Is There Anything Worse Than Being Called Fred Flinstone Toe?

While I catch up on all that laundry I couldn't do while the washer was "YODA-ized", here is a You Tube funny for you to watch.
If you like the witticism of Oscar Wilde and what passes for popular culture these days makes you want to hurl, you will enjoy this.
Two actors from the Roundabout Theater Company's recent production of "The Importance of Being Earnest" took transcripts of that MTV show my nephew is addicted to called "Jersey Shore" and delivered them in the style of their Oscar Wilde characters.

While I can't stand to sit through that MTV show, I find this a HOOT!
And you have to watch them all to understand my post title....lol

** Warning-Don't watch this with small children around or if you can't stand bad words!  If you know "Jersey Shore" you know that it's peppered with foul language.

Part One

Part Two


Part Three


Part Four


Part Five

Sluggy

My Savings Challenge...The Savings aren't Permanent for Another Year

I took on a Financial Savings Challenge at the behest of a member of the Compact Group back in Jan. of 2009.
I entitled that undertaking the $60K Savings Challenge.
Well, our name is NOT Rockefeller so we didn't even come close to saving $60K in '09. lol

We did however put away $23,997.24 for the year.....this amount is above and beyond any amount we put into retirement accounts for the year.  It's just a pile of money from the after tax/after retirement and insurance deductions paychecks we get that I manage to keep the family from frittering away on crap.
As you can see, I am getting darn good at keeping the family's sticky fingers off the money! ;-)

Going into 2010, I stepped down the savings goal to a more attainable $30K.
Throughout that year, I would on occasion use some of the 20009 Savings money toward big, not-everyday expenses we incurred in 2010 rather than using current income dollars.
Like buying a used car for cash.
Or buying a new refrigerator.
Or paying for the costs for 2 vacations we took that year.

We ended up using $12,991.45 in 2010 of that $23,997.24 we saved in 2009.
So in reality we actually permanently saved $11,005.79 in 2009.

In 2010 we saved $35,770.18 and we'll be using some of this amount when out of the ordinary large expenses come up in 2011.
We haven't used any of this amount for 'big hairy goals' in 2011 yet.
But we are planning on using some of that money soon for house repairs.

When 2011 is over, I'll be able to calculate how much of the actual $35+K we saved in 2010 that
we'll be able to tuck away permanently.
Well, permanently until some big expensive emergency comes along....and eventually they always do!

So the amount I save each year on the Savings Challenge isn't permanently saved until a full year after it ends.
I use the previous year's savings amount as a short term goal emergency fund.
And when that following year is over I dump whatever is left into a slot marked 'permanently savings'.
At least, that's how I organize it in my head. ;-)

Next Sunday Hubs and I will be having a financial meeting.  Among the discussions will be how much/what kind of home repairs we'll be having done this year.  I'm hoping that list won't eat away at that $35+K we saved from 2010 too badly.

Do you have a savings goal each year? 
Do you keep any money you save for the year into a separate account?

Sluggy

I Have Sunk The Food Budget for June

Yes, it's official.
I have sunk my food budget for June.
With 4 more days to go, I have spent $374.77.

I was doing ok until I decided to buy fresh lobsters for Hubs and I as a belated Happy Father's Day present last week.  $42.98 later and my budget was officially shot to heck.

After that I figured I might as well do some more damage....what could it hurt, right?lol

I had 2 $7 Catalina Qs for Weis Markets that were expiring on July 2nd.  As there were 2 Catalina Promotions last week(ended 6/25)at Weis, I went ahead and rolled them instead of waiting until this week and hoping there would be a Catalina Promotion this week.
I'm glad I didn't wait as there are no Cat Deals at Weis this week! 8-)

I took advantage of a few good deals while I was there, so here is what I bought on Saturday....

One Cat Deal was Buy $20/Get $7 Cat Q.
I bought 2 large bags of charcoal(not pictured)and the Clorox Clean-Up Spray.
After the $7 Cat Q I used I spent $11.98 on these items(plus tax)and received another $7 Cat Q.

The other Cat Deal was GM products, Buy $35/Get $10 Cat Q.
I bought--2 Chex cereal, 5 Chicken/Tuna Helper, 4 Suddenly Salad, 3 Totino's pizzas, 2 Froot by Foot.
After the other $7 Cat Q and other Qs, I spent $11.50 and received a $10 Cat Q.
There was a double dip as well on the Helper....buy 5 and get a $2 OYNO off of meat Cat Q.


I also picked up 3 blocks of Helavu Good cheese on sale for $2 each.  My .50/1 IPQs doubled to $1/1, so my cheese was $1 a block after Qs.
The muffins had a 50% off sticker so were $2.25 a pack.
The bags of salad and strawberries were both BOGO.
The Perdue ground chicken was on sale for $3 and each package had an instant $1.50 discount meat sticker making them $1.50 each.
I picked up 2 bags of frozen mushrooms on sale for $1 each.  This price made them a better deal than fresh or the canned ones.

The only item I paid reg. retail for was the bag of bagels for $2.99, but by the bag they were less than buying them individually. ;-)

Reg. retail on all would have been $105.17 and I paid $47.88 after sales and Qs.
The Catalina items cost me $23.48 and I received $19 in Catalina Qs back.

Now I'm going to try to stay out of the grocery store for 4 more days.
Wish me luck!lol

Sluggy

A Musical Interlude

One of my favorite songs......Enjoy!

Sluggy

I Fear The Force!

About a week ago our 2 year old front loading washer shit the bed.
Yep, just up and stopped working.

Started flashing a code...."F-21".
Dang, I HATE computerized appliances!

So we called up a repair guy and I had to miss a doctor's appointment on Wednesday.
Because we all know, if you can get a repair person to commit to coming to your house to see about a repair then you clear the decks and make sure you can be home when they deign to come by.
Forget dental appointments, major surgery, or visits from the Queen.....cancel them all for the repair guy because face it, being without clean clothes for a week Sucks!

So the repair guy bangs around upstairs and after an hour comes down and shows you a bucket with what he found in some secret compartment hidden in the inner guts of your washing machine.....

A bunch of coins, a piece of gravel, a washer, a lollipop stick and some nasty linty pieces.
And then he shows you what he dug out of the motor that supplies the electricity to drain the water out of your washer tub.....

That's a 1/2" tall Micro Machines Yoda figure from #2 son's old Star Wars playset.
You could theorectically swallow that and not even notice when you 'pass' it 3 days later.

The following Yoda quote popped into my head when the repair guy showed me that.....

“Size matters not, ... Look at me. Judge me by size, do you?”

Well Yoda, you are so wrong!
Size DOES matter you little green pointy-eared shithead.
Your size mattered to the tune of $100!

And since my family is incapable of remembering to EMPTY THEIR POCKETS before throwing their pants in the laundry, I am seriously considering sewing shut all their danged pockets!!!


Because, though it's not to say that I don't enjoy the company of Gene, the Appliance Repair Technician, I really don't care to repeat being without a functional washing machine for a week and throwing $100 away because of a stupid piece of plastic.

Yoda, stupid is.

Sluggy