all4money with INTENTION

We have a local consignment sales event a couple of times a year. There is a week left and this what my sales look like right now.
They get 40% and I get 60% so the $307 is what I've made so far!

(sorry for the sideways pic)

So, I'm finally back. I didn't realize that my last entry was over a year ago but it's time to get focused again on our finances. I won't go into detail as to what our goings on have been this past year but instead put down our thoughts and goals for the present:

1) Savings:
We currently save $1200 from our paychecks each month. $250 has been going into ROTH accounts. $150 has been going into a long-term (LT)savings account. $800 has been set aside for short-term (ST) savings each month.

We currently have just $2,500 in our LT savings (a mutual fund account)

We currently have $7,600 in our ST account and I have $3,000 in cash at home that I have been socking away anytime we get extra cash. I will be depositing that $3,000 into our ST account today so our balance will now be $10,600. There have been times where we need to tap into this account for annual bills like life insurance and such so this balance will fluctuate but that's what it is for.


2) Debt:
Our debt load currently looks like this-
Mortgage loan 1 balance $238,515 (renting this one out)
Mortgage loan 2 balance $287,955 (our home)
Car loan 1 balance $13,168 1.95% (purchased Jan 2014)
Car loan 2 balance $21,645 3.59% (purchased Jan 2015)
Yes, I know these are scary numbers.
No unsecured debt.

My conundrum is whether or not to stop putting away any or all of the $150 LT and $800 ST and instead divert those funds into paying off one our car loans. We have been paying more than the minimum each month but adding more to one of them would snowball it quickly. What do you all think?

So, we have a house that is being rented by a great family. Payments are on time, house is kept up, etc. Only problem is that we settled on a rental amount that is short of meeting our mortgage on the property. We tried to sell the house 1.5 years ago with no luck and we were fortunate to find this family that would rent it from us ... better to have the majority of the mortgage paid by someone else than for us to have keep paying the entire amount. Anyway, their lease is up for renewal in a few months. The difference between the rent amount and the mortgage amount is $347. Hubby says that we need them to pay the full mortgage amount or we should try to sell the house again kicking them out... I am not so sure. I think we should increase the rent by like $100 and let them lease for another year (doubt they could afford an additional $347). They love our house and have treated it like it was their own... They would buy it but they foreclosed on their last home due to other issues and so now can't get a mortgage to buy ours. What are your thoughts? Ask them to pay the entire $347 additional each month or else kick them out and try to sell it? This wouldn't be so hard except that they really are good people...

First, thanks to all of you that commented on my last post. The whole situation is still in flux at the moment so we'll see how it all shakes out (MY boss just came into my office this morning with an absolutely new setup that involves people moving OUT of the redone space -- he asked for my opinion and I just silently wished I had a spit ball I could throw at him ).

Anyway, on to better topics. Any of you extreme coupon out there? I started couponing back on Mother's Day and after some mistakes and learning the ropes, I think I finally got the hang of it. I have also slowed down quite a bit too. For example, now I only buy toothpaste when I can get it for FREE, not $0.50 or $0.25... but FREE. This is because I have too many in my stockpile to worry about trying to get even another one just because it's a deal. So, I've gotten to the point now where it has to be FREE or a money maker in order for me to run for it. It's actually quite a freeing feeling (no pun intended).

Just thought it might be cool to know of you guys that are also couponers. I've been doing it for 6 months and have primarily focused in on the health and beauty deals. I have enough paper towels to last quite a while and plenty of feminine care products to keep our family of 3 ladies taken care of so that poor DH doesn't have to make any quick stops to the store (if you know what I mean). I do need to step up my game when it comes to food shopping but I am getting there

I am tired of pettiness, stubbornness, and down right meanness...

I supervise 5 ladies, 3 of which are just making me mad. They have worked together in the same office (literally) for over 17 years with the same office/furniture set up and layout all this time. My boss decides it's time to hire another person and wants me to redo the office space to accommodate this new person. I ask lots of questions and provide these 3 ladies ample opportunity for input and collaboration on where we will put this new person. So, all is agreed upon and moving-furniture-day arrives. Last Wed, we had a gaggle of men here moving things around and re-organizing the layout of the office based on the specifications of what we all agreed on. On this moving day, one of the ladies is on the verge of tears, looks so upset, and is so distraught... MY boss notices her reaction and comes back to our area at the end of the day after the entire move is completed just to ridicule ME about how I jumped the gun and he didn't authorize such a move (just to save face in front of this lady). I have now lost all credibility as a manager/supervisor over these 3 ladies and it gets worse... these ladies aren't even speaking to me now except for the work stuff that we have to talk about. We used to have a very friendly and open work environment but now it's like I have entered into the most depressed work environment ever! I don't even get a good morning any longer.

I am tired of the second grade behavior --- get over it already! This has been going on for since last Wed and it's just stupid. It's just a freakin' office that instead of being shared with 3 people, it's now going to be 4 (new girl starts tomorrow). The space is large and there is still plenty of space... Geez, people.

Ok, sorry, I had to vent. My DH thinks these ladies are so juvenile to get worked up over a moving layout that they all came up with in the first place. I didn't tell them it had to be any certain way but as a group, they came up with the layout and now they are punishing me for disturbing their way of life for the last 2 decades! Arrgh. Makes me want to look for another job where there are mature people around! --Oh, and I now hate my boss for backstabbing me. He and I spoke extensively about this office move and I only acted upon his direction but he made it sound like I caused all this 'unnecessary' drama. Crazy, I tell ya.

--- I was "offered" a job in a county 2 hours away for about $30k more than what I am making now. I wasn't looking or applying anywhere but the person there is retiring and recommended me as her replacement. After weighing out everything, I declined the offer. Believe me, I was very humbled to be considered but we have just too much going on here so the timing just isn't right.

--- Renters have renewed for another year so at least we don't have to worry about that house for a while longer. I think we lucked out quite a bit with this as there are so many horror stories about bad renters. This is a nice little family and they love our house so they have taken very good care of it. {{Too bad their rent payment is $360 short of paying our mortgage that we have on it, but it's better than nothing}}

--- Work has been complete chaos these past few months. Our superintendent was bought out of his contract to a tune of nearly $200k and we are now without a boss for who knows how long.

--- Slowly still making progress at the "short sale" house. We love living there but geez, it's taking a long time to fix it up. With the nicer weather these days, we have done much work outside amping up the landscaping. Plus side is that we get a nice workout while we are at it.

--- Drove by an apt complex last Sat and sitting right by the dumpster was something that caught my eye. I pulled over and tried to piece it together... turns out to be a toddler bed in the shape of a Volkswagen Beetle and it was in great condition. My parents are going to yard sale it off for around $30. Oh, and there was also a stepper machine that was just sitting there... in great shape too. Probably will sell that for around $20. Woo hoo for dumpster diving!

--- Upcoming local consignment sale next month that I will participate in. This is held twice a year and is a good way to clean out our closets without holding a yard sale. So, I've been looking for just about anything that can go toward that sale. The only bad thing is that they charge 40% of the sale --- yikes, but again, better than nothing. This is a huge deal where I live and tons of people shop this thing so it really is a good way to get rid of stuff.

--- Family is on a spending hiatus starting today. Besides stuff we need to get to keep our home improvements running along, we are not allowed to buy any "fun" stuff like clothes or dvds. I hope we can last a while because we are running low on cash as it is!

--- Family beach trip coming up in July so I am also starting an exercise plan tonight (Jillian Michaels, here I come). Wish me luck.

I have always done our taxes, first manually filling in all the forms by hand, then moved on to TaxAct and have been using TaxAct for several years now.

Last year, we became landlords and now I find myself in uncharted territory. I think it should be simple enough to put our rental info into TaxAct but I have a little voice inside me that just won't shut up... I guess I'm afraid I'll miss something and really put us in target for an audit or something.

Any of you do your own taxes while having rental properties?

Ok, so my younger sister just received a great job offer.... so why do I feel so jealous of her? She and her hubby are in so much better shape financially that we are and that just makes me ache. She's making right around the $100k mark with this new job from what I can piece together (she doesn't share her income numbers with me anymore). Together with her DH, they are making about $180k I think. Now, DH and myself, we aren't making shabby incomes at around $140k but we work in a completely different sector so I have to keep reminding myself of this. I think the thing that bothers me the most is that sis will have her house paid off in the next 8-10 years (brand new house they bought in 2006)... while I'm still carrying 2 mortgages and will be for a long while. I'm just so envious. Ugh. I know I should be happy for her but it's hard to be... I'm such a bad sister

Has it really been this long since I've posted? Oh, my.

Bullet list of happenings---

*Renters are working out great. They are such a cute and happy family. They say they love our house and wish they could go ahead and buy it (their house in FL won't sell) but are happy calling it home. Their lease doesn't run out until July but they will probably renew it for another year after that. So, all is good.

*We are moving ahead with our short-sale house. I really shouldn't call it that anymore since it is our home now and has been for the last 6 months. We've finished renovating the kitchen, family room, dining room (hosted Thanksgiving dinner!), half bath, and upstairs main bath. We have almost finished our youngest DD's bedroom and are working on the guest bedroom that our oldest DD will be temporarily using as her bedroom (her "real" bedroom will be the entire 3rd floor of the house and it will take some time to redo so we are calling that our summer 2013 project). So, slowly but surely we are making headway.

*Financially, we are not in the best of positions if I were to be completely honest. I thought we had plenty of money saved up for all these renovations (most of which we are doing ourselves) but alas, we are drained out. Ugh.

*Things at work are getting better. They finally hired another person that has taking that "full-time" stuff that I inherited last summer off my plate so I can now go back to doing what I was doing before. Still though, the changes around here are just crazy but I'm so thankful to have my job!

*In looking at my 2012 goals that I had listed to the side, I can say that we met all 3 of the house goals. All the other goals were "meh" at best. I hope 2013 will be more successful.

So, it's been eons since I last reported in... the short sale house reno is going just fine. We officially moved in Aug 1 and we are enjoying actually living there while we continue with the renovations. We rented out our other house and so far so good with the renters.

The reason I am exhausted though is due to demands at work. I used to like coming to work each day but for the last several months, I dread each morning getting up and going to work. We've had 4 different lead management changes during this time period... and I've assumed an entire full-time job on top of what I currently have to do. Doing 2 jobs within a work week is nearly impossible. I am stressed beyond belief as to the amount of work that I am now responsible for getting done. I have a staff of 3 folks that I used to like but lately, those relationships have been strained as well. It's so hard to describe accurately what is going on so I won't even attempt it but needless to say, I feel like my time here is over. I am looking for another job but it's a bit difficult right now to find anything comparable to what I am doing (and at the same pay). So, I am trying to take deep breaths each day, keep myself above water, and find a way to continue with this each day. I'm so drained........

So, we took the safe route and decided to rent our house to the $1300 per month family. They seem very nice and eager to move in. I think it will work out just fine with them. The lease starts Aug 1 so we have just 2 weeks to move out (one week we had already planned to be at the beach on vacation). Yikes. So much to do. So much crap to get rid of.

We are shy $360 per month in covering our mortgage but getting $1300 is better than getting nothing so we are okay with it. They did decide on just a one year lease so we'll have to see what happens next year. Our house was much easier to rent out to sell, that's for sure!

Anyway, we are looking forward to moving on and living at our short sale house permanently. {{Big sigh released}}. I need to take some pictures to share with you but the house renovations are going great. Loving this house.

Now, I've got 4 college boys wanting to rent our house for a year at the full asking price of $1700. Anyone have any pros/cons with renting to college kids?

(The $1300 family now wants to change it to a year's lease with the option to renew for another year.)

Brief recap:

-House for sale for 4 years now
-Finally decide to put it up for rent a month ago
-Got an offer to rent it for $1300 a month for 2 years (doesn't cover all the mortgage on the house but it's much better than nothing!)
-Need to firm up this lease agreement offer TODAY

So, we were all set to go on this thing but then our realtor just let us know that he has been in talks with a family out in Arizona (we are in the Southeast). The lady has just accepted a job here at the local University and they are heading up here to look at rental houses on July 4. He said that they loved our house based on the pictures and the conversations they have had with him. If they like the house once they see it, they will give $1500 a month for a one year lease.

These $1300 people want to lock in today so I don't have the luxury of waiting for the Arizona people in the case that I would lose the $1300 offer.

So, should I take the safe bet and just lease the house to the family first in line at $1300 for 2 years? Or should I take the riskier bet and wait a week and a half so that the Arizona people can come up and look at the place. If they like it, we'll get $1500 a month for a year. If they don't like it and don't want to rent it, we may or may not have the $1300 offer on the table any longer.

**At $1300 a month for 24 months, we are looking at a loss of around $9500 over the two years considering mortgage and insurance.
**At $1500 a month for 12 months, we are looking at a loss of around $2600 over the one year considering mortgage and insurance.

I have a feeling I know the answer but thought I would throw the question out to you guys anyway... ((Oh, and the $1300 a month people will have a dog with them -- a lab, but I'm not charging them anymore for having a pet.))

Ok, so we decided to move forward with trying to get a renter for our house at the same time we are trying to sell this same house... We now have an offer from a couple wanting to rent our house for $1300 a month with first and last month plus a month as a security deposit ($3900) paid upfront. Our mortgage on the house is $1660 per month so we'd be renting it at a loss. However, we would be selling at a huge loss as well so it's not something that we were not expecting in today's climate. My CPA friend thinks it is a good idea as we could begin to claim the property as rental property which means we could claim these losses on our taxes. I think we are moving forward with these renters (have to decide today) just so we can get out from under the house. They want to move in on Aug 1 which works out for our schedule too as our "short sale" house is coming along just fine and we could definitely live there starting Aug 1. I've always wanted rental property but just never thought we would go this route to be landlords so it's a bit of foreign territory for us...

So, life has been quite hectic these past few months as we have been super busy in the renovation of our "short sale" house but it's coming along so nicely!

On the other side of the fence in "not-so-good-news-land":

-had a purchase offer on the house; buyers withdrew before we could even consider accepting it or countering it

-2 weeks later we received a lease option offer on the house; again, buyers withdrew before we could even consider accepting it or countering it

Our listing contract ends on June 30 and we are seriously considering throwing in the towel and just try to rent the house out instead. We've been trying to sell the house for 4 years now! The feedback we've received from every realtor that has walked through the doors have been so positive, i.e. great price (even as we've reduced it several times), great location, great house in general, yada, yada. So, what's the deal??!!

In researching our option to turn the house into a rental property, this is what my CPA has told me:

Since we would be selling at a loss anyway, he advises that turning it into a rental property right now might not be such a bad idea. We could then start deducting depreciation and other expenses. Our mortgage payment is currently $1600 monthly. He advises us to try to refinance it to get a lower monthly payment as the house would probably only get $1200 to $1400 in rent so that we could break even.

Given that we are planning on moving into our "short sale" house sometime at the end of July, we need to make some decisions regarding this house. What do you guys think? Apparently we are stricken with just plain ol' bad luck on this house but we aren't alone... a co-worker has been trying to sell her spec house that they built for the same amount of time (4 years) with no luck either.

Any words of wisdom out there for me?

Help! Our list price is $274,000 with a 4.5% commission fee to the realtor. We bought the house at $285,000 so we are selling at a loss but we knew we would be and we were ok with that since we grabbed a great steal with our short sale house.

The offer is $260,000 with 1.5% (or $3,900) in closing costs. Everyone knows our house is a great steal at $274,000 but buyers want to get the best deal so it's understandable.

We are thinking of countering at $273,000 and $4,000 in closing costs.

What do you guys think?

Been so busy these past few weeks... biggest news is that we are expecting an offer today on our house that we have been trying to sell for like 3 years! The folks that saw the house on Sunday apparently fell in love with it - they didn't want another showing or anything. As I understand it, they went and got their financing in order and have asked for tons of documentation from our realtor regarding our house. So, we hear that they are prepared to put in an offer sometime today. PLEASE send positive energy our way as we would love to sell our house (finally!).

Well, week 2 ended up to be quite a disappointment. I was sick for most of it and I'm just going to use that as the excuse for not sticking to my plan. The only thing I did do was eat an egg (or 2) each day.

Recap for week 2 goals:
1. Continue with no soda (FAIL - drank 4 cans this week)
2. Up my water intake to 3 bottles of water a day (FAIL - see no. 1 above)
3. Continue with goal of 30 min of activity a day (FAIL - being sick means lots of couch time)
4. Eat the whites of one hard boiled egg for breakfast each morning. (SUCCESS - I actually enjoyed this one)

UGH. Being accountable is not fun. I am not weighing myself today either since I know that the number won't be wiggling around anywhere so why bother depressing myself. Ok -- enough pity party. Onward to week 3. I'm feeling much better today so hopefully, I can suck it up and really do something this next week.

Week 3 goals:
1) No soda
2) Drink 3 bottles of water/day
3) 30 minutes of activity/day
4) No "extra" food this week (I will be at a conference for work all of the next work week and I will be faced with lots of yummy food -- more than I would normally consume at meals since these will be catered, etc. So, my goal is to not cave into the available desserts, snacks, and everything else around me).

I think this is the earliest I've ever done our taxes before... I was a bity antsy as to how we would look since we had purchased the short sale house last Sept... I knew we'd get money back (I try to break even each year) so anyway, I did the paperwork and e-filed on Sat morning. Looks like we'll be getting back over $3200 between federal and state refunds this year. All that money will be put back into the short sale house so we definitely will be putting it to good use. On Sunday, we have officially started with the family room now. DH started the nasty job of scraping off the old popcorn ceiling. This is a big room so it will take another few days (a few hours each night after work) before all the scraping is done. I know I still owe you guys after pics of the bathroom but I think I have one more project up my sleeve for that area before the big reveal. Stay tuned.

I just got notice from my bank about LexisNexis... any of you heard of it before? I hadn't. Basically, everyone knows how we can request a free credit report annually, right? Well, apparently, with that same FACT Act legislation, we can also request a free report with regards to insurance claims and employment/resident histories about ourselves once a year as well. Who knew? Anyway, the company to go through is LexisNexis. You have to submit documentation as to your identity and they will send you a report providing a 7-year history of losses associated with personal property, auto losses, inquiry history, etc. that is on file associated with your identity. Apparently, insurance underwriters use this info in determining your risk and premium rates and stuff. Some employers or landlord companies use this info too. Anyway, just thought I would share the info in case anyone was interested in obtaining this free info.

Ok, so it's the end of my first week of my own weight loss challenge to myself. The goal for week 1 was to cut out the soda, to drink at least 2 bottles of water each day, and to be active for about 30 min per day... all in the effort to lose 1-2 lbs. So, how did I do?

I had one can of Mt Dew all week. So, even though I didn't fully meet this goal, I still consider this a success.

I did drink at least 2 bottles of water each day. Success.

I did try to be more active but with me being sick the last 3 days, I wasn't really in the mood to be jumping around. All in all, I'd say I met this goal halfway with much room for improvement.

I weighed myself this morning and was at 119 lbs! (Well, in full disclosure, I was so excited to see that number that I thought I would grab my camera and jump back on the scale again and take a picture this time to show you guys... but when I got back on the scale, it said 120 lbs the second time even though I didn't change anything (wasn't holding the camera) and it was just literally a minute from the first weigh-in. So, just for my morale, I'm going with the first 119 number as the official weigh-in)

In summary, I will give myself 8 points out of 10 for the week. I'm pretty darn proud of myself actually. If I can keep this up, I am bound to see some progress over time.

Ok, so on to Week 2. My goals for Week 2 are as follows:

1. Continue with no soda
2. Up my water intake to 3 bottles of water a day
3. Continue with goal of 30 min of activity a day
4. Eat the whites of one hard boiled egg for breakfast each morning. Egg whites are mostly protein with zero-fat and nothing else (while the yolk isn't all bad since it has vitamins and amino acids, all the fat is in the yolk). Now, the thing to note here is that I usually eat a peanut butter granola bar or a pop tart for breakfast (neither is that great for you) so this will be a change for the better. To go along with my egg white, I'll have a piece of fruit and will drink some hot green or white tea (supposed to be great for you full of antioxidants and stuff) or just water. Sounds fun, doesn't it?



5. Continue aspiring to lose 1-2 lbs per week.

Last time, I left you with the before pictures of our army bathroom. Here are some progress pictures to hold you over until I post the final after pictures.









We ripped everything out down to the studs and the subfloor. I hired a plumber to come in and move the toilet "hole" over about 4 inches from the bathtub because I felt that it was just too close for comfort. Other than that, DH and I have done everything ourselves.

As we don't have boys, this bathroom had to go. It was great to demo the entire thing and feel like something CLEAN would take its place.

Final after pictures will be posted sometime next week.

It hasn't been too difficult to just drink water all day long. I've increased my activity level from a 0 to about a 10 (on a scale of 0-100)... so still a lot of work to do there, but in all fairness, I'm also not feeling well these past couple of days. Being sick just doesn't encourage one's motivation to "work out", you know? I have been weighing myself and the scale just isn't budging at all. I may not make my 1-2 lb goal unless I up the ante on the workouts!

I just weighed myself this morning for the first time in a long time. I wasn't happy with the number I saw --- time to get off my duff and do something about it. I am going to use this blog to help me track and be accountable for my actions. Here are the deets:

Current as of 1/26/12
Height 5'0
Weight 120 lbs
Size 2P-4P

Goal for one week 2/2/12
lose 2 lbs

Now, I don't really eat that much throughout the day but my choices aren't all that healthy AND I am a slug all day long... so baby steps first:

1) Drinking more water. Mt Dew is my weakness and I have a 12oz can each day... the bad thing is that's it as I don't drink much of anything else all day long. I've never been a thirsty person and usually don't drink anything with breakfast, just have the can of Mt. Dew with my lunch, and a sip of water with dinner. If I can just make myself drink more water and no more soda, then that would make a huge difference. So, for this next week, my goal is to drink 2 bottles of water each day and no soda.

2) Exercise each day. Yeah, this is the hardest part of any weight loss program. About 2-3 years ago, I got on the exercise kick and exercised about an hour each day for about 3 months and lost 15 lbs. I am going to start this up again with just 30 minutes each day for this next week.

So, let's see, if I cut out Mt. Dew, that's a savings of 170 calories per day x 7 days = 1,190 total calories for the week which equates to a third of a pound of body fat (one pound of body fat equals to about 3500 calories). Add in 30 min of exercise per day x 7 days = 3.5 hours of activity for the week. I should easily see a pound or two fall off at the end of the week. I'll check back in on 2/2/12 to let you know how successful I was (positive thinking).

Long time coming but here are some pictures of some BEFORE shots of the main upstairs bathroom in our short sale house... this is the first big reno we are working on in the house and I think you guys will just love seeing the after (for anticipation sake, I'm going to just leave you with the BEFORE pics for now though)... and I will give you a full budget breakdown with the after pics too so stayed tuned!








(Yes, those are just matchbox trucks screwed into the cabinet to be door pulls)

Icky, yucky, and cruddy = words to describe the before state of this bathroom. Before we moved in, I wanted a clean and "new" bathroom that was completely functional so this was the first room we attacked. I'll be back later with the during and after pics!

So, we are at the stage now where we want to re-carpet the entire short sale house. We went ahead and paid for the family room to be done first and the second and third floors, where all the bedrooms are to be done later.

Main family room cost = $1,966 (615 sq feet) -- We've already paid for this as we thought this was acceptable BUT then the rest of the house will cost a whopping $7,325! This is for the installation of another 1,995 sq feet of pad and carpet. I realize we are carpeting a huge amount of square footage but geez...

Do you guys think this is too expensive? The estimate is from Lowes which in all honesty is our cheapest alternative where we live. I guess I wasn't expecting nearly $9,300 for new carpet (and that is with us tearing out and hauling away the old carpet ourselves!). The carpet we chose is $2.58 per sq foot so it ain't the cheapest nor the most expensive option. UGH.

I have really tiny feet (size 5) and have never found any pumps that would fit... until recently! OMG, I can actually walk around work without my feet killing me and I love it. So, what do I do but go on a shopping binge. Eeek. I've bought 3 pairs and spent $255. They are not cheap shoes and I love them so I figure they are worth the investment but geez, my pocketbook is feeling the pinch!!! I got a black pair, a neutral beige pair, and then a leopard print pair. Quality shoes mean money, I suppose and these 3 pairs should last me a long while.

Our realtor just called to update us on the second showing we had last night. The couple really likes the house and are working out the numbers to see what kind of offer they want to put in!!!! So, we don't actually have an offer yet but this is the farthest we've gotten in the 3 years we have tried to sell the house!!! They said that they will try to get something together and submitted tomorrow --- wahoo!!!!!!!!

I think I did pretty well today at CVS. My sister's baby shower is next week and so I bought a ton of diapers for her since I had coupons expiring today. I also bought some Tide HE detergent that I needed to get for our new front loaders.

7 jumbo packs of Pampers @ $9.50 each
6 Tide liquid detergents @ $5.94 each
Total value = $102.14

Less manufacturer coupons = $18.00
Less CVS Extra Bucks I had = $2.00
Less $10 gift card wyb $30 promotion = $30.00
Less Greentag Extra Bucks I earned = $1.00
Less Free pack of diapers wyb 6 = $9.50
Total coupons/promotions = $60.50

Total without tax = $41.64

And, just because I'm a nerd, I calculated my per unit cost... my Pampers to Tide ratio is 65/35 so that means that each pack of Pampers was just $3.87 each and each Tide detergent was just $2.42.

I think that's a pretty darn good haul for stuff I needed anyway.

So, January 2010 was the last time I received a raise (for earning my MBA). I just finished a 3 year certificate program this past summer and today I got my raise for earning that... My personnel director (love him!) asked for 5% on my behalf which was great but.... After some careful consideration and research, I went back to the boss and asked for 12.5% instead. And, wahoo! I got the 12.5%! I am so overjoyed, you don't even know how much!!! In my profession, there are no automatic raises for performance or cost of living or anything... so I have to "earn" every penny of every raise I ask for. With completing this certification, I honestly don't know what else I can do to earn another raise (short of getting a PhD) so I wanted to make sure I asked for enough and not to settle for just anything. I was going to just ask for 10% but after talking with a confidant, she suggested 15% and so I took it right down the middle. I did present both the 10% and the 12.5% scenarios to the boss and he elected the 12.5% number. It really is a fair amount (I didn't ask for the moon in comparison to my co-workers' pay) so I am very grateful!!! This goes into effect Dec 1 so what a wonderful Christmas present this is for me.

On another good news front, we have a second showing scheduled for our house tomorrow. This one sounds very promising as the couple went to the bank to talk numbers after seeing our house the first time this past Sat. I am trying to stay optimistic and am crossing all my fingers and toes that they will put in an offer --- so we can focus all our attention on the short sale house we just bought. We've only had our house for sale for 3 years now!