Seaweed's Personal Finance Blog

Ok - I thought that was so funny!

I know...a little goofy too. Sorry, can't help it. So I found 6 dollars while doing laundry and added that to my Challenge for a total of $38.00. I took that and wrote a check to ING and opened an account with them. They had mailed me a letter and in it was a check for $25.00 to deposit if I opened an account with them. There was not a minimum needed to open the account. So I wrote a check for $38.00 and now my total is...$63.00!!

YEEHAW!

So my budget is $100.00 per week for groceries to feed a family of 5. I haven’t hit this goal in weeks! Today I went out with my eldest DD and spent $110.70. At least I am getting closer and truth be told I probably would have hit my goal had she not been with me. Now that I have three kids I try to spend alone time with DD#1 as much as possible.

My plan is to come under budget and put whatever money I have leftover into the challenge. I use the Grocery Game and my total came to $236.18 so I saved $125.48…not bad especially since I buy things that are not on the list.

This is the year we are supposed to remodel our home and extend the back of the house by 10 feet.

Sounds like fun, eh? Yeah, not really. It is going to be quite a challenge with the kids (7, 5 and 6 months), especially the baby. So far we have had one quote from a contractor for $96,000.00… Yikes! I was actually thinking it would be more like 75K maybe 85K max. We will be getting two more bids from reputable contractors who have done work in our area.

To pay for this we are refinancing our home and at the same time we will be paying off a LOC that is a variable and is now at 8% ouch. So we are already used to the house payment because of the LOC. With that said…I am still nervous to take it on. DH is really wanting the additional space. I’ll post more when there is progress…

January 12, 2007

Ahhhh… my first post in my new blog….feels pretty comfy here…maybe I’ll stay awhile…..


Alright enough relaxing…. Let’s get down to business…. The $20.00 challenge.. just happen to have 20.00 to start with. I have decided that everyday I will do a “financially minded” task. That task may involve making money… or fixing something to save money… or doing another task that may lead to money down the road…. Yada yada yada, you get the idea.

Today, I took in my recycles and made $12.00!!! Whoo hoo!

It is going to be a challenge to save money because my Dear Husband is the ultimate SPENDER!!! He is a great guy who works hard and supports all of us – I stopped working October 2005 but that is another story for another time – But he likes to buy stuff and he does not have cheap tastes! AND his 50th birthday is coming!!! I want to buy him a Bulova watch for his special day… we’ll have to see!

So anyway, I will do my best to keep this blog updated.

Challenge Balance: $32.00