My First GIVEAWAY!!! Let's Play a Game...

I am thrilled to be holding my 1st Giveaway here on Don't Read This; It's Boring!
I tried to get it together enough to do this in September but just ran out of time & energy.
The reason I wanted to do it in September is that the Items sort of tied into that month better than October.
September is the month of National Teddy Bear Day and I have the 2 items pictured below to give away to some lucky reader.

**Note**This is NOT a company sponsored Giveaway.  Nobody sent me stuff to give to ya'll.  This is sponsored by me, and the cost is coming out of my pocket. Just because I loves ya'll soooo much!

About 10 years ago, the US Postal Service released a commemorative stamp for the creation of the Teddy Bear, as part of their "Celebrate The Century" Series.  This Gift Tin contains a set of 15 Note Cards and Envelopes features the Teddy Bear stamp artwork. The Collectible Tin is shrinkwrapped and has not been opened, though there are some tears in the plastic covering and the tin might have some scratches on it.
Also included in this set of prizes to the winner is a genuine Sally Winey Bear called "Scotty".  This is a bear from the now defunct Winey Bears line that was started back when the Beanie Baby Craze was hot.  This line only lasted a couple of years.  Sally had been a designer for TY of Beanie Baby fame and the popularity of those stuffed critters drove collectors to her personal work.  She expanded her business from her handmade line of expensive mohair bears into a mass produced line that was more affordable to collectors.
I had the good fortune to meet Sally at a Teddy Bear Show near the beginning of the Beanie Baby explosion as she lived close by to me in PA at the time.   I had plans to carry her bears as part of an online business venture which did not pan out.  I had however purchased a small quantity of bears, among them Scotty.  Sally even hand signed his foot when I went to pick him and the other bears up from her studio.

So how do you go about winning Scotty and the Note Card Set?
Let's see.....
How about a Guessing Game?

Here is what you have to do to enter....
Earlier this year I did some BIG TIME STOCKPILING of Paper Products in the new Marcal SMALL STEPS Line.  This line of paper products are made from recycled paper.  The company claims that they don't cut down trees to produce these paper items.  That is a very good thing in my book!  Also a plus is the fact that the items are competitive with other big name paper products that are still made from felling & harvesting trees.  Price being equal, why not go with the products that don't cause the destruction of live trees?

I went through my stockpile of SMALL STEPS products last month and counted every single item.
Every Individual Roll of Toilet Tissue and Paper Towel.
Every Box of Facial Tissue and Bag of Napkins.

I took photos as I worked so you can get a sense of the quantity of product I stockpiled.  Don't try to count each item in these photos because that just won't work.lol
But use the photos to ESTIMATE HOW MANY INDIVIDUAL ROLLS AND BOXES OF SMALL STEPS ITEMS I HAVE.  Each roll of toilet paper or paper towel counts as 1 item.  Every box of facial tissue counts as 1 item.  Every bag of paper napkins counts as 1 item.
The person that guesses the number closest to the actual total of items will be the winner.

To Enter 
1. Leave a comment with your guess on the number of Marcal products I have sitting in my stockpile.  Please include your first name & last initial and an email addy or blog contact info.


You can increase your number of guesses/entries these ways....Please leave an additional  comment for each entry WITH a GUESS of the number of products.  Each comment MUST INCLUDE A NUMBER GUESS to be valid as an entry.

1. Follow my blog & leave an additional comment that you did or are a follower, along with a Guess of the number of products. 
2. Subscribe to my blog & leave an additional comment that you did or are a subscriber, along with a Guess of the number of products. 
3. Add my Blog to your Blog Roll if you have a blog or website & leave a comment that you did, along with a Guess of the number of products.

4. Blog about this Giveaway on your own Blog & leave the URL for that post here, along with a Guess of the number of products.



This Contest/Giveaway will run now until next Friday, October 16th at 9pm Eastern Time.
At that time, I will pick the entry that comes closest to the actual number of products and post it on my blog.

Good Luck to all! 


Sluggy

The New Roof Revealed....Expensive but Worth It

If you've been reading my blog for any time you may remember THIS POST from September when the Roofers were here putting the new roof on our house.
The roof was original to the 1980's era house and was sorely in need of replacing.  Here is an older photo I dug up on our house from March of '07 I think it was.

The roof doesn't look too bad from this distant in this photo.  I don't have a photo of the roof on the backside of the house however.  That side would show where most of the white material had come off and the roof was mostly blackish grey.  We really didn't want to cross our fingers that it would make it through another winter and guess wrong. 

So, since we had money saved for it and there is a tax break on 30% of the cost of energy saving improvements up to a limit of $1500 this year(which includes new roofs)we went ahead and pulled the trigger.
Also please notice how the old white roof color does nothing for the pale yellow siding and dusty blue shutters.  The white trim paint also just blurs into the pale yellow color....the white snow just makes it a total washed out drab sight, doesn't it?

We had a nasty surprise when the old roof had been torn off, discovering that the builder had cut corners(from my experience it seems they ALL do that!)and the rafters weren't spaced properly, thus there were sags in the plywood from the weight of the roofing materials, leading to having to pay for additional/better plywood being replaced in some areas.  Basically this almost doubled the cost of the roof job.  Our moderate roof expense turned out costing MORE than what it cost to send #1 son to college for a semester.
Ugh.
Murphy showing up yet again on the doorstep.
Good thing we had "Murphy-Proofing", aka CA$H!lol

Between that added expense and the "drama" that played out between the guys in the roofing crew over the next 2 days(Who needs tv?  I had live reality tv in my yard & on my roof!lol) and  the psycho Chihuahua who would NOT shut-up for 2 days because strange people where in her yard(the nerve of them!!), it was a trying experience.
But they didn't drop anything on my head as I left or entered the house(oh, did they TRY!) and I lived through the experience with minimal damage to my emotional state and a handful of painkillers....joking.....
And I am loving this new roof!
Here are some photos I snapped in-progress and of the finished product.
New plywood in place and tar paper laid on main roof area....

The main roof area complete, taking up old roof on garage gable and porch overhang....

 

All done....it's hard to tell from this distance but we had architectural shingles put on. We are going to replace the faded dusty blue shutters with hunter green, as well as repaint the garage trim hunter green.  It's not the best photo(you all know my skills are not the best in this area)but the warm brown/green tones will help the house not look so washed out.  In person you can see that the siding looks more yellow now instead of the not-really-white/not-really-yellow color it appeared to be.

 

Sluggy

$60K Savings Challenge SEPTEMBER Totals...This Won't Be Pretty!

I have posted my SEPTEMBER End of Month 60K $AVING$ CHALLENGE Totals.
Check out the side bar to your right(near the bottom) for the specific numbers.

Ok, I am hanging my head as September was an utter failure!
I know I had 2 HUGE payments this month--#1 son's Tuition/Room/Board bill for the 1st Semester and then the New Roof bill that nearly doubled in price from the estimate we had gotten.
UGH.
But those items were paid for from other savings pots we have--the College Fund & the Home Repairs Fund.
They didn't figure into the September money pool at all.
There are other reasons why this month was a financial disaster.

With deep regret, I have to report that we finished up September IN THE RED!

The amount we ended the month of September with was -$1163.35.
That's a NEGATIVE Savings of $1163.35.


We had no rolled coins and I am still sitting out on eBay.  I think it's time to get back into selling there for the Holiday Season.

On the recurring utilities front, we saw an increase of $.44 in the electric bill from August, so that bill basically stayed the same.  Once the heat gets turned on in this month, it's a slow steady increase in electric usage until the PEAK Month of Cold known here as February.
Ugh.

The water bill saw an increase of $20.64.  That's about a 45% jump from August.  It was expected as both kids were home from camp and since starting school, are showering more and having me do more loads of laundry.
All other regular bills...Cable, Internet, Phone, etc. were within normal parameters.

The Food Budget costs for September are in another post, which is located HERE.  Food/Toiletries spending in September was my lowest monthly total for the year.  I'm hoping to stay out of the stores more this month and am dropping the October Food/Toiletries Budget to $200.

So where did things go horribly wrong?
I'll tell you.
*  I paid the Garbage bill(which is due monthly)ahead to the end of the year. That was an extra $126 that didn't HAVE TO come out this month.
*  The quarterly Sewer bill also came due this month, so add on another $90.  At least I got a break for paying it on time. woohoo....lol
*  The 3rd car(the Family Heirloom)needed it's yearly checkup and maintenance.  There goes $914.97.
We figure this car will cost us about $1K a yr. to keep it roadworthy so it's not unexpected having to spend this.  It's just that the cost snuck up on me in September.
*  Then the school taxes came due.  Around here this is a separate tax from any municipal, city or local taxes. I always pay them during the "discount period" so we get a small break on the amount.  I should have paid them last month and would have if I had remembered that the Family Heirloom had it's yearly repair appointment in September.  This tax adds another $1800+ to the budget.
So that's just shy of $3,000.00 of non-monthly recurring expenses.

Add to that a higher than usual Credit Card bill I paid in September for August charges, that included the hotel lodging/meals/gas for taking #1 son to college, some modest back-to-school clothes shopping, college textbook rentals, #1 son's new laptop for school, pool supplies, the graphing calculator that daughter's class required me to buy, breaking down and paying through the nose for #1 son's graduation photos(ouch!), and a bit too much of eating out from August because it was too hot to cook(yah, that's my story and I'm sticking to it!lol).....and we get a CC bill for $2,333.31.
Gulp.
Oh.
My.
Clear as mud now why I am over $1163.35 on my budget for September.

It's a good thing there is money saved at times like this.
*  I don't have to resort to getting a cash advance on my credit card to cover this amount and pay the outrageously HIGHER Interest Rate on Cash Advances as opposed to the rate for regular purchases of goods & services.
*  I don't have to borrow money from a relative or get a payday advance loan from one of those predatory snarky Payday Loan places.
*  I don't have to pawn or sell things to cover this shortfall.
*  Or worse, not pay the bills and have things shut off or repossessed.

Nope.
Because I had extra money at the end of the month for 7 of the last 9 months AND I tucked it away and did NOT SPEND IT, I can easily cover the extra bills this month.
Piece.
O'.
Cake.

Of course, it totally sucks and is disheartening to see In The Red at the end of this month.
But it makes me more determined NOT to let this happen again this year.

We are Nine Months into this $AVING$ Challenge, and we have a Savings Total of $14,472.06 for the year.

What's ahead for October....
Even less food spending.
Trying to get hubby to make less large cash withdrawals from the account and trying to get him to keep receipts/account for the money.  I don't think he has any idea how much he spends since he won't track it.
No travel this month so no unusual hotels, gas, food expenses.
The credit card bill should be substantially lower.  With 2 days to go before the statement closes for this period and we are under $1000.  And that includes the new bed purchase for #2 son.

I'd love to stash away $2K this month.  It should be do-able unless something comes up.  I really need to make up for September's loss in the savings column.  And it would be nice to have a low expense month before the Holidays hit because even though we don't go HOG WILD on stuff at the Holidays, expenses do happen.

Be sure and check out how others are doing with their finances this month at Money Saving Mom.

Sluggy

My KMart TOTALS for Double Coupons Week 9/27-10/3/09

Well.....last week was a fog for me.
A fog of KMarts.
Mr. Bluelight is my dealer and KMart is my own personal crack.
I can't say no to a KMart Double Coupons Event it seems....no matter how I try!
*sigh*
I blogged about my first 2 back-to-back trips last Sunday HERE.

I ended up doing NINE MORE TRANSACTIONS(some were multiple transactions in 1 trip mind you).  I was doing pretty well during the week....a trip here, a trip there.
It wasn't too bad until Saturday.
I took a Mental Health Day on Saturday.  A Mental Health Day for me involves leaving the house by myself....getting away from the dogs, the kids and the hubby.

So where did I go for my MHD this time?
Some times I go to the movies, some times I go to a Chinese Auction(a local form of raffle/auction/fundraising activity).
I went grocery shopping and KMart shopping this time!
Not only did I have KMarts to hit but I had expired & expiring ECBs to use and OYNO Cats for a local grocery store to use as they expired Sat. night.  So between the KMarts I squeezed in a trip to CVS, a trip to the local independent grocery store & a trip to scout out a Grocery Outlet I've seen but have never been in.

Like a junkie on Smack I woke up Sunday morning and couldn't remember what all I had bought at KMart last week beyond the 1st day of the double coupons last Sunday.
It was all a blur.
Seriously people.
It was that bad.

It took me all day Sunday to recover physically from all the walking with my poor arthritic knee on Saturday.
I spent Monday digging receipts, OYNO catalinas and bags of stuff out of the car.
I spent Tuesday schlepping everything into the house to photograph and then out to the stockpile or whereever it needed to go.
I spent Wednesday morning writing this and uploading pics.

Here are the photos of the 9 Transactions worth of stuff I got last week, beyond last Sundays 2 transactions.

The Pet Food....

The Snack Food & Candy....

The Ziploc Bag Collection....

The Cleaning Products....

More Food & Drink....

Toiletries & Medicine type stuff....

The Glade Collection....

More Pet Food....

More Food, Snacks & Halloween Candy....

More Toiletries, Cleaners & Glade candles....

Total for these trips....
Value  $717.58
OOP  $100.20-2 x $25 Pharmacy Gift Cards=$50.20

Grand Total for ALL KMart Trips....
Value $812.70
OOP $52.12
Savings of 93.59%


I also earned $55 in OYNO Catalina Coupons for KMart.  I spent $15 of those in the course of the week on this loot so I have $40 left in OYNO Cats to spend.
In addition, I have 2 $5 Coupons for Holiday Candy, so after Halloween I can get $10 worth of clearanced Halloween Candy or Christmas Candy.
Hellooooo.....can you say FREE CHOCOLATE?!lol

I also have 6 separate receipts to send in for the SC Johnson Rebate/Buy 3 Get $5 back.  The Rebate is a limit of 3 per household, so I can send 3 of them in for BIL.  That will give me $30 in rebates bringing my OOP down to $22.12.


Here's a list of what things actually cost after doubled coupons(before additional $5 off $50 purchase coupons were figured in)...

FREE
Cat Wet Food
Cat Treats
Dog Wet Food
Dog Biscuits
Protein Bars
Individual Candy Bars
Bags of Lifesavers
Most of the Ziploc Bags
Chili
Wheat Thins
Venom Drinks
Coffee Mate
Dove Deodorant
Speed Stick Deo
Tag Deodorant
Skintimate Shave Gel
Visine
Dental Floss
Vaseline
some of the Glade Refills
Glade Soy Candles 2 oz.
Halls Drops
Worcestershire Sauce
Kashi Bars

.49¢ or .50¢
Glade 3 wick Candles
Glade Reed Diffusers
some of the Glade Refills
Glade Candle Tins
the 'eVolve' Ziploc Bags
Bags of Hershey Kisses
Bags of Hershey Miniature Bars
Pringles
Bags of Buttefingers
Suave Shampoo
Vaseline(.19¢)
Emergen-C Packets(.14¢)
Dawn Dish Soap
Chow Mein Noodle Bowls
Salad Dressing(.69¢)

$1.00
Nail Polish
Pert Shampoo

$1.49 
Cakesters
Cascade ($1.29)
Clairol Hair Coloring($1.38)
Bags of Reese's, KitKats, Heath Bars($1.83)
Tide Stain Booser

$2.00
Bags of Bliss Candy
Batteries (8 packs)

$7.00
All Detergent (96 load size)



Please don't let there be Double Coupons at KMart for the rest of this year!
I don't think I could stand anymore!!lol

Sluggy

Oh the Joys of Banking!

Oh Lucky Me!

Hubby & I had a CD that matured on Monday.  So I got to spend this morning doing 'banking stuff'.
First I got to get the NEW RATE we would be earning if we kept our money in that CD and rolled it over.
The new rate?.....is even more of the joke than the rate we had.
The rate WAS 4.07%.
The new rate?....  .55%
Yep...that's actual AND annual yield.

After I finishing rolling on the floor laughing over that one I told the gal, "Thanks but no thanks!" 
We'll be moving the money this week.

Then I got to research current rates of financial products(cds & savings accounts) at other banks.
Before anyone writes about putting my money into riskier products(stocks, mutual funds, etc.)let me state that we do have money in other types of products that have more risk.  This pool of money needs to stay in safer instruments. ;-)

For the most part, I don't feel very comfortable putting this stash of cash into remote(not local)banking institutions.  I had a bad bad experience with this $ before in a WaMu CD. If you live out west, you can easily deal with them locally but we are in PA so not so easy to drop by a local branch.
For some weird reason I could NOT access the account via internet and none of the emails they SAY they sent me concerning the account showed up in my email program.  So anytime I had to conduct business with WaMu I had to call them....which was it's own special form of torture.  The day that CD came due was the same day last year that WaMu went belly up!  Gee, I wonder why they went belly up?lolol
You KNOW I yanked that money out so fast it made MY head spin!

The only online type bank I have had any luck with is ING DIRECT.  I've had some form of financial product or another with them for the last 3 yrs.  I have had NO PROBLEMS with them.
Ever.

So after finding all the local bank CD rates....which were all big JOKES at that....I am going to stash this cash into an ING Direct account.  Heck, if I put it into a regular Savings Account over there it is more than DOUBLED what every local bank here was offering for a CD RATE!
If I don't need the liquidity of a Savings Acct. I can drop it into a CD at ING instead and that would be FOUR TIMES the local Banks' CD Rates!!

I thought last fall's rates were bad.  If those rates were bad, the rates this fall are Abyssmal.   
And the rates may get even worse before they get better.

On the bright side, our small stock portfolio has rebounded some and we are almost back at the level we were at last fall.  We may get to retire yet......in about 30 yrs. or so.lolol

So I'm off to ING DIRECT to set a CD up.

They have a special deal going if you are in the market for a Savings Account or something they call "Electric Orange"...it's like a Checking Account but you need to deposit $50K or more to get a good rate on your money.
Anyway, go open an account there using a Referral Link I can send you and you get a FREE $25 in your account!  Oh, and I get a FREE $10 for referring you. ;-)
The only stipulation besides having to use the link is you have to put a minimum of $250 into the account and you have to be a New ING Customer.
Go check them out...ING DIRECT .

Just send me an email at slugmama@yahoo dotcom if you want a referral.

Free Money?
Yah...I am all over that!

Sluggy