Went to the local consignment store. No snow boots and no socks. Will hit payless for the socks later today. Did get the list of what she is accepting at the consignment store, and will get some things that the kids have outgrown ready to take in. Last year I did it steadly for awhile, and averaged $12 a week, and much easier than a garage sale!

only money spent today was on gas-glad i got it here locally and when i did, because i went to the city this afternoon, and it was about 20 cents a gallon higher. i have been pretty fugal this month. have only used the dryer once-(fell asleep and forgot to put the school uniforms on hangers before going to bed). i have packed the kids lunches every day for school, bought new uniforms off of ebay for as cheap as 99 cents a peice-as opposed to buying them new for $20. i will have to spend some money tomorrow-seems the twins suddenly outgrew their socks. I always buy shoes 1/2 or 1 size bigger when payless has their buy one pair, get the second pair for 1 cent or 1/2 off sale, so shoe wise they are fine (plus the have the 2 older girls shoes that are outgrown to go to also), but all of a sudden, socks don't fit.
I did bid, and win on a winter coat for one of the girls--from ebay. After paying the shipping, it came to just under $7. I still have to get daughter #2 to try on her winter coat from last year, to see if it will fit. I have learned, that this is the time of the year to get them-they are cheaper than in the winter. I am still hunting for 3 pairs of winter boots. I refuse to buy them at the shoe store, or walmart for $25 a pair, and then if it doesnt snow, they dont need them.

First day of school. After school I took the kids to get ice cream as a treat. Spent around $11. Not bad for 5 kids and me considering the amount of the servings. We only ate half, and the rest is back in our freezer. I think it will be a good year, school wise. My neice and nephew just changed to the same school my kids are at. We can do some car pooling, and save on childcare if we can work some opposite shifts. If I can get them all there, one of them can pick them up. My problem is after school care ends at 6pm, and I often work till 6pm, meaning by the time I can get to school, it is 6:15. But, we are working on it, and with grandma's help, I think we can get it all covered without having to pay too much childcare.
I think I am going to start going thru the house and listing things on ebay to do some decluttering. I know Jeffery has his chalange (never could spell that word) but I was thinking of asking how many people could declutter and make $100 on ebay.....

spent nothing today-well, a $16 bill came out of my checking account (auto deduct), but that was it. I have been keeping a container of powered drink mix at my desk. That keeps me out of the pop machine. went to walmart and walgreens last night. drove it-went there and back-its only 1.8 miles round trip, and i have to drive it--stupid. but, i cant cross 2 major highways on foot, esp with 3 small children. spent $45 at walmart last night, then recharged $25 on my walmart gift card so it will be ready to go the next time i am at the gas pump. i usually try to put $10-$25 on it each time i go into the store, so when i get gas i dont have to go in first to pay, then back out to pump. most of the money i spent on school uniform shirts (1 new one for each daughter) and underwear for the oldest. weird, growth thing-they fit last week, and don't this week. thats the nice thing about a school with uniforms. (we just changed uniforms to walmart's) $16 for a skort and $11 for the shirts. They can wear the same one every day-cheaper than buying tons of school clothes. grandma got each of the girls 1 skort and 1 jumper and a sweater for their birthdays, and i got them each 1 skort off of ebay (for about 99 cents each plus $3.95 shipping-they were brand new, still had the tags-so if they had not fit, i could have exchanged them at my local walmart for a correct size!), and a new shirt each. that should hold them for school clothes for the entire school year and well-till they outgrow them. also, we can resell outgrown uniforms to underclassmen, and buy from upper classmen--my friend just spent over $400 on her daughters school clothes (no uniforms)

Well, first I opened my ING account, with an invite from a savingadvice.com poster. She made $10 for referring me, and I got $25 for opening my account. Then I opened up an account for daughter #1. Since I referred daughter #1, I made $10 for inviting her, and she got $25 for opening an account. This week, after payday, I will open and account for daughter #2 and daughter #3. I also set it up so that I have $5 from my hometown banking account go into each of the ING accounts monthly. I split it out, so that mine comes out the 7th, the $5 for daughter $1 comes out the 14th, then I will do the 21 and 28th of the month for the other 2 daughters--that way it is $5 a week. (Basically, if I work 30 minutes of overtime a month, that will cover it all). It would be nice if I could get 1 referral a month--thats an extra $120 a year. Thats..........almost a tank of gas!!!!! We are just about 2 cents from paying $3 a gallon. And, I have a 48 gallon tank. Ugh. I stil live in town, so am looking into doing some more walking. In a bit I have to run errands, but have already planned my route. While i am in Walmart, I plan to recharge my Walmart card so I can get the 3 cents a gallon discount. Thats a $1.44 a tankful, or an extra 1/2 gallon of liquid gold free. I also always tip and drain the gas hose before I fill (to get what the last guy left in the hose, and after I fill up-to get what I paid for in full. I read somewhere that there can be an extra 1/4 to 1/2 cup of fuel in the hose at the gas pump. Tomorrow and Tuesday morning the girls will be at their dads, so I can walk to work. Its only 4 blocks, but, thats also 3 stop signs. I'd walk more often, but its uphill, and all my errands I run on my lunch hour are the opposite direction and too far to walk. Also, once school starts, I drive past work on my way back into town from their school.