Archive for the ‘Business & Finance’ Category
Thursday, April 15th, 2010 |
As a mother with two small children, I am always on the hunt for the best damn bargains I can find. Garge sales are under way in our little community and I’ll be damned if I am going to pass up some of their offerings. I am hopeful that this year, unlike last, I will be able to scrounge up some money from my own yard sale’s mmf drawer and snag up some fabulous deals. My finances are not quite what I want them to be, but they are more in check that they were last year, which means I will be hitting up way more yard sales!
On my list of things to find this year are:
- Outdoor toys for the kiddos
- Shorts for Ethan
- dresses for Addison
- storage solutions
- office supplies
- art/decor
- handyman specials
Jeff and I have been discussing the idea of purchasing a new home more seriously this year and I think we may bite the bullet in the next couple of months, with a few things still pending. That being said, we definitely need to snag up as many deals as possible for the new home. We sold so many things from our last home because we no longer needed/wanted them and because the house we are currently living in is fully furnished (aside from what we brought in, of course).
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Tuesday, March 16th, 2010 |
A good friend of mine’s fiancee just got slapped in the face by his ex-girlfriend’s revenge. His ex drained over $4,000 from him between his credit card, ATM card and bank account. I could not imagine going through something like this and it breaks my heart to think that someone could do something like this to someone so sweet. What is worse is that because of her selfishness, he had no idea what his actual account balances were because the credit card processing was so slow. Could you imagine? It all came through within the past two weeks, which threw his entire financial stability out the window.
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Monday, March 1st, 2010 |
Saturday morning was supposed to be family picture day, but due to a runny nose and bad attitudes I decided to postpone the appointment. I spent a good deal of the morning doing homework, laundry shopping for online life insurance and then made a quick decision to take my favorite girl out for a day on the town. After all of my work was done, Addison and I spent the rest of the morning/early afternoon shopping.
We had originally stopped into Kohl’s to pick up a birthday present, but quickly found ourselves obsessing over the sales. Okay, so \ I was obsessing over the sales. Either way, both kids made out like bandits and mama saved some money in the process! I found 4 Ralph Lauren dresses for like $3 each, seven pair of sweat pants for $1 each, t-shirts for $2.20 each and a new Ralph Lauren sweater vest for Ethan for $3. By the time all was said and done, I had spent $53.37 and saved $358.19! I could have saved even more had I not forgotten my 15% off coupon, but eh.. I still made out like a bandit and the woman said I could bring it in for them to deduct from my receipt.
Our shopping trip has also taught me how fashion conscious my daughter will be late in life. As we strolled the aisles, Addison just played in the shopping cart until she saw dresses she “liked” and would yell, “WANT! WANT! WANT!” All of the dresses she fell in love with were size 2T and up. Addison is not even out of a 9 month yet. And speaking of size! Addison has an appointment with the Infectious Diseases Doctor on March 15th. Please pray that this doctor can help us get to the bottom of our problems. I know it may not happen over night, but anytime in the near future would be appreciated!
Posted in Business & Finance, Ethan & Addison | 1 Comment »
Saturday, February 13th, 2010 |
Am I the only person who gets overly excited at tax time? I will be honest- I love tax season! Just as quickly as the money comes in, it goes right back out. We pay off our small debts, stock away money into the savings and repair/replace things that have broken down over the course of the year. You might think that it is crazy for me to love this time of year, but there is something about the satisfaction of being one year closer to being debt free, without having to get help from credit repair services (not that there is anything wrong with it, just sayin’).
And while we are discussing debt/credit scores. Where do you go to get a copy of your credit report? I know of several websites, but would really like some input. I know that at one point, I had an awesome credit score, but since everything that happened last May, I am always on edge worrying about someone stealing my identity. Any suggestions would be helpful!
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Tuesday, December 15th, 2009 |
I have not discussed our families finances in a long time namely because 1) they make me entirely depressed and 2) so many people are going through the same or worse financial hardship. Despite the lack of income flowing in, I choose to put my faith in God and trust that he will pull us through. We may have some bumps and bruises along the way, but what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger.
Tomorrow I begin my job hunt for something, anything, that will help bring money into the house. I am not picky and will take what I can get at this point. Working from home has helped keep us afloat, but it just is not enough. I do not make enough online to cover all of my bills (especially now that our main income source is gone*), which means I have to step up to the plate. I am terrified and excited about the thought of getting a job. My resume needs a fine tuning, as it’s been five years since I have been an active member in the workforce.
Wish me luck y’all.
* A story for another day. One that required a typed letter to the company.
Posted in Business & Finance | 5 Comments »
Wednesday, July 8th, 2009 |
In July of 2007, Jeff and I purchased a vehicle we had planned on keeping for at least 5-10 years. A vehicle I had wanted since the day they were made- a Pontiac Aztek. It ran like a gem when we first purchased the vehicle, it ran like a beauty. Only for the first four months of it’s life, of course and then it took a major nose dive. We contacted the dealer about the vehicle and they simply told us, “We’re very sorry this happened, but you are past the time line to turn it in under the Lemon Law.” Do you know how much money this vehicle cost us?
My beautiful Pontiac Aztek that I had so desperately wanted started to eat away at our pockets. Money was coming in and going right back out in hopes of fixing the problem(s). About two months ago, we were so incredibly desperate for a hundred dollars extra in our wallet to put into it that we literally found a website that did the whole cash for gold. I was skeptical at first, but I put trust into the company. Cash for Gold not only made the transaction as smooth as possible, but they gave me a better deal than our local cash for gold company. We received our payment with a reasonable amount of time, which is more than we can say for a lot of places.
If you or someone you know has a little bit of extra gold laying around (mine was necklaces from a high school boyfriend), go to the Cash for Gold website. You fill out your label, send in your gold and wait patiently for your payment to arrive. And if you are like me, constantly skeptical about offers that seem too good to be true, you can track the package with through FedEx. Pretty awesome, right?
Posted in Business & Finance | 1 Comment »
Thursday, July 2nd, 2009 |
Early this evening my husband broke the news to me that he may have all of next week off from work. Which okay, I’ll admit that it is nice for him to be home, but the line of work he does really has not allowed us to put away money like we have wanted. In fact, the kind of work he does really sucks when it comes to the financial aspect. His pay depends on nice weather and other companies getting their stuff done. His first paycheck was awesome, but the checks since have not been so grand. Money is not tight, but it’s not flowing freely either. I guess what I am getting at is that I really hate the roller coaster feeling.
Despite receiving that news, I do have a few things to look forward to and help me keep my chin up. I have school, which could go fabulously this semester if I get my head on straight (even though I am considering a degree change along the lines of software development lady like our neighbor). I will be taking a CNA course in two weeks that lasts about ten days and will hopefully land me a job sooner rather than later.
And then we have the boutique I will be opening in mid-July, Tiny Wishes Boutique. For me, opening a mini-boutique online was much easier than constantly lugging pictures around of the things I have made to show people. I will be able to hand them a business card with information on contacting me, as well as viewing the website for items I have up for sale.
Things will work out, as they always do. The is a reason for everything that happens and I believe that Jeff’s slightly “bad” news is what gave me the extra push I needed to get the ball rolling on the boutique. Everything that has happened to us during our marriage is the motivation behind my trying to be a better person and to finish my degree. Every bump or curve in the road is only making the finishing result that much sweeter.
As my father always says, “this too shall pass.”
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