My husband will move out to the east coast in early March. (Officially still waiting on orders) He knows a husband and wife living out there that have a two bedroom apartment and offered him the second room. No charge for rent!

They do pay for electricity. Other utilities are included in their rent. If the electricity jumps with my husbands phone charging and computer use he will pay the difference. He will buy his own foods and hopefully some snacks to share! Maybe he can carpool and drive with one or both them. That would help them save on fuel.

I'm relieved. It makes the process of moving much easier. I'm a little hesitant though. I don't know that letting another person stay in your apartment is really allowed without authorization by the complex. I also wonder how long the couple will really want my husband there. I think the wife travels quite a bit, so maybe that will help.

Depending on how it all shakes out, I think we owe them something. A nice gift card or gift to show our appreciation for their hospitality. I'm open to ideas!

In other news, I redeemed more Swagbucks for a $25 PayPal deposit. That will go to those two credit cards I'm working on!

So tell me, how would you show your appreciation to someone who lets your stay with them rent free for several months?

We hosted former neighbors at our home this weekend. They wanted to see the show choir events happening at my girls high school. Admission is pricey for show choir compared to marching band!! We paid $32 for three of us to get in today.

We did get our money's worth however. We saw eight different shows, which is nearly four hours worth of entertainment. We had a super time! One of the choirs was our varsity team. They were at the very end of the day (evening), my girl actually went back up to school to see them. They did fabulous!

I would have rather not spent the $32 plus the money we spent on food for lunch in the cafeteria, but we had a super time. I can say the money was well spent!

Thanks for all the support and good wishes regarding our move. My husband will be moving sooner than I would have liked and that makes me sad. I prefer to all go together. But I have time to work on all the logistics and feelings the move means. I was actually proud of myself for admitting how sad I am being so far from my college bound daughter. And also I'm sad for my youngest daughter basically needing to move so far with us and be an 'only child'. The truth is she would be home with us the next three years by herself regardless of where we are, but it just feels far! And that makes me sad. I'm pretty good at dismissing emotions...which is NOT healthy, so I'm proud of myself for recognizing it!!

One of you has lived in the state we are moving to. I'm sorry I need to be vague. I may consider disclosing briefly and then deleting, but the Army is big on our social media security and it is really for our safety that I don't. I want to, I really do!!

Did you pay for any entertainment this weekend? Was it a one time expense like mine? Did you do something for free?

I'm going to be a little vague since this is Army related, but we are moving! It is nearly official. My husband was nominated back in November for a job. We were told we would hear something in December. It was apparently decided in December, but my husband only heard about it two days ago. He did get the job which is on the east coast. When he was nominated his initial reaction was no thanks, but he was pretty much told that it was an honor to be nominated and it isn't a job you pass up as it is a once in a lifetime opportunity. It's also a job on a Army post. Which is so different from the units we have been connected with here.

He has to report pretty soon. The girls and I will be staying put to finish out the school year. Our oldest is graduating!

I was so close to coming up with my goals for 2015, but they didn't included running two households for four or five months! I'm kind of back to square one.

I think I'm in a state of shock honestly. We are Midwest people. We wouldn't pick this state in most cases, it will be fine and lovely I'm sure, but a huge change to move so far from family. Right now we can drive to see everybody. Now we can still drive, but it will take a couple days rather than several hours. I guess I need to have a airline ticket fund!

That's the news! I'm sure there will be plenty more to say about all of it as it happens. Have you moved more than 15 hours away from your home base before?

2014 has been a great year. We were and are all well. We got to visit with family and friends numerous times. Financially, we continued to invest and pay down debt. Again, a very good year!

Today, the last day of the year, I managed to close my Discover Checking account. I got the bonus, I don't need it any more. I also emailed Chase to close my husband's Chase Freedom account. We haven't used that in months and don't expect to. Most importantly, I paid the bills!

I packed away some of the Christmas decorations. Before I put the items that were out back in the bins, I made sure to pull out the few things that did not get put out this year so that could be donated. I even went as far as pulling some glitter star ornaments that I was given several years back OFF the tree so I could donate them. Every year when they come out, I hesitate about putting them on, but then we do anyway. This time they are going BEFORE the next Christmas.

I made sure to get to Goodwill today to drop off my final bag of donations for the year. I got my receipt, although I likely won't qualify to take the deduction. That is okay. I'm more excited about less stuff!!

I also made the final grocery shopping trip for the year. I was able to go about three days longer than planned because of all the leftovers from Christmas. We had half a pumpkin pie that I finally had to toss today. It has been a week in the fridge, and I decided it was too late to freeze. And since we weren't interested in eating it it was time to go.

We will stay in to celebrate New Year's Eve and Day as a family. We will play board and card games tonight. Maybe a movie. We will eat lots of snack type foods, including fresh vegetables and fruits! Tomorrow I hope we can all do a little work to put away our Christmas trees. I also secretly hope to get my husband to go through some papers that I think can be recycled or shredded. He does know about them, so it won't be a big surprise.

After the New Year, I hope to write more about our finances in 2014 and our goals going forward. I just haven't had time to think about all of those yet!

Are there certain tasks that you do at the end or beginning of each year? How will you celebrate New Years?

Happy New Year Saving Advice!

Remember that group gift I wrote about for my mother in law? In the end we were to all give her $70. We mailed a check. As far as I know, it all went fine.

Because we didn't attend my husband's family's Christmas gathering, my mother in law sent us a check...for $80! She bought a small gift for my husband which I know cost $11 and was in with the check. Her check indicated the $80 was for me and my two daughters. Huh? Okay, she is nearly 80 years old so maybe what she wrote wasn't what she meant. In the end we deposited the check and split the money between our two daughters. I did make the suggestion to my husband that the four of us split it with $20 each or just use it for something fun together. He liked the idea of the girls getting the money, so that is what we did.

So nearly even gifts! Checks crossing in the mail. Thoughtful huh? It's all good really. Just weird!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to my SA friends and readers! I hope you all take some time off from thinking about money and enjoy time with family or friends. The time spent enjoying others company can't be bought and it one of life's true gifts.

I also encourage you to consider attempting a no spend week or low spend week as we wrap up the year. This means avoiding those clearance sales after Christmas. Unless you need the item, it probably isn't worth it. The only thing I would actually buy after the holiday is the sturdy kind of wrapping paper since I ran out this year.

I'm making a grocery trip today for the last items we need for our holiday meal and hosting of family. I will guess I will go one more time before the year ends, too. Otherwise, I'm staying out of the stores for the rest of the year!

Next week, after our guests have left, I plan to write some posts about the success of our financial year and the goals for 2015. I always like reading those from others, so join in, yes even those of you who are lurking out there. Blogging about your finances can be very motivating!

Again, Merry Christmas!

I redeemed Swagbucks yesterday for $25 in Paypal cash. I guess that could be considered a help to cash I'm sending my mother in law for Christmas.

We are giving the flute teacher a gift of a $10 Panera gift card (earned through MyPoints), a lotion bought on clearance last year, and a few candies. Last lessons of the year today!

I found a penny on my basement floor and a nickel in a parking lot yesterday. It does help to look down to find such things!

I was notified by Citi about their Price Rewind program that pays you back if they find a lower price. This got me to think about our flute purchase we made last month. I haven't found a lower price, but I came across a rebate! It is $50, so I filled it out and put in the mail this morning. I remember seeing it at the store, but the employees made no mention that the one we bought qualified. I also didn't think to ask, just glad I came upon it now!

The tires and flute purchased in the last couple months are being carried on two different zero interest credit cards right now. We do have the cash to pay, but I've been waiting for the cash flow from the raise to catch up and help. With payday yesterday the tires are paid off after a $708 payment! I paid $307 towards the flute.

I completed our 52 Week Savings Challenge at the beginning of December. I had been stashing that money in our Capital One 360 Savings account. Most that money has been used to pay for my daughter's band trip this spring. I ended up with an extra $423 in the account, which I'm going to use to pay towards the flute. After I apply that payment later this week, we will owe just $806.

I have made sure to set aside some cash in our checking account to pay for the $250 admission fee to the University my is choosing to attend. I also set aside the balance we will owe for senior pictures, $210. Both of these will be charged on a credit card for points, but it is nice to have the money set aside to pay for them when due.

I did end up return a few items bought for potential gifts. I returned a pair of slippers, a spa kit, a makeup kit and two pairs of men's socks (one had hot dogs on them!). I did keep the four rugs after realizing I paid less than $1.25 each. I'll probably use one myself! Or two!! The returns netted me just under $20, but I consider it less clutter and offset for three pairs of slippers (of a different kind) that I bought for friends that will need to be mailed.

Lots of money activity here! Have you found any money? Have you returned anything you purchased recently? Have you redeemed any Swagbucks or MyPoints?

I mentioned the group gift my husband's siblings are getting my mother in law in another post. Things have changed. The item was to be a media console that looks like a fireplace and is a heater. The picture I was shown and price given initially was $250. Although there are seven siblings total, only five are participating. So that would be around $50 each.

The youngest sibling showed the picture to my mother in law who said it wasn't big enough. There were not enough spaces for her dvd player and cable boxes. Another sibling went looking for other options and found a $400 one. It was decided to ask my husband's mom again if this one would work. It turns out she wants the money so she can shop for one herself.

The question then was how much money the group should give her. In the end it was decided we would give $350 as a group. We had all been willing to put in nearly $90 a piece. This new amount would be $70 each. Of course, this is still above the original $50 we thought we were going in on!

We usually spend $35-40 on my mother in law, so we are spending nearly double our budgeted amount. This comes down to a reason I don't like group gifts. They don't turn out like you expect them to.

Now, I'm not mad at how it turned out. But it does confirm my desire not to participate in the future. I'm not really thrilled that my mother in law requested a large gift and then changed it to cash. I do think she will buy the item and I would guess she will like it. It is so different from my parents who could care less if they get a gift and often tell us we don't need to get them anything. My mother in law is on a fixed income, and usually we get her a bottle of wine, nice soaps or lotions and some quarters for her condo washing machine. Quite a difference, huh?

The other unfortunate outcome of the gift discussion was one sister getting mad at a brother when he was upset about all the group texting. The brother's wife even indicated they had limited texting. The sister was trying to get everyone's advice and do us all a favor in doing the shopping. She felt shut down by their responses. We were later asked to contact the brother to tell them our decision on the gift. This was fine with us and easy in the end because he didn't answer his phone and so we left a message. Just yucky communication between some family members for something that should be enjoyable.

We won't be visiting this side of the family this year, so in the end we are just going to write a check and send a card to my mother in law. It feels a little odd, but if she is happy that will be the most important thing.

Do you think we should have handled the group gift differently? What do you think of someone asking for a gift than changing it to cash?

I received one of the two outstanding rebate checks in the mail today. It was for $8. I deposited it on my mobile phone while I was waiting for my daughter. I also ripped up more than half the mail and piled it into one envelope for recycling. Easier to have the mail head straight there than make a pile!

There is another $18 rebate I sent in, but I would guess I won't see that one until January. It would be nice to see it before year end, so I could apply it to the mortgage.

I had to make a mini store run this evening because I was out of yeast to make pizza dough. I had enough for one crust, or two thin crusts which the girls don't really like because they are to crunchy. While I was getting the yeast, I picked up three microwave meals for my husbands lunch this week. I figured this would keep him from eating out or driving 30 minutes round trip to come home for lunch (although I do like to see him).

I thought about wandering around the store to find stocking stuffers, but decided that would take too long and likely end up in more spending. I need to have a plan for what to buy for stocking stuffers first!

Have you received any rebates this year? Does anyone know of a source for yeast in larger quantities than the basic little jar? Do you plan stocking stuffers or just wing those?

I'm not really a fan of group gifts. My husband has six siblings and they have often gone in together for a large gift for their mom. It is nearly always something she wants, or someone says she wants. I've seen her reaction and she does always seem pleased.

Part of the problem is that some of the siblings can't afford to pay their share of the gift, or even participate. So the group gift becomes a smaller group and a larger burden financially. That has resulted in us opting out of this plan for many years, it seemed to put an end to it for awhile.

This year the group gift has come up again. I think we are actually going to participate. My mother in law wants, according to my husband, a glorified space heater. It's actually a media console for under her flat screen tv that looks like a fireplace mantel and will actually electrically heat up. It's about $250 at Walmart. Our share is likely to be at least $50, maybe more depending on how many people are going in on it.

I think I'm willing this year to participate since we do have the cash, she does want it, and we may not actually be at Christmas this year. (Does that make it a guilt gift?!) It's easier to mail a check then purchase gifts and mail them. So it will be more than the $30 I usually spend, it will be easier and make her happy.

Do you participate in group gifts? Do you avoid them?

Today was a no spend day for me! No store shopping, no online shopping. It was nearly a no spend say for my husband, since he bought two sodas on his way home. I'm glad I can report that at least one day in the month of December I didn't spend any money.

My daughter reminded me of her Secret Santa party in about 10 days. The girls are exchanging gifts with each other. They each drew a name. When my daughter asked the dollar limit for gifts, she was told by one girl it was $25!!!! No, we will not be spending that much. We may get a gift worth that, but I sure hope not to spend more than $15.

I expect we will shop for the gift this weekend, while we are out grocery shopping. I just today made my list for groceries based on the meal plan I made last week for the first 15 days of December. I usually make a meal list one week at a time. I'm enjoying making meal plans for longer periods of time. Maybe eventually, I will just make a plan for the month rather than just week by week!

Do you participate in gift giving at work or with friends? Do you have a dollar limit? How often do plan your meals?

I personally didn't spend a dime today. No online shopping either! However, my husband came home with two sodas after his workout. I just wanted to make note there was at least one day in December that I didn't spend money!

I completed a gift I needed to sew today. The project was a doll blanket and pillow for my foster niece. I did spend money on fabric, bias tape and matching thread. I had some of the fabric, so that helped a little.

I have my meal plan ready through December 15. Today I made a grocery list for the remaining items that I will purchase on Saturday. I will check for sales, and coupons before heading out.

My daughter reminded me of her Secret Santa party in about 10 days. She will need a gift. When she asked about a dollar limit, someone responded with $25!!!! Um, no we will not be spending that much. Maybe $15 or something worth that, but less out of pocket for sure. I hope we can gift the gift this weekend while we pick up other things. I sure don't want to be out shopping at the last minute.

Do you participate in a Secret Santa or work gifts? Is there a limit? What is it? Did you expect to have any no spend days this month?

My shopping this weekend was primarily online. I got up early on Friday to order $300 worth of Target gift cards at 10% off, using my Discover card for hopefully 5% cash back. Just now I ordered some items for my daughter's online, for around $60. I'm actually getting close to being done with them!

We went to a botanical garden out of state on Saturday and used our American Express cards since they were considered a small business. Our other Small Business Saturday purchases were at a local liquor store to stock up on a couple of bottles of liquor we usually buy. We didn't end up doing a third transaction. We ran out of time and ideas before stores were closing. We did all of this after returning from a 4+ hour road trip. All a good deal though.

I paid bills this morning and seem to have quite a bit extra that I likely can apply to paying ourselves back for those tires and flute purchase. I will start figuring that out soon!

Did you do any holiday shopping or visit a small business on Saturday? Are you current on your bills?

I have a link in the previous post about the Capital One 360 offers if you are interested.

I had to go back to the grocery store because when we purchased wine on Sunday, they only rang up 11 of the bottles. I needed that 12 one to show on a receipt so I could redeem a rebate worth $18. Luckily they were cool about it, and rang up another bottle, and gave me the additional discount for another 6 bottles. I paid another $1.93 after that so that I can get the $18 back! Well worth it.

We have been notified by Wells Fargo that we are short in our escrow account. This is because our property taxes increased by $306. The shortage is just $244.67. We have the option to pay in full before Jan 1, or have the amount spread across the next year. Normally, I would be inclined to pay the shortage up front. However, I really expect we will be moving, thus sending in more money a larger refund check later just doesn't appeal to me. I will have the amount spread across the next 12 months this time. Because of increased taxes and the shortage, our new payment will increase by $43.78. I think we can handle that change.

We may be changing our upcoming travel plans do to weather. I'm not a fan of anyone driving when roads are snow and ice packed. It is just not safe and not worth the risk of an accident.

It looks like we will make a little money from my husband's last travel trip. A whopping $25.81. Seems like a snowflake to me! I will add that amount with the $6 I have from a refund and a Pinecone survey and send to the mortgage to meet that goal by year end.

Have a super Thanksgiving! Stay safe and enjoy those you love and care about.

I sent $27.32 to the mortgage today to pay down some more principal. I do all my extra mortgage payments online by the way. So easy!The money was profit from that latest eBay sale and a Pinecone survey check. I love extra funds!!

I also sent $40 to savings that would normally be spent on flute lessons, since they are not having a lesson next week. I'm paying us back for the new purchases of tires and a flute.

I did spend money today, but only on groceries. About $48 at Super Target. I made sure to buy $50 worth so I could use the coupon to receive a $10 gift card. My total was less because I used their Cartwheel app, and my Red Card. I bought items for dinners through next week and a few things I need to take for Thanksgiving. I still have a few more things to purchase, so I will go back again tomorrow and see if I can reach $50 again and use coupon I had sent to my phone. That will mean another $10 gift card! I will likely use the gift cards for other holiday expenses, either a gift or food.

I also sent a $300 check with my daughter to make a payment towards her spring band trip. I took the money from the 52 Week Savings Challenge funds I have accumulated. It seems I will have an extra $300 saved. I expect to use that to pay ourselves back for those tires and flute as well. I will get that squared up before the end of the year.

I can't say much about it since it isn't a done deal, but a job possibility for my husband is in the works. It does require a move and he would likely move ahead of us relatively soon if he is chosen. As always is the case with these military moves, I have mixed feelings.

That's the news from here. Getting so close to meeting that mortgage goal for the year!! Did you spend money today, or pay off debt?

We did end up eating at Chili's for lunch today. The burger we ordered was free since my husband is a veteran. It was nice to have a meal out together since that is rare.

My husband also got his haircut free at Great Clips. We skipped the yogurt and coffee that was also free, as we didn't need the caffeine nor the calories of yogurt.

We stopped in at Joann's Fabric where I spent $2.56 on a gift after an additional 20% off our purchase with the military discount offered.

It was tempting to do some more shopping, but in the end we both really were not up for it. I guess that saved us some money.

There was snow blowing around this morning, but it really didn't amount to much here. With the windchill it was only 8 degrees this morning. Quite an abrupt change after nearly 60 degrees yesterday. This means the furnace is running longer.

Our neighbors across the street have put their house up for sale. I haven't been in their home, but found out from the listing they only have a finished bathroom in their basement. We have nearly 800 more square feet of finished space, including an extra bedroom. I think the house is priced competitively. I will be interested to see how fast it sells, as there are several homes in the area for sale right now. Winter tends to be slow, but not completely stagnant.

I ordered my husband's Christmas gift today. I bid on an eBay item and was outbid already. I found another one to bid on. I may not end up with the item, but figure I have a few weeks to bid before I have to purchase at full price.

Did your temperatures drop today?

I'm hanging in there with this cold. It sure feels like a virus. I was cold earlier today. I feel run down when I do too much. I've been sleeping pretty well and drinking lots of fluids. I expect tomorrow I will feel quite a bit better. I hope at least!

I did my extra store run today. I spent $21 for flour, sugar, brown sugar, powdered sugar, 3 lbs of ground chuck, 1/2 gallon of milk, two small jars of peanut butter, and 3 lbs of clementine oranges. Pretty good in my opinion.

That right there took a lot out of me. I get to spend the day with my husband tomorrow for Veteran's Day. We are going to lunch with another one of his coworkers to take advantage of some free meals. We have yet to decide which restaurant. We also hope to get some free coffee at Starbucks and a free yogurt at Orange Leaf. Yummy!

I used the self serve postal kiosk at the post office today. I ended up getting 10 Spiderman stamps that I didn't pay for. I just grabbed the items I thought were receipts...one of them wasn't! Luckily me I guess. Sorry for someone who left their postage behind.

Have you ended up with a freebie that you didn't expect? Anyone else taking advantage of veteran deals tomorrow?

I feel a bit better today than yesterday energy wise. I still have a lot of sinus pressure, but warm drinks do help!

I had enough energy to get to the grocery store. I spent $130 for the week. I do have to make a small run to another store tomorrow for a few things on sale.

I helped my daughter box up some of her artwork that she is donating to an organization that will use the art as a perk for donating. In the process, I came across a piece of art that I know one of our nephews was very interested in back in June. He's now getting that for Christmas! It's perfect. My daughter is happy about it too.

I also decided we would give two of our snow toys (block form and snowball thrower) to our nieces and nephew who are getting the state park permit. The gift will cost me nothing, but they would probably get use out of them. I will check with their mom first. If she doesn't think they want them, I have another person I think would.

I listed two items on eBay. Hope for quick sales!!

I hope you are all healthy! Wash your hands and cover your mouth when you sneeze.

I've posted everyday this week, but I have kept myself pretty busy so I'm surprised that I even did. I've accomplished quite a few tasks, and none of them too spendy.

Monday was full of cleaning and various tasks around the house. I did go to the store for some cleaning supplies and bought my foster niece a birthday gift. The gift is now wrapped even, and I won't be seeing her until Thanksgiving!

Tuesday was a quick errand to Kohl's to spend $20 worth of Kohl's cash/Yes Rewards. I purchased a new fleece jacket and a needed pair of black tights for my daughter. I spent less than $5 out of pocket. I also began doing some Christmas planning. I know it's early but the intention is to get a few things out of the way in November to make the season relaxing and enjoyable.

Today, I went to meet a friend and her daughter for a little shopping and lunch before they had an appointment. They live out of town so it was a treat to visit. I paid $8.50 for my lunch, and paid $10 for another fleece (which my husband will add to my birthday gift). I turned in our bottles and had $2.50 back, so I used the money towards 10 stamps and only paid another $2.40 out of pocket. I had figured out how many stamps I needed yesterday, so buying those takes another item off my list.

I also stopped at Hobby Lobby and spent $5.60 for some artificial berries for the tomato cage tree I made last year. I believe this will be my only decor purchase this year. I don't need more. While I was there I noticed that all Christmas items were 50% off. This included stockings. I was going to make one for my foster niece but realized at those prices one could be bought! Since it was for my Mom's house I called her with my change of plan, she bought one for $5 that sounds really nice compared to what I would have spent time making, and I would have likely spent far more out of pocket. I guess it's good to know when to fold an idea! I also saved myself some money.

How has your week been? Are you doing any Christmas planning? Did you get any deals or find a way not to spend money?

The goal for the entire year is to pay down $13,993 in principal on our mortgage. Novembers payment, and a scheduled extra payment have been applied. We are less than $1000 away from our goal. Specifically, we have $915.16 left to meet the goal.

I actually thought there was an error because I was seeing that $x15XXX! But alas, it was as right as right can be. Yippee.

I did just make a little payment of $16.40 with some snowflake money that has trickled in since the end of October. That amount is included in the numbers above.

I feel really good about meeting the goal!

A few of you have asked if I will continue this goal in 2015. The answer is a little mixed, but yes I will make a goal to pay off a certain dollar amount for the first six months of the year. It will be more conservative. The odds are really pretty high that we will move. I hope we can sell FSBO, but part of paying the mortgage down was to help cover realtor costs. When you have plenty of equity in the home, it helps it not seem like a big deal. If we can sell FSBO, we will have more cash out than if we had not paid down on the mortgage.

Snowflakes and extra funds will be used to pay ourselves back for tires, vehicle maintenance, daughter's flute, senior pictures, college expenses, eye glasses and other expenses that are eating into some of our savings. It shouldn't take too long to recover, but it is important to take that step as we prepare for another move.

So again, I'm super excited about the goal and getting so close to the finish line! How are your goals for 2014 coming along? Have you thought about your 2015 goals yet?

I received some mail today, one was a bill for an eye exam my daughter received last November! It shows the claim being denied with an invoice of $79 due upon receipt. It also states it is over 60 days due which implies we should have received an invoice prior. I will be calling and getting this straightened out before next months appointment.

The other piece of mail was from our dental provider indicating they are denying our claim of services in August because the dentist is not a network provider. This I did know. However, the dentist office said our insurance company is still paying claims at the old negotiated rate. I know the insurance will still cover at a certain rate, and at a minimum I will owe the difference. I need to call the dentist office to see what they know. I may need to file our own claim, which I do not look forward to.

I don't like getting bills for services I expected to be covered!

It has been a busy weekend, primarily with band and family visiting. I don't think we really overspent. I did buy about $100 in food on Thursday, which did cover all we need. There is still food to eat. No gas was purchased. Tickets were accounted for. We took out an extra $20 cash. I think we only bought three sodas, a hot dog, and one caramel corn popcorn at the two band events. I find that pretty reasonable.

I made two eBay sales. Sales total $30.98. I'm still waiting for payment, but no rush for tonight since tomorrow is Columbus Day and there will be no mail service. I relisted one item that had ended on Friday. I dropped the price, since the item seems to get a lot of people looking but no buyers.

I will spend tomorrow working out, talking with my friend who's mom died last week, hanging with my husband on his day off. I'd like to get more done, but taking care of myself and supporting others is nothing to be taken for granted.

Forever grateful for this life. How about you?

We purchased a used flute on eBay yesterday. It wasn't really that used though, might have been a demonstration model. It actually looks pretty new. We figured we saved over $400 by buying this one rather than new from our local music store.

This flute will be for our youngest daughter and it is the same model as her sister's, which we did buy new. It has been a great flute for her, thus why we wanted the same one and as close to new as we could get.

Our daughter will pay 10% of the cost. We don't really NEED the money from her, but we did make her sister pay the same amount when we upgraded the flute. I think it is gives them a little ownership and knowledge about the cost of things. And sure, I don't mind paying a little less on my end!

I completed two Pinecone surveys in the last 24 hours. I have two items with bids on eBay. I claimed some Bing rewards for Swagbucks, which will help me redeem for two Amazon gift cards on Swagbucks when the code arrives. Little snowflakes on their way!

I'm getting ready for guests AGAIN. More food will need to be purchased. My parents will take me for lunch tomorrow, so that is one less meal I need to purchase. I also have all that soup, chili and bread from our party a couple weeks ago that I will be using up.

I've been trying to do better with workouts and food. I skipped two days of working out, but I'm determined to go today (right after I post this). Did really great tracking food up until last Saturday when we were watching football and my husband kept getting out more snacks! At the days following have been better, but not under my goal. Keep trying, right?

My very good friend from high school learned yesterday that her mother died suddenly. It was likely a heart attack. She was 63. My heart just breaks for my friend and her whole family. I know they will miss her so much.

The good news is financial. My husband's pay increase and back pay since September 1 for his promotion seem to have been processed. The check next week is much much bigger than usual. Unfortunately, I won't be able to see the specifics on the pay stub for two weeks, since their is only one pay stub per month.

I also have one bid on an item I relisted. And someone is watching another item. Would love them both to sell!

I did get magazines decluttered yesterday, but no new posts have been written on Your Organized Friend. I pull three recipes from the magazines and recycled them. I still have three I'm holding on to, since they have a lot of recipes I'm interested in. The blogs I'm following for the challenge indicate the the junk drawer and car should be decluttered for today. I might just be able to get those done.

Any tips on how to support a very good friend while she processes the death of her mother? I'm hours away. I expect likely lots of talking over the next days, weeks and months to come.

I took my daughter for senior pictures today. She is relieved to have them done and have that item off her senior list of things to complete. Senior year is stressful!!

I paid $50 to secure the spot when I called. They waived the sitting fee when we arrived and stated the fee I paid would go towards the picture balance and 16 free wallets are included if we buy a package.

I think we will have lots of nice photos to choose from. Of course, we will try our best not to overspend. Anyone with recent graduates know how much you spent on senior photos?

We have another band competition to attend today. It is so cold and windy here, I'm not really looking forward to it. My phone's weather app thinks it is snowing, but it is dry and sunny. Strange.

We will spend $19 to get in. The admission is a fundraiser for our band program so taht makes me feel better about it. I have the cash already to go and accounted for.

I did hit Target yesterday for groceries and a few needed items like coffee, toilet paper and dishwasher detergent. My bill was around $60, which seemed like way to much, but I really didn't buy anything more than needs. I might have spent a little less if our guests in town for tonight weren't coming, but I did refrain from lots of extras.

I did get one post up on

I'm attempting to track our spending for this pay period. I try to keep our basic spending to $1000 for groceries, gas, entertainment, flute lessons, and miscellaneous for each half of the month. I'm trying to determine if this is realistic. It seems it should be, but I'm using October to see how we do.

If I include two flute lessons that haven't yet happened and admission to quite a few band events for the next 10 days, we have spent $445 out of the $1000. This doesn't make me feel too great to already be at that point, but I will do the best we can to stay around that mark.

I will do the same thing again later in October as well. There are at least two birthdays I need to buy for late in the month, two road trips, two oil changes, and who knows what else!

I will be going to the store to get food for the weekend. We're having guests, but I think I have a good simple food plan for the two meals they will eat with us. I need to get toilet paper, dish detergent, and coffee also.

We were given two family movies on DVDs that we can watch for entertainment this weekend, so hopefully no Amazon rentals needed. I think we can avoid food at the band event based on the time of day. If my youngest thinks she will want something, I will have her bring her own money or at least a snack from the cupboard. I think we will stay in on Saturday night and watch our home football team play. We still have beer left from last weekend.

I think I'm going to start blogging over at

The party on Friday was a success! We had a really great time and I think the guests did too. We ended up with a lot of food leftover. The good thing is I was able to freeze the soup leftovers and have a plan for using them when a round of visitors comes to our home in less than two weeks. I was able to return a package of plates and some serving utensils to Target, so $8 less spent. We also have quite a bit of alcohol, which will last awhile and give us an excuse for another smaller gathering.

Since payday is around the corner, I decided to send off cash from our last paycheck to pay off some of the charges from the last two weeks. The big payment was $475 on our Target Red card. Ugh. I also finally transferred money from our savings account to pay our the gym membership we charged in May. Luckily no interest, but I was tired of seeing the balance on the Wells Fargo Amex.

Even when one doesn't pay interest it does feel so good not to owe anyone anything! Once pay day rolls around I have a couple more small charges I want to complete and I will feel even better.

I hope to make the next couple weeks as low spend as possible. I will need to mention this to DH and see what he can do to reign in some of his spending. He is starting back on a diet, so it might all work out anyway! I'm also going to get back on my exercise bandwagon and counting calories. I need to get the routine down before the dead of winter really hits hard.

How was your weekend? Are you more in the midst of spending or saving?

We are entertaining my husband's coworkers and family members this weekend to celebrate his promotion. We don't entertain much, although I'd really like to do it more often.

We are keeping it casual by making a lentil soup, and chili with toppings. I will make corn and beer bread, in addition to a lettuce salad. I probably make some chocolate chip bars, too.

There will be alcohol, which is likely the biggest expense. I also need to have a few snack items if the party goes late. And since there may be children as young as two, I will whip up a cheese pizza or macaroni. I have apples and carrots that can be cut up to add to those options as well.

I purchased the paper goods last week. I think I will get most of the alcohol and ingredients tomorrow for the food. I will hold off on the lettuce and some of the vegetables until Thursday. Ice will need to be purchased just before the party. I think I will put my husband on that duty!

I'm looking forward to the socializing! I'm not as excited about spending the money.

It feels like we are in that spending mode again. We had two marching band activities this weekend to attend. One was out of town, so their was fuel involved. We spent $12 for admission to one, and $15 to the other. Five dollars was spent on concessions.
My parents met us at one and then took us to lunch afterwards.

Last night my husband and I attended a party at a coworkers home. We bought Subway sandwiches for our girls since there is nearly nothing in the house! We also picked up our own beer to bring. We did have a really good time so it was worth it.

Prior to the weekend, I picked up paper goods at Target for a party we are having at our home for my husband's promotion. I will buy food and drinks later in the week. That part will add up, but I'm excited to have a social event at our home.

I also did some clearance sale shopping at Kohl's and Target last week. I got a very large bag of organic potting soil for $2 at Target, which I used some of to plant 2 $2 pots of mums. I bought some lanterns for decoration that were all marked down, two may go back if we don't use them next week. I'm also returning a hair product. However, I'm keeping the $3 shirt from Kohl's, the slippers for a Christmas gift ($5), an Eddie Bauer wallet ($6) for a birthday gift, and a lotion set as a Christmas gift($4). There were a few other things bought at really low prices, that will definitely get used. I'm not always the best clearance shopper, but I seemed to find just the right items at the right prices. I did use my 20% coupon to get the items reduced even more than they were marked. And now they have sent me another $10 coupon...so I may sneak up there and see if there is anything else worth putting a couple dollars into.

I'm looking at two flutes online for my youngest daughter. One is used and around $800 and another is $1200. The more expensive one is barely used and would save us over $300 from buying brand new. One ends today, so we should decide if we are really want that one or not.

Have you bought anything on clearance recently? What was the best deal you got?