My English Castle's Personal Finance Blog

I've gone red, and not just for valentine's Day. I got the Target Red card today, and I'm feeling really glad about it. We spend at least $100/month at Target. We own Target stock. I love Target, despite its sometimes flaws.

As I blogged yesterday, I volunteered to do the Target shop for a colleague with a seriously ill child. They're overloaded and overwhelmed, and another colleague has set up a site through "Lotsa Helping Hands" to organize volunteering. I cleaned a few weeks ago and will make dinner soon, but I needed to go to Target and this seemed like a double-duty opportunity.

Unlike yesterday's bad grocery shopping trip, today's Target shop was one of those rare experiences where everything seemed to go right. I had manufacturers' coupons, Target coupons, rebates, etc. I remembered to get TurboTax, everything was in stock, most of my list was on sale; it was fabulous. We spent about $100/each so saved $10 total with the red card, plus got exceptionally good buys on most everything.

I'm a walking advert for Target today.

Lots of rumblings from our deans about the state-university system budget cuts coming our way. The great rumor mill says at least 10 percent and perhaps significantly more from all salaries. Part of me wants to scream, another to throw up, but our budget is not that tight, and we'll be fine. I'll weigh in with the complete details when I know them.

It doesn't make me a nicer teacher, particularly with the bad students. It's Week Three of the spring semester, and today alone I had to call out three students for texting in class.
But maybe that is being a better teacher, because that behavior has got to stop.

On a different note, I'm part of a group that is helping colleagues with a seriously ill child handle household chores, dinner, and shopping. My task for the week is to go to Target with their list. I love Target anyway, and I've found them some great Target printable coupons (they're not coupon people at all) so I may finally get my Red card to save them and us some more cash.

On a more annoying note, I stopped at the grocery store on the way home and found the pork tenderloins I wanted on sale. Yet they rang up at double the marked price. I pointed it out to the checker, he looked at me blankly and said, "What do you want to do?" What kind of a comment is that? I told him I wanted him to give me the marked sale price. Looking minorly miffed, he re-rang it. Yikes.

Usually I park six or so blocks from my classroom and walk. It's free, and I need the exercise. But with my bronchial coughing and below zero wind chills, I've treated myself to indoor parking. And I probably will till the temps get better on Thursday.

How many days till spring?
What a winter!

As I might have predicted, there were plenty of absent students this morning. The stories they tell about their behavior and that of their friends during the Super Bowl makes me glad to be old and off the roads.

Yesterday's snow caused havoc with DD's school bus this morning, and I was almost late to school myself. And please don't ask how I lost my keys. All of this led to some unnecessary spending today as I had to park in the ramp or be late for school. But all's well, just $6 poorer!

Will turnout be better in my evening class?

But people are indeed happy in Cheeseland!

I stopped at the grocery store yesterday, and everything you can possibly imagine tinted green and gold was indeed tinted green and gold: cookies, breads, chips, dips--there are special green and gold pepper packages, fruit trays--It's a little scary.

I stopped in again today (poor planning!) and it's almost all gone. Local stores are closing down for the game and even people who've never watched a football game all the way through are excited. News stations are showing scenes from bakeries featuring doughnuts with green and gold sprinkles. Maybe it's the long winter, but it's very funny.

I HATE to think about what it will be like at school on Monday if the Packers lose....

And aren't flowers the best non-fattening perk-up in February? I went with my boss to visit a colleague at the hospital today. I hope the flowers help her a little. She's seriously ill, and it was very sad to see her.

I've spent the rest of the decluttering and listing some things on ebay.
I think I'll cross-list them on Craigslist too--mostly my mom's odd bits of china.

You can certainly tell it's Super Bowl time here in Cheeseland. Even the Brit DH has football fever.

Not much planned for the weekend except football and household stuff. Too cold for much else anyway!

I understand why Valentine's Day is in February. If it stays this cold and snowy, I'll be digging into the chocolate every day.

I had a short day of teaching today and came home to actually get on the treadmill. I'm very pleased with actually doing it instead of thinking about it. DD had a half day at school so we're going to cook up something good tonight. Because there was NO parking anywhere near campus because of the snow today, I went early and paid to park in the ramp. But I didn't buy coffee (awful)to offset the small expense,

How many days till spring?

But the storm seems to have passed. I stayed up and graded papers because I just had to watch the storm. We indeed had thunder and lightning, but we're all home and everything closed up for the day. DH has made his rounds with the snow blower, and we're all clear now although the snow was over the dog's head. I think we've had about 18" of snow.

Glad we're safe and sound, and happy to stay indoors for today!

About to start a big pot of something to simmer on the stove. I become so domestic in this weather.

Good luck to the rest of you affected by this!

The grocery stores are jammed, the gas stations are backed up, even the library was crazy. Can this storm live up to its hype as "The storm of the century"? Of course the century isn't that old right now.

I changed my office hours and came home early. The university is closing at 4 and will not be open tomorrow. I hope all three of us are home relaxing and playing board games tomorrow.

I got a big check from my evening class institution because of lots of final projects in December, so I dropped that off on the way home. Must spend some of this snow time working on the finances. Must spend some of it sleeping in!

Good Luck to everyone with the storm in their path!

It's snowing here and everyone is predicting a "snow day" for Wednesday. I'd be happy to have a day at home with DD, DH, and a big pot of soup.

It's been a cheap day with leftover pizza for lunch and no snacks purchased at school. I need to spend some time tomorrow looking over financial accounts, paying bills, and cleaning up my files. It must be the weather--I just feel like nesting!

Our DD has become a Harry Potter maniac in the last few months. We own all the books and movies and are thinking of spending some of spring break at Universal Orlando Harry Potter Land. Have any of you been there?

I'm trying to figure out much time a Harry devotee would need there. We've done Disney before and may try another day or two there, but before we sink time and money into Universal, I'd like some veterans' advice.

We'll probably stay at a condo outside Orlando that we liked before, so we're trying to figure how much time to spend there and how much it might cost.

It's the official end of my teaching week, and there's a busy weekend ahead. I hope I can squeeze in a 30-minute nap before DD comes home.

It's also been a cheap week. I just finished a survey on MySurvey.com and cashed $10 into Paypal. More product surveys coming up on products we've been testing.

Looks like a perfect night for spaghetti--new snow and lots of meatballs in the freezer!

Wouldn't you like 31 days in June instead of January? I would! January seems like it drags on forever to me.

School's been so busy I haven't had time to think about money much, but am just trying to adjust to the new schedule. I teach from 9:30-1:45 with only 10 minutes between those three classes. I'm trying to figure out how to eat, drink, and stand up for that many hours.

I didn't get home until almost 2:30--and then ate lunch. I think I need some energy bars, or better snacks in my bag. I usually bring water and some string cheese with me and a piece of fruit, but I was starving when I got home. Tomorrow will be better with only one class.

Any snack suggestions from anyone out there? I need something non-messy, fairly healthy, that I can put in my bag. Good cereal bar suggestions? Or should I try making my own?

Well, school has officially started up again, and I'm trying to maintain the steady decluttering and calm I seem to have had over break. There's lots of stress at school with plenty of students scraping to come up with tuition, being dropped because they didn't make their deposits, and other problems. I usually teach at 8am, but nothing this term until 9:30, and I find the atmosphere around campus much busier at 9am. I used to get into the building, hunker down, teach three classes and leave, but this morning the busyness meant I had to WAIT for coffee and struggle to find a parking spot. This schedule is better for DD and DH, but I like the quietness of early morning better.

I had an interesting chat with my haircutter this afternoon. She's in her mid 30s, her husband has a landscaping business, or did before their truck got wrecked last summer. He's been working as a waiter, his restaurant closed, so they're living on her income and his unemployment with no medical insurance. I'm glad I brought her muffins, but it just amazes me how people get by. I'd be a wreck in that situation--or maybe it's just because I'm older and know what could happen?

I finished my promotion file today and will have it ready to turn in on Monday. I can't tell you how relieved I am to have it done. We spent a big chunk of change at Office Depot today on the binder for the file, dry-erase markers, a big box of printer paper, and other stuff.

I'm really tired tonight; I think the stress of finally getting it done has worn me out and I'm turning in immediately after MI-5!

It won't mean that much more money, but it should mean increased job security.
That seems like a darn good thing.

Even though I've been working pretty steadily through my Winter break, I feel sad it's come to an end. Classes start Monday morning, and while I'm sure there's a great crop of new students headed my way, at least half of me would like to hang out at home another couple weeks. Maybe it's the subzero temps?


I feel like I've accomplished a lot over my break, on prep for next term, my promotion file, and on my decluttering. The trick comes to see if I can keep it up once the craziness starts up.

It's a cold one here in the Midwest, and even colder temps forecast for tomorrow. Days like this make me realize how much we need new windows, but they'll have to wait a bit. To make do until then there's 3M plastic on some, draft stoppers on others, honeycomb blinds on the bedroom windows--and the guest room has rolled towels over the sills.

I've spent the day prepping for next semester and copying eight years of teaching evaluations for my promotion file. Most of the evals were very nice, but some are just strange--one said I change the pitch of my voice too much. Students are just strange sometimes.

I dejunked a bit more, dropping off an old unused camera to a freecycler at the university and mailing an ebay sale. I do feel like I'm making progress--there's just a lot more to go.

Stay warm everyone!

Call it January restlessness, but I couldn't sleep last night. At 2am, I gave up and decided to empty my brain by making a big list of long- and short-term goals.

Some of them were financial, some of them will be achieved only because of financial planning, but there were others too.

I think the massive decluttering and selling, especially of some of my mom's things, has me thinking about the accumulation of stuff and how we could better live our lives. Nothing profound out of this, just thinking.

On a much more mundane note, it's double coupon day, we're out of dog food, I sold another book, and we've been selected to be product testers of a "food product," more about which I'm not supposed to divulge. So that will be dinner tonight; I've got laundry to do and classes to plan. I'll think in my spare time!

I've sold lots of books and a couple of other things on ebay for (I can't quite believe this myself) $478 in the last two weeks. Some of it was stuff from the closets, unused textbooks, some of my mom's things--and I'm going to have to start tipping the guys at the PO soon, I'm there so much.

I advertised on freecycle for someone to get our moving boxes from seven years ago, and they actually came on time today! In between, I met with a student, dropped my book donations at the library, and another huge box at the Salvation Army.

I'm very pleased with how well it's all been flying out of here. Long may it continue! Great buys on red peppers and Yukon golds--so that looks like dinner tonight.

The DD and I went out for lunch at Noodles today, and on the way in, a complete stranger handed us a coupon for $2 off. Did we look poor? Dunno, but it was very nice!
Our next stop was Great Clips for a haircut for DD. I usually have my coupon with me, but left it on the kitchen counter. When I mentioned that to the hair cutter, she produced another one for me.

Savings? Only $5--but out of midair!

Perhaps I should've kept shopping hoping for even better things?

My African-American lit class tonight read aloud Dr. King's "letter from Birmingham Jail." It was fabulous and a great way to celebrate the day, in school, in conversation with a lovely piece of writing.

It's been a cold Sunday here, but we got some things done. DD has tomorrow off, and we have fairly lofty ambitions for what we can accomplish. The husband took an old TV to Best Buy today to be recycled, and they charged him $10, but gave him a $10 gift card. A bit strange, but we're going to need a few things from Best Buy soon anyway.

The January decluttering continued with promises from Freecyclers to pick up boxes tomorrow, and one showing up today to pick up some software DD had outgrown.

I've got Cornish hens in the oven with sweet potatoes, we're back from skating at the school rink, and life seems pretty good right now!

Happy Martin Luther King Day tomorrow to all of you!

DH and I tackled the basement organizing for 90 minutes or so this afternoon. We had a mini-debate on whether to throw away our wedding cards, but feeling cluttered and unsentimental, we decided to read through them and then throw away most of them--except for those from our parents. I am SLIGHTLY embarrassed to report that while reading through them, we found a Crate and Barrel gift certificate for $50 tucked inside a card. It was dated May 2001. There was no expiration printed on it, so we're assuming it's still good. So the basement cleaning has paid off!

Beside that, we hauled an old TV upstairs to take to the recyclers, a box of books to donate to the library, and a big box for the charity shop. And we actually got some straightening done!

One of the books I listed this afternoon has already sold! It's been a good day.

It's been a nice quiet day here. DD started her Saturday French lessons again, so husband and I went to the local Einstein's for a bagel sandwich with the coupon. We stopped at a library out of our normal orbit to get a DVD I need for my Monday evening class and discovered a bunch of things we'd like to see there.

Another of my million reasons to love the library--DD signed up for the book club at the local library, but forgot her book at school yesterday. The discussion is Thursday night, she's not finished with it, and school is closed for MLK Day on Monday. The local library was out, and I checked Barnes and Noble but didn't want to pay $5.99 for a copy. The other library had a copy, so all's well.

DD has also outgrown her skates, so to avoid my clutter build-up, I've already listed them on Craigslist as well as some books on Amazon.

It looks like football night in Wisconsin, and we've bowed out of a party to stay home, snuggle in, and watch the game.

Sometimes winter is not so bad.

I went downstairs this morning to do a load of laundry and thought--man--some of this has got to go.
I think guilt makes me hang onto things. I bought a framed chicken picture (don't ask) at an estate sale a couple of years ago. About two weeks after I bought it, it fell on my head. That should have been a sign that it and I were not meant for each other. The glass broke, the picture tore, but still, it's been in the basement since then. Today it got boxed up and has exited the house.

My slippers, ruined from another spilling disaster, were also downstairs. I was putting away wine, dropped a bottle (of course the good stuff) and the slippers were beyond help. I've since bought a new pair, but the ruined ones stared sadly up from the laundry room floor. They've left quietly with the chicken picture.

DH and I need to spend a couple hours in the basement tomorrow getting it up and running nicely. Sometimes I feel like shouting at things, "GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!"

Yep, that's what I got when I thought I'd use the Tortilla Soup Mix I bought at the church bazaar. I love tortilla soup, and usually make my standard recipe from Cooking Light, but this was for a good cause. I'm now thankful I only bought one jar. I followed the directions exactly a got very mildly soupy rice. Doublechecked the recipe--5 c water, 1 can tomatoes with chiles, etc. It tasted fine, but it was NOT soup.
And there's a vat of it. I think it'll go in stuffed peppers tonight.

I knew there would be treasure in the guest room if I cleaned it. I found a lovely photo of a London Underground sign by St James Park that I framed and put up, a suitable hostess gift for an upcoming dinner with friends this weekend, and three items that I bought for gifts and didn't give. I had a couple of days to spare with the TJ Maxx gifts and ToyRus too, so I took them back today to a total of about $75. It was very satisfying to get the stuff out of there, and I found a Hasbro rebate for a Toys for Tots donation, so I got that filled out too.

I'm not quite done in there, but it looks so much better. I'm tempted to post a photo of the closet when finish!

Actually, only one of the dread closets will be tackled today. Today--the guest room closet. I committed to hosting some college kids singing in our church choir at the end of the month. This has indeed spurred me into taking a look at the guest room closet--and all the guest room.

Like many people, I suspect, the guest room in our house quickly becomes the junk room. I have so much stuff stuffed into that closet, and it has to be dealt with. For reasons beyond my imagining, we have six bed pillows in there, four heavy blankets, tons of "gifty" things that never got given to anyone, various other bizarre items.

I always try to pick up small items to send our World Vision sponsored child and other small things for Operation Christmas Child, but I had maybe eight small bags that didn't get sent this year. I put them all in a shoebox to remember for next year. Thankfully they were things like colored pencils etc, that will keep nicely. I'm freecycling,ebaying, and starting a donation box. Somehow I thought I'd be done in 30 minutes, and 90 minutes into it, I'm taking a break. Wish me luck!

A little bit of snow and a very gray day on this Monday.

We had a quiet weekend with some shopping on Saturday and a sleepy quiet Sunday, only leaving the house for church. Our daughter is VERY excited about a family sock hop at her school this week. She got some cute clothes for it, probably more than she needed, but what the heck. I doubt her father and I will look at all cool.

Our regular Friday night friends' group is full of bad news. One couple isn't working at all; the other couple just took a 25K pay cut. We feel very blessed and lucky to be doing as comfortably as we are.

I sold a book over the weekend and have a bag of charity donations on the front steps. I hope they get through the snow!

My eight-week class starts tonight with 30 new students. I haven't been in the classroom for almost a month and am actually (gasp) a little excited.

I'm still mostly home, mostly sick, but because it's been a very long seven days, and I had this $5 Eddie Bauer reward certificate burning a hole in my pocket, I did a bit of online shopping. Boy that $5 is a ruse. Nothing is $5, and I noticed that although they were offering "free" shipping, there was a $3 handling charge tacked onto each order. Ordinarily that would make me mad enough to cancel the order, but I did need a few things.

Tonight we got a babysitter and went out to see "The King's Speech." We loved it. The story was great, beautifully written, and the acting was top notch.

Someday I'll get out of the house! I was up coughing AGAIN for a long time last night and so was dragging today. I was determined to make it the grocers, but sat down after getting my list and coupons together and promptly fell asleep for 90 minutes. By the time I woke up, DD was home from school.

But the nap helped and I'm optimistic about seeing daylight tomorrow!

So again, I haven't spent a thing! However, if I don't get out soon, we'll have to eat those strange cracker leftovers in the back of the cupboard or have popcorn for dinner tomorrow.