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Home > Archive: April, 2011

Archive for April, 2011

It isn't food people!!!

May 1st, 2011 at 02:15 am

Got in line behind a lady complaining she couldn't get her grocery bill down, and she was going to try and "extreme coupon" the next time she shopped.....

Since I coupon, that perked my interested, as I watched her be rung up I understood her problem.

Her "food items" consisted of booze, cigarettes, chips, candy, gum, paper plates, paper towels, Styrofoam cups, 409, laundry soap, dog food, cat food, a music CD, wrapping paper, card, and soda.

Meanwhile, my cart was $69 before coupons, $30 something after, and had milk, 5 lbs of rice, 10 lbs of potatoes, salt, meat, fruit, veggies, oatmeal, cereal, tea bags, and frozen bread dough.

I'd rather eat whats in my cart than hers....

Why do people call their pet food, papergoods, and cleaning supplies part of their food budget?? You don't eat them, AND the grocery store is the most expensive place to buy those items.

At the $1 store, I can get a 14 ounce bottle of arm and hammer laundry soap for $1. Minus the $1 coupon, its free. The grocery store doesn't have 14 ounce bottles, but they have the 32 ounce one for $8.99. Do the math....

Dollar General has colgate toothpaste for 75 cents, less the 75 cent coupon from the paper, is FREE. grocery store price for the same tube, is $3.09...Do the math.

Shop, compare, and complain about your food budget when you are buying nonfood items!!


2 more months!!

April 22nd, 2011 at 04:23 am

2 months and my new car is paid off. Its the only new vehicle I have ever had (all others have been used). That will leave us with a land payment, and dh now has a credit card (work required) but it gets paid off monthly--in fact it only has a $400 a month credit limit, as that is more than enough to cover any business expenses until he gets reimbursed. Yee ha.

Taxes are DONE

April 15th, 2011 at 05:24 am

Yeah!! Got a nice unexpected refund coming from the fed. I try to adjust dh with holdings, so it zeros out so we can use the money during the year. But we had some unexpected medical, tution for a class I didn't plan on taking, and had to replace the roof and furnace and went with energy eff, so we got that credit. Then, my rental house sat vacant several months, and I didn't do childcare while I was in class full time. So, it all added up to a nice federal refund.

But as usual, we owe the state. No matter how we do it, we always always owe the state, even if we have extra taken out.

Actually our state tax would have been less, had one of my dh family members cooperated. While I was in class, I had to do some overnight clinicals on the same nights DH had to work nights. So we paid her to come spend the night here. I added it up, and it added up to around $250 we paid her for childcare over the 5 month period. So, I called her to get her ssn so I could claim it. (you can't claim child care anymore with out the providers ein or ssn). She said she would rather not give it to us even when I told her we could not claim the child care without it. Then she told me she wasn't even sure we paid her or if that was last year or the year before...(I had it all documented for taxes). So, we won't be using her again!

Taxes.....

April 13th, 2011 at 05:58 am

April 12, and I just bought the turbo tax today...Normally I have it all done by February, but not this year. I loaded it on the computer tonight, and did the basic information inputs. Tomorrow I will input the rental info, hubbys W2, my freelance writing stuff, and the investment info and be done with it. With 2 days to spare!

Last year I had him adjust his with holdings because we were getting too big of a refund. I am anxious to see how we ended up as a result. But, we may still be getting a refund, as we replaced an exterior window, furnace and put on a new roof--all of which will give us some energy credits. Also, since I went to school last year, I had some tuition that my volunteer job never has reimbursed me for (and most likely won't). I also had to pay for a couple new uniforms.

On the plus, I received my state license yesterday, and found out today 2 places are interested in hiring me PRN. I don't want to work more than 1 day every 1 or 2 weeks, and that was ok with them (for an EMT a day is 24 hours, which, being a homeschooling mom is about all I want at this time) I would earn around $300 for each shift so even 2 shifts a month are fine with me. Funny about getting my license, I have been watching my mail for it and was starting to worry as to where it was. Then today, I found it in my email. The state emails them out now. I had no idea that was how it would arrive.

I also joined our states emergency medical disaster team. That means I can be called in to work floods, large fires, hazmat issues, bus, train or plane accidents, storm or tornados....I also put down I would go out of state for up to 14 days at a time. Will be interesting to see what I may get called up for.

New adventure on line...

April 8th, 2011 at 07:51 pm

We have dropped the house phone and dialup internet that was through the land line. Savings is $79 a month.

Now, we have wireless at $49 a month, that is high speed.


Savings is now $30 a month. We can now have 2 computers on line (should be able to have 3, but one is being stubborn). Makes it sooooooo nice since we homeschool, we can have more learning resources. And, we can watch videos!!

Its a little ma and pa company, with great customer service. And, if someone else in NW Missouri signs up and gives my name, I get a month free!