I'm Being Cheap Again!

The school year started last week and already kids are out collecting money for fund raisers. The other day a high school student stopped by selling "coupon cards" that offer discounts at several local businessess. My husband bought one last year and I don't think we used it once-mostly because we forgot we had it (most times we remembered after we had made the purchase and were on our way home)

I told the boy that I didn't have any cash and he should stop by when my husband was home. This was true, however I guess I could have written a check.

I always remember the time a few years back when my husband was just starting out in his business and finances were a lot tighter. Having $10 cash on hand was great and usually meant we could go to the store and buy bread and milk to last us for a few days. Another fund-raising student knocked on my door and I said "Yes, I would buy their product" and went and got my last $10 bill out of my purse. I scolded myself under my breath for not having the courage to just say, "No, I can't afford that right now".

I have five kids who are in school. I try to allow them to only do fund raisers once per year each and they each have to do them at different times of the year. I discourage them from going door to door and try to encourage them to approach close friends and family who I know can afford it.

Broken Dryer - A Blessing In Disguise?

Well, on Monday the belt on my dryer broke and I have been without a dryer all week. My husband and I talked about going out and buying a brand new one since the one we're using is probably (we're guessing) about 30 years old. We got it for free out of an old rental house that we bought when we were first married. We've actually been through 2 washing machines since then, so I guess the old saying holds true "They don't make 'em like they used to".

When we discovered that the problem was just the belt and it would only cost $20 to fix, we opted for that solution. Maybe if we ever add on to our house and can build a bigger laundry room we'll splurge and buy a new dryer.

I'm probably saving money this week as I have been hanging most of my clothes on the clothes line. I usually only hang my jeans, but realize it's not so bad hanging the other colored items as well. Just don't ask me to hang our underwear! I've been using my MIL's dryer for that.

I ordered a new belt and it should be here by next Tues or Wed. When it comes, I'm going to try to continue hanging all the clothes that I can until it gets too cold.

Free Live Nation Tickets

I ran across this freebie and thought I'd share it with you:

Hint - Register first or you will get back a note saying they don't have your email address on file* - Lawn tickets by the way

Click Here

If you are a registered member of LiveNation, you can get free lawn tickets to the shows below. No fees!

If you are not a member,you should be able to sign up for free.
Tickets print up on your computer! ~ENJOY~


Saturday, 8/19/06 John Fogerty with Willie Nelson Verizon Wireless Music Center Noblesville, IN
Saturday, 8/19/06 Hootie & The Blowfish with Better Than Ezra Verizon Wireless Music Center - Birmingham Pelham, AL
Sunday, 8/20/06 Hootie & the Blowfish with Better Than Ezra Homegrown Concert Series to benefit Wake County Public School System Alltel Pavilion at Walnut Creek Raleigh, NC
Monday, 8/21/06 Counting Crows, Goo Goo Dolls Starwood Amphitheatre Antioch, TN
Tuesday, 8/22/06 John Fogerty with Willie Nelson UMB Bank Pavilion Maryland Heights, MO
Wednesday, 8/23/06 Counting Crows & The Goo Goo Dolls with Eliot Morris Alltel Pavilion at Walnut Creek Raleigh, NC
Friday, 8/25/06 107.9 The Track Presents: KC & The Sunshine Band with Gloria Gaynor, Tavares, Sister Sledge Verizon Wireless Music Center Noblesville, IN
Friday, 8/25/06 Hippiefest: A Summer Concert For Peace & Love... Blood, Sweat and Tears, Felix Cavalieres Rascals, Rare Earth, Mitch Ryder, Canned Heat, Mountain featuring Leslie West & Corky Laing, Country Joe McDonald, Melanie, Badfinger, Denny Laine. Hosted by Wavy Gravy. New England Dodge Music Center (formerly the Meadows) Hartford, CT
Saturday, 8/26/06 Counting Crows & Goo Goo Dolls Nissan Pavilion Bristow, VA
Saturday, 8/26/06 KC & The Sunshine Band with Gloria Gaynor, Tavares Verizon Wireless Music Center - Birmingham Pelham, AL
Monday, 8/28/06 Counting Crows and Goo Goo Dolls with Eliot Morris Verizon Wireless Virginia Beach Amphitheater Virginia Beach, VA
Tuesday, 8/29/06 Black Eyed Peas with catcat Dolls PNC Bank Arts Center Holmdel, NJ
Tuesday, 8/29/06 Counting Crows & The Goo Goo Dolls with Eliot Morris Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre Charlotte Charlotte, NC
Thursday, 8/31/06 Counting Crows, Goo Goo Dolls, with Eliot Morris Sound Advice Amphitheatre West Palm Beach, FL
Friday, 9/1/06 Counting Crows, Goo Goo Dolls with Eliot Morris Ford Amphitheatre Tampa, FL
Friday, 9/1/06 Hootie & The Blowfish with Better Than Ezra Post Gazette Pavilion Burgettstown, PA
Sunday, 9/3/06 Chris Brown with Ne-Yo, Lil Wayne, Dem Franchise Boyz, Juelz Santana Alltel Pavilion at Walnut Creek Raleigh, NC Tuesday, 9/5/06 Counting Crows, Goo Goo Dolls Verizon Wireless Music Center - Birmingham Pelham, AL
Friday, 9/8/06 Black Eyed Peas with special guest catcat Dolls Darien Lake Performing Arts Center Darien Center, NY
Friday, 9/8/06 Counting Crows, Goo Goo Dolls Verizon Wireless Amphitheater Selma, TX
Sunday, 9/10/06 Chris Brown with Ne-Yo, Lil Wayne, Dem Franchize Boyz & Juelz Santana Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre Charlotte Charlotte, NC
Friday, 9/15/06 Hootie & the Blowfish with Better Than Ezra Homegrown Concert Series Benefit for Hillsborough County Public Schools Ford Amphitheatre Tampa, FL
Saturday, 9/16/06 Hootie & The Blowfish with Better Than Ezra Sound Advice Amphitheatre West Palm Beach, FL
Sunday, 9/17/06 SANTANA PNC Bank Arts Center Holmdel, NJ
Thursday, 9/21/06 Checkered Flag and VH1 Classic Presents STYX and Foreigner Verizon Wireless Virginia Beach Amphitheater Virginia Beach, VA
Saturday, 9/23/06 Styx, Foreigner with Foghat Ford Amphitheatre Tampa, FL
Sunday, 9/24/06 Styx, Foreigner with Blue Oyster Cult Sound Advice Amphitheatre West Palm Beach, FL
Tuesday, 9/26/06 Santana with Los Lonely Boys, Salvador Santana Band Nissan Pavilion Bristow, VA
Thursday, 9/28/06 Santana with special guests Los Lonely Boys & Salvador Santana Band Sound Advice Amphitheatre West Palm Beach, FL
Friday, 9/29/06 Santana with Los Lonely Boys & Salvador Santana Band Ford Amphitheatre Tampa, FL

Can You Attract Wealth?

I've been reading a very interesting ebook lately titled "Happy Pocket Full of Money" about being able to attract wealth by changing your attitude and way of thinking. That's the very basics of it, there are so many "deep thoughts" in this book so that's it in a nutshell.

Anyway, I have story to share and I hope I don't come off sounding crazy. Yesterday I was in Wal-mart looking for some composition notebooks for my kids for school. I wasn't finding any in the school supplies, so I went to the office supplies section. I was pushing my youngest daughter in the cart and carrying my wallet in my right hand. As I was looking for the notebooks, I glanced down and saw a journal that caught my eye. In my mind I thought "That's such a cute journal" I dismissed the thought, turned the cart around in the isle, checked the other side of the isle for the notebooks and did not find what I was looking for. I went back to the school supplies one last time to double check.

As I returned to the school supplies I glanced down at my wallet and was not only carrying my wallet, but also the journal that had caught my eye. It was the strangest thing!! Almost like the journal magically appeared in my hand. I don't remember picking it up. My daughter couldn't have picked it up-she was strapped into the cart. How did it get into my hand?

I think this is how we can attract wealth. Obviously, I did pick up the journal. But doing it was so effortless that I have no recollection of doing so and it seemed to just appear in my hands. I'm really starting to believe the stuff this book is saying.

By the way, I didn't buy the journal. I already have one. *Smiles*

Dumpster Diving?!

Ok, I thought I had seen it all. Then I ran across this post on another blog about "Dumpster Diving" EEeeww! You say? Read on.

These people go through dumpsters not because they're needy or poor, but because they actually find some really good stuff that is being thrown away, mostly by businesses.

At Dumster World I read about a guy find this at "Bird Bath and Beyond" (Haven't figured out the reason for the nicknames for the stores yet-maybe just to be fun?)

Hardwood floor vacume
Blanket
King sized sheets
twin sheet set
yankee candle
dish set -only two cups with broken handles
four HUGE pillar candles - will be good for a wedding
King Sized Nautica comforter
Queen sized down mattress cover

What's really cool is he says he has a small apartment so most of the stuff will be given away to his church or friends.

He also found some really cool bistro chairs, turned them into planters and sold them at a farmer's market for $50 which is what you see in the picture above. Isn't that great?! Would love to have one at my house!

The old saying is true: "One man's trash is another man's treasure"

Am I A Cheapskate?!

Ok, we just wrapped up our school clothes shopping and shopping for school supplies. Here in our school district each student gets a school supply list that has several items that they need to bring with them to class on the first day of school. When you have four kids attending school, that can get quite expensive.

So, this year I decided I was going to be a cheepskate and not buy everything on the list. For example, my youngest daughter attending school had "Hand Sanitizer" and "Box of Tissue" on her list. So, there's at least 20 students bringing a box of tissue. Really, is the 2nd grade class going to go through 20 boxes of tissue? And what about Hand Sanitizer? Can't they just got to the bathroom and use the soap in the bathroom?

I honestly don't think that us as parents should have to fork out the money for this kind of stuff. I can understand the pencils, crayons, colored pencils, erasers, notebooks, etc. can be furnished by us. But some of these lists go to the extreme.

And what infuriates me the most is last night my oldest daughter who is about to start middle school walked in and said, "I guess we didn't need to buy graph paper." and hands me an almost brand new graph paper tablet that my oldest son had brought home from school last year. Did he ever use the tablet? Maybe one or two sheets. Hello!! Why can't the teacher buy one tablet and, when needed, tear out a couple of sheets for each student?

We also found a couple of other items that my kids "had to have" that were nearly brand new and almost never used. This just irks me.

What do you think? Am I being a cheepskate?

Priceline Summer Package Sale: Save up to $300

I've been browsing the internet for coupons - I've never used them before. I can't believe how many great deals and coupons are offered online! Priceline is offering a summer package deal:

"Book a Flight + Hotel package during our End of Summer Super Sale. You can save up to $200 just by booking your flight and hotel together. And now, for a limited time, you'll get an additional instant rebate up to $100 when you book a vacation package by August 27th. That's up to $300 savings in sun-soaked destinations like Las Vegas, Florida, Hawaii, and Cancun or Big City destinations like New York, Chicago, and San Francisco.* "
Click Here for More Info

I'll post more as I find them!