Two of my ebay items sold today for a total of $27.
I'm slowly decluttering and am always amazed at how much growing children contribute to excess stuff. We've been going through outgrown toys, books, clothes, and shoes at such a rate, it makes me dizzy. I wonder how people with large families handle it. Hat's off to them.

No other financial news except I had lunch out with an old friend today. I almost always eat lunch at home since I'm done teaching by early afternoon. But it was lovely to sit outdoors in the October sunshine and catch up. I ended up with leftovers for tomorrow's lunch to boot.

We've already booked a cottage for our UK trip next year and Financially Free's post about her first-class tickets to Peru had made me determined to get two of our UK tickets free this year. We usually can swing one, but two would be outstanding.

We added a little cash to the coffers yesterday. My book club moderation paid $120, and except for the offering envelope at church we spent nothing.

Saturday's only expense was ANOTHER new pair of shoes for DD. She has outgrown all of her shoes, and we've purchased 4 new pair in the past month--PE shoes for school, one casual pair, school shoes, and new slippers. And she still needs dressy shoes. I freecycled a bunch of her old shoes, but I've got a bag of outgrown sandals and more to give away.

School is so busy right now, I'm missing bargains right and left, but until my eight-week class is over, that's going to be the story. I barely have time to sleep, eat, grade, and do some class prep.

It's been chilly here--my car temp read 40 degrees this morning, but we've held off on the heat so far. Long may it last!

Or perhaps I should call this entry "Kidz Fadz and Cash"? DD has now officially hounded me into buying a package of Silly Bandz. But I made her spend "her own money" on the other two packetz. Our local card store is selling these for $3.99 and the clerk tellz me she can't keep them stocked fast enough.

For those of you spared this over-priced wackiness, see
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/18/AR2010071802974.html


I guess I'm glad I only spent $3.99. Sigh.

I've got tons of editing jobs left to do, the garden needs to be weeded, the kitchen cabinets need a sorting through and reorganizing, my syllabi need another check, and I've still got most of my mom's stuff to list and sell. Oh, and old gold jewelry to be sold and doctor's appointments etc. What I suspect I really need is a day without DD in the house to get caught up on things.

But it's hard to resist an 8-year-old who wants to create new hairstyles for hours on end and read books with guinea pigs as the main characters. A week from today she starts back to school, and as antsy as I'm feeling about getting things done, I'd rather hang out with her a little bit more.

We had a good day shopping for shoes, made some survey cash, listed a couple things on ebay, and went grocery shopping. But the best part was sitting in the cool sunshine and pulling out creeping charlie with the girl and pretending it was spaghetti.

My jobs can wait another few days......

DD is now officially 8-years-old, and we're thinking it's allowance time. I've read and pondered many things about kids and allowances, but mine was tied to chores. Should they be? How much? I have no idea.

I welcome any allowance guidance from those
who have been through the fire.

DD's birthday has been an expensive week--between the upcoming party and the various gifts etc. I'm just biding my time until we can get back on the ole budget bandwagon.
Tonight we took DD our for the traditional California Pizza Kitchen birthday meal. She got her dinner free, thanks to their birthday club, and we got a free "small craving" appetizer. I think the waitress thought we were crazy, but we took the appetizer home. We had a coupon for it, but really didn't want it. Looks like pita and hummus for me tomorrow for lunch.

My goal for the week is to photograph and list some of my mom's things that I retrieved from her house. Wish me luck!

To go with my last "foraging" post--I sold another of the discarded books on Amazon. I'll add that $30 to my total sales.

With all the floods, earthquakes, and general havoc about lately, I'm wondering about getting a safe deposit box.

During my first marriage I had one, but closed it when I left that town, and we haven't had one since.

I found bond Savings Bonds my mom gave to DD, and must admit, I'd forgotten completely about them. What if the house had burned down? Eeek! Maybe I'd better get one!

Does everyone else there is SA-Land have one?

My oh my--it looks like we're going to have a hodge-podge of summer activities for our daughter. And everything seems to cost $150 for a half-day one-week session.

I'm mostly sending her to half-day sessions hoping we can fill the rest of the time with swimming, the library and other things like play dates.

This is the first time she hasn't gone to the university child care, at least some days, so it'll be an adjustment.

It looks like it'll cost over over $1000, not counting the village pool membership.

I don't think, except for one summer school session, I ever went to any organized activities except camp for a week. But we lived in a neighborhood with dozens of kids and lots of impromptu fun.
I wouldn't mind reliving one or two of those days again. Mosquito repellent, bikes, tents made from blankets. I wonder if it was as idyllic as I remember it.

Our daughter is off school on spring break, so I'm not getting much done. She's come with me to the university this week, assigning coloring pages to my students.

As a Spring break treat, we went out to lunch after my classes were done at a lovely spot with free kid's meals.

I'm airfare shopping for this summer's UK trip, and prices are very uneven. United is $200 less than anyone else, American is still high for the dates we want, and NWA/Delta is very expensive now. I'd like to fly Virgin, but it would mean driving to O'Hare which always adds a bit to our totals. DH will have enough miles to fly free, so my weekend goals will be to find and book somewhere.

Unhappy news of the day: It looks as if my university teaching job will be at 3/4 time for the foreseeable future. That's 3/4 pay for probably at least the next year. The university has failed to tell anybody about this, but has just gone ahead and changed the schedule. It stinks there, but I guess I should be happy for the job. And I'm very happy I had so many years at full time, since it will eventually help what little retirement payouts I have left.

Happy news then? The most excellent church rummage sale in a long time--I bought DD a garbage bag full of clothes--including NWT Gymboree pants and shirt--all for under $20. For that she got five new dresses--three Gymboree and a Hanna Andersson--not that I'm label conscious, but they'll have good ebay resale when she's done with them, two pairs of pants, tights, tops, toys, you name it.

I'm ignoring the weather forecast and hoping like Sleeping Beauty to reawaken when spring actually arrives.

Besides the insurance payments due, and my adjunct job forgetting to pay me, all the back to school shopping has to continue. I've done really well with specials at Target, AlGreens, and Office Depot/Max, but DD needs two new pair of gym shoes and another pair of regular school shoes.

Oh yeah, and then there's the money for school lunches, and some sort of "activity" fee.

I have to say I'm sorely tempted by the cutie shoes like umi and other upscale kid's brands. We've had terrible luck with Carter's and other Kohl's brands. The velcro doesn't stay on, and despite my valiant efforts at supergluing it, we may get one pair of nicer shoes for HRH.