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Archive for May, 2010

A Bit Spendy--but It Was Our Anniversary!

May 31st, 2010 at 06:34 pm

We spent part of the weekend in Chicago to celebrate our anniversary, and spent a fair bit, but sometimes you need to splash out. I got a great rate at the Kimpton hotel which has a wine hour; a nice savings on pre-dinner cocktails. Plus, for being a preferred guest, we got a mini-bar credit. We didn't use the mini-bar, but ended up taking a couple bottles of microbrew home since they were free anyway.

But the lovely part was the nice meal out and the Chicago Symphony. Both were spectacular as was the walk around downtown. It was just nice to out sans child.

Last Friday I sold a pile of DD's outgrown summer clothes on Craigslist for $10 and listed a few more items on ebay.

It's great to be back on savingadvice! I need to check in to see how everyone's doing.

Cleaning and Dejunking

May 28th, 2010 at 07:54 pm

We've spent the last week clearing out the basement, trying to get ready for the big remodeling project.

Our contractor would like us to have an open ceiling, with the floor joists exposed--and it would be $1000 cheaper than drywall, but I'm not sure it'll give us the finished look I'd like.

So, to help get the junk out, I gave away tons of stuff on freecycle: old cassette cases, old mirrors, outgrown kid's clothes, etc, and we sold our room-sized air conditioners. Nothing like a hot spell to sell air conditioners! I've listed children's books on ebay, sold some, and listed more kid's clothes on craigslist. Stuff that wouldn't sell has headed to the Salvation Army shop, but I suspect we'll have two or three more trips there before we're done.

I've still got one evening class going, and have done some pickup work evaluating portfolios for students who want credit for their "life experiences."

Although we have so much left to do, I thought I'd restart my blog to get me mindful of money again.
I'm glad to be back.