

5.) The Bi-weekly Budget - Our budget for ourselves is usually comprised of four categories: Groceries, Husband, Myself, Miscellaneous. Groceries is always $100, $50 for each week. My husband's portion is for anything he needs (gas, haircuts, etc). My portion is very small, as I only need gas, and I have a small car, and I barely buy anything else. Miscellaneous covers anything else we need for the house or for the pets (dog or cat food, CVS, litter, newspapers, etc.). If we have anything outside the ordinary we make up a new category and figure that into the budget (ex. doctor's appointments, prescriptions, presents, family events). But most of the time it is just the four categories.

I use Google Docs to keep track of our budget. The reason I chose this program, is that my husband and I can both view it over the internet with passwords, so we can both see how much is left in our categories and can update the budget anywhere we are.

Once I have the budget amount, I subtract that from what is left after the bills.

6.) Credit Cards - Whatever money is left over from all of that is our snowball amount that goes to the current credit card we are working on. In the bill totals for #3 are the minimum balances for the cards I current have that are due. So this snowball money is extra that goes to the current card on my hit list.

The budget is now done.

7.) Payday - When I wake up Friday morning, my check is already deposited into my bills account. In the morning I check all the final totals in the bank, and make sure they are still matching up from what I figured out the day before. I transfer the money we calculated as needed into our budget fund. And then I proceed to pay our bills from the remaining money in the bill account. I try to pay most of our bills online, but I do have a few old time companies that still make me mail in a few checks. I also make sure the snowball money goes to the credit card I am currently working on paying off.

8.) Wrap up - I put everything down again in my checkbook to keep on hand and check our balance in our emergency fund and update the blog with the new total.

Really easy and working very well for us.

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The Appliance Issues Continue
Author: Cheryl
•9:31 AM

The dishwasher is still not cleaning. I have tried all the tricks. Cleaned it from head to toe, scrubbed out any gunk out of every hole, tube, corner. Moved the silver wear tray to make sure it was not blocking the soap, threw the soap in the middle instead of the tray, ran the hot water before using, checked the temperature of the hot water. Nope, nope, nope. Still not getting a thing clean.

So for now she is retired. We are hand washing dishes. We went out this weekend to look at new ones just to get an idea on prices. But didn't buy anything. I really don't think it is an emergency to have one, and I would rather our money keep going to our debt and emergency fund. My hands sore from being in so much water, but I will live. And eventually when we get a little more financially sound, maybe we will get one. Maybe I could use her for storage. :)

The carpet cleaner is its own story. I got the parts I needed in the mail last week so that the soap side of the tank didn't leak, and they fit great, no leaks. So Sunday I got everything ready to clean the carpets. Moved all the furniture, vacuumed every crack and crevice in the house. As I filled the water tank, water started to pour out of the bottom of the tank. It wasn't the identical part to the soap side, but instead the actual clear plastic of the tank had a crack in it. How the crap was I going to fix this?

To say I was happy was an understatement. Words were flying, things were thrown, fortunately only my dog saw me doing this and just went back to sleep. Fortunately my mom has a cleaner, and my dad dropped it off, so I was able to clean the carpets. I went online again and found replacements tanks for $40.00 with shipping. It should be here in a week. The picture is my new tank, supposed to be a sturdier model. Better be.

So in total I have paid $55.00 to keep my carpet cleaner working. Still better than spending $280 on a new one. But just enough to give me a headache
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