The Month Starts Off on A Good Foot

It's only July 2nd, but some good things have been happening, so I am pleased. I entered a raffle last month at a local kitchen supply store and TA DA, I won one of the prizes. I also got a message on my mobile phone from someone who is looking for some help in organizing their home office.

Organization, I do it very well and I will talk to this person about re-organizing her office and files. I don't know if she wants a one time flat fee job or a stop in a couple times a month and help to organize. Either way, this is a good thing. I'll earmark the money towards next months car payment.

Plus, I have this weekend of work at my "second job" and the folks I'll be working with are a good group. The weather won't be beastly hot, we have nice accommodations, my own animals are taken care of.

I did try to schedule a couple posts to "auto post" this weekend. Not sure if it will work, the last time I did that, I posted all on the same day and not on the scheduled days. Sometimes I am such a technology dork. If there is no posting during the holiday weekend, it's because I can't AUTO SCHEDULE.

The Grocery Store Clerk Just Made Me Feel OLD

I grew up in the late 1970's and early 1980's. I'm in my early 40's. When I was a teenager the only diet drinks were Fresca and TaB. I, to this day, love TaB. I love the girly pink and silver can, I love the fact that it is made with saccharine instead of all NutraSweet. I get a 12 pack of TaB as a present each year on my birthday from a friend. I usually only take it with me on road trips and as an occasional treat for home and work. It's hard to find in most places of America, Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi have taken over the soda aisle. My grocery store still sells it in 6 packs, sometimes I can find it in a 2 liter bottle, occasionally in a 12 can fridge pack. I don't "do" TaB energy drink, it's not TaB at all.

I stopped at the grocery store this am to pick up some "road snacks" for my upcoming weekend work (carrot sticks, bottled water and a 6 pack of TaB). The check out clerk looked to be about 16 and he said, "What is TaB?" I explained to him the brief history of TaB as I know it. He said the first time he ever saw the product was when he got his clerk job and of course, he said, "All these older ladies buy it". Yes in the eyes of the 16 year old clerk, I am an older lady.

Ah yes young man, all these ladies do buy it and I can tell you from experience, lots of men my age snitch it out my cooler as well. But boy, I did feel old for a few minutes this AM.

Christmas In July

I have three charities that I contribute money to on a yearly basis. I have a tradition of donating to "my" charities in July.This is especially true of the local food bank/pantry that gets flooded with food donations and contributions in November and December. People need to eat in the summer as well and I think lots of times we forget that fact in the pressure to make sure everyone one has a turkey for their Thanksgiving table.

Many times the grocery store will have a box by the front door for donations of canned and non perishable items, but I've noticed that box seems to be MIA in the summer.

For the past couple of years I've been buying a gift card to the local grocery store and mailing it to my local food bank. I buy what amount I am able to give (some years it's only $10 some years its $50, one year it was 5 cans of beans, that was all I could afford), but I try to make sure that I give in the summer. I actually bought the card this am on my way to work and posted it in the noon mail drop. One GOOD thing off my list for July.

While we are all caught up in our debt reduction, savings and bankruptcy proceedings, please take a few minutes to donate what you can to the charity of your choice. I realize that for some folks, you may not have any money to spare, but if your grocery store has a food donation box, please take the time to at least buy some items to donate.

Happy Canada Day!

To all my Canadian readers!

I know it's tomorrow, but I figured I'd be early rather than late.


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I'm Dreaming of Food Shopping..

True to my word, for this month, I've been doing most of my meal planning from what I have in the cupboards and in the fridge, with very few visits to the grocery store, except for some fresh veg and fruit. Yesterday I made a refried bean soup I got off of a year of crockpotting blog. I made the recipe before and liked it and decided to make it again. I used up 5 cans from my cupboard (beans, refried beans, tomato chunks, broth, and canned corn) and I had all the spices. The soup is yummy, I spiced it up with some extra dried hot peppers and I also made some tortilla strips from left over corn tortillas. I have enough left over for one more lunch and one dinner.

BUT I am craving a food shop. I've been making lists, I am getting low on staple items, I am losing some of my creativity, I am down to one onion and three cloves of garlic. I have 1/2 pound of angle hair pasta and 1 pound of elbow macaroni, I still have pounds of rice (I bought a 10 pound bag a in late April), I've used up the frozen meat, most of the frozen veg and the most of the canned items. I even went a little OCD and washed the cupboard shelves since the larder is getting bare.

Things I've used up, pesto made last year from my garden, 4 chicken thighs, 4 boneless chicken breast, 2 small steaks, 1 quart of chicken stock, I replaced the stock by boiling up a carcass I had from the last time I roasted a chicken, lots of pasta, two hunks of frozen mozzarella I forgot I had, ate one full package of Hebrew National Hot Dogs, finished off a bag of frozen tater tots, various grains, dried beans, canned tomatoes, canned beans, onions, peppers, various and assorted jars of condiments and sauces (Indian, Oriental and some salad dressing) used up the onions, potatoes, garlic and ginger root, sour cream, yogurt, salsa, a lot of pasta and bag of noodles called Singapore noodles (A type of egg noodle from Singapore), you get the picture. I don't think I can really make a meal out of brown sugar, baking soda and malt vinegar, but I did replace the old boxes of baking soda in the fridge and freezer and poured one box down the kitchen drain (followed by a hefty dose of white vinegar) and used the other box on the tub instead of using Ajax cleanser. That also kept me in line with my goal for being as green as I can and not using toxic chemicals and cleaners.

I'll be at my second job for the upcoming holiday and my meals will be taken care of, so there is no reason for me to do a serious food shop until at least next Tuesday. I'll be a "big girl" do some meal planning and then plan my shop around the menu. But between now and then, I can betcha I'll be dreaming of wandering up and down the food aisles at Trader Joes,Aldi and Costco.

Bouncing Back is Becoming a Tool Belt Diva.

I am not a Toolbelt Diva. In fact, I fully admit, my DIY skills are lacking, mainly due to the fact I never seemed to have the time to learn decent DIY skills, other than painting. Plus I'm afraid of power tools, especially things that cut. BUT I have a list of home projects that need to get done, so it's time to learn new skills, especially since the quotes I've been getting for various home improvement projects are outrageous. I dragged out the circular saw and cut some landscaping ties to size for some planned raised garden beds, I figured out how to divert water from a storm damaged gutter from flooding into my bedroom every time it rains, I put up new brackets in my bedroom for curtain rods (I can use a drill and a screw driver) and the big project was to finally install my new bathroom vanity. I had hoped to convince, bribe, pay my neighbor to re tile my bathroom floor (total square footage is only 27 SF, easy peasy for someone else), when he does his mudroom, but that project is on the books for July 4th weekend and I will be at my part time job that entire weekend, I wanted the sink OUT of my living space today.

I started at 4 PM, and finally gave up at 7:30 PM. I was able to remove the old vanity, disconnect the faucet (I'm using the faucet on the new sink), got the faucet installed on the new vanity top, got the vanity bottom into the bathroom and leveled and then spent the next 90 minutes trying to connect all the plumbing.

Mind you, before I started this project I made a list of all the bits and pieces I would need (new supply lines, drain pipe extensions, washers, caulk, etc) and then went out and bought said supplies. I'm just not getting the drain pipes connected as they should be and I can't get the stopper hooked up to the stopper plunger thing (is that a real phrase, stopper plunger thing?). I can and have installed several sinks and toilets in my life, I'm actually pretty good at it, but for some reason, it's just not happening today.

The good part is I no longer have the vanity sitting in my living room and I really like the way it looks in my bathroom. The bad part is I'm going to spend tomorrow after dinner fixing what I started today. I just have to remember to brush my teeth in the kitchen sink and not in the bathroom. I'll be happy when it's done, because the next project is flooring for my bedroom. I did a little on line research and found flooring I would love to have in my bedroom for less than $225. Remember, I live in a small space, so the cost for the flooring is not that much and if I can get over my fear of things that cut, I can install some pretty awesome bamboo or engineered wood flooring. I did help a friend one time install some Pergo (they did the cutting), so this shouldn't be too bad?

Ah well, I look at it this way, I've just saved myself $125 (the quoted price from the plumber) on sink installation and when it's done, at least I can say I did it myself.

Another One Gone from the Blogsphere

One reason many of us start blogs and personal finance ones is because we need an outlet for our worries and concerns about our finances. Personal finance is pretty much a taboo subject in American culture. In general, most folks don't go to parties and discuss their VISA debt or any debt at all. It just makes people uncomfortable to talk about. Discussing personal bankruptcy, heck you may as well put a big fat black B on your chest and watch yourself be really shunned, it just makes folks uncomfortable.

In my case, I started this blog after spending about 8 months reading other PF blogs. I was in the middle of my Bankruptcy filing and dealing with those issues and all the conflicting emotions and feelings I was having about becoming Bankrupt. The blog gave me a place to vent and to share. I've gotten some excellent advice both in my comments and in my e-mail from my readers and for that I am very grateful. I did this Bankruptcy all on my own. I'm not married, not currently in a steady relationship and of course, did not tell my family or friends (save for 2 friends). I used this blog as a place to vent, get support, and get information and I still do use it for that reason. I may be discharged, but I have a long way to go before I really "bounce back from bankruptcy". I'm in a huge learning curve and will be for a long time.

Along the way I have collected a number of blogs I read on a regular basis. I have the "baby bloggers", those single folks in their 20's and early 30's who are paying off student loans, credit card debt while trying to balance having a social life and a work life. The families working towards debt reduction or the goal of buying a home and I'm slowing finding the "boomer bloggers"-people closer to my age that blog about personal finance and life. What I love about the blogsphere is the diversity of the authors of each blog.

I have one blog I've been reading for a while that has gone very quiet. It's a woman who has written about her (and her husbands) struggle with debt and personal finance. They are struggling, they have car, boat, mortgage, loan and credit card payments. She was making progress each month towards her debt reduction. A few weeks ago she stopped posting. I figured she was taking a break, she did say she wanted a little break from blogging to just relax a bit. I clicked onto her link today and got the message that the author deleted the blog. I've had a couple links where I've gotten the same message, blog unavailable, blog only open to invited readers, blog deleted.

I worry about some of those blog authors. The common theme prior to deletion was that of more pain and despair, you could read the struggle they were having with managing their money. The other common theme was they almost without exception where the ones shouldering the responsibility of the debt, even if they were in a relationship, it seems they were the one person coordinating the debt reduction and taking on all the responsibility. Since they were blogging (anonymously) about it, I had hoped that maybe they were taking some of the advice under consideration (the good, the bad, the kind and the not so kind.).

For any of you who may read this blog and would like to start your own, please do!. Ask for reciprocal links, put yourselves out there, make the time a couple times a week to post. I've gotten tons of support from people and even more ideas, hints, help, suggestions and resources than I can ever list here. Just don't go "silent" and leave us all wondering 'what happened"/