Pennypencher50's Finance Blog

I'm pleased with both my boys. My 14 year old recieved his birthday money on the 3rd when I cashed the check. I had to firmly remind him a few times about not going into his savings, but he did hold on to $5.03. Then he added the $14 to his savings bringing it up to $19.03. He has figured out on his own that if he adds x amount to his spending jar, as well as places his automatic $2.50 into his savings jar, then he will build his amount of spending money and won't be tempted to go into his savings. This from my autistic son who has also been a big spendthrift. I still have to work with him about saving.

My 10 year old told me he does a better job on his savings if he has quarters.
So...automatic $2.50 into his long term savings, $3.50 into his short term savings jar, and $2.50 in dimes into his spending jar. lol This financial sharpness from my youngest who used to be a big spendthrift. I love it. However, I am still working with him to get him to understand that even though he saves for a specific item, that he needs to save more than just the required amount so that he will have money left in his savings to build on.

What an improvement from 3 years ago when I tried giving them allowances.

Today I went to the local dollar store on my bike to get supplies to do a candy card for my soon to be 14 year old. Also had to get cookies and soda pop for his special ed class and a six pack of fruit punch for my 11 year old's field day tomorrow.

I had $10 put aside, sealed and labeled in a small envelope for just this purpose. I had originally projected $6.90 and ended up spending $6.81. So I had $3.19 left over to bring back home. I placed $2.25 in my oldest son's spending jar bring that to a total of $5 for his trip to Silver Dollar City next week for his field trip. That left me with 94 cents to add back to my own savings, bringing it up to $65.44.

Wow! I think I'm starting to get it about being frugal, meeting or exceeding my projected money targets. I'm proud of myself right now.

I can't say that I'm in a very good mood right now. I took my oldest son to a nearby local bank with the high hopes of opening a savings account for him. Well I found out to my unpleasent shock that I could not open his account because: 1. my state ID card was expired, 2. I needed all kinds of documentation for myself(since I was going to be the person in charge of his account)and 3. four different types of ID for my son.

It would cost me about $15 to $25 just to get everything squared away for me and I would still be unable to open his account until the documentation came in. All of this just to open a savings account! This so called Patriot Act is causing more problems for me than it's worth. I think I'll just keep his savings in his piggy bank at home, and later after it builds up more, transfer it to a large coffee can or coin bank or something.

My son was very disappointed and unhappy about this and decided to keep his savings at home. Oh, I forgot to mention that his savings stands at $19.43 at this time.

So after leaving the bank we went across the street to a local convenience/gas station, where I spent $11.18 for a couple of sodas and pizza slices for us.
I had not eaten yet, and him being a growing boy, he was hungry. Still, I'm sitting here scolding myself for taking my savings down to $59.02.

So the check came right on schedule. The hummidity had me feeling low, but I finally decided to go to the store anyway.
Took my envelopes with me and placed all money in all appropriate envelopes. Bought necessary supplies, but got to confess, broke budget by $10. Broke down and bought shorts and matching shirt.

However, I managed to hold it to only the shorts and shirt. Arrived home and made sure that boys recieved their allowances.

Finally I added up my new total after adding $48.00 to my savings. New total now is $70.01. I'm finally on my way, I think, to real savings.

So here it is May 3rd. Up until yesterday I had $27.30 left. Both boys brought home their grade report sheets and both boys brought all of their grades up to C's and above. My oldest boy is mildly autistic but is doing well in public school. So I rewarded them with $2 each, dropping my savings down to $23.30.

No matter. When I get the check today, I will be adding $50 back to it, bringing it up to $73. And my oldest son's teacher will be sending home the leftover $5 that I sent her to cover the cost of a special sporting event my son participated in and won a bronze, silver, and gold medal for. That will bring my total up to $78.30, still leaaving me $22 short of my original goal for May, which was $100.

However, I have done some careful research online and think I have found a legitimate publisher where I can get my booklet of animal poems published. And also a couple of BBB, top rated survey sites where I can earn a little side money. I'm still checking into those a little more before I actually sign up.
I'd really like to make my goal of $100 for this month.

Well here it is 7 more days before the 3rd of May and I have $26.36 left out of the original $57.00.

This is what I spent this month:

Fans--$15.00
Eating out--$9.45
Water filter items--$4.00
Dry cat food--$4.00

I know I overspent a little on treating myself to lunch, but there's a great Chinese restarunt that has a buffet from 11:00 am to 3:00 pm, it's only $4.95 for all you can eat, and ohhhhh the food is good!!

Other than that, I think I've done very well for someone who has always been broke every month around this time of the month. I ended up buying the cat food and water filter items(activated charcoal and knee high stockings work well in those filters that attatch on the faucet)because SO was not paying attention to what he spent(again)and was broke(again)

When I get the check next month, I already know I'll be adding another $55.00 to what I already have, bringing the total to $82.36.

I gave it a whole lot of thought yesterday before deciding to spend even one penny of my carefully saved $57. It hit the 90 degree mark again. I figured that it's only mid April and already we are seeing 90 degree weather;that indicates to me it's going to be an even longer, hotter summer than last year(summer lasted from May all the way into mid October).

What finally decided me to be willing to spend $15 for fans was seeing and hearing my oldest son tired,sleepless,restless and complaining of not getting a good night's sleep. He did not have a fan in his room last year, and suffered greatly due to the heat. I called Wal-mart and found out that they had box fans for $10, so I gave T a roll of quarters and $5 in ones. He did better than expected. Not only did he come back with the box fan, he also stopped off at a permanent local garage sale 2 blocks from our house and came back with 2 nice oscillating fans.
Now we have one in the front room in conjunction with the box fan we're already using, but we have one for the garage/studio in conjunction with the other box fan that is suspended from the rafters.

I weighed the cost of a box fan against the cost of recharging and using the air conditioner, and of course the cost of the box fan came out on top.
Even so, I still have $44 still stashed away until the 3rd of May, when I plan to add another $55 to it. I probably won't reach my original goal of $100 by May, but I will come very close to it, and that's good enough.

This is Cloud Warrior. He found me and my youngest son when I was walking him home from school on Febuary 4th, 3:15 pm Febuary 2004. Cloud is very special to us because he came into our lives exactly 4 months to the day after my beloved Bogus Khan of 12 &1/2 years left this world and went on to Rainbow Bridge.


This one is Little Seven,who was rescued by a friend of ours from a very abusive situation and person. She's so pretty I can't understand how anyone could mistreat her. She was out of her mind from anger and fear. Cloud saved her sanity, and that's why we have 3 of her kittens from her first and only litter.

I just got the word from my significant other that it's going to be in the 90's today. Ugh! What a good thing we have our polystock tank pool cleaned out and filled up.
I had just finished the main housework and was getting ready to print up my how to booklet about saving money and taking it to a place on the downtown square to see if I could sell it on consignment. I think I'll still get several copies of it printed up and put together, but I don't want to go any further than the back yard and pool today.
The kids are in school and all the kitties are staying in the house out of the sun. I don't blame them.

Fire is the most laid back of all the cats. He adopted a young three month old kitten that my youngest son brought home and was begging us to keep him. His dad told him to place the kitten down beside Fire and to see what Fire's reaction was.
Fire took to him immediately. That kitten is now 7 months old and his name is Angus.

These are just a few pictures of 3 of my six kitties. The orange one is a male named Fire, the white & cream colored one is named Cloud Warrior, and the buff & white one is named Claw. Cloud is a flame point Siamese, Fire and Claw are bobcat/domestic mix.

Hello, my name is Carol and I am so glad I found this site. Reading all the blogs here of those who are climbing out of debt and saving has strengthened my determination to make this the 1st year of the rest of my life to build a financial safety net and to teach my boys lifelong lessons about budgeting and saving.
I was one of those kids whose parents never discussed finances, let alone ever taught me anything about good money management habits such as budgeting, saving and investing. I never had an allowance of any kind when I was growing up, and by the time I hit the workforce, I was woefully unprepared. It leaves me feeling so sad that I ended up going thru 30 years of frivolous spending and no saving. Funny thing though, when I hit the big 5, it was like a huge wake up call for me.
So I made a New Year's Resolution last year that the year 2006 would be a big change for me as far as finances, bugeting
and saving, both for myself and the boys.
So far, I have managed to save $57.00 and have gotten the boys started on saving a part of their allowances. I hope their dad will come on board soon.