Naturally Optimistic

I sure wish that someone would write an article about simple money saving tips that are not the obvious! Or at least not the things that I already do - * Give up your designer coffee - check, don't drink coffee anyway... * Pack a lunch for work - I almost always did this; Steve does this daily * Meal plan - do it * Cut your cable - already done * Limit your "going out" or "out to eat" expenses - we do this * Eat vegetarian dinner options once or twice a week - do it * Go to the library instead of buying books/music/movies - yeah, we do this too... You get the idea. I would really like some tips that would actually help me. I'm down to iPhones, home internet (not giving THAT up), Netflix (streaming only) & I'm trying to sell things that are laying around the house that we don't use &/or take up space....I also am bartering/trading these items for other things that other people may have/make....you get the idea. So what about me? Ho...

Not having a wonderful day. Annoyed at many things - I broke my sewing machine...well, I think I just 'put it back together' incorrectly & I have a lot of projects I'd like to be working on; I cannot find my wallet which I think August removed from my purse back on Wednesday (lovely); I cannot find my sewing machine manual; I need a bunch of car repairs - some of which because a certain someone who I live with (not to name names) happened to run over one of our little patio tables with it the other night & now I have no capacity to retain windshield wiper fluid. Oh and I need to have my fillings replaced. Wheeeeeee! ** To top it off, our babysitter that we had lined up for tonight so that we could just go out & get a burger & a drink in peace, cancelled about 45 minutes before we were supposed to pick her up. This set Dahlia OFF - she was sad & mad & "frustrated" & "angry" that she wasn't going to get to play with our ba...

After I got my new car in November, I noticed a disturbing trend. The heater didn't really work. I mean, it worked...but it worked on it's own schedule. I couldn't adjust it for fear of it blowing freezing cold air. We finally figured out that if we turned the knob all the way to cold, and then back, it would start working again. I'm terribly slow (and short on cash) these days & just dealt with it through the cold months of winter. Sure it was a pain in the butt, but we survived. Last week, though, I couldn't stand it any more. It was 55 degrees outside. It was HOT in my car and I couldn't get any COOL air to blow. Just hot. My turning the dial trick didn't work. I was dying...ugh. I had to have the windows down just to breathe. It was annoying & made me crabby. Steve was in the car with me & said that that was just stupid & I should get it fixed. He was right, of course. He immediately called the auto shop & made me an appointment. So, ...

I realize that the reason I had "so much money" (hahahaha) in my checking account is because I didn't pay any September bills. Whoops! *sigh* Now I'm truly broke.

The refi is complete! Whew! I didn't think it was going to go through for a while yesterday - not because of anything we did (or didn't do) but the banks & title companies are so overwhelmed right now with everyone refinancing that things are generally chaotic. The good news is, we had to come up with about $800 less that we originally thought. Which isn't a TON but was enough to make things a little less tight around here. Our mortgage is now $6k less than it was; our monthly payments are almost $200 less. Our taxes will be going down a little bit too because I had the city accessor come out and reappraise our house (our appraisal & our tax statement were off by about 7%) - it won't be a ton but hey, I take what I can get. Now we only need to come up with another 10% of our mortgage to drop the evil PMI. I can't wait! Of course that'll take quite a while but a lot less since yesterday. We also make two payments a month which turns out to be an extra pay...

Well, I finally posted our dining room table & chairs on Craigslist on Wednesday night. I had about 8 responses within 24 hours! I just sold it to the 2nd responder for asking price - no haggling at all. Whohoooo! We ALMOST have room to park one car in the garage. Yay! Now I'm looking for other things around the house to sell....

thanks to ME. Hmph. Just found an $899 fraudulent charge on my credit card for a place in Oregon selling sailing supplies... WTH. That pisses me off. I'm very careful with credit card info (although I do shop online now and then) and we burn everything with an important number on it. I'm highly annoyed by this. Of course the vendor's phone just rings & rings and then goes to an answering machine even though this is during "business hours." Luckily the people at the credit card were nice about it, reversed the charge and canceled my card. I'm still irritated that people have to suck so much. Did they think I WOULDN'T notice an extra $899 on my bill? Ha! Yeah, right.