My English Castle's Personal Finance Blog

We're back from a weekend away. All in all, it wasn't THAT expensive, considering we hosted a birthday party for 25 for my Mom's birthday and had a couple of meals out.

But another contractor from DH's job just got laid off, and the situation there continues dire.

In the meantime, my ebay listings all sold, contributing $36.03 to this month's ebay total; now I just have to make up for missing March! And a nice thrifty dinner soup is next on the agenda.

It's been an expensive week. We're having a busy social weekend with a birthday party for my Mom, Easter travel, new clothes needed for DH and DD (and uhm, a new dress for me).

A dear friend lost her mom this week, and other friends are in the hospital. We've spent big chunks on flowers, memorials, cards, and everything else.

The crunch time of the semester is also here, so I'm very busy at work. Thankfully we've been eating from the freezer, but there's little time for bargain shopping or price comparisons.

I've decided this is "don't sweat the small stuff" week, and will get back on the frugality wagon next week.

Most of what we bought was necessary. DD outgrew her shoes, DH put his knee through a pair of work pants...it's just like that. So no sweat, and a better week for us next week.

Happy Easter, Passover and Spring to you all.

(and I did manage to list a few things on ebay!)

First--I want to salute all of you going through tough times, in ND, those of you without jobs, and other worries. I'm impressed with everyone's mental strength.

I find myself worrying about all sorts of things lately--one of my husband's colleagues has been asked to take a 40% pay cut, and others have been asked to take a 30% pay cut. He hasn't found out his numbers yet, but the whole thing makes me anxious. My usual anxiety monitor is a sour stomach, which seems omnipresent lately.

We have an good emergency fund, and we've created a back-up budget, but still my stomach gurgles.

I'm trying to think of ways to distract myself--getting library DVDs to watch over lunch, garden planning etc. I need to build more joy into my life and not focus on all the bad news.

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.

Our roadside mailbox has been wobbling and threatening to fall off for about 6 months. We really needed a new post and a better fastening system to make it sit up nice and straight. We've been talking about doing it for weeks, but just haven't got to it.

This morning our municipal garbageman hit it with his truck and by late afternoon, a city crew of three came out, set and installed a new post and reattached the mailbox much nicer than we would ever do.

Pennies from heaven? Or at least from the village....

or the bubonic plague, I'm not sure which it is. Last week my students coughed all the way through their midterms, and true to form, I ended up with their flu on my break week.

I'm not sure which is worse--to be sick when I should be off enjoying myself, or to be sick wyhile I should be working.

I tried to teach my evening class last night, but had to let them go after 2 1/2 hours. I could hardly talk and today my voice is completely gone. I ventured out for an hour today to buy groceries and go to Walgreens for some meds, but other than that, I've been home since Sunday night. If any of you want to know how inane daytime TV is, let me know.

hack, cough wheeze......

Last weekend we booked a couple days in a downtown Chicago hotel for $54/night complete with a fridge, pool, and great location right off State Street. I'm grumbling about nothaving a "real" spring break this year, but although this is no Orlando, it'll be nice to get away for a few days.

I used a great site to help me decide on the Hotwire Hotel offerings. It's called betterbidding.com. They helped me identify the hotel by the amenities offered before I bought it. I highly recommend them.

So we're off to Chi-town armed with snacks, beer (hey--maybe this is like my students' break!), wine, and the membership card from our science museum to get us in free to several Chicago museums.

My frugal self solemnly swears to come back and list stuff on ebay and balance my checking account. And try to figure out how to help those ailing retirement accounts.

The word has just spread at DH's job that they're cutting salaries. No official word yet on the numbers. I guess better a lower salary than no job.

I plan on spending (ha!) spring break decluttering the basement and listing ebay items. This morning I freecycled a bunch of toys to a lovely woman with 9 (!) kids.
The delight on the little boy's face when he saw the bag of toys was immensely heart-warming.

We roasted a turkey breast over the weekend. For me, this is one of the easiest cheapest most delicious meals we all love. I predict at least two more meals from it (at 99cents/lb) before it becomes soup.

For months it had seemed as if my transmission in my 111K miles car was about to go. It chugged, it lurched, it was obstinate.
While I was in NYC last weekend, we took it to the transmission specialists recommended by our usual mechanic. He cleaned it, flushed the fluid,and refilled it. He said we didn't need to replace and found nothing wrong.
Since then (knock on head) it's run like a charm--no problems, no chugging, no lurching.

After listening to endless discussion on construction projects that are "shovel ready," I've decided we have three projects at that point.

1. Central Air conditioning
2. Basement Remodeling
3. Tankless Water Heater

We're ready to roll and to hire people on all three of these when the government decides to give us an economic stimulus.

What are your shovel-ready projects?

My DH is a software developer and every day, it seems, people at his company are being laid off. We've developed an emergency plan to live on my (lousy) salary if we must, reduced many of our expenses, and we have a nice size EF.

Yet there are things we've planned: our summer trip to the UK, a new dresser, a basement remodeling, etc.

All of these things are sort of on hold, but I'm not sure what we should spend on, and what we shouldn't spend on.
I suspect lots of us are in the same place right now. Should we hoard completely or should we spend little bits?

I wish I had an answer--it's just one of the things that lodges in my head for days at a time.

And man, did I have fun!
We went to the opera, a play, a jazz club, shopping, the Circle Line boat tour, a couple museums, and walked, and walked, and walked.

I think I did OK budgetarily. I bought a City pass and a transport card for the subway and the bus and used it almost all the time. Breakfast (and cappuccino!)
was free at the hotel, and I always took a coffee to go with me.
I bought a few things but was mostly restrained. And I made the hotel clerk VERY happy with the leftover days on the transport card.

I'm not sure I would've made any monetary decisions differently. But I would've brought an extra pair of feet to replace the ones I wore out. Ouchouchouch

I have become compulsive on saving on the NYC hotel stay. My hotel has dropped to $112/night with breakfast, so I'm sticking with it.

I did try a couple of priceline bids for $85, but with breakfast, a steam room, and a cappuccino machine, I'm staying put.
I've also decided NOT to buy a guidebook, but use the current one at the library.

I'm getting excited to go! We're doing the usual round of museums, shopping, but also a jazz club and the Metropolitan Opera.

First, the Ebay good news. An item I'd previously listed sold this morning for $14.05, so I'm adding that to my total.

I decided against walking a half mile in the -10 windchill this morning, but chose the cheaper metered parking by the university, rather than the underground. I figured I saved $2 doing that, plus my epidermis remains intact.

Now on to my compulsion: I'm visiting NYC next week with some friends. I started out at a nice Manhattan hotel for $149, but two weeks ago found a comparable one with breakfast for $133. The rates dropped again on quikbook, so I canceled and rebooked it at $123, which includes breakfast. The hotel website says they guarantee the cheapest prices, so I asked them to match or beat quikbook's rate, which they refused. Nice, huh?

So now the folks monitoring the hotels at betterbidding.com are getting better hotels for under $100 through hotwire and priceline. I'm not sure whether I should just leave well enough alone, or shop some more. My friends are starting to think I'm compulsive, but????

Advice? Or any frugal advice for NYC?

Our blast of false spring last week cheered me up, but again it's snowy, cold, and awful here.

My major money woe is the impending demise of my car's transmission. People are telling me a rebuilt can cost up to 2K, but I just put my hands over my ears and sing loudly to ignore them. Full report pending from the transmission guy next week. We've got 111,000 miles on that trans, so I guess I can't complain.


Not a lot of other money news to report. I'm adding $1.99 to my ebay challenge for the software I sold. Since I now start teaching later, I'm taking DD to school, and drinking my coffee at home. It saves a big $3/week, but it all helps.

I spent my day off prepping for next week's classes, correcting papers, cleaning, cleaning, cleaning, and some more cleaning. Our occasional cleaning person was so unreliable I've taken it over, and I must admit, I hate it.

But we save her expense, I got loads of things done including depositing some odd little checks. Apparently Best Buy charged us too much sales tax for our digital converter box so we received an apology and a check for $1.12. Now there's an economic stimulus.

My big payoff for all that work is finding a CD I thought was long gone. Yes, that is Mark Knopfler you hear in the background....

A textbook publisher that I do some reviews for asked me to be a part of their panel for a possible new book. It sounds fun and easy and pays $750! I'm thrilled.

And on a much lesser note, my current ebay auction has a bid on it.

My money anxiety (for no real reason except my usual freefloating anxiety) has increased lately, but it seems lately like
I'm generating cash from unexpected sources. I need to learn to relax and rely on good things happening. We're healthy and happy and generally very well blessed.

I read a quote in the NYT over the weekend commenting on how people shopping for groceries are now armed with calculators, papers, lists, and coupons --as much info as if they were shopping for cars.

It's true around here. People are standing in front of displays a long time, comparing unit prices, going through their coupons, and putting things back on the shelf.
Our local store had a special on milk, and every single person I went by had the two gallon special in their carts.

Our federal tax refund hit our account today! It's exciting news, though I'm not sure what we'll do with it yet other than stash it in the emergency fund.

Not that I don't have a long list of wants:
a new dresser
basement refinishing
car fund
fund roths completely
Central A/c
etc

But we'll sit on it a bit, and hope to figure out what's most important.

I feel mean, and I'm hoping you all can make me feel better. One of DH's co-workers, a great guy who we've known for years, is in continuing financial trouble. It's not him, it's his wife who hops from job to job and continually spends WAY too much on their children--we're talking $500 on a first birthday party.

You know where this is going--they're losing their house, and have 16K on credit cards. DH wants to pay their credit cards with OUR emergency fund and have co-worker pay them back so they won't lose the house.

I have had bad experiences lending to friends, and am not convinced that Co-worker's wife has changed her ways. I am pretty darn adamant against it, but DH is giving me a big speech about helping people etc and my religious and moral values being misplaced. So I feel mean.

I have done pretty well at the grocery shopping of late, and am pleased with my stinginess. This week's total was under $60, rather than our usual $100 or so.

Step two of reducing expenses was cutting back on parking and coffee expenses which are both right on track.

And my third goal is to have a great time in NYC without spending a fortune. I found a better, cheaper hotel on Quikbook.com (my new favorite site) that saves me $16/night and comes with breakfast. All in all in four nights that should save me well over $100. And they have a cappucino/espresso
area that's free!

The bad news today is the still horribly expensive energy bill.

I just finished the taxes, and despite all odds, we're still getting a refund.
I've e-filed and am happy to wash my hands of the whole deal. I hope the nasty Wall Street rip-off artists enjoy my money.
Am I the only one who would like to throw rotten eggs at them?
And believe me, after a decade in the brokerage business, I understand the bonus system. But I never expected the ordinary taxpayer to pay MY bonus.

My ebay auctions closed the other day, and wonder of wonders, the toddler socks sold for (gasp) $8.49. I almost fainted when I saw that. So I'm adding the $8.49 and the the other $1.99 to my challenge totals.

I'd like to finish the taxes this weekend. I started yesterday and am just waiting for totals on some charitable deductions.

Both of my ebay auctions have bids, although small ones. But I guess every little bit helps. I'll be off to the Post office tomorrow to mail those items.

It was a balmy zero here again this morning, but the impending demise of January will be good news indeed!

I've got a textbook review due that I'm hoping to finish over the weekend too. That cash may go to my NYC spending fund.
I'm off to the big city at the end of the month, and if any of you have Manhattan budget ideas, let me know! We're staying in a hotel with a kitchen, so that'll help keep breakfast costs down.

Inspired by a bunch of you, I deposited some money in my Roth IRA today. Only another $250 and I'm still catching up with 2008, but I feel like I need more than 25K in the emergency fund. That gets me about halfway to my 2008 goal.

No new news--spent a bit on groceries and mailed by textbook sale. One ebay auction expired without a sale, but the other already has bids.


I'm thinking about doing the taxes this weekend. Anyone else?

School's started around here again, and I've walked the six blocks from free parking both mornings in the subzero windchills. Admittedly I've bought a cup of discounted coffee after that, but it gets me going in the morning.

I have happy news about a book sale that netted me $84.09, so I'm well into next month's ebay totals. Hooray!

Everyone is talking about layoffs at the university, so I'm trying to be positive and upbeat. But so many of my students are jobless right now, I wonder how they're going to make it.

I arrange for students from last semester to sell their books to this semester's students to try to cut out the bookstore middleman. I hope that helps them.

One small sale on ebay to cap off the end of break so adding $2.25 to my challenge.
Can I make my $100 goal?

Break is officially over and I'm back to school in the morning. Nothing like single digit temps to make me clutch on to my travel mug!

I'm slowly getting over my disappointment at my lost class. I keep reminding myself to search even harder for bargains and to ask myself on every purchase, "Do we need this?"

On that note, I sent DH and DD to the cheap-o haircutters, both with coupons, bought a couple cards at the dollar store, and went to the dread Best Buy to get the digital converter boxes. The guy tried to sell us the most expensive ones, but we ended up with the $49 ones, so for the two TVs, it only cost $20 after the coupon. We also got Turbotax there as I anxious to get to the taxes. DH tried to get me to buy an Ipod case, but they were $30-$35 there.

After a trip to the library, (and the Jo Nesbo book I wanted!) we came home where I bought an Ipod case for $10 including shipping. It was the same case and brand that was $35 at Worst Buy.

All in all we saved a fair chunk of change, and I'm confident I can make some of my lost salary up.

Homemade pizzas tonight!

No, not the mortgage, but the news on my class. Last night it looked like a sure thing, and I spent hours planning it and readying a new syllabus. Today, thanks
to overall shrinking enrollments, it's vaporized.

I am disappointed and out 5K.
And it's still subzero January.
Bleeccch.

Besides not spending even a slim dime today, the word has come down that I may get my full load of teaching after all.

That means about another $5K so that that would make me very very happy. Cross your fingers and say your prayers that it actually happens.

I got an offer from a publisher today to do a textbook review for $150, and finally the conference reimbursement showed up, so it's been a very rich day.

And I pushed myself back onto the treadmill after a week off. I'm also as happy about that as about the money.

First, to fully appreciate how thrilled I was by this, you need to know the Brit husband is an oatmeal junkie. Or a porridge junkie, as he'd say.

Now on to the wonder of it all. At an unusual daytime grocery shopping expedition,our local grocer had huge boxes of Quaker oats for $2 each. So I bought 5 and other cheap-o Quaker products. Of course I had coupons, and today was double-coupon day. And an lovely lady, laughing at all the oatmeal in my cart gave me her additional $1 off coupons (doubled!) and the store flyer featured another $3 off coupon.

I used to dream of beautiful mornings overlooking the Aegean (well, I still do), but today's dream come true was all that lovely oatmeal for free. And tonight's menu features comfort-food meatloaf made with oatmeal.

With the coupon and store card, everything I bought was half off.

Life is good.