1) DH will be home this weekend on a 4 day pass. It's likely the last time I'll see him before they fly out. It sounds nice, right? Well, it is an emotional mixed bag. With all the training, I've had too many goodbyes this year already.

2) I was able to reduce my gym membership while DH is away from $73 to $49. They offered to reduce it while he is away. Very nice!

3) I had to start on some prescription medications, which will cost $22 per month. Makes the gym membership savings about a wash.

4) Our painters are finally prepping our house for painting. We had too much rain over the last couple weeks, so things have been delayed. Gives me more time to come up with cash!!

5) My youngest daughter is going to play flute next year in fifth grade. I will rent to own the instrument at about $35 per month. This will begin in September.

6) End of month payday arrives early on Friday! Of course, that just means that money has to last longer.

The dance and tumbling recital for the girls was last weekend. Today, it was time for preregistration. Yikes!

I paid in full for each of them to take a 30 minute class each week for the next school year. Only set me back $808. They waived the $90 recital fee with full payment. That is a 10% savings. And I don't have to think about money for that activity again for quite some time.

In other money news, I received my second Pinecone survey payment this week and made one small sale on half.com. I will net only $1.70 on the sale, but it is $0.70 more than if I had sold this item at the garage sale! I will add this to my ebay challenge totals at the end of the month.

Today is a mow and sew day here at my house. I'm only sharing because I really plan to do both of these things and they rhyme!

In previous posts, I've mentioned that my husband will get a twice monthly allowance of $200. This has really worked out great from my perspective. I think this is primarily because his spending is a known quantity. I also do not need to track each receipt and record each purchase. What a relief!

I mentally set aside $200 on payday. So far he has pulled the money out in cash soon after. I record that transaction when I see it. After that it is our regular bills and any spending I need to do.

Honestly, $200 is likely way more than he needs. He did spend the full amount the first payday, however. I have to ask how he stands this time, next time I talk to him. I know he cut back on cigars and stopped drinking pop. That will help financially a bit.

The really great news...he's coming home on a four day pass next week! I can't wait. Of course, the time will go entirely too fast, but we'll enjoy every minute of it.

I put one item on ebay Sunday and it already has two bids. If it sells at its current price, I will be happy, but I expect it will go up a little bit. So...even happier!!

I received a $3 Pinecone Payment in my paypal account. I love how fast that is. There are no fees to receive the cash!!

My sister brought quite a few books to our garage sale. Some sold, but there are plenty left. I'm going to check today if any of them can be sold online for cash. I will also take them to the used book store if needed. She said I could have the money!!

My sister also had quite a few clothes that didn't sell, but are very nice. I'm going to try a few on. Maybe I'll get a new wardrobe! If they don't work for me, I will also consider putting them on ebay for some cash.

I've been busy with out of town guests, school performances and not feeling quite up to par. No spending the last two days!

It's going to be a cool and rainy week here. I think the garage sale is still on! There is plenty to do this week. I'll check in when I can.

have your house painted! Yep, the first step in the painting process, power washing, is scheduled for Monday. Our garage sale doesn't begin until Thursday and Friday and it isn't even at my house. Thank goodness for that.

It is forecasted to rain quite a bit next week, so they are likely to get delayed during the process. I guess that means I have more time before I have to pay them!!

Next week is the last week of my girls dance and tumbling classes. They have recital rehearsal next Friday with the actual recitals on Saturday.

How many votes that my next week is a little more stressful than usual?

I made my homemade laundry detergent yesterday. I think it looks like it will work great. It seems like soap anyway!!

I also prepped our garden for planting. It was becoming overgrown with weeds and grass. Luckily, my girls were up for digging in the dirt. They dug out the grass and weeds, while I pulled much of the dirt off the roots. It felt good to get my hands dirty! I'm also glad the garden is only 64 square feet because that did take a couple hours. I have yet to decide what to plant. We have really enjoyed beans and peas in the past. They are plentiful, delicious and always available for picking.

I also made cookie dough last night. Butter, sugar, vanilla and flour. We are going to wrap the dough around Hershey's Kisses to make Secret Kisses cookies. The girls recieved a Hershey's cookbook as a gift and this is the only recipe that I had all the ingredients for and probably the easiest!

Only spent money on haircuts for the girls yesterday. If only I were that much of a homesteader!! I've tried cutting their hair before, but I'm never satisfied with the results.

Mother's Day is just over a week away. It is on Sunday, May 9. Time to start thinking about how to acknowledge your mother.

Personally, I'm not a huge fan of this Hallmark invented holiday. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate my mom. But why do we all have to thank and appreciate them on the same day? I'm a mom myself, and I'm still not a fan of the holiday!!

I do usually get my mom a card and a small gift. This year she will be receiving 4 handmade (by me) coasters and some loose leaf tea. I'm guessing this will cost me less than $15.

As I write this, I realize I bought her coasters about three years ago that have pictures of my daughters in them. I think she uses them as small framed pictures instead of coasters.

This year, the coasters are the right thing. She was eyeing the ones I made for myself. So I think she will enjoy that I made some for her, too. I hope she likes the fabric. If not, more can be made. And she loves tea, so I can't go wrong there!

Are you buying or making a gift for your mom to celebrate the day of mothers?

My husband will be getting an allowance of $200 each pay period for the next year. We are paid twice per month. His need for cash is very minimal while overseas.

Secretly,(Unless he's reading this blog today. Hi, honey!) I hope that he will not spend it all. Last time his expenses included some pop, lots of cigars and Subway sandwiches (one does get tired of DFAC food), haircuts and occasional postage for packages.
Two hundred dollars seems like plenty don't you think?

Right now my plan is to take this allowance from our regular spending. I think this is possible because of all the things that we won't be spending money on. Less will be spent on fuel and groceries here at home for sure!

Deployment begins today. He's still in town for a couple more days, but the Army is in charge of his days now. We are counting down 400 days until he is back home.

We made a deal tonight with our out of town relatives. We will sell them our Ford Taurus for $2500 in October of this year. I think we would get less as a trade in, but more if we sold it privately to a stranger. So we met in the middle! Good for us. Good for them.

I will still have it sitting in the driveway for the next 6 months, but at least we have a plan. I guess they would probably like it if I drove it around once in awhile! I should make a weekly date to drive it for ice cream.

Hmm...can I put this towards my Ebay Challenge money? If so, I don't have to sell one more thing to meet my $100 per month average. No. I will continue the challenge and keep the car sale out of it!

The money will definitely go towards the emergency fund goal. That will help quite a bit considering I'm about to dip into the 'new' emergency money to fund part of the house painting.

We are going to sell our paid for car. A 2002 Ford Taurus with nearly 120,000 miles. We bought it used in 2006 for $8K. In the last 4.5 years, we have spent nearly $4K in repairs. It has been pretty reliable, but it seems every time we turn around that something needs to be fixed or addressed. Yes, some of it is maintenence, but much of it is failure of the original design. I'm not even going to get into the problems here.

The deployment is prompting our desire to sell it. It is really hard for one person to drive two cars! As a stay at home mom, I'm not driving that much. We will save on car insurance and registration for a short period of time. The sale will also bring in some cash. Oh, and DH has been salivating over getting a truck for over a year now. He will get one when he returns.

We are pretty sure we will sell it to an out of state relative. They have a Taurus and love it. They will have a 16 year old in October. We are going to take it to a dealer to see what their offer would be and use that as our spring board for negotiations with them. Yes, we have checked a couple online sites, but the prices are a bit varied. We also want an opinion from someone who actually sees and drives the vehicle.

If we come to an agreement on price, I will actually have to hold the vehicle for the relatives until October. They don't need it until then. They are also still saving the cash for it. Of course, I'm pleased with that, since they will not have a loan.

I seem to be on emergency fund kick lately. Yes, we are working on adding to ours! I also want to keep the topic in the forefront for new readers as well since I strongly feel it is an important foundation.

Technically, we didn't have emergency funds before we were married. Our first one began from cash wedding gifts. My parents gave us $1000. Truth be told we didn't really need anything after all the other gifts. So we saved it. Initially, we didn't even call it an emergency fund.

It seems that we didn't have lots of wants starting out. We worked a lot. We paid off failed business debt and student loans. When we would get a cash gift, tax refund or other unexpected money, we saved it. I mean just because someone gives you $25 doesn't mean you have to buy something, right?

We also used to save all of our change. DH had lots of change. We would collect it in a cottage cheese container and take it to the bank for deposit in our savings account. Often the total was $25 to $30. This was nearly every month. Truth be told we use our debit card now and have an online bank, so coin collecting is in our past.

Our emergency fund did receive an inheritence windfall 5 years into our marriage after my father in law died. Yes, we did spend some of the money for a new furnace and carpet. The rest is still sitting in our emergency fund.

Actually, many of the emergency fund details are a bit fuzzy now. We have had one for 14 years and almost take it for granted. It has saved the day a few times: car repairs and deductible for a roof. Since I know several people without one, I know we are better financially for having saved that first $1000 gift.

Oh, by the way, it is our 14th Anniversary today!!

I'm feeling pretty confident that we have a plan to pay for at least four out of eight years of college. I researched the new Post 911 GI Bill. It appears that my husband is eligible. I will have him call to confirm.

The Post 911 GI Bill provides 36 months (I'm guessing this is equal to 4 years at 9 months each) of tuition and fees at any college or university up to the in state maximum. It also provides $1000 annually for books. And housing in some cases. If my husband were to get his master's degree, the housing wouldn't apply since we already receive it.

The cool thing about the bill is that the service member can transfer any number of months to their spouse and dependent children up to the 36 months. In our case divide them evenly to our girls with 18 months each! Or one thought that pops into my mind, use the benefits for our older daughter and save only for our youngest daughter since we have more time. Or the opposite, pay for the first since tuition may be lower than for the second. Hmm.

I'm not clear if the housing would apply to the girls, but I think that it might. Wow! I'm blown away at how much easier this makes paying for college seem. Instead of trying to pay half of their college, we might luck out and be able to pay for most of it, with the help of this new bill of course.

It's nice to think the girls will see benefit from their dad's hard work and service in a very tangible way. A college education.

I am so happy for my sister and her husband. They are really on the right track financially. The emergency fund is established. They are paying more than the minimums on their debt. In fact, I received an email stating they have 20 months until they are debt free except the mortgage! Just a little over a year and a half.

I have given advice here and there over the years. It is nice to see some of it is finally paying off. My sister is very bright, so I'm not saying that I'm the only one to help them on their journey. It is just nice to see things work out for people, especially your own sister!

I'm also proud of each of you and the progress you have made in your financial journey. It seems that is what we should call it: a journey. A journey because it is not just one stop, or one destination but a series of them. Many of us are at different stops on the journey and the scenery is different too. Take time to make sure the path you are on is the journey you want to take!!

I'm now the mother of a teenager. Who bought an ipod. That won't stay charged! Ugh. Of course, she's big time disappointed and frustrated. Target says I can exchange for the same thing. I hope that is the case when I show up at the store.

My sister was in town for a couple days. Spending was minimal. I bought her a coffee and a snack. Otherwise we ate the food on hand, watched a netflix video that arrived, used my gym without a guest fee. She bought fabric, with a 40% off coupon I had, and we made a curtain for her bathroom. She only spent $13. It will look great!

We have $165 left in the checking account to last through the end of the month. I will need to buy groceries on Sunday. One daughter wants to her hair cut shorter again. I was just a month ago she had five inches cut off!! I think we can make it.

Netflix is sending a disk that should allow us to stream instant watch movies directly through our Wii system. That will open up easier viewing of movies for us. I'm looking forward to that.

It's a party day at our house. Actually, the party is at an pizza arcade. We are celebrating my daughter's 13th birthday which is next week. I'm taking the girls and a couple friends for the lunch buffet for $5.99 per person. I will need to buy game cards, too. I have a $10 gift certificate to apply to transaction. It should be a fun time!

I'm still waiting to sell my one item on craigslist. My buyer didn't show last night, but said I could sell to someone else. I have emailed the next person on the list. I hope to sell it soon!! I had plenty of interest.

I requested a $16 cash out from a survey site yesterday. I was pleased to find out that they will be able to deposit the money into my paypal account! For some reason, it still takes two weeks before it hits my account. It took me over a year to meet the minimum of $10, so I think I'm done with them. American Consumer Opinion Poll, if you want to know.

Spring cleaning gets me into organizing! Although, I didn't plan this one.

Yesterday, I went looking for a specific photo of my daughters that I would like to get up on the wall. I found it! In the process, I realized I should get the photos from 2003-2006 a little better organized. Luckily for me, most of them were dated.

I have pulled the pictures from their processing envelopes, seperated the double prints, thrown out the negatives, and stacked them by year. Next step, was to organize the year from January through December. Once I have them by year, I keep them in archival photo boxes. I'm realizing I may eventually want to pull some pictures for some type of album. I've seen some VERY cute pictures of my kids in the last few hours!

This was a free activity for me and as a result I had another no spend day. Third day in a row!

I have eaten out in restaurants twice this month. Once with a friend and once with my husband. I ate out with hubby today. He arrived back home yesterday!! I only get him for another day. Then he has training in another state.

Today we went to TGI Friday's with a coupon. I will just say he picked a more expensive meal. However, with the coupon my meal was "free" and as was my water.

We then went shopping!! He needed a new backpack. The one he traveled with was starting to tear...and not at the seams. Ugh. And he needed a new toiletry bag, toiletries and shower shoes. I'm glad I set aside some cash for these things.

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I signed up for paypal payments for my Pincone surveys. Those are quick! I took a survey on Saturday and was just paid today. I'm glad I made the switch.

My parents paid for nearly my entire college education. There was a year where we did qualify for Pell grants because my Dad had been laid off from a job the prior year and he had two kids in college! We did take out student loans. I remember paying my loans off within the first year of graduating. I'm guessing the amount was less than $2,000. It's hard to remember now.

I did work part time for at least 2 of the 4 years I went to college, but I believe this was for things like food, entertainment, clothing, auto fuel and all other expenses. My parents paid my rent, and car insurance.

Honestly, at the time, I took the amount my parents paid to send me to college for granted. I probably still do. I do have the appreciation for the cost of college, as we did have to pay some of my huband's college expenses. Luckily, the Army and his full time job paid for a large portion. Those student loans were paid off several years ago.

My parents had saved some money for my sister and I for college in UGMA accounts, invested in mutual funds. I remember pretty distinctly, writing a letter every semester requesting a certain amount be withdrawn. When I received the check, I used it only for tuition. I never thought to pull more money for myself. I knew that it was for education expenses only.

I know of several people my age who took out the maximum student loan amounts every year. The used part of it for tuition and books, but the remainder was "fun" money. Guess what? They are still paying their student loans! Ugh. Of course, for all I know my parents are still paying on our student loans. I sure hope not!

I bring all this up, because I was talking to my sister about the fact that my oldest daughter will be starting college in 5.5 years. And it doesn't feel that far away. Yikes!! Yes, we have some money saved. Both girls get good grades, so may qualify for some scholarship money. I really need to start crunching some numbers to see how much more I might want to save, or be able to save.

I have thought all along that the girls should have their hand in paying for some of the expenses. I think they should also work some, part time at least. I also think we can cash flow part of it, as well.

Any insights? How was your college education paid for? Are you currently paying for a child's college education? How is that going? I'd love to hear!

I had an offer to join JC Penney rewards in my email inbox this week. I would get a $10 coupon good towards any purchase. I signed up and we went shopping today.

My oldest daughter needed a new dressy shirt for her band concert. Found one originally priced at $36, which was 40% off. After the coupon was deducted and tax was added, I paid $10.59.

It was a quick shopping trip. She looked, picked one out, tried it on, we paid and we were on our way back home. I love those types of trips!!

Yes, I do. I calculate things for fun. It can be inspiring and upsetting, but it is mostly just for fun.

Recently, I decided to calculate how quickly we could pay off ALL of our debt. This would include the home equity loan, our van loan and our mortgage.

I made some assumptions in our calculations. That we wouldn't save for college. That we aren't moving. That nothing unexpected would happen. Remember this is just for fun. I also assumed we wouldn't sell the car and purchase my husband a truck.

So, how long? You want to know, right? Just under 4.5 years! OMG! I couldn't believe we could achieve that so quickly. Turns out that would be just before my oldest daughter graduates high school and heads of to college.

The calculations get you thinking. Would this be a worthy goal? Is it possible? Do we want to have our mortgage paid off while we put two kids through college? It sounds like a nice idea.

I highly recommend calculating for fun. It opens doors of possibilities. At least for me!

My valentine is in another country and I still got an email wishing me a Happy Valentine's Day! I'll take it.

We don't usually go all out on this day anyway. Some cards and a few flowers are given. This year, I bought the girls each a card, and one bag of candy that I divided up for them. I snuck a few pieces for myself, too. Tonight we will have pasta for dinner by candlelight, which is also a tradition.

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I requested a cash out from My Survey last night. I will get a $10 check in a couple of weeks. It seems they are awarding fewer points for each survey.

Last week, for Super Bowl Sunday, we opened a block of Kraft cheese to find mold on the sides. Eww! We threw it out. I ran to the store for more (picked another brand). On Monday, I emailed Kraft about the issue. Kraft responded with an apology. They are also sending me a $2 check to reimburse me for the purchase. Kraft is good!

I withdrew $120 of my ebay and book sale proceeds from my paypal account. This money will arrive in my account in a couple days.

The really exciting news about this is that it will all go to the home equity loan! I think I can get the loan to under $2K once we hit pay day. You know that makes me happy!

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I did get to talk to my husband twice yesterday before his plane left. That always relaxes me. He's probably still in the air...it is a long flight!

My husband left today for a 10 day trip to the combat zone where he'll be stationed this year. Yep, one of the lucky ones to be up high enough on the chain to go check out what the mission will be. That means we get a trial run here at home. I'm so NOT excited.

My girls are home early today from school. We pulled out the red and pink construction paper and made heart decorations for the house. The front window is overflowing with hearts now.

My youngest still exchanges with classmates at school. She made her Valentines out of pink and red card stock we already owned. She stenciled on some decor in marker. She is writing each name, as well as her own. We also bought a bag of Jolly Rancher's to attach one candy to each valentine card. I spent about $2!

Did you every think what a 'jolly rancher' must look like when you buy those candies? For some reason I find it a bit humorous!

There will not be any other big spending on Valentine's here. We usually keep it low key with a normal dinner by candle light. The girls think it is fantastic!

Do you do anything special for Valentine's day? Is it frugal or extravagant?

First of all, I keep thinking about Monkey Mama and her husband. I don't remember the exact surgery date. It could be today. Yesterday? Not sure. My prayers and thoughts are focused on a good outcome. Send your own positive vibe their way if you feel so inclined!

A benefit of participating in a combat zone is tax free income. My husband is going to get a bonus month of tax free income because of a 10 day trip to the 'zone' in the near future. Actually, you only need one day in the 'zone' to qualify! We still pay Medicare and Social Security taxes.

This extra month only helps convince me that we should convert our IRA's to Roth's this year. I just want to know what it will end up costing us. I think we have at least $30K that we could convert. Of course, we don't have to convert it all. If I remember correct, we can split the tax bill between 2010 and 2011. I wonder if it has to be an even split?

Ebay update: I have three items listed and two already have bids!! I also found several books that I think will sell best on ebay, so I will get those up this Sunday.

Kids are home because of ice. We are getting 1/2 inch or so. I think school may be extended until mid June!!

I spent the day sewing a tote bag for my neice that will turn 6 later this month. It turned out great! The fabric was $2 on clearance at Hobby Lobby. I only needed to use thread and interfacing that I already had. It will have to be mailed. Six year olds like gifts in the mail, right?

I also made a fabric pouch that measures about 6 inches x 5 inches. I will give it as a gift as well.

I've been thinking of quite a few things I could make to give as gifts this year. Here's an initial idea list: pajama pants, pillow case, napkins, coasters, placemats, throw size quilt. I even have instructions to make a purse and a stuffed turtle! It is exciting to think about all the possibilities.

My oldest daughter made some coasters yesterday. She is really getting the hang of sewing. She's about to learn how to sew a zipper in her sewing class at school. I just taught myself today!!

I just need to keep the cost of fabric low by watching sales and picking through clearance fabric.

Do you know how to sew? What kinds of things do you make?

As expected, my husband's net check has increased. Specifically, $100.86. He is paid twice a month. Can't complain about an extra $200 a month, right?

Although I can see the deposit amount, I can't yet see how the pay breaks down. A little frustrating since I thought the net increase would be about $105! I have to wait two more weeks for details.

The extra $200 will help fund college contributions for this year. We hope to send in about $2000 for each of them in 2010. I'm going to pay off the home equity loan first!

My husband and coworkers are traveling today in the midwest. Unfortuately, travel is not advised! Ugh. Please say a prayer for their safe journey.

The trip is 3.5 hours long in good weather and is expected to take over 8 hours.

My girls have a snow day from school. They are using their time to open new driving cups on Mario Kart. They just discovered this, so are thrilled.

Our furnace is working over time. I am very thankful it is working well. Tomorrow's high will be negative 3 degrees. The wind chill will make it VERY cold. We have a large credit right now with the power company, so it will be nice to have when the next bill arrives.