SecretarySaving

Not pictured. I got a Paula Dean pan set from Ross. Total was $49.80 after a gift card I had.

Walgreens
Everything was free except one item that cost me $3.
It didn't print out a register reward and I didn't want to mess with it. Everything in the picture are things that we use.


JCPenny
I got work clothes.
Four pair of slacks (brown, black, gray and light gray)$15/ea.
Gray sweater $14
White long sleeve tshirt
Dress shirts (black, red and gray)$12
Necklace $10



Kohls
I got this awesome pair of shoes. Someone wore them because the heel was a little bit worn and I didn't mind because they were comfy and already broken in. I asked for a discount and the girl at the register took off 40%. Score! I like to wear trouser socks and these will look good with or without them. $16.78

I had my weigh in on Wednesday. I lost 1.4lbs this week. After my weigh in, Wednesday, Thursday and today Friday I have been eating without tracking and that has me worried.

Tomorrow I will get back on track with drinking my water, tracking my food and eating better. I plan to get alot of walking in.

It feels really good to lose weight. I haven't gone down a pant size yet but I'm really close to my goal of losing 10 lbs by 12/31/12.

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Recently I received two months of child support money.

I paid DD#2's YMCA daycare until the end of the school term.

I funded my association fees acct for 2013.

Today, I paid school lunches until the end of the school term.

This frees up money in my monthly budget to allocate elsewhere.

I still have $336 left. I need to get the girls undergarments. Does anyone have any suggestions on spending?

I'm still not feeling well today. Debating if I should go to work or not. It's hard to relax when I have to tend to the girls.

We put up the Christmas tree and set out Christmas decorations.

I picked out my clothes for the week.

Planned my menu for the week using my weight watchers 29 daily points. Breakfast and lunches are Smart Ones dinners (keeping it easy). I will be cooking dinners. I browned alot of ground turkey so we will have spaghetti, chili and spanish rice. My fruit and veggies for the week are corn, greenbeans, celery, bananas and apples.

Got mad at myself for not using a $5 coupon at the grocery store yesterday.

Read two books. America's Cheapest Family and Miserly Moms. Tonight will be The Millionaire Next Door. I've read it before years ago.

Used the back of junk mail paper to feed into my printer.

Made the girls chicken noodle soup for dinner. The can cost me $0.29.

Mailed a check for my water taxes $1064.

Recieved the $40 reimbursement from Tx Childrens Pediatrics.

Received two months of child support. It was shy $10. I am going to prepay daycare until the end of the school term in June. Get that out of the way to free up some money in my monthly budget to be allocated to another category.

Submitted paint exterior paint colors to my home owners association. The secretary told me that she didn't think they would approve because the colors need to be earth tone. I picked a light grey and wanted to paint my garage doors and front door black. I have a red brick home with a little siding on the sides and all siding in the back of the home.

Walked to the bus stop to get my daughter after school. She loves seeing me there instead of her big sister lol.

Cleaned my room.

Got mad at myself for not using a $5 coupon at the grocery store.

Made the girls chicken noodle soup for dinner. The can cost me $0.29!

I didn't eat. Had a rough night last night after a phone call with my ex. I took the day off today for some rest and relaxation and I feel alot better! Just not hungry.

I read two books today. Miserly Moms by Jonni McCoy and America's Cheapest Family. Tonight I will be reading The Millionaire Next Door. I've read it before.

Cleaned my room and cleaned out my purse.

Wrote a check for my water tax bill $1064.

Used paper from my junk mail to feed into my printer.

Received the $40 reimbursement from Tx Children's Pediatrics.

Received two months worth of child support. It was shy $10. I am going to prepay the daycare bill till the end of the school term in June.

Few freebies that I need to cash in on.

-Free 16oz cup of frozen yogurt (no exp date)
-Free kids buffet at Cici's pizza (exp 11/30)
-Free kids meal at Rainforest Cafe (no exp date)
-Free cotton unies at Victoria Secret (exp 11/27)
-Free 2 $25 value cards to Dave and Busters (no exp date)
-Free $5 value gift certificate at Katy Educational Toys (exp 12/2)
-Free $1 catalina from Kroger
-Free 8x8 Photo Book from Shutterfly (I'll have to pay shipping but this will make a great Christmas gift)

This year I was charged $20 per kiddo for their wellness check up back in August and I inquired about it. Sure enough I've got a refund coming in the form of a check for $40 buck a roos!

I had my weigh in today. I'm down 1.8lbs for a total of 4.2 lbs lost. Just a smidge more to get that five pound star. I can do it!

Update - The people that I was doing the refinance with..I let go! It kept dragging on and on. Over charged $25 on the appraisal. $15 charge showed up on my mortgage (from them requesting to see my original note). My insurance company stopped taking my house insurance payment. When I called to inquire why they said that the refinance people said that it would be in escrow. All of this without notifying me before hand! Then a girl from the refi place called me at work and was very rude. Enough was enough. I am proud of myself to have walk away power.

My new game plan is to pay down my second loan that has the high interest rate with any extra money left from my paycheck. Any large sums of money that I come across (bonus and taxes) will go toward some type of home improvement.

Tonight I'm going to Home Depot to take a look at exterior and interior paint samples. Then tonight I will be on pininterest. My stepdad's present to me a few years back was to have my house painted by his crew. He said that he can have them do it the end of this week. Which means I better hurry up and get info over to my association lady.

Thanksgiving week I am off of work and I am thinking about painting the inside of the house. It's just a thought right now. I don't want to get too carried away.

By next year I will decide if I want to refinance or sale.

I need to share. This week I dropped .6lbs. YAY for me!

First week lost 2.2
Second week stayed the same
Third week lost .06
Total 2.8

Which means I need to lose 2.2 pounds to get a 5 pound star! This week it's on like Donkey Kong!! No joke. I really want to lose 5 pounds before Thanksgiving.

Eight people (including me) from my job are doing the WW program. If we do 12 weeks of it and attend atleast 9 of those meetings then we will get reimbursed at 100%. I'm going to try to also have them do it for Jan-March 2013. Just imagine I could be swimsuit ready by next summer ...I am a dreamer!

Anyhoot - I also want to be the first from my company to get a weight loss star.

Goals to drop 2.2 in a week
1)Track everything
2)Drink water
3)Get in some activity (walking or cleaning)
4)Plan my meals out for the week
5)Do not use my Bonus Points

It's been awhile since I have last posted.
My daughter and I had a great time in NYC it's nice to be back home.

I met with my financial advisor on Friday. I'm glad I did because now I'm refocused on my game plan ahead. I started to slack off with my spending.

The 401K that I have with my work has made 16.35% personal rate of return for the past year. My job matches 6% fully vested and I get 1% of my income in profit sharing.

I had opened a Roth IRA through Sharebuilder then let it sit (need to close that!). So, on Friday I opened one with my financial advisor. I'm super excited! I will be depositing $200/mth into that account. I will need to save $2600 as I can to try and max that out for 2013.

I'm on my way. Feeling good.

Even thought DD1 went to NY last month with my family she really wanted for me to follow through and take her as planned. Her birthday is at the end of this month and I am going to get her a school hoody and an itunes gift card. Right now at Randallas I can get a itunes $50 gift card for $35 and the hoody is $25. I bought a LivingSocial deal awhile back for a Brazillian steakhouse so we will use that. I will have a small get get to gether at the house for cake and ice cream with family and friends. Nothing big. Then the first week of October she will have 4 days off from school and that is when we are going to NY. I've already bought the airline tickets, hotel and Ripley's Believe It or Not tickets (Groupon deal). The airfare was $476.20 total for 2 round trip tickets. What a great deal!

I had my house appraisal on Friday. I am anxious to see what it appraised for. They charged me $500 when I was supposed to be charged $475. I should be receiving a $25 credit back.

It's pretty quiet now that we no longer have cable. We made it to the library and checked out some books and dvd's but I've found myself to be more active. I cleaned my room and now I'm thinking about decorating ideas. I'd like to put a picture over my bed and I need something along the blank wall but I'm not sure what. A nice walk way rug would be nice too. If you have any suggestions let me know.

Babies R Us
Paid $3.23 Saved $12.98
I will stick these in the box for Christmas gifts (for my niece and nephew)


Kroger
Paid $47.27 Saved $23.24



Randalls
Paid $14.38 Saved $38.71


Target
Paid $1.55 Saved $25.47

One of my goals was to go with Daughter#1 to NYC. Turns out she went with family. This is really a win/win for me cheapeast trip I'll ever pay for. I gave her $100 spending money and my mom gave her $30. She's with my dad, sister and my 11yr old niece. She is having a blast. I am enjoying the Facebook pictures. This morning she was in China Town. I have been to NYC twice so my feelings are not hurt but my moms were. She has a meeting with the school district and couldn't make the trip. Spur of the moment this weekend I took my mom and Daughter#2 to Fredricksburg, TX. Total cost of trip was $271. That included hotel, gas, food and spending money. I got a few goodies (Circle E candle, bluebonnet seeds and a mix of milk chocolate, white chocolate and cinnamon pecans). We had a blast!

Yankee Candle Reg Price $14.99 sale $5.99
Messenger Bag $29.99 sale $14.99
After using my $20 Kohl's Cash I paid $.90.
Forgot to use my $40 gift card to put that $.90 on.
Don't you hate when you do that?

Daughter #2 was excited I let her get a messenger bag.

The Yankee Candle is for my Mom for Xmas.

Stocking up at Randalls. For 17 items I paid $11.40.
Saved $34.42.

Here is what I picked up at Target today.
For 19 items I paid $5.19. Saved $17.11

I had no money left in my eating out envelope so to the grocery store I went. Everything in the picture was marked down 50% off.

$30.14 spent and I received a $2 catalina.
I've got $28 of grocery money left for the week.

Lawyers are expensive. I kept telling myself that it will pay off in the long run. I was able to recoup my lawyer fees with the cash settlement leaving me with $170.17.

Lawyer Fees $5438.33
Cash Settlement $5608.50
Total leftover $170.17

Details of the child support settlement:
-$5608.50 cash to me due 7/31/12
*Completed today!
-$5608.50 college account due 7/31/12
(dad is supposed to set up)
-$1500/mth child support payment due 8/1/12

One of the three has been completed.

Lawyers are expensive. I kept telling myself that in the long run it will be worth it.

The cash settlement from my child support case has been paid. I was able to recoup my out of pocket fees from the settlement with $170.17 left over.

Cost of Lawyer $5438.33
Cash settlement $5608.50
Total left over $170.17

Additional details of settlement:
$5608.50 in a college savings account due 7/31/12
*this has not been completed yet

Child support awarded is $1500/mth which is the max in Texas. First payment due this month.
*this has not been completed yet

A few things I did today to save money.

1) Ordered a free 8x10 picture from Walgreens.
I used a picture that my daughter sent me of herself.
Turned it into a black and white. I'll put it in a pretty frame and use it as a birthday present for her for next month. She told me she thinks she looks like a model in the picture so I'm sure she'll love it!

2) Ordered a free card from Cardstore. The postage was even free! I set it up to be mailed to my Mother as a thank you for all she does. Apprecation goes a long way and so does a card in the mail!

3) Coke Rewards have been giving out free points daily. I'm not able to load them everyday because I get busy but I had enough to order a Powerade.

4) Ebates will be mailing me a $6.55 check on 8/10/12.

5) Placed my order for $5 gift card to Amazon with using my Swagbucks.

Went to Kohl's for the 2nd time this week.
Made out like a bandit!
They had a huge clearance sale going on and I had a 20% coupon. Spent $156 saved $393. Got back $20 in Kohl's cash. Wonder why I didn't get $30 in Kohl's cash since you are supposed to get $10 for every $50 you spend. Any ideas?

All of the clothes are for me except the clothes on the far right, those are for my daughter.

You might think I'm lucky that I don't have to pay any out of pocket but my problem is I'm gaining alot of weight. The company I work for provides free snacks/lunch food/sodas for all 35 Houston Employees.
Let me give you some examples of what is here..Hostess cupcakes, twinkies, chips, trail mix, nutrigrain bars, etc.
I normally will eat out on Monday (we have a food court near by. Tuesday we have a hot lunch delivered. Then we eat left overs the rest of the week or a sandwich and soup. Something like that. Another problem I am having is because I am the Secretary here my lunch usually gets interrupted. I would like some peace and quiet. My breaks lasts 30 minutes.
My new plan is going to be to eat out on Monday and have lunch in the breakroom with my favorite co worker. Tues-Thurs make a healthy plate then high tail it and go eat in a conference room by myself and read a book.
If anyone has some advice, I'd love to hear it!

I had a free $10 card and it expired today.
They are having a great sale 60-80% off!

I didn't have much time so I grabbed 3 pr of undies that were on clearance. TMI but the undies I got are "barely there" brand I'm excited. I was taxed on the amount after the $10 card. Cool! I paid $.76 and saved $28.30.

I just recently started contributing to my 401K. My company matches 6% so that is what I put in. I am enjoying watching my account grow. I met with a financial advisor earlier in the year and I am greatful that I did. Still need to set up a Roth IRA!

Balance April 2012 $3,493.52
Balance June 2012 $4,963.22

Net change in Market Value $1,469.70

First Loan
Current Principal $88,925
Rate 6.35%

Second Loan
Current Principal $23,144
Rate 8.75%

My rates are so high. Gulp!

My broker got back with me and said that he will know something this evening or tomorrow morning at the latest on the loan. He's got to shop it to see which lender will work the best. He said with my credit score that my rate should be between 3%-4%. Right now my rates are crazy! I am at 6.35% and 8.75% with my current 80/20 loan. My appriasal he said should be between $400-$425 which is great. I paid $500 for an apprisal back in 2010. He said that would be my only expense out of pocket. Everything else would be rolled into the loan. He said we can shop my homeowners insurance to bring that down. I am also wanting to lower the term on the mortgage. Stay tuned!