My English Castle's Personal Finance Blog

I see I haven't blogged in a month, but I've way too busy with teaching and DD back at school, and a small consulting gig. But today, except for the big pile of grading, I have no real obligations except of course, laundry, bills, etc.

But it's great to be home!

The new doggie is doing well and DD is completely entranced with her. Never having had a small dog before, I'm adjusting to her small-dog ways.

Can anyone give me a ballpark figure of how much it might cost to have a Shih-Tzu-Bichon mix groomed? More than $50?

Got the manufacturer's rebate on the A/c today, finished up my online class, and read a bunch of freelance projects.
These checks should results in a nice deposit, and it's great to have money coming in September, when the university usually doesn't pay me until October.

But I haven't blogged for a week because we've been busy with the new doggie. She's a rescue dog, and is very very sweet. We're trying to cure her of eating DD's crayons, but other than demanding to be petted an awful lot, she hasn't revealed many bad habits yet.

I'll post pix soon.

Everyone in Wisconsin can thank me for the cool summer guaranteed by my purchase of Central Air earlier in the summer. I just found the rebate form sent by the installer and got that completed on line.

Today's mission will be to try to figure out the federal Energy Star rebate on that A/C. And list some ebay or textbook items. And transfer some money to DD's college fund. And mail my latest sales.

I'm ready to get our basement remodeling project rolling and have begun to find the motivation to pay for it!

I received yet another new credit card from Citibank because the account may be in danger of fraud from someone someplace who's managed to get access to someone's stuff. While I'm glad they're proactive, its the third new one this year--which means an hour switching over all the automatic payments and inevitably forgetting one.

Speaking of credit cards, when I was entering the mall today, there was a lost debit card laying right on the ground in front of me. Several people passed it by without even picking it up. I grabbed it and took it to customer service, but wondered later if I should've tried to contact the person myself. Not sure which was wiser.

No other financial news except that I returned three earlier summer purchases today and hope they all hit the credit card before I have to pay for them.
It's not a big deal, but I'd rather have the $200 for a month than Citibank having it.

School starts a month from tomorrow, and I'm determined to pack more fun in. Tonight we're having a picnic followed by a free planetarium show at the university.

I'm trying to find loads of fun free things and end the summer with great memories and enough cash left over for our basement remodeling.

I sold a book today so am adding $3.99 to my ebay challenge total. Will I ever get caught up again?

Maybe it's that lazy summer feeling, but I feel tremendously unmotivated about saving money lately. It's not that we've been spending wildly, I just don't feel like paying much attention to the things I'm normally so vigilant about--a couple bucks at the grocers, Walgreen's rebates, best deals on school supplies.

I don't know if I should try to motivate myself with some sort of goal, or just laze around with another library book until September...

The hamburger I was thawing for tacos today turned out to be two frozen NY strip steaks.
Not our usual Tuesday night fare, but a not-unpleasant surprise.

Our library was filled to overflowing today as they had the coolest kids' program with naturalist David Stokes. Who knew that a bald guy with frogs on his head could make me laugh so much? A lovely free afternoon's entertainment.

I sold a book today at half.com for $54 so will add that to the challenge. After a long hiatus, maybe I can make things up!

Well, I think I've got everything uploaded and ready to roll for Week 1 of my online class which starts officially in 15 minutes.


And I made a nice little chunk of change from leading the couples' book club which will go right into my Italy Fund.

Lots to do this week including finding a hotel for the upcoming wedding trip and scouting out a couple more basement contractors.

I've been working hard setting up my online class that starts Monday. It'll be an interesting experiment, and I signed the contract today. The university is paying me exactly what they'd pay me for a regular class during the normal term, but it'll be condensed into four weeks.

I deposited $300 for a textbook review and some rebate checks today. We're getting basement remodeling bids now.

Only really frugal thing I've done lately is carefully slowly shopping for school supplies for DD. My goal is to complete her list for 25% of what the "fast packs" at school charge.

We had a fun baby shower last night for friends, and now I've got leftovers galore-- everything from half-full bottles of wine to pesto salad and caprese and chocolate tart.

C'mon over for lunch or we'll be eating this all week!

We're home after almost three weeks in the UK. It was brilliant; the best weather we've ever had there for such a long stretch. We saw family and friends and did tons of great stuff from Charleston Farmhouse to Ben Franklin's House.

We did have a couple financial successes there. The nasty car rental folks tried to charge us 135 pounds for alleged "damage", but after complaining to the manager, it was all refunded. And I lost my digital camera on the car ferry, but it was returned! I can't say we pinched pennies (or pence) there, but we had a great great ime.

Most of the spending there went on DH's British credit card, but I'm home now spending for a friend's baby shower I'm having on Sunday and DD's birthday.

We've started getting bids on the basement remodeling, so that'll be interesting. The key question for us is whether to get a gas fireplace down there or not.

Frugality will return next week, for now I'm in party-planning mode.

Our new Central A/C was installed yesterday and I paid for it today.

We had a funny conversation with the HVAC guy about how we wanted to finance it. I told him I'd just write him a check and he about fell over.

Today's is my DH's birthday and we had a lovely dinner, he got some nice gifts, and all in all, it was a great day.

I've sold another old textbook, so add $54 to my ebay sales. I'm so pleased to check another goal off! Basement refinishing here we come!

This morning I recycled three empty wine cartons, my husband's annual reports on a stock he owns that are over 10 years old, the contents of my shredder, and all those all NYT Book sections that are so hard to part with.

The vintage books I listed didn't sell on ebay, so I offered them to my university library. They were thrilled and are writing me a big tax deduction.
I don't suppose Disney Steve will let me add that to my total?

It's just hit me what a funny word "cooler" is--so many meanings!

We've been thinking about installing central A/C in our house for years, and this morning, I signed the contract.

It's not that much money, and I upgraded to get the energy star model with the federal rebate. We've all got allergies and I'm sick of the hassle with the room-size units.

It's been a cold spring in Wisconsin, so I think I'll list the room units on Craigs List when when we get a heat wave.

As some of you know, I teach an evening class in addition to my regular schedule at the university. I've always just thrown this money into the general fund, but I've been feeling like it just gets lost in the mix.

So here's my latest allocation strategy. It'll be divided into thirds with 1/3 going to mortgage principal paydown, 1/3 to retirement/college fund for DD, and a full 1/3 to just pure fun.

Our EF is fully funded, and we're doing some home improvements which qualifies as fun under my plan. I'm hoping the visible signs of progress with the mortgage, retirement, and college funds will keep me inspired when sometimes I'm not enthusiastic about the additional work.

No, not the guy on the forum with the problem. This is legit.
I made money on illness this week. Both DH and DD had some sort of odd sinus infection. Both were prescribed antibiotics, and with the prescription coverage and the $25 gift card CVS is offering with a prescription, we came out almost $40 ahead. Very strange and I feel oddly guilty about it.

I sold a dress on ebay, and I've listed some cute children's vintage books. I'm adding $4.74 to my total.

I have some freelance work which really needs doing. I hope to get to it over the weekend. It promises to be a lovely somewhat sunny 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.

This love affair, a longer-lasting affair than either of my marriages, began when I was just a kid. My mom had her hair done in a "beauty salon" right next to the library and while she got shampooed and set, I wallowed in the books.

I spent much of my tween and teen years on a bike, headed to the library. We walked there when the snow hit, but spent blissful summer days in the air conditioned library.

My college years meant the university library soon became one of my favorites.
I fondly remember one final exam study day spent with an open text, watching the snowflakes fall between the library and the student union.

During my commuting years I spent off hours there, and when my daughter was born, the story times were a much-needed and appreciated break. Now we check out DVDs, books, books for my classes, and our at-least-weekly trip is always a treasure hunt.

When I think about why I like our community, the library is one of the major reasons. It's not beautiful, like some of the nearby ones, but it's home.

It's bountiful, it's free (mostly), and it's fabulous.

We bought a bunch of stuff at Ace Hardware today--weed and feed and other lawn stuff mostly.
I'm reminded again how much I like the idea of an online rebate. Now true, it's better if they just mark the darn things down, but I did the rebate on their website in about one minute. And it means $12 back!

DH has been ill all weekend with a bad throat, so we didn't get as much done as I'd have liked. But still--some annoying errands done and plenty of lazing around.

Last night we watched a German mini-series called Dresden that was very powerful about the fire bombing of Dresden during WWII. I highly recommend it (well, most of it except for the sappy romance).

We've had a productive day. I sold DD's Fisher Price play set on Craigslist for $75, we did tons of errands, dropped off junk at the Salvation Army, and sold a couple of books to HalfPrice that weren't worth the Amazon listing.

I'm adding the $77 to my ebay total, and I'm happy to report my one solitary ebay listing has bids.

Happy and Productive Weekends to all of you!

I went out to lunch with a friend today and to some garage and estate sales. Nothing was particularly enticing, but I bought some unopened packs of 3M window plastic for next fall for 50cents.

I received and deposited a small check from Walgreen's, and want to thank Nance for her advice about the moneysaving mom blog. It's helped me get some great bargains at Walgreens. Our church is putting together gift bags for orphanages and some of my little bits from Walgreen's will go there.

I've got lots of work ahead of me getting ready for my online class and for a conference paper next fall. I should probably start a savings fund for that trip, since I'm sure the university will have no professional development money.

I also listed our DD's outdoor playset on Craigslist and had lots of interest. Someone's coming to get it on Saturday morning. I hope it works out.

Happy Holiday weekends to all of you! Is it bank holiday in the UK this weekend too?

I remember now why I don't go to Target.
Although I had (well, maybe) to go tonight since my iron completely quit, I knew it would be too enticing.

I had a friend who maintained you couldn't get out of Target under $100, but tonight it was $99.67. I bought really cute sandals for DD, the new Dylan CD for me, and more than a few other things besides the iron.

Sadly enough, all this temptation could've been avoided. I came home, unwrapped the new iron, but decided to give the old one one last try. Despite not working all day, the minute its rival entered the house, it started working just fine. Now if I can just return the new one without venturing deeper into the store!

Oh, and my ebay items sold. Add $5.73 to my total

Blame it on the last week of the semester, but last week's ebay sales went to the wrong people. I sold two dresses, and you guessed it, sent each to the other buyer. They've been pleasant about it, and I'm refunding them the postage and throwing in some extras.

Now for the triumphs: I sold a textbook on Amazon and made some survey money. And current ebay listings have some bids.

Add $51.71 to my totals.

I'm formulating summer plans, both for DD and for us. We're putting a garden in, and right now (oh the joys of school over), I've got laundry on the line. I just got a rhubarb plant from a friend so that's going in my garden.

I want to make a list of summer goals and summer dreams. I wonder what they'll be?


On the more mundane side, I'm just back from an estate sale at a lovely home. I got a great deal on ordinary things like packages of unopened birthday candles for 10cents and some cute homemade draft blockers for next winter. Indeed one of my summer goals is to find a couple pretty but cheap wool blankets at an estate sale to replace the ugly thermal ones in our guest room.

No other news except looking for gifts for the round of graduations and wedding showers that is just beginning.

I'm heartbroken that Walgreen's has gone the way of CVS with the dumb register rewards. I loved the Easy Saver catalog and the refillable gift card with the 10% bonus.

I'm speculating the shorter expiration date on the Register Rewards and their easier-to-lose flimsiness has something to do with the bad corporate decision (at least bad for me) at Walgreen's.

Bah--and they're a lot harder to use too.
Double bah.

We've been back and forth to my family's hometown three weekends out of the last four. Let's see, at 360 each way times 6, we've driven over 2100 miles. They were all good reasons: A birthday party for my mom, followed by mom breaking her hip, followed by a very sad funeral for another dear one. But I don't want to set foot in the car again for a while, at least for the other hour before I have to head to school.

Besides all the gas, we spent on snacks, meals, and hotels. We brought snacks, pricelined hotels, but still with that and some overdue clothing purchases, it's been a very expensive month.

While I was away, some of my ebay items sold. I'll update my totals tomorrow.
After I get out of the car!

My lettuce mix seedlings are up as well. I'm glad they can tolerate chilliness since it's getting cold here again tonight.

And another bit of "lettuce": I sold some Gymboree pants on ebay for a lofty $2.75 bringing my total up a bit. I've taken photos of other of DD's clothes to sell and will try to get them listed tomorrow. My Disney Steve challenge money is lacking, but I'm determined to catch up!

I had some happy bargain shopping today. Good old Walgreen's was giving away reusable bags with a coupon that also gave you 15% off. I got a nice bagful of things, including discounted "Easter" stuff (Just decorated with flowers and great for gifts)for under $5.

The grocery store also had great bargains, so it was a good day for frugality. My IRA statement did put some of this penny-wiseness into perspective. Although it's up from February's totals, I probably shouldn't have looked at last year's numbers. But Suze Orman's right--you gotta look at where you are now.

I'm back to listing on ebay after taking a week or so off. I list a lot of DD's outgrown clothes and shop a couple of times a year at the Hanna Andersson outlet store near my mom's. I also love a good rummage/garage/estate/tag sale.
Because I often find Hanna and Gymboree clothes for my daughter, I almost always end up reselling them.

Gymboree seems to have an almost-cult-like following, and I've found a site that identifies what "line" the Gymboree outfits come from. This does help ebay sales, but it's pretty amazing to me that someone actually took the time to do that.

So, with that site's help, I've listed a couple more things that I picked up at sales.

Not much else new financially. DH's job is still intact and I have about three weeks before the university winds up.

I'm making yet another pot of soup since it's so cold and wet here.

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.