My ebay sales ended yesterday. Out of 13 items I sold 9. I don't think I will relist the other items at this time. Some items were mine others were my neighbors.

My 5 items grossed $29.65...not too bad. I will take a break from sales for a few weeks while I find some more items to sell. I know they are in this house somewhere!!

The listing for my couch expired yesterday, so I have relisted it for $100. I had it down to $125 before. I'm dropping it again in hopes of getting it out of here, while getting a little cash, too. I need to get the couch out since it is now a bit crowded with the new to us piano I purchased last week.

I have a Land's End couch cover that I was selling with it, but have decided to sell it separately on ebay.

We had my best friend and her family here for a visit this past weekend. She wrote me a check for $50 to cover food, gas (since I drove them around) and other incidentals. It definitely helps me and I know they appreciated not having to stay in a hotel two nights.

Weekend spending was a little high because of the guests and outings. Seemed to be mostly snacks for my kids.

Upcoming expenses, small increase to insurance premium because of new van. We owe $26.76 for the remainder of the period which ends in October.

Youngest daughter will have a birthday in July. She wants a hamster. We will probably have a party of some sort. On this one, it may be out of town with the grandparents. Decisions still have to be made on that because it is more costly to travel than stay home for obvious reasons.

Youngest daughter is in Bible School this week. They have a mission project to collect toiletry items for kids and young adults. Going out today to buy a few items to donate.

DH was paid recently and I have put $675 in our slush fund. I think some of this may get spent before the next pay period, but the goal is to hang on to at least half of it.

Sign up for dance lessons is this coming Saturday. I have the cash set aside for this. For the whole year, it will be either $730 for two classes or $1025 for three. One daughter is still deciding if she wants to take the extra class. I'm wishing she doesn't...but will be fine either way.

Next month we will begin searching for piano teachers. The budget will need to be updated when we add this new expense. It may be a bit costly because the 7 year old and husband both want to learn.

Spending, spending, spending!! I really need to find more things to sell or get a job.

Last year, our first summer in our new town, we purchased a combined membership for the zoo, the science center and a histroy farm. Total cost $199. I'm pretty sure it was worth our money as we went mulitiple times.

This year we are opting out of the zoo and science center. We've been zoo members for many years and as our girls have grown it doesn't seem to be as interesting to them. The science center doesn't change their exhibits frequently, so we are also opting out of that one.

We've decided to stick with the history farm membership for $70. I will buy it this weekend when my best friend and her family come for a visit.

The history farm is one of those unique things about our city and is really educational with hand on chores for kids to experience. There are also several other out of town family members who have expressed an interest in going. We will save quite a bit with a membership if all those out of town visitors want to go.

What is your take on memberships? Do you use them or avoid them? Which ones do you use the most?

This beautiful piano...



I paid $300 for it. I also paid professional movers to bring it halfway across town. The cost to move was $170.

Now it will need to sit a week or so before I can have it tuned. It still sounds pretty good, but I guess you are suppose to tune it every time you move it.

I also need to be looking for a piano teacher who will teach my youngest daughter and my husband. Next thing you know I will have more beautiful music filling my home. I do have some already as oldest daughter is playing the flute!

My husband is traveling for a few weeks on the west coast. He went out for dinner with his co-workers to a restaurant even though meals are provided on the post.

Yes...the bill for his portion of the meal was $80! This include the entree, two glasses of wine and a tip...and he's always generous with tips!

He told me at first he had picked a salmon dinner off the menu for $28. The waiter then came to tell them the specials. In his mind, special meant discount!! So, he ordered the Halibut special...without asking the price. Turns out it was over $45 for the entree.

At least he said it was really, really good. He decided, on his own he was done spending for the week.

All I can say is how shocked I am. I had no idea he was going on vacation...I thought it was a work trip!!

Anyone else ever paid that much for a single meal?

This last year one daughter took tumbling lessons and the other dance (tap, ballet & jazz). I paid the bill monthly since I didn't know if they would complete the whole year. Turns out they liked it, well enough to continue for another.

Early registration is in two weeks. One will take tumbling again...moving up to an advanced class! The other is thinking about Hip Hop...which make the older one want to try that, too. If I pay in full, I don't have to pay the recital fee. That will save me $84...so I think I will do that. Looks to be $1027 if they both take hip hop, or $730 if only one is in hip hop.

I will then need to add dance classes to my escrow account so that next summer I will be sure to have the extra cash when registration comes around. I just lucked out this year to have it at the right time this year!!

$1027/12 = $85.58/ month to escrow
Or
$730/12 = $60.83/month to escrow

I will base the amount I save based on what they actually do this year. I should be okay either way.

We received our water bill yesterday. It was approximately $42 for the month. It is about $6 lower than last month.

I think we used less water because my husband was out of town more...less showers. My younger daughter didn't shower quite as often as she should have. I also was slacking on the laundry, so I think I did fewer loads.

It's nice to see a bill drop!

With the recent van purchase, our debt has increased. We have two loans now other than our primary mortgage. The home equity loan is the smaller of the two, and sits at 7.5% interest. The van loan is larger at 3.9%.

Our home equity loan needs to be paid off in about 2.5 years or December 2010. Or at least that is my preferrence to have that money ready for the next home we purchase. It is very likely that is when we will need to move a few months after that.

It looks like if I add another $435 to the regular payment we can meet this goal on time. I will also put all extra income towards this loan as well.

I have another $1K, that I'd be willing to put towards the loan, but I'm holding off. DH needs new clothes...really he's now a size medium after our weight loss, but he's wearing Large shirts...he's just swimming in them. We bought the girls bikes and we would like them also. The van would then need a bike rack.

I really should hit the garage sales for these things...so that I can put more towards the home equity.

It's really amazing how an increase in income after a long time of sacrafice can put one in a spendy mood. We're still saving and investing on top of all the spending...so I can be too upset at myself. I need to get back into the debt payoff mode!

We bought a used dark gray 2007 Honda Odyssey with 4500 miles (that's not a typo) on Saturday. We got a great deal on it, too!

The van had been stolen from the previous owner and recovered after 10 days with major smoke damage to the interior. The DVD player had also been ripped from the ceiling. I don't know all the details, except that the insurance company insisted that the carpets and seats be replaced. As a result, the interior is like new. I think the previous owner was a bit traumatized by the whole ordeal and decided to get something else. Their loss...is our gain.

It is certified, so we get an extended warranty on it. We did bring it home this weekend and will need to take it back in to have a tow hitch put on, as well as, get the DVD repaired.

We were able to get the van for about $4500 off the dealer's certified price listed on Edmund's and Kelly Blue Book, so we feel like we received an excellent deal.

It was a whirlwind of a sale, we were notified at about 4pm on Friday by the sales agent about the van. We didn't receive the message until much later on Friday. We called first thing on Saturday morning. After a couple calls back and forth, we received a price over the phone. From there we check that price online to see that it was a great deal. We told the sales agent we were very interested and short on time...daughter's had dance recital that started at 1:30pm. He asked about our trade, which we told him over the phone. We headed over for a test drive and were out of the dealership in 1 hour and 45 minutes!

I apologize that I don't have any before pictures, but the color was a golden tan. The wall color now is a light blue. One daughter gets the brown towels and the other the teal towels.

Here's a few pictures of after...

I painted our daughter's bathroom this past Tuesday. It was about the only room in the house we had not painted since moving in over a year ago.

All the funds came from the garage sale we had about a month ago. It was their motivation to declutter their stuff...so they could get a bathroom makeover.

The makeover included paint, shower curtain, bath mats, toilet cover and new towels. I think our total was less than $100 for the whole thing. I bought everything at Bed Bath & Beyond and used coupons for every item. The paint was from Lowe's. I had a $5 coupon and the paint qualified for a $5 rebate this past weekend as well.

It looks much more like a girls bathroom than before and they are thrilled with the results.

It feels great to have sold many things we no longer needed and to have a new bathroom at the same time. It really was just a matter of priority for me, as well as the girls. Which did we want more, stuff we don't use or a redone bathroom?

piano? It's a upright console made of oak. Not sure on the age...maybe at least 12 years.

I have yet to go see it. I'm sure I will soon. It's listed on craigslist. I called piano movers today and one said $120 plus $10 for each step. I have 5 steps and she has 3...so $200 to move it to our home.

I will then have to pay to have it tuned before lessons would start for my 8 year old. Did I tell you that DH might want to take some lessons, too?

So...$600 for a used piano...is that a steal or what? I better go see it soon, before it slips away.

tomorrow! We are actually looking for a van. My DH has the day off for the Memorial weekend. I have one vehicle picked out that is used that has everything I want. It's an older body style Honda Odyssey. That's the part that my husband doesn't like.

I've been so tempted to buy a new...like a 2008 Toyota Sienna, that I'm actually pleased to find an older vehicle with low miles and options I'm interested in.

I've been amazed at how much I'm swinging from one type of vehicle to the next. That includes being willing to borrow over $7,000 more! Crazy.

We'll see what we end up with...if anything. I really don't want to jump too quickly...especially if we start leaning towards new. In fact, we've never bought a brand new vehicle. Well, we leased one...but I wouldn't do that again.

Oh, don't worry, I haven't forgotten about the home equity payoff. It's still in the plans. Once I know what we are doing on this vehicle...it will be attacked swiftly!!

My daughter will be in 6th grade at a middle school next year. I'm already paying!! We have registration in April. They collect many fees at that time.

I paid fees for books & materials, a planner, gym uniform, and a yearbook. A total of $101! On top of that, I bought her a one-piece Speedo swimsuit. They have a wonderful pool there that they will use multiple times next year. The one piece part is required for girls.

Today the 5th graders are going for a visit. They also get to try out the pool. It's a wonderful school and I'm very excited for her. I just hope that the costs don't get too out of hand.

It sure would be nice if schools could give you a list of expected expenses, such as for field trips, pictures, fund raisers, dances, ect. Who knows what else there might be!!

I know all schools are different, but can anyone think of expenses that are different in high school/middle school compared to elementary?

We just came back from my DD's 5th grade band concert. This was her first year playing the flute. All those kids did just wonderful. My DD was part of a flute trio, because she was doing so well. Nice to just hear flutes, since they can be hard to hear at times!

We had a dessert potluck after, with parents donating dessert or drinks. It was a fun way to celebrate a successful year of band.

My daughter will continue to play band into 6th grade. She's even crying tonight that she will miss band!! She's worried she will forget to practice over the summer. It will be a good excuse to get her some new music and have some band friends over to play together.

I've been renting to own the flute, which is a great deal when you don't know if your child will continue in band for more than a year. If she didn't like it after two months, then we could have returned the flute and owed nothing more than the months we had already paid for.

Now that she's made it through one year, I should see if I can pay it off early for less. I feel pretty confident that she will continue.

...is just around the corner. He seems like the hardest person to shop for. Is it because I don't know him well enough? Or maybe he just doesn't seem to have a lot of wants and needs. It seems like I feel this way every year.

We will be traveling to his town for a couple days next weekend. I think he is looking forward to having my family visit. It has been awhile since we've been in their next of the woods.

It seems harder, too, that his birthday is followed so closely by Father's Day! Yikes...two gifts to buy in a row.

Last year we bought him golf shirts, the wicking kind. He really liked those. He had bought himself new golf clubs, so it seem to fit with what he was doing at the time.

I hope I can think of something soon...

take piano lessons. Unfortunately, we don't have a piano. I could get one from my sister...she lives three hours away. But my sister was looking forward to having it.

I'll have to look into renting or finding a give away piano. I don't even know what the least expensive type costs.

She took dance lessons this year and has decided she doesn't want to continue. I had no idea she had an interest in piano! I could have been saving for this.

Interesting how children's interests change! How does one plan for that. Of course, if it turns out we can't afford it then it won't be an option and she'll have to find something else.

I'm off to look at craigslist!

I'm holding a garage sale late next week. I shopped today for poster board and price stickers. I spent $8.36 on these supplies. Now it may turn out that I will be able to return a piece of poster board or a package of price stickers.

I also put a 3 day advertisement in our local paper for $28.00!! That is for 6 lines of print. It seems a little pricey, too. Maybe I should own a newspaper...

Now, I will be splitting these costs with my neighbor with whom I am having the garage sale. I'm sure I could have done it much more frugal, by making a sign out of cardboard or using masking tape for prices.

I hope that my advertisement, neon yellow signs and clearly marked prices bring us large profits. We both have many nice things to sell.

tulips! I went on a mini day vacation with my neighbor today while our kids were in school. A nearby town is having their annual tulip festival. I'm a big flower lover, so it was wonderful to get outside and take in the fantastic sites.

I spent $20 on a tour, admission to a historical windmill/dutch town and food. It was a little more than I really wanted to spend, but we did have a great time!

Here's a picture:




Have a great weekend everyone!

to drive in my new home state. I moved a year and half ago. Ssshh! Don't tell anyone.

I paid $23 for a 5 year license. I think they have two year licenses, but I'm pretty sure I'll be here for a little longer than that. It is quite a drive to the location, so I figure by getting the 5 year license I save myself time by not having to renew my license again and gas by not having to drive such a distance.

My neighbor went with me to get the license. It was nice of her to support me and stay on my case about getting it. I bought her a juice drink later. My coffee was free, because of a frequent buyer card I have. My mom usually buys when she's in town.

I also picked up a little candy for May Day baskets. We used cups we already had. Popped one bag of popcorn to divide among the cups. Added the candy...with some leftover for us.

Oh, I need to add our April interest to the challenge. It was down this month, of course, despite my balance being slightly higher. We received $11.95.

New Balance = $532.81

My youngest daughter has allergies. She was diagnosed at about 9 months...her first spring! Looking back, she had allergies immediately. We have a picture where she is two weeks old and my husband has put a warm washcloth over her eyes and top of her nose to help her stuffy nose.

She was given a prescription and eventually switched to Zyrtec several years ago. We've paid various copays over the years. The highest I remember was $18/mo. The lowest on our current plan was $9. Actually, the lowest has been $0, when Pfizer used to give rebates up to $10 back! Boy, I miss those days.

Now, Zyrtec is over the counter and not available for prescription. My DD was taking the chewable version. Do you know how much it costs to buy chewable Zyrtec for a child who takes one pill everyday 10 months out of the year? You do the math...$12.99 for a package of 12 tablets.

Because of the cost, I made her switch to pills she will swallow. Target sells 30 of these tablets for $19.99. My price just more than doubled...much better than the chewables. DD has done great in getting them down. They are small, but she bites it in half and swallows each half. Seems to work!

Now, here's the exciting part! Walgreen's sells a generic version of Zyrtec. A couple of weeks ago, I was able to get 30 tablets for $7.99 with their in store coupon!! Yeah, now the price is lower than what I used to pay.

I may just grab some more to stock up. This week they have 90 tablets for $22.99!

Bad news, turned into good news! Funny thing is my daughter is brand loyal. She gets mad at the Claritin commercials that put down the drug she takes. I did tell her about the generic, but she's still a fan of the Zyrtec.

I broke a spring on my Ford Taurus today! It tore a giant ring/hole in my tire. Completely blown out. Yikes!! You know what that means...a car repair bill.

Before I tell you how much, I want to say that it happened in my neighborhood only three houses from mine. Luckily, my husband was still home from work to help me figure out what happened. I also have the cash to pay the bill in full. For these, I am so very grateul.

Including a regular oil change and air filter, my total bill for struts, tire, and springs with labor and taxes is....

$1,404.93!!

wine!

Now we are not alcoholics. But we do like drinking wine on the weekend. I don't even buy the expensive brands. But $10 a week adds up.

I think of my ebay sales as a online garage sale. I'm not trying to get much more than I would at a garage sale...okay maybe I am!!

Turns out from last weeks sales of 12 items I netted $74.16! That's an average of $6.18 per listing. Definitely nothing to sneeze at.

The nice thing about a online garage sale is that you can have them any time of year. Right now it is cold and rainy here. I'd much rather be inside by my fireplace making sales than in my cold garage.

Now I will be having a garage sale in a couple of weeks and I will enjoy that too. For now, I'm just pleased to be getting rid of some of our stuff. It's all apart of our spring cleaning.

----

On another note, my DH and I will be celebrating our 12th anniversary tomorrow on April 12th. We have never had a honeymoon, so we feel lucky to get to go out of town for one night and spend some time alone together. My sister is coming to stay with the girls.

Yes, it won't be our most frugal anniversary. We have had plenty of those. I'm sure this won't even happen every year. So, I'm really going to enjoy this one!!

is the total cost for all Liberty's vet visits! I am so not used to this as an expense. We do have some slush money and our emergency fund to cover things. It was money well spent to get her feeling better. I wish we could have avoided x-rays...$95!!

She has finally started eating, just not large amounts yet. She's being treated with another antibiotic and gets to stay home now. The vet's best guess with out charging me more for blood work is that she got toxoplasmosis...most likely from our newly adopted cat. She was also on antibiotics recently...so now they should both feel great!

Here are the offenders...Liberty on the left and Riley on the right!



Thanks again for all the well wishes!

Liberty is our oldest cat. We have had her for 3 years as of tomorrow. She's 3.5 years old. A dark gray tabby. She was our only cat until about 6 weeks ago when we adopted Riley from the animal shelter. Riley is a light gray tabby about a 1 year old. They have become good friends...lots of playtime together that's fun to watch.



Now Liberty is sick. We aren't sure what it is yet...maybe just a hairball or something more. She's been to the vet for a couple shots. She won't eat or drink. Vet doesn't want her to until tonight anyway. So, since Sunday night she just sleeps and gets sick. I feel so sad for her. It would be great if any of you could send us healing energy for Liberty.

The vet visit was $75. I'm just guessing there may be another visit ahead. Sometimes life and all that goes with it doesn't follow our plans or expectations. I don't escrow vet visits because with cats they are so rare. I suppose as they get older it will be more important to have a vet fund.

Update: She's back at the vet. She had xrays...nothing shows up! Now they are keeping her overnight for observation and to give her fluids. Thanks for all the warm wishes.

As I stated in an earlier post, we will be doing a bit of spending. We've had a significant increase in pay. We are saving along the way as well. Here's what were buying:

We bought the girls new bikes to the tune of $148. We are looking for some for ourselves as well. More than likely we will buy them new, though I've looked at craigslist to see if there were any there. Not yet!

Easter is coming up and I will have company at my house for Saturday night and Sunday. That means a large food bill. It's actually my first time hosting!! I'm kind of excited about that. They will help out and bring a dish or two for Sunday brunch.

There's more...it's spring break. DH and girls are home, so we are treating ourselves to some local activities, indoor swimming, roller skating, bowling and a movie. We are having such a good time being together, but the activities make it even more fun.

I always find it interesting to know what type of cars people have, how they paid for them and if they owe any money. So I'll share mine.

We've owned an '89 Nissan Truck, ,89 Geo Metro, '97 Plymouth Breeze. We leased a '96 Nissan Sentra for two years for $132/mo. Currently we own a '97 Dodge Caravan and a'02 Ford Taurus.

Our current vehicles are paid for and were bought used. We've always bought used knowing that autos depreciate quickly in the first year or two. We took out four year loans and paid off within two years in both cases. Both vehicles have over 100,000 miles. We have a significant EF to cover repair costs when they arise, which has been less than once a year.

It is a relief not to have a car payment. But that may change soon. The van is still reliable. My husband drives it 30 minutes to and from work each day. It has $122,000 miles and the transmission MAY be going out. That's what it seems like to me...he disagrees.

So, with our raise in income we are considering getting a used Honda Odyssey. That will mean a car payment unless we can hold out long enough to pay cash...I just not sure if I'm that patient. I know I can wait long enough to have money for the down payment, taxes and tags.

I'll keep you posted.

My blog is Some For Now, Some For Later. My goal this year and always is to find the right balance between spending and saving. So while I will tell you about our savings habits, I will also mention some things we spend money on. This is one of those for now.

Background first:

My husband was promoted recently. This means a huge raise!! His first paycheck is tomorrow with funds backdated to February 8. We have doubled our income in 1 1/2 years! How did we do this?

My husband went from working three jobs to working full time for the Army Reserves. It did require us to move and move away from our entire family. While the Army has it's downsides, we felt it was a great opportunity for our family to see new areas of the country and meet new people. He loves the job most of the time...except when bureaucracy gets in the way!

So my point, now with this raise we will be spending some of that new earned money. We have already increased our retirement and education contributions, too! We're saving 20% of our income in one way or another.

Guess what the first luxury item is? It's something most women could care less about, but many men drool over. It's a plasma TV!

It so unlike us to buy something like this. Our current TV is going out. It's getting close to black even with the brightness on high. We also don't get very good reception with our bunny ears. In 2009 everything goes digital anyway. So, because BIL sells electronics, were getting this item at cost, minus a $200 manufacturers rebate. We are paying half of the retail value!!