Well, tomorrow makes four weeks since I quit smoking. Four weeks already? Yes, indeed! It's hard for me to believe but it's true. In that four weeks, I'll have not spent $238.00! I'm pretty proud of myself to be honest but know I'm not out of the woods. I have to stay on guard, all day, every day against that one cigarette that can undo the progress I've made. Meh.

Tomorrow is pay day. I have to pay the internet, electric, and post office box bills, get cash for the next two weeks of food and gas, and save every bit of money left to go to rent and insurances due in February. The hours at work are being cut again. This week I'm scheduled for only 31 but it's going to be more like 29, I think. I have two houses to clean next week, though, so the money from those will come in very handy.

I'm off work today and Mom and I are going to the Alzheimer's support group meeting. Oh joy! Those meetings are emotionally exhausting but good, also.....

Or at least share with me what you think the most important aspects are. In lieu of that, URLs for websites with good information on the Solo401(k) would be helpful. I've been reading about them today and the Solo might be a good option for us. It's at least something to consider...

One thing I want to know is this - how does one go about finding an entity to set it up? That still has me a little puzzled.

I don't have much to say of a financial nature. The bills for the month are all paid except for one due on the 23rd but we have the money for it. I'll pay it Monday, probably.

My $20 challenge amount is right around $425, thanks to a little extra cash I got. Hopefully I'll soon be paid for the recipe work I've done and that should give me about $300 to put toward old debt.

On the job front things are going well. I'm working between 32 and 38 hours most weeks and would like to work 40 but am content with what I'm getting now.

We haven't spent much on groceries or anything else lately. We went out to eat tonight but haven't done much eating out lately. Instead, I've done a lot of meal planning and cooking which has saved us a bundle.

Today I bought some Biotin and Chromium Picolinate. When I was first diagnosed with Diabetes supplementing with those helped me keep my BG under control and I hope it helps again. We'll see.

I do plan to hit the stores this week for some good buys that are coming up but that's about it.

Ho hum...

So, it was a little under $50. Not a big debt and not a really old one but it was the smallest in our list of debts to be paid and now it's paid. Wooohooo! One down and ___ to go! Just paying off that one gives me a little more incentive to tackle the others.

So, I heard that starting today Target has Pepsi products at $15 for 5 twelve packs and you get a $5 gift certificate. Plus, Target's website had a coupon for $1 off 2 twelve packs of Pepsi product.

This morning my happy bottom was down there fairly early! I got 10 twelve packs of Pepsi products, one bottle of half and half, my favorite deodorant (had a $2 coupon for that) and two $10 gift cards for $25.60. Wooooot! That figure includes my discount but that was only 10% of the deal.

If you consider gift cards as good as cash, the Pepsi products cost me about $.06 per can. And I still have the cards to use.

And don't forget that there's a printable Dollar General coupon, expiring today, for a BOGO Coke/Diet Coke 2 liter deal. We have about 14 of those 2 liter bottles in the pantry, sitting next to the Pepsi cans.

Don't you just love a great deal?

Okay, not really my first trip ever but my first using coupons and a RR and trying to see what I could save.

I went there tonight and here's what I got:

78 ounces Sun detergent, on sale for $2
A 6 big roll pack of Charmin, $4.04 with a coupon
4 half gallons of milk, $1.99 each
2 13 ounce containers of Folger's coffee, $2 each (between them being on sale and having 2 coupons)
Aquafresh toothpaste, free after rebate
80 count Cuddle Soft fabric softener sheets, $2 on sale

I used the $3 RR I got the other day on the Pepsi deal and used the $5/$20 coupon good for today only plus coupons on the Folgers and Charmin.

I saved $13.90 all together and spent $15.

That wasn't bad considering I didn't know what the heck I was doing! It was fun, too!

Hopefully I'll get this down pat fairly quickly and will be ready for the CVS challenge!

I opened the java joint three days in a row then today worked 3 to 8:45, closing by myself. I work 7:30 to 3:00 tomorrow by myself then work in the other part of the store until 5:00. It's going to be a long day!

My feet hurt, my back hurts, I'm tired, and I just want to sleep! But I can't! Grrr, insomnia is NOT what I need right now.

I'm off Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday but asked for some hours on Thursday so I get 9 more hours that day. I need to get as close to 40 a week as I can so although three days off in a row is a real blessing, it's one I can't really afford right now. I'll just have to be happy with two days off this week.

Tomorrow night is FPU. It starts at 6:30 and won't be finished until about 8:30 but maybe I can get to bed before 10:00 and get some good sleep.

Here's hoping...

Someone posted on the local Freecycle group that he has all 271 MASH episodes, all like new or never opened or viewed to give and I get to pick them up Monday! Wooot! DH is quite the MASH fan so this will be fun for him.

So they're VHS tapes but that's okay. We have a couple of those machines that work. However, we have no TV right now! I guess we'll have to work on that next. Ha!!

I just love Freecycle!

Alright, we'll soon start the process to settle the old debts we have. I'm very nervous about it, no..I'm downright scared. I have this fear that we'll wake the sleeping bears and they'll all come after us full force. I don't know that I can handle the stress of that right now. DH says he'll deal with them, though. He's much braver than I am in just about every way and I think he'd be able to handle it better.

At any rate, there's about $16,000 in old debt to tend to. I'm still trying to figure out the best way to approach this but I think I need to send them all VODs and go from there.

Wish us luck!

I haven't had much to say lately but that's because...well, I haven't had much to say!

DH's business is picking up after the pre-Easter slump. My job is going well. I really do like it now that I know what I'm doing. I still don't get enough hours, though, and that's my only real complaint. This week I get 23 hours. I picked up a 4 hour cashier shift yesterday, which was one of my scheduled days off, and hoped they'd call me today, which is another day off, to take one but they didn't. Ah well, such is life! We're still making it and things are improving.

We've had a few slips in the smoking cessation department but they're minor in the scheme of things. We've saved so much money - it's amazing. And we feel so much better, too!

The envelope system is still working beautifully for us as long as we stick with it. That's the hard part but we're still working it.

Financial Peace University is rockin' along. This week was the 'Big Bargains' lesson. DH is the king of bargains so other than one thing Dave mentioned, it was old news to us. It sure was fun to watch Dave talk about it, though!

So, that's about it for me for right now.

I don't know what happened but my blog is all messed up and my entries are gone!

became a mother! I wish I'd known...

Just how tiring and painful having a new baby could be. I had no clue about sleepless nights, breastfeeding every two hours, cracked nipples, c-section recovery, and being emotionally and physically drained from childbirth.

To be more patient and loving with my toddlers. I scolded too often, yelled too much and didn't spend enough time just loving on them. I often put teaching them to keep their room neat above just rocking them and enjoying them. They turned out well in spite of me, though.

Just how fleeting our time with our little ones can be. I lost one daughter at birth and her identical twin died almost eleven years later. I spent those years as the mother of four, grieving for one that was gone and one that was severely disabled. Then she, too, was gone, gone way too soon. I still miss them both and wish I'd known how short our time together would be.

Just how wonderful my life would be as a mother and how precious those little ones are. The changes, good and bad, had much to do with who I am today. I'm thankful for them, all of them, and pray I keep that gratitude in place. But I can still wish I'd known then what I know now...

I knew today was the birthdate of Elvis and I knew it was National Bubble Bath Day but no one told me it was also National English Toffee Day! Arrgh, and to think I missed it. It's almost 9 PM here, too late to go out for dinner or call friends and have them come over for some sweet toffee. Drats!

Well, I guess I'll just put on some Elvis music and read the back of my milk carton while I take a nice long bubble bath...