I'm beginning to think about NY's resolutions. Christmas is over, and we didn't do too bad with the spending. I also happily used up Target gift cards on half-price stuff today, and turned in grocery store certificates for a $20 gift card.

But because my income is going down with one fewer class to teach, I'd like to find some other ways to save and am looking forward to all the SA resolutions.

I guess that's what I feel about the economy and our financial condition right now. My husband's job is contractual, but he's been there 8 years. I have a teaching contract too, but it's at a baseline level, and I always fill in with additional teaching and editing work. I guess we're fairly secure. We have no consumer debt, two 10-year-old cars, and a small mortgage. Our EF is funded with almost 6 months salary. We're years from retirement and 11 years till DD goes to college.

But still--I've seen so many people laid-off, our British friends are jobless right now, and I just get the feeling this will be a long long slog.

I think I need to ask myself those questions (especially since school is on a break now) about what I can do right now to make things a little better.

I could spend from dawn to dusk tomorrow doing errands. It seems I need a oil change, my hair cut, to go to the Post office, the store, pick up stuff at school, oh man--the list just accumulates,doesn't it.

I probably should've done more today since they're predicting a high of 15 tomorrow.
Cold!

I wonder how much all this is going to cost?

And I wonder if I should put more plastic on the windows!

It's the snow season here and I feel like hibernating. We had about 6" of snow today, and I'm making soup and staying in.

Only two more days of school left, and I suspect I'm happier than my students.

No real financial news except outstanding ebay sales on things I was going to donate to the Salvation Army. Ebay seems to be picking up, I think.

I bought a rosemary "tree" before Thanksgiving at the local grocer. It was so pretty, and although I have a small rosemary plant already, I thought it would be a nice fragrant Christmas decoration.

In two days, half the plant was dead and shedding needles like crazy. I nursed it along, but as I headed back to the grocer today, I thought, "I'm taking this ugly thing back." DH said I was crazy and they would never refund my money, but they did!

In fact, it caused great hilarity as everyone came by to take a look, calling it everything from a Recession Christmas tree to a Charlie Brown special. So $16.99 back in pocket and the ugly dead thing out of my house.

especially today with wind chills in the single digits and the energy bill arriving with an over $200 total. I've been wearing a fleece vest when I come home from school to try to avoid turning the heat up--but I like it warm. Although I guess 68 isn't all that warm.

The semester is starting to wind down, and I'm going to have to think of some ways to
make up for the lost class. I'd like to ebay some things before Christmas and rejuggle the budget. We've opted for a larger flex spending account deduction which will also seem like less in pocket, though it will save us about 30% probably.

I had a flu shot today so have given myself the evening off from grading papers and presentations. Maybe an early bedtime with a book? Now that's a dream come true!

I had lunch with a friend yesterday who is planning a trip abroad. He's retired and so is his wife, they have no debt at all, and pretty good university-sponsored health insurance. But he says he feels nervous and guilty spending money on international travel right now. His income is pretty secure--but still he worries. I wonder how widespread this is?

I know that I'm super careful lately. I wonder if most people are too.

I stopped at Kohl's on the way home from teaching and seemed to come home with mostly socks. There are socks for my mom, socks for DH,DD, and even a pair for me.

I got a little Christmas shopping done, but mostly feel like taking it easy and sitting back with a cup of coffee.

My funny story for today is the nickel I found on the steps up to my class. I reached down to pick it up, didn't realize one of my students was behind me--who regaled the entire class with stories of my cheapness. Who would leave a nickel laying there anyway?

I told them that I work for a state university and they don't pay me much--and with the state of my 403b, this would be a great addition. I suffer no embarrassment at all about this!

I got two $10 checks from NFO and have started to think a bit about Christmas. We are not big Christmas spenders, but I'd like to start looking for some bargains now--especially for the girlfriends and DD.

I have some ideas for DH, so when I get a few minutes over the weekend, I'm going to begin looking on the internet.
And I've got kids' clothes to list on ebay tomorrow as well as Target returns and stuff to take to the Salvation Army.

Last weekend when we moved my Mom into assisted living, I found boxes of sweaters that she'd received for Christmas for the past several years. I'm bringing them all back to her and feel the need to declutter a bit.

I needed a couple of extra 9x13 pans for an afterschool program where the kids get dinner. I don't want to leave my good ones, and thought about buying disposables, but stopped at an estate sale on the way home and got two for $1.

Such a nice bargain--and exactly what I was searching for.

The same rotten GE Spacemaker microwave that I complained about finally saw a professional repairman today. It's less than 5 years old, but the fan has melted off the rotor, a new assembly costs $89, and he thinks we should junk the whole things since the Magnetron frequently blows on these models.

My parents had the same range for 40 years--but we need a new microwave every 4 years?

Anyone out there have a fabulous above-the-stove venting microwave they love?

Trawling the internet for advice....

In some sort of miracle, I got out of Target under $50 today. Target almost always gets $100 out of me, so I feel very lucky. Plus, I went into Old Navy to return the shirt they'd overcharged me on last week (which I found cheaper at Target), and they handed me a $5 off coupon for "Freaky Fun Day." End result--a pair of free socks for me. Not a major thrill, but good enough for today.

Did anyone else see that Lisa Ling report shown on NewsHour where she followed companies that "trashed out" foreclosed homes? I think you can see the clip at PBS.org. It was an unbelievable look at the consumerist economy and the things people leave behind. It's worth taking a look at.

I really shouldn't attempt creative crafts. I have the utmost respect for all of you out there in SA land who are good at it, but it's just not me.

So, as usual, I've started two projects at the same time. First--grade 100 midterms. Second--make a pink poodle costume from a pattern in a magazine out of bath puffs.

Now I've got pink bath puffs all over the family room and can't figure out the simplest directions. I will report on the results, but at this rate, it won't be done till Christmas.

It must be the weather, but I'm having a lovely weekend. After church today DD and DH and I went to a fall farm fest. DD had the best time feeding goats, petting those supercilious llamas, and jumping around on bales of hay.

I read a couple of free lance projects for $75 a piece and made an apple cake when I got home.

DD also got a free pumpkin and her face painted yesterday at Trader Joe's, I got great deals at Bath and Body Works, and we watched some of the History of Britain with Simon Schama courtesy of the public library.

My personal triumph for the weekend involves, of all things, destinkafication. I bought a couple of Brooks Brothers sweaters at a yard sale last week which reeked of moth balls. It took me almost a solid week of airing them outside, but the smell is finally gone.

Today's chilly day has had me stationed at home to make soup from the leftover chicken, apple cranberry crisp, and stir up a batch of bread.
I'm doing laundry and aiming to put up some of that 3M plastic over some windows over the weekend.
Because it's only one day a week that I'm not at school, I love these domestic days.

It's nice and cheap too with the oven warming the house up. The house is full of good smells, and maybe it'll be cleaner too by the end of the day. I'm a happy home mouse today.

I was late renewing my driver's license, but finally got over there today. I spent (aaaargh) almost 2 hours there waiting for them to stamp a form, take my eye test, and snap a picture. If I hadn't brought papers to grade, I'd have gone crazy.

No real money news for today--only out-of pocket expenses were $50 for groceries, $39 for DL , and my regular $1.50 for coffee.

I hope to have a more scintillating blog entry soon, but today was wait wait wait.

Here's today's good deed:
I had an opportunity to reclaim one of my canceled classes for spring term, but it would mean that a colleague would be below half time and would lose her health insurance.

I can probably take the hit, but saddle her with out-of-pocket health insurance? Nope.

So I deferred, hoping to pick up a summer class or something else to make up the deficit. Plus--canceling an 8am class may mean an extra 30 minutes of sleep for me and the hassle for my husband of taking child to school every day.

I feel so virtuous and would like to take a nap to celebrate, but I have a class until 10 tonight.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

I enjoyed these jokes from the BBC website on the credit crisis:

For Geography students Only: What's the capital of Iceland? Answer:
About Three Pounds Fifty...
John Green, Chessington, Surrey, UK

Latest news, the Isle of Dogs Building Society has collapsed. They've
called in the retrievers.
Jez, Frodsham,UK

Quote of the day (from a trader): "This is worse than a divorce. I've
lost half my net worth and I still have a wife."
Sottovoce , Cambridge, UK

But it does help to see the market up a bit!

Yesterday's blog revealed that one of my spring classes might not actually run.

So, I've decided a preemptive strike on expenses by canceling the daily paper.
We also get the Sunday paper which I'll keep and the Sunday NYT which would be torture to do without.

But the daily paper almost always appears at the university, so I'm canceling that as a first swat.

Now, let's see, what's next?

The University is going through one of its budgetary crises, and I've just been told one of my spring classes has been delisted.

Now frequently they solve these, but I'm not counting on it this year. For me it means about a 25% drop in income. I'm crossing my fingers that it actually "makes" as we say.

In the meantime, what expenses can go?
Hmmmmmmm. This may require some deep thought.

Today paychecks from both my FT and PT jobs hit the bank account. I'd transferred some emergency fund money into our checking last week to cover some expenses, but we are more than fully solvent on current income again.

I've been pretty good about eating lunch at home and I do think the morning oatmeal helps me make it through 3 hours of teaching without keeling over.

And yet another sigh of contentment because I see our local grocery chain has extended the double coupon promotion on Wednesdays indefinitely. Not a huge deal, but it does probably save $5 a week. Hey with that, I could probably buy an investment bank!

Well, nothing major like medical stuff or car repairs, but for us--we usually spend about $20 plus church contributions every weekend.
But we got a babysitter last night and had a great dinner out, then went to a Harvest Fest and spent more than a little on things like hayrides for DD and walking around food today. And of course this makes me anxious--I know we have a nice emergency fund and we hardly overspent, but I'm an emotional spender, and this sort of market news makes me hyperconservative with my spending.

I went to an estate sale yesterday at a posh house a mile or two away from us. It amazes me the junk people accumulate--this house was jammed full of stuff--odd decorative stuff and furs and dozens and dozens of fancy pairs of shoes. Sales like that always make me want to dejunk. So much stuff that you can't take with you.

My university operates on a 9-month pay schedule which means they haven't paid me since June. We've been fine as we (almost) live on DH's income, but it sure is tight for my co-workers. I've bought several of them coffee lately, and have heard plenty of tales of eating the last cans of soup in the cupboard before next week's checks.

I'm so happy we have a decent size amount set aside. I sort of naturally spend less when I'm not being paid, but we don't have to, and that's a relief from the financial anxiety many of them feel.

But I have to admit, all this government intervention and bailout makes me a little anxious. We'll all be paying for this for years.

It's been an expensive couple of weeks.
We have delightful Brits staying with us (there goes the grocery and wine bill), I spent my birthday weekend in Chicago (very rainy so much shopping was done), and we had the lovely b-day doo-dads--cake and flowers.

So, scared again by the prospect of eating Chinese tuna in my retirement, we're pulling it together again. I've listed some ebay things, doing a freezer inventory, and hanging laundry on this my lovely day off.

I just got the happy news from my dentist that many of my silver fillings need replacement, that I need a crown, and as a result of bad orthodontia years ago, one of my teeth is on the move--meaning a bridge and maybe veneers.

He'd like to do lots of work--ending up with a grand total of over $10,000. This may be spread over some time, but I'm currently wondering whether bank robbery might be the answer.

Somehow my small economies at the grocery store and ebay sales feel very paltry.

Some of you might recall a discussion we had a while back on luxury items, particularly designer handbags.

I just finished a book called _Deluxe:How Luxury Lost Its Luster_ that had an interesting discussion about "entry-level" fashion items like designer bags and perfume.

I'm not sure it completely explained the conspicuous consumption thing better than say, Thorstein Veblen did all those years ago, but it's an interesting look at marketing--especially to young women. Her analysis of the "it" handbag both made me sad and mad.

It's an interesting read--and happily for me--at the very budget-friendly public library.

DH just e-mailed with the lovely news that my car needs both new brakes and a new tie rod. Just when I was feeling good about
payday being a month away. Ugh. Ugh. Ugh.

I will say though, I'm not spending much.
Expenses have been limited to a coffee at school and not much else.

Since it's cooled off here, maybe I should make chili tonight instead or picking something up at the double-coupon shopping extravaganza? That might save a buck or two.

Sigh--I hate car expenses.

My extra teaching job finally paid me, so we're solvent without touching the back-up or emergency fund. I can see more expenses looming in the future--car repair, dentist,
etc, but we're also only a month away from my regular paycheck.

Summer has again taught me we can indeed live on one of our incomes--but it's not very pretty. Perhaps if all the retirement stuff was funded, DD's college fund, and the house was paid off it would be easier.

But I have to say, I love teaching, and I'm looking forward to it. Someone please remind me of that later in the month when I've already started to complain!

Frugal choices for today will include eating lovelies from the freezer supplemented with that farmers' market produce and hanging out the laundry.

I'm doing some chapter reviews for a colleague of his new textbook. That should net me $100 or so. And tonight's the last night of my summer class with its paycheck a week away. But I've promised that class pizza tonight (they should buy ME pizza as an apology for how aggravating they've been), so that's a bit out of pocket.

No other spending on the horizon until all the school fees on Thursday.
Oh, and the plumber tomorrow.

That's how it'll be for a week or two--drips and drops...

Have I done my major things that I blogged about last week? Please don't ask.

I sometimes wonder if I'm penny wise and pound foolish. I watch the small things like a hawk--the Walgreen's rebates, the double coupons, the cheapie school supplies, the low gas prices, but I think I'm going to try to shift to big picture thinking for the next few weeks--not instead of small economies, but in addition to them.

I'm going to try to talk my credit card company into no annual fee. We carry no balance but charge a lot and get lots of airline miles. I'm going to finally finish our will. I'm going to check the brokerage balances and make sure that I'm budgeting the right amounts for medical withholding through my pre-tax account.

And I found a fun cheap pop dance class for my daughter to try--and here's the funny savings--I was decluttering and found postcards we bought last year on our trip to Mackinac Island. We never wrote them out or sent them, so when we return there next week, I'm sending them then!