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

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
------------------------------------------
$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

Wah-hoo! Another half.com sale. I seem to be selling way more DVDs than books lately, but hey, who cares, right? Another DVD went today for $4.51, bringing my Feb Ebay total to $29.07

Brought home $55 today, so that also makes it a Happy Thursday.

I forgot to mention it, but I found a dime on the ground the other day. New Pennies on the Sidewalk total: $.85

I decided to help my EF along I would transfer in 10% of what I made from work this month. That comes out to about $20. The extra $.78 is rounding down to the nearest dollar in my checking.

$20 Challenge/EF Old Balance: $109.21
10% of income: $20.78
------------------------------------------
$20 Challenge/EF New Balance: $129.99

I hate the moving process. I think it is because I have so much stuff. Especially books. Tons of books. I don't mind packing, or unpacking, but the actual moving part makes me very anxious and nervous. Probably because every time I moved (twice a year for 4 years of college, and 3 apartments since then) Dads was grumpy and miserable. He complains I have too much stuff, too many books, etc. And I understand it, he's getting older and, well, moving heavy boxes and furniture stinks.

This time, though, I am trying to be more organized. BF and I are packing and moving all my books before the day we move all the furniture. This way there will be no complaining about how many books I own. And, Dads is not helping us this year. I'm going to pay 2 guys I work with to help us. Dads is just getting too old (He's 61).

Anywho, I started packing the books today. Got 2 shelves done of my biggest bookcase. 7 boxes! Still have 3 more shelves of that one, and then another 5 shelf bookcase, plus numerous books spread out through different rooms.

I did run into a bit of a snag when I was packing, though.



That's my kitty Wolfie (short for Wolfsbane). My other kitty Solstice is hiding in terror from the evil brown boxes (she's such a scardy cat).



On a financial note, missed work last night due to this stupid cold that won't go away. Going in tonight, though.

Mums and Dads came up and took me and BF to brunch. Free meal!

And I found a penny yesterday in the parking lot. New Pennies on the Sidewalk total: $.75

Happy Sunday all!

Came home tonight from Mums and Dads. Went to use the bathroom and discovered a surprise in the toilet. A penny. Yes, a penny in the toilet. Don't believe me?

Here's a pic:


And in case you can't see the penny, here is a close-up:


I swear it wasn't there this morning. No idea where it came form or how it got there. And no, I didn't pull it out. I think this is one time when it is OK to flush money away.

On a similar note, I found a quarter on the sidewalk yesterday. New Pennies on the sidewalk total: $.74

Last night 2 more of my auctions ended. These were for antique/vintage beaded purses from the early 1900's. Mums had been given them by her grandmother, but they didn't actually belong to her. They belonged friends of hers. Since they have no family value and Mums was cleaning out, she gave them to me. I never go out to fancy places and I have too many purses already, so I put them on Ebay.

One sold for $22.36 and one sold for $31! So that is another $53.36 for the Ebay challenge, which brings my total to $114.53! I hit my January goal! Yay!

And I have 5 more items still in open auctions, so maybe I can get a head start on Feb's $100.

In other news, I got a second ticket today. Yes, second. Let me explain: Last week I went downtown where it is all on street parallel parking. So I fond a spot between 2 cars and parallel parked. When I came back to my car, the other 2 were gone and I had a $15 ticket for parking in a bus zone. The bus zone was 10 feet in front of me, and, oh, what a surprise, a cop car was parked there. Jackass.

Since I was between 2 other cars I assumed I was safe. There is so much snow, you can't see the curb to tell if it is painted to indicated a bus zone. And there was a car further up than me. So, I said I'm going to fight this. I haven't had a chance to go to court yet.

Today I get pulled over because my car registration is expired (I had no idea). Damn it. That was a $100 ticket!!! But the cop was nice and said if I went and renewed my registration today, they disputed the ticket, the court would throw it out since I got new registration stickers the same day as the ticket. I went to the DMV right away, paid $38 for my new registration. And that ticked I am definitely disputing.

But I think I'll pay the $15 one for a little good karma to come my way. I'll need it to make sure the $100 ticket gets thrown out.

I also stopped at the post office and spent $25 mailing out 8 packages. But at least I get shipping reimbursement for it all.

And then I spent $18 on groceries. We needed cat food, butter, and milk, and I picked up 2 bottles of ginger ale. I've got a tummy virus.

Oh, and I found a penny today. New Pennies on the Sidewalk total: $.49

2 more movies of mine have sold on half.com. That makes 7 items in the past week and a half! YAY! Unfortunately, each item is only $2 or so, so after buying envelopes and shipping them I am barely making any money, but hey, every little bit helps and it definitely helps get the place cleaned out before we move.

Of my ebay sales, only one is guaranteed to sell. It is at $10.50, but has 15 watchers! I'm hoping they all bid and I get a nice little bidding war going at the end of the auction. M3 of my other 5 items also have watchers, so we'll see what happens. They all have 3-5 more days left on them.

Worked last night at the tarot store. Make $46 which is nice after only making $11 the last 2 nights I worked. Yup, $11 total! Slooooow week. Hopefully next week picks back up again.

Had a dream that I found 3 dimes on the sidewalk. I'm even dreaming about found money now! LOL In reality I found a penny at the grocery store the other day and a dime yesterday. New Pennies on the Sidewalk total: $.48

Did pretty good yesterday in terms of spending.

IHOP was so yummy. I had 2 eggs, 2 slices bacon, 2 sausage links, and 2 crepes. The crepes had nutella, bananas, strawberries, and whipped cream. So not healthy on my diet, but at least I had fruit! BF got eggs, pancakes, hash browns, and bacon. Total for the 2 of us was $20.66, but after my BOGO coupon, the total was $13.51 Makes me happy!

We also stopped and picked up cigars for BF and a few things at the Dollar Store. Oh, and put gas in the car. Total spent for the day was $45.08

Hoping to make today a NSD as well. We are going to Mums to do laundry later this afternoon, and I think I may hang out with a friend, but I don't see us needing to spend $ on anything.

When we were in the cigar shop yesterday I found a dime and a penny. Jingly jingly! New Pennies on the Sidewalk total: $.37

Yesterday I signed up for the 2009 MS Walk. I think most everyone who walked on my team last year is going to walk again, so that is cool. And I got my first donation: $50 from an old friend of mine. Wait, the friend is not old, I've just known her for 19 years. Plus my Mums' cousin emailed me and said he is mailing a donation so that rocks, too.

Oh, and my payments to my LBCC posted, as well as the $29 credit for late fee waiver. New LBCC balance is $889.21 I may just get that one paid off this year!

Went grocery shopping today. My goal was the spend under $100 today. I thought it would be hard since I needed a lot of basics (PB, pancake mix, yogurt, salad, tomatoes, mushrooms, milk, etc) plus I needed to pick up some stuff for dinners and some meats.

I managed to use 3 coupons out of my stack today. And all 3 were used on items that were already on sale, so I got extra savings. I saved $4 using coupons, which brought my total to $99.19 And that included a People magazine. I don't normally but it, but it was the special one on people losing half their weight and I always find those so inspiring.

Anyways, so I got some great deals (Nestle hot chocolate for 20 pkgs, $.75 a box, and Sunkist packaged tuna normally $3 each, I got 3 for $3) and I am proud of myself. I know I have a long way to go before I hit deals like CouponAddict, but this is a good start for me.

In other news, yesterday we went to the DMV to get BFs state ID. Now that he has it, he can apply for MassHealth and hopefully get the help he needs for his social anxiety.

And my jingly news: at the DMV I found a dime and today at the grocery store I found a nickle. Up $.15 in found money! New Pennies on the Sidewalk total: $.16

A few random little things that didn't really warrant a whole post for themselves...

Found a penny today at Walgreens. New (2009) Pennies on the Sidewalk Total: $.01 I also found a quarter when I was cleaning yesterday and a dime in a bag I pulled out to use for the first time in months. Not going to count it in Pennies since it was my own money I found, but I did throw it into Cash Into the Bag.

Speaking of CITB, I rolled up quarters, pennies, and dimes (not enough nickels to roll), and came up with $18. I'll deposit that Monday into my $20 Challenge account.

Also going into my $20 Challenge account Monday will be a check for $10 that I got from doing surveys. Yay!

I also have a check from BF for about $9 to deposit. Not sure which account that is going into yet.

Used a $25 gift card at Michaels today. Bought a bunch of new charms and beads. Can't wait to make some new jewelry and sell it online!

Waiting in that massive snow storm to hit today. Yay! Snowed in for the weekend!

Headed next door to Walgreens to pick up some things: lunch meat, cheese, Advil, allergy meds. Came to $26 (!!) AND I used 2 coupons and got $4 off. Yes, the $26 was after the coupons.

BF has been craving bagels, so I stopped at DnD and picked up half a dozen. $5 and I know I could have gotten them much cheaper somewhere else, but with the storm coming I just wanted to get home ASAP and I really didn't want to deal with panicked New Englanders buying bread and milk. Yup, for some reason, when a storm hits, we buy bread and milk. I have no idea why. And no, I didn't buy any bread or milk (well, I got bagels) because we already have plenty in the house.

I found a nickel and 2 pennies while I was out, too. New Pennies on the Sidewalk Total: $2.17

Went to the grocery store today and cashed in a large trashbag of bottles and 1 and a half large trashbags of cans. Got $4.45 for them all. And then I found a nickle there, so my total "income" today was $4.50. Threw the $.50 into Cash in the Bag, and am adding the $4 to my $20 Challenge.

Old Personal Savings: $73.64
Cans and Bottles: $4
-----------------------------
New Personal Savings: $77.64

New Pennies on the Sidewalk Total: $2.10

The other day Blue Eyes posted that she found a dime. Her luck must be rubbing off one me: I found a dime and 2 pennies today in the Walgreens parking lot! Thanks Blue Eyes!

New Pennies on the Sidewalk Total: $2.05

Had a pretty busy day money-wise today. I got my freelance check, finally! Wahoo! And I submitted my last invoice for my freelance job today, so now I am waiting for this new freelance check. It is for $500. But I got the big $1,100 one today, so I'm very happy.

I also picked up my meds. Only $18! I love Walgreens! They $4 generics have saved me more than I can count.

Earlier in this week, I posted about a book I had listed on Craigslist: a first edition of Wicked. Someone wanted to buy it, but we were trying to figure it out b/c he didn't want me to mail it, and I wasn't going to go into the city to meet him. I really thought it would fall through. But today he came to the town I live in and we met at the T station (the subway). Paid in cash and a happy exchange was made. $25 for me. $18 went to my meds and the other $7 went into my pocket. Actually, it only went into my pocket until I got home, and then it went into the Holiday Gift Fund.

I also picked up 2 holiday gifts today. Both books, both for half the cover prices on half.com and brand new. Total for the 2 books plus shipping was $27.71 One is for my best friend A and one is for my BF. The book will be the only thing I get A, since it is a big and usually expensive book. BF will get a few other small things since the book was very inexpensive. Dads is half done. Got him a Life is Good golf t-shirt and golf towel. Still need to pick up a GC to his favorite cigar shop. Mums isn't done yet. Getting her a CD and a DVD, so I am waiting for Black Friday when they will all be really cheap. Same for BIL, he's getting 2 DVDs I will pick up on Black Friday. Sis is half done, some Elvis stuff. I am also knitting her some fingerless gloves now that I know how. About half-way done with those. And then I need to knit a pair of gloves for my best friend L. And that's it for holiday shopping. Not a big list, and with making things this year it makes it less expensive and more personal.

Found a penny on the ground today, but it was a Canadian penny. What's that equal to now, 2 or 3 of our pennies? *smile*

This morning when I woke up the swelling in my face was worse. Moved down to my throat and neck, and I had a rash all over my chest and arms. Decided not to fool around with it and went to the ER.

They couldn't tell me what it was from. Possibly a side effect of the IV steroid treatments, possible just a random allergen in the air. So frusterating.

But they gave me prescriptions and hopefully I will be better soon. Don't know how much they will cost. They gave me 3 different meds (more steroids, ugh) and I have to pick them up at the pharmacy tomorrow. And next week or so I'll be getting a bill for my $50 ER co-pay.

Don't you just love being sick?? *smile*

On a happy note, I found a penny on the sidewalk today. New Pennies on the Sidewalk total: $1.93 *smile*

Let's see, where to start...

Foun 11 cents on the sidewalk yesterday. New Pennies on the Sidewalk Total: $1.92

Had to pick up shampoo and conditioner this week. Stopped at CVS, and I have discovered Extra Care Bucks! The type I like to use is usually $4.99 each. We only buy it on sale or with coupons. Otherwise we use a $.99 one. The ones we love were on sale for $2 off each one. Bought 2 shampoos, 2 conditioners, at 2.99 each, but then, I am getting $8 ECB back. Works out to $.99 each. VERY happy with that! I also had a coupon for $2 ECB, so I picked up 2 giant candy bars at 2/$2. Free candy to satisfy our sweet cravings!

I also headed over the the Dollar Store. Ours has really good cake mix for $1 a box. For some reason, BF and I have been having REALLY bad sweet cravings, so I figured I'd make a cake for us this weekend. But, when I got there, I found they had cake mix, brownie mix, chocolate chip cookie mix, and banana nut bread mix. My parents do Thanksgiving for us, and me and my sis always bring deserts. So I picked up 1 brownie mix, 2 chocolate chip cookie mixes, and a banana nut bread mix. I'll bring chocolate chip cookies for Thanksgiving, and the banana nut bread for Christmas. And bake brownies for us. *smile*

What else...had some coupons for some great items at Walgreens. I was able to pick up a bunch of things, like baby wipes (we use them to clean our long-haired cat), a 5 lb bag of Sugar (for $1.99!), disposable baking pans (we don't have any so I can use these for all our cake mixes), drink mix (we only drink that and water), dish soap, vitamins, and a holiday gift for BF. And the total was high enough that I was able to use the $5 off a $20 purchase. Yay me for using the coupons. You guys are such a good influence on me! *smile*

I was supposed to work tomorrow from 5-10, but I got a call from my "boss" today. There is an all day psychic expo going on tomorrow, from 9-5. He asked if I wanted to do that instead. It means I will work at a reader for 9 hours representing the store with a few other readers. GREAT chance for some big money, plus it will get my name out there to new clients. I am SO excited he asked me! Being still fairly new there (I've only been a reader there since this summer), this is a HUGE deal and a major compliment. Kudos to me! Let's hope I make some major cash! *smile*

Found another 3 cents at Wal-greens today.

New Pennies on the Sidewalk total: $1.71

Found 3 cents at Wal-greens on Sunday.

New Pennies on the Sidewalk total: $1.68

Jingly jingly!

I got my first freelance check from the project I am working on. Yay! $950. Here's the thing: it is tax free. So, I need to start saving for my taxes next year. I will most likely have to pay. However, I need this money to live on right now, so that saving will have to wait until I am working full time and building my EF back up again.

In the meantime, I am taking 10% of this check and putting it in my House Fund. I am also going to replace the $90 or so I needed to take out last week to cover a bill. I can pull it back out again if I need to, but since I was planning on tis check being $750 instead of $950, I think I can spare it.

Old House Fund Balance: $155.70
10% of Freelance check: $95.00
Replacing money: $89.40
----------------------------------
New House Fund Balance: $340.10



And on a side note, found 26 cents when I was out today (1 penny and 1 quarter). New Pennies on the Sidewalk total: $1.65

Found 12 cents on the sidewalk (lucky dimes again!).

New total: $1.39

I finally got to our local library and got myself a library card. I also took home 5 books. I got 3 Tightwad Gazettes (and am almost done with them all) and two others on personal finance. I figure if I can't do a lot with actual money right now, I can at least read about it and get some new ideas.

I stopped at the $1 store yesterday. I managed to pick up some good grocery deals:

baking soda
starfis tuna
louisiana seafood spices
ground cinnamon
garlic and pepper spice
parsley
buffalo hot sauce
habenero hot sauce
cake mix
frosting
microwaveable popcorn
bags of rice
green tea
caribou coffee bars

and a bunch more stuff I can't remember. Spent $20 and I feel like I stocked the cabinets pretty well with spices and staples. I am working on following the Tightwad advice of stocking the pantry with staples and doing way more cooking from scratch. Slow going, but hopefully I will get the hang of it.

And I found a penny in the sidewalk. New total: $1.27

I seem to be finding mostly dimes on the sidewalks these days. Still a lot of pennies, but a lot of dimes. Maybe dimes are lucky for me now, or the #10. Or, I'm just reading too much into this and should be saying Whoo-hoo! Found money!

At any rate, I found 2 dimes on the sidewalk today (in two different places; 2 different cities, actually). New Pennies on the Sidewalk Total: $1.26

And I found 2 pennies on the sidewalk. New total: $1.06

Yesterday we went to Mums and Dads for the day. It was too hot and sticky out to do much, so we just hung out in the AC and watched TV. Did a bunch of laundry. Mums made my fave for dinner: homemade baked mac and cheese.

Our only spendings was a stop at DnD on the way to their house. Spent $10.98 for 2 bagel sammys and 2 large ice coffees. We had it at 11, so it was our breakfast and lunch. Not bad. Works out to about $2.75 each per meal.

In the DnD parking lot I found a dime and a penny. Another 11 cents to Pennies on the Sidewalk. New total: $1.04 I seem to find a lot of dimes and pennies with each other. Maybe 11 cents is luckt to me somehow? If I played the lottery, I'd play 11...

Today is another hot and sticky day. We talked about going to the Boston Aquarium (I've been dying to go there for years) to spend the day in the cool AC. But it's about $25 per person to get in!!! CRAZY!!! We might just have to wait on that one. See if I can find a way to get a discount admission first.

I think today will be a day of hanging in the AC, watching movies, reading. I need to get some stuff on craigslist/ebay and I want to get more work done on the spare bedroom. We rte doing it in purple. Well, the accents in purple. Since we rent, we can't pain the walls. But we hug a purple wall hanging, and purple curtain. The computer chair has a purple curtain and a purple quilt on it. The filing cabinet has a purple scarf draped over the top. There is a painting of a purple flower on the all, and an antique purple vase with fake purple and yellow flowers on the wall, and another purple vase with pinky-purpley flowers in it. I spray painted the curtain rods dark purple, and today I need to finish painting a shelf purple and hang it. Needless the say, The Boy is not overly enthused with it, but we made the deal we could have a purple room.

Oh, and we need to take The Boys laptop to Best Buy to try and fix it. It broke, again. With all the broken laptops on the blogs lately, I'm getting a little scared on mine!! Hopefully his can be fixed fairly cheap. He's had it less than 9 months, so it should still be under warranty. We'll see.

Not much going on the last two days. Looking for a job, cleaning out for a yard sale, stalking Bruce Willis. LOL He is filming a movie in the town where my sis works, so I went up there for lunch yesterday and we went by the set. Didn't meet him...yet. He'll be filming here all summer. Mark my words, I will meet him.

On the financial front, not much. Waiting for my first unemployment check. Calling places to figure out why I have 3 blls for 3 different amounts from the same place. Stuff like that.

Some bits and pieces from my last few days:

Day before yesterday was a No Spender. Yay us!

Found 11 cents when I was cleaning. Went to CITB. Whoo-hoo!

Had to pay $2.50 in tolls each way to my sis' yestday. $5. That stunk.

Had a major breakdown in spending yesterday. Went to the bookstore. Saw about 6 new books from some of my fave authors (and countless new authors). Bought 6 books. Ugh.

Found 2 pennies on my walk the day before yesterday. New Pennies on the Sidewalk total: 93 cents.

Requested new forms to apply for deferment on my student loans (again). Since I am unemployed, I am taking advantage of that. Of course, this means I'll be paying the damn things off until I am 100.

Speaking of which, made a payment to my mini-student loans. $120

Also going to apply to have assistance paying for my COBRA payments through the unemployment office. The $400+ a month takes up almost 2 whole unemployment checks. Crazy!

And that is about it. Nothing too exciting planned for today. Picking up another pair of trial contacts. Picking up a few groceries. Watching a netflix movie I got yesterday. Happy Friday!

'Nother penny. Up to 92 cents.

Found 4 pennies today on my walk to 7-11. New total for Pennies on the Sidewalk: 91 cents

Oh, I forgot to add to my other post, I found 11 cents at the Dollar Store. One penny and one dime. New total for Pennies on the Sidewalk: 87 cents