A Shiny Koppur Penny

Thanks for the warm welcome back and the congrats!
I've missed talking with so many of you, but every time I thought of coming back, I'd think "I have no income, I have nothing to say re: finances." I know, I'm a dolt, lol.

It's so wonderful to see so many of you are still here and I can't wait to catch up with you all.

Financially, here's what's going on:

My first disability check should be getting dd'd into my account tomorrow. The amount of the monthly benefits will make me still below the poverty line, so I should continue to get free (or at least very cheap) health care. That's a huge relief! As I'm sure many of you can understand, without health insurance my shots for my MS alone would cost me almost 3 times what I'll be getting YEARLY from SSDI!!! Never mind all the other meds...so this is a HUGE bonus for me. Yay me! lol

I also found out that I'll be getting a retro check going back to the date when the SSA determined I became disabled. This means that there will be a check coming to me to cover the last 33 months that I've been unable to work and fighting for SSDI. I'm not sure how much that check will be for, but I know it will be enough to pay off ALL my CC Debt (YES!!!) and my Grad School loan (WHOO-HOO!). This means I will be.....wait for it.....

[b]DEBT FREE!!![b]

Wow, never thought I'd be able to say those words, lol.

And finally, anything left over from that retro will go towards the trip to Vegas I'm going on with my sister for her 40th bday next year, and then my savings account.

My goddess, I'm actually going to have a savings account again! lol

Crazy what can make you giddy after 3 years fighting a battle. I know the reason I'm so excited to get the retro check is because that will make it possible for me to be DEBT FREE for the first time since I was 18, as well as have an EF and savings account again. My goddess, I've grown up! lol

Well, it happened. After 3 very long years of being unemployed and broke, I was finally granted SSDI.

Whoo-fricken-hoo!

Now that that obstacle is cleared, I can get back to everything else in my life, including finances. Joy.

I'm back. Yes, again.

OK, so what is new here...not much. Still fighting for SSDI. No income right now.

Good stuff: I'm on a payment plan for my ATTCC and am slowly knocking the debt down by $150 a month. After this Feb's payment posts, I will have a balance of $4,405.65

I'll be back online with ebay and half.com by the end of March.

I finished the book I was writing!!! Yay!!!

Hope all is well with you all! Missed you!

I hadn't made any progress towards my $20 Challenge really since the later winter/early spring. But this week I got back on the ball, and started again. Small deposit from half.com

Old $20 challenge balance: $11.23
Half.com DD: $17.14
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New $20 Challenge balance: $28.37

So I decided to follow-up yesterday's food post with another one. I'm not sure if anyone here has heard of this program. My Mums found out about it and we just tried it for the first time this month.

Basically, you get a choice of different "boxes" of foods. You choose what you want, pay AngelFood ministries, and then pick up the food at a local pickup site. Each month they offer different packages/boxes of food. Each package/box has a variety of foods in it, and the prices are great!

This month we got the Regular box and Special #4. Between the two, here's what we got for food:

REGULAR BOX:
1.5 lbs Ribeye steak
2 large chicken breasts
4 lbs chicken legs
1.5 lbs pork chops
1 lb 80/20 ground beef
1.5 lbs turkey burgers
12 oz deli ham
1 lb frozen sweet potatoes
1 lb frozen green beans
can of pears
can of OJ concentrate
3 lb bag Idaho potatoes
3 lb bag onions
2% shelf stable milk
dozen eggs
Toll house cookie dough mix

SPECIAL #4:
1 large head of cabbage
3 lb bag Idaho potatoes
3 lb bag onions
1 lb carrots
1 extra large summer squash
1 avocado
1 mango
4 Bartlett pears
1 cantaloupe
3 lb bag macintosh apples
3 lb bag golden apples
6 sm boxes raisin
package of apple spice pie mix

Total for it all: $52 (no tax)


They have a special Thanksgiving box we are thinking of ordering. And for next month we have already picked out our boxes.

If you want to see if they offer this near you (it is nation wide) check out the website at angelfoodministries.com They also post each month's "menu" there, which is a description of the boxes and what is in them.

*Courtesy of Everyday Cheapskate Daily Email

When it comes to food, there is a commonly held belief that if it's cheap, it can't possibly be healthy and if it's healthy, it's not going to be cheap. That may be true if we're talking about fresh wild salmon or fresh blueberries purchased in the middle of winter, but there are untold healthy options that are affordable on any budget. Here's a quick grocery list to help you cut food prices while you boost nutrition, and a few recipes, too.

1. Oats. Oats are high in fiber and good for lowering cholesterol. One dollar will buy you breakfast for a week, or give you a good start on oatmeal cookies for a tasty treat. Spend that buck at a store like Whole Foods or Sprouts that offers oats in bulk and your buck will buy even more.

2. Eggs. A buck will get you about six eggs. Bring on the protein-rich egg salad sandwiches!

3. Sweet potatoes. Keep the Swine Flu at bay by eating foods that are rich in beta carotene, which strengthens the immune system and promotes bone and eye health.

5. Apples. Apple season is here, so this fruit is plentiful and cheap. A dollar will buy enough to enjoy fresh slices as a lovely snack or tasty dessert, and a great way to dress up a meal.

6. Nuts. Peanuts, walnuts and almonds are cheap "power foods" and perfect snacks to keep you energized throughout the day. Buy them in their shells to get the best price.

7. Garbanzo Beans. Also called "chickpeas," these help balance blood sugar levels, and are high in fiber and protein.

8. Whole Grain Pasta. This cheap staple is made up of complex carbohydrates, meaning that it packs more nutritional punch than does its white-pasta counterpart.

9. Sardines. These little fish don't come with a mercury warning, just plenty of Omega-3 fatty acids for heart and brain health. Chop them up and add them to salads and pizza or mix them with lemon juice and olive oil for a tasty spread.

10. Spinach. Your mom always told you to eat your spinach, and she was right. This leafy green can be prepared in oh-so-many ways, and it is packed with calcium, iron, folic acid and vitamin A. Skip the washed and bagged spinach and wash it yourself to save.

**To see suggested recipes and the original article, visit debtproofliving.com

Nothing really new. On day 4 of WW and still doing OK. Still within my points. Go me!

Hit the gym only once this week, but I am planning on going tomorrow, too.

In finance, not much. Threw and extra $10 on my CC bill, not that $10 will really do much right now. Managed to be good and not spend the $$ I earned at work today on eating out.

Wait, what is this??

Am I.....

Am I getting WILLPOWER???

LOL

Today I did it. Sucked it up and went back to WW. *sigh*

I hate paying someone to monitor my eating/weight, but it is the only way for me to stick to it.

Financially I got a good deal, though. No registration fee, and the monthly pass means I pay $40 each month. It works out to $10 a week, which is better than the $13 a week if you pay meeting by meeting. And BONUS: they are having a promotion right now. Sign up for the monthly pass, and you get your 2nd month free. So I basically paid $40 for the first 2 months, which works out to $5 a week.

Total savings: 64 over 2 months.

Plus I rolled change from CITB yesterday and came up with $43.50 so I used that to pay for the WW cost. Yay!

Did pretty good with shopping today. I got all my errands done (except joining the gym; will do that tomorrow), picked up some wants, and spent about $60. That is a great number for me!

Lunch out w/BF: $16
Dollar store: $9 (cotton balls, batteries (x2), coin rolls, thumbtacks, and 3 different collectible Strawberry Shortcake pens. I heart Strawberry Shortcake.)
Post Office: $10 (includes a half book of stamps & mailing 2 packages)
Petco: $21 (this was a splurge for us. We picked up 3 new fishies and a snail for our tank)

TOTAL: $56

Yay!

Now to pay bills tongiht. Blah...

I'm so happy to be back here!!! Missed you all SO MUCH!!! *hugs*

for Monday, I need to:

1. Deposit check
2. mail out tarot cards I sold online
3. Join gym ($10 a month!)
4. Pay electric
5. Pay heat
6. Pay cell phone
7. Pay cable
8. Pay ATTCC

Last couple of days have been OK. Thursday I worked, made about $27. Slow day. Thursday night friends of ours came over for dinner. One friend is an amazing hairstylist. She dyed my hair and cut it for me...at no charge! The dye and supplies she needed equaled her half of the $ for pizza, so we called it even! I ended up with a $100 haircut/dye for $16!!! Yay!

Friday was a NSD for me. Felt good; haven't had one of those in AGES!

Yesterday (Sat) I worked and came home with a whole $13. REALLY slow day. Stopped and picked up about $100 worth of groceries for $45. Yay for discount grocery stores!!

Today I am heading to the movies with my best friend; going to see Angels and Demons. So excited! We're hitting the matinee so it will be cheaper.

Happy Sunday all!

I missed you all, too!!! Things have been crappy with finances, and I just don't feel like I have anything going on with finances to blog about. But I have been thinking of you all and miss you all!

I have almost no income right now, so Mums and Dads have been giving me moeny to pay bills/live on for the past few months. It makes me feel pathetic and horrible.

I am still waiting for a decision on SSDI. It stinks.

I am still working at the tarot store, but it has been wicked slow. I'm lucky if I make $25 a night.

I've racked my ATTCC back up to the limit. Had to deplete my EF again. No money going into savings.

I just feel defeated and I hate posting when I feel that way. I figure, why post about depressing stuff and bring everyone down?

I need to get back into the Ebay challenge. I stopped to move and I just haven't picked it up again. But I think that will help get me back in the groove.

I've missed you all and I'm hoping to be back much more regularly.

It's time again for my annual MS Fundraising Walk. As with last year, I
do not expect anyone here to donate to this cause, and I totally understand if nobody does. I was never going to post this, but a few people have asked where and how they donate to my team in the MS Walk.

Second, again, please don't feel like I am hitting you guys up for money (we are, after all, ALL trying to save and be more frugal!). The words and support you all have given me re: my MS has been the biggest gift of all, and I can never thank you all enough. THAT is what means the most to me.

But, like I mentioned, a few people asked for this info, so I am posting it. To those people, thank you from the bottom of my heart (and wallet!). You (and everyone else here) are all so special and totally rock!!

*hugs to everyone*

The MS Walk will be April 4th, in Dartmouth, MA. It's a six mile walk (no, I probably won't walk the whole 6 miles, but my team members all will). My team is called XXXXXXXX, and right now we have 5 members. We're just shy of hitting $500, but still a bit away from out goal of $1,500!

To donate to the National MS Society 2009 MS Walk on behalf of my team, please click here: XXX

Search for us by our team name (XXXXXXXXXX) or by a particpant (XXXXXXXXX). All donations are tax deductible, and you can donate by check or CC (I suggest check...avoid CC debt!!! LOL). You can donate on behalf of the whole team, or in sponsor of one person, and your donations can be made anonymously if you like.

Again, thanks to everyone for ALL the support!!!

Had my tarot party the other night. Well, wasn't my tarot party, but it was a tarot party I worked. I was there for about 3 1/2 hours. It was local, so that was very nice. I had 8 clients and made $160!! Whoo-hoo! I handed out my business cards, so hopefully I will get a few more calls for parties or individual readings from it.

Not much else going on. Seems like all I do it drive to and from work. I am there 3 days a week and then I drive my BF there another day, so we are making a 2 hours round trip drive 4 out of 7 days. Getting very tired. Hopefully something more local comes up soon. I'm heading to talk to a store owner on Tuesday who wants me to do readings there, so that will be something.

When we moved to our apt in Quincy last year, we had to give them first and last (no security). They kept the last months rent in an account where it earned interest until we moved out. We got the check for the interest and it was $54.71! Adding that to the EF. This makes me hit my goal of $200 by the end of Feb (a little late, but at least I hit it!), and gives me a start for towards a total of $300 by the end of March.

$20 Challenge/EF Old Balance: $184.69
Check from Quincy apt: $54.71
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$20 Challenge/EF New Balance: $239.40

Going to a tarot party tonight. It will be fun, but I'm not in that great of a mood. I'm just feeling very down today.

Not much going on financially. Nothing new in the savings. I need to get my butt going and get back to listing things on ebay. I'm falling behind in the challenge!

$20 Challenge/EF Old Balance: $184.46
Feb interest: $.23
------------------------------------------
$20 Challenge/EF New Balance: $184.69

Old Personal Savings: $110.21
Feb interest: $.18
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New Personal Savings: $110.39

Old House Fund Balance: $16.49
Feb interest: $.02
--------------------------------
New House Fund Balance: $16.51

Seem to be having a streak of good luck when it comes to money lately. Just small things, but we all know small things add up!

Besides all the jingly I have been finding, there have been a few other fun things:

1. Christmas 2007 Mums and Dads gave us a $25 gift card to The Olive Garden. We used half of it one day for lunch. Fast forward to this week and we went to use the rest of it, and there was a full $25 left on it. I still had the receipt from 2007 wrapped around it from the first time we used it. No idea how it regenerated itself, but it was a great surprise!

2. Stopped at Burger King on the way home from work. Ordered 3 Whopper Jr's for the 2 of us. When they did the order, they only did 2. I went back and ordered a 3rd and they said they were doing end of the night totals on the register, so don't worry about paying for it and gave it to us free!

3. Got a check in the mail from the rental company for our last apartment. Check was interest earned in the last months rent we gave them when we moved in a year ago (had to give them first and last). We earned over $50 interest! That will go into the EF asap.

4. Visited my great aunt today. Saw she was reading a book I want to read. Asked her how it was, and she said she hasn't started it yet. Then she gave it to me. Pretty much forced it into my hands and insisted I take it even when I told her I couldn't. Free book!

Let's see what tomorrow brings!

Got a DD into my checking account today for some sales from earlier in the month on half.com. $34.42.

Haven't been able to put anything aside the last couple weeks, so this is going into my EF. I really want to put it into either personal or couch savings, but I know how important the EF is right now.

$20 Challenge/EF Old Balance: $150.04
Half.com DD: $34.42
------------------------------------------
$20 Challenge/EF New Balance: $184.46

Hi everyone! Ugh, these last 2 weeks have been crazy. But I'm finally starting to get back into my routine.

I don't have much to report finance wise. Money is tight with the moving expenses. Work has been dead slow...literally, only 1 client a night, bringing home like $11 for 4 hours of work. Savings has taken a hit since there hasn't been a lot of income. Haven't been selling online cuz I can't find anything...

Hoping to get caught up with everyone else's blogs this weekend. It's good to be back!

In the last 2 days I have found another $.24 on the ground. $.21 at DnD and $.03 at Burger King.

New Pennies on the Sidewalk total: $1.65

I'm still working in unpacking and recovering from moving. Will post more soon. Miss you all!

Had an awesome day yesterday when it comes to finding money in the ground! I found $.31 from 3 places!

In the Walgreens parking lot, a dime and 15 pennies!!! Someone sure was too lazy to pic them all up, but not me! Then another penny at the post office, and in front of Burger King, another 5 pennies!

Mums said an old saying is that angels throw pennies at you to get your attention, so when you find pennies on the ground, it means angels are near you. I had a whole army of them with me yesterday!

New Pennies on the Sidewalk total: $1.41

Found a dime and 2 pennies on the ground in the last 2 days. I think I am getting obsessed about this; I had a dream that I found 3 dimes, and of course, I picked them up. New Pennies on the Sidewalk total: $1.10

Today was moving day and we survived! Got all the furniture and big stuff from the old apartment and into the new one. Still have some small things in the old apartment and some cleaning to do there. But our least there doesn't end until Feb 28th, so we have 2 weeks to get it finished.

I have lots to catch up on, both posting and reading, but I'm exhausted. Will catch up on the blogs tomorrow. Night all and happy sunday!

Last night when I was cooking our coffeemaker got too close to the oven and the front of it melted. None of the buttons work anymore, which means I can't program it or even turn it on.

Two nights ago out alarm clock gave out. The metal foot of our bed frame was sitting on it and cut through the wires. Lucky it didn't start a fire. Had to throw it away.

Electronic items tend to break around me or get messed up. Usually we joke and say it is because of all my psychic energy. This time it was just plain stupidity on both parts.

I just got a $25 GC for Target in the mail from MyPoints. I was going to use it for something nice for the new apartment, but it looks like I will be using it on either a new alarm clock or a new coffeemaker.

At least I won't have to cough up the cash for both new purchases. Looks like a trip to Target tomorrow.

Stopped by the bank today to deposit some rolled coinage from CITB. Had a full roll of quarters. Adding it to the EF.

$20 Challenge/EF Old Balance: $140.04
CITB deposit: $10.00
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$20 Challenge/EF New Balance: $150.04

Whoo-hoo! Halfway through my Feb goal of adding $100 to the EF. If I can keep this up, I'll hit $1K before 2010.

In other money news, I picked up some groceries today. Spent $40. I got:

*lg package of mozzarella cheese (8 cups)
*lg package of Mexican mix cheese (8 cups)
*package pepperoni
*loaf of bread
*pk of 8 large tortillas
*mushrooms
*buffalo chicken lunch meat
*sliced cheese
*2 lbs of pizza dough
*box of pasta

For dinner this week we'll have chicken enchiladas (already have the chicken and sauce), pasta with shrimp, mushrooms, cheese and tomatoes (already have shrimp, and tommys), homemade calzones (which will actually give us 2 meals each, they are so big), and chicken and veggies with rice (have all of it already). I think that $40 for all that is a great deal, considering it is dinner and lunch for 2 all week.

I did great this week with finding money. I found another dime and 3 pennies. Whoo-hoo! New Pennies on the Sidewalk total: $.98

I just got a DD from half.com for $15.05. I also just transferred $15 from my paypal account into my checking. Now, to decide where to out the $30.05. I want to add some to my personal savings. I need to get a move on with my couch fund. But I know I should add more to the EF. So, I guess the best way to figure it out is $10 into each account.

Old Personal Savings: $100.21
Online sales: $10.00
-------------------------------
New Personal Savings: $110.21


Old House Fund Balance: $6.49
Online sales: $10.00
--------------------------------
New House Fund Balance: $16.49

$20 Challenge/EF Old Balance: $129.99
Online sales: $10.05
------------------------------------------
$20 Challenge/EF New Balance: $140.04

The DVDs I listed on half.com last month are selling like hotcakes! Another one sold today, bringing my Ebay Challenge total for February up to $46.12

My lucky number is 1. At least, it's my luck number for today. Who knows what it will be tomorrow.

Brought home $111 from work today. Had a slew of readings, all long ones, and some great tippers.

It has felt good working these past few days but I am exhausted. Fatigue is kicking my butt right now. I actually fell asleep at one point today when I had a break from clients. I'm so looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow.

Had another great surprise with my Mass health insurance. I think I already posted that my therapy had no copay, which rocks. And I found out yesterday that my MS meds, Copaxone, are only $3 a month!!! This is HUGE since without insurance they are $2K a month.

I really feel lucky with all these financial things turning around for me. But I think as much as it is things getting better, a lot is from the support and encouragement from everyone here. You all have helped me be excited about saving money, selling online, and aiming for NSDs again.

Thanks to you all. I love you guys!!