My English Castle's Personal Finance Blog

I've been meaning to get out all week to do some shopping, but my cold, while better, is still making me tired. I get work done at home, but have little excess energy for shopping. Count that as a plus.

I worked on my promotion packet all day, we all ate the big pot of veggie soup from yesterday, and still need another day of resting, it seems.



A slow start to the New Year, but probably a good one.

Our DD is back at school, and although very snuffly still, I'm at the computer putting items together for my promotion packet.
I need to write out goals for today and the week, so here are today's set: Complete two parts of promotion packet including teaching contributions and university service. Find at least a dozen unsolicited student recommendations and ask four selected students for recommendation. Clean office and take down card table that is natural clutter magnet. Mail book sale.
Make big pot of veggie soup.
If I get those accomplished, I come up with more!

Good Luck everyone on all your goals!

I'm glad to be back in SA-Land and will post goals tomorrow. My first one will probably be to clean my home office which shows all the signs of my recent neglectfulness. For now, I need to head off to Walgreens and redeem some bonus bucks that expire today.

I've got a few weeks off from teaching but have a big project to put together. This is the ideal time to straighten things up and create some calm zones both physically and emotionally.

Glad to be catching up with you all!

We've hunkered in for the now-cold NY and are enjoying the quiet weekend at home.
I accomplished several of my 2010 goals but need to update them for 2011--perhaps tomorrow or Monday.

Glad to be checking back in after the past crazy semester.

Happy New Year SA!

I haven't blogged much lately as I've been diligently working my way through a pile of British Lit papers. Only occasionally do I think about rolling down the car window and letting them fly all over the road.

It's been an inexpensive week on my front; I made a big pot of soup on Sunday and have been eating it for lunch--avoiding the deli specials that put a dent in my budget. We spent part of the weekend winterizing the lawn and garden and a few hours putting up removable caulking. I hate to admit this, but we've never caulked the windows before. I hope it helps with our heating bill.

I officially got a full teaching load for spring semester again, so that takes one worry out of the mix. We can make it fine on three classes rather than four; it's just easier with four.

I still have a couple of money-related errands on my "to-do" list. One is to sell some gold jewelry of my parents. There's only a few things, but I've never sold gold before. Any advice? I plan on getting a couple estimates, but I don't want to drive all over town.

Back to those papers....

I've been sort of ignoring our finances lately because I've been so busy at work, and I've decided it has to stop. No big crisis, they just need more attention. One case in point: Too frequently on the way home from teaching, I've been stopping at the local "expensive" grocers for their specials, and (it's true!) buying myself a deli lunch or some sort of food reward.

There's no real need for that, and today I came home and ate a decent-enough bowl of Progresso Veggie soup and a whole-wheat tortilla and cheese. Would I rather have a treat from the fancy grocer? Yep! But it was fine and saved me probably $5 over what I've been spending. Little leaks need attention too. Plus I was home earlier and watched MI5 on library DVD while grading. That's a real treat for me!

I'm adding (or should I?) $100 to my ebay totals for something that sold, but which hasn't yet been paid for.
Things are back to normal busyness around here with the current crisis a lost library book of my daughter's. I'm convinced it will surface.

Today in class we had a discussion about persuasion. A whole bunch of my students--mostly young men-- insisted their ethical values never sway them in the marketplace. I was so taken aback by that I was at a loss for words. Can it be that people's ethics don't sway their decisions? We had other things to discuss, but I need to come back to that contention on Wednesday. I think they were exaggerating, but still it astounds me that someone would actually say that. I'm still mulling that over....

Yesterday was a great bargain day. We breakfasted at Einstein's while DD was doing French and used our 25 percent off coupon. Then to a local church rummage sale where DD got lots of cute clothes and books, followed by a thrifty trip to the library and then a double-coupon extravaganza at the grocery store.

Don't you love when that happens?

That's me lately: Busy and Tired.
I probably should stay up late again tonight and grade, grade, grade. But I've spent twelve hours on school stuff today--publisher visits, presentations, student conferences, preparation--and frankly, I'm tired of it.

Although it's not yet 10pm here, I'm going to bed in the hopes that I can face 70 new student papers tomorrow feeling energetic and reinvigorated.

I ate breakfast at a meeting, lunch at another meeting, and my dinner was a sandwich and a brownie from yet another meeting. Perhaps some of my tiredness comes from vaguely unhealthy meeting food?


Good Night!

It's a catch-up week, and I guess I'm glad we had lots of leftovers in the fridge. Not the most exciting of meals, but it did take minimal prep and used up lots of bits and pieces.

I did manage to get some things listed on ebay last night, but it'll be a minimal week for me with ebay and other budgetary demands. I need to catch up on my grading after the fun of the weekend!

These cold days seem like soup weather to me. Maybe Thursday!

I'm back from four days in Chicago at a professional conference. I spent two days at the conference, and another fun two days with girlfriends who flew down to play with me.

My happy news is that the university is reimbursing all my conference expenses. I'm very glad! Last year I footed all my professional conference bills myself; although they include those points in promotion packages, they often won't pay for even the most frugal travel expenses.

While I was frugal with their money, eating every meal at publishers' events, and using hotwire for my hotel, I did spend a nice amount on my play days, but it was very fun and well worth it. I've got a friend who is a huge Chagall fan, and the Art Institute had their Chagall window reinstalled. It's beautiful! The weather was also great, and it was pure pleasure to walk around.

On the heat front, my DH just asked if we were EVER going to switch the heat on. Usually it's me that is so cold, but I expect we'll relent one day this week.

The onset of midterm exams usually means I'm more tired than my students, it's true again. That tiredness led to overspending at Target today and eating too much sugar.
I hope to spend the next few days catching up on both sleep and grading--and and house stuff too. That'll make everything better.

Grading and sleep--what a dream weekend!

There's been a rash of moderate expenditures around here lately. We need a few things, and DD has outgrown all her shoes and many of her clothes. Her Pooh sleeping bag has just been rejected as too babyish for the upcoming sleepover. Now it appears she has also outgrown her rain boots.

I foresee a trip to the dread Target in my future, especially since she has a half day at school tomorrow.
It's a good thing some freelance work has rolled in, not that I need more work, but the money will be handy.

No other news except we still have to get to our insurance choices!

My eight-week class ended last night. We celebrated with pizza and cupcakes. I'm happy it's done because I've been a bit overwhelmed with work.

Because of that (and I suspect I'm not alone), I've overspent on things that I usually watch--parking, take-out food, etc. because I just need to get things done. I feel a little guilty, but am hoping things will ease soon.

My ebay listings are selling so that's good news.
But I need to watch what I spend a bit.

Both DD and I could use some better looking fall clothes, so Friday I loaded up my Lands End virtual shopping cart with snow boots, slippers, sweaters, and some of their closeout overstocks. But faced with either an additional 20% off overstocks OR free delivery, I balked. I want both!

So today we made it to the nearest Lands End outlet and ordered there, saving delivery costs and receiving my 20% off. However, as such plans go, we went awry again and bought more than a few more things. Their close-out cords which fit me well were marked down under $10 with additional discounts,as were mittens for DD and pants for my mom. They even had shoes in Size 5 for my mom, and a very nice gray cardigan for me. So much for my discounts!

Tomorrow night is the last night of my eight-week class, and I'm very happy. I like them all, but am too pressed for time to enjoy the class as much as I'd like.

Other Miscellany
We've got a busy week ahead, but need to find time to sort out health insurance and get the flex spending current.
And we're still in the no-heat competition, but cold winds headed this way!
I listed half a dozen items on ebay yesterday. DD's closet must be tackled soon!

I spent the day in a seminar about online teaching--and ate their bagels for both breakfast and lunch.

When I returned to my office I found my office mate had left me an apple from his orchard and a textbook rep came by with candy. Man, those textbook reps must be in a lucrative business. They left 4 (!) new texts, and a bunch of other promotional items--pens, post-its, notebooks, a reusable bag, and candy bars. Can you tell we're rethinking our textbook selection? And no, the bribes don't get to me.

I'm so happy it's Friday! Happy Weekends to you all!

I've spent the evening eating cake. Not such a bad life, eh? A friend hosted a lovely surprise party for his wife, and we bought the cake. We had a splendid evening chatting with lots of different folks and eating. Another warm lovely October night with part of the party on their roof deck. Life is good and it was good to see friends before entering the melee at school again tomorrow.

No other money news--we've still got lots of things to do, but for tonight, it's all about cake.

I wish we could have gone apple picking, followed by reading that Robert Frost poem, but our usual apple orchard has had a bad year. First, May frosts killed some of the blossoms, then a bad hailstorm put another dent in their crop. We went out there today to find they're not picking at all. Their Honey Crisp crop was down by 90 percent, other varieties down by 50 percent or more too.

But we bought apples and squash from the shop and enjoyed the beautiful weather. I find it amazing to stand in a pumpkin field surrounded by hundreds of bright orange orbs. Spectacular!

I've blogged about this before but Target got me again today. And I brought it on myself, bringing DD with me. She needed workout clothes for her new exercise class, and I came home with coffee, a lampshade, a DVD (but only $4.75 and out of DD's allowance), cleaning supplies, Halloween hair color and tons of reduced price items to put in the Operation Christmas child boxes at church. Not awful, but at least $20 could've been avoided.

We did better at the grocery store and had a quiet evening reading and watching library videos while I was grading. The library also yielded a couple of books, including one from the "Millionaire Next Door" author which looks like a quick, but perhaps reinforcing, read.

In between, we went to the Post Office and mailed our ebay sales. That was fun and decluttering!

Except for some very basic vigilance, my finances have not received much attention lately. Work is very busy, and the glorious autumnal weather beckons whenever I get a spare moment.

Hoping to find some of those spare moments this weekend to pay bills, figure out next year's flex spending and insurance, and clear out more clutter.

My current decluttering campaign is helping me find things I forgot about. Onward with that!

Happy weekends saving advice(rs)!

After scrimping our way through September, all my freelance money seems to have come in at once. My editing checks, the seminar I led earlier in the summer, plus the medical reimbursement. It's lovely, but it's taken a little getting used to.

Speaking of being flush, I tipped my coffee servers $1 this morning. They almost fainted. Apparently no one ever tips them. Or they admit, one in 25. I buy coffee every day at the university, am served by the same students every day, and they're very sweet, even to grumpy me before the caffeine kicks in. My daily coffee is $1.50 with the reusable cup bonus. Is it that unusual to tip the coffee folks?

I've updated my ebay totals and the mortgage to reflect our current status.

Today was our employee benefits fair. I'm not sure why they call it a "fair." There are no rides, cotton candy, or thrills at all. The only games of chance are the guessing game of picking the right providers. I know we're lucky to have decent enough affordable coverage offered to us, but no one understands all the options, supplementals, and co-pays. The line to talk to various supplemental dental providers was 10 people long.

I was eager to vent a bit at our current dental supplemental provider, and lo and behold, they didn't show up. The university is dropping them as an option for folks in my employment classification, so I need a new provider anyway.

I went away with a foot of brochures to read, a mitt full of free pens, and a bunch of chip clips.

Such decisions to make!

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.

All my paychecks rolled in over the weekend, and our bank balances look substantially healthier. Even my 45-minute concentrated focus on money last week has paid off with lots of listed items selling and my flex spending reimbursement now happily in hand.

What I am having problems with is my supplemental dental policy. They routinely deny claims on everything, and over the almost two years I've had them,they have paid $O. I've tried to reach them three times in the past week, and I've been on hold each time for over 30 minutes before I gave up in frustration.
I'm planning on having a little chat with the plan rep at our benefits fair on Wednesday, but wonder if this is typical of all supplemental dental. Our provider is Anthem--and I'm pretty darn angry at them right now.

Anyone have a recommendation or further issues with Anthem?

Looking at our list yesterday, I estimated $500. We needed a bunch of bookshelves, a desk for DH's new office, storage, and then there's the usual IKEA flotsam that creeps into my cart. I was $46 off and exhausted when we got home. But DH has already started setting up his home office, and his former bookcases have migrated to our daughter's room.

All of that assembling inevitably means unwanted junk is more apparent. DD has outgrown a dollhouse and tons of books which I've just listed on freecycle.

After the shopping shock, it's been quiet but busy. My week's goal is to move lots of this stuff out of here--either through the garbage, freecycle, or the charity shop. Organization beckons.

I've got a long-cooking beef roast in the oven, and it smells heavenly here. We also managed without turning the heat on last night, despite the 35degree temps. I love fall!

I can feel my budget screaming already, but we're heading to IKEA to get bookcases for husband's home office today. IKEA always sends me into a swoon so I'm mentally preparing myself for not spending too much.

What wonders will it bring?

My 45 minutes of financial diligence earlier in the week has reaped some dividends. Two of my ebay listings are selling, I've got someone for my Craigslist item, and my flex spending check is en route.
I'm glad I got so much done!

Now we're not normally a paycheck-to-paycheck family, but it's been almost three months since I've been paid. My summer university paychecks were delayed, and my fall teaching is always a month behind. So I'm very grateful it's pay day at last.

I spent the morning at a teaching technology seminar with bagels--which served nicely as both breakfast and lunch, so new new expenses so far.

A big pot of Italian vegetable soup is on the menu for tonight, and I look forward to a relaxing weekend.
Happy October everyone!

I'm going to take photos for ebay, list items there and on Craigslist, and fill in my flex spending forms for reimbursement. I need some sort of kick for this--so I'm giving my fun fund 30%.
I'll check in later and let you know what I've accomplished. Wish me luck!

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!

That's my day: dull but productive. I'm grading papers on line, doing laundry, and in the breaks in this fast-paced action, decluttering a little. All that means it's a cheap day which is good.
DD has two "late start" days at school next week, and for the first time, she's going to the Y's before school care. DH can't take both mornings off, and neither can I. But it is expensive, and I'm a little annoyed at how many breaks in the schedule there are.

Tomorrow: School Rummage Sale! Man, my life is one thrill after another!