Yesterday was certainly a mixed bag. Because I was so frazzled the day before, I had no time to bring a lunch with me. I hate to spend $$$ on lunch, and I'm always tempted by caloric delights after teaching three classes. But there's a new stir-fry option at the union food court, and I ordered one without rice or a drink to save cash. Happily for me, a former student was behind the counter, greeted me warmly (she must've forgotten my critique of her report), and asked if I wanted free extra vegetables since I was passing on the rice. Yes! More broccoli, fewer carbs, I couldn't be happier.

But again I had too many mandatory errands on the way home, arrived home just in time to gulp a cup of instant coffee, and pack up DD to head to my evening class. I ran into two former students, both of whom had recently been laid off. The economy seems to be haunting everyone around here.

My evening class went well enough, but I was so bedraggled when I got home, I stretched out on the bed for a few minutes and woke up 45 minutes later.

Today looks better: online class updated and off to a late birthday lunch with a friend.

No cash outlay yesterday except for the lunch.

I need to remind myself that I can't accomplish the things I got done in the summer during the school year. My online class demands a lot of time, and although I'm home, I'm not free to do laundry, cook a big meal, make soup stock, go to the grocery store, the bank, and do other errands. That's what I tried to do today, and it didn't work.

I have two new preps this semester, and I'm swimming hard against the current. Hmm-- I guess I need to figure out what reasonable expectations would be.

But I did get some things done, and if I can finish my prep for tomorrow's face-to-face classes, perhaps I can get some rest and feel better tomorrow!

Paulette--I did get a walk in today!

Sorry to complain about students already--but I had several today that complained because there were words they didn't know in a story I assigned. I got a big laugh with my line, "Do you know the word "dictionary"?"--but I really shouldn't be that sarcastic.

Other than my caustic comments, it was a quiet enough day. Our local upscale grocer is having daily specials on things folks buy a lot. DD has been drinking smoothies for breakfast so I bought some 19ct/lb bananas. Such excitement!

DH is again hearing rumblings at work about layoffs. Just what we don't need. But anxiety like that always spurs me into action. I made a big pot of chili, headed to CVS with my coupons and extra bucks, and picked up a pork roast on sale on the way home.

Yesterday I sold a book too--so that will go into the Paypal account where I have "almost" enough for a single mortgage payment.

We were planning on Chinese food out tonight since I worked through my birthday celebration and we are without babysitter. But DD is complaining of mouth/cheek pain so we might just stay home. Bleah.

I'm showing Mamet's "Glengarry Glen Ross" in my class next week so I watched it again last night. How bleak--and what a good lesson it is on resisting sales!

Our university has converted their payroll system in the last few months to one that is supposed to make everything smooth and wonderful. However, the summer payroll didn't go at all well, and some people didn't get paid until September. Special loans had to be made available; tempers were very frayed; it was ugly.

I have a more complex salary than usual this term because I'm "loaned" out to another college within the university and because this is the first pay period after my promotion. Both my regular department and the others are scrambling hard to try to figure it all out, but I think my odds are less than 50/50 that I'll get paid the right amount on time. I spent over an hour on the phone with various payroll people today as they tried to sort it all out.

We could certainly use the infusion of cash, and we're all hoping for the best in a couple of weeks. Cross your fingers until then.

I'm having a spat with an online student this morning.
Although school has been in session over a week, she hasn't yet received her textbook. I expect that sort of thing to happen in the first week, but books are available at the bookstore (expensive) and there's a reserve copy at the university library.

This is a busy student with several jobs, and she is in a snit because I will not scan the second chapter of the textbook and send it to her. I often scan the first chapters of books and make them available to those who haven't yet received their books. As we here know, I'm all about saving money, and I understand that Amazon and half.com are frequently cheaper and take some time. But copyright laws and fair use guidelines prohibit copying too much information.

She tells me she doesn't have enough time to go to the library (really?), and her tone has become increasingly terse with me. I've offered to set her up with other students who may be able to loan her the text, but to no avail.

So I'm ticked off. I wish everything was free, but textbook writers need to be paid too. And students need to take responsibility.

It's just Week 2 of the term, and I can see that we're going to have to pare things down on weeknights. After teaching three classes, I'm beat--and Wednesdays are worse with the evening class tacked on.

But my classes today went very well--and I even overheard two students talking as they walked out about what a great class it was. It's a nice thing to hear as I spent hours last night prepping for that class.

Tomorrow I need to devote ll my attention to my online class, break for a little lunch and shopping, then hit it again.

We've started a new thing with our DD in the morning. We've set out lawn chairs on the driveway and sit and chat for five or so minutes before the bus arrives. It's been nice time and we're hoping to continue as long as we can.

No real money news--the only thing I spend cash on these days is morning coffee.

I just like the sound of that: September Weekend. What wonderful weather we've had. The garden is still spitting out cucumbers, yellow squash, and tomatoes; I love Septembers like this.

After dinner we went out for ice cream and met lots of our neighbors there. What great fun for $6!

Only one small financial wrinkle; a colleague just e-mailed me about not yet receiving her contract from the university, and I realized mine hadn't come yet either. I'm just anticipating our stupid payroll system screwing things up yet again. Will check on it Monday.

Lovely weekends to you all!

It's been a long day here. I started teaching at 8 this morning, taught three classes,had office hours through until 2:30, stopped for the sale on ground chuck, went home for 90 minutes, then with DD dropped off with DH, went to my evening class until 10.

My expenses today were just gas for the car and coffee--which is my fuel of choice on days like this.

Last night one of our more eccentric neighbors was taken to the hospital via ambulance at 1am. I suspect my whole block is pretty tired today.

Finally! I'm through with class planning for three of my classes, but still have that pesky fourth new class to plan.

I had a haircut this morning, and as usual, worry about my stylist. She has a volatile marriage, no health insurance, and she's pregnant. I over tip her, but she just seems to be one of those folks who is always on the edge of disaster through not much fault of her own.
Her husband's lost another job, and the insurance is gone too. Yikes--if I were her, I couldn't sleep at night.

Our banks seem to be racheting up the competition.
When I made a rebate deposit today,the drive-up teller started in on a sales pitch, and we've been receiving LOTS of checking bonus offers. Today the UPS driver dropped off a travel mug from from ING with their thanks for being a good customer.

I have dozens of things I should do today, but better get that last class planned or there'll be an awkward silence tomorrow morning.

While it's still days until the university begins, the meeting cycle is in full swing. It was nice to catch up with some colleagues and between meetings, I walked right into the freshman picnic. My entire department staff was there eating free hot dogs and chips, so I joined them, bringing the soda and cookies home.

I got to be the "bus parent" this afternoon and rode the school bus home with DD all along her route. It was very sweet to see all the kidlets rushing off the bus to waiting parents. It almost made me tear up.

So it's busy season again here. I hope I can keep the lid on my sanity and budget both.

Did I spend anything today? Nope, not a dime!

All the great reviews of the Chase card have finally got to us. We've just applied for one for DH with instant approval. He's such a skeptic, but we went to all the sites evaluating it, and we're now in this with the rest of you! The no-foreign transaction fee also got to us; Citibank has been nailing us with those fees, and I'm fed up with it.

Our August budget is always a little tight; I don't get paid again at the university until October and I haven't taught my evening class since the end of June, so my only income has been evaluating senior theses. We also have DH's life insurance due, and our UK trip spending is about due now. With a big sigh, I was ready to transfer money from savings, but today my brother sent a check from my mom's estate. It wasn't a lot of money, and it only includes some misc cash sloshing around in her accounts and the deposit on her assisted living unit, but my half was plenty to give us some breathing room.

It's lightened some of my fretting. Both DH and I had very trying days with bad traffic, stupid meetings, and other annoyances. I bought some deli salads to go with burgers for the grill, and the day ended so much better.

There was a beautiful hawk perched on my patio table this afternoon. I hope he didn't get the neighborhood bunnies, but he was majestic.

We've got a few things on our list today--buy a gift card for my brother's birthday, donate some items to the Salvation Army, go to the library, purge some files--nothing very exciting, but I also have a load of cards to send, rebates to get in the mail, all that sort of boring stuff.

I'm still suffering from end-of-summer-laziness and lack of motivation, but perhaps crossing some things off the list will help jump-start me. DD starts back to school in a week, so we need to get done what needs to get done!

Many of my university friends are both spenders and pinched financially. They have great taste and no money, but have a hard time with anything that smacks of domestic economy measures. I can't find a financial soul mate anywhere there. Lovely women, lots of fun, plenty of smarts, but in denial mode or depressive mode about financial control.

Yet where I teach my evening class, the center coordinator has four kids, makes not very much, and made a comment in passing about not buying the 12 boxes of Kleenex her kids' schools wanted for their classroom until she had a coupon and they were on sale. I knew I'd found a closet frugalitarian! Last night I sent her a link to a local coupon match site, and she was pleased as could be, sending me a couple of new links too.

So--that's my question to all of you out there. Do your friends and colleagues share your taste for economizing like you? Do they make fun of you? Do they make fun of you but eagerly accept your half-off coupons when you have lunch together? Do you have a budget buddy besides all of us?

Yeah, go ahead and yell at me, but by mid-August, I'm ready to get some things up and running for the school year. I'm not good being home all the time, and while I adore my daughter, I need more conversation than a 9-year-old and a tired DH can provide. I always get antsy this time of the year; tonight I had to run out to do some errands that didn't really need that much urgency, but I wanted to be alone for a bit.

DD and I did other back-to-school errands today. We bought her shoes, bought the dog some food and treats, and checked out her class list for school. We finished reading Roald Dahl's _The Big Friendly Giant_ which we loved, and tomorrow's hits include the library and a big farmers' market.

I have two more capstone projects to read in the morning, and I've sold a book, so will add the book to my annual sales total. No more boring news to report from Ennuiville.

We ended the day with a lovely glass of wine on the patio after seeing the tall ships in Port Washington, Wisconsin today. The entrance price was a bit hefty at $8 each, but DH loves maritime history, and it was a beautiful day. The ships were spectacular, and we had interesting talks with several of their crew.

I slept in this morning and missed the return of our church's music director from his sabbatical. I've been very tired all summer, and need to get back into exercise and a regular routine before school starts. Tomorrow!

Tonight's dinner was a delicious meal of party leftovers from our friends' party for their daughter's birthday. We have several containers of various taco fillings for days.

It's been a lazy day, but I need to spend the next hour or so reading a capstone project. And then a couple chapters in my new book.

Thinking about CB in the hospital and sending her strength and energy.

CB's last blog entry was a little over a week ago--and she wasn't feeling well. Has anyone heard from her?

I hope she's just on vacation!

This morning after I dropped DD and her friend off, I went back to yesterday's estate sale. Happily for me, everything I was tempted to buy for full price yesterday was half price today and was still there--cute Coach sandals, a great summer bag, some nice jewelry, a very nice J Crew sweater, a garden lug, a couple of girly picture frames for DD, and a framed print. I was very pleased with everything I got for $56.

My current summer bag just lost its strap, and the sandals are so nice. I signed up early for the sale, and literally everyone in the first set of people in went right for the clothes and shoes. Now to find places for all of it!

In a strange stroke of coincidence, I ended up subscribing to the paper today. After writing about it this morning, I checked the newspaper website, but decided it was a bit too expensive.

However after taking DD to Kumon this afternoon, we stopped at the grocery store to pick up some corn for dinner. Outside the grocery store was a salesperson from the newspaper with an offer too good to refuse. They offered a subscription for 40% cheaper than their website--throwing in a $10 grocery store gift card as a bonus. I guess it was meant to be!

I should really devote some time to the veggie garden tomorrow, but the mosquitoes seem very thick these days. Perhaps over the weekend. I spent the evening with three months of the NYT book review, culling articles for my classes and making lists of books to read. It was all very satisfying.

And without any real reason to be, I was super grumpy all day. It seems sometimes like I spend hours and hours driving DD various places, playdates, and classes, and errands. I was stuck in traffic for almost an hour today ended up having to drop off some editing work during rush hour. But it's all good now. DH and I talked about having a quick meal out while DD was with a friend for dinner, but I vetoed it as too expensive. I picked up some deli salad and a rotisserie chicken which was good enough.

I've been halfway decluttering without getting most of actually out the door yet, so I suspect that's weighing on me. I have lunch with my university boss tomorrow so perhaps that will get things done and motivated around here. I spent on nothing except groceries, and with $45 and some decent coupons, got almost enough for the week.

I always hate August, so I suspect my grumpiness has to do with that!

Indeed the local paper was right; the gold buyer they said was best gave me about 20% more than the other buyers. He was in a strange location behind bullet-proof glass, but was a very nice guy. I kept one ring to sell on ebay, but if it doesn't meet the reserve he offered me, I'll go back to him.

And Kumon starts tonight for DD. Such excitement!

I took a couple of pieces of gold jewelry to two jewelry stores today. They included two of my dad's rings and a couple small pins belonging to my mom and great aunt. It was interesting to watch how they determined the gold content and weight. Although I was initially very hesitant to go, everyone at both stores was very nice. I'm going to have my mom's ring reset eventually, and the pleasant experience at one has made them the venue of choice for the restyling.

The bad news? The jewelry isn't worth much--One store offered me $147 and gave me the name of two nearby stores. The next store was worse at $120. We tried to go to a third place--one that the local paper's investigative team said was the highest payer, but they're closed on Saturdays.

Both my brother and I are doing our bits to get my mom's affairs in order. She left the house to us in a trust years ago, so there are few tax consequences there. I think the funeral home owes us a couple hundred dollars. The rest of the estate is mostly a few thousand dollars and personal property. I wouldn't look for a European cruise vacation in my future, but I'm glad her money outlasted her--and she had enough. Considering she came from a family with nothing, leaving a lovely home and two (sort of) well-adjusted children, she was magnificent. A life well lived.

I spent my first discretionary spending money of the week on a cup of Starbucks for $1.59. It was worth it. While DD was at Vacation Bible School, I planned four weeks of a fall class. Not sure why I'm not that productive at home with my own coffee, but I'm not.

While there, I ran into two colleagues and chatted a while. One dropped off a freelance project for me to grade, and it was just nice seeing folks.

I had planned on getting some bids on my mom's small amount of gold jewelry this morning, but it can wait until tomorrow. I think I just need some downtime to read and relax.

Great weekends to all of you!

We had a good weekend back with a nice dinner with friends on Friday night, some tasks accomplished Saturday, and a terrific fundraiser picnic for a colleague whose son is battling leukemia. With donations from local businesses we had a picnic for over 125 people and raised close to $1000.

DD has a busy week with Vacation Bible School and a nature camp class so I'm hoping to get some work done. I got great back-to-school bargains at Target last weekend and need to sit down and plan out the budget until I get paid again in (eek) October. I see some belt tightening in my future. So tonight we're dining on picnic leftovers. the A/C can go off for a couple of days, and some bills need to be paid.

Hope you all have less sultry days!

We're back from five days in Minnesota for my mom's funeral, cleaning out her apartment, and winding things up. I'm so thankful (again) to have such a great brother. He's the executor of her estate and is so diligent and careful about everything.

The funeral was lovely and meaningful. Years ago she chose a picture of herself she particularly liked--having a great time at my dad's retirement party. We put that on the memorial folder, my sister-in-law found someone (only in Minneapolis!) to sing her favorite hymns in Swedish, and we had a lovely lunch afterwards. The only thing missing was having her there.

We brought a car full of her things home that I need to go through. Anyone need some plastic hangers? ;-)

Again I'm struck at how few tangible things are left.
And how much the intangibles mean.
Thank you all again for your kind words during all this. It's much appreciated.

I lost my mom yesterday. I saw her about a week ago in Minneapolis, but she was very weak, and indeed I sat in the car afterward and prayed that she'd have the strength to let go.

I know I got my practical side from her. She was raised without much money, and she worked hard all of her life to help my brother,dad, and me. We used to poke fun at her frugality, but she taught us all many valuable lessons about loving, giving, and indeed saving.


She was one of a kind, loving friends, family, food, and fun. So here's to my mom.

Yep, the old man is a year older. DD and I bought him some small things as we're economizing a bit here. I got some cheap books from his Amazon wishlist (which is PAGES long), a gauge for the gas grill's propane tank, a pizza stone, and a few other things.

Tonight we're taking him out to dinner to celebrate. He's very easy to please. Growing up poor meant they usually got socks and underwear and one very cheap toy for their birthdays.

I'm going to list some more Amazon things this afternoon, really I am...

I really need to do a complete financial inventory. I know many of you do them on Quicken or on a spreadsheet, but I think we need to rebalance our retirement portfolios, check on DD's college savings and figure out where we're at.

I spent lots of time today writing promotional material for my new fall class and starting the website for a couple other classes. We only went out to go to piano lessons and a quick run to Walgreen's. The rest of the day was spent clearing things up and doing laundry. It looks like another hot day tomorrow, but I've got lots of errands including some much needed grocery shopping.

DH's job situation is still unsettling. He's under a lot of pressure there, and last night, for the first time, wondered out loud about job security. That got me thinking (and fretting and yes, worrying) late into the night.
We've tried hard to live on his salary alone, but most of my part-time salary goes into the general fund and we spend it. My full-time salary goes into savings, and we have a solid 20K in savings at all times. When that fund gets higher, we do needed home updates. We have a small mortgage and enough money in our UK savings to cover that. We have adequate insurance and solid retirement and college funding. We have no consumer debt.
But still I worry. I don't get paid at the university again until October. At 3am I was spinning scenarios of how to save more and spend less. Yikes, I think I'm going to need a nap today after I implement some of my ideas.